Tag Archives: Dubai Mummy bloggers

Indoor activities Seashells on the Palm

Some of our favourite indoor activities for children

Kids Activities in Dubai or anywhere else in the world.

It’s great to be outdoors now that the weather is fabulous but we all still need a new few ideas for play indoors (this is more relevant probably to friends back in the UK as winter starts to set in).  Here are some of our new favourites to try.

#Treasure Hunt.  Now that my eldest boy can read well being in Year 2, he reads the clues and my other children follow suit.  My little pirates charge around the house, and it keeps them amused for a while.  It promotes a bit of team work and sharing so it makes it fun for them.  They can even get dressed up in different costume themes to make it more fun.

#Bubble bath.  To make the best soapy bath you will need 1/2 a cup of mild baby soap, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 egg white, 1 tablespoon of light almond oil (optional).  The honey makes the children’s skin soft, and the egg white keeps the bubbles fluffier for longer.

#Camping in the great indoors.  With all these teepee tents sold everywhere the kids can camp out on the living room floor with cushions and blankets.  We did this whilst watching the very frightening Jurassic World – out of my 4 children only my 4 year-old daughter watched it until the end whilst my boys ran out half way.  Or you can even picnic in there on Thursday afternoons after school with pizza and juice.

#Bake with your children.  Baking teaches children to take turns, share, and believe it or not, it teaches them self-control and patience.  You can try making pancakes too with buckwheat or quinoa flour just to teach them the different types of ingredients that can make different tasting pancakes.  Then drizzle with organic raw honey, and instead of sprinkles you can sprinkle with ground cacao powder and chia seeds.

#Indoor sand play.  We live on the beach but oddly when we fill up our Carrefour plastic boxes with sand, the kids love it.  We make our own safaris, and driving deserts and it keeps them busy for hours.

#Rice play.  You can teach your little ones to write by getting them to write in rice, sand or soapy liquid in a ziplock bag.  It makes it more fun.  That’s this week homework from school to format the letters properly and it feels less tedious for the children but more messy for mummy.  You can’t have it all.

Snapsights | A revolutionary way of watching your children.

Our household was invited to test for 2 weeks Snapsights, Dubai’s first in-home monitoring and installation service.

Yes, my husband and I had the same reaction as you are having now. I didn’t like the idea of someone outside my home being able to watch my children and me.  It felt really creepy and an invasion of my privacy.  However, the more I learnt about the company, the more I felt more at ease so hear me out.

Snapsights growth

Snapsights is the vision of Basak Sen Sasal, GM of the company, who comes from a high-flying background in financial and strategy consulting having worked with a blue-chip British firm before starting Snapsights.<犀利士
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Basak, herself, is the daughter of a high-flying career woman herself who fortunately had the support of extended family but her mother still felt wrought with guilt leaving her with Basak’s grandmother and the nursery. Basak’s mother was that successful iron lady, running a corporation of over 400 employees who cracked glass ceilings but when Basak reached 18, she talks about her regrets of missing Basak’s milestones including her first crawl, first step and first walk.

Then 18 months ago, Basak was also touched by a story about an unfortunate incident involving a working mother and her daughter and decided to use her knowledge of technology to help parents who are facing difficulties so Snapsights was born.

Why Snapsights?

Snapsights is a professionally run company with a team that is fully certified by the Dubai Police, Department of Protective Systems.  They ask your family for rules, and they implement them by texting you if any house rule is broken, for example, if children enter the kitchen without adult supervision.

They only monitor your house during the regular working hours form 8.30am until 6.30pm Sunday to Thursday.  You can choose the number of hours you wish for them to monitor during the day, and when I was home or in any room of the house I often switched off the cameras to maintain my privacy.

Who should use this service?

In my experience, the monitoring service would work for:

#First time mums who are nervous leaving their little ones at home

#Families with a new nanny who they are not familiar with

#New families to Dubai

#Working mums – Dubai has a 45 day maternity leave so it helps mums who need to leave their young infant.

#Parents who travel – Mums and Dads can check in on family moments from their phone.

My family

We love it – I had resisted for years getting CCTV placed in our home.  However, Snapsights really changed our perspective of cameras in our homes.  We had sweet moments of the children at home with us captured on film and life is about remembering those everyday moments too.  During the two week trial, having four children whilst working meant I did miss some moments that Snapsights caught and at the end of the week I had this amazing collection of video moments and photos of my kids.

As a result, we have installed the cameras in our house in almost every room that the children spend their time in but we monitor everything ourselves as I work from home.  At first, I was hesitant thinking that it would upset my nannies but at the end of the day my children’s safety and well-being comes first because we don’t have the luxury of an extended family.  It has given me a bit more security as a mum, and I know that my children are being cared for in the way that I want them to.

Q&A with Snapsights.

Who are typically your clients?

For our monitoring services, it is mainly working parents who would like to keep an eye in their home while they are outside at work. However, they know that they cannot watch their camera feeds full time, and they hire SnapSights’ female monitoring operators to be their eyes and ears at home when they can’t. We receive a list of their house rules and make sure all of them are followed by the nannies and children. These rules can be as simple as; no snacks after 4pm, children should not watch TV for more than 2 hours, children should not be in the kitchen without adult supervision, or the super popular one; no Ipad/Iphone but pure communication, activities. Some of the other more critical house rules obviously involves the security of the baby.

For our installation only services, it is mainly stay at home mothers who would like to see their children when they would like to have ‘pamper me’ time or who would like to share their moments with the daddy traveling abroad frequently or grandparents living abroad.

We also recently launched SnapSights’ corporate arm where we help corporates on the remote monitoring of their offices, clinics, branches, warehouses, and even cash registers. Finally, we recently launched our White Stork project which we work together with various hospitals providing remote monitoring systems for newborns.

Can you tell us who are the people monitoring the cameras if we opt of the monitoring service?

We have an all-female team that went through Dubai Police Academy’s training and security checks. We choose our monitoring operators very carefully as we hand one of the most crucial part of SnapSights’ services, monitoring, to their eyes.

Can these cameras be used for commercial purposes?

Of course, we recently launched SnapSighs corporate where we help businesses with the usage of innovative technology on surveillance systems, access control systems and video intelligence systems. So far, we are very happy to be chosen by well-known F&B chains, health clinics, and corporate groups.

For more information call 800-Snapsight (762 774 448) or email info@snapsights.ae

Otherwise, you can see more examples of their work on www.snapsights.ae

Koita gives back | Koita Organic Milk uses some profits to help underprivileged children.

Seashells On The Palm tries our best to support companies and individuals who give back in a big way whether with time or money, and we think it is important that these incredible individuals with big hearts be recognised and be given a platform to share how they are helping others. Given the recent plight of Syrian refugees highlighted by the tragic death of a three-year old boy, the world ashamedly realised how numb we have become to the suffering of families and children on our doorsteps and that we need to remember our humanity again.

Home grown Koita Organic Milk, a new and growing enterprise only launched in 2015, last month gave a total AED85,000 in Koita Organic Milk and cash to the local charity, Al-Ihsan Charity for Orphans and Needy Families, one of the few initiatives that they support.

The spirit of giving back is very much at the heart of the Koita ethos. ‘Living in Dubai, we all take for granted the great lifestyles we have,’ says 犀利士
koita-founder-and-owner-of-koita-organic-milk-dubai/”>Mustafa Yusuf Koita, Founder and Owner of Koita. ‘Unfortunately, there are many underprivileged families we don’t see and with our continued charity work we want them to be noticed and supported.  Giving back is part of the Koita company mandate, we are very proud to be helping the Al-Ihsan Charity.  We hope this initiative will also encourage others to give back to such a worthy and needed cause.’

Al-Ihsan is a not-for-profit organisation that has been operating in the UAE since 1990, providing financial aid and health assistance and undertaking rehabilitation projects for families in need in the UAE.  For example approximately 12,000 orphans and needy families are given free medical attention via Al-Ihsan hospital.  In addition their food donation program is one of the largest in the region.  Volunteers can sponsor families and school education for orphans or make direct donations in cash or kind to the centre, by visiting their website www.alihsan.ae.

For more information on Koita and the other initiatives they support, head to their website www.koita.com.

SensAsia Urban Spa | Eve Lom Cleansing Facial | A little taste of Thailand in Dubai

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If you are in Dubai this July and August, and you have been reading our travel features in Phuket, you might want to treat yourself to a little taste of Thailand at one of SOTP’s favourite spa in Dubai, SensAsia Urban Spa.

What we tried: The Eve Lom Ultimate Cleanse

Time: 1 hour

Price: AED540

Therapist: Anna

Thoughts: I haven’t let anyone give me a facial in Dubai in 5 years after a horrific experience at a spa (we won’t name and shame them) that I haven’t been back since.  I normally just have some botox at my husband’s clinic but since I am still breast feeding so that isn’t an option right now and my skin has been looking more tired and dull after 4 children.  Looking for an alternative I decided to give my trusted spa a try.  I think the quality of treatments at SensAsia Urban Spa are great, built on a strong foundation as the owner, Salina Handa, grew up in Thailand, and she has such a lovely and simple philosophy to her brand.  The treatment was a lovely cleanse using Eve Lom products and a deep clean with 2 masks applied to the face.  Anna was light handed and the treatment was relaxing.

Results: My dull skin after all the hormonal changes from having a baby was brighter and cleaner.  It wasn’t a glow as such but my skin definitely looked better – I even got my plastic surgeon husband to judge it and it had his approval!  Believe it or not, but I will be back.

Top tip: Ask for Anna – she is a really great and experienced therapist for facials.

Special offers: If a facial is not for you, you can treat yourself to a massage at 40% off the regular prices.  A 60-minute Balinese massage normally priced at AED399 is only AED279 until 31 August 2015.  These prices only apply to certain signature massages that are booked between 10am and 4pm.

SensAsia Urban Spa has four locations, The Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Golf Club, Souk Al Manzil Downtown Dubai, The Village.  For more information about the spa and locations go to www.sensasiaspas.com