The 'Helping You' Interview - Meet a 'Parenting Expert'

This interview is sponsored by ZooBooKoo educational toys and games.

Author of 'Raising Happy Children for Dummies', Sue Atkins, talks about the book, parenting and being a mum.

Profile:
Former deputy head teacher, Sue has trained in life coaching, Neuro Linguistic Programming and Emotional Freedom Techniques at the highest professional levels. She offers various parenting courses and coaching in workshops, by phone, email, on CD.

What inspired you to write this handbook?
I was invited by the publisher’s Wiley and Sons to write the book.

What do you believe is the secret to the success of this ‘Dummies’ book – after all there are just so many parenting books out there?
The “Dummies” books are wonderful because they take complicated subjects and simplify them without patronising the reader.

It can be a major task for a time-pressured parent to read a book. What’s the best way to get the most out of your ‘Dummies’ book?
My book is designed, like all “Dummies” books to be a quick reference when you need a bit of advice, an idea or a practical tip. You don’t have to read them from cover to cover or from chapter to chapter – they are designed to be a quick reference when you need a hand.

What do you feel is one of the most common mistakes that we parents all make that threatens the happiness of our family relationships?
I think parents need to develop their own confidence in their ability to be a positive, relaxed and great parent and to trust their belief in themselves as they are the real experts for their own children.

The book is bursting with practical tips. As a parent, which do you feel is one of the most useful tips?
The ability to keep learning as you go along, trust your own instincts and to be firm, fair and consistent in your discipline.

How do your children feel about you being a ‘parenting expert’? Surely that puts huge pressure on you as a mum?
I’m just a work in progress like us all. I don’t claim to have all the answers – I just ask great questions to help parents find their own answers.

As a parenting expert, what is your greatest achievement to date? Being invited to appear on the flagship BBC Radio 2 “The Jeremy Vine Show” and BBC Breakfast TV and having my own regular Parenting Q & A slot on BBC Radio Surrey and Sussex every month.

And what has been the worst moment, professionally?
Struggling with the technology to get my work “out there” to a wide global audience. That has been a REAL nightmare but I have a great guy called Simon Jordan from The Simon Jordan Consultancy working with me now so I can finally relax and enjoy the ride !

And finally, what do you enjoy most when you are not helping us improve our parenting skills?
Singing very loudly along to the radio in my little red mini, walking my dogs in the Surrey countryside and having friends round for a meal.

How to contact Sue:
http://www.thesueatkins.com/
@sueatkins
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Positive-Parents-Confident-Kids/359670183556?v=app_4949752878


This interview was sponsored by ZooBooKoo educational toys and games.

The 'Helping You' Product Review - Bear Essentials

Product: Bear Essentials – World Of Letters

Contents:

• 5 gorgeous, bright, colourful bears
• 40 detachable chunky tiles that stick anywhere on the bears
• Instructions for 13 absorbing games
• Purple tidy bag

Age: 3 – 6 years

Price: Around £19.99

Designer: Bear Essentials is a joint creation inspired by Ron Wyatt from Craftpacks and Stephen Wattleworth from ZooBooKoo. Ron originally conceived the idea as a teacher resource bit it soon became clear that parents and grandparents everywhere wanted bears and tiles for their children to play with at home.

What We Like:

• Great for free play or structured game playingSuitable for a child on their own or for three or four children playing together (due to the ‘5’ bears and plenty tiles and more common letter have more tiles)
• Multi-sensory learning – visually appealing; the tiles make a sort of ‘soft crunching’ noise when you remove them from the bears; incredibly tactile -keeping children busy
• Plenty of growing room – toddlers begin just playing with the bears, then they begin to recognize the letters and build up to learning the high frequency words and making sentences.
• Children thoroughly enjoy playing with the bears and tiles, returning to the games again and again - a really fun toy and gift

How To Play:

• Initially younger children will simply play with the bears, making homes for them, hide and seek, putting them in and out of the bag, lining them up…
• Then you can begin to introduce the games. Full instructions are provided though they are all beautifully simple and yet varied and increasingly challenging.
• So you may start learning colours with the removable scarves and work up to building words and sentences.

Where To Buy: Good toy and gift stores and online Educational Toys and Games

In the Range: Try Bear Essentials – World Of Numbers (3 - 6 years)

Testimonials:

• ‘The cutest things I’ve seen in ages,‘ Mrs Sarah, M, May 09
• 'What a wonderful learning idea – loads of growing room,’ Mrs Elaine B, July 09
• ‘The children love sticking the tiles and swapping them around on the bears. Hours of fun,’ Mrs Karen M, July 09

This information was provided by ZooBooKoo

The 'Helping You' Interview - Meet a Toy Designer

Toy designer, Karen Wattleworth, talks about inspiration and her family’s favourite toys.

Profile:

Karen runs the ZooBooKoo family business with her husband Stephen. ZooBooKoo designs fun educational toys and games. They have two boys aged 13 and 14 and a cat called Maz.

Why did you start your business?

I wanted to spend as much time as possible with the boys when they were little but I also wanted to work. Starting our own business gave me that opportunity. We came across the idea of the folding cube when we were travelling. The original cube concept dates back to Victorian times. And we felt we could design and adapt it to make a really cool educational toy.

What is the secret to your success?

Hard work, organization, perseverance, loads of support and inspiration from Stephen and the boys and a dose of good luck now and again.

How to you come up with ideas for your new products?

The boys have been inspirational. They will soon tell you if a game is fun to play, or not. Our younger son is dyslexic and that took us down a path we knew nothing about but it added a lot of value in many ways, especially perhaps in terms of new product ideas even though ZooBooKoo products are fun educational toys and games for all children (and many adults play too!).

What toys were favourites when the boys were toddlers?

The wooden garage and wee cars stick out in my mind and a cute wooden multi-coloured pull-a-long fish. Mega blocks were cool. And the original posting home activity block with the sqeezy shapes. And we still have the little wooden trolley with the wooden blocks (the grand-kids will love it)!

And their favourite toys when they were at primary school?

Well of course, they loved our Cube Books and Secret Scholars – those were the ranges we had during that time. But they also loved their GameBoys, Bionicles, Monopoly, jigsaws and of course we played a lot of Uno.

The boys are older now. Do they still play games?

We are into darts (great for brain-training). The younger one plays on Xbox live and we love Dude Dice when we’re in restaurants or on holidays.

Do you think the boys will follow in your footsteps with the business?

Oh gosh, no! They think it’s far too much like hard work. But who knows, maybe they will come round to the idea.

What is your greatest achievement in your business?

That’s tough. Depending on where your business is at a certain time, different things may seem incredible. But I think selling into a major book store multiple was a significant achievement. And developing our international distributors has brought good rewards.

And what has been the worst moment, professionally?

That’s easy! A competitor threatened us with legal action. It turned out to be a wholly empty threat but it sucked up a huge amount of financial (up to five figures) and emotional resources. I could have given up then but Stephen wasn’t having any of it. In the end, we threatened to counter-sue and the competitor went into liquidation. But we lost out on significant export opportunities.

And finally, is there ever any ‘me’ time for you?

I have greatly improved the work-life balance in the last couple of years. I jog a couple of times a week and I do yoga once a week. But my favourite ‘me’ time is time with the family whether it’s watching the boys play football or rugby matches or run cross country races, playing darts, a family movie night, watching X-Factor or going out.

The 'Helping You' Product Review - Dude Dice Game

Product: Dude Dice High Score (Level 1)

Contents: 3 ‘Dudes’ (3cm high characters) to win,

2 orange numbers dice,

1 function die with ‘plus’, ‘minus’, ‘multiply’ and

‘Aaahhh!’

Instructions

Travel bag

Age: 6 – 8 years

Price: Around £6.50

Designer: The Wattleworths, owners of ZooBooKoo – established toy manufacturers. Mum Karen was trying to teach her dyslexic son to recall his times tables randomly. Their son wanted to win rewards; their older son suggested including ‘plus’ and ‘minus’ and Dad thought there should be a travel bag. A real family effort!

What We Like: So simple to learn and play

Great gift that children really enjoy (and parents approve!)

Fun for all the family – even adult brain-training

Children do not realise they are learning

Adaptable to different abilities

Handy distraction to keep in your bag

Children love the Dudes

Tactile large dice

How To Play: Starter Level - Throw all 3 dice and do the sum. If you throw

'Aaahhh!’ you are out of that round. Each player throws once in

each round. Person with the highest score in the round wins the

Dude of their choice. When all 3 Dudes have been won, the

person with the highest score poaches a Dude from the person

with the lowest score. Player to win all 3 Dudes wins the game'

Extender Level: Throw all 3 dice and do the sum. Then throw all 3

dice and do the new sum and then add your new score to your

first score. Carry on growing your score until you throw ‘Aaahhh!’.

Now you are out but remember your total. The player with the

highest total in the round wins the Dude of their choice. When all

3 Dudes have been won, the person with the highest score

poaches a Dude from the person with the lowest score. Player to

win all 3 Dudes wins the game.

Where To Buy: Good toy and gift stores and online Educational Toys and Games

In the Range: Try Dude Dice High Score Level 2 for age 9+ and Dino Dice for 4 – 6 years and Dude Dice Winning Words (6+ years)

Testimonials: 'The Dude Dice High Score and Dude Dice Winning Words pack are

great value,' Mr S, Surrey, Sept 2010

'These Dude Dice games - High Score and Winning Words - are

excellent. My son loves them and they make learning fun,' Mrs S,

Lincolnshire, July 2010

'The Dude Dice games are really fun. I would definitely

recommend your products - they are very different,' Mrs Smith,

Suffolk, July 2010