February 2009
You’re very welcome to this February edition of ni4kids...
Many of you will have heaved a weary sigh of resignation a week or two ago when the government finally confirmed that the UK is now officially ‘in recession’. For many of us, it’s a matter of mere semantics, since we’ve been struggling against the tide to raise kids and pay bills for many months now.
In fact, there seems little hope of relief from the current economic squeeze any time soon. Instead, it’s a case of batten down the hatches and do the best with whatever you’ve got.
That said, of course, there’s a lot that you can do to ensure that you’re getting the most out of all your family’s resources – it’s a timely topic and one to which our financial advisor, Jason Holmes, has been turning his mind. He’ll show you how to maximise your family’s income and trim its expenditure in his regular article.
Elsewhere in this crammed issue of ni4kids, you can read Tracey McCausland’s heart-wrenching account of the day she discovered that the little son on whom she doted had muscular dystrophy.
You can find out why our hilarious columnist, E. Jane Dickson is perfectly at ease in her relationship with her daughter and why fashion guru Stephanie Berkeley is delighted to see January off.
Elsewhere, you could be in with a chance of winning a fantastic make-over package (courtesy of Medi-Cosmetic) in our Mum-in-a-Million competition, you can try out some of our weird and wonderful recipes for Pancake Tuesday or let Maureen Boyle guide you through some of the best children’s book titles due to be released here this spring.
Add to that our usual four-page What’s On guide and our regular Northern Ireland ‘Biodiversity’ supplement, and you have another busy and informative edition of Northern Ireland’s biggest family publication – lots to look forward to despite the gloomy outlook.