London Calling with Three #onthegomums

May 21, 2011 by cafebebemama

This week has been a very busy one in the Cafe Bebe household! It kicked off with a wonderful blogger event for Three in London. They’ve got an interesting new campaign to get Mums online and show them how they can use technology, smartphones, apps and mobile wifi to be a more efficient parent. You can check out their Facebook page to learn more about the campaign, get tips and tricks (and app suggestions) and even enter a competition if you think you are Britain’s Busiest Mum!

Along with a handful of delightful BrtMums bloggers, NCT members and press, we learned more about super apps for Mums, heard from celebrities like Denise Van Outen while our children were treated to an amazing creche and performance from Cbeebies presenter Katy Ashworth from “I Can Cook”! Oh, and there were cupcakes for the children to decorate and plenty of tech gadgets for the Mummies to get their hands on. Somehow I came away from the event without trying out the iPad though. Darn. I’ve just got to get me one of those!

Little Miss and I travelled down to the event in London with our best mates, Mummy Matters and her children. The kids were so well behaved and managed to make it through the whole day without a nap. Our endless journey home was not so fun but that’s what you get for trying to leave London at 5:30pm!

It was interesting, listening to Denise Van Outen talk about how, when she became a mother, she suddenly found the need to have support and friendship online, particularly in the wee hours when you’re up, usually alone, with your unsettled baby. When I had Little Miss nearly 3 years ago now, I was definitely online and surfing the net but I didn’t have a smart phone, hadn’t started my blog and only knew Twitter as something Ashton Kutcher did. I wasn’t even on Facebook until Little Miss was about a year old! Gosh, how behind the times was I? My husband would argue that my time spent online is wasted time, but for me, it has been a lifeline. I can find support, encouragement, friendship, solutions and suggestions. When I finally got on the Smartphone Wagon, that became even more important to me. My BlackBerry is pretty much attached to my hand.

But there are a lot of things I don’t do online and don’t do on my smartphone, simply because of it’s limitations. I’ve never managed to start online grocery shopping (I must do this before the baby arrives) and because my BlackBerry is primarily a business phone (emails, texting, Twitter, messaging, etc) with a small-ish screen that is not a touch screen, I have yet to fully enjoy the APP WORLD that is out there. I don’t know Angry Birds from Words with Friends. I would never let Little Miss near my BlackBerry while other parents readily hand over their iPhones and iPad for their children to play educational (app) games on!

I have decided that I do need to move into 2011, however, so my goal, by the end of the summer is to have an iTouch which will enable me to do online tasks, source and utilise apps, use things like Insta.gr.am for photos and of course, Tweet and Facebook everything I find. That will be my treat to me! And under supervision…I may just download a few apps that Little Miss can have a go at. Technology, phew!

So thank you Three, for opening my eyes to apps and other technology and for treating us to a wonderful event in London. I would suggest, however, that next time you give us a lunch that is more suitable to Mummies rather than teeny, weeny rabbits or supermodels! And make an effort to have some gluten-free baked goods for those of us who can’t eat croissants, brownies or cheesecakes! (harumph…my gluten-free frustration reached new heights on this day). In the meantime, I’m starting a money jar for my iTouch. Let’s see if I can get it by August!

These pictures of Little Miss were taken by the amazing Jay Mountford at the Three event. Thank you Jay!