Hi Guys!

So this is my first blog & before I start rambling away on my dilemma of the week I'd like to quickly introduce myself. My names Natalia, I have a son named Noah who I gave birth to when I was 16. He is now 4 and I'm 20. I still attended school whilst I was pregnant & after having birth & graduated year 12 with the rest of my year in 2010. I've done many courses since & I'm currently studying my Bachelor of Social Science (Criminology) & working for Justice Health. 
I moved back to my parents house in July after living out of home for 3 years, primarily because I realised I would never be able to save to buy a house with all the out of home living expenses. Me and Noah's father are still together, however we did break up last year for around 6 months. We were able to reconcile after relationship counselling& since things have been going great!
Okay... So that's the briefing on my situation..sorry if I bored you! 

So my current dilemma is the very much debated topic of Public or Private schooling.
My sons starting school in 2015 & although it seems far away time has a way of creeping up on us as parents. So...I have been struggling to decide whether private schooling is worth the money? I know we could afford it with extra shifts, the school I'm looking at isn't crazy expensive, I wouldn't mind paying it if I knew it would benefit my child. The other local primary school is okay. But I have heard a lot of parents say it's not up to scratch (in terms of facilities)

I attended public schools all my life and always thought that my kids would too. It's only recently I have been wondering about the benefits of a private school in terms of facilities, education, environment. Do private schools really create better educated kids?

My dad said to me 'Nat if he wants to learn he will learn, public or private'  which I absolutely believe.  I just want to ensure my child has the best start he can... I don't want to look back & think maybe I should of done this or done that. What about you guys has anyone else had this dilemma? The toss up between private & public? Does anyone have a child or sibling in private schooling & think that it's worth the money? 

Of Sleeplessness, Being a Mum and Talking Realities

Sitting at the computer an hour after getting my daughter to sleep... It's her afternoon nap and lately her only nap which has been driving me mad! Sure it's great to schedule everything around one nap instead of two but it's the length of the nap that is killing me! At least she sleeps all night... (Knock on wood).

Anyway I'm a fairly new mum, my daughter is currently 10 months old who thinks she's at least 18 months old! Little Miss I want to walk and I don't want your help; actually maybe a little bit of help will be great. ONE hand mum not both! Not to mention the I'll wave goodbye when I want to wave not when you want me too. And the Don't touch my blocks! (which by the way is the best way to get her out of trouble...) She gets Jealous when my Fiance and I start piling her blocks up she crawl/steps (if that makes sense) to get to her blocks ASAP before we build a tower too tall for her that ends in her knocking it down and building one herself! It's absolutely adorable to watch unless it's your masterpiece of a tower getting knocked over!

I love being a mum and all the complications associated with it, I had some trouble getting used to being a mum to begin with but thanks to the Karitane Home Visiting Program I was helped and had the chance to have someone besides my own family and friends tell me that I was doing extraordinarily well! It was because of this program and the Young Parents group that they run that I got to become associated with the Talking Realities program. As soon as I was told about it I knew that it was definitely for me I love talking to people especially about my experiences! And getting to go to schools and letting youth close to my age know what it's like to be a young mum is simply amazing. If I had been introduced to this program during school I don't know if I'd have my daughter now or if I had waited! I love her so much and I'm glad she happened to our lives.

=) Our planned little accident =) as I say..

I've got to head off now though my little princess is crying through the monitor, letting me know that she's had enough sleep for today! And once she's out and about there's no time for computers anymore it's all about her =)

This was a great way to get everything out of my head! Hopefully I'll be back soon!

Ciao

Lor