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By Julie, on September 3rd, 2010
The Newmarket Viaduct will be closed for around 36 hours from 5pm Saturday to late Sunday night. Train trips will be free throughout Auckland’s rail network during this period to accommodate traffic.
The motorway’s southbound lanes will be closed between the Gillies Ave off-ramp and Greenlane interchange which is being considered to have the potential to cause extensive congestion throughout Auckland and people are being advised to stay away from the Southern Motorway. Detours are planned, are available online, here and here.
We could take advantage of this, if you’d like, and could add a fun free train trip with our visit to the Auckland Museum which is also free to Auckland residents with proof of address. This can either be a letter addressed to you such as a bill or your library card. They have a lot of children activities so it could be a good idea to dress your children in clothing you don’t mind getting paint on and these cost a gold coin donation. One event this Sunday is ‘Trolly Dolly Exhibition‘.
We will meet outside the main entrance at 11am, walk around the museum, find a nice place to sit and eat lunch and then look for children’s activities and visit more areas of the museum.
Also this day is North Shore Support group meeting and Potluck Lunch.
Venue: Bayview Community Centre
72 Bayview Road, Glenfield – see MAP here
Cost: free for members, $2 gold coin donation for non-members.
Don’t forget to bring a plate of food to share with the group.
By Julie, on September 2nd, 2010
I was very fortunate to be invited to Family First’s ‘Forum of the Family’ where I got to listen to speakers who care about families and children. I was very impressed with the way they understood and spoke about single parents and their families. None of it was, “They’re oppressed, they’re disabled, they’re doomed, they’re discriminated against or they’re not capable” but rather each time they spoke of family situations they nicely made the point ‘Single Parent’s have a tougher job doing it alone’ …… which is absolutely true!
Anyways, one of the speakers was Judy Bailey who used to present the news on TV. Presently she is with the charity Brainwaves and they are forwarding information coming through from Neuroscience particularly around brain development to schools, parents and groups around NZ.
Honestly, …. mind blowing.
The way our children’s brain develops will determine who they are and who they will become. The information helps us to better understand the relationship between nature (genes) and nurture (experience). Brain development is a ‘dance’ or interplay between genes and experience and both play an important part in the life we are responsible for.
Your child’s brain begins to form within days of conception. However most of his/her brain actually develops after birth – in the first three years of life. It is his/her experiences in these years that will shape and build his/her brain. Interestingly, humans are the only species whose brain adapts to their environment.
It’s not rocket science to know we as parents are important in our child’s development but it’s awesome to understand the scientific side of it.
Here is Brainwave’s booklet on the first 3 years of a child’s life.
Here is Brainwaves site. Go and check it out! There’s much more on offer than just the first 3 years of a child’s life.
Also, I have phoned them to get a speaker to present the information to our group at one of our support meetings. You mustn’t miss this. 
By Julie, on August 31st, 2010
Starting the week on a Tuesday is great fun, especially after a weekend away – left Friday, returned Monday. As always, people are fantastic, the Bay of Plenty is beautiful and I’m feeling relaxed and motivated after the break……… Actually, I’m sick but that’s not going to stop a good attitude, lol.
Which reminds me, we cut off the date for our Christmas camping holiday on the 30th but if you get in quickly, we can still book for you. I picked up a beautiful big tent from my children’s father on Friday and I am aware there are others bringing big tents and other stuff we can share so please don’t feel like you need to miss out because you don’t have things.
Other notes of importance;
Father Daniel Ryder is leaving Auckland today to tour the country protesting outside CYFS offices and I will try to keep us all up to date on his progress.
Men’s groups will be presenting some excellent workshops this week in Waitakere for ‘Fathering our city’ and all are invited, specially needed are fathers.
Birthright is flying our sister/brother single support groups up to Auckland for a meeting on making us a national group – one voice for single parents. This is important so if you are outside of Auckland and have been giving serious thought to starting a single parent group in your area, please get in touch with us ASAP. Also, if you are in Auckland and want to help as a leader in any area that affects single parents, please let us know so we can have you attending.
Bush walks are now going to be a regular weekend event.
Pinocchio tickets are here so we have to get them out to you. Expect to be asked for confirmation of address, times and number of tickets.
We have a potluck dinner at Linda’s this Saturday night coming that’s going to be fun and our Nth Shore support group as well as an adventure at the Auckland Museum on Sunday.
Sooooo, I hope your week has started off well and ends well too. Oh, as always, keep an eye on events.
Warm regards,
By Julie, on August 27th, 2010
Being a gender neutral single parent support group means we support both fathers and mothers and next week is Waitakere’s Dad4Life: Focus on Fathering Week (Monday 30 August – Sunday 5 September 2010).
It’s a week to celebrate fatherhood, present issues father’s face to community groups and the wider public and a week where men will hold meetings to discuss where Waitakere goes with it’s support for men as fathers. Since single parent fathers have a unique understanding of the needs of fathers during separation and raising children as sole parents and parents who share the care of their children, our dads have been asked to attend and give their opinion and advice. This is a time when you’re the expert simply for the fact you walk the walk and as this opportunity comes around once a year, it would be wonderful to get as many fathers along as possible to one particular event so Waitakere can put services in place for 2011.
Engaging with Waitakere Dads
What’s working and what’s worth trying?
Wednesday 1 September 7pm-9pm at Te Tari Puna Ora O Aotearoa, 8 Montel Ave, Henderson.
A discussion event for fathers and those who care about them, with representatives from the following organisations:
Great Fathers
Father and Child
SKIP
Healthwest
New Born Fathers
Parent Trust
Plunket
Te Tari Puna Ora O Aotearoa
Unitec
By Julie, on August 26th, 2010
I received a phone call today from manager John Donaghy of Birthright. Birthright is an organisation that was established in 1955 and although they don’t have a group in Auckland any more, they have many groups around the country.
We had a wonderful conversation about single parents and teenagers and the need for single parents to be supported during this challenging time. I spoke about my ordeal and how I was fortunate to have the support of 3 older women. Two were tough on me, relentlessly reminding me how I was responsible for my children’s lives as a parent. No sympathy was given for ‘poor me’ who was struggling but they did give me advice. The third one empowered me by explaining how teenager’s trials work which gave me a way of dealing with each one as they presented themselves. I’m so glad they were in my life and I’m so glad they kept pushing me for now that my children are older and we’ve come out the other end, I have a good relationship with them, they are respectful to me and they’ve had a good start in life.
Sadly, not everyone has been as fortunate as me. I have a bus stop across the road from my place where single mothers sit escaping from their home that is overrun by their children. It’s very sad to see and it’s happening everywhere.
Last year, 444 children aged 14 to 16 were apprehended for domestic common assault – up from 339 in 2008 and way up from the 114 in 2000, Statistics New Zealand figures showed. A further 17 were apprehended for common assault using a weapon (not a firearm) in a domestic situation.
Continue reading Support for single parents with teens
By Julie, on August 22nd, 2010
Camping’s great fun – something adults and children alike keep as fond memories. What could be better during the Christmas School Holidays than a week including New Year’s Eve being celebrated with a camping ground full of other fun families and singles?
The outdoors all day, children running around and making special friends, adults enjoying great company, the sleeping in tents, the gas cooker, the oil lantern that you need to walk with when you want to use the bathroom at night, the stories around a camp-fire, the fishing, the swimming at the beach, the laughter, …… and exploration.
You don’t need everything because we’re all sharing. Some of us have large tents, some of us have gas cookers, lanterns, spare sleeping bags and more, right down to the plastic cutlery. And besides, together we are making a list, checking it twice and going out and getting the things we need. But what we need right now, is to know who’s coming so we can book. If we leave it any later we’ll be camping in my backyard. *not a good idea”.
Soooo, please let us know if you are coming and how many children you are bringing, ASAP. Email: info@singleparents.org.nz. As always, when you leave a comment, others will get to know who else is coming.
Dates: From December 28th 2010 to January 3rd 2011 (choose as many days as you like, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. )
Cast: $10 – $15 per adult per night. $5 – $7 per child and children under 3/4 free.
Work out how many days/nights you are coming for and times it by the cost per day.
By Julie, on August 22nd, 2010
When you register as a member of ASPT, you also become a member of our website so it’s important you know how to use it. Below are easy to follow instructions for you to know what to do once you are given a username and password.
The easiest way to follow these instructions is to open 2 tabs or 2 windows that are both http://singleparents.org.nz/. You can have one to show the instructions and the other to follow the instructions. To open a new window or tab put your mouse over http://singleparents.org.nz/ for our website, and right click. A menu (box) will appear with the option ‘Open link in new window’ and ‘Open link in new tab’. Choose one.
Log-in and access your profile
- Once you have received a username and password, you can log-in. This is done in a box at the top right-hand corner where you enter your username and password. Once entered, you will come to a new page called the ‘dashboard’.
…..Don’t be afraid – it looks more complicated than it is.
- Once at the dashboard you need to adjust your profile. Look to the top right-hand corner and you will see the words ‘Howdy …….. (your name)‘ and ‘Log out‘. When you click your name you are taken to your profile. Here you can change things and add more information. See picture (click to enlarge).
Making changes to ‘your profile’
Continue reading How to log-in, access your profile, make changes and subscribe.
By Julie, on August 21st, 2010
Hello World!
It’s been a challenge connecting Auckland Single Parent’s Trust to facebook – let me tell you – I have a new found admiration for those who work in IT……. Anyways, I’m very pleased it’s finally ‘done and dusted’ so to speak and look forward to publishing some excellent articles on topics I’ve got sitting and waiting to be published (I think you’ll find them interesting) that affect single parents as well as more events.
From here on, this post is to explain what we’ve done, what you need to do and can do.
If you are reading this, you are at one of three places. Either on the wordpress site, the facebook application or the facebook page.
The connection through a facebook application has allowed us to streamline. This means that whatever is written on wordpress shows up on facebook and when you join the facebook page, you will have articles and events streamlined to your newsfeed. (if you are on facebook).
This is good because events and topics come to you and you can make a comment confirming events or add your opinion, experience and/or knowledge to topics. In turn other single parents can also do the same and you will get to read what they say while they get to read what you say. It’s a great way to make friends and network with other single parents all over New Zealand.
What you need to do and can do.
Where ever you are, you need to join the facebook page. To do this click here to be taken to it. Whatever is written here is written there so you’ll still be able to read these instructions, (while this post is fresh).
Now that you’re at the facebook page, you need to click the ‘like box’ that is to the top right of the written articles (just left of advertisement). To see what a like button looks like, check out the ‘like button’ at the bottom of our articles on our wordpress site, ….. then come back to our ‘facebook page’.
It would be wonderful, if you could leave a comment introducing yourself to the rest of the group and add others who are like yourself as friends. You can also write on the page just as you can the website about another topic, share pictures and videos. Just as the website, the page belongs to all of us and if you can contribute, we’d all be grateful.
Don’t forget to check out our events on our wordpress site, left hand column and add you name if you want to join us.
BTW, if you want to add me as a friend feel free to visit my profile.
By Julie, on August 16th, 2010
By Julie, on August 10th, 2010
 From left to right: Me (Julie), Jenny, Achint and Linda At our last central Auckland meeting, we adults came up with a few ideas that we think will benefit the group. We considered how we have 3 areas with monthly meetings and still need to set up Sth Auckland. By the way, a little birdie told me we have some neat parents out south and I’m looking forward to meeting y’all. There’s also lots of fun things to do in the area, which I’m also looking forward to.
And so, we thought how every week we are somewhere having a lunch as well as going out Saturday nights and wanting family events on the weekends and some walks. We considered how much time it takes to organise all this and that we want to introduce speakers and workshops.
What we thought would be better considering all the above, is to have central, north and south as 2 monthly meetings where we can provide something special as well as sharing and getting together. This means there will not be an October meeting and there may not be a December meeting as we have a number of Christmas events and then Christmas day and a camp for New Years Eve. 2011 will be a new year and we may find we need monthly meetings for different groups but at this stage we are not looking that far ahead.
September’s meetings will have guest speakers and the theme we have chosen for central Auckland is ‘Shared Parenting – how it works and how to make it work”. North Shore’s meeting is yet to be decided.
……………….
On another note, my internet connection broke down over the weekend and so I’m only now catching up with emails. My apologies to new members who have joined – I will be sending you replies ASAP.
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