Dogs like many creatures have an inert ability to learn and getting them started early is key to avoiding problems in adult life. Being nice to have around kids, they teach them the fundamentals of responsibility that can go both ways with dog training. Simple routines that the animal can remember gives them character and takes away some of the mischievousness they possess in adult life.
Dogscan be taught many a unique skills and they often learn so much they can amaze many with that ability. Your kids can also learn with a little encouragement that their dog is a responsibility, getting to share the load of care and upkeep of the pet. Dogs live an average of 10 to 12 years depending on the breed and for a good relationship, one that is manageable to the family and home is best. Breeds that tend to love kids grow protective of their young masters as well as the rest of the family. Being social, getting them to move around is good for it develops good social behavior essential for a well mannered canine. In the end your family will have a pet that loves you all with the bond getting stronger each passing year as you both grow in love.
Many people are faced with the same predicament, they’re earning enough yet are not satisfied with their current jobs. What to do? What to do? Why not try getting another career? Sounds crazy huh, well statistics show that more and more people need this for personal improvement. They also show that even if they wanted to go back to school, they didn’t have the time. Now here’s an idea, online degrees, they’re convenient and you don’t have to go to leave your current job.
Education advances along with the internet and what started out as a way to educate children who lived in far away places that made it impractical to go to school has gone mainstream. Most colleges have such programs and offer them to parents who like most of us have to keep our jobs. You get a second degree to advance your career and can finally get to that career change you’ve always wanted for a change.
Most first time parents due to inexperience, panic in the face of medical emergencies. Me and my wife for example have two totally different approaches to emergencies such as the frequent bumps and scratches that sends your child running to you so learning to recognize something serious is the key and experience would educate you best. My wife gets into a panicked state every time she sees blood accompanied by the uncontrollable cries of our child, I merely step back, take a look at the situation and analyze the situation if it needs medical attention or if first aid can do the trick. For example, an open wound and compound fracture is always serious so speed to the hospital for care. High fever during teething is normal and can be handled with analgesics while being in constant contact with your pediatrician who would tell you to get help if needed.
Having experienced medical emergencies as a volunteer which developed my abilities to recognize life-threatening and trivial injuries, just hope more people would recognize this as a vital skill to have for it helps you lower your insurance premiums. Do some research on the web for health tips that can add to your knowledge of which emergencies to treat seriously and which are mere casual. Information and knowledge is the key, the more trips you take to the ER, the more a risk you are for the insurance firm so they have the option to ask more for insurance.
Now I’m not a political person, but I must say that I think it’s great that there’s a young family in the White House. My eldest is pretty close in age to the younger Obama daughter Sasha, so it will be interesting to see how the new President and First Lady fare, not just with the monumental task of running the country, but as parents.
I like how the President wrote a letter to his girls (printed in Parade Magazine), telling them the reasons why he decided to run for President, and what he wanted for them. Here’s my favourite bit:
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I don’t know if it’s because of the Christmas excitement – with all the shopping, wrapping, baking and school activities, but my children have become increasingly naughty, and that even includes little Wills, who has been waking up every 1 a.m and refusing to sleep for a full hour.
So in my battle weary Christmas frustration, I was thrilled when my best friend cleverly sent me an email about Krampus, Saint Nick’s devilish companion in Europe, who gets very very naughty children by beating them with sticks, filling their stockings with coal and throwing them in his sack (to be brought where, heavens knows). That night the screaming, wrestling, whining and fighting stopped, so you can guess who was introduced to the family Christmas tradition….
A bit severe? Well, the tradition of Krampus hails from Bavaria, where my Father-in-Law was born and raised, so I can argue that it is part in my children’s family heritage. Now, with the mention of one simple “K” word, my home is no longer a screaming pit of holiday nerves, but a harmonious Chipmunk-Christmas-playing-in-the background abode, that would make Martha Stewart proud. If only Krampus was around all year round…..
The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen). In the Alpine regions the Krampus is represented by an incubus in company of Saint Nicholas. Traditionally, young men dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December, particularly in the evening of December 5, and roam the streets frightening children (and adults) with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas the tradition also includes slight birching by the Krampus, especially of young females.
The present day Krampus costume consists of wooden masks or Larve, sheep’s skin and horns. Considerable effort goes into the manufacture of the hand-crafted masks, as many younger adults in rural communities engage competitively in the Krampus events.
In Oberstdorf, in the southwestern alpine part of Bavaria, the tradition of the “Wilde Mann” (wild man) is kept alive. He is described exactly like Krampus (except the horns), dressed in fur and frightening children (and adults) with rusty chains and bells.
I’m a review-nut. Well, I don’t know if that’s the right term, but what I mean to say is that before I go on a trip, buy a product, eat in a restaurant or see a film or show, I almost ALWAYS read the reviews FIRST. That little extra time spent on Trip Advisor for example, has made our recent family trips hugely successful – gone are the days where my husband and I would end up in places which were nothing like the “brochure” promised!
When it comes to things for my family, I tend to be even more careful, especially with the kids and baby Wills. Obviously, I’ve jumped on the “Green Bandwagon” so to speak, and support anything green for the family. So it was great finding a community like the Green Home Huddle, a place where you can read and give reviews for loads of eco-friendly products.
Right now, they have a great contest going, sweetly entitled Green Mommy Loves Green Baby where you can win some fantastic baby and Mommy care products – all of which are natural and organic of course! All you have to do is review products that you already use (or want to use), which I consider the fun part (is it obvious that I like giving my opinion?), and hey presto, you’re in the running.
Good luck!
After the excitement of the Halloween festivities, we’ve all come down with colds in the past week or so. And I say “colds” in the plural because there have been more than one, when we seem to have gotten over one, another arrives.
I still can’t get over the fact that my two elder kids, who both had the flu shot this summer, seem to get over it incredibly quickly or don’t get it at all. For example last week, Ollie simply had a runny nose for a day or two, and Nat was fine. This week Nat had a cough for a couple of days, and Ollie a runny nose for a day. Today, both kids are fine. What matters was that nothing really came of it, no prolonged symptoms or worse, fever. Poor baby Wills, who obviously couldn’t get the shot, has had it pretty bad. Coupled with heavy teething (his top two came out this week, and one more is breaking too), he’s had a tough time. And so has Mommy, with a bad cold last week and again this week for round two.
But back to the flu vaccine. The Moms at my son’s preschool are divided on this. And until last year, I agreed that it made sense to go “au naturel”, of the let-them-get-sick-it-builds-their-immunity kind of thinking. But last year was a particularly bad flu season for us, with my son missing A LOT of school days which did him no good at all. So when a Mom raved that her son got through the season virtually unscathed because of the vaccine, I thought I’d try it out this year. Now I’m a convert. Even my husband, who’s had a miserable week coughing and sneezing, has grumbled,”why didn’t you make me get the shot??!” Well, next year one thing is for sure, we’re ALL getting flu shots.
Here are some key facts about the vaccine:
The single best way to protect against the flu is to get vaccinated each year.
There are two types of vaccines:
* The “flu shot”— an inactivated vaccine (containing killed virus) that is given with a needle, usually in the arm. The flu shot is approved for use in people older than 6 months, including healthy people and people with chronic medical conditions.
* The nasal-spray flu vaccine — a vaccine made with live, weakened flu viruses that do not cause the flu (sometimes called LAIV for “live attenuated influenza vaccine” or FluMist®). LAIV (FluMist®) is approved for use in healthy* people 2-49 years of age who are not pregnant.
Each vaccine contains three influenza viruses-one A (H3N2) virus, one A (H1N1) virus, and one B virus. The viruses in the vaccine change each year based on international surveillance and scientists’ estimations about which types and strains of viruses will circulate in a given year.
About 2 weeks after vaccination, antibodies that provide protection against influenza virus infection develop in the body.
I recently received a review copy of Fiona Neill’s latest novel The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy, and I’m looking forward to some light reading!
For Lucy Sweeney, motherhood isn’t all astanga yoga and Cath Kidston prints. It has been years since the dirty washing pile was less than a metre high, months since Lucy remembered to have sex with her husband, and a week since she last did the school run wearing pyjamas. When Husband on a Short Fuse is no contest for the distractions of Sexy Domesticated Dad; Yummy Mummy No 1 has more cash flow than parenting advice; and Alpha Mum is putting a slur on your questionable domestic habits, it’s hard to remember exactly why anyone would give up a career and their sanity for three raucous sons and less than blissful domesticity. Lucy is living in a state of permanent emergency and the white lies to cover up the trail of chaos and illicit desire are about to be exposed …This is an irresistible first novel about the dilemmas of motherhood and modern marriage for those who never discovered their domestic goddess within.
I haven’t started to read the book yet, since I asked my wife to check it out for me first. But I’ve scanned through the pages, and went to the Slummy Mummy site over at Random House, and I feel I can relate–perhaps more with Sexy Domesticated Dad (minus “Sexy”) given that I hold office at home, and every morning I bring the kids to school and fetch them in the afternoon. I’m not exactly a homebody, but running a SOHO, I can say I’m probably more domesticated than most dads out there (and now I feel like a cat for being labeled such).
What exactly is a Slummy Mummy? Perhaps you can answer the Slummy Mummy quiz to see if you are one. Oh, and I took the quiz myself. And guess what! I’m a slummy mummy! LOL!
Fiona Neill is a features writer for The Times magazine and creator of author the Times’ Slummy Mummy column. Previously a foreign correspondent in Latin America, then assistant editor at Marie Claire and then The Times magazine, the author was brought up in Norfolk, she now lives in London with her husband and three children.
The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy is published by Random House in the UK and Penguin in the US.
I was browsing the Internet for news today when I saw a compelling headline. It read “Where were the parents? Children accused in deadly beating.” Needless to day, I immediately clicked on the link and proceeded to read the piece of news.
Apparently, five children have been accused of beating an old man to death. Some of the children are as young as 13 years old and the victim was 81 years old. He was viciously beaten to death in an alley at 5 a.m.
Based on the news report that I read, when this incident became public, residents of the area were all asking the same question: “Where were the parents?”
I have mixed reactions to this kind of question. On the one hand, why were the parents immediately to blame? On the other hand, these were children and indeed, their parents should have been responsible for them, especially since they were out of their homes at 5 in the morning. They should have been in bed, sleeping!
This is perhaps an extreme example but just imagine where your children could be and what they could be doing in the wee hours of the morning if you were as lax with them as the parents of these children were. Your kids may not go around beating old men to their deaths but there are so many other things that could happen to them.
I believe in giving children a certain amount of freedom but I do believe that I have to draw the line when it comes to certain times of the day or night. Of course, this example goes much deeper than the children being out at that time. It goes much deeper. When I read such news, I realize once again the very important role that we play in our children’s lives. It still scares me sometimes.
I once heard someone say that they wished that there could be a guide book on parenting. We all know that there is no such a thing as hard and fast rules when it comes to being a parent but they can be guideposts along the way. The kind of parenting class that I am talking about is something which goes beyond the preventive stage, though.
I read an article yesterday about a mom who was ordered by the court to take parenting classes. Why? Because she left her kids in the car while she was playing poker. Here is an excerpt of the article:
A Grandville mom who left her kids in the car while she played in a charity poker game will have to pay $450 in fines and take some parenting classes.
Judge Steven Timmers told Diem Thi Tran Thursday that if she paid the fines and met other conditions within six months, her criminal record would show that the charges were dismissed.
Tran was at a charity poker event at Woody’s Press Box, 5656 Clyde Park Ave. SW, on April 23 when an officer said he found her three children asleep in her car around 1:17 a.m. in the parking lot.
The Wyoming Police report stated witnesses claimed the children — ages 5, 10 and 15 — had been in the car for as long as three hours. Tran also was charged with no valid insurance and defective equipment on the car.
I don’t mean to be judgmental here, but I just cannot imagine any self-respecting parent to leave their children in the car for any reason! Will parenting classes help this mother? Perhaps. Or maybe they should also take a look into her habits – gambling being one of them.
