Imaginif prompts for daily writers.
If you wish to join the Writers Prompt Daily simply use the below photo (changes daily) as a prompt and post a short story, poem or paragraph to your blog. Leave a comment and your link here so that all participants can come to you and read/comment/encourage. Stories below are copyright and are Megan Bayliss' writing around the below daily picture prompt.


Imaginif's New Website: www.imaginif.com.au

5:53 pm Megan Bayliss

Imaginif…child protection became serious business.

Imaginif…there was a single place where 24 hour global conversation led to raising consciousness around child safety issues.
Imaginif… www.imaginif.com.au

Yes, we are now live and bringing a global child safety
conversation to your home computer.

Our aim: To become the largest on-line child protection conversation
in the world.

Join several writers from around the world, a host of concerned parents, professionals and agencies, in our quest to put safety of children
uppermost in people’s minds.

We cannot reach our aim without YOU.

Join us at
www.imaginif.com.au.

FREE gift on registration in the forum

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Posted by Megan Bayliss

Carnival Against Child Abuse: May Day Edition

1:23 pm Megan Bayliss

The Carnival Against Child Abuse: May Day. May Day. May Day. Children at Risk edition is now up at Imaginif's brand new website. In fact, the site is so new that it is not even live and optimized until Thursday Morning (Wed night in the U.S.A). I so wanted to kick our new site off with the Carnival Against Child Abuse though that I’ve bought our live date forward as much as I could.


Don't forget the participation contest in this months Carnival Against Child Abuse (read about it here: bottom of carnival). One point for every comment left on participating blogs stating that you made your way via the Carnival Against Child Abuse, and link backs. You do not have to have a blog in the Carnival to participate.

Next months edition will be the Carnival Against Child Abuse's first birthday. To be hosted at Survivors Can Thrive, get your posts in as soon as you can. Submit here.
Visit our new home:
The largest child protection conversation in the world.
Blogs, fourums and protective behaviour shop,
Imaginif is helping you to keep kids safe.
(live to the world on 17th May 2007)

Posted in
Posted by Megan Bayliss

Mothers Wanted

7:41 pm Megan Bayliss

POSITION : Mother, Mum, Mama, Mummy, Mom, Ma, Na, Ama.

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an, often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT and PROMOTION:
Virtually none. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:
None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION:
Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS:
While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life.

Forward this on to all the Mums you know, in appreciation for everything they do on a daily basis, and let them know they are appreciated.


Courtesy: info@fathersonline.org

Posted in
Posted by Megan Bayliss

Protect Children from Poisons in the Home

7:05 am Megan Bayliss

Child safety involves protecting children from all potential harms. While many parents think that home is the safest place for a child to be, home also provides a poisonous mix of hazards that impact upon our children's safety.


Most adults know and accept the risks taken with medicines, drugs, cleaning products and pesticides but children do not. Poison safety in the home requires not only keeping poisons out of reach but also education around why things are poisonous.

About: Pediatrics offers a Poison Safety checklist designed to find unsafe areas in the home. An assessment of storage, accessibility and general child safety principles, it is an excellent start point for keeping kids safe from accidental poison and age appropriate curiosity. What it does not do is help parents educate children about why products must be kept out of reach.

Look for teachable moments to educate children about poison safety. Weaving poison safety and poison rules into general conversation is an effective way to help children retain information rather than the children thinking they are receiving a Mum and Dad lecture. Lectures frequently result in children zoning out and offering platitudes to trick their parent into thinking that full attention is being given.

A teachable moment may present at any time. Are you ready for it? Now that we are home schooling, our child has been exposed to unusual activities and routines that used to happen during his school attendance hours. Oven and bathroom cleaning provided teachable moments that I had not previously considered.

While helping me, child was asked to leave the room on several occasions. The fumes and toxins from two particular products left his eyes watering and nose complaining. In the interests of child safety and environmental protection, it is time to swap to green products.

So interested was child in the powerful effect of the cleaners that we spent some time outside talking about why poisons work, why they are poisonous and what to do if someone is overcome by the poison. This discussion led into the potent effects of mixing not only chemicals but also food products, medicines and alcohol, and accidental usage of the wrong product. Although I appreciate that Pop will be embarrassed, I also shared a family based poison mishap because the teaching opportunity was too great to ignore..

Pop made a mistake recently when barbecuing steak. Eyesight failing, Pop relies on things being put away in their correct space. Reaching for the green bottle of oil spray, Pop unknowingly grabbed the green Pesticide spray - put there by a guest who was helping to tidy up. It wasn't until he sprayed the steak that the smell told him it was Mortein. If Pop had been unable to smell, he would have served the steak and inadvertently poisoned his guests.

Child helped me to do a poison safety check. Within our kitchen alone, we found three bottles of hazardous chemicals that were within arms reach of visiting children. Further, we found four potentially hazardous poisons in the food pantry. Relocating all the products to a high spot, completely separate to the pantry, child and I decided to do a future home school project on poisonous foods and plants.

Our cleaning day turned into teachable moments of poisons information that may have been otherwise overlooked. While we know the importance of poison safety, children do not. Find a teachable moment and help keep your kids safe from poisons in the home.

Photo of "Poison" compliments of Hberends at stock.xchng

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Posted by Megan Bayliss

For Your Eyes Only: Funding Opportunity for Young Australians

1:33 pm Megan Bayliss

Your Eyes Only

The Foundation for Young Australians' new creative grant opportunity Your Eyes Only is for young people 12 -15 years to celebrate the strengths of their community by submitting a creative entry celebrating their community through their eyes.

Successful applicants will nominate a community group working with young people in their community, for example a school, youth group, Abused Child Trust or sporting group, to receive a donation. This donation would then be used by the community group to further its work by either purchasing much needed equipment or adding funds to an existing program.

Applications are now open, and close Monday 18 June 2007. A second funding round will open in July 2007.

More details and application forms available at the Foundation for Young Australians or call 1800 252 316. Posters available. Call 03 9670 5436 for free copies.

Posted in
Posted by Megan Bayliss

Imaginif...Child Protection Became Serious Business

12:28 pm Megan Bayliss

Imaginif is set to launch our new protective behaviour concept: the largest on-line child protection conversation in the world. The new site (www.imaginif.com.au, not yet unveiled) will include child safety focused blogs by several writers and a forum to discuss all child safety related issues. The site knows no boundaries and will be open to people world wide: Mums, Dads, professionals, grandparents, kids over 16. Anyone can comment on blogs but forum participation requires becoming a member (free gift with sign up).

Largest on-line child protection conversation topics will include, but not be limited to:
  • Water, sun, farm, poison, snow and road safety (each is a separate category).
  • Child sexual assault prevention.
  • Healthy and safe food for kids. WRITERS NEEDED
  • Travel safety. WRITERS NEEDED
  • Internet Safety. WRITERS NEEDED
  • Gang safety. WRITER NEEDED
  • Bully safety. WRITER NEEDED
  • Teenage and dating safety. WRITERS NEEDED
  • Domestic violence safety. WRITER NEEDED
  • Business protection and safety.
  • Assist dogs for children with a disability. WRITER NEEDED
  • Covert child photography safety. WRITER NEEDED
  • Foster care kid safety. WRITER NEEDED
To reach our aim of being the largest child protection conversation in the world, we need more voluntary writers from around the world who are willing to commit to just one child safety focused blog per week, answer comments on their blog and participate (at least once per week) in associated discussions in the child safety forums. If child safety is a passion of yours, then we want you.

Interested? Apply today. Applicant writers will demonstrate specific knowledge in their nominated area of child safety (yes, caring parents qualify), will send a bio, three samples of their writing, two email referees and be willing to interact with Imaginif, via email or phone, if accepted.

This is a voluntary position and your weekly commitment would be for a minimum three months. You may be able to do it as part of your Corporate Social Responsibility if you are staff of a progressive and socially responsible company. Alternatively, you may be like me and consider child safety so important that you are willing to write for the passion of it. Others may choose to do it for personal reasons between themselves and their God - acting out their beliefs of helping other people.

Blogs will contain a short bio of the blogger at the end of each blog with a link to either bloggers own site or place of business. In text linking back to own business, other articles or industry specific sites is encouraged. What a great way to increase traffic to your site.

Bloggers who have English as a second language are welcome to send duplicate posts: one in English and one in their mother tongue. Publishing both ensures that people who don’t speak English can still become part of the largest on-line child protection conversation in the world.

Volunteer writers will retain copyright of their material but please respect that once posted it should not be posted word for word elsewhere.
The new global conversation on child protection will be monetized with Google AdSense and financial sponsor logos. This is required to meet hosting and site upkeep fees. Imaginif chooses to work independently without any government funding and supports the site from our other business income (sale of protective behaviour resources and consulting).

Should you be accepted as a blogger, your individual/company’s banner/logo can be included on the front page at no financial cost.

Apart from our impending start (in three weeks), there is no time frame on application for these short term and part time voluntary jobs. Writers will come and go. Please send this to people you may think will be interested.

For more information, contact me at imaginif@bigpond.com.au. I’m looking forward to entering into the largest on-line child protection conversation in the world with you.

Imaginif...child protection became serious business. Imaginif...you were part of the push.

Posted in
Posted by Megan Bayliss

World of Children Award

11:56 am Megan Bayliss

The Drum Beat (a weekly electronic publication exploring initiatives, ideas and trends in communication for development) is circulating award notification for the World of Children Awards. I thought may be of interest to readers:

World of Children Awards Recognises ordinary people worldwide whose lives are dedicated to doing extraordinary work on behalf of children. There are 3 award categories: World of Children Health Award; World of Children Humanitarian Award; and the Founder's Award. The first 2 award winners will receive US$50,000; and the third, US$15,000 for the Founder's Award. All award funds go to support the proven and sustainable programmes initiated/managed by the winners. Deadline: May 4 2007.

Please pass this on to anyone who may be able to meet the nomination guidelines in the short time frame.

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Posted by Megan Bayliss
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