In today’s episode, Alison Greenwood explains the cost of raising children from birth to adulthood. It’s a  lot more than you might think!

Alison suggests saving for these expenses by investing in shares, exchange traded funds, and managed funds.

This advice applies to Australia and is most relevant for the 2018-2019 financial year.  Please talk to your financial advisor to set up the best arrangement for your family situtaion.

GUEST: Alison Greenwood is a regular guest on the Treasuring Mothers podcast.

Please subscribe to listen to Part Two of the podcast with Alison.

Our pornography driven culture is a huge blight on the internet landscape. And sadly, one day, your children will see it. To be brutally honest, it’s not IF they see porn, it’s WHEN. So how do you, the mother in this scenario, prepare them for that moment? It’s up to each of to make sure we are protecting our kids from porn.

Emily Olivia has spent a lot of time thinking about this. She decided to face the problem head on, and wrote a children’s book especially so she could explain the whole issue to them. And that means you can prepare yours too.

I spoke to Emily about her passionate response to preparing kids for this internet world we live in. And I’m sure you will also be disturbed by what she found out. The good thing is, when it comes to protecting our kids from porn, she has a positive way ahead.

GUEST: Emily Olivia

Listen to the bonus content with Emily >>>

Work-life balance for mothers requires some fine footwork! The below snapshot of a fave childhood activity gives a picture of that sort of skill:

When I was little, my sister and I enjoyed balancing the seesaw at our local playground. Perhaps you did the same when you were growing up. We’d stand in the middle, one foot either side of the centre. Then the trick was to shift your weight ever-so-slightly to come to a complete standstill with a level beam beneath your feet.

It needed fine footwork to shift your weight from one side to the other so as to balance the beam. A little too much on one side, and the penalty was to hear that earth-shuddering CLUNK! as the see-saw landed. And then, you had to work extra hard to get that balance back again.

You can listen to the radio interview about work-life balance for mothers, above. It was recorded with Jason Evans, “The Big J”, on Hobart’s ultra106five.

Maintaining work-life balance is a tricky business, just like balancing a seesaw. We talk about having a balanced diet, being emotionally balanced, holding the balance of power, and keeping a balanced budget. They all require awareness and initiative. Lose those, the balance is lost. And you have some work ahead of you to return to level.

Some people suggest life balance is like juggling three balls: family, work and career. Others say that once you add those

A Matter of Life and Death

Even though I walk through the
[sunless] valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide],
they comfort and console me.

Psalm 23:4 AMP

We had a tough week in my city of Hobart a while back. We lost an award-winning helicopter pilot, who died in a tragic helicopter crash. The pilot owned a well-known helicopter company, and everyone drives past their distinctive blue helicopters every airport visit. You can read about the disaster here.

The things is, in our Western culture, it’s hard to talk about life and death. It’s not something we easily do. Especially, we find it difficult to talk about it with our children. I mean, why is that a good idea? Do people not understand that avoiding the topic just makes things harder to manage when it eventually happens?

While the co-pilot survived the crash, there was much public heartache for the pilot’s wife and three girls. His daughters are now starting their new life: a life minus their Dad. It’s assumed, but never spoken, that the mother of the family, al

HAVE YOU EVER SUDDENLY realized you don’t know something that everyone else seems to know? There can be life skill gaps in your knowledge, and it can be dang uncomfortable!

Life skills, almost always, are passed onto us by our parents. It’s part of the process of growing up.

Listen to Jenny talk about life skill gaps with Scottie Haas on Hobart’s ultra106five >>>

Life skills are critical pieces of information which are many and varied. Usually it’s the little things. Who taught you to speak? Tie shoelaces? Drive a car?  The thing is, just like missing the day at school when fractions were introduced, sometimes you never quite get some skills. These “life skill gaps” can be very practical – for example I didn’t know how to make smooth custard. I also chucked out so many pots of burnt stewed apples when I first left home. Lumpy custard with burnt apples anyone?

Little things like this cropped up constantly as a young adult. But it can go way beyond food prep.

Kitchen skills aside, sometimes, I discovered I had more serious life skill gaps. I remember some relational gaps when I had absolutely no idea. One area I floundered was learning to appropriately relate to males as a young married woman.

For example, one day, not long after Stephen and I tied the knot, I had a big heart-to-heart with some guy. We were sitting at a dimly lit table at a church coffee shop. And at the end of the evening he offered me a lift home! I’m not sure who was more uncomfortable when I showed him my wedding ring.

About the same time, I smiled at a young workman working on a power-line team in our street. To my embarrassment, when I left the house a little later, a wolf-whistle echoed in my direction. The supervisor growled at him – and I finally learned a valuable lesson about not encouraging strange young men.

I put these gaps in my knowledge down to the fact that I lost my mother to breast cancer when I was only 16 years old. She was sick for a couple of years before that though, so in reality my learning from her probably stopped when I was 13 or 14 years old.

There are so many areas

This Episode of the Treasuring Mothers podcast is all about introducing Jody Sargison.

Jody is the Treasuring Mothers Fitness and Well-Being expert. In Part Two, she continues telling Jenny Baxter about the beginning of  her motherhood journey.

As a tiny baby, Jody’s young son, Alex, was diagnosed with whooping cough. But that awful episode of her life led her to a change in perspective, and a new passion. Sometimes difficult circumstances put you in a place of making life changes. And these become changes you never regret.

GUEST: Jody Sargison

Go Back to Part One of Jody’s story >>>

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