Making Space for the New Munchkin

As our family will be growing in about five weeks time, we have decided its time to seriously reduce the amount of stock we have stored in our house!

Also as my puku keeps getting better it is making getting in and out of the car when its parked in the garage amongst precariously stored stock a little tricky, as it is Cadell gets himself in the car, then we back out, then I do up his safety belt – not so great on a rainy day!

So we have some super amazing specials happening in our five week countdown til birth, watch our facebook page closely for more details.

We are also trialing our Munchkin designs as duvet covers, rather than quilts.  A friend once told me “Quilts are great for cots but not for beds, because you really have to purchase a duvet inner or other blankets anyway and the costs just add up”  for some stupid reason I didn’t consider this even when, a long time before owning munchkins I bought a quilt for my sons bed, then an inner then another plain duvet cover.  So the Munchkins Duvet Covers were born!  We have these listed on Trade Me to test the market out and again try and get some stock moving out so I can fit in the garage.  So far Gracies Garden and On the Farm are proving the most popular.  My favourite is by far the Fly Away design, however its not me buying them so what do I know….

 

Lucky Hamiltonians.  If you live in Hamilton, and take your Munchkin to a local daycare, swim school or happen to be at one of our great birth centres then keep your eyes peeled for our coupon codes to get you a special 10% discount of anything on our website.

After close analysis of our Website analytics I have noticed that we get great referral traffic from touchwoodcots.co.nz however our cots sales are almost non-existent.  I was perplexed and began some investigations.  I had priced our cots at the RRP given by Touchwood, and it turns out our competitors were selling them at $80-$90 cheaper than we were and offering free shipping, so $120 -$130 better than we were selling them.  So after some number crunching and some patience testing on our website, we are now price competitive so I hope our cot sales increase.  LESSON LEARNED: check out the competition!

Business aside, if you’re in the Waikato, today's Times pictured a VERY cute little boy on page 3, that’s our Cadell.

 This photo was taken at our much loved Kowhai Childcare Centre.  We were interviewed as our family is part of the "Growing up in NZ" research.  We are more like the trial run guinea pigs, or as they call us the "Leading Light Pilot Group".  There may perhaps be more photos in Saturday's paper too.  The Waikato Times are covering this as the new research findings at 9 months of age are released today.  Very interesting reading

Too Good to be True - Mobo Shipping Ltd

The things you learn when you have a business and it often feels like everyone is out to scam you!

Several days ago I received an email, very brief, asking for "Change Trays" and could the customer pay by credit card.  No indication of how many, where to ship to, the type of finish, just how much please?  We currently don't have change trays as an item on our website, and if he had been to our website he would've seen the credit card logos on there too.

I have had one these sort of emails before wanting to order just under $1000 (over $1000 needs customs clearance, for duty etc) of soft toys and night lights.  They all want to use their own shipping agents.  With this first one, all I could think was "holy cow! These are the perfect items to stash restricted goods in, and how do I know if their shipping agent isn't going to do that once they get the goods from me?  Then it will look like I have received payment for the contraband, and sent it off!"  Once I responded to his email saying that I had been in contact with customs to make sure it was safe and that I was happy to proceed, I never heard from him again - hopefully scared off by customs as I think my thoughts were his plans exactly!

This recent email, went to great detail over several emails, sending me information, emails and contact names of his shipping agent "Mobo Shipping Ltd" and the delivery address.  I was feeling quite reassured, and thinking of the income off a sale of 15 items priced at around $219 each (over $3000 in total).  But I was still wary.  After some good old Google research into the shipping company name, we discovered a huge scamming operation.

The reason they need to pay by credit card, and are apparently very good at paying promptly, including paying you the money to pay the shipping company, is because they are using stolen credit cards.  Obviously the "shipping company" is in on it too.  So we get the money, dirty stolen credit card money, and then pay the shipping company from our bank account (our clean hard earned money) and send off the goods, happy as a lark. 

Soon the bank will call to ask for the stolen credit card money to be refunded, every cent of what you have just received.  And if for example we have paid the "Shipping company" $1000 of our clean money this is what we end up with...

$1000 out of pocket because there is no way the "Shipping company" will refund us, lost goods in the range of $3000, and $3000 having to be given back to the poor person whose credit card was stolen and used.  And of course severely bruised pride - suckered into the whole thing.

Oh the joys of having a small business and being perhaps a little to trusting and accommodating to these scammy customers.

I have replied to "Darren Luke" telling him, "We prefer to use our own shipping company as we can guarantee safe delivery and tracking of our goods.  I have also been in contact with our Merchant Service who have told us not to accept international Credit Cards, as these are less secure.  We will require full payment by International Money Transfer"  So it will be interesting to see if I get a response, which I highly doubt.

Interestingly, our supplier of "Change Trays" has had three inquiries from their stockists, wanting to know if this sounded legit or not.

"If its too good to be true - it's probably a scam"

Satisfaction for the Soul

I love reading something, sharing something with a friend, or creating something that gives me a deeply satisfying feeling - it just warms the cockles of my heart!

One of my very good friends, once a colleague in mainstream primary, then we shared our time pregnant together with our boys being born 3 weeks apart, and the same person who convinced me that Steiner Early Childhood Care was a wonderful option, shared with me one of the websites that inspires her daily routines (rhythms at home with her now three children). 

It is  

I have only spent a few minutes reading the articles but I felt so revived after looking at the website.  It's a pity its northern hemisphere, but still easy enough to find seasonal activities, and celebrations.  I really liked the article on Birthday Traditions, and I will begin to create these for our children too.

That's all for now, will post again soon with a preview of a product we are hoping to stock from Australia to help our little ones with toilet training.

Enjoy your reading!

The Business Blues

I have a case of the business blues…  On reflection I knew this would happen.  I have what most people call a “bubbly” personality, and so I have found throughout my life people perceive me as confident, organized (where they get that idea from I really don’t know!) and with leadership ability.

When I know these are all just lovely euphemisms as follows:

BUBBLY = actually incredibly shy, but I just put on a smiley face and agree with everyone to keep everyone happy.

CONFIDENT = the same as above, but mainly I’m impatient, so rather than sit in a crowd where everyone is too scared to put their hand up, wasting my precious time, I’ll stand up for a job or say my piece.  NOW CAN WE PLEASE MOVE ON! NEXT!!!!  (hardly the patience you’d expect from a teacher I know, but kids are easy to be patient with, they’re still learning, adults – you’ve had your chance, get on with it…)

ORGANISED= this must be where people assume I know more than them (probably because I’m always the one talking in a group) and everyone seems to assume that because I’m a female and a teacher I have everything at my finger tips.  They believe I have a hand bag full of felts, coloured pens, erasers, panadol, tampons, plasters and just what ever may come in handy.  Sadly, I have owned a handbag for just over a year, I never have a pen in it, I’m trying my best to use a diary, but I am still carrying tampons even though I’m pregnant!

LEADERSHIP ABILITY:  This must truly be a euphemism for “No one wants to do it so we will tell Laurene to take charge, she always has an opinion, never says no, and she just smiles all the time.”  Truth is, I hate it when the buck stops at me, I find conflict extremely hard to deal with, and although I think I can delegate I still really want to know what everyone is doing.  Then I’m extremely forgetful, turning up late everywhere and unprepared.

My personality is also such that I’m a little like a faulty sky rocket.  Full of potential, great ideas, I get people excited, inspire people, once I’m lit I take off with full power and fury, and just when I’m on the edge of the atmosphere, I explode… falling….. and crumbling to the ground….

I just get bored and lose momentum.  This is how I feel about Munchkins at the moment.  I am very lucky to have a well grounded, level headed fiancée who knows a thing or two about leadership, management and business.  He also has a vested interest in Munchkins, financially and emotionally, because he has to tolerate me and my moods!

The concept I am currently struggling with is the vast vats of money it takes just to set things up, and with the products we sell at Munchkins our returns or cash flow in is small and slow.  To improve our sales we need to advertise, that costs money, to get money we need more sales, but to get more sales we need to advertise – get my point?  It is very frustrating, but very common I hear, and hope.

I have learnt so much about book keeping and using MYOB but what I know really isn’t even the tip of the iceberg.  I blindly go about entering my invoices and following the steps my great teacher Donna has shown me, only to forget it, stuff it up and go back to her 2-3 months later to have her teach me all over again.  The problem is I don’t really understand anything about accounting – AT ALL.  I didn’t even take Accounting at College.  But I’ll get there.

On the plus side, as there has to be a silver lining somewhere….

Working for myself means that I can run to the beat of my own drum.  If I’ve had enough of looking at the computer, I can go and read my latest book about Steiner Principles in Early Childhood Development.  I can ring a friend with out saying “Gotta go, have to be at work in 10 minutes”  because I’m always running late.  I can go and prospect bricks and mortar businesses to sell our brand.  I can pick Cadell up early and take him for a swim.  Or my favourite activity when Cadell is at day care – just go and sleep while the baby in my tummy is not hiccupping, or kicking out the side walls of my abdomen!

So while I’m feeling a bit low about business at this very moment, I know the reasons behind what we are doing are the best thing for our family and for me right now.  Its just those little parts of my personality that can bring me down, but they will also bring me back up again.

The Genius of Play

 

Our son is lucky enough to attend one of the few Steiner based child care centres in New Zealand - Kowhai Childcare.  When I was working part time, I worked at the Waikato Waldorf School just 200m up the road from him.

Kowhai Whare, the original centre. Cadell attends Tui Whare just two years old, built for increasing enrolments

I kind of fell into the Steiner philosophy, as in I didn't seek it out.  But these things come into our lives for a reason.  One of my good friends who I used to teach with in a mainstream school who also happened to have a baby at the same time I had Cadell, returned to work as the Manager of Kowhai.  When I started back doing some relieving and finding more regular work she suggested I come and look at Kowhai.  I had intentions of starting Cadell at a Montessori childcare.  I visited our local one, and although it seemed nice I just didn't get that great vibe you look for when letting your precious child go into the care of others.  So I took my friends advice and headed down to Kowhai.  I fell in love with the place instantly.  The smell of home baking and the kitchen being the heart of the centre, and children being free to play.  Best of all there was no busy stinky road close to it.

And so Cadell has called Tui his second home Tui Whare for two years now.  Being a teacher you'd think I'd be all focused on academic achievement for my own children, preparing them for school, and teaching them early reading and writing skills.  Funnily enough I couldn't be more opposed to this.  Learning more and more about the Steiner approach, I truly believe that Cadell is not yet ready for any of this.  I want him to appreciate diversity in culture and people, to learn to manage his emotions and relationships, develop motor skills, good work habits, and reverence for the simple things in life and what nature provides for us.  The Steiner approach does all of this.

We are lucky enough to have access to some wonderful books in the Kowhai library and one I am thoroughly enjoying now is called "The Genius of Play: Celebrating the Spirit of Childhood" by Sally Jenkinson.  What an amazing approach to raising children and opening my eyes to the true value of play for my son.

Here's a little excerpt that rang true for me:

In Steiner kindergartens and in other settings where early academic pressure has less of a hold, the tradition of embracing children in adult work is still maintained. Cleaning, cooking, baking, gardening adults accompany the children  and invite them to participate in real, observable work.  Exposure to adult work helps develop good work habits and is a tremendous incentive to play.  So much work is carried out by  unseen by sophisticated machines these days that children have little opportunity to see human hands doing more than button pushing.

I also felt reassured by this passage:

Working adults of the past had little time to play with their children.  Today, we think it is our duty to play with our children, rather than to work with them, and we rush to finish our tasks so that we can have 'quality time with the kids'.  Entering shared reality levels together in play can be enormous fun, but children nearly always play best when left to their own devices, in, or just out of the shadow of the working adult.  Because we are always so busy, the involving of our children in our work, especially when they helpfully unmake the beds we have just made, can seem difficult.  It probably requires a more relaxed attitude to house keeping and a more tolerant attitude toward child-keeping.  Beds can always be remade - children can't.

I particularly like this one because I often feel bad that I don't sit and play, solely focused on Cadell.  I love baking (my procrastination tool) and I used to do it when Cadell was at day care, but I am doing it more with him now, and he is really reaping the benefits of being able to work with me.  Even though it is stretching my tolerance and turning me grey!  As we made hot cross buns together and he helped to measure, tip in and mix the dry ingredients, he said "Should I make a well?"  I felt so pleased that he is learning the language of baking, and also the motor skills required to stir with a wooden spoon and keep ALL the flour in the bowl.

It also makes sense to take the time to teach children these skills to build their independence, and as I recall when reading in one of the books that Diane Levy recommended, to do something independently builds their self esteem and self confidence to try new things.  The reality of this is I really need Cadell to get changed without my help in the mornings while I am feeding or tending to a new born!

I had a discussion with my mother in law, who, like all grandparents, believe that her grandchildren are special and very talented.  She asked if Cadell will go to a Steiner school, to which I replied "Most likely"  She was concerned that by starting school at 6 years old and learning to knit and craft before being formally taught to read (rest assured it is a language rich environment) that it was all left too late.  I would like to think that in my experience as a teacher I will pick up on cues that he is ready to learn to read, but certainly won't be pushing him.  In today's world where media is in our faces constantly and as stated above children don't get to see human hands doing work as often, I want Cadell's schooling years to be more traditional, perhaps even old fashioned, simple, fun and without academic pressure.  Certainly there is academic rigour, it is just less obvious to a person used to the "instruction" children receive in schools today.  Cadell's home life exposes him to TV, computers, stylised images, and all sorts of things that aren't very Steiner like, so school will offer some reprieve from all those influences.

That's my Steiner spiel for the week.