The community's had another busy month, more long term readers joining us as active members & lots of new users finding us through the rejuvenation of our facebook page

We've had 6 new births recently, 2 mums were labouring over mothers day which was very exciting.

Congratulations to all the new mums & welcome earth side babies, its been so lovely following along your pregnancy journeys & now hearing of your births & 'meeting' your little ones too. We've birthed another new forum called Early Daze specifically for newborn information, support, general chat & to better help accommodated our ever growing village.

The Perth, Sydney & Brisbane Get Togethers all now have dates & a Melbourne Get Together is gathering momentum. Our Homebirth Forum is powering along, as more & more women join the village looking for homebirthing support & information in a laid back yet empowered community. Its nice to see student Midwives & Doulas come in to the Birth Support (Midwives/ Doulas/ Students) section looking for 'follow throughs' to offer free birthing support to. It feels 'right' to be able to help Midwife & Doula students to complete their training & gain further experience. The simple act of taking on a student means we are helping, impacting & continuing the homebirth experience for many generations of women to come, we are not just receiving from Midwives & Doulas we are giving back to them also.

The Kids Creative Corner is growing nicely & is a wonderful place to come for creative ideas...feel free to share your own creative ideas & escapades as well. Our New Teens forum (Talking Teens Learning & Beyond) was launched in May & will grow steadily to help better support parents stay connected as our children grow.

The Special Needs & Disabilities Forum is also under way to better assist our community & to also support the growing number of children with ADD & ADHD whose parents are looking for alternative treatments & therapies. As you can see the Month of May was all about growth. Supply & Demand some may say : )

This month (June) we're hoping to do a fair bit on connecting our community & will have another PM day, we're also going to look at a few big topics like Women & Body Image & also Mummy Guilt. What an amazing journey to take together, sharing natural parenting information & supporting each other as we each move toward more connected, gentle & natural parenting.

Peace Shiremum

Experts urge children to get outdoors as new research uncovers a massive decline in outdoor play across the generations

Most Aussie kids don't climb trees anymore, according to new research from Planet Ark. Once a symbol of an idyllic childhood, this nature-loving pastime is so significantly on the decline that only 19% of Australian children enjoy a clamber in their local tree.

Our children's love affair with the great outdoors is waning so rapidly that 10% of kids today play outside just once a week and only 35% of children play outside everyday compared to 72% of kids a generation ago. Experts are urging Australian parents to help get our kids back outdoors to ensure the social, emotional and physical development of current and future generations.

The findings and report released today are part of an independent study commissioned by Planet Ark and sponsored by Toyota, titled Climbing Trees - Getting Aussie Kids Back Outdoors, to raise awareness of National Tree Day on Sunday 31 July, Australia's biggest tree planting and nature based event.

The landscape of childhood has changed so significantly in just one generation that 73% of Aussie parents agreed that they played outside more often than indoors compared to only 13% of their children.

The choice of outdoor activities between generations has also changed with activities like jump rope, hopscotch and street games down from 66% to 29%, exploring nature down from 65% to 28%, and only 19% of children climbing trees today compared to 64% of children a generation ago. Furthermore, 73% of people stated that they played on their street as kids but only 24% of their children do the same.

The barriers to outside play include crime and safety concerns with 87% of respondents saying they were worried about letting kids play games on the street like they once used to and one in four parents saying they simply don't have enough time to play outdoors with their kids anymore.

However, the research indicated that Australians overwhelmingly agreed on the benefits of outdoor play for the positive development of our next generation of kids, with 92% saying it allowed children to use their imaginations, 93% agreeing that it helped develop physical and motor skills, and 90% saying it provided a positive outlet for reducing stress.

Professor Anita Bundy, an internationally renowned academic in the area of children's occupational therapy and assessment from The University of Sydney is leading the charge to address the decrease in children's play outdoors.

Professor Bundy's current research in this area focuses on the benefits for children of providing opportunities for unstructured play in schools to increase children's activity levels and playfulness. She hopes the work will revolutionise school playgrounds, leading to the introduction of more natural play spaces and unstructured equipment that stimulate more creative outdoor play.

"Our current research stems from the worry that children's emotional wellbeing, creativity and social skills are impaired by the decrease in outdoor play. While parents understandably prioritise safety, what they seem to forget is that playing outdoors-especially with friends-- contributes to experiences and skills that promote safety ", said Professor Bundy.

Planet Ark's Rebecca Gilling says "Making outdoor activity a habit for kids can be easy, if you know how. Some ideas to try include climbing a tree, playing street cricket, riding a bike, going for a bushwalk, walking the dog or even camping in the backyard!

"Planet Ark is calling on Australian parents, grandparents and teachers to make this year's National Tree Day the beginning of the push to get Aussie kids back outdoors to make - EVERY DAY Tree Day!"

For more information and to find your nearest Tree Day site, please visit treeday.planetark.org or call the National Tree Day Hotline on 1300 55 8000.

National Tree Day is organised by Planet Ark in partnership with Toyota and its dealer Network, which provide on-the-ground support at local and community tree-planting sites Australia wide.

Notube.at is the first website offering an effective online telemedical coaching service (NetCoaching program) for children with early eating behaviour disorders, particularly tube dependency.

Tube dependency can be an unintended result of long-term feeding by enteral nutrition in infants and toddlers, which may lead to insufficient weight gain and physical and emotional dependency on tube feeding in absence of any medical indication.

The NetCoaching program is based on the "Graz method of tube weaning" of the University Children‘s Hospital Graz, Austria, with the help of which more than 1000 tube dependent children over the past 20 years have been weaned successfully. Since the beginnings of the NetCoaching program in summer 2009 nearly the entire over 100 exclusively tube fed children could be weaned successfully in their homes.

NetCoaching works by working with the parents intensively on a daily basis and offering recommendations for changing the tube feeding routine within a period of 1-3 weeks, analysing the daily intake protocols and observing the videos sent to the NoTube team carefully with special focus on the child's developmental abilities concerning learning to eat and motivating the tube fed child in its individual self feeding skills. Thus, NetCoaching assists parents, who prefer being supported at home, are not able to come to Austria for treatment.

The costs for NetCoaching are the following fees per child:
- $680 AUD assessment fee
- $2710 AUD treatment fee

The program starts immediately after the registartion process is completed.
There are no further costs and a 50% money-back guarantee if the goal of keeping your child stable without tube or any other goal the NoTube team decides on with you before starting the treatment.

At least, it is important to mention, that NetCoaching should only be performed in a stable nutritional phase when there is clearly no medical reason to continue tube feeding and that every child, who enters the NetCoaching program should be under local pediatric observation.

There is also a wish to state, that NetCoaching and the NoTube team cannot heal any underlying medical conditions and they also cannot substitute necessary medical examinations as well as the long term surveillance of a child‘s growth and thriving after the wenaing process has been completed.

If there are any further questions feel free to contact the NoTube team:
- http://www.notube.at
- support@notube.at
- NoTube LLC
Sihleggstrasse 23
8832 Wollerau
Switzerland

festiValley - where entertainment and creativity meet!

festiValley is coming to Samford.

The bushland grounds of Samford Valley Steiner School will be transformed into a bustling marketplace of stalls and activities from midday on Saturday 27 August.

The afternoon fair offers a vibrant mix of teen and adult workshops, including fire twirling, yoga and didgeridoo playing. Visitors also have the chance to roll up their sleeves to tie-dye a t-shirt or sculpt a clay castle. For the young ones there will be puppet shows and story-telling, as well as a myriad of stalls to fire up the creative imagination: flower garland and candle-making, as well as felting and silk painting. Budding soccer stars can test their skills with Brisbane Roar FC before conquering the rock wall or strapping into the bungy-trampoline. Those looking for a less energetic afternoon can stroll around the art and crafts market before relaxing to enjoy wholesome food and drinks from a range of gourmet food stalls, offering everything from north Indian curries to gourmet pizza.

As the light begins to fade, the focus will turn to the free twilight concert to be held in the school's award-winning performance hall and amphitheatre.

Entry to the fair (12 noon-5pm) and the twilight concert (5-7pm) on Saturday 27 August are free.

Please contact Samford Valley Steiner School on 3430 9600 for further details or visit www.samfordsteiner.qld.edu.au.

A one day workshop supporting women to connect with their inner resources to birth.

Aims of the workshop:

- practicing the art of listening to body, heart and mind.
- Developing focusing techniques to help open to the power and mystery of birth.
- Awakening our joy, creativity and inner guidance through the process of art and writing exercises.

Date / Time: Sunday 31st July 2011
9.30am - 4pm

Place: Bardon Counselling Centre
151 Boundary Road, Bardon, Brisbane

Cost: $120 (including art materials) Please bring morning tea and lunch for yourself.

For booking information email gmk@techsus.com.au

The facilitator is Georgina Kelly, birth worker and mother of three children. She has been working for 15 years supporting women as they embrace the transformative power of their pregnancy, birthing and mothering experiences.