BIG kids magazine

We'd like to share with you a new publication that is about to launch called BIG Kids Magazine. BIG stands for Bravery, Imagination and Generosity. (Just to avoid confusion - this is not being launched by us at Barefoot!)

BIG Kids Magazine is a contemporary arts publication for children. Driven by discovery, experimentation and response, we invite children to participate in topical conversations about art and the world. With a senior editor who is eight years old, BIG challenges hierarchies of who is listening and who is speaking to amplify small voices in BIG ways.


BIG is committed to partnering with organisations that support and enrich the lives of children and we will be working towards donating one magazine for every subscription sold, so that BIG is truly accessible to all children everywhere.
The magazine is a 60-page ethically produced biannual print publication that inspires creativity. It can be posted to anywhere in the world flying art from gallery walls and onto playroom floors. Every issue features a FREE artist print and two key projects: SIDE BY SIDE publishes artwork by children and artists side by side as our primary content and The Child Artist Response Project (CARP) is an initiative where children and artists respond directly to each other’s work.

You can keep up to date with developments, launch dates and stockists by signing up for the Monthly Newsletter, becoming a follower of the blog or by liking the BIG Kids Magazine facebook page.

Visit http://www.bigkidsmagazine.com/ for more information.

Barefoot back issues

Here is some information about our back issues - for those of you who have recently subscribed and need to choose a back issue as part of your subscription - and for those of you who want to purchase some of the wonderful back issues you may have missed out on...

Issue 1 - Autumn 2009
Art and Motherhood
The value of Mothering
ClimateCare
Slow Food

Issue 2 Winter 2009 - ALMOST SOLD OUT
Comtemporary Fathering
Breeding Brats?
Living Simply
Zen and the art of...

Issue 3 - Spring 2009
Family life in Australia
Rituals
Home death
Eco psychology

Issue 4 - Summer 2009
The widsom of our hands
Peaceful families
The 'm' word
Raw food

Issue 5 - Autumn 2010
Connections
Resilience
Kitchen remedies
Fair Trade

Issue 6 - Winter 2010
Community
Boys and wild play
Our girls, our bodies, ourselves
Seasonal soul food

Issue 7 - Spring 2011
Rites of Passage
Let's talk about sex
Knitting for good
Walking



Issue 8 - Summer 2010
Creativity
Sustainable play
Finding your tribe
Deep ecology



Issue 9 - Autumn 2011
Bullying
The shadow side
My kombi mid-life
A journey into sustainability

ONLY A FEW LEFT



Issue 10 - Winter 2011
Vocation
Listening deeply
The healing power of chooks
Billy Carts



Issue 11 - Spring 2011
Faith
Fussy eaers
Social isolation
Losing the family pet



Issue 12 - Summer 2011
Adventure
Step parenting
The wisdom of horses
Cubby houses

ONLY A FEW LEFT ALREADY!!!

  








Back issues

1 back issue $7.50 AUD2 back issues $12.50 AUD3 back issues $17.50 AUD4 back issues $22.50 AUD5 back issues $27.50 AUD6 back issues $35.00 AUD

Please specify which issues

Back issues

7 back issues $40.00 AUD8 back issues $45.00 AUD9 back issues $50.00 AUD10 back issues $55.00 AUD11 back issues $60.00 AUDAll of our issues $65.00 AUD

Please specify which issues

Please specify which back issue you'd like when you subscribe - otherwise we will choose one of our favourites for you..

Take care
The Barefoot Team

Solar Power Info Session

One of the wonderful places that sell our mag is the Enviro shop in Northcote (Melbourne).

We're pleased to support them by letting our readers know of their upcoming

(info below taken directly from their website)

 Solar Power Info Night 

Wed 3rd August

Hear the latest on Solar Power from the solar power experts

• Learn about the latest rebates and incentives
• Find out if your house is suitable
• Bring along your last electricity bill to find out what system is best for you
• Learn how to get the most out of your solar investment

When	Wednesday 3 August 2011 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Where	EnviroGroup's New Head Office 8 Arthurton Rd Northcote Vic, 3070 How to get there
Bring	1. Your last electricity bill - if you want the best advice on what kind of system is right for you 2. Your friends and neighbours! Here's their invitation - Click here
How to Register	To attend you will need to register by Tuesday 26th July to 9095 7421 or

Changes to Barefoot

To our Barefoot friends and families,

As you know, Barefoot has always been a labour of love, dedication, time and energy. Throughout the last three years, we at Barefoot have maintained our unwavering environmental stance and endeavoured to maintain our standards for the magazine around treading gently and parenting passionately. In keeping with this philosophy, we have made a decision to make Summer 2011 our last issue of Barefoot in order that we may tread gently and parent passionately in the lives of our own families.

We know that this will disappoint many of our loyal readers, subscribers and supporters, but we hope you will understand our desire to prioritise our own families.

If you're wondering about subscriptions, here's how it will work:

If you subscribe during Winter 2011, you'll receive three new issues and your choice of a back issue.
If you subscribe during Spring 2011, you'll receive two new issues and two back issues.
If you subscribe during Summer 2011, you'll receive our last issue and three back issues.

If you've recently subscribed, please email us and let us know which back issue you would like to complete your subscription. We will rely on you to contact us, as we don't have the time to chase all of you up for your preference. If we don't hear from you, we will choose a favourite for you to be included with our last issue.
If you're a distributor, everything will remain the same until our final issue in Summer 2011.

For more updates on what we might do next, please watch our blog and Facebook.
Our regular events will also continue to run so watch this space for more information.

Anna, Rachel and Charlotte

P.S. If Barefoot has ignited a fire in your heart and you’d like to talk to us about taking it on, please email us at admin@barefootmagazine.com.au.

Upcoming Event!!

Here's the flyer for our upcoming event!!

 Tickets are available on the blog (look down the right hand side)

Hope to see you there.

The Barefoot Team

Listening to our Children in the Spaces

By Jenny Chapman

"The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow,
but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work."
Patricia Clafford

Living in bare feet makes me think of a carefree childhood spent outdoors: summers by the lake; mud and sand; bee stings; running; and the occasional mishap with doggie doodoo…

Bare feet can symbolise childhood, play and a free, ‘un-selfconscious’ way of being in the world.
Bare feet can also represent a child’s place in our parenting world. The space that we provide for them, with our words and actions (and reactions!) is the space in which a child’s sense of self will flourish. This space creates the context in which they grow and understand their world and their relationships. The challenge is to give up the pace of our adult lives and tune into the pace of our child—even just for a moment. Kindness, respect and presence will never be replaced as the most important gifts we can give anyone, least of all our own children.

And our child's place in our world can be seen and heard when we stop and listen to them in the 'white space' of our lives - the spaces between the words, the busy-ness. With this in mind, I wondered, am I present with my child? I decided to metaphorically take off my shoes and socks and listen to my child today…and to the spaces between us. I got a shock.

Dear mama.

Did you know the sky was pink this morning when I woke up? I wanted to tell you about it but I forgot to when you turned on the telly and I saw the Bananas chasing the Teddy Bears. I wanted to help you make the breakfast, but you told me to go sit down and wait. I wanted to crunch up the wheat biscuits and feel them in my hand—even munch on a few bits. I wanted to hold the spoon and watch the honey drip. Why did you take the spoon off me? I am sorry I spilt the honey on the table. Can I help you wash up the dishes? Why are we in a hurry? I feel a bit sad…

Can you swing me on the swing? More, more! Wheeeee! Why do we have to stop? I am happy just swinging. I don’t want to go on the slide – I want to swing!

When we make the omelette can I crack the eggs? Sorry Mama, I got a shell in the bowl. I will help you wipe the table. I already did it—why do you have to do it again? Can I help do the vacuuming? I can do the little bits then you do the big bits.

I want to show you something mama, just outside. Watch me run! Watch me roll on the ground! Look at the rain—can I go outside and play in my raincoat?

Mama can I sit on your knee? Please don’t do your emails now…read me my new book!

I was shocked by the number of times my son apologised TO ME for spilling something; for thinking he was in the road when I was trying to get something done. And, the number of times he asked to just JOIN in with what I was doing, however mundane I thought it was. And, the number of outbursts of frustration and sadness by him, because I’d interrupted his time in disrespectful ways, or tried to control how he played. And, the number of times I said, ‘Be careful.’ Too many! Oh my heart fills with grief for lost moments, and guilt for violating his needs.
Breathe. Let us all take time now, and reflect on how we treat our children. Moreover, how we treat ourselves? Living barefoot is the freedom to be a child. Do we allow our children to live freely? Do we allow ourselves to live freely, simply, and in the present?

My Son Reminds Me

Who told you that I need to Learn how to live in this world?
I am in this world NOW and NOW is my world!
I am living!
I am Life!

I like my Boots on THESE feet,
And if I have my pants on backwards I can see my tag – very Important to see your tag, Mama!
And today I want this blue sock, and this orange sock. I think they look very pretty.
Why are you groaning? Are you sick?

I LIKE my pops, they are FUNNY!
My bottom goes all bubbly and tickles me.
My tummy is big but not as big as yours, Mama – yours is Very Big!
I have big ears, you say, that hear too much.
What is Too Much? A song? Can you sing it?

Mama, YOU have to sit on the Calm Down chair
You have to sit there and take big breaths in and out when you are cross.
Then I will give you a cuddle and you can say Sorry.

Let’s have a picnic outside in the dark tonight,
But you have to hold my hand…it’s a bit scary and the possums might get me.
Look! There’s the moon! It’s a smiley moon today!
Hey diddle diddle the cat played the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the mooooooooo-n!

Here I am NOW, Mama
I am Life!
Don’t get too busy, Mama
Here I am NOW!

 What do you hear, when you stop to listen to the white space in your lives?

Red Nose Day

Hello lovely Barefoot readers


This post is about an issue which is very close to our hearts in the Barefoot team - As you may know, Rachel's daughter Iris died in her sleep almost four years ago. She was a month off turning three and she was such a wonderful girl. Rachel and her family received a great deal of support from SIDS and Kids and so we all feel very strongly about supporting Red Nose Day which is coming up on Friday 24th June, 2011.




Red Nose Day, one of Australia's favourite fundraisers, is calling on your support this June. Nine children under the age of four die suddenly and unexpectedly everyday in Australia from a range of causes including sleeping accidents, drowning, motor vehicle accidents, sudden onset illness, SIDS and stillbirth.

SIDS and Kids offers anyone affected by the death of a baby or child free 24-hour bereavement support services. They also provide safe sleeping education for mums, dads, grandparents, carers and the like to reduce the occurrence of SIDS and other fatal sleeping accidents.
This June, why not fundraise for SIDS and Kids and support families who have been devastated by the death of a baby or child? Through Red Nose Day, SIDS and Kids are helping to save lives of future babies and children.

SIDS and Kids needs your help so stick on a red nose, slap on a smile and be silly for a serious cause this June!

How can you help?

Buy Red Nose Day products from retail partners

www.rednoseday.com.au/national-partners

The SIDS and Kids online shop is a great way people can offer their support. Visit www.sidsandkidsshop.org to see what's on offer or you can follow the cause on Facebook and Twitter

facebook: www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Red-Nose-Day-Australia/199513403400177
Twitter: twitter.com/#!/RedNoseDayOz