Stevie Jacobs: Minions ‘Summer Entertainment’ VIDEO + DVD release

Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has partnered with everyone’s favourite 'Today' weatherman and father of two, Stevie Jacobs, to star alongside the Minions in a new video designed  to help parents keep their kids entertained this summer. Here is the reel, below, with more info on the Minions mission:

Research shows that children gain understanding about the world by seeing, touching, tasting, smelling, moving and hearing. According to the National Quality Framework*, we can enhance the choice and quality of learning experiences by supporting flexible use and interaction between indoor and outdoor spaces.

Understanding the importance of balancing indoor and outdoor play in childhood development, the new Minions ‘Summer Entertainment’ video provides parents with some tips to help inspire their kids to experience Australia’s great outdoors this summer.

Stevie Jacobs said, “We are on the road a lot and are fortunate enough to take our girls with us. We always see every outing not just as an adventure, but as an opportunity for Isabelle and Frenchy to learn something new.”

“Using the Minions as an avenue to talk to children, on a level they understand, will no doubt inspire them to want to get outside and explore Australia’s beautiful beaches and national parks, or create their own family adventure.”

From bobbing for ducks at a theme park to jumping into waterfalls on a hike and visiting Australia’s iconic landmarks, like the Minions’ favourite The Big Banana, Stevie has enlisted the help of everyone’s favourite yellow henchmen to provide some easy-to-understand tips that families can follow to ensure little minds are engaged and inspired to go exploring.

The video, featuring the Jacobs family including Stevie, wife Rose and kids Isabella (4) and Francesca (2) and the Minions, can be seen on The Viewing LoungeYouTube page. Minions is out now on 3D Blu-ray™, Blu-ray™, DVD & Digital with UltraViolet™.

Listed below are top tips to keep kids entertained this summer, curated by Stevie Jacobs and the Minions. WE LOVE THEM ALL!

1. If you’re feeling like a dare devil, grab the family and hit up one of Australia’s theme parks:
   • Zoom around on a roller coaster
   • Challenge your family at bobbing for ducks
   • Laugh at yourselves in the Mirror Maze
   • Take in the view from the Ferris Wheel
   • Finish your day with a banana ice cream – that’s if the mischievous Minions don’t eat them first!

2. Warm your vocal chords with the best travel songs or games to play on a road trip:
   • 10 green bottles sitting on a wall
   • Wheels on the bus
   • Eye-spy with my little eye
   • 20 questions
   • Play who can spot the Minion yellow cars?

3. Spend a day at the beach:
   • Play a game of family cricket
   • Grab a board and learn to surf – make sure you follow the surf safety tips!
   • Build a Minion sized sandcastle
   • Play a game of tag and run down the sand dunes
   • Have a beach BBQ

4. Take a family hike in a national park:
   • Pack your bag and go hiking – don’t forget your boots, hat and lots of water to explore the great outdoors
   • Play a game of spot the animals and see if you can find some friendly Australian wildlife hiding in the trees
   • Find a canyon, open your lungs and play a of Mr Echo (Echo Echo)
   • Find a waterfall, pop your bathers on and jump right in!
   • Spend a night camping under the stars

5. Visit Australia’s iconic landmarks:
   • Awe at the sails of the Sydney Opera House
   • Have a snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef – bring your stinger suit!
   • Visit one of Australia’s famous zoos
   • Don your Akubra and hit the outback
   • Head up to Coffs Harbour and explore the BIG BANANA!

More about The National Quality Framework:

The National Quality Framework (NQF) is the result of an agreement between all Australian governments to work together to provide better educational and developmental outcomes for children using education and care services. As part of the 2015-16 Budget, the Australian Government allocated $61.1 million over three years to June 2018 to support states and territories to implement the NQF. For more information, see here.

More about 'Minions':

The breakout stars the world fell in love with in Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me global film franchise headline their own movie for the first time in Minions, available on 3D Blu-ray™, Blu-ray™, DVD & Digital with UltraViolet™ now.

Since the dawn of time, Minions have served (and accidentally eliminated) history’s most despicable villains. With the tribe on the brink of collapse, three unlikely heroes - Kevin, Stuart, and Bob - embark on a journey to find a new big boss. When their quest leads them to their next potential master, Scarlet Overkill (Academy Award(R) winner Sandra Bullock), our three heroes must face their biggest challenge yet: saving all of Minionkind... from annihilation!. 

Flynn's Restaurant: diner's minimum age of seven

This post on Facebook… a friend alerted me and my guess is that it'll go viral:

It's from a Queensland restaurant called Flynn's.

It reads:

Flynns Restaurant requires diners be a minimum age of 7 years old. 

This is a reply to the post for Christine Hall. Yes, we have applied the rule of not permitting children below the age of 7 in the restaurant minutes after you left because we respect our guests' wishes to dine in a calm atmosphere. The feedback from our diners regarding screaming babies have been nothing but wholly negative and in the interest of their wishes we have decided to introduce this policy and it will stand.

As a born and bred European myself, I do follow a good dining etiquette and it is my responsibility as a manager to step in and politely convey information to the families with small children to find alternative arrangements (just like every other family does in Europe). If one pays money for having an enjoyable lunch during an anniversary or honeymoon, please do yourself and other patrons a favour by getting a babysitter or by removing the screaming baby from the room. It is purely out of respect for other diners, regardless whether they are two or twenty of them in the restaurant. Those are basic social skills and we do not feel that we should be teaching parents how to handle their children. Sonia Tymecka, the manager of Flynn's restaurant.

Your thoughts?

Hi-5 'House of Dreams' Australian Tour!

Hi-5 is here, you guys!

They are touring Australia!

Hi-5 presents the 'House of Dreams' Australian tour, and you can come along and enjoy a brand new national tour with your fave five people:

Dream big this June and July school holidays join Hi-5 in their brand new Australian stage show, Hi-5 House of Dreams, when it tours around Australia from June 28 to July 15, visiting Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne.

The Hi-5 House of Dreams tour gives audiences an invitation to the most exciting “slumber party” ever! There’s not much sleeping but lots of singing and dancing and adventure when our favourite puppet Chats takes control of the Hi-5’s dreams and makes their dreams come true!

Using Chats’ Magic Dream Catcher audiences will travel through jungles, fairy grottos, underwater coral gardens, the Wild West, and even outer space!! This interactive and energetic show will have audiences totally immersed in the world of dreams.

Hi-5 House of Dreams is a whimsical trip into a fantasy adventure where you can catch your favourite Hi-5 songs – Underwater Discovery, Move your Body, It’s a Party and Living in a Rainbow and plenty of new songs with the Hi-5 gang – Stevie, Mary, Tanika, Ainsley and Dayen.

Here they are below, and details on dates:

The remaining 2015 national tour dates

Sydney – Concourse Theatre, Chatswood: 7-8 July

Perth – Regal Theatre: 14-15 July 

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Join Hi-5 for their House of Dreams stage show as they travel across Australia this winter school holidays!

More about Hi-5:

Hi-5 was launched in Australian in 1998 with five dynamic performers entertaining children aged 2-8 with music, movement, problem solving and play.

The children’s musical group is well known globally, reaching an estimated global audience of more than 10,000,000 children across Europe, North America, Australasia and Latin America with its tours, music and TV shows. The Hi-5 TV series has consistently been one of the top three most successful pre-school shows in Australia.

Hi-5 has won three Logie Awards for Most Outstanding Children’s Program, five ARIA Awards for Best Children’s Album, five Australian DVD and Video Industry Awards, an APRA Award, an AMIA Award and a Helpmann Award.

Follow Hi-5 on Facebook here.

To book tickets, go here. Here you will see 

TwinnieWorld readers can win one of two family passes (valued at around $200 each) for the Sydney performances on Tuesday and Wednesday at The Concourse, at Chatswood for the 10am or the 1.30pm performance. For more about where The Concourse is and how to get there, go here. The show is one hour long, with an interval. For more about the show at this venue, go here.

All you need to do to enter is email me at: josiegags@optusnet.com.au - and let us know which time and day you want to enjoy the world of Hi-5 fun!

Winners will be drawn on Sunday night, and advised on Monday AM. You must email your entry for this one, as I need your full name and phone number so I can reach you!

Pat McDermott: 'Family Matters' Book - Interview

One of the Australian Women's Weekly's most adored contributors - 30 years and still going strong! - has released her book called 'Family Matters', based on her three decades of columns for the iconic magazine. Pat McDermott's much-loved 'Family Matters' saga has unfolded on the last page of The Australian Women's Weekly for all these years, much to the delight of dedicated followers. Her hilarious observations on her own family (five kids!) and their dramas, from toilet-training to weddings and beyond (grandchildren!), her long-suffering husband (MOTH, the Man of the House), an endless succession of beloved and badly behaved pets and just about every situation a couple or family can find themselves in, have kept readers amused and entertained every month since 1984.

Now these generations of readers can relive their favourite 'Family Matters' moments and new fans can be charmed by Pat's warm, laugh-out-loud anecdotes and confessions in this book.

This is the perfect book for every imperfect family - a treasure trove of wisdom, love and laughter from one of Australia's most adored chroniclers of family life.

"Children between the ages of twelve and 25 find parents embarrassing 95 per cent of the time. Any younger and they're so uncritical they think you look good in swimmers. Any older and they drop in just long enough to leave their laundry and borrow $50. If you want to embarrass your kids you have to strike when they're teenagers," says Pat.

And here, Pat sits down for Josie's Juice (TwinnieWorld sister site - reproduced her for you, dear readers) to answer questions about family matters, and why family matters.

Interview with Pat McDermott:

You really are an Australian national treasure - do you feel like an Aussie now that you've been here from Canada for all these years? 

      I admit it did take me awhile to find my feet and get used to the summer heat. It seemed that every bit of clothing I had packed was WRONG! But now I’ve been here for 40 years and I cheerfully admit to tearing up when I hear ‘Advance Australia Fair’ ( I really like it!), enjoying a green Christmas and developing a hybrid accent - I use all the right words but probably still sound a little different.  I think having my babies here, going through all their school years, making so many friend along the way has made me a real Aussie. One of my kids is a member of the Australian Defence Forces - and I am very proud of that. It really is possible to love two places and it helps that Canada and Australia are alike in important ways. It’s true…home is where your heart is. My heart and my family is in Australia.

      You have such a huge following as a columnist for AWW - surely this is some kind of publishing record… have you looked into that? 

It has been suggested that 30 years of Family Matters makes me the world’s longest running columnist. However, somewhere in the world there might be another writer bashing away at their keyboard for longer. I don’t like to risk making a grand claim.  I never forget running up with my ticket at a school fundraiser, thinking I had won the raffle with Green B12, only to find the real winner was Yellow B12.  It was a long way back to my table! I will opt for modesty here - but I think deep down…I may be the champ.

What are the systems you had in place to manage the raising of five kids? Some tips and tricks and how you get all those schedules (plus your own) in place. 

Everyone’s family and situation is different. But here are some things that worked for me and still do!

a) A sturdy filing cabinet. We have a red one with five big drawers - one for each child. All their medical records, school reports, most interesting art work, merit awards, ribbons and any other important documents went in their file.  I could put my hands on their vaccination records in 5 seconds flat. No one ever missed a school camp or excursion. It went on to hold passports (GAP years), CV’s, applications, university papers, references and many other important/interesting information.

b) I have a large white board on the wall in my kitchen. ‘If you want to be dropped off or picked up…put it on the board.’ They also listed food or birthday presents to be bought, school concerts, birthday parties, sports days etc. 

c) I have always kept a diary. I carry it everywhere. I learned to do this as a young journalist and I would be lost without it. Every mum should have a diary. It makes life so much easier. 

d) Be organised personally as well as professionally. I remember a teacher telling me he could always tell a kid from a big family - they brought their notes back on time.  Perhaps the more kids you have the more organised you are.  I worked to deadlines in my work life I was used to meeting them elsewhere as well.  I hate missing things or arriving late. I wanted my kids to feel the security of an organised home life. 

e) Buy a collection of good-sized, sturdy plastic bins. I have five with a child’s name on each. This is an updated version of the lovely chests described in the classic ‘Little Women’. One bin per child to be filled with their personal memorabilia. Mine are fully loaded….merit awards, school ties, photos, weird art work, all the lovely stuff from their school years. They don’t want their boxes yet….but they will!

f) Participate. Put your hand up to help with the cake stall, the P&F, the soccer team. When you contribute you learn and grow and I have friends from those days who are still very dear to me and me to them. Your kids will love it and if you do have a criticism or a suggestion it will be much better received if you actually put your shoulder to the wheel as well. PS: put your volunteer experience on your CV.

g) Sort your wardrobe. It’s better to have a small collection of clothes that work that heaps of random stuff on hangers. I want to be able to dress in minutes. I was fanatical about keeping the kids’ clothes in good order and ready to go. Hideous trying to get ready for some function or event and the one thing you (or they) need in the wash. I washed EVERY day for years. I IRONED endlessly while I watched movies at 1am. 

On the whole, the little McDermotts  were in the right place at the right time.  The MOTH?? That’s another story.

      As a grandmother (how many grandkids?), do you impart your tips to your kids?

      

      At this moment I have two little granddaughters.  I am hoping for many, many more!  I follow my late mother-in-law’s advice….zip the lip!  She was a huge support to me over the years but resolutely refused to offer advice. If I asked her for tips or suggestions or just confided a problem I had, she would think quietly, reassure me that all would be well in the end and then, sometimes, gently tell me something that had worked for her.

      Have there been moments when your kids - and even grandkids - have been a little mortified at stories you've recounted?

      I hope not. Perhaps the boys were a little critical at one time or another. Some anecdotes and stories include our own experiences and those of other families and friends.  Sort of a lovely, mushy mix of everyone’s lives.  On occasion, one or the other of my kids would wag a finger at me to say ‘NOT THIS ONE!’ 

      What does MOTH think of all your success? 

      He seems a little bemused. He is a rather quiet, self-contained fellow except when he is telling (and re-telling) very bad ‘DAD’ jokes. He is famous for forgetting punch lines which actually gets him more laughs than his jokes. He thinks I am just a little crazy and over-the-top. Sometimes he winks at the family and blames it all on me being from ‘blizzardly cold Canada.’ 

      How does it feel to have many of your stories now published in a book?

      It’s a lovely feeling to hold a nice, solid, good looking book with your name on the cover. (“Almost as good as a nice cold beer,” says the MOTH.) I have had two other books published some years ago. One of some very early stories and another called Pardon My Parenting - both out of print. But ‘Family Matters’ is by far the best looking and the most comprehensive because it covers many years of columns from older ones to ones just published. Choosing the columns to include was very hard…rather like naming your favourite child….when you love them all the same!  It also makes me feel rather organised to see them all in one place.  I must put a copy in the filing cabinet!

      Pat McDermott is a long-running journalist for The Australian Women's Weekly and author of the weekly column, Family Matters.

Pat McDermott is the author of FAMILY MATTERS, published by Allen & Unwin, RRP $32.99, on sale now

IMAX Sydney Ticket Giveaway

Movies and school holidays go hand in hand like popcorn and film, and choc tops and lots of lollies (who doesn't love mindless snacking when the movie starts? Heck, while watching previews even!

If you are yet to experience movies on the largest screen in the world - yes, the world - you must visit IMAX in Sydney's Darling Harbour.

And this school holidays, IMAX Sydney has kindly offered up movie tickets for school holiday viewing! See 'How To Train Your Dragon 2' or 'The Transformers Age of Extinction' and much more. ALL in 3D!

TwinnieWorld has TWO family passes (4 people each pass, so 8 tickets all up) on offer. Choose whichever movie you like and the passes are valid for nine months, so no rush! But how cool to have another school holidays fun option (parents, you know we run out of ideas super quick!)

Here are two of the movie options for you, and what the incredible IMAX screen looks like:

To enter, here's all you need to do:

- 'Like' the Josie's Juice Facebook page
- Share this link on your Facebook wall
- Follow me on Instagram and Twitter if you are on those social media platforms
- 'Like' the IMAX Facebook page
- Comment below or email (josiegags@optusnet.com.au) on why you'd like to win the tickets and what you'd go watch at IMAX
- Email me at josiegags@optusnet.com.au with your address so I know where to send tickets if you are a winner

You can also follow IMAX on their website here and on Twitter here.

Good luck!

Guy and Jules Sebastian's Baby Archer - First Photo

Guy Sebastian and his wife Jules have welcomed a new baby into their lives - introducing Archer Jones Sebastian, little brother to the couple's first child Hudson.

Guy released this photo today on Facebook, with this caption:

We are stoked to welcome little Archer Jones Sebastian into the world. He's a little cutie and Huddie loves being a big brother. Julesy was a trooper during the birth and is doing well  Born 17.4.14 Big thanks to gm photographics who also shot our wedding for the pics. You're a legend!

GM Photographics shot the couple's wedding photos and are exceptional. I know this firsthand as they took all my amazing profile photos.

These first days are so precious to capture. Archer was born only two days ago, on April 17.

Bless this little family. Gorgeous.

David Beckham & Harper: Kiss-Cam

Is this not the most adorbs thing you have seen all day?

David Beckham plants a kiss on his daughter Harper at a sporting game.

Harper's reaction is nothing short of super-cute!

Watch:

Toilet training how-to: one mother and daughter's story

Are you in the midst of toilet training madness?

With twins now aged five, we are well and truly done in that department, but it was trying at times to say the least.

So when a friend proudly [and she darn well should be!] announced on Facebook that her daughter was toilet trained, I understood her elation. I asked her how she did it for readers of this blog, and here is what she said about the process [and yes, that's her daughter, below]:

"We have a Bumbo toilet seat that sits on top of the toilet making it comfortable for my daughter to sit. She started to show interest at around two years old, but I didn’t want to push it. When the weather warmed up and she spent more time naked at home, I started putting undies over her nappies for a few weeks and conditioning her that I was going to "throw away her nappies soon because she was a big girl."

She got it, and started to be excited about it. We did about a month of verbal conditioning. I also purchased some books about girls going to the toilet and used to read those to her regularly. A great book is “Everybody Poos” which is hilarious and has great pictures – that’s her favourite!

When we were at home I got rid of her nappy for a few weeks and told her to tell me when she would need to wee. She was diligent and never had an accident. Then she was ‘toilet trained’ but only for wees, not poos. When she needed to poo she asked for a nappy and this was happening for about two weeks. Then she became obsessed with needing her Bumbo seat.

She calls it her ‘pink potty’ – and basically would hold it in until she had her seat. This became a problem when we were out and about and a big problem at daycare. Daycare were kind enough to let me send it with her which we did for one week, and they weaned her off it. As a rule she never wanted to poo anywhere other than at home, but then my mother in law took her to the beach and she needed a poo, and she said she needed to go to the ‘public toilet’. 

Now, pooing in the public toilet has become a somewhat novelty for her (urrrrgh!!) so she loves to go to the toilet anywhere, with anyone, and without her “pink potty”. She has only had one accident in the last three months which was largely my fault – I had put undies on after her bath (she still wears nappies at night and I suspect will do so for a while given she’s now only two and a half years old), and when I was reading to her she told me she wanted to do a wee and asked if she could (thinking she had a nappy on) I said yes and ended up covered in wee. She was really upset and accused me “you forgot to put a nappy on me” but she got over it quickly. 

Now she reminds me every night before bed to put one on her! That’s just her nature though... Very bossy! 

I knew she was ready because she showed interest and understood the concept. I also knew she knew the difference between weeing in her nappy and in the toilet. We didn’t bother with ‘training pants’ or the potty, we went straight to the toilet. I would say though that the only trouble we had was that she became attached to her pink potty. Even at home she wants to use it, but now is fine not using it when out. She also loves the fact that she’s a ‘big girl’ and uses the toilet – and has incredible bladder control. I am quite proud of my little one."

And so she should be!

What have been your challenges with toilet training your child [or bonus 'fun': your twins]? Are you embarking on this journey now? Or halfway through? Or perhaps have finished the process? Share your stories in the comments section below.

'Stay-at-home mums are not as happy as working mums'. This mum disagrees.

Stay-at-home mothers are not as happy as mothers who are employed, a new study has showed.


Research company Gallup found that non-employed mothers in the US experience more negative emotions such as worry, sadness, stress, anger and depression, than those who work.


The research, which looked at 60,799 randomly-chosen women, showed that 41 per cent of stay-at-home mothers experience worry while just 34 per cent of employed mothers experience the same feeling.

To read more, go here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2148101/How-mothers-stay-home-LESS-happy-work--likely-depressed.html#ixzz1vexo5boW

You might think, oh, here we go: another survey. A bunch of stats. Each case is different; heck each day is different.

I always like to read a real life story. Here is one written for this blog by Ruth, about her experiences with almost one year old daughter, Maddie:

"I recently made the decision not to go back to work in the short-term. I know how lucky I am to have this as an option, but I wasn’t prepared for it to feel like a weird thing to be doing. 

As a child of the 70s, having our mum take care of us was then far from unusual. Mum did some casual marking of exam papers in the evenings and at weekends to bring in some extra money but apart from that she was around until I, as the second child, was at school. 

Notice I don’t say she was “at home”. That’s because the phrase “stay at home mum” is a pet hate of mine. Who coined that term anyway? Someone completely ignorant of the role mums play in getting their kids out and about and exploring the big wide world. Sure there’s some home time, quite a lot of it, but all the mums I know relish the chance for an outing. Even a supermarket trip can become strangely thrilling, but the reality is we don’t just stay at home. Someone find another term, please.

As a full-time mum, I love every day with my daughter. Don’t get me wrong though, it takes every ounce of my creativity to avoid ground-hog day.

I grew up hearing my mum talk about the outings we used to do with her as young kids – trips to the zoo, feeding the ducks and taking a whole day to walk around the local lake in the days before it had a proper path for the hordes of joggers who conquer it in 20 minutes now. 

We’d stop to look at every leaf and stick that took our interest and picnic along the way. These were idyllic, blissful days. I don’t remember having to rush here, there and everywhere or the controlled action-packed activities that cost you an arm and a leg that seem to be par for the course now.

Mum as a working mum had a big impact on me. I think I got a lot of my work ethic from her. She was always passionate about her work and she and Dad would talk animatedly about their respective days over dinner. I also loved watching her getting ready in the mornings, putting on make-up and smelling of perfume. She had a shiny new work car – a Datsun 180B – and when I had a day off from school I’d sometimes get to come into the city and have a smoothie with her at the café next to her office. But she was passionate about “work” at home too. She seemed to take copious loads of washing in her stride and was always a 'MasterChef' in the kitchen.

I hope I can instil this passion for work in all shapes and forms in my daughter. I miss work, but I don’t miss a lot about it – the commuting, the endless meetings and emails. Meeting a work mate for lunch in the city I realise I’ve forgotten the terrier-like approach you need to get through Pitt Street Mall [Sydney] at lunch time unscathed. And did I really use to see these bustling food halls as sanctuaries? Why is everyone in SUCH a hurry?  It was great to hear all about my former work place, but it felt strange to be disengaged from people and projects that I used to be so intertwined with.

I wasn’t prepared for the lack of conversation with like-minded others in this new life of mine.  I haven’t really found my niche at Mothers’ Group. Everyone is 10 years younger.  I didn’t think it would matter but it does. Their priorities are so different. [Not to mention Alex Papps is on Play School but they can’t remember him in Home & Away let alone The Factory so where’s the common ground?]

I wasn’t prepared for the mind blanks that seem to come with motherhood. As someone who would pride herself on being something of a wordsmith, having complete blackouts on words mid-conversation has taken some getting used to. But hey, it makes other people feel good when they can finish your sentences.

And I wasn’t prepared for the sense of dislocation and isolation. It seems strange to call it that when simultaneously I have this incredible bond with a precious little person who makes me laugh and smile 7 days a week from 5.45am to 7pm and she is usually attached to my arm or leg at most times during the day. But I find myself sometimes asking: where exactly do I fit in? 

I’m not interested in making washing and ironing an art form. I’m enjoying finding pleasure in the simple things and the new creative challenges I find myself up against, but 'domestic goddess' is not something I aspire to. And I can’t possibly be as passionate about the work I used to do now that I’m out of the loop.

So… where do I fit in? I’m not sure, but I’ve come to the conclusion that finding a label isn’t necessary. My daughter is happy, my husband is happy, and most importantly, I’m happy. 

Where motherhood will take me I do not know. Maybe even eventually back to work. But right now, I’m happy as a pig in mud living day to day, or sleep to sleep."

What are your experiences of staying at home, or going back to work. If the latter, how old was bub/s? Or you do work from home? Share comments on blog - would love to hear other women's stories!