Sherene Alfreds is a speech pathologist and creator of the fabulous Dinosnores sleepy stories series of bedtime stories and soundscapes.

She lives in Manly in Sydney's Northern Beaches with her 8 year old daughter and 5 year old son and her husband who designs the cover art for the Dinosnores CDs.

C4K: Describe your general day-to-day life.

SA: Wow, my day to day is busy. School drop off and pick up and after school activities, doing some speech therapy with my son each day, laundry, cooking, shopping and of course then comes my business – Dinosnores sleepy stories. This means filling orders to shops, psychology clinics and direct to customers, emailing bloggers and magazines to let them know about us, and the big job of updating our business plan for to allow us to grow into the future in Australia, UK and the US. And of course there is always so much more I could be doing.

C4K: What led you to you create the Dinosnores stories?

SA: My own daughter, Emma, found it difficult to sleep during her preschool and kindergarten years. So I combined my love of relaxation and my training as a speech pathologist with her interests to create imaginative relaxation stories to help her sleep. Dinosnores sleepy stories was born - like so many things - of necessity. And it gave me back my nights to read and relax (and now work!) after a busy day.

It worked so well for my Emma I decided to start a company and produce Dinosnores sleepy stories. There is so much health advice on the importance of sleep, but so few tools to help parent help their kids sleep. I made Dinosnores sleepy stories to fill that gap.

C4K: Did you take time off with your children?

SA: I took two years off with my daughter before working part time as a speech pathologist and a year off with my son before working weekends as a private speech pathologist. But it was hard –both to develop a part time practice and to balance work and family. As a private speech pathologist I had so many costs I ended up losing money! And most parents wanted speech therapy on the weekends so I lost my Saturdays with my family. Plus, at this time my daughter was having difficulty sleeping and I was in her room telling her guided relaxation stories to help her sleep each night – getting very little time with my husband or to myself. It became obvious that I needed a more flexible and profitable employment option. At the same time I saw the need for quality relaxation stories for kids. So I scripted and developed Dinosnores sleepy stories and luckily this has worked well for me and my family. But my first attempts to go back to work as a speechie made both a financial loss and encroached on the little time I had with my husband and kids as a family.

C4K: What were your main motivations to return to work and what was the hardest thing about it?

SA: My motivation to start Dinosnores sleepy stories as a company was from seeing the need in my own daughter and the great sleep and anxiety benefits she gained from stories with guided relaxation. But my motivation to work is for myself – to earn income and face challenges and create!

Working for myself at Dinosnores sleepy stories and choosing when I work has been great for work/parenting balance. I think this is what is currently attracting so many women to starting their own business. But the hard thing is to get my work/self balance right because every night when the kids are in bed - I could be working. Taking time out for myself is a struggle.

C4K: Who looks after the children when you're working?

SA: We use our local council pre-school Ivanhoe Park Pre-school three days a week. I love its calm peaceful garden setting, and the small numbers of pre-schoolers, and the high carer ratio. Before my youngest started preschool. I used a nanny one day a week and Northside Preschool and long day care to help me get time to work.

And I am lucky to have my mother and father in law as a back up for those days when the kids are sick, or I have to travel for work. They step in and help when I need back up.

C4K: What were you looking for in your child care arrangement?

SA: When I was looking for a centre I was looking for steady staffing, good ratios of staff per child and a calm welcoming physical space. I visited several to see if the staff talked enough to the kids. If they did not bend or squat to make eye contact and talk to the kids they were off my list. Staff taking the time to talk and listen to the children is crucial. Sadly, I saw a few centres that just leave the kids to play and apply Band-Aids as required - but do not engage and talk with the kids.

C4K: What are the main benefits of your particular arrangement?

SA: The small numbers and peaceful environment of our local pre-school allows my son to stay calm and happy most of the day – which means he learns more during play. And the fact that it is close to home and my daughter's primary school means we can walk and ride bikes to school a few days a week – for a healthy active lifestyle.

C4K: Were you particularly impressed with any special attention your children received from carers?

SA: My daughter was afraid of the toilet flush as a four year old. Her preschool teachers and I discussed it and together we implemented a behavior program to teach her to face her fear and flush anyway. First step was for her to stand next to the teacher at pre-school and myself at home while the adult flushed. Next step was for her to flush with us (her hand on our hands) for a week. Next step was to have her flush while we were in the same room. Finally to have her flush without any adults in the room. And her teachers where wonderfully positive towards her gradual progress every step of the way.

C4K: What three things could you simply not do without as a working mum?

Dinosnores sleepy stories help children slow down, ready for sleep.

Guided relaxation and meditation for kids - with stories!

Designed by child care and child language experts, Dinosnores stories and soundscapes use relaxation and visualisation techniques to take kids on an imaginative journey, with calming vocal rhythms and soothing natural sounds.

Each story runs for around 30 minutes, with a soundscape that lasts for a full hour - to make sure children stay asleep after settling.

• Stories engage the listener - evoking an imaginary world.
• Natural backgrounds and effects - stimulate the imagination, and mask household background noise.
• Strategies to encourage listening and language development - simple, specific instructions, using explanations and repetition.
• Cool stuff to learn about nature - parents might pick up a few facts too!

We have four Dinosnores CD packs to give away. RRP $100.00