After opening nominations for our inaugural Sassy Mama Helper Awards at the beginning of this month (by the way, there’s still time to nominate your helper, mama!), we’re now so excited to share all the details about the prizes, not to mention all the fun activities for shortlisted families happening at the awards celebration! Read on to find out exactly why you should be nominating your helper before this Saturday, November 18!

When and Where…

The 2017 Sassy Mama Helper Awards will be happening on Wednesday, November 29 at the Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club, from 3pm to 5:30pm and are all about having fun as a family with heaps of activities and treats for parents, kids and those special ladies in your lives too. From games and entertainment by super sassy party people Cheeky Little Events and melody making with Music Monkeys to complimentary mini manicures for all your helpers from The Nail Spa and skincare consultations/mini facials by CosmeSurge, and the chance to win a first aid course with Babies and Beyond – there’ll be plenty going on! The kids can have a go at creating crazy colourful milkshakes with Koita  Organic Milk and the polo club will be treating all the adults to a scrummy afternoon tea – and all the littles to a lovely kiddie supper (hooray, no cooking that night!).

And to top it off, the fabulous team from Stu Williamson will be on hand to capture all of the fun – with tons of photos available for free download from our Facebook page following the event! Master photographer Stu and his team are some of our very favourite family photographers in Dubai; we are so grateful to them for donating their time and efforts to this worthy cause – just like ALL of our awesome sponsors!

And now for the goodie bags and prizes…

Every helper in attendance (that’s all the shortlistees, mamas) will receive a certificate of nomination along with a flower from 800 Flowers, vouchers from Spinneys and milk by Koita plus afternoon tea and treats.

The winners of our major prize categories (Childcare, Master Chef, Pet Lover  and Helper of the Year) will receive a Spinneys hamper, will receive a Spinneys hamper and vouchers, beautiful flower bouquet from 800 Flowers, skin-care treatment with CosmeSurge, and an amazing gift hamper from The Little Birdy Group.

And the kids? Yup there’s something for them too! They’ll be taking home a little gift by My Goody Goodie Bags.

All prizes will be awarded based on the decision of a panel of judges from Sassy Mama, Babies & Beyond, Koita and Spinneys. Have we got you excited or what, mamas?! Click here or via the link below to nominate your helper if you haven’t already.

All the details!
What: Sassy Mama Helper Awards
Where: Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club
When: Wednesday, 29 November, 3pm – 5.30pm
How much: FREE! Click here or via the link below to nominate your helper – nominations will close on 18 November.

The nominations for the Sassy Mama Help Awards is now closed. 

The post A Party, 4 Grand Prizes, FREE Family Photos from Stu Williamson… our Helper Awards are going to ROCK! appeared first on Sassy Mama.

Are you ready to celebrate and say a huge THANK YOU to your helper, mama? We are THRILLED to announce our inaugural Helper Awards and celebration on Wednesday, 29 November, 2017 at the Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club.

Helpers allow women in Dubai to fully participate in the work force. They give us the ability to spend quality time with our children while alleviating stress about household chores. And so often, they do this while leaving behind their own families so they can financially support them as best they can.

It’s time to give back and recognise the amazing sacrifice that our helpers make for us everyday by nominating that special lady in your life according to the following categories:

• Helper of the Year

• Childcare

• Master Chef

• Pet Lover

The winners will receive some gorgeous prizes and certificates and will be invited, along with all of the runners up, to a special awards party that’ll treat everyone to mini spa treatments, goodie bags, scrummy treats and much more. There’ll be loads of special activities on site too for helpers, families and kids – this is an event for you all to enjoy!

Click here to nominate your helper in a designated category. Nominations will close on 18 November, 5 finalists in each category will be announced on 21 November and winners will be chosen by a panel of judges on 29 November. Hurry, hurry and show your helper how much she means to your family, mamas!

All the details!
What: Sassy Mama Helper Awards
Where: Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club
When: Wednesday, 29 November, 3pm – 5.30pm
How much: FREE! Click here or enter below to nominate your helper – nominations will close on 18 November.

The nominations for the Sassy Mama Help Awards is now closed. 

The post It’s Time To Give Back To The Amazing Ladies In Our Lives With The First Sassy Mama Helper Awards appeared first on Sassy Mama.

Whether you’re a full-time mama or a working mama, if you have little ones in a hectic city like Dubai the fact that domestic help is abundant and affordable is truly a blessing. Thanks to helpers, part-time babysitters and, most of all, nannies, mamas in Dubai can work, spend quality time with our families, and maybe even have a bit of time to spare for ourselves!

Of course, we only want to leave our children in the best of hands. We spend lots of time researching which nurseries and schools would be the best fit for our children. And if we’re looking to hire a nanny, we spend hours interviewing candidates to see which one would be the best fit for our families.

So what makes for a good nanny?

Well, for one, she has to love being around children. She also has to be efficient, reliable and trustworthy. She should be able to take direction but she should have good judgment and be proactive if the situation calls for it. She should have good communication skills, both in order to interact with our children as well as to give us feedback about the kids.

Oh, and it would really be great if she came with an impressive set of qualifications related to childcare and years of experience taking care of children. Right?

Unfortunately holding out for a nanny that comes with all of those valuable attributes as well as the qualifications, certifications, and heaps of experience may see us holding out forever!

Read more: Would Your Nanny Know What To Do If Your Child Was Choking?

It’s actually a bit unfair to expect all that from the nannies that are available to us in Dubai. They are usually young, inexperienced and have no formal training. And yet that’s the primary reason why they’re so affordable to us.

It’s a double-edged sword if there ever was one.

The nannies we hire also usually come from a different cultural background than our own. That means they will come with a different set of sensibilities and values when it comes to playing, discipline and school work. And they will most certainly have different reactions than we would when it comes various childcare scenarios. So it is incredibly important to take the time to get our nannies on the same page as we are.

And educating them in childcare fundamentals in a more formal fashion is by far the best way to do that.

But because our nannies spend all of their working hours taking care of our children as well as our homes, they have little to no time to spend receiving additional training in childcare. In fact, less than 5 per cent of nannies in the UAE have any formal training, and that mainly is the work of mamas who had the foresight to send their nannies to pediatric first aid courses.

Given how much we rely on our nannies – with many children spending anywhere between 25 to 80 per cent of their time with nannies, depending on the family and child – it makes perfect sense to invest in upskilling our nannies.

Read more: Top 10 Tips for Managing Your New Helper in Dubai

Upskilling is teaching an employee new skills so that they add more value to their organisation, which, in this instance, is our households.

If we invest in upskilling our nannies, for example, like the mamas who sent their nannies to the first aid courses, they add value to our households by becoming better caretakers to our children. The first aid courses cost somewhere between AED 400 to AED 600 and require a time commitment of four to six hours. But since the children around the nannies with first aid certifications are undeniably in safer hands it’s clearly worth the time and the money!

Seeing the value added when a nanny is provided with some more formal instruction when it comes to caring for children, my husband Milind and I developed Rise, an app that serves as an educational platform for nannies and their employers.

Read more: The Best ‘At Home’ Services In Dubai

Rise provides curated courses created by childcare experts that cover four core areas of childcare: child safety and emergency planning; children’s nutrition and health; building a caring and nurturing the environment and supporting child learning and development. Prices range from AED 50 to AED 250.

We designed the video courses, which last an average of 30 minutes, to be viewed on smartphones and tablets. They come in short chapters that are easy to process. Each chapter is followed by a brief assessment to determine whether the lesson has sunk in; if it hasn’t, the courses can be taken again and again. And employers can monitor their nannies’ progress through the various modules via the app itself.

The great thing about the courses we chose for Rise is the fact that the time commitment isn’t prohibitive. On a given day, a nanny can spend anywhere between 5 to 15 minutes on a course and come away with knowledge that will enrich her as a caretaker to the child she’s been entrusted with.

Considering the fact that when we hire our nannies we take the time – hours and sometimes even days – to go over the household routine, instruct them about what goes where and teach them how to use our various home appliances, investing a little time and a little money in training our nannies on how to better take care of our children is a no-brainer. Right?

Read more: 10 Companies To Have On Speed Dial When Your Helper Is Away

The post Why We Should all Invest in Upskilling Our Nannies appeared first on Sassy Mama.

Planning a party? We’ve compiled the essential guide to entertaining at home, from creating custom invitations, to offering bespoke cocktails and clearing up when everyone heads home. Make a note of these time-saving companies, mamas, and get ready to party in style!

The post Entertaining at Home: Sassy Mama’s Guide appeared first on Sassy Mama.

After living in both New Delhi, India and Singapore, I’ve had my fair share of hiring and managing staff. While the set-ups differ greatly – multiple staff in India vs. just one helper in Singapore – and usually the same in Dubai – what I do know is that it takes a bit of grace, some pre-planning and a LOT of communication in order for the relationship to function and be a positive experience for everyone!

Depending on your location and the nationality of the helper you hire, you may or may not have government/state regulations to follow when hiring your helper, so perform due diligence and ensure you are following all rules, including any salary requirements, etc. It is imperative that you spend time examining your home life and family habits to determine what exactly you are looking for in a helper/staff. Too often, very little attention is given to the small details of what exactly is needed from your staff member. Look deeper than just references and ask questions like “What did you most enjoy about working for your last family?” or “What is your favorite recipe to cook?” These may seem trivial, but in fact will open up the communication, especially if she is nervous.

Let me share with you my Top 10 Tips when Hiring and Managing a Helper.

1. Let her settle in. Make your own arrangements for dinner that first day! Are you providing linens or is she bringing them from her last job? Let her know that you’ll help her hang photos and put things away. She may have a laptop, so be prepared to share your Wi-Fi password. Find out whether you need to offer a direct transfer for her salary or pay in cash. Show her how to get to the nearest SMRT station or bus stop.

2. Take her to the grocery store to show her (1) how to get there and (2) some of your normal/favourite things. YOU didn’t know how to get around when you first arrived – don’t assume she will just figure it out.

3. Provide her with access. Consider providing her with a monthly cell phone allowance. I need at ALL times for her phone to be on and charged up with credits, and the best way to make sure that happens is to give her the monthly top-up card that equals peace of mind for me. Give her a house key and explain your rules (doors always locked, only at night, whenever she’s alone in the house – whatever the case may be for your specific situation).

4. Write it down. Get a small notebook to keep track of expenditures.  Create a ledger and ask your helper to also keep receipts. Once every two weeks, I suggest perusing the receipts – not because of trust issues – but to keep tabs on what we’re spending as a family.

Having this notebook also helps with MY quick-to-annoyance attitude when it feels like she’s asking for more money all of the time – since I’m only doing about half of the shopping, I don’t have the pulse on daily expenses. Allowing her the opportunity to document her spend provides a better trusting relationship between the two of us.

5. Share the duties. We have a car, so once every two weeks or so, I get staples and household items AND meats at one of the big hypermarkets. I go early morning before it gets crazy/crowded! Then daily, one of us will walk to one of the stores down the street to get fresh items, kitchen supplies, etc.

I sat down with cookbooks on Sunday and outlined the week of menus. Using sticky notes, mark the recipes that sound interesting to you. On top of the sticky, just note whether it’s veg, soup, salad, etc. THEN with a calendar or sheet of paper, write out your days and randomly slot in your recipes, jotting down the cookbook title and page number on the appropriate date.

6. Create a MUST HAVE list. We have found it helpful for everyone involved to have a “Must Have List” that is displayed prominently (ours is on our fridge). This list lines out the specific things I require to be in our house at ALL times (e.g. lemons, apples, milk, etc.).  This is the “absolutes” list.  It sets an expectation which assists your helper in staying on top of the shopping items to always have and reduces the number of times that a reminder conversation needs to take place.

7. Be VERY clear and identify your non-negotiables. If you don’t want someone in your kitchen before you’ve had a chance to make your OWN coffee and shuffle around in your bathrobe, tell your helper to start work at 10am. If you want that morning assistance first thing to have help with packing snacks/lunches for children, by all means, let her know. If you want quiet time in the evening then let her know.

Sometimes the non-negotiables are buttoning hubby’s shirts after ironing so that when he packs the two sides don’t fly all over, or that certain dishes are special/keepsakes. Do you have a specific kind of toilet paper?  Do you want your pillows arranged in a specific way?

I’d also suggest laying out a tentative daily schedule for your helper to start out – when you’ve started a new job, wasn’t it good to have some guidelines? – but be prepared to make adjustments once everyone settles in.

8.  English is not her first language. Be prepared for some things to need to be discussed repeatedly. Don’t make it personal, and don’t get frustrated. Often those who do not speak English as their native language can read/write more confidently than they can speak. Take advantage of that notebook! Another communication tip is to utilize the SMS function on your phones. The written word is easier to understand!

9. Sometimes laughter is nervousness, not humour. Once I arrived home and a dish had been broken. No biggie at all … we all could have broken that dish ourselves. But as she was telling me, she was laughing … I knew it had to be nervousness. If you don’t know this going into the working relationship, it can come off as being disrespectful.

10. If you’re irritated or bothered by something, TELL her. She is your employee. It may feel so odd to function as the boss, but try role-playing in your head and pretend that you are IN AN OFFICE and your employee needs a chat, a reference point, a directive. It ends up much more professional that way!

The post Top 10 Tips for Managing Your New Helper in Dubai appeared first on Sassy Mama.

What if we told you there was a way you could magic the house chores away and have all the time in the world for the tots? Enter Helpling, the UAE’s first online cleaning service platform set up to make your life easier! After wowing families in Australia, Canada, Singapore and Sweden just to name a few, they’ve brought their innovative cleaning services to the desert city with an aim to realise the truth of the saying happy mama, happy home. With only the most experienced and trusted domestic helpers on their books, all you need to do is head on over to their easy to use booking system to make a reservation – and all within 60 seconds. There’ll be no messing around with endless forms and checkboxes here (because which mama has time for those?!).

Designed to make your experience and life a stress-free one, Helpling checks each of their employees rigorously to ensure you’re only getting top service and zero stress. Perfect if you’re not quite willing to commit to a full time domestic helper and still like having a hand with the housework, you’ll be shocked at the amount of breathing space you have after just a session. While you’re out roly-polying with the kiddos in the garden or social butterflying around town, you can always expect to return to a rush of relief and awe that the house is sparkling. And on top of making sure you have a hassle-free experience, Helpling’s also committed to providing the best service to their own employees as well – and we’re all for that.

Every cleaning session that you book with Helpling is a minimum of three hours, giving you enough time to do the things you love with the people you love while your home is transformed. It’s also pretty affordable at just AED 35 per hour!

Interested in giving it a go? Helpling has actually given all Sassy Mama readers a sneaky little discount code which will score you one free hour (AED 35 off) your first booking! Valid for 8 weeks, all you have to do is pop the code ‘mamashelpling’ into checkout to make the most of it. Time to attack the grime mamas!

Helpling, (+971) (0)55 318 8736, www.helpling.ae

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