Plastic not so fantastic

By Emma Sun
AVID blogger and stay-at-home mum Sarah Braaksma could think of nothing better than giving her children a handmade eco-friendly toy for Christmas.
With the increase in poor quality plastic toys, Sarah said she was sick of having to buy toys for her three children that just broke after a week.
She has since joined the “blogosphere”, where she has met like-minded mums who encouraged her to start her own boutique, called Mum’s The Word, to sell quality items for children.
“The boutique was more about sourcing quality items for children because I was finding it hard to find toys that would last and I was sick of all the plastic stuff you get in the shops,” Sarah said.
“I started sourcing stay-at-home mums who made their own toys and I’ve got three or four mums at the moment that I’m sourcing different items from and I’ve also got eco-friendly wooden toys.
“I mostly sell toys and mostly handy parenting tools such as brolly sheets that go on the bed for when children wet the bed and choice charts that reward children and things like that.”
Sarah said it was very important for stay-at-home mums to stay connected and to have a support network, and the internet is a great tool to assist with that.
She particularly loves the blogging community, praising it for its ability to bring people from all over Australia and even the world together.
“I think blogging has a huge impact with stay-at-home mums because they’re mums, and if they blog about a product, it’s something they’ve tried and tested and would recommend,” she said.
“It’s fantastic, there’s a real community spirit there and mums don’t feel that they’re home alone because they’ve got someone to reach out to and people to talk to.
“Blogging has been a good way to meet other mums all around Australia, people you wouldn’t meet otherwise, people who live in places like Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania.”
Those people have also been a great source of Christ-mas ideas, as the ladies share many recipes, handicrafts and gift ideas with each other.
“Everybody supports everybody else – if someone has a great blog on one day, everyone will share it. We all are really great friends and help each other out,” Sarah said.
Part of the reason Sarah’s toys, which she describes as old world toys, have been selling so well is because they’re indispensable.
She said the other part was due to the support and assistance she received from her followers and fellow bloggers.
“The blog has really been great for the store, they’ve helped each other hand in hand because people have gotten to know me and they trust they can buy from someone who wouldn’t sell them anything but quality,” she said.
“They know about me, my kids, and I blog about items in the store. I would definitely recommend parents to buy quality items.”