Every parent wants to know how to get kids creative!   Isn’t it?

I, as a mother always try to find out various ways how can I help my kid to be more creative, and came across a few interesting ways which can definitely help your kids too.

1-Read, read, and read, at least for half hour daily to your kid. Make it a regular habit in your life. Make sure books you are choosing to read must be story books and can range between fairy tales, moral stories, stories about historical characters. Don’t read for the sake of reading. Try to be dramatic and read with all sort of expression you can but make sure you don’t overdo it.

2- Talk, talk, and talk to your kid. It should not be a parental talk about doing this, that or not doing certain things. Talks should involve certain things, maybe how was your day if meeting after the whole day, or just inquire if anything interesting happened throughout the day. If staying with him then you can discuss topics regarding nature if going out. Or if he is watching TV then ask his opinion about the show. Just give a thought, many ideas will come into your mind.

3- Colour, colour, and colour-

Colouring world is a beautiful world for kids. Their imagination boundaries are not restricted as their hands move freely. There is no end to their imagination and at times you can get the very interesting sketch up from your kids. If you also join them then painting can be really fun.

4-Music and dance–

Listening to music is a good relaxing exercise for kids. And with dance physical activity also happens. Just expose your kids to various types of music, be it guitar, piano, tabla, sitar and just observe which one is his favourite. Never pressurize him to learn music without his interest.

Singing and dancing together with kids can a fun activity and can be a bonding time for the whole family.

I want to request my friends that if they come across other ideas to increase creativity in kids please share on this platform.

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women! 

In the series on various holistic ways for healing and relaxing when you are stressed out while in mad cat race Womenlines is sharing aboutEmotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)!

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is an emotional, needle free version of acupuncture that is based on new discoveries regarding the connection between your body’s subtle energies, your emotions, and your health. EFT has been reported successful in thousands of cases covering a huge range of emotional, health and performance issues.It often works where nothing else will.

Womenlines asked Lena Chen, a Holistic Therapist, about the importance of EFT and its origination.She answered to following questions as-

Q2-How long you know about EFT?

LENA-I was introduced to EFT in a 2-day Energy Psychology course and was immediately fascinated by how it is seemingly simple, yet effective for such a large range of issues. I went back home feeling like I just gained a superhero power! I use it on everything… sprains, mood swings, inspiration blocks, even for my husband’s snoring, and because of EFT, I overcame my fear of public speaking and was eventually giving EFT workshops to large groups of people, including over 100! Best of all, I was receiving immense satisfaction from using EFT with my clients and watching them gain confidence and freedom in their lives by using this incredible tool.

Q-Who is the founder of EFT?

LENA- EFT is the result of East meets West. It originated from principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine which have been around for centuries and was first developed into a system by Roger Callahan, which is known as Thought Field Therapy, an extensive and complicated system that is used mainly by professionals. It was only in the 1980s, that one of his first students, Gary Craig, simplified the system into a one that is much more accessible and yet equally effective – EFT.

Q6-How this technique is different from other relaxing technique?

LENA-Like other relaxation techniques such as breathing, meditation, yoga, etc, EFT often produces a relaxation effect on the person. The difference is that EFT has the potential to clear negative emotions, thoughts, and beliefs as well as bodily discomforts on the spot when that is the intention of the person doing EFT. For example, when a person is having a headache, he can do EFT directly on the headache and experience immediate relief from the pain. In addition, he may also become aware of the emotional issue that is underlying the headache. For example, he may recall a stressful conversation that he had with his mother in the morning. He can then continue to do EFT for any remaining stress that he has relating to that event, and afterward, see the event in a whole new light. Hence, EFT can help us to clear our emotional baggage, layer by layer, which will then create positive shifts in our self-esteem, relationships, health and other areas of our life. With other techniques, there is often willpower and discipline involved in creating the change. With EFT, aside from needing the effort to do EFT itself, change comes about naturally and effortlessly.

Q7-How you teach this concept to your participants?

LENA- In my workshops, I teach EFT by first introducing to my participant’s essential concepts on energy, the mind-body connection, and healing. Then I teach them the EFT procedure and intersperse the hands-on exercises with tips on how to do EFT more effectively. I emphasize greatly on letting participants have their own experience of EFT, and I get them to practice it in the week after the first session. When we meet again, they share their experiences with me, and I help to fine-tune their understanding of EFT applications to their life. I also bring participants through a special EFT process to increase their confidence and motivation in using EFT as an integral part of their life for their healing, so a great majority of my participants actually leave my workshops highly empowered to use this tool to transform themselves and their lives.

Q8-Do you organize workshops?

LENA-Aside from organizing basic EFT workshops, I also organize workshops for using EFT in specific areas. An upcoming one is “EFT with Lena Workshop Series: Become a Money Magnet – Clearing Your Money Blocks To Allow Abundance To Flow Into Your Life Easily and Joyfully”, which will be held on 30 January. You will find more information on my website www.lenashealinghaven.com. Another workshop that I am planning in March is “EFT with Lena Workshop Series: Using EFT and Energy Psychology to Help Others More Powerfully” which will be very useful for therapists, healers, and anyone who is passionate about helping other people with their problems.

Q9-Any side effects of EFT?

LENA- EFT is a very safe process because it actually activates the body’s healing potential to heal itself in the most natural and gentle way. However, there may be “healing symptoms”, which are similar to effects of detoxification and are the body’s way of clearing those old, stagnated energetic blocks that have been buried within the body for a long time. Some healing symptoms may look like tiredness, headaches, crying for no reasons, bodily aches, and tensions. These can also be treated with EFT either at the end of the EFT session or by the client himself or herself.

Lena Chen is a Holistic Therapist who has empowered hundreds of people to free themselves of old self-sabotaging patterns so that they can finally connect with the wisdom and joy that is already within them. She is the author of “Emotional Freedom At Your Fingertips: how to get from PISSED to PEACE in mere minutes with Emotional Freedom Techniques” as well as the creator of the EFT Affirmation Cards. For free weekly inspiring healing insights and tips, subscribe to her highly popular newsletters at her website www.lenashealinghaven.com.

Nanny jobs are available in Britain to guide parents, how to lead a proper life!

Times of India reported-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Super-nannies-to-help-Oz-parents-raise-kids/articleshow/5460837.cms last week. Nannies will be sent to families who are finding it difficult to handle their kids. They will be guided on how to properly handle their budget, how to buy healthy food for their family, how to carry the normal routine task of their kids and other guidelines for their family.

Its really interesting to observe that time has come for families to get help from nannies. As the problems related to kids and teenagers is on the rise it is worth to get help from these nannies. It is really a check time for us, where we are going. If the time has come for some families who need guidance on how to lead a normal healthy routine life with their kids, it’s disgusting. Maybe when parents themselves are not leading a healthy life then they need to be guided on certain guidelines specifically if it is health related issues. Obesity is on rising these days and when 21% of the population is suffering from obesity then the Australian government has to take some action.

The issue is not about nannies being referred to such families, but the need has aroused because of lack of awareness in parents. We have to check ourselves that can we really become that vulnerable. Independence which we enjoy should not be misused and we should try to become a role model for our kids so that knowledge of healthy living can be passed from generation to generation.

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!

http://www.greatdad.com is a parenting site just for dads. Sounds interesting!

My all dear friends who are experiencing motherhood bliss must share this info with their husbands so that they can also learn something about parenting ways and contribute in parenting role in the better way. Times have changed and bringing up the child is no more a sole responsibility of mother only. As both parents work so both have to equally contribute to the parenting role. Therefore site like greatdad.com is really a blessing to all fathers who want to be really guided about their fatherhood role.

There are various sections on the site like books for parenting, naming your baby, toys available in the market for different age groups and others. There is a section where different aspects of sleeping patterns are discussed and the most popular one is Dad’s guide to get your baby sleep! Really its a challenging task for the new parents. So this article is there to guide you. There is a section called’ How to’ which deals with different activities to be carried with kids. For eg how to potty train your kid, or how to go camping with your kid. Dads have to really learn a lot in this field and remind you they are not alone. There are so many dads around. Therefore there is a forum to have discussions and blog section where parents can write about their feelings.

You can subscribe to the free newsletter of great dad to get regular info periodically. So dad’s get sets ready to explore the world of parenting with excitement and knowledge gained from greatdad.com. Keep going!

Samantha Wong is the Chairman of Sengkang Woman Executive Committee, in Singapore.

Confident, pleasing, helpful, a woman with a big heart, Ms. Wong has dedicated herself to the work for women in the neighborhood Community Club.

Womenlines will love to report about Ms. Wong who is dedicated to her job to do goodwill for womenfolk around, through various activities and support of the Community Club.

She is a Singaporean and wholeheartedly she is putting up efforts to integrate immigrants into the local society by supporting various events like Dazzling Divas, new immigrants’ gathering, etc.    She is involved in community activities for last 20 years. She is very passionate about reaching out to new immigrants in Singapore and integrate them into the local society. Dazzling Divas, organized last year was one such event which was based on Bollywood songs and dance theme. Ms. Wong relates very easily with women of different races, this was quite visible in Dazzling Divas as she dressed in Indian attire, which helped in bringing comfort level between her and Indian group. This event helped to bring various immigrants, basically Indians and Singaporean ladies on one platform and have fun together. She herself enjoys meeting women from different races and motivates them to explore their things of interest. Ms. Wong has supported many ladies to start various interest groups like Dragon Boat group, book reading group, Fitness groups, Morning walk group and many others which help ladies to pursue and enjoy their hobbies with like-minded people.

In her 20 years span of experience in the community, she has seen various phases of its growth. She remembers, in early days it was difficult to outreach immigrants as they were the very close knitted group. She is grateful to the Community Club for supporting her through various grants and other help to organize different activities in the center. Some activities like helping out in the MP’s meet-the-people session every week and helping residents with their problems is really fruitful.

Ms. Wong wants to involve more women in the Community Club’s activities. She considers the Community Club as an excellent platform to carry out various activities of one’s interest. Ms. Azeeza Jalaludeen, member of Sengkang WEC is a big fan of Ms. Wong and she considers her to be a very good mentor who is very creative and innovative and who has different ideas for empowering women.

Hats off to Ms. Samantha Wong for her endeavor in the field of women empowerment and emancipation.

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!

While I have been spending the last 2 weeks of December 2009 just relaxing and spending time with my family, especially my little girl, I have witnessed the frenzy of Christmas shoppers in both the cities of Singapore and Malaysia – the two cities I am currently based in.

I work with a lot of women in my field of training in Personal Image and Empowerment and I have discovered that many women are very concerned about their appearances and how they can beautify themselves better.

This leads me to the topic of personal brands and labels. Whether we like or not we are constantly judging people by their looks on the outside. We have been guilty of branding others based on education, looks, weight, “perceived intelligence”, colour of the skin, the colour of their hair, height, wealth, culture, who we marry, the bags we carry etc etc. We are constantly branding others and in turn are branded branded branded.

Companies who sell consumer products know just how to tap this emotion of insecurity to further promote their products.

Women I work with in my training are concerned about what others think of them especially how they look like. Often they are unhappy when others misjudge them based on their outer appearance and want to know how to make themselves appear “IN”. Male prisoners, I work with also have an insecurity issue about how society will brand them after they leave prison. They want to know how to fit in, how to re-brand themselves away from their criminal past and how to be accepted. Executives and CEOS that I work with also want to learn how to make themselves look more trustworthy, approachable yet representable of their position and to basically learn how to fit in better with their group.

Basically, this represents human behaviour and in today’s high society, people are getting even more concerned with how they are perceived by others. From my experience, women particularly are more concerned about their image and how others in the society see them. Again, whether we like it or not, we are always branded by others. My take on this? Brand yourself first before others brand you…and do not allow yourself to be branded by what material things you have or wear.

So how do you brand yourself and what should your brand be? Well, the vision is YOURS.

1. First of all, what is the industry that you want to brand yourself in when it comes to your career? When you stay in a certain industry, people will remember you as the person who bakes cakes, or the entrepreneur mom, or the lady who organises events, etc. You want to be remembered as someone people can associate with a particular industry. The danger of people who moves around too much across industries often is when people cannot associate her with someone committed in her career…and that would be her “brand”!

2. Who is your target audience? Who are you basically branding yourself for? Is it for your work? For your customers? Friends? How do you want yourself to be perceived by them? Always remember that your audience will remember you based on the first time you presented yourself to them so be yourself, be honest and be comfortable. Often people are not themselves the first time they meet new people that they get comments like, “you know, the first time we met you we thought you were…….., but now, wow! You’re not at all like that..” It sounds like a praise, but really, it is a message that what we project may not be who we really are. This can go against you in the future when you are in a job interview, meeting new people or presenting for the first time to a group of potential clients.

3. Which of your personality traits and passions will resonate with your target audience? Similarities always make people feel closer together so highlight the similarities whether in the language and “slang” you use, or clothes that you wear. However, always keep in mind to be yourself. Do not put on a fake accent your lie about your background. A person does not have to learn lie detection skills to feel a fake.

4. What is the most important skill the target audience should know about? When you can relay this message through your work, through promoting your brand to others, this skill will remain in the minds of your target audience.

5. What makes you credible? Integrity, responsibility, commitment are values that people will remember you by. A strong personal brand is when a person hears your name or sees you, a certain positive feeling or thought comes into play. This feeling or emotion that others feel about you is that brand that you carry. Remember, whatever comes out of your actions, your mouth, your thoughts and reactions create this brand called “YOU”. If you constantly say things that are not reflected in your actions or the results that you show constantly, your brand becomes “untrustworthy”.

How do create reinforce your brand through your demeanour?

1. Dress according to how you want to be perceived

2. Always take care of your personal hygiene. Often times, people dress well and say all the right things but the two major deal breakers are bad breath and body odour. Somehow these overtake a person’s good personal brand.

3. Do you look rested? Women have this advantage with makeup to camouflage tired looking eyes J

4. What you wear every day also affects your brand

5. What comes out of your mouth when you speak

6. Who do you surround yourself with constantly

In this new year, many resolves to make positive changes with their lives – some of these resolutions could be to rebrand or reinvent themselves. You can create your change. However, be aware that perhaps the people who do not support your change or trust your change mostly come from family members who claim they know you better. I believe that only you know yourself better and the best way is to present the real you to others and not be someone you are not just to please others.

I wish you all the best in this NEW YEAR! May all your New Year resolutions come true faster than you expect. I know one of my resolutions include to brand others less and work on myself more. With Love & Respect,

Murshidah Said

M &Z Empowerment Centre in KL and Singapore

Founder and Director

Dazzling Divas, was a fun-filled programme for ladies, organized with the motive of integrating the female immigrants, with the Singaporeans and to provide some fun and amusement to make them have a feel of their home country. Women from different walks of life, from different parts of Singapore, visited the event.

Dazzling Divas was an amazing effort by Indian expat ladies, who displayed their talents in various programmes in the event. The event was well supported by Sengkang Women Executive Committee (WEC) – a People’s Association Organization. Held at Sengkang Community Club, on 14th November 2009, Saturday, 7:00-1000 pm Dazzling Divas was an entertaining night for the female audience.

The organizing committee was chaired by Ms Kamini Chaliki and was ably supported by Ms Charu and Ms Mrunal with guidance from Ms Azeeza. Ms Kamini took the initiative to organize the whole event with the support of Chairman Sengkang WEC.

Dazzling Divas was successful in providing entertainment to the female audience. The theme for the month was “Colours of India”. The programme was started with the Mehendi and Rangoli competition. There were active participation and participants came out with very amazingly creative Rangoli and Mehndi Patterns. Ms Arpita Karandikar was the winner for Mehendi competition and Ms Saujanya was the winner for Rangoli competition. There were some sweet performances by kids on some Bollywood and Kollywood m numbers, which was well received by the audience. So many multifaceted women got a chance to showcase their talents by participating in this event. The interesting fact is that many participants never met each other personally before the event and interacted virtually through a social networking site. The evening unfolded with surprise in terms of comic caper Singapore version of Ramayana, enacted by some enterprising ladies from IIS theatre group, that kept everyone in splits. Also, a very well coordinated and in-sync National Integration Fashion Show was a huge success with the audience due to elegant costumes, beautiful jewellery; Ms Sunita Prashant was the choreographer for the fashion show. The main attraction of the show was the dazzling divas’ performance by lovely ladies who danced on hit Bollywood like from Jab we met, Kajra re numbers from old generation to latest hit songs.

Ms Shakun Narang, from the audience, said “Truly Dazzling Divas was a platform that gave women in Singapore a platform to showcase their inner elegance, beauty and substance they are made of. More than that, the event brought in a kind of bonhomie and togetherness that we all Indian women crave for in a home away from home. “

The crowd of 150 ladies enjoyed the whole programme, tasty Indian food, participated actively in games and had the fun time while dancing on hit Bollywood numbers. Ms Deepti Rawat, from the audience, commented that “It was an evening with the stunning performance of talented dancers, hilarious comedy skit, fashion show, games and lucky draw too. In 10 years of my married life, this was my first party without my husband where I enjoyed a lot. I got a chance to learn catwalk, there, thanks to WEC.”

The show was sponsored by a go to website mysingapore.com.sg, which brings the latest happenings events related to art, culture, movies, restaurants, with a distinctly Indian point of view. Four Seasons Spa located at Midpoint Orchard road was the other sponsor for the event. Miss Nisha gifted valued vouchers for her beauty and tailoring services for the lucky draw winners.

The regular get-together for immigrants can really help in diminishing the line of difference between Singaporeans (existing & immigrants) so that they can mutually benefit each other by exchanging knowledge and having some amusement and regalement together.

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!

Kids cannot sit idle. With bubbling, energy kids love to keep themselves busy with various activities around. Whether its art craft activity or dance, singing, any creative activity will bring out their real talent outside. Some activities really help to nurture certain specific skills in them. Through this series, women lines want to share those activities with its readers which will really help in a meaningful way-

1-Create and Imagine-

If you want to teach certain practical knowledge for everyday living this activity will help you a lot.

Place a large sheet of paper on the floor.Ask your child to draw a picture of your home in the centre of the paper and title the map with the name.Draw your street, write your street name, and your house and telephone numbers.

Have your child place on X on the map to mark important places in the neighbourhood. like school, store, shopping complex, friend’s house, fire station, police station, clinic, etc. Talk with your child bout which place is nearest to your place. Post the map on the fridge and so that your child can have a look at it every day. Encourage the child to put other places on the map also.

2-Time marches on

This activity helps your child see and feel and see the difference between a “few second” and a “few minute”. It will help your child learn to be on time.

Make guesses about how long a traffic light is red or green. Then check your guesses, about how long it takes to eat dinner.Then check your guesses.How long does it take to get ready and go out? How close each one of you come close to right answers.

Have fun while playing these games!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in women!

Its not Life threatening, BUT its definitely “Quality of Life” Threatening Condition!

Most people know endometriosis as a condition that can cause infertility, but the commonest symptom is pain. Pain with periods, pain with sex, pain opening their bowels, or pelvic pain on most days of the month. Many women with endometriosis become pregnant easily.

Endometriosis is common, but because many women don’t talk about their symptoms, we often don’t realise that it affects between 1 in 10 and 1 in 20 women. For many years, endometriosis was thought to be an uncommon condition of women in their 30s and 40s. We now know that it is a common condition of women in their teens and 20s.

The lining of the uterus is called endometrium. This is the tissue that grows each month and bleeds away during a period. When tissue like endometrium is found outside the uterus it is called endometriosis.

How is endometriosis diagnosed?

The only reliable way to diagnose endometriosis is by laparoscopy. This is an operation where a telescope is inserted through the umbilicus (belly button) to view the organs inside the pelvis. Endometriosis lesions can be clear, pink, red, brown or black.

An ultrasound examination is usually normal unless there are large cysts of endometriosis in the ovaries. These are called endometriomas or chocolate cysts. So, even if an ultrasound is normal, endometriosis can still be present.

What sort of problems can endometriosis cause?

Endometriosis presents in many ways. Common presentations include:

1. Women with no pain, who are found to have endometriosis during investigation for infertility.
2. Women who have severe period pain, often from their teenage years, but are well at other times of the month. Pain with periods is called dysmenorrhoea.
3. Women who have a mix of pain symptoms on most days of the month. This is called chronic pelvic pain. They may have a variety of symptoms including sharp or stabbing pains, changes in bladder function or changes in bowel function.

How is endometriosis managed?

Each woman with endometriosis is different, so the best treatment for each woman will depend on what type of problems she has.

In couples who are unable to become pregnant:

• It is important to get a full picture of all the possible contributing factors. This includes testing her husbands’ semen. Endometriosis may be only one of the fertility problems present.
• A laparoscopy to remove the endometriosis may be enough to improve her fertility
• If pregnancy does not occur after this, then invitro fertilisation (IVF) may be necessary

In women with painful periods, but who are otherwise well the pain may be from the uterus, from endometriosis lesions in the pelvis or from both these areas:

• It is best to first try medications such as anti-inflammatories (e.g. ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac), because not all women with painful periods have endometriosis. The medications should be taken early in the period and continued regularly until the pain resolves.
• If no better, then the oral contraceptive pill or acupuncture may be helpful
• If no better, then a laparoscopy with excision (cutting out) of any endometriosis should be considered.
• Sometimes a device called a mirena iucd is used. This is a way of putting progestogen medication inside the uterus and is often very helpful at making periods light and less painful

In women with chronic pelvic pain, treatment is more complicated. Often there are many different symptoms, so no single treatment will fix all her problems. It is often helpful to write down each symptom and plan treatment for each one:

• Period pain over several days (rather than just 1-2 days), pain opening bowels with periods, and endometriomas are best managed with high quality laparoscopic surgery. This can be very difficult surgery and it is important that the surgeon involved has extensive experience with laparoscopic surgical excision. Other alternatives include norethisterone tablets taken daily to avoid periods or a mirena iucd.
• Sharp, stabbing pains, increased sensitivity in the abdomen, soreness near the opening of the vagina, sharp pains that wake her at night, and some types of pain with intercourse are often due to a change in the way nerves in the pelvis function. This is called neuropathic pain. It responds best to medications such as amitriptyline or gabapentin in very low dose. It will also be worse if she is overtired or overstressed.
• Bladder symptoms of frequency (going to toilet more often), nocturia (getting up at night), urgency (needing to rush to the toilet) and some types of pain with intercourse may be due to a condition called interstitial cystitis. It is common in women with endometriosis and needs a special type of test called a cystoscopy and hydrodistension to diagnose. Useful information can be found at www.ic-network.com
• Bowel changes such as constipation, diarrhoea and pelvic discomfort sometimes improve with surgery, but are often due to food intolerances or an irritable bowel.
• Pelvic pain which is worse in different positions or with different activities and some types of pain with intercourse is often due to spasm of the pelvic floor muscles. The muscles just inside the vagina are tight and pressure on them causes pain. Treatment options include pelvic floor physiotherapy, botox injections in the pelvic floor muscles to relieve the spasm, and sometimes low doses of amitriptyline.

Many women with chronic pelvic pain also suffer tiredness and may feel generally unwell. Even when their symptoms improve, they require a lot of emotional support from their family and friends to return to an active and healthy life.

Written by; -Dr Susan Evans is a Pelvic & Laproscopic Surgeon & author of ‘Endometriosis and other pelvic pain’ written for women with endometriosis. It is available from her website: http://www.drsusanevans.com

She is also the co-founder of the Asia Pacific Endometriosis Alliance & co-founder of Australian Endometriosis Centre, Adelaide Branch.

Her books will be available in Singapore in the World Women Health 2009, November 28^th 2-6pm. Suntec City – Rooms303-306.

Registration details at

http://www.worldwomenhealth2009.com.html

The digital photo frame is a wonderful innovative gift by technology to us. It is a fantabulous product and a must buy for every family!

Keep photos and videos of your loved ones close, easily select photos, slideshow, videos, listen to recorded voices in a go. Snaps are memories forever and everybody loves to keep these bundles of memories with utmost care.

When we stay alone far from our place we belong, it becomes challenging at times to build that emotional bonding between your kids and your own people, as they seldom meet them.Then this frame can help you to keep reviving your kid’s memories and help him to remember their near and dear ones. Kids love to be photographed and when they keep on seeing their childhood photographs and the way they were in their childhood they feel very good about it. It helps to build their emotional quotient and self-esteem too.

For families also it’s a good thing to have a look occasionally on the snaps of different periods of their life. It strengthens the bonding between the family members by cherishing those moments of laughter and fun together. But of course, you have to take out time for it!

Digital photo frames are common in 7 inches to 12-inch sizes. Most digital photo frames display the photos as a slideshow and usually with an adjustable time interval. They also can send photos to the printer.Others support additional multimedia content, including movie clips recorded in a digital camera movie mode, MP3 audio.

Certain frames can load pictures over the Internet also from RSS feeds, photo sharing sites such as Picasa and from-mail. Such networked models usually support wireless connections.Built-in speakers are common for playing video content with sound, and many frames come with remote controls.

A digital frame provides the same emotion-rich experience as a traditional photo album without handling and without occupying the computer or the TV set. Eye-catching in the room, it is also an easy way to show off pictures to visitors. It provides an immediate way of sharing photos.As prices for digital frames are falling sharply and innovative features such as transferring photographs instantly in your parent’s wireless digital frame while you are somewhere else, is making this gadget a must buy for every family!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!

It was interesting to read about Dame Anita Roddick founder of Body Shop, in a book named Exceptional Entrepreneurship, which reports real-life lessons from top business leaders!

Dame Anita Roddick was the owner of Body Shop, which, has 2,400 stores in 61 countries, and is the second largest cosmetic franchise in the world, following O Boticario, a Brazilian company.The body shop is now part of the L’Oreal corporate group.

During her lifetime, Body Shop founder Anita Roddick had built a reputation for innovation, integrity and social responsibility. She died at age of 64, in 2007 as she suffered from a major brain haemorrhage.

Dame Anita set up the first Body Shop in Brighton in 1976. She pioneered cruelty-free beauty products and turned them into a highly profitable business. She is a real inspiration to all businesswomen. To quote her from this book-

“ I am aware that success is more than a good idea. It is timing too. The Body Shop arrived just as Europe was going ‘green’. The Body Shop has always been recognizable by its green colour, the only colour that we could find to cover the damp, mouldy walls of my first shop. The company went public in 1984. Since then, I have been given a whole host of awards, some I understand, some I don’t and a couple I think I deserve. Businesses have the power to do good. That’s why The Body Shop’s Mission Statement opens with the overriding commitment, ‘To dedicate our business to the pursuit of social and environmental change.’ We use our stores and our products to help communicate human rights and environmental issues.”

It is so inspiring to know about the passion of Anita Roddick to work for climate and environment safety through her work. Her campaigns are the reflection of her motives in life to make this world a safe place to live.

Some of her campaigns-

· 1985 – Stop the dumping of toxic waste in the North Sea, Greenpeace

· 1986 – Campaign against whaling of sperm whales, Greenpeace

· 1987 – Acid Rain pollution, Friends of the Earth

· 1987 – Published first ‘Green’ Diary, Friends of the Earth

· 980s – Against Animal Testing for cosmetics, collected 4 million signatures through shops

· 1990 – The Body Shop Foundation set-up. Over first 6 years of operation donated more than 3.5 million pounds to 180 charitable groups

· 1990 – Set-up project to refurbish 3 Romanian orphanages. Work extended into Albania and Bosnia

· 1991 – Funded Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

· 1993-98 – Ogoni Campaign against Shell and Nigeria

Anita Roddick was having a basket full of various awards from various governments like in 1984 – Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year, 1988 – OBE – Order of the British Empire, 1996 – Women’s Center’s Leadership Award, USA and much more.

Some of her inspiring quotes which I came across this book-

“When enthusiasm comes from heart its unstoppable because of its driving your life and its part of the template of who you are.”

“Women are good at combining their interests with their skills and transforming them into a livelihood.”

“Entrepreneurs are anti-hierarchical creative people who are obsessed with their businesses. They are also a fountain of ideas but often need others to help make them happen.”

Anita Roddick is an inspiration to all those businesswomen who want to do something in life with a difference!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!