{"id":3421,"date":"2013-09-24T07:22:51","date_gmt":"2013-09-24T15:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mixhart.ca\/blog\/?p=3421"},"modified":"2013-12-02T16:43:19","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T00:43:19","slug":"leading-moms-vancouver-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/leading-moms-vancouver-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading Moms Vancouver 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leading Moms Vancouver, BC 2013<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Theresa and I on Granville Island–pre-event teas in hand!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’m back from a fabulous weekend in Vancouver, BC. I attended a Leading Moms conference. My sister also attended the conference; so, we met in Vancouver for the weekend. The weekend weather was sunny and pleasant and the conference compelling. What made it exquisitely interesting was that all of the speakers were mothers and had careers. It is always fascinating to listen to other women and their stories. Some of the presenters performed songs rather than personal stories. I applaud all of the women for their courage to share their stories and or music. The list of women below includes the speakers whom I learned the most from or found interesting for other reasons.<\/p>\n

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Christine Magee:<\/strong> Sleep Country Canada<\/h2>\n

*Best Tip I Took Home With Me<\/span>:<\/strong>\u00a0success is not achieving your dreams. Success is trying to achieve your dreams–it is all in the action of trying.<\/em><\/h2>\n

Christine is an example of a woman who had a very demanding and established career (in business) and then attempted to fit in motherhood. Christine’s story of career success and obstacles included the self-realization that she is now worth more to her company dead than alive–such is the truth of an aging spokesperson in a company. I found her motherhood experiences reflect more of a traditional father’s role in parenting, as she had a full time job which required much travel and relied on other caregivers to stay home with her 2 daughters.<\/p>\n

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An otter family and a blue heron looking for lunch on Granville Island, Vancouver, BC. 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Deborah Macnamara:<\/strong> Neufeld Institute Faculty<\/h2>\n

Best Tip<\/span>: self-directed imaginative play is more vital for intellectual development than structured\u00a0activities.<\/em><\/h2>\n

Deborah was one of the most accomplished speakers at the conference; she was dynamic and direct. Her talk focused on the importance of play in childhood–play, encompassing all activities that one is engaged in with no thought or investment in the final outcome. This is a philosophy I share; organized activities, lessons, screen time and too many playdates all take away from precious free play time. Children need to be left alone and allowed to create their own entertainment and fun. Play can often include another friend or two; however, constantly being in large groups of peers or at lessons distracts and prevents true engaged-play from occurring. So many modern children have not been allowed to develop the ability to play and amuse themselves; which, is tragic as play is what fosters creativity and ultimately an intelligent, well rounded adult.<\/p>\n

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Walking back to the Hotel Vancouver after the conference, a hat shop caught Theresa’s eye…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kelsey Ramsden<\/h2>\n

Best Tip<\/span>: You don’t have failures and successes in life–just events.<\/em><\/h2>\n

Kelsey grew up in my home town of Kelowna, BC. She’s an accomplished and entertaining speaker. She showed us how to turn self depreciating thoughts into self actualizing realizations. Her past events in her life history that others might regard as fails, in her eyes, were never fails–they were simply events. She, like Christine, had a successful demanding career (in business and construction) before deciding to have a family and her challenge was how to fit in motherhood. Tragically, she was diagnosed with a highly incurable cancer after the birth of her third child. She called on her father to run her business while she spent time just “being” rather than “doing.” After a year of being cancer free, she is now speaking about her experiences. Kelsey credits her husband’s help and his nurturing skills for enabling her to juggle motherhood and a demanding career.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Of course, I could not resist purchasing a hat myself!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shirley Bond:<\/strong> British Columbia’s Minister of jobs\/ labour<\/h2>\n

Best Tip<\/span>: A brilliant career develops over time and may look nothing like you imagined.<\/em><\/h2>\n

I enjoyed Shirley’s story of how she became a politician. She started her career path becoming the volunteer president of her children’s school PAC. Shirley’s story is a mom’s story that I relate to as she did not start motherhood after establishing a successful other career in business. She was a mother first and then built a successful career later–a path I also follow.<\/p>\n

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A mojito to the end a great day in Vancouver…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Susan Washington: Life Coach<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Best Tip<\/span>: An energetic presentation is important in public speaking but one must always articulate a point for the sake of the audience.<\/em><\/h2>\n

Susan Washington’s talk was memorable because, although her speaking manner was enthusiastic and dynamic (she engaged the audience–including audience participatory activities), her talk made no obvious point. At the end of her 15 (+ or -) minutes, I turned to my sister and said, “Did she say anything?” It was a very confusing performance of song and smiles that, in the end, failed to communicate any point except that she (the speaker) is always happy except at times when she experiences “awkward” feelings (and that she struggles to embrace them both).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leading Moms Vancouver, BC 2013 I’m back from a fabulous weekend in Vancouver, BC. I attended a Leading Moms conference. My sister also attended the conference; so, we met in Vancouver for the weekend. The weekend weather was sunny and … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,24],"tags":[1721,1723,1722,1724,3112,1725],"class_list":["post-3421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feminism","category-motherhood","tag-lm2013","tag-leading-moms-2013","tag-leading-moms-vancouver","tag-leading-moms-vancouver-2013","tag-motherhood","tag-vancouver-moms"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t