LAGOSMUMS PARENTING AND NETWORKING EVENT

Last Saturday was awesome. I attended a networking and Parenting seminar organized by the "Internet mum" and founder of LagosMums, Mrs Yetty Williams.

The theme of the seminar ‘Raising a Global Citizen’.

The speakers were all career women and dedicated mums. It was really inspiring to hear all of them talk about the challenges of juggling their various careers with parenting and still raising or trying to raise God fearing, focused and well mannered children.

The moderator of the event was Mrs Ononuju Irukwu, a Personal Wealth Consultant and the Managing Director of Chapel Hill Denham Management Limited in Lagos. 

She added fun and laughter to her great performance as a moderator [P.S: being a part-time MC is not a bad idea o]

The speakers were ; Mrs Ifeoma Idigbe, a mum to 2 adult children and a business analyst with over 30 years in professional banking, general management and business consulting.

She talked on our roles as parents,what values to instill and how to instill these values.

Mrs Catherine Bickersteth, a mum to two grown up daughters and also the co-director of strategic Educational Advisory Services Ltd and very passionate and involved in various charities in Nigeria.

I really like her soft spoken soothing voice. She gave us tips on educating an all-rounded and global child.

Mrs Oluwatosin Praise Fowowe, a young mom to 2 children, a blogger and the manager of the Center for Sex Education and Family Life, gave us various scenarios of issues that could come up when you don’t monitor what your child is doing on the internet. 

She also backed up these scenarios with real stories of Kidnap, internet stalking, porn and Sexuality preferences. It was really enlightening. 

She also listed out some softwares that we could use to monitor the activities of our children on the internet, they included Karpersky parenting, Norton security (Norton family) among others. 

(Thanks Mrs Fowowe, I'll be passing the word around).

 

Mrs Abiola Okubanjo, a serial entrepreneur with 3 kids. [Thanks a lot, the shea butter oil is great for massages] She talked about how possible it was, to be a super mom and still have thriving career. It all depends on how resourceful you are, planning, managing time and planning constructive activites especially when you're not there; screening the people you leave your child, using Skype, calls and chatting to keep tabs on them.

Then came the question and answer segment where lots of women raised issues faced with their children especially tantrums. The experienced speakers and also mums in the audience gave tips on handling tantrums; 

Number 1 tip: Do not give attention to the child.

#2. Allow the tantrums to die down without any reaction then quietly ask the child what he or she wants.

#3. Prompt the child to ask as politely as possible then give him/her whatever he/she wants OR firmly and lovingly say "No" while providing alternatives.

The trends in tipping or bribing teachers was also raised.

We also got some words of wisdom from the mother-in-law of the +LagosMums founder, Mrs Yetty Williams and her very supportive husband. He also gave a vote of thanks to all of us who came for the event.

We ended with a raffle draw and cool gift bags for everybody who came.

Parenting and networking forums like this are very important because you not only learn a lot, you also discover that your problems are not new or unique, there are other people out there dealing with the same issues and at an event like this, you're bound to meet people who have overcome those problems who are are more than happy to share with you how they did it and help you out. 

Everybody needs a support group and I believe that many of us who were present on the 22nd of November, 2014, made new friends and hopefully people who will be part of our support group in the future. I know I did.

For a maiden event, LagosMums, her sponsors and all the wonderful people who put heads together to make it a success, did very well. It was well organized and everything was done on time and it ended in time too but then again...time flies when you are having fun. 

I'd like to say thank you again to LagosMums for a wonderful event. I hope to attend more of them soon.

Image courtesy: Lagos Mums [Please like her page on Facebook], ononujuirukwu.com, @tosinpraise [twitter.com], www.momentswithmo.tv, plus.google.com, 

Bukky Shaba: https://storify.com/bukky_shaba/lagosmums-parenting-and-networking-event