MS Readathon - June 1 -30

It is that time of the year again for the MS Readathon. This a great program that I remember getting involved with when I was in school. I think it is a very rewarding way to get kids excited about reading and also learning about a segment of the community that they may not have any contact with.

What is it?

The MS Readathon is a reading-based fund raising program run by Multiple Sclerosis Australia. For over 20 years the MS Readathon has encouraged children to read books, learn about MS and raise funds to help people living with MS. Through their sponsourship per book or minute read 58,000 children completed the program in June last year.

How can your children become involved?

1. Register
Register online at http://www.msreadathon.org.au

2. Reading
There is no set list of books for participants. Simply encourage them to rad anything at their own level. Children can read text such as magazines, newspapers, novels, CD Rom books and website research to help reach their reading and fundraising goals.

3. Fund raising
Participants fund raise with parental permission by asking for sponsourship pledges from family and friends for book or minute read or as a flat donation for their reading effort.

Everyone who finishes will receive a Certificate of Appreciation to recognise their dedication to help others.

Children's Guide - Great Publication and Great Way to Advertise your Mumpreneur Business

On Friday I went to the Pregnancy Babies & Children's Expo. One of the things that I found is the Children's Guide. This looks like a great resource book and I would recommend it to anyone with children in Sydney's city and Inner West (additional Sydney areas coming out later in the year).

What's in the guide?
The guide is a comprehensive guide to local service and facilities available to children 0-12. It's focus is on supporting and promoting local businesses and services to local consumers. It is more than just a list of local services and provides great information for parents. One thing I love is the section on shopping entres and shopping strips. When I first had my son it was one of the things that I noticed quite quickly that my whole relationship had changed with. Now I had a whole heap of new requirements and many of the centres and shopping strips that I had enjoyed in the past where no longer really a option. One of the sections of the book looks in shoping centres and has a guide to help you see if it has things like easy pram access, nappy changing areas, baby feeding areas, parent parking and children's play areas.

Opportunities for Mumpreneurs
Guides are being prepared for Sydney-wide in 2009 and business who provide products or services which cater to the needs of children and families are being invited to include their contact details, business hours and a brief description for FREE. The ability to have a logo can also be done for a small fee and a limited amount of advertising space will be available in each section. Go to the website to register your details

This is a great opportunity to promote your Mumpreneur business.

Magic Yellow Bus - Marrickville Council

This week is the first time we had visited the Magic Yellow Bus and my son absolutely loved it. What is the Magic Yellow Bus I hear you say ... well it is a an exciting and fun mobile outdoor playgroup with plenty of free activities for young children and their parents.

The Magic Yellow Bus is funded by the Department of Community Services and managed by Marrickville Council. The Magic Yellow Bus is a free activities and community information service for children aged six weeks to 12 years and their parents/carers. The Magic Yellow Bus is a mobile play group rather than a supervisory service and therefore all children must be accompanied by an adult. The service operates 50 weeks a year, except in wet weather conditions or extreme heat (temperatures in excess of 35 degrees Celsius). The service does not operate during public holidays.

It is worth a visit if you are in the area.

Does your local area do anything? I would love to hear

New Budget - First Glance

The Labor Governments has delivered its first budget that is dedicated to spending on healthcare, welfare programs and infrastructure while winding back benefits for "those that can afford it" hmm.. A robin hood budget.

But let's first look at it's primary goal
* will it reduce inflation? ... well economists are skeptical. Or is it in fact inflationary?
* will it help to reduce interest rates? ... well economists are again not convinced ..most say no. Some are saying that it will increase pressure on the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates.

WINNERS & LOSERS

Winners
* middle-income families with children and both parents in the workforce

Losers
* stay-at-home mothers married to income earners over $150K or those with a combined income over $150K

Tax Cuts
The tax cuts coming into effect this July will be worth from $8.65 a week, for someone on $30,000 a year, to a maximum of $50 a week, for someone on more than $180,000.

The overall effect of the swag of budget measures varies significantly depending on family incomes, whether both parents are in the workforce, and the number of children and their ages and how much time they spend in child care.

Mr Swan released a series of examples showing the overall effect will be greatest for young families on low to middle incomes with two children in child care. The examples show a couple with two children under five in long day care would be between $20.19 a week (where only one parent works and is on an income of $40,000) and $110 a week (where both parents work full-time for a combined income of $105,000) better off.

The examples do not mention the losers, the single-income families on more than $150,000 a year who will lose family tax benefit B, the baby bonus and will be less likely to benefit from the more generous child-care tax rebate.
I always get nervous when the terms Robin Hood or taking from "those that can affort it" are spoken. It usually means that they are not targeting the rich but usually middle Australia on above average incomes (PAYE employees) living in capital cities. Working families that can not hide or effectively manage their taxable income through tax minisation and so become the effective wipping boy or both liberal and labour governments. Living in capital cities like Sydney , Melbourne or Brisbane and paying for a mortgage having a combined income of $150K is not alot.

OVERALL
The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, talks tough. He trumpets it as a budget to "fight inflation first", yet does it? Is it effective or not in achieving what has been claimed as one of its primary goals?

The Government will proceed with tax cuts. It will honour $8.3 billion in tax cuts pledged by the Howard government, plus it will enact $7.1 billion in the first year's Rudd tax cuts that were promised before the election. Together, this will tip over $15 billion into taxpayers' incomes in 2008-09. Plus, this budget will increase overall federal spending, after adjusting for inflation, by 1.1 per cent. Whereas the last Howard budget spent $275 billion, this one is set to spend $288 billion.

These are both measures that will stimulate demand and add to inflation.

Swan declared yesterday that the budget delivered a "mild tightening". But, in truth, the budget is stimulatory. It will add to inflation, not fight it. That leaves the Reserve Bank to do the tightening instead.
What are your thoughts on the budget?

You must be the change

You must be the change you want to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi - Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 - 1948)

When I was out and about doing some shopping before Mother's day I saw the quote above (one of my favourites) printed on a bag in a bookstore. I really like this quote and it speaks to me on a number of levels. I think that we all can work to achieve what we would like to see in both the world that we inhabit (on a personal level & local) as well as have influence on the wider world that we contribute to (as part of our national and global communities) .

So my message for today .. get active ... believe in yourself and with positive attitude and belief anything is possible. Here's some facts... Harry Potter was rejected by 12 publishers.. Walt Disney was told he lacked imagination and one record company told the Beatles. "We don't like your sound". Only you know your potential!

What are you working to change? What is your goal? What are you working to achieve? I would love to hear your stories.

Paid Maternity Leave - Proposal to be finded by Workers, Employers and the Government

A paid maternity leave scheme providing 6 months full pay is being proposed to the Federal Productivity Commission. Julia Perry, a former senior public servant has drawn up plans for the $3.5 billion scheme that would be funded by the commonwealth, employers and employees

Under the scheme, taxpayers would fork out 0.5 per cent of their gross annual salary. For a worker earning about $50,000 a year, that would amount to $5.70 a week. Employers would also be levied 0.5 per cent of their payroll to help fund the scheme.

Fathers as well as mothers would benefit from the scheme, gaining four weeks paid paternity leave after the birth of a child. And employers would get a subsidy from the scheme to help them replace the mother while she was on leave. The proposals would also fund the payment of 100 per cent of the mother's wages as well as her superannuation contributions while she was on maternity leave.

This is a very interesting proposal and worth consideration. What do you think?