HRM Parent Blog

Thanks to everyone who entered our giveaway of three family day passes to fun-filled Aplaydia. Everyone was so enthusiastic which made this giveaway even more fun! I hope you all get a chance to go, but for now, the lucky winners are Jennifer Munro from Lower Sackville, Laura Hennigar from Halifax, and David Redwood from Halifax. Congrats! Your passes will be mailed out to you very soon!

For those of you who didn't win, please remember that Aplaydia is a member of the ABC Family Card and is offering $2 off regular or toddler admission when you show your card. This discount can be claimed over and over again all year round! You can buy an ABC Family Card online here, or at selected businesses around the city - including Aplaydia! Cards are only $10 and valid for all of 2010 at 50 businesses around the city and online. 

 Thank you Aplaydia for sponsoring this giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. With the winter weather it's always nice to have fun places to play inside. Aplaydia, a wonderful indoor playground in Bedford, should definitely be on your list. The kids will definitely burn off energy with lots of climbing and sliding - and then hopefully sleep well that night! To read my review of Aplaydia from last year, click here.

Jen from Aplaydia is kindly offering three family day passes to Aplaydia to three lucky HRM Parent winners! Each family pass is good for one visit for up to three children two years and up and is worth $20. Normal prices at Aplaydia are $7.75 for kids two and up, $4 for kids under two (or free with another paid admission), and free for adults with kids (all plus HST).

Aplaydia is also a member of the ABC Family Card and is offering $2 off regular or toddler admission when you show your card. This discount can be claimed over and over again all year round! You can buy an ABC Family Card online here, or at selected businesses around the city - including Aplaydia! Cards are only $10 and valid for all of 2010 at 50 businesses around the city and online.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. (Winners will be announced soon!) To enter this giveaway, please leave a comment below. Have you been to Aplaydia? Or are you looking forward to going for the first time? This giveaway ends midnight on Tuesday, February 23.

Good luck!

Thanks to everyone who entered our Hold On To Your Kids giveaway last month. We had lots of entries and I always love reading the comments to see what you all think - yes, I am nosy! ;)

The winner of the book is Tammy Richards from Hatchet Lake - congrats, Tammy! The book is on its way to you.

For the rest of you, stay tuned for another wonderful giveaway later this week. In the meantime, I recommend visiting My Wee View, a giveaway blog by local mom Lynette, for lots and lots of great giveaways!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Last week I had the pleasure of attending Dr Gabor Mate's talk at SMU based on the book he cowrote with Dr Gordon Neufeld called Hold On To Your Kids. At the heart of their message is that the relationship between parent and child is essential to child development, and that parenting is a lot easier when a child is properly attached to their parents. If something goes “wrong”, look at your relationship with your child, and start from there. At one point Dr Mate said something along the lines of “parenting is not a skill – it's a relationship”. I love that. Sure, skills, techniques and tricks are useful for getting through difficult moments (I'm a big fan of playful parenting). But when I've hit low moments with Alex, what has saved me is remembering that preserving our relationship is more important than any perceived 'win' in the moment. That's not to say I get this right 100% of the time (not even close!) – but, hey, it's a process, right?!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. I encourage all parents to rush to their library or bookstore to get a hold of a copy of the book. Of course, you might want to wait a week – I have one copy of Hold On To Your Kids to give to a lucky winner! Just leave a comment below for your chance to win. Giveaway ends February 1st at midnight. Canadian residents only.

I was going to be all motivated and write a review of the talk and the book for you, but I admit I'm feeling rather lazy. So instead I'll point you to the direction of an interview with Dr Gabor Mate on CBC's Maritime Noon from last week. As well, a short excerpt of the book can be found here.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Our December giveaway is from a company I came across in my Twitter travels called Nuevo Designs Art Decor Prints. In their words:

"Looking to add some colour and personalized art to your room? Check out the playful and colourful styles. Choose prints from Children, Family, Couple and Inspirational. All of our prints are made with environmentally friendly biographic matte paper. Visit our site often as we add new designs all the time. Order now and receive your 2nd art décor print half off (code: hrmparent). Get started on your Christmas shopping with Nuevo Designs."

Michelle from Nuevo Designs is kindly offering two winners an 8x10 print, value $18 each. Thanks Michelle! Check out her website here to see all her wonderful prints on offer!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below (on the hrmparent.ca page, not on Facebook, for all you Facebook readers! :)).

Other entries: Subscribe to the blog here or become a fan of HRM Parent on Facebook here and post a comment about it below for extra entries (each comment is an entry).

Giveaway closes midnight on December 31, 2009.