If you have young ones at home, you know how much stuff they require (and acquire). It doesn’t take long for the things they “love” to turn into the things that “acquire”. That long awaited for Barbie® now sits in the bottom of the toy box with a missing arm or half of her hair cut off. The much needed remote-controlled muscle car is out of batteries, out of tires, and out of fun. What’s a mom or dad to do? Unless you can afford to replace every outdated toy with a new one, you are in a quandary.
Check out the Internet! The net can bring all kinds of new ideas and fun into your home. In fact, with the Internet, you can learn to make fun foods for the kids as well as create fun crafts. You can gain information on how to make almost anything for children of any age. There are desserts recipes, treat ideas, even ideas for disciplinary action. With everything available on the net, there’s no need to even leave your house. You and your child or children can choose something together. Let your child choose what he or she would like to do for the day or eat for the day. If he or she is old enough, help them look it up on the web. Let them find the information needed to cook their favorite food. Let them find something that interests them and get the materials together to make it, if possible. For children with musical talents, there are websites dedicated to sheet music. For the young artist, there are websites that will help him or her apply their talents to the canvas. In fact, there are websites for almost anything. You can get supplies online, information online, recipes online, and anything else you might decide you need.
If you are new to the net, and don’t know where to start simply “google” any word you want to look for. There are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of sites available for that one particular word! The more information you put into the google search, the better results you will get. If you have older children, let them look up the information. It will give them some computer time and will also make them feel useful. If all else fails, there are a ton of free games on the net for every age group. Just be sure to check out the games before you allow your children to play them. Make certain they are age-appropriate. By using the Internet, you can find all kinds of stuff just for kids.
Kids are really different creatures from adults and it’s hard to know exactly what they want for gifts or special presents. I’ve tried giving clothes and that doesn’t seem to be it. I once gave my kid school supplies for her birthday and she wasn’t very pleased. Kids don’t even care about the effort we put into giving them all those nutritious dinners on the table. I’m guessing that the only thing they really care about is the favorite toys they play with. I wish we could just give them toys without thinking about the really important things they need; however, that’s just not practical. Once you’ve finished giving kids the things they really need, there’s often not a lot of cash left to give them all the things they want.
Finding cheap toys used to be easy. You’d go around to garage sales and look for the junk in the toy section. Nowadays, though, that kind of approach takes a lot of time and there’s no guarantee you’ll get the right kind of toys. Unless you live in a warm climate, you can’t find garage sales year round. Instead, think about buying toys online. It’s like having a 24-hour, 7-day a week garage sale but without the hassle. The toys are affordable and you often get a peek at it before you buy. There are a ton of websites advertising minimally-used children’s toys. You don’t have to leave the comfort of your computer screen to get a load of toys for your kid, shipped directly to your home. Global shipping has made it simple and affordable to get things sent to you so you needn’t worry about the shipping cost of the product.
The beauty of these websites is that it goes both ways. While you’re hunting for the latest craze in gently-used kids toys, you can also unload a few things while you’re at it. Think about all the toys that are stored away, unused, all over your house. Your kid won’t really miss them anymore and you’ll make another kid very happy. You can offset the cost of your purchases with a virtual garage sale of your own. You don’t have to put ads anywhere nor do you have to sit outside all day selling your junk. Just snap a picture of your stuff and upload it to the web with a catchy ad. If someone buys the toy, it’s more money for you that you can turn around and use to buy even more stuff for your kids!
The best part of the whole thing is that you can find one-of-a-kind, cheap and fun toys for your child that won’t be time consuming to find and will be something your kid will love. Your old toys will be history and you’ll be saving money for more important things in life. For me, the whole thing is a win-win situation for me, my kids and anyone who buys our gently-used toys.
Men have traditionally been the bread winners. There are few, if any, barriers that prevent men from obtaining training for a job, entering the job market or changing careers at some point in their lives. This is not the case for women. They have traditionally been homemakers and care givers. While single women are free to explore training and outdoor job opportunities, they are expected to give it all up once they are married or begin a family.
It is not that women aren’t competent. During both world wars, women left the home and went to work so that the men could join the armed services and fight the enemy. Thousands of women worked in the munitions, aircraft, automobile, steel and other industries. When the men came back home, women were expected to give up their jobs and return to being home makers and mothers. Women have served in some occupations and no one has ever protested their work as salesgirls, typists, telephone operators or nurses.
Today, women work in nearly every occupation, including astronauts, senators, physicians, surgeons, lawyers and other positions of prestige and importance. Ask any woman if it was difficult to get where she is today and she will tell you that she faced many obstacles that men do not face. Women often face discrimination before they get to their chosen occupation. In many colleges and universities, there is a lack of role models for young women. There is not a ready supply of women professors to advise female students about the benefits of networking and discovering, like men do, who can help them get their careers started.
Women will explain that it is difficult to juggle being a career woman and a mother. In many careers, there is a “mommy track” for women who want to work and be a care giver too. This career path doesn’t lead to being the head of the department or president of the company. It is a sidetrack to a job that dead ends. Why? It is because men in most fields see themselves as dedicated to their jobs. Women who want to have families are not viewed the same way. Men feel that they have lost interest in their jobs and are no longer dependable. When a crisis arises at home, women will leave their jobs and tend to their children. This is not the way, men think, to act. The paying job is all important and cannot be abandoned at any time.
For the woman returning to work after being a mother for many years, the path is hard. Unless there is need for a second income, men do not understand why their wife wants to work. There is no emotional support for them if they don’t find work in their field because men feel it’s not something they need to do. Because they have not kept up with advances in their field, women may not hired at all. If they are hired, they may shunted into a path within the industry that has no future.
Women need to find support groups, in person or online, that can help them navigate the path to getting training, getting the job and rising as far as they can within their field. The support groups can serve as mentors, providing role models and important advice on how to succeed. Women in positions of power and authority need to network with their younger colleagues and provide the assistance that they wanted when they were first starting out. With today’s computer technology, more and more people work at home. Women should learn how to use this technology to overcome the “mommy track.” Women need to help other women succeed.
There are some people in this world that tend to make it more difficult for things to take place then they really need to. This happens most times when it comes to the relationship. People find that they are not compatible after a few years in time and then they decide that they need to divorce. This is more than common place these days as people are getting divorced every day. In many cases this becomes a bitter battle to see who can hurt who the most in the shortest amount of time. Making the most of this situation is the best chance that you have for being amicable in the case of the time that you need to be happy and still be divorced. What many people tend to forget when they are going through a divorce is the fact that the children that are involved are going to be adversely affected by the divorce. This is the first thing that most people should be thinking about but sadly they do not take the time to put the children first in the whole situation.
When there is a child involved divorce the effect of the break up can mean some feelings in a child that are difficult to deal with. The first feeling that most children go through is that the divorce is their fault. This the most dangerous of all the feelings that a child will have in the process. When this occurs there is an onset of depression that can overwhelm the child and make it difficult for them to bounce back to their normal self. To help stop this type of reaction from the child you should take the child and sit down for a good long talk. In many cases even the smaller children will understand much more then the adults will give them credit for. This is the reason why the parents that are planning on divorcing should take the time to speak with their children. Sit them down and tell them that there is nothing that they have done wrong in the whole situation. Make sure that they understand that the divorce is based on the adult issues involved in the whole matter and nothing to do with the how they have behaved or how they react to anything. You should sugar coat any situation that could shed an unpleasant on either parent. This can have a very poor effect on the way that the child deals with the divorce should one or the other parent be made to take the blame for the entire divorce. You need to maintain a level head throughout the entire ordeal for the sake of the child.
The other issue is to remain on the same page as your spouse when it comes to how to handle the child. The main mistake that a lot of divorcing parents make is to try and make themselves come out in a better light then the other person involved. Children will use this type of thing to their advantage to make certain things happen. Before you know it there is problems and the child is impossible to handle. To avoid this happening you should remain on the same page as your former spouse when it comes to the discipline and raising of the children. If given the chance the child will attempt to drive a wedge in between the parents and this can lead to a lot of problems.
Children today are required to know more and be more skilled these days before entering the school system—more today than ever before. When their parents were young the requirements were much less. As a parent, deciding what to teach kids in preparation for kindergarten can be a great challenge. Educational or learning games can help parents by providing a resource for them to teach children the necessary skills needed to begin kindergarten.
These educational games and activities can be both fun and challenging for adults and children alike. Because kids learn differently than adults, the games are made to be both educational and fun. Things like colors, shapes, counting, the alphabet and rhyming are commonly taught in these kinds of games. Remember the game “CandyLand”? This is a common children’s game that uses both colors and counting to teach kids in a fun and entertaining way. Memory is another skill children need to learn and practice before starting school. Children often have very sharp memories that just need to be reinforced, so games that teach memory are particularly helpful for this age group. These games are popular and fun for adults, too.
Some games make use of both movement and sound. If you don’t have that kind of game, you can make one up. Children need to move and they usually love music. In fact, music is a good teaching skill, so games like musical chairs can teach your child a lot and can help him or her stay active.
If you’re in the market for a children’s educational game, don’t just choose any game you see. Look at the box and take note of the age recommendation. While this is just a recommendation, it gives you an idea what age group the game has been created for. Some children need games that are designed for their actual age, while others are more advanced and will find games outside their age range more appropriate to their learning style.
Games teach more than just the basic educational skills so it’s important to set aside the time to play these games with your child. They not only learn their colors, numbers and shapes, but they learn how to take turns, how to win without gloating, how to be polite and how to lose at a game with graciousness. As a matter of fact, these are skills adults can use as well. Everyone can practice being a good sport.
Regardless of the games you purchase, remember always that it’s the memories of playing with your child that you’re really building. Even after they get older, they’ll remember that you took the time to play games with them and have fun with them. While educational games are designed to educate, they also have the benefit of teaching socialization and building a solid relationship between you and your child from a very young age. Your child will understand that he or she is worthy of your time and will build a self esteem that will carry them forth throughout their lifetime. This is why you should buy these games and, if possible, play them on a daily basis.
It’s important that in this day and age of television, videogames and movies that people strive to set time aside to read. Nothing is more important to the overall education of a person than being well read in the written word. Forget about magazines, they don’t count. Novels are what people should strive to read more often. If what you like to read contains pictures then you need to consider switching to something a little more mentally stimulating.
Whether you like relaxing in the evening after a long day of work and reading a gory Stephen King novel, or if you prefer your novels to be more judicial based like a John Grisham story, does not matter. Regardless of your preference of genre writing, reading is educational and can be very enjoyable if taught to children at a young age. In fact, if you are an avid reader, it is a good bet your love for words developed at a very young age.
Young minds are more receptive to new concepts, which is why if you have young children you want to encourage them early to embrace the hobby of reading. By developing a love for literature early in life your children will develop the necessary reading and writing skills needed to succeed in school and out in the real world; and yes, you read that correctly, reading also helps improves a child’s writing skills. Think about, how does anybody ever learn how to write if they don’t spend some time reading the works of successful writers?
If your children are young and not yet in school, then read to them at night. This is your chance to help your children develop a liking for certain authors, maybe even ones you enjoyed as a child. You may also pass your own love for certain types of fiction on to your children. However, if your kids are young, then they are not quite ready for Stephen King or John Grisham. Consider beginning with the timeless classics of Dr. Suesse or A.A. Milne.
As your child grows they will develop a literary taste all their own and start telling you what they want to read with you. This is also a time when you can start introducing them to more adult-themed books. It’s always better to learn of adult situations in a book because it allows your child to create the images themselves. This is better than letting them watch an R rated movie and see some liberal Hollywood directors take. You may consider letting them read J.R. Tolkien, maybe even a little Dickens, such as Oliver Twist.
The time spent with your children reading will create memories they will remember fondly for the rest of their lives. They’ll also thank you when they are in high school and college and don’t have to read a lot of the books assigned because they read them already. It’s never too early or too late to introduce your children to a love literature. Get them a library card and get started, for there are so many books to read and so little time in which to read them all.