Work & Play

Corner View was created by Jane at Spain Daily and is hosted by Francesca at FuoriBorgo. We are invited to post pictures telling the stories of our different lives and cultures. This week's theme is 'work & play'.

One of our favourite places to work and play is the charity shop where we've worked together as volunteers since Sunnyboy was 5 months old. Our main task at work is sorting and testing toys, which is a job particularly suited to Sunnyboy's skills. The first Corner View I took part in was 'Shopping' and then I posted pictures of a much younger Sunnyboy working and playing in our shop. This is Sunnyboy at work and play now.

Upstairs in the "toy room".





Lego.



Up and down the stairs.



Downstairs on the shop floor.





Finding a good book.



At our favourite cafe on the way home from work.





Corner Views from around the world:
Jane, Dana, Bonny, Joyce, Ian, Francesca, Theresa, Cate, Kasia, Otli, Trinsch, Isabelle, Janis, Kari, jgy, Lise, Dorte, McGillicutty, Sunnymama, Ibb, Kelleyn, Ninja, Sky, RosaMaria, Juniper, Valerie, Sammi, Cole, Don, WanderChow, FlowTops, Tania, Tzivia, Kristin, Laura, Guusje, Susanna, Juana, Elsa, Nadine

Silly

Corner View was created by Jane at Spain Daily and is hosted by Francesca at FuoriBorgo. We are invited to post pictures telling the stories of our different lives and cultures. This week's theme is 'Silly'.

Sorting toys at work and being silly, on a bank holiday when there weren't any customers in the shop.







Corner Views from around the world:
Jane, Dana, Bonny, Joyce, Ian, Francesca, Theresa, Cate, Kasia, Otli, Trinsch, Isabelle, Janis, Kari, jgy, Lise, Dorte, McGillicutty, Sunnymama, Ibb, Kelleyn, Ninja, Sky, RosaMaria, Juniper, Valerie, Sammi, Cole, Don, WanderChow, FlowTops, Tania, Tzivia, Kristin, Laura, Guusje, Susanna, Juana, Elsa, Nadine

See more Silly at Thursday Challenge

More inspiration

My last post was 101 inspiring links: spring, creativity and parenting and here's an update with some more inspiration.

Family Nature Club at Ordinary Life Magic (Too.)
Children and nature awareness month challenge at 5 Orange Potatoes
20 Ways to Enjoy Springtime at SimpleMom
Discoveries at discovering flowers
Playing With Trash: Mini Lego Playhouse at makes and takes
Tree Branch Tea Set (for the gnomes) at Childhood Magic
Rainbow Birthday Cake with White Chocolate Icing at Home Baked
And into the Weekend With Us!!! at Dancing the Enchantment
On Service at Shivaya Naturals
Mali photography: and a global tale of mothers and babies at My Marrakesh (thanks to Lisa for the link to this beautiful and thought-provoking post)

An interesting article...

Supermum, role model or a mite misguided? The headteacher who returned to work SEVEN HOURS after giving birth

"No one made me choose whether to work or be with my baby and I don't think other women should be made to choose either"

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1252119/Supermum-role-model-mite-misguided-The-headteacher-returned-work-SEVEN-hours-giving-birth.html#ixzz0g2Fm0ACs

Work, play and learning in the lives of young children

'What about the youngest children - where do they fit in? Samantha Punch carried out a detailed study of children's work in Churquiales, a small rural community in Southern Bolivia. By three or four years old, children were already fetching water, collecting firewood, going on errands, feeding ducks and chickens, scaring birds from crops, picking peas and beans, peeling maize stalks and harvesting peaches. As children got older they progressed onto more complex, physically demanding and responsible tasks...

Punch concludes

Even from an early age children carry out some tasks independently and they should not be seen purely as helpers but active contributors in their own right. Their unpaid work not only benefits the household ... but also increases their sense of autonomy, enabling them to gain skills and competencies useful for their individual independence. (2001:818)

...From a Western perspective, child work is viewed as a potential threat to children's welfare and development. The expression 'child labour' is frequently used, which has connotations of exploitation and harm. From his research among the Abaluyia of Kenya, Weisner (1989) notes that parents may hold a quite contrary view. Children's work is seen as valuable, not just in preparing them for their adult roles, but serving an essential function as a form of emotional and social support, integrating children into a family and community network that places high value on interdependence and interconnectedness...

[In Europe and North America] most young children's activities are interpreted within the dominant discourse of 'play' and 'learning'. From the children's point of view they are experienced as attempts to contribute, as small examples of 'work'.'

Work, play and learning in the lives of young children
Martin Woodhead
In: Psychological Development and Early Childhood by John Oates, Clare Wood and Andrew Grayson, The Open University 2005, pages 41-46




March 2009

*The inspiration for Conscious Friday comes from Se'Lah at Necessary Room.

Children's work and the Continuum Concept

'I was present at the first moments of one little girl's working life. She was about two years old. I had seen her with the women and girls, playing as they grated manioc into a trough. Now she was taking a piece of manioc from the pile and rubbing it against the grater of a girl near her. The chunk was too big; she dropped it several times trying to draw it across the rough board. An affectionate smile and a smaller piece of manioc came from her neighbour, and her mother, ready for the inevitable impulse to show itself, handed her a tiny grating board of her own. The little girl had seen the women grating as long as she could remember and immediately rubbed the nubbin up and down her board like the others.
She lost interest in less than a minute and ran off, leaving her little grater in the trough and no noticeable inroads on the manioc. No one made her feel her gesture was funny or a 'surprise'; the women did, indeed, expect it sooner or later, as they are all familiar with the fact that children do join in the culture, though their approach and pace are dictated by forces within themselves. That the end result will be social, cooperative and entirely voluntary is not in question.'

Jean Liedloff
The Continuum Concept


May 2009

Babies at Work

Parenting in the Workplace Institute

Parenting at Work

I'm a stay-at-home and work-out-of-the-home mum. When Sunnyboy was 5 months old we started going to work together as volunteers in a charity shop. For the first year and a half Sunnyboy was mostly worn in a sling while I worked and from 2 years old he played on the floor beside me. Since then he's gradually joined in with more and more tasks and has learnt so much from being with adults in a work environment. It's been wonderful to work and learn together in a child-friendly workplace with co-workers who have become a community for us, and also to be able to make a positive contribution to our wider local community. When the choice is preschool or work, the decision for us is obvious.

Sorting, testing and pricing toys in the stockroom upstairs















Sorting clothing





Washing up



Loading toys on the lift





Going down the stairs



Stocking the toy shelves





Stocking the bric-a-brac shelves





Having a rest



Serving behind the counter with a co-worker



Using the till



Our locker



The Continuum Concept
Full Time Mothers
Parenting in the Workplace Institute
Babies at Work: Bringing New Life to the Workplace by Carla Moquin
Bringing Baby to Work by Lisa Belkin, Motherlode Blog - NYTimes.com
Back to Work - With Baby by Christina Boufis, Hybrid Mom
Off to Work We Go - Baby in Tow! by Annie Feighery, Mothering
Stay-at-home mums save the country £1bn a year by carrying out volunteer work by Arthur Martin and Emily Andrews, Mail Online
You Can Be A Stay at Home Mom! by Kelley Scarsbrook (video presentation)
Learning is Children's Work by Wendy Priesnitz

Self Fulfillment and Full Time Parenting

'Staying at home full time to raise a child does not mean there should be no opportunities for personal fulfillment - quite the contrary. Being at home can create opportunities to develop new skills and explore other possibilities. This huge life change can create the momentum necessary to stretch our imaginations and pursue new areas of interest.

Many people find self fulfillment through paid work. In traditional cultures women undertake work with their children on their backs in slings or by their sides playing. Extended families and communities share the care of children, who enjoy being part of everyday life. Only in westernised society does women going to work equate to leaving children in the care of strangers.

“There are many ways to maintain a career or outside interests from home. As tribal cultures demonstrate, children do not need to be the centre of attention to be well adjusted – they simply need to be kept close and integrated into the activities of their parents. According to Jean Liedloff, young children are uncomfortable when adults are focused on them; rather, they need to be the observers in order to absorb and learn as the adults around them go about the business of daily life” Peggy O’Mara in Natural Family Living (2000:119).'

Self Fulfillment and Full Time Parenting
by Susan Stark

Wordless Wednesday

The way to work

On our way to work together we often sing our own version of 'The Way To Work', a song from the CBeebies programme Me Too!.

'The programme then alternates between what the parents are doing at work and what the children are doing with Granny Murray. One of the aims behind the series is to reassure children of working parents who go to childminders that their parents are always thinking of them. In addition, children get a view into an adult's working day (simplified and more entertaining than a real work day for children's benefit).'

Sunnyboy enjoys watching this television programme about childminder Granny Murray although I'm not a fan at all. Recently I was reassured that the CBeebies propaganda was unsuccessful when I asked Sunnyboy if he would like to go to Granny Murray's house instead of coming to work with me. He told me, "No, I like going to work."





























See other people's worlds at My World Tuesday
See more outdoor pictures at Outdoor Wednesday