How well do you celebrate your successes?

I wasn’t going to have a launch for Full Belly.  It takes a certain amount of organisation and effort, people are busy, and in some ways it seems a little indulgent.

But I was persauded to have a launch after completing a wellbeing survey online.  The survey which is part of a worldwide study of wellbeing made me realise that when it comes to looking after my own wellbeing there is one thing I’m really bad at.

I’m really good at setting goals - like writing a book about pregnancy and birth.  But I’m terrible at taking the time to reflect and celebrate once the goal has been achieved.

Once I’ve achieved a goal, I tend to do three things:

1. Tick it off the list

2. Think, ‘If I achieved it, it couldn’t have been that difficult’

3. Set another goal

But by doing so, I’m depriving myself of the good positive emotions that come with having identified something I really want to do, working hard to achieve it, and then giving myself a pat on the back.

We often talk about the importance of the ‘journey’ as though it is more important than the ‘outcome’.

But both are important.

And taking the time to reflect, celebrate and enjoy successes is a very important component of wellbeing.

So from now on when I achieve a goal, I’m going to do the following:

1. Tick it off the list

2. Think, ‘If I achieved it, then I’ve done really well!’

3. Find some way to celebrate, however small

4. Set another goal

So we launched Full Belly yesterday.  Thank you to everyone who came along and helped celebrate Full Belly!

You’ve helped me on my path to better wellbeing. And I hope Full Belly helps you and others too!

By Jodie Benveniste, director of Parent Wellbeing
We inspire parents to become better people and better parents

Read a free extract of Full Belly: Comfort and inspiration for pregnancy and birth
Buy Full Belly: Comfort and inspiration for pregnancy and birth

A new magazine has been launched in Australia called Wonder time - loving your life with little ones.

I have always been somewhat dubious about the glut of magazines on the market aimed at parents. There are just so many! Magazines about pregnancy, shopping for your baby, kids clothing magazines that look like toddler editions of Vogue… So how refreshing it was to be shown a copy of Wonder time.

This is the parenting magazine I was looking for. It has smart articles about important things that I need to know about. Articles on nurturing a shy child, getting out of the house on time and how to ‘put a lid on toilet humour without creating a big stink’.

It has a regular page called ‘please explain’ which helps you answer children’s tricky questions such as ‘How do boats float?’ I also enjoyed the page on ‘Fascinations - Why kids love….’. This edition explores and celebrates the humble cardboard box.

Wonder time has practical information on growing vegetables with your children, cycling as a family and guinea pigs as pets. And a very funny article on Star Wars - and the role it plays in one family (’but I am your faaather….’).

My personal favourite article has to be ’Teach your kids how to swing’.  When I worked as an early childhood professional the calls of ‘Push me!’ were by far the most common and most tiresome in the playground.
I have always wondered if there was a practical way to teach children how to do it themselves.
As my son becomes more and more obsessed with the swings at our local playground and my partner draws his plans for our backyard tree swing, I can see the article coming in handy. Very handy.

It is definitely a magazine for parents. Wonder time is not just about what is best for kids but what is best for parents and families. It is heavy on content, humour and good advice without ever feeling ‘preachy’. It’s not a quick flick through magazine but more a sit down with a cup of coffee and enjoy type read.

I should mention that Wonder time has an impressive Editorial Advisory Board. As well as Parent Wellbeing creator and director Jodie Benveniste, Wonder time is overseen by the CEO of The Australian Childhood Foundation Dr Joe Tucci, Dr Gillian Deakin and Dr Victoria Whitington, Program Director of the Early Childhood School of Education at the University of South Australia. It’s nice to know there is a strong knowledge base behind the content.

I’d suggest you have a browse at your local newagents. Wonder time may just brighten your day.

Emma Anderson,

Early childhood professional and mum to Jasper