What You Need To Know About House Slippers

Do you have any idea of what house slipper is? Well…if you look around there are some slippers available, and this slipper is just one of it. There are also bedroom slippers, basement slippers, the slippers you wear when you go out to get the morning paper and other more.Why do people use or wear house slipper? What’s so special about it? When you're feeling cold at your house nothing could be cozier than slipping your feet into a pair of slippers on a cold day. There are slides, mules, comfy slip-ons in leather and suede, corduroy or shearling. There are elegant slippers, cartoon character slippers, manly slippers, and baby slippers. One thing all slippers have in common is how at-home they make you feel.When you wake up in the morning, especially on a cold winter day, what better feeling is there than to step into your warm, snug slippers? Lounging around the house, slippers are the perfect accessory to have. Slippers You NeedA number of house slipper’s types will be a great choice for you. There are different styles for your entire family member. What are they? Here are some of them: acorn Kids' Slipper Sock; acorn Women's Cashmere Mule; acorn Women's Ultra Moc; Ugg Men’s Clugg; Old Friend Mens Scuff; Ugg Men’s Byron; and other more.Wherever you decide to wear your slippers, especially your leather slippers, you can count on wearing them for a long time--these slippers are built to last. Wear them in the morning, afternoon, or evening, in the autumn or during winter--you can be sure that many days and many seasons will pass and your slippers will remain intact. The level of reliability and comfort of these slippers is high, and you will be convinced once you've owned a pair for yourself!Talking about brands, of course there are popular names that you already know. All depend on your favor. Branded and non-branded, all house slippers hopefully can help you ease the cold weather of winter season. Determine what style you look, and while you are at it, why not consider the perfect style for a friend or family member. You do want everybody happy with your choice in slippers.Need some tips before/while using this house slipper? This one hopefully will help you: Before you purchase a pair of house slippers, you'll have to check in Internet a number of attractive and functional styles to choose from. Soft or hard sole slippers, moccasins, slip-ons or mules--these are just a few of the appealing styles you can find. Is there any house slippers type that interests you? Do you know where to look for it?The answer is here! The Web can offer you all the information you need to find the perfect slippers to wear for every possible occasion that begs for their comfort and durability. This site gives you lots of choices of house slippers products. Choose and purchase among those popular brands and gain satisfaction that you’ve never felt before. Enjoy your shopping!

Time Management for Stay at Home Parents

People tend to think that being a stay at home parent means you have time to sit in front of the TV all day, but anyone who has tried it knows better. Staying at home means getting up early enough to get the kids to school, take care of any children not yet in school, clean the house, prepare meals, get the children to activities, etc. It’s not an easy or leisurely life. The first thing to think about are your goals. What do you need to get done each day and what do you want to get done?Many parents find it useful to have a calendar or day planner in a central place in their home. This allows everyone to see what is coming up the next day, week, etc. You may instead prefer to keep your schedule on your computer. Don’t feel obligated to use the system that works for your best friend, husband or anyone else. It needs to work for YOU. This only works if you are consistent about marking your schedule. If not, you will find this to be a very frustrating exercise. However, a good schedule can greatly simplify your planning for each day.Be realistic about how much time it takes to get any school age children ready for school each day and get yourself and them out of bed appropriately. If you get up a bit earlier than the children, you’ll have time to make them breakfast and lunches for the school day. Alternatively, make the lunches the night before. A good breakfast can be very helpful to your child throughout the day.To do lists can be very helpful. You might keep a detailed one with everything you need to get done during the day, from feeding the baby to pickup up the kids from school, or just a simple to do list with the activities you do not do regularly listed.Know your internal schedule. By this, I mean, know when you are most likely to complete certain activities. If you are most in the mood for house cleaning first thing in the morning, make sure you schedule it immediately. If you’d rather wait until after lunch, do it then. Don’t forget to include plenty of time for family activities.If you have work at home job or home business, make sure you have plenty of time to get your daily tasks done there. Once again, knowing when you will be most productive will help you tremendously. Not all opportunities will give you flexibility to change your schedule to meet your preferences, so you may have to find ways to deal with work schedules that are not ideal. Businesses, too, have a way of eating into other plans, so keep a certain degree of flexibility in your daily schedule.Everyone has things they do that just waste time. Know what you tend to do that is unproductive. This doesn’t mean skimping on personal time. However, if you get too interested in tiny details, perfecting things, and so forth, you can waste a lot of time better spent elsewhere. Being disorganized also wastes tremendous amounts of time. Write down important phone numbers, addresses and so forth where you WILL find them easily later.Don’t forget to include everything that uses time in your day. Your children get out of school at a certain time, but how long does it take you to walk or drive there?Make sure you aren’t spending an excessive amount of time doing activities such as watching television, surfing the internet, checking email, gossiping with friends, and so forth. While these are certainly enjoyable activities, if they take up too much of your day you can feel frustrated while trying to get other, more important things done. Know how much time you can spend on these things. Can they be moved to less stressful times of the day? A VCR or Tivo can make it very easy to switch the time you watch your favorite television programs. The internet and email will be there when you have time. Friends will understand if you’re too busy for an involved conversation if you tell them so.Much of time management is simply being aware of what you need and want to do and how much time you will need for it. It need not take much time at all out of your day to plan how best to use that day.

Weddings the Greek Orthodox Way

The wedding service in the Greek Orthodox faith is an ancient and beautiful ceremony, which has been celebrated in its current form for centuries. The wedding ceremony is full of symbolism and is a great experience if you have never attended one before, because it is likely to be quite different from other weddings you have attended in Western Europe. The service is also rather unique because the bride and groom do not make vows to each other – their presence together in the church is taken to mean that they are serious about getting married. There are no wedding rehearsals and the ceremony usually has a very relaxed atmosphere - guests take photos whenever they want to and often chat quietly among themselves throughout the ceremony. The Beginning of the Wedding In most cases the wedding guests will wait with the groom outside the church until the bride arrives (a few sneaky wedding pros will go into the church early to secure a good seat). In the Summer, when most weddings take place, it is not unusual for ceremonies to be arranged back to back, so the guests attending a marriage will often stand around with those who have just attended the previous wedding are ready to leave. Wedding dress commentators among the crowd will get to consider and discuss at least two brides and maybe even a third as they leave the church – bargain! Meanwhile, the groom waits for the bride at the entrance to the church, often holding her floral bouquet. He hands it to her as they meet and they then go inside together followed by the guests. There is no separation of the guests into guests of the bride and guests of the groom – everyone sits together and in the case of small churches, many people prefer to stand in a spot where they can get a good view of the proceedings. Service of Betrothal The wedding ceremony itself is in two parts: the Service of Betrothal and the Ceremony of the Sacrament of Marriage. The exchanging of rings is the focus of the Service of Betrothal. The priest blesses the rings by holding them in his right hand and making the sign of the cross over the heads of the bride and groom. The rings are then placed on the third fingers of their right hands. The "Koumbaro", the couple’s religious sponsor, then swaps the rings over between the bride and groom’s fingers, three times. A number of rituals in the ceremony are repeated three times and this symbolises the Holy Trinity: God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Ceremony of the Sacrament of Marriage This Ceremony consists of several key parts. First, several prayers are said and then as they come to an end, the priest joins the right hands of the bride and groom. Their hands remain joined until the end of the wedding ceremony, which symbolises the couple’s union. The Crowning The bride and groom are crowned with thin crowns, or "stefana", which are joined by a white ribbon and have been blessed by the priest. The crowns symbolise the glory and honour that is being bestowed on them by God, and the the ribbon symbolises their unity. The "Koumbaro" then exchanges the crowns between the heads of the couple, three times. The Common Cup The crowning is followed by a reading of the Gospel, which tells of the marriage of Cana at Galilee. It was at this wedding that Jesus performed his first miracle, changing water into wine, which was then given to the married couple. Wine is given to the couple and they each drink from it three times. The Ceremonial Walk The priest the leads the couple, who are still wearing their "stefana", three times around the altar on their first steps as a married couple. The "Koumbaro" follows close behind the couple holding the stefana place. At this point the couple (and anyone standing nearby) is usually showered with rice, which was earlier handed out to the wedding guests. The priest will often make use of the bible he is holding to give himself some protection! The Removal of the Crowns When the Ceremonial Walk has ended, the priest blesses the couple, the crowns are removed and he then separates their previously joined hands with the bible, reminding them that only God can break the union which they have just entered into. Wedding traditions Unfortunately, a lot of the information available on Greek Orthodox wedding traditions is a little outdated and contains generalisations that give the impression that certain traditions are followed by everyone who gets married. Some of these traditions are set out below. - The baking of bread and cakes containing coins. - Rolling a baby on the marital bed to encourage fertility. - The throwing of money onto the marital bed. - The pinning of money onto the bride (and sometimes also the groom) at the wedding reception. Although these rituals are seen as traditional, fewer and fewer young people marrying today are following them, because they are seen as old-fashioned. Many people do not wish to put their guests through the ordeal of other people being able to see how much money they pin on the bride, for example. Although money is still a very common, as well as practical, wedding present it is often given to the couple before the wedding day or to a third person at the wedding reception, for safe-keeping. Greeks living in the more remote parts of Greece and abroad, who will naturally feel more strongly about doing things the traditional way, are more likely to follow these traditions than those living in Athens, for example. Like weddings in many places, Greek weddings are changing. At the time of writing, there is a growing fashion to go and get married on an island and I recently heard someone say that he was looking into getting married in a ski resort. He was wisely advised by a friend: “You had better first ask the priest if he wants to perform a marriage up a mountain”!

Should a Toddler Wear Pull-Ups While Potty Training

As a parent, you've learned a lot while your child moved from being an infant, to crawling, to the mobile stage of an active toddler. Now that they are older, and able to understand simple directions and associations, you're working towards the goal of “no more diapers”. You'll get lots of tips and advice, some of which is valuable, and some that will leave you undecided about things like should a toddler wear pull-ups while potty training?Again, we go back to the disposable diaper versus cloth debate, although the sheer quantity of either is somewhat reduced by the age of 18-24 months, when most children are attempting to stay dry through the day and night. But the major question becomes one of convenience, versus what may be a better and more “natural” way to get your toddler into the bathroom when he or she needs to go.Wearing training pants, which are made extra thick and absorbent, is often a deterrent to the child who dislikes being wet. With cloth, the wetness stays close to the skin, where disposable paper-based products tend to draw the liquid away, and the child will play happily, even though their pull-ups are drenched.Even a young child can pull up an elastic-waisted pair of underpants, so there is nothing unique in the disposable version, except the cute patterns, and you can get those on training pants as well. What they pull down is not going to matter to a young child, as much as it does to the parent. So when it comes to wondering should a toddler wear pull-ups while potty training, consider the cost, convenience, and your success in having the child acknowledge “accidents”, which will eventually prevent them from happening again.

Tips For a First-Time Mom

Having a baby can be one the most life-changing experiences there are. And not all those changes will be easy to cope with. Here are some tips for a first-time Mom, to help you get through the rougher times.The vast majority of women today, are working when they become pregnant. That means making a decision whether to stay home with the baby, or return to work. This is something you can consider during your pregnancy, weighing the pros and cons of your income, versus the benefits to this child, and any others to come in the future. If you decide to return to work, finding childcare ahead of time, will relieve you of the worries when your maternity leave is at an end.Women who do work full-time, often find themselves swamped in things that relate to the baby, whether it's their laundry, their nap schedules, or their feedings. At times it can seem like your whole life revolves around them, where it used to involve co-workers, friends and visits to family.One of the most valuable tips for a first-time Mom, is that you shouldn't give up your entire life to the new one that you're carrying. After the baby is born, you will be their primary caregiver, but you don't need to be tied to them every second. Make some time for you, whether it's a yoga class at night with Dad doing the babysitting, or a date out with your partner, and one of the grandparents spoiling the new arrival.It's important that you have a break from the constant focus of your everyday activities with the baby. This can include many at-home activities as well, like reading, quilting, or even crafts that you enjoyed before the birth. The baby will be just as happy watching you relaxed and involved in your hobby, as they would be if you were doing the laundry.You might even find a group for mothers at your church or local community center. Sharing tips for a first-time Mom with others, is one way of easing the pressures and worry of whether you are doing things right, and the time out, even with baby, will be a change in routine that you'll welcome!

Benefits of Martial Arts Training For Kids

Admit it. When the going gets tough at home, we’ve all plopped the kids in front of the television and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, we can get started on dinner, maybe check email or sort that massive pile of laundry. But when your five-year old yells at you “Mom, Kids Rule!” or your ten-year old horrifies you with language that would make a sailor blush, you realize there must be something amiss with what these “family programs” really teach our kids. And sadly, its happening all over the media today, from sports to cartoons, and our children are learning things that we, as parents, vowed we would never teach them. Old fashioned values like respect and self-discipline, seems to have been forgotten, replaced by the dreaded “bling bling” pop culture of today. Just the thought of your angelic three-year old morphing into a designer-clad, smart-mouthed, money-worshipping, me-obsessed, lay-about is enough to make any parent consider that threatening military school brochure, but there is a solution out there to consider. Martial Arts training. From Ninja Turtles to The Karate KidYou and your kids have all seen the flying kicks, battle cries and mighty chops of their favorite TV characters, as they beat the bad guys to submission – but, you may ask, how on earth can these acts of violence teach my child anything worthwhile? First, know that what you see on television (save perhaps the Karate Kid) is a far cry from what real martial arts are all about. The fact is, martial arts training is based on non-violence. Originating in Asia (mainly Japan, China and Korea, although Thailand and Vietnam have their own practices as well), martial arts range from a variety of types and styles, all of which are based on well-rounded, moral teachings. The beauty of learning martial arts is that it encompasses not just the physical aspect of the “sport”, but mental and emotional lessons as well. Comparing that to other kid’s activities and sports, where fierce competitiveness and “winning at all costs” seems to be the order of the day, it’s not surprising that many children grapple with issues of self-esteem and misplaced aggression. Now imagine your child actually learning valuable life lessons, skills that he will take throughout life, laying the foundation for a happy, well-adjusted and fulfilled adult life. If only karate for kids was popular in the 70’s, when I was growing up! The Advantages• Karate, and other martial arts for kids, builds confidence and self-esteem as well as self-discipline, respect, concentration and courtesy. • Many martial arts schools also offer leadership courses for kids, in conjunction with their karate for kids programs, or similar lessons. • Martial Arts is ideal for children who do not do well in team sports, giving them the ability to flourish this activity, while combining physical and mental practices. • Many do not realize this, but it is a fact that martial arts training are safer than most school sports. • Children with special needs, such as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), learning difficulties and hyperactivity are often recommended to participate in martial arts for kids because of the clear benefits in its structured training techniques. Kung-Fu Master or Ninja Warrior?Before you sign up Junior for the first martial arts class you see, take some time to check out the different methods available, and match it with what you know would suit your child best. This is a good way to avoid any problems that may sprout from a conflict of your child’s personality and the training techniques. Is your little Zach a sensitive soul? Then maybe a class that doesn’t center on sparring (full-on kicks and punches training) but rather, slower, defensive maneuvers would fare better for him. Kids with an aggressive streak, however, may prefer the more forceful moves and thrive in competitive sparring. Here’s a quick primer on the kid-friendly martial arts training you’re likely to find:Martial Arts From JapanKarate • Uses defensive and aggressive moves• Centers on building strength and endurance• Involves chops, punches, kicks, strikes, blocking and sparring• May use weaponsJujitsu • Uses defensive and aggressive moves• Involves lots of sparring• Teaches a fair amount of weapons trainingAikido• Uses a more “spiritual” and harmonious style in redirecting the aggression of the attacker as the form of defense, using throws, pins, rolls etc. • Taught on the premise of disabling an aggressor without attacking, through your individual inner energy• Does not involve sparring or competitionsJudo • Uses gentle, “wrestling-like” movements• Considered one of the safest methods of martial arts• Emphasizes physical control as well as mental development• Engages in competitionsMartial Arts From ChinaKung-Fu• The generic term referring to Chinese martial arts with a variety of styles• Involves attack movements as well as defensive techniques• Teaches kicks, punches, chops, throws, falls, grappling, katas, leg sweeps and blows among others. • Engages in sparring competitions Martial Arts From KoreaTaekwondo • Competitive in nature, involves techniques using elaborate footwork and unique high kicks. • Emphasizes strength, force and attack methods.• Engages in lots of sparring and competitions. Choosing The Right InstructionIf you have an idea of the type of martial arts class you’d like your child to participate in, the next step would be to find the right school. Finding the right class that not only matches your child’s and your needs, in terms of teachers you feel comfortable with, the price, facilities and so on, are all important factors. Say you’ve found a local place that specializes in Karate for Kids. What are the things you should look for? 1. Good Instructors: Check out their qualifications, teaching methods and watch carefully how they interact with the other children. It should be a fun learning experience! 2. Space and Safety: Obviously you would want to entrust your child in as establishment that is safe, well-maintained, and clean with ample space as well as decent facilities and equipment. 3. School Values: Different martial arts schools inevitably go by different values, for instance, one kid’s karate class may handle aggression in one way, while a judo class would have a different approach. Take some time to observe which school’s ideals match your family’s principles. 4. Prices and Schedules: Prices for martial arts training can vary according to school and location, so make sure you the instruction you choose represents fair value. Finding the most effective way to fit martial arts training into your family’s lifestyle is also essential, knowing what works best with your schedule and other activities.Baby BlackbeltsStarting your child young in karate training is ideal (children as young as the age of four are usually accepted, as it is also a good way to hone fine motor skills), and lots of parents have found that in as little as a year, their children who were involved in martial arts had noticeably gained positive traits such as increased self-esteem, respect and overall physical fitness. Many parents also opt to join a martial arts training program themselves, making it a great bonding experience for the entire family.

Tips For a First-Time Dad

So you're going to become a father. Now is not the time to panic. You've got lots of time to get used to the idea, before that new life you helped create, arrives to join your own. These tips for a first-time Dad will help you to survive the pre-baby and post-birth jitters.Be supportive of your partner during the pregnancy. Some women have a more difficult time than others, and the fluctuation of hormones can bring on everything from mood swings to what seems to be unreasonable irritation with you, and everything else. While you may not understand her moods, remember that they are transient, and weather them in whatever way works best for you both. She may be irritated, but would appreciate a simple gesture like flowers, a foot rub, or even a cup of tea without having to get up. You'll find your own paths to peace, as the pregnancy progresses.When the baby arrives, don't be upset if you don't fall in love immediately. You're excited to be a father, but often men think they are failing in some respect, when they don't feel the same overwhelming bond that a mother does. But you didn't carry another life inside you for nine months. So one of the best tips for a first-time Dad, is to give yourself time to love, and be loved back. Because you have been basically on the "outside" of things until the birth, you may not feel you're really an integral part of their life. Nothing could be further from the truth, because you are now a father, and with that comes all the responsibilities and worries that a mother has. Parenting isn't done alone, it's done together, with the two of you supporting each other, giving each other breaks from the routine and stresses, as well as taking pleasure in watching your child grow and thrive, together.

Playground Pettiness

Recently I took my two children to a popular new park in the area. It's a beautiful new playground, all wood, divided into different areas of play for different age groups. It's wonderful for me as well, as my children can play at age appropriate areas and I can see/interact with both of them at the same time. This is what makes it our entire family's favorite playground, a well that for many other families in the area.When we arrived at the park this particular day, there was only one other family there. It was extremely hot, and I told my kids we'd only be able to stay for a small amount of time. I wanted them to wear themselves out a bit, but not pass out. I assumed my normal location on a wooden bench and settled down, knowing that I would be able to see and hear whatever my children were doing. It didn't take long before I noticed a problem.There's this really neat seat swing that my daughter (4) loves to swing in. She had taken up a position standing by the swing, waiting for it's occupants to finish. After 10 minutes, I saw her run past me saying "no, leave me alone, I don't want to play" to a smaller child who was chasing her. This smaller child belonged to the occupant of the swing. That occupant, was her Mother.In the Mothers lap was a infant, approximately six to nine months old. There are infant swings right next to the red chair swing, but the Mother was enjoying the chair swing with the infant in her lap. When we had first arrived, I didn't think too much about it. Unusual, yes. A problem, no. Until now.Now this Mother is glaring at my daughter, who is running away from her daughter, because the Mother is still in the swing my daughter is waiting for. Everytime my daughter walked near the swing to continue to wait for her turn, this other little girl followed her. Her Mother was alternating her glare between me and my daughter, so I suggested that we play somewhere else until they were done. My daughter said firmly "No". The Mother turned and fixed her death stare back on me, as if to say "what kind of parent are you?!". I replied to my daughter "That's fine, but you need to be nice to the other little girl". Now she also glared at me. I just couldn't win.She stood there, waiting her turn for the swing another 5 minutes before the Mother got all huffy, grabbed her daughter by the arm, and dragged her and the baby off to another side of the park. Once again she was glaring at me, keeping her eyes fixated us as she walked away. Cursing at me I'm sure. I apologized to her, because obviously, she thought we'd done something wrong. She didn't respond, kept that evil stare on us, and continued walking.I wanted to cry, but instead I grabbed my daughter, told her that she shouldn't have been so rude to the little girl (after all, that's what little girls do, follow bigger girls around) and put her in the swing. I pushed her for about two minutes, called for my son, and headed to the car. In order to get there, we had to pass the other Mom on the way out, so once again I apologized, thinking naively maybe she hadn't heard me the first time.Again, I got the stare of death and no response.In the car, my son wanted to know what had happened. I wasn't even sure. "What had we done wrong??? Why was I apologizing to this strange, bitter Mother?" I thought to myself.Then the answer came to me. Because I'm a nice person. That's it, pure and simple. I don't like seeing other people upset.So, I told my son (and daughter) that what the other Mother had done was wrong. Instead of asking my daughter if she'd like a turn, or even addressing her with a simple "I'm not done yet sweetie, it's going to be awhile" she just kept swinging. Ignoring her, as if she didn't exist. She put her needs in front of not only her other childs, but she broke the cardinal rule of Motherhood; she turned her back on another child. You just don't do that.I personally don't feel she should have been on the swing at all. That as soon as we arrived and my daughter walked over, she should have offered to get up. However, just because that's what I would have done, doesn't mean that's how everyone should feel or act. That said, I won't budge in my belief that she was acting childishly, not only because she didn't address my daughter in some kind of friendly manner (after 20 minutes of waiting), but by the glaring and pouting she kept carrying on with. Shame on her.A couple of days later, I wished I had done things differently. I wished I had approached the Mom and asked if we could have a turn on the swing. I wish I hadn't apologized for something that I don't feel was our fault. But most of all, I wish I'd never met her and her bitterness.The moral of this story is, don't expect a parent to do the right thing, they can be just as selfish as children. Maybe even more so.

How to Choose a Baby Swing

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 1,000 American infants are taken to emergency rooms every year for injuries sustained while using swings. This is generally a result of the infant's head or neck becoming trapped between the back rest and the bars the swing is suspended from. If figures like this concern you as a parent, then knowing how to choose a baby swing that is safe and durable, will be one of your first priorities.Even with an infant of six weeks, you'll want a wide, solid base to make sure there is no tipping. An adjustable seat is necessary, particularly for the infant who can't sit by themselves yet. But do make sure that it can't be accidentally released so that the seat lays down flat while the baby is in motion, allowing them to slide or fall out, backwards.Every seat should have a combination waist and crotch safety belt. Older models had only the waist belt, which allowed babies to slide down, and out the bottom of the chair/seat.While there are many “bells and whistles” to entertain babies, the main concern when you choose a baby swing, should be their comfort level. Providing extra safety features such as rolled towels to either side of an infant's head for stability, will avoid the type of accidents mentioned above.Battery operated or crank models should have quiet operation, so a baby is not frightened or startled awake as they begin to doze. Swings that have variable speeds are the wisest choice, to provide gentle motion for infants, and higher speeds for larger, more active babies.As always, a baby should never be left alone in a swing, nor should the swing be placed near any hot object, or in a position where the baby could grab something that could be pulled over onto the swing and child.

Baby Acne

One of the most common conditions a new mother may see on her infant, is baby acne. But while it is startling in so young a child, it's really not a serious issue, nor should you be overly concerned about the causes or cures.Some babies when born, may have small red bumps on their face. This is not baby acne, but something called “milia”, which usually disappears in a couple of weeks. On the other hand, the acne will appear around that same two week period, and show itself as small white heads, sometimes surrounded by red, irritated skin on the cheeks, chin, forehead and even the back.In teenagers and even adults, acne is blamed on hormones and excessively oily skin. To some extent this is true of infants also, with hormones transmitted through the placenta, often being blamed for the facial spots. However, science has no real idea of the cause, and there is normally no treatment for the few weeks a child will have it. Because the baby acne appears on areas of the face where they may have spit up, rubbed against sheets washed in harsh detergent, or drooled, it can become slightly aggravated, but that extra irritation will go away by changing your laundry soap, and wiping their face with a damp cloth when needed.It is not advisable to try home remedies such as creams or oil, as these will only irritate the skin further. As a rule, nothing more is needed than washing once a day with mild baby soap. In some cases where the baby acne appears to get significantly worse, your doctor may prescribe a cream or other medication. He will also check at the same time, to see if a breastfeeding mother is taking any medication that may have triggered the acne through her milk.

The 5 Babysitter Commandments

Having a babysitter take care of your kids is sometimes a dangerous thing to do because the babysitter is the person that will be alone with your kid. Here are some ideas about your relationship with the babysitter.1. The babysitter should be encouraged by keeping the favorite foods on hand. That's because when you find a good babysitter, you should keep them happy, that's what most experienced parents say. Writing a thank you card once or twice a year would be a good idea too.2. If you can't handle daily errands and taking care of your kids you can hire a "mother's helper" to come play with your kids. Since you'll be in the house you can hire a less expensive babysitter that has less experience.3. Any sign that the child has been molested should be taken very seriously, terror of the babysitter or the demonstration of sexual behaivour while playing might be such a sign. Young adolescents might not understand the intensity of their sexual impulses as much as an adult does, that leading to the adolescent being tempt to explore with your child. Even so, child molestors come in every age, size or gender.4. If using the same babysitter regularly learning to express your desires in a concrete form would be a good idea. Otherwise, you might do just like other parents, and develop a resentment towards the babysitter and forget the fact that a simple request might be all it's needed.5. If you forget to remind your babysitter that the safety of your child is the main concern while he's in their care, the babysitter may get scattered among the responsibilities and forget the safety issues.That being said, hope you won't have any problems with the babysitter that takes care of your kids. Good luck!

Your Baby Nursery - Decorating a Fabulous and Functional Room

Decorating a baby nursery can be one of the most enjoyable tasks that you have before your bundle of joy arrives. There are many baby nursery themes to choose from and narrowing it down to just one may be your most difficult decision.Many parents know the sex of the baby in time to tailor a nursery to a baby girl or baby boy theme. If you don’t know the sex of your baby there are many color combos that are gender neutral such as periwinkle and celery green. Or perhaps you would like a neutral theme with beiges and creams. You could choose and all white room with just splashes of color used in the accessories that can be changed to suit your child as it grows. Once you pick your theme and begin the task of decorating your nursery don’t forget about these essentials;• Cribs - Your baby will use the crib for 2 or 3 years but, if you would like to use it for longer, then pick one of the many convertible cribs on the market. These beds go from a crib, to a toddler bed, to a young child’s bed, with just a few quick changes. Of course, always buy a crib that is certified as safe. Most cribs on the market today will have that certification.• Changing tables – choose a changing table that matches your décor but as with cribs safety is important. The table you choose should have safety straps and rails to keep your baby from falling off the table. And of course the changing table should have a nice cushy pad to keep your baby comfortable while changing diapers.• Storage - determine how much storage you will need. Then pick baby furniture such as armoires, dressers, blanket chests and toy boxes that will blend in with your décor.• Seating – Of course don’t forget Mom (or Dad) and pick a comfortable chair or glider rocker which will be great for those late night feedings or when singing a lullaby to baby.After the theme is picked and the essentials for the room are decided upon you can begin to choose the accessories such as rugs, window treatments, wall décor, wallpaper and paint. Just remember when decorating your baby nursery keep it fun! This is your chance to do things you wouldn’t do in the rest of your house. Start with the essentials and then go for it!

Domestic Cleaning Advice: Computer Cleaning

The computer you use can get pretty dirty sometimes and that might reduce it's performance and reduce it's life time so here is some advice on how you can clean it up.The computer won't be well cleaned if you'll use alcohol cleaners, you'll need to use a hard surface cleaner, in concentrated solution in warm water.Cleaning the caseYou'll need a cloth that you'll wrung in the solution you chose. Use this cloth to wipe the casing and all the external parts (cabling, keyboard). Make sure you wash the cloth since the soil will be considerable. Excess water shouldn't be used and try not to let water go into the vents of the case. You will be able to clean between the keyboard keys by using damp cloth pushed between the keys with toothpicks.The following actions need to be taken every six months.Cleaning actions that should be taken periodically, every six monthsYou'll need to open the case and remove all the dust from it and from the vents. You'll need to be very care full while cleaning inside the case. You can use the vacuum cleaner but be sure the motor is far from the computer and it's components. Also, you should earth yourself by touching any metal object that you know it's earthed, like a radiator.You should vacuum the vents of the casing and the keyboard. The keyboard is a place where a lot of dust and rubbish collects, the amount might surprise you. Keeping the dust away from the vents of the case and the coolers inside it you'll prevent overheating the computer that leads to damaging the components. Also, it's not a good thing to push the dust out of the computer, it's just going to stay in your room and will eventually get back in the computer Mouse cleaningThe mouse can be cleaned by removing the ball and dusting inside, remove stray food and human or dog hairs from around the rollers. You'll have to keep the mouse dry, everything has to be scraped out.That's just a small bit of advice meant to help you keep your computer clean, it's a good thing to get your computer to a professional cleaning service for better cleaning.

Make a Time Capsule To Preserve Family Memories

A time capsule is a fun and educational activity for kids of all ages. Easy step by step guide shows how to preserve your precious family memories in a unique and fun way. A meaningful gift for the special child in your life.Looking for an unusual and memorable gift? Why not preserve a precious snapshot of your family's history by creating a time capsule for your child? It's a great way to commemorate a special time in your child's life like a first birthday, graduation, or even a new year. Think of your time capsule as a treasure box that preserves a piece of the past. Years from now you will open the time capsule and glimpse a frozen moment in the life and times of your child and family. First, choose a proper container to hold your precious artifacts. It should be non-biodegradable and provide a cool and dry environment, like plastic, metal or heavy duty rubber. A kitchen food storage container or metal cookie or popcorn tins with sturdy well-sealed lids make good choices. Time capsules are also available online in a variety of styles. The key to a meaningful time capsule is to make it personal and interesting. If you are centering around a specific event like your child's birthday, focus mainly on things happening on or around that date. Include both big and small events, from the main headlines of the day to your child's first words or favorite foods. A small notebook with facts such as your child's height, weight, or number of teeth missing will provide interest in years to come. A keepsake album featuring pictures of your child, family members and friends will tell a thousand words too. Prescription bottles can hold baby's first tooth or a lock of hair. Topics of interest such as fashion trends and fads, popular movies, books and toys can be cut from newspapers or magazines. Include a CD of favorite songs or a singing group. A video or audiotape of your child at their party is a great choice as well. Objects of everyday life such as coins, postage stamps and a grocery receipt showing the price of milk or bread are popular items to include. Much priceless material for your time capsule can be collected from special people in your child's life. At your child's party or event, provide colorful note cards for family members to pen their special thoughts about your child. Encourage your older child to add his or her own special objects to the time capsule. Paraphernalia from favorite sports or hobbies, such as baseball cards and ribbons won in competitions are wonderful choices. School papers, drawings, and outlines of hands and feet will make for exciting comparisons when the time capsule is opened. Younger kids can make a list of "My Favorite Things" or "Things I'm Good At". Older kids will enjoy writing a "Letter to the Future" telling what life is like now, current family traditions, their hopes, dreams and ideas. Before sealing your time capsule make a document detailing all the contents. Specify the unsealing date and who should be present when it is unsealed. Most importantly, write the exact location of the time capsule. Stow this document in a safe place. Finally, find a good hiding place for your time capsule in your house. A little trafficked spot in the attic, basement, or garage is your best bet. This is preferable to burying the time capsule as families often move or forget where they buried it! It is exciting to look forward to the opening of your time capsule. Wait as long as possible to make the effect more dramatic. Even a year will seem an eternity to children. Whatever you decide, set a date and stick to it. Your personally designed time capsule preserves the history, culture, and ideas of the day, as well as your family's special memories, dreams and aspirations for the future. Your time capsule will be a truly unique and thoughtful gift that will be cherished for years to come.

Face Paint Recipes

These easy show how to make homemade face paint using common household ingredients. Mix and store in baby food jars or discarded film canisters. Be ready for your next kids party or dress-up event. HOMEMADE FACE PAINT RECIPES Facepaint Recipe #1 1 tsp. Cornstarch ½ tsp. Cold cream ½ tsp. Water Food coloring (variety of colors) Mix together cornstarch and cold cream until well blended. Add water and stir. Add food coloring one drop at a time until you get the desired color. Facepaint Recipe #2 3 tblsps. Cornstarch 1 tblsp. Flour 3/4 cup Karo light corn syrup 1/4 cup water ½ tsp. Liquid food coloring Mix cornstarch and flour together in a bowl. Gradually stir in Karo syrup and water until smooth. Divide mixture into individual containers as needed and tint each one with the food coloring of your choice. Leave one batch untinted. Clown Make-up Blend on a paper plate: 2 tblsp. shortening 5 tsps. cornstarch 1 tsp. flour Dab of Vaseline Add food coloring for various colors. Fake Blood for Halloween Party Make-up Karo brand corn syrup Red and blue food coloring Milk Add some red food coloring to the corn syrup, then just a drop or two of blue to get a more realistic dark color. Milk will make the blood appear more opaque and more realistic. Note: This mixture is sticky and can stain clothes. More Fun Make-up Tips: To lightly blacken faces, carefully burn a cork and when cool, rub on the face. For a ghoulish look, add a dusting of flour to already made up faces. For a stubbly bearded look, sprinkle tobacco over a thin layer of vaseline.

Weaning Puppies Is Only Natural

Weaning puppies is a perfectly natural process. Mamma dogs have been doing it successfully for ages, so how hard can it be, right?But humans, not being dogs, can sometimes forget the natural part, and get confused about it. Fact is, weaning puppies is an easy, logical process. When you're ready to begin weaning your new puppies, keep in mind that this should be done gradually, in small steps. You can’t rush it, and you definitely don't want to begin when the puppies are too young. Sometimes people get impatient and try to begin weaning puppies before they're three weeks old. That's too early. Their bodies need to develop the ability to handle solid food, and that takes time. Wait the three weeks -- it's not really so long.The first step in the weaning process is to take the mother away from the puppies at least an hour before it’s time for them to eat. This gives the puppies a chance to get good and hungry. They'll be more inclined to try the new, alternative food you offer them. Remember, when it’s time for the puppies to eat, the mother should be nowhere around. The alternative food you offer them should be liquid or semi-liquid so it's easy for them to swallow and digest. Solid food won't work for them yet. You can make a gruel of commercial dog food mixed with water or baby cereal thinned with water. Another option when weaning puppies is to use diluted strained baby food. Put any of these mixtures in a small, shallow dish. Some of the puppies will have no problem eating. They'll catch on immediately. But there may be a few that just don't get it. So they'll need some encouragement. The easiest way is to put a little of the mixture on the tip of their nose or on their tongue.When weaning puppies you'll also need to decrease the amount of food you're giving the mother. This causes her to produce less milk. At the same time, you can gradually begin increasing the amount of food you give the puppies, and over the next several days make it less soupy. As they grow and their digestion matures, their food should slowly become more solid, day by day.Weaning puppies at this point becomes easier because, as the solid food grows more familiar to them, they learn to enjoy it more. Let them eat as much as they want as long as they don't become bloated. If you approach weaning puppies like this, the process should be simple, painless and easy. Expect to see them completely weaned by the time they're six to eight weeks old.

Developing Your Baby's Brain

Have you ever wondered why toys for babies tend to have so many bells, whistlesand lights? Or why they have so many different textures, and materials and colors?It's almost as if we want to provide young babies with a whole world of stimulation and we can't quite get it to them fast enough.Play gyms or activity gyms as they are sometimes called tend to be a firm favorite with babies from newborn up to about 12 months. These play gyms and activity nests mostly comein the form of comfortable, quilted or softly padded playmats, sometimes raised at the edges with a space in the middle for baby (like a ring doughnut).And these play gyms can be either brightly colored or in soft, pastel shades.But don't be fooled by thinking they are just snug and comfy resting places forbabies to fall asleep in!These activity gyms can provide a plethora of visual, audio and tactile stimulationfor fast developing young inquisitive minds.Often decorated with well known and lovable characters, Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Eyore, or farm and zoo animals as well, they can consist of detachable, hanging parts for small babies to try to grasp. They tend to have parts that are crinkly, soft, scrunchy textures for baby to touch, squeeze and stroke. Some come with bright twinklinglights and bells and others make funny sounds, or musical sounds, and some even do both.You will often find mirrors attached to these activity gyms, so that your babygets to find and see its own reflection, often providing hours of fun for babies and carers alike. All of this is extremely important for developing young minds.Babies are like a sponge, they are ready to absorb whatever information they can - and boy - they can't grasp it fast enough! A lot of new research points to the first three years of life as being critical to a baby'sdeveloping brain. It is a known fact that during this period, not only does the brain triplein weight but it also establishes thousands of billions of nerve connections. Astonishingly, at the age of three, a young child has twice as many nerve connections as many adults. Therefore,in your role as a parent, or primary care giver, it is of paramount importance that you recognizethis and understand just how much development is taking place inside your young baby's brain from birth until the age of three.At birth, children have most of the neurons (brain cells) they need for a lifetime however, these brain cells are not yet linked (or "wired") together to form the complex networks that are requiredfor mature thought processes to take place. And what happens is that in the early years, young children's brain cells form these connections, or synapses as they are commonly called, very very rapidly. One of the crucial ingredients to aiding these connections to form, is experience, and repetition. In a word, the more times you repeat something new, like showing a baby how to scrunch up a ball, the quicker these connections are formed. Therefore, it naturally follows that the more positive interaction you give an infant or toddler, the more you are helping to stimulate young brains. This stimulation causes new connections to form neural pathways and strengthens existing ones. Playing with activity gyms, with allthe bells and whistles that they offer or reading to a child, anything which allows a child to have positive, interactive processes, will aid your child's brain development.So, as you lovingly sit and watch your young baby laughing and gurgling on the play mat or under the activity gym - do not underestimate the power of the changes taking place in the brain, all enriching an inquisitive mind and arming it with a plethora of knowledge andunderstanding for years to come.

Gift Baskets - Create Simple Easy Gifts For the Person Who Has Everything!

Have you ever thought about giving a personalized Gift Basket?Is it just me or do you also get excited when you give a gift to your friends and family and you know they love it!The downside you give a gift and you just know they hate it! Unfortunately you can’t always get it right because what seems right and the appropriate gift for you isn’t always right and appropriate for the person you are buying for.Take my mother for instance, if you don’t buy her a gift say for Mothers Day you will be in the bad books for weeks. Now before you agree with her, let me ask you this “What do you give someone who has everything”? If you could walk around this ladies house you would understand my problem! Well over the years I have learnt how to stay in her good books by creating something different and unique every year. I also like to make it a gift that I make, so its personal and comes from the heart. Yes you guessed it a personalized “gift basket”.Leading up to the occasion, I take some time to think about things that Mum has said she liked over the year and things that she has pointed out in a book that she might like. Then I go about looking for items that would fit into a theme that I can put together into a “Basket”. She loves “glass bowls” so I try to use a glass bowl as the “basket” for my gift and then fill it with items that she likes. It could be as simple as some pampering items or a night out to the movies such as popcorn, candies, a drink, chocolates and two movie tickets etc.Gift Baskets can be all shapes and sizes, you are only limited by your imagination and of course your budget. A gift basket doesn’t have to be big and elaborate it can be something small. Presentation is the key to a stunning gift basket!I have always struggled with “creative talent” so when I discovered that making gift baskets was very simple, I became a talented person over night! Something I have found funny since I learnt how easy it was to create a “Gift Basket” is how many friends copy my ideas and give baskets to their friends. I give “Gift Baskets” for all occasions - from Christmas to Marriages, Arrival of a New Baby, Birthday Gifts for Boys or Girls, Leaving Party in fact the reasons are endless.For a boys birthday, how easy is it to get a bucket, spade and sand digging equipment. A cool towel, hat or cap (write their name on the hat to give it a unique look), a stick of sunscreen or zinc cream. Then wrap it up !! For a girl, they love lots of knick knacks or things they can make. Try putting together packets of beads in a container with compartments. Include some wire and hooks. Your local craft store can help you with the items required. You can create this “Gift Basket” for less than $15.00 and they love it !

A Simple Method for Choosing the Perfect Name for Your New Baby

A person's name is something they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Selecting a baby's name is an important, but often difficult decision for many parents. Follow our guide for a simple process in selecting your baby's name. Most people have some ideas for good baby names and have thought about it on and off throughout their entire lives. Remember that the other parent and people around you will also have opinions about baby names, so sometimes it is a good idea to consider these opinions. If by some chance you do not have enough ideas for baby names, then search the internet for a baby name directory.Remember that your new child will be stuck with whatever name you give him or her for the rest of their lives. Common names are "normal" and "safe", but sometimes easily forgotten, especially when you meet a lot of people all at once. Unusual names are hard to remember at first, but once remembered usually stick to memory much better. You may want to choose a name that is easily pronounced from the spelling. When trying to pick a name, decide whether you want the child to have a common name or an unusual name. If you want a not too common name that is easy to remember, try to think of names of people that you have never met before. For example, I've never personally met anyone named Darien, so perhaps that name is not too common. Although this method is far from scientific, it is a good way to brainstorm. Want to avoid common names? Check out the following website that allows you the search for the most common names by year:http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/Once you have a list of names, you can move onto the second step in the process - picking the best name for the baby. It should be noted that in most cases, the two people who have authority of a new baby's name are the mother and father. The opinions of friends, family members, and other associates can be taken into account as well, but ultimately the parents should make the final decision. The name should be one that both the mother and father like. Here are some methods for selecting a baby's name:1) The most obvious way to select a name is to just have both parents talk about it until they reach a decision. Most parents can come to agreements this way, although others may be more fixated on their own name choices. If selecting a baby name becomes difficult, try the methods below. 2) The father picks a boy name and the mother picks a girl name before the gender of the child is known (or vice versa). If either parent does not like a name, they can veto the name. For example, if the father picks "John" for the boy's name and the mother does not like it, she can veto. The father then has to pick another name. This process continues until both parents pick names that are mutually acceptable. This method works best for parents that are not too picky about names. Otherwise, the process could last a long time.3) If you want to involve friends and family, what you will need to do is make a list of names. Choose the names that you are most passionate about and make the list as concise as possible. Have friends and family rate the names on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best (or rank them from favorite to least favorite). The parents can easily print out these surveys on paper or send the by email. Total up the scores and see what people around you think. The reach a decision, parents must agree on a process and then follow it. In summary, following these simple steps can take the stress and difficulty out of selecting a baby's name.

Unique Baby Names

What’s in a name? Er…well, everything, really! Of course your little bundle of joy is the sweetest, most beautiful thing you have ever seen and you want to choose a name that reflects his/her individuality, spirituality, uniqueness and all-round special-ness.But wait a minute!Remember that the unique baby name you choose will help define junior’s life - how they are viewed and accepted - for many, many years. What sounds cute and original for a 5-year-old, may not sound so funky for a 15-year-old…and what about a 55-year old?Time was when only celebrities could get away with unique baby names (Zowie Bowie, Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa, etc), but in the modern world, individuality is more prized than ever before, and increasingly, this starts with our names. Great idea – but don’t allow a flash of a self-indulgence to condemn your child to a lifetime of problems; it’s reported that a Chinese couple named their child “Saddam Sars” to mark the current world events at the time of the birth! I just hope it means something nice in Mandarin, or Cantonese!This probably wouldn’t have happened in Germany, where names can only be registered if they recognizable, do not ridicule the child and are gender specific. Perhaps there is at least one Chinese child in the world, who will grow up wishing he/she were German!So – assuming you are not German - what should you do if you want to create a unique baby name, without creating too many problems? Here are some tips and some warnings to make the process less painful:1. Anagrams: try creating an anagram of an existing name.2. Father and Mother: try using derivatives of one of the parents’ names, or a combination of both. Alternatively, how does the mother’s maiden name sound as a first name?3. Telescoping: try dropping letters from another name or a word, until you get a nice-sounding name.4. Spelling: an unusual spelling of a common name creates uniqueness. However, remember that your child will be condemned to a lifetime of “…that’s David spelt D..A..Y..V..I..D…” conversations.5. Pronunciation: another trick is to pronounce a common name in an unusual way. But this can also lead to a lifetime of corrections and explanations – as well as teasing and accusations of pretentiousness.6. History: do some research into names that were popular in previous eras, but have become less so.7. Family History: are there any unusual baby names that can be used to honor family members or ancestors? But beware family politics…8. Nature: many names come from the natural world, particularly flowers (e.g. Rose) and it’s a great source for unique baby names (e.g. Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter Apple).9. Geography: another useful source of great names - grab an atlas and start searching. David and Victoria Beckham called their first son Brooklyn, which many people think is a cool-sounding name. However, it’s reported that the choice was made because that’s where conception took place. Hmmm, imagine a lifetime in which your name is a constant reminder of your parents having sex! Eeeuuuuww!!!10. Celebrities: famous people with slightly unusual names are a common source of inspiration. There are lots of teenage “Kylie”s running around the UK since Kylie Minogue’s arrival on the music scene at end of the ‘80’s, and her recent resurgence, will have created a second wave of them. And I’m sure many little “Be’yonce”s have been popping up over the last few years. The only problem is that names like these very soon begin to sound a little silly and “wannabe”.11. Foreign Names: consider using a foreign version of a name, e.g., Pedro, instead of Peter. Or try using a name from a completely different culture.12. Nicknames: try using a nickname e.g. Angie, instead of Angela or Angelina. However, make sure the name is will pass the “age test” – see number 17 below.13. Middle Names: a great way to accommodate individuality when naming your baby, is to combine a common first name with a unique second/middle name. The benefit of this is that your child can avoid embarrassment throughout his/her life by ignoring it of keeping it hidden.14. Initials: when you have settled on some names, check that the initials aren’t embarrassing. This is an easy trap to fall into and can lead to a lifetime of misery. “Zina Indigo” are may be nice sounding names for your lovely daughter, but make sure your surname doesn’t begin with “T”!15. First Name-Surname: check how the selected first name combines with the surname. Make sure the two names do not create some something recognizable, to prevent a lifetime of teasing. Also, check the rhythm of the two names; a different number of syllables in each name usually flows much better. Avoid rhyming the 2 names at all costs or your child will hate you forever!16. The loudness test: try saying the name softly, at normal pitch and shouting it very loudly. You may be surprised at the results.17. The age test: try to visualize your child with the name as a baby, as a teenager, as a young adult, a mature adult and as a senior citizen. A name can create completely different perceptions of the individual at separate stages of life.18. The meaning: the final test of the name that you choose should be to check its meaning (if any). Don’t leave your child open to getting a nasty surprise later in life.Whatever name you decide, don’t fall into the trap of self-indulgence. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s all about your child. Your grand design to celebrate the uniqueness of this new human being, may eventually lead to a lifelong, desperate desire for conformity and anonymity. Even Zowie Bowie eventually changed his name to “Joey”…

Baby Name Meanings

Speaking as a Michael (a Hebrew name, meaning “Who is like God”), I’m really proud of my name. And I think that I – mostly - live up to the title! Of course, my mother would probably disagree; I think the phrase “little devil” would probably pass her lips if she was describing me during many stages of my childhood.But then, my mother has her own issues; apparently her name (Kathleen) is a Celtic name meaning “Little Darling”. Hmmm, that isn’t the way I used to think about her during those regular occasions when she was punishing me for my “not like God” behaviour…!And that’s the fun of baby name meanings – parents make naming decisions based on many, many different reasons, including family traditions, religion, culture, uniqueness and “it just sounds really nice.” But – in the Western world – we rarely do any real research into the history or real meaning of names. So when the poor/lucky child finally finds out the meaning of his/her “really nice sounding” name, the results can be interesting, ironic, unfortunate or just sometimes hilarious.You can have a lot of fun thinking up family/friends names, finding out the meanings and trying to make a connection between the two. For example, my eldest brother Clive is apparently “a cliff dweller”, which is coincidental, since he lives at the top of a very long steep hill! Or why not play the game with celebrities – consider the following:Badu (as in r n’b singer Erykah Badu): African name meaning “Tenth born child”Winona (as in actress Winona Ryder): Sioux name meaning “Firstborn daughter”Aaliyah (the late r n’b singer): Arabic name meaning “High, exalted”Hilary (as in actresses Duff/Swank): Latin name meaning “Cheerful”Some cultures have very interesting traditions when it comes to baby name meanings. For example, Hindu names usually have connections with very positive things such as truth, beauty, happiness, blessings, etc, or one of the Hindu gods. In the Sikh culture, girls traditionally have the middle or surname “Kaur”, meaning “Princess”, whilst the boys have the middle or surname “Singh”, meaning “Lion”.An African friend of mine once mentioned that many Africans are given a second name corresponding to the day of the week on which they were born. I think is a really nice tradition, but in my case, my middle name would be “Sondo” (born on Sunday)!! Hmmmm…Whatever type of name you have chosen, or are thinking about for your “bundle of joy”, its worth doing a little research into the meaning. And it’s never been easier, with the wealth of Internet resources and books available, including my own site at www.all-about-baby-names.com, which is jam-packed with resources, tips and information on baby names, baby name meanings and baby products.Your search may yield some surprises; for example, the lovely-sounding name “Malory” is French and means “Bad luck”. You could get round this by spelling it “Mallory”, but this means “Without good fortune” in Old German!Alternatively, you may end up a little confused by different meanings of the same name; for example “Leah” is a beautiful girl’s name, but what does it mean? Well…• In Hebrew it means “Cow” or “Weary one” – uugghhh! • In Greek it means “Glad tidings” • In Assyrian, it means “Mistress, ruler”And a final warning: if you are planning to go for a funky, unusual-sounding name, be sure to avoid “Bacia,” – its Ugandan meaning is “Family deaths ruined the home!”For more information and advice, check out the baby name meaning resources at www.all-about-baby-names.com.Enjoy your search and happy baby naming!

Planning your Wedding Decoration Budget

When it comes to your decorating budget it really depends on where the ceremony and reception will be on what decorations need to be present as well as what if any; themes that you are choosing. For example, if you are planning an indoor dinner, you have to include centerpieces etc. The most common decorating choice for weddings and reception are flowers, and streamers. While the streamers and various other decorations are generally inexpensive, the flowers can kill you. It is best when choosing your flowers for a wedding service and reception to use false flowers or paper machete flowers as they are cheap and reusable. For those who would much prefer to use real flowers, it can be much cheaper to go with wild flowers and/or hand picked flowers. It is also a good idea to use them sparingly. For example, rather than going all out and decorating everything with flowers just use a simple arrangement for the center of the table and place them in small vases or hand made crafts. Of course you can also opt to keep the flowers strictly in the ceremony. Paper machete flowers re getting more and more popular as well as hand made roses that were created from tissue paper. When they are placed on green pipe cleaners or wires that are covered in green tissue paper they are quite attractive. It is a nice way to save money and spend some time with your friends and family in creating them. When it comes to the decoration budget, this is a time when you will want the church, chapel or hall for the ceremony to cover them for you. If that is not possible, the ceremonial decorations can be limited to those involved in the ceremony, such as their clothes. If you must, you can pin balloons to the areas where the guests will be seated or create some flowers out of tissue paper. Streamers are always used, but there are other ways to decorate that are just as appealing. Here are some good tips for decorating at your wedding on a budget.· A really unique idea is to use glass containers and putting baby fish in them. It is very unique and attractive, and it is also cheap because the glass containers can be purchased at Wal-Mart and even a dollar store. The fish can be as cheap as you want them to be· Good old candle holders and candles are always a romantic addition to any wedding decor· If your reception is at night it is nice to add fireflies to a glass container with holes for air or even butterflies during the day· False flower arrangements in a bamboo pot are a very nice addition and keepsake for guests · Using white Christmas lights streamed through greenery is a beautiful decoration and is one that you likely already have available· Chocolate and candy flower bouquets are sweet accents to the décor and they can be souvenirs for the guests later.· Balloons, balloons, and more balloons are always funThese are not the only decorations that are available but you are getting the idea. The best thing that you can do before choosing your decorations is to choose a theme first. Themes for weddings are just like choosing themes for anniversaries and birthdays. Once you can decide on a theme, you can decorate around that theme. For example, if you are choosing to have your theme be tropical romance, you can use glass containers with sand etc. as centerpieces to your reception. Some extra and easy to afford themes include those that will be listed in the table below as well as some of the things that usually accompany them. These are common wedding ceremonial themes that are used as opposed to the reception themes mentioned above; of course they can be used as reception themes too.

Photography Poses – The Missing Ingredient

You've read all the "best digital camera" articles, got the best price on your first digital camera, and even glanced at its owner's manual. Are you itching to take some shots of your family, or what?Slow down, soldier. Before you take 200 shots that seem great at the time, but then upon review of the final picture are less than what you expected, let's prepare. Prepare?!?! I'll bet you thought charging the battery was the hardest part of taking great photos, didn't you? Sorry to disappoint you, but if you want to improve your photo results 50% in 2 minutes, let's review some basic advice of the pros.There are two categories of GENERAL ADVICE which applies, regardless of whether you're using a digital camera to take family portrait poses, baby pictures, pet portraits, group pictures, funny photos, or even maternity portraits. The first category is..."Good Planning" Advice for Photography Poses1) Prepare For The EventPrepare for the event by thinking about every photograph you want to take and what kind of photography pose or poses you would like to capture. Consider who, where, how, and the type of environment.2) Take Multiple PhotographsTake multiple shots of each pose (remember, digital memory is reusable, a.k.a. "free"). Regardless of what you say or do, people will blink. And don't count on spotting small problems on the tiny camera LCD screen (even on full magnification); which leads to...3) Check LCD ScreenCheck the digital camera's LCD screen for general framing of the picture, any movement, visibility of faces, and the histogram. Note that you can think up a fantastic photography pose; arrange everyone perfectly; and, have the photograph "frozen" (no blinking, and no shaking of the camera)...but, when you check it out in the LCD, you see 2 drunks fighting in the background! And, my favorite...4) Funny PhrasesHave some funny phrases handy to use just before you take the photo. Don't use it when setting up for the shot. And, don't use the same phrase all the time. Throw in funny anecdotes, phrases, names, words that you know your family will find more amusing than "cheese." A natural smile looks four times better than a fake one. The second category is..."Location" Advice for Photography PosesTaking indoor family photography, is very different than outdoor family photograph (duh!). For INDOOR pictures...1) Wide AngleYou will tend to use the wide angle more often than your telephoto setting. Pay particular attention to your "end people" (those farthest to the right and the left in your viewfinder), and verify there is enough space in picture, so that if cropping is required, the end people don't have to lose a limb.2) The FlashFlash considerations are critical. Do not be outside your "flash range." For example, if at ISO 100, your flash can properly illuminate 12 feet, don't attempt any photography pose that requires anyone to stand at 14 feet (unless, of course, it's evil cousin Ira who you want to appear in darkness).3) Plan "B"If you need to be further away than your flash allows, here are 2 things you can try...First, increase the ISO setting (but not so much as to produce to much noise), or second, move to a significantly brighter location.4) Watch Your BackgroundIf there are distracting features, change your settings to blur the background (see the Techniques page). The best photography pose in the world won't look right with a distracting background. And finally...5) Mirror, Mirror, on the WallIf there are mirrors or reflective surfaces in the background and you can't find a different location, only take the picture in such a way that the flash is NOT PERPENDICULAR to the surface, but at an angle (unless you WANT a nice photo of your flash).Outdoor family photography has completely different issues. For OUTDOOR photography...6) The SunAvoid photographing in direct sunlight, or in mixed light and shade, especially faces. Optimal lighting results from a slightly overcast sky.7) ShadeWhen photographing in shade, use fill-flash (see terms) when necessary. And, REALLY finally...8) BeautyIf practical, take the picture at one of the beautiful natural settings near you. Imagine the result of a creative photography pose captured in a stunning environment. Can you say: "Over the mantle!"?To see 5 different categories of poses with tips, scroll to the middle of http://www.best-family-photography-tips.com/ photography-pose.htmlArticle courtesy of http://www.best-family-photography-tips.com where you can see some sample pictures including more photography tips.

A Guide To Successful Obedience Training

Showing off your dog in front of friends and family is something that I personally love to do. Having an obedient, happy slab of lab is like having an obedient happy child. Have you ever been in a supermarket only to come across a screaming baby and a blushing parent? I know I have, and my first reaction is to get as far away from the disturbing scene as possible. I have also been in the undesirable situation of being in public with an unobedient dog and I can say, I feel the pain of the frantic parent! The term, ¡§A happy dog is an obedient dog¡¨ is one that I really believe holds a lot of merit due to its simplicity. If you have a relatively well behaved dog, that interacts well with the family, it is fair to say that rarely will you or anyone else in that family be angry or even worse abusive towards your pet. On the other hand if your dog is not obedient to a satisfactory level, and does not interact well with the family, one can say that members of that family will have a hard time coping with the pet and this trend can only escalate only leading to the eventual departure of the pet from the family. When teaching your dog basic obedience, it is wize to make sure that you first have an understanding of the art yourself. Like people, dogs have unique personalities none of which are the same, and it is a good trainer that will take the time to figure out the dog before trying to figure out how to best approach introducing basic obedience. Furthermore, there are many external resources out there for you to take advantage of in order to help you understand the art of training. Books, articles, Obedience Instructors, and the internet, are all viable sources that you should take advantage of when seeking advice, or just experiences from others in your situation. Below I have listed my top ten components to keep in mind when working with your dog. I did not rank them, as they are all very important to keep in mind as they will only aid you in bonding, understanding, and interacting positively with your four-legged friend: - Know what your doing ¡V Before comensing any type of training, do your research first! To offen, pet owners try to do all the work their way, get frustrated and take out their frustrations on their pet. Having an understanding of the methodology behind the many types of training, will benefit you to know end. - Consistancy ¡V Being consistent with your approach is very very important when dealing with your dog in any aspect of life. When working with your dog try to use the same approach each time. Changing training methods mid session for example will only confuse your dog even more than he-she already is. Furthermore, set up training time at least twice a day, and keep to these times. Training time is important, the more sessions you set up the more productivity you can expect in the long run. - Keep your sessions short ¡V The attention span of a dog is frail at the best of times, thus it is crutial to keep the sessions short. Remember keep the sessions short but do not sacrifice content. Rome was not built in a day. - Keep training sessions fun ¡V Dogs as do people, like to have fun, and why shouldn¡¦t they? Training can be fun for you and your pet! Be lively, treat good behavior, praise your dog to no end, make him feel like he is the best dog in the world, even if he¡¦s not! - Never punish your pet for what they don¡¦t know! ¡V To offen, I have seen people talk to their pet with the understanding that their beloved dog is a master of the English language, only to punish them when the desired response is not carried out. This really bothers me because it shows me that that person would rather bully their pet into submitting than taking the time to research, develop and implicate an approach to help the dog learn the desired response to certain words or phrases. (No Hungmay Kowaisa!( Did you understan that? Well you would if you researched the Korean languageƒº - Train to your dog¡¦s strength ¡V As stated above every dog has its own unique personality, therefore we must identify characteristics of our pets in order to take advantage of them in our training sessions. If your pet is very lively, take advantage of that! During training sessions, be lively yourself! Match your dogs enthusiasm, when your happy, your pet will be happy and your pet will be very happy come training time. If your dog has a laid back shy personality, take this into account when training. Still be lively and upbeat as this will spark the interest of your dog, however keep in mind that due to his/her personality, displaying comprehention may take longer due to the shy nature of your dog. It is really important to make a shy laid back dog feel super great during training sessions as this can only improve your chances of continuing successful training. - Incorperate training into your everyday routine ¡V It can be very beneficial to perform individual obedience exercises through out the day. Simply by performing the sit exercise while you brush him, or having the dog sit while you attach his leash can help to imprint the sitting position. Keep little things like this in mind as they can only aid you and your pet. - Be patient ¡V Remember you are trying to teach your dog! Your dog is a non-english speaking individual, lacking house manners, behavioral skills, curticy, do I need to continue?? Take your time, play to your dog¡¦s strength, praise, respect, keep sessions short and compact, and have fun! - Empithize with your dog ¡V The best example I can think of for this suggestion, is going to a foreign country and trying to comprehend what people are saying. Somebody will come up to you and start rambling on in a foreign tongue and you have no clue what they are saying. Your dog is in the same predicament with you. When you start training your dog, he-she has no clue on earth what you are saying. How is he-she supposed to respond if he-she doesn¡¦t know what you want? As in the above example, the more time you spend in the foreign country, the more familiar you become with the language. You can apply the same principle with your dog. More training leads to more comprehention, leading to the end result, an obedient dog. - Reward good bahavior ¡V The best way to reinforce good behavior is to reward it. Others may disagree with this statement, but through my experience with my own dog and others around me, I have found that rewarding good behavior can only aid in maintaining that behavior. In my opinion, the best way of rewarding good behavior is through offering toys or treats. Praise is also worthy but would you rather have an icecream cone, or a good handshakeƒº I personally love icecream and would pick that over a handshake anyday. Your dog is driven by his belly in most cases, and you can achieve astonishing success by baiting your dog with the occasional russle of the treat bag .

Make a Fairy Garden For Your Kids Party

This project is a truly unique kids party activity, combining fun, fantasy, and learning. Kids love getting their hands dirty and learning how things grow. They will also love the idea of making a magical garden place for a fairy to live. A miniature garden takes little space and can rest on a tabletop. Maintenance requires only a light misting from time to time and watching for fairies to come to call. Just kidding about that last part, but you never know... Start by collecting various containers such as woven baskets, large shallow bowls or deep dish clay saucers (like a birdbath), or even discarded bureau drawers. Check yard sales for innovative ideas and inexpensive materials. Next, supply potting soil and a selection of small plants that will reach under a foot when fully grown. Dwarf zinnias, marigolds, violets, ivy, baby's tears and sprigs of vinca are all good choices. There are many types of mosses that will work nicely too, fitting into corners and small areas easily to add texture and interest. A variety of low-growing herbs such as thyme and rosemary lend aroma to the mix as well. Start by lining your garden container with heavy duty plastic, fill to within an inch of the top with potting soil then kids are ready to landscape the top. Let them choose their favorite diminutive plants, interspersing them with various materials to add charm and character to the fairy garden. For example, turn a colorful plant pot on its side and submerge it halfway in the soil to serve as a proper fairy dwelling. Add dollhouse sized furniture to set in the garden, popsicle sticks to construct a fairy fence, or small flat rocks to make a wonderful stepping stone path. A small mirror symbolizing water making a faux gazing pool. The round flat glass beads used in vases make nice accent pieces too. Tiny garden accessories like terra cotta pots and shovels give your garden a "lived-in" look. Fairy gardens needn't be for little girls only. Boys can make a miniature dinosaur den using many of the same materials. Herbs, moss and other green plants can make a forest or wooded area in which small plastic dinosaurs return from extinction to live another day. Soil mounded to one side forms a volcano, spilling red aquarium stone lava. A construction site garden is another option for boys. Tiny rocks, stick logs, and craft stick lumber can be stacked up waiting for the big rigs to move them. Small toy bulldozers and cranes can be scattered about, among the plantings. These whimsical gardens can go wherever your child's imagination takes them. You provide the materials, they supply the ideas and creativity. Planting and maintaining a miniature garden teaches kids about plants, caring for living things, and most all the fun of gardening.

Ten Ha-Ha-Hilarious Kids Party Games

PARROT GAME Divide guests into two equal groups, one is the Pirates, the other the Parrots. The parrots are very very grouchy and are not permitted to smile. The pirates can do anything they like to get the parrots to laugh. The parrots can only respond parrot-style - if they think they can without crackering-er, I mean cracking - up!!! You might make one of the rules that parrots must answer any questions in "parrot-speak" only. The last parrot to keep a straight face is the winner. BABY BOTTLE GAME Before the party, prepare a baby bottle with a new clean nipple for each guest. Fill each bottle with 1 ounce of water and make sure the water runs out of each bottle at the same rate of speed. At a signal, each contestant tries to drink the water the fastest. The first one to finish is the winner. Imagine what great pictures you'll get with this one! SLEEPING LIONS One player is chosen to be "it". All other players lie down and become sleeping lions. They lie flat on their backs, keeping as still and quiet as possible. The "it" person has to try to make them laugh by making funny faces but not actually touching them. Anyone who giggles is out. The last lion is the winner.Variations: Sleeping Clowns, Sleeping Astronauts, Sleeping Pirates, Sleeping Cowboys, etc. HA!HA!HA! The object of this game is to keep a straight face while the other players try to make you laugh. Everyone sits in a circle. One child says, "Ha!" The next child adds a second "Ha!" by saying "Ha!Ha!". The third child adds another "Ha!" saying, "Ha!Ha!Ha!"...and so on. Any player who laughs or makes a mistake must drop out of the circle. However, those "drop-outs" can also try to make the others laugh (except by touching them or talking). The player who keeps a straight face the longest is the winner.Variation: Have each child lie down, resting his or her head on the stomach of the next child. The last child to laugh is the winner. POOR PUSSY This is a tried and true game which has been popular for generations. Arrange players in a circle. except for one child who is designated "Poor Pussy". Poor Pussy kneels in front of any player and acts like - you guessed it - a pussy cat. While he or she is meowing, the player must stroke Poor Pussy's head and say "Poor Pussy, Poor Pussy" without smiling. If the player petting Pussy smiles or laughs, they become "Poor Pussy" in the next round. Think about how difficult it is not to crack up while petting someone's head and saying "Poor Pussy"! To make it worse, Poor Pussy is allowed to do anything to make players lose their composure, including silly faces, strange purring sounds, or other catlike moves. Other players are also permitted to laugh and do whatever possible to make it more difficult for the designated person to keep their composure. CAT TAILS GAME Cut thin strips of cloth for each guest at least one yard long and have them put them into the back of their pants, just skimming the ground. Kids then try to step on each other's tails. They are out when they lose their tail. The winner is the last one to keep his tail! JUNGLE KNOTS Instruct guests to stand in a circle facing inward. To begin, everyone extends his or her right hand into the ring and takes hold of someone else's hand. Then, they do the same with their left hands. The object of the game is to see if they can untangle the "knot" by stepping over, ducking under people, or turning around. Whatever happens, they can't let go of hands! FIRE ALARM RELAY Prepare two sets of fire fighter's clothing, including boots, oversized jackets, hats and gloves. Mark a starting line and place two chairs across the room with an empty wrapping paper tube on each. This will be the location of the fire and the hose to put it out. Divide guests into two teams and demonstrate the proper procedure for the game. They must put on the firefighter's clothing, run to the chair, pick up the "hose" and run around the chair with it spraying the fire, set the hose back on the chair, return to the dressing station, take off the clothes and go back to their line. The next person on their team then repeats the whole procedure until all team members have taken a turn. The team that completes the relay first is the winner. This game can be played with any type of clothing. Match it to fit the theme of your party. MUSCLE BUILDERS Inflate up to 100 small balloons. Divide guests into two teams and select one guest on each team to be the "weakling". The remaining guests will be "personal trainers". Gather teams on opposite sides of the room and divide the balloons between them. The weakling puts on one-piece long johns or any other simple jumpsuit type of clothing you may have. When you say "go", the teams of personal trainers must make their weaklings grow instant muscles by stuffing as many balloons as they can into their long underwear. Give teams one minute for this task. When time is up - and you've taken lots of pictures! - remove and count the balloons for each team. The weakling with the most "muscles" or balloons, wins. This can be done more than once with new weaklings. MUMMY WRAP Split the party goers into teams of three and give each team a toilet roll. Two persons then wrap the third in the toilet roll so that they look like an Egyptian Mummy. The winning team is the one who in a set time (2 minutes is good) have the neatest and most covered Mummy.

A New Year’s Resolution to Learn a New Language

Danny Glover, the famous American actor, once said that his new year’s resolution was to learn French, because everyone he wants to speak with in West Africa speaks French. If you would like your fun new year’s resolution to be to learn a new language, then there are quite a few different ways you can go about it.Perhaps you’ve been wanting to learn the language of your Grandmother. Perhaps you would benefit from learning an official language or unofficial second language of your country, such as French in Canada or Spanish in USA. Or Greek in Melbourne Australia! Apparently the second largest Greek-speaking city in the world after Athens, in terms of number of people who speak Greek, is Melbourne Australia! Or perhaps you feel like learning something that feels exotic like Japanese or Swahili. One Saturday in November 2004, the national Canadian newspaper the “The Globe and Mail” put its entire front page in Chinese, explaining that with the globalization of jobs, Chinese will probably be a necessary business language of the future.A fun way to start learning a new language, especially if you’re not a disciplined type of student, is to enrol in a language course. You meet other people in your class who have the same language interest as you which is fun in itself, you’re being taught by a real teacher, and the once a week schedule of the classes means that you are practising your new language regularly and steadily. Local community centers offer these courses. Colleges, private language institutes and continuing education programs at university offer them. You may be lucky enough to have cultural organizations nearby that offer language courses. For instance, a local immigrant organization in my town offers courses in Swahili, a language spoken in many east African countries. Downtown, a cultural organization funded by France called Alliance Française, offers French courses. A nearby Saturday Chinese school offers courses in Mandarin Chinese for both adults and children, and it’s quite encouraging to see Cantonese-speaking adults there having as much trouble pronouncing Mandarin as the non-Chinese adults!If you can’t get away to a class, then there are lots of language courses you can study at home: books, audio cassettes, video cassettes, DVDs, music, interactive computer software, and online courses on the Internet. Your local library probably has language learning resources that you can borrow, if you don’t want to start off the year with the expense of buying these materials. When studying on your own in this way, try to devote 10 minutes every day to a bit of study or revision, instead of doing 1 hour one day but then not finding the time to look at it again for a couple of months. With 10 minutes of study each day, you probably won’t feel like you are making progress because the progress is so gradual. However, the progress will also be steady, and in 3 months time when you look back on how much you have learned, you’ll probably impress yourself.To get you started learning your new language in the next 5 minutes, here are some links to free online courseshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/languages - On the BBC website, you will find free online courses for French, Spanish, German, Italian, Greek, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese. And also for Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Irish and English, and links to British Sign Language.http://www.word2word.com/course.html - The Word2Word website contains links to free language courses all over the Internet. As of January 2005, it has links for 114 languages, from Abenaki, Albanian and Arabic, to Urdu, Vietnamese and Xhosa. In all, there are 288 links to online courses. So whether you want to learn Cree, Croatian or Korean, hopefully you’ll find a free course for the language you want here.A great way to learn and practise another language is “language immersion” – being surrounded by people who speak that language and you having to get things done in that language environment. A holiday in a foreign country is a very interesting and fun “language immersion” opportunity. People amaze themselves, speaking words in a foreign tongue that they didn’t realize they knew, when they have to function in a foreign language environment. Closer to home, local immigrant community events may be able to provide you with a language immersion environment without the expense of travel.My Japanese teacher told us that if you understand more than 5% of what is being said in a foreign language, then you are not at the optimum level for learning the maximum amount possible of that foreign language. If you understand more than 5% of what is going on in your class, go up a level he said! If 95% seems gooblety-gook to you, then that’s perfect he said! Take heart. It means you are soaking up as much of that foreign language as is humanly possible!According to Ellen Bialystok and Kenji Hakuta in the book “In Other Words”, adults are more capable of learning a second language than most people assume. In the book “What’s Going On In There”, Lise Eliot explains how Noam Chomsky discovered in the late 1950s that all of the world’s languages share the same fundamental structure. He called it “Universal Grammar”. The language you already speak and the language you want to learn both have sentences, grammar, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions. You may not be able to label those parts of your speech, but your brain is applying those concepts to your speech every day, and has been doing so ever since you were a baby. Experts believe that our brains have specific language circuits, like a computer has specific circuitry to do certain tasks. If you can communicate in one language (and if you are reading this, then obviously you can!), then you have the necessary brain circuitry to communicate in any language.Which brings us to the subject of babies, kids and language. My father observed that French children must be very clever. While English-speaking teenagers are struggling with French in high school, apparently French children are fluently speaking French right from toddlerhood! (!!!)Language courses for children exist in our communities, particularly in communities that have vibrant ethnic members. Fun but academically serious Saturday language classes for children are very popular among immigrant families. They are created so that children can learn the language and culture of the old country that their ancestors came from, and they usually embrace the participation of other children from outside their culture. So if you want your child to get a head start in a foreign language, to reap the IQ benefits of being multilingual, and to share and practise with you while you also learn a foreign language, enrol them in Saturday school for Chinese, Italian, Greek, Croatian or whatever language school you find available for kids.As with adults, lots of multimedia resources are available for teaching foreign languages to children. The latest craze is language videos for babies! Small children find these videos very entertaining and love to watch them. Some well-known titles include Bilingual Baby and Lyric Language. On the Internet, http://www.kiddiesgames.com offers fun free games for babies and preschoolers to learn Spanish and French.Have you ever thought of learning Sign Language? American Sign Language (or ASL) is the first language of half a million people in the United States and Canada, and is probably the third most used language in USA. Dr Bill Vicars at the ASL University at http://lifeprint.com/asl101 tells us that many deaf people cherish and enjoy their language and deaf culture so much that given the chance to hear, they’d rather remain deaf so as to remain part of their culture. On that website you can find a free online ASL course and visual dictionary.The benefits of hearing babies and toddlers learning sign language are very exciting. The research of the past decade has shown that hearing infants that learn sign language learn to speak verbally earlier, have higher IQs, have less tantrums during the terrible twos because they can communicate their needs, and are generally happier! There is now quite a choice of entertaining videos for small children that are very effective at teaching kids signs, such as the Signing Time videos at http://www.signingtime.com and the We Sign videos that you can preview at http://www.production-associates.com/wesign.html. In some areas, it’s possible for children to take signing classes such as those of http://www.kindersigns.com or to join reverse integration kindergarten at deaf organizations or signing playgroups.Have fun carrying out your new year’s resolution of learning a new language. Find some music in your target language that is in a music style that you enjoy and has the words to the songs. Robert Fisher in the book “Head Start” explains that there is a link between music and remembering language. He reports that the Ancient Greeks would listen to the whole of the Iliad chanted to soft lyre music, and this allowed many people to be able to remember long passages from the Iliad.Have fun! ¡Diviértase! Amusez-vous bien!

Watering Your Young Child’s Mind

It’s an everyday nursery rhyme, it’s simple to sing with your small child, and apparently this nursery rhyme about a little child watering her garden is watering your little child’s mind!Early childhood educators have identified pre-reading skills that are necessary for the learning of reading and the mastery of language. They include phonological awareness, or the awareness of speech sounds and rhyme similarities, vocabulary or knowing lots of words, and the more a child loves the enjoyment and pleasure of using language, the more success they will have in reading and writing and academic studies. Nursery rhymes, with their words of imagery, rhymes and rhythm that children find so fun, have all these qualities!Let’s look at other ways that you are probably already simply, instinctively and effectively watering your child’s mind, and what the researchers are now saying about it.Let’s look at songs and music, activities that lots of caregivers instinctively share with their children. The National Network for Child Care at http://www.nncc.org/Series/good.time.music.html explains why songs, action songs, music and rhythm are important for children. They allow children to express their emotions, channel their energy creatively, gain confidence in themselves as they coordinate their minds and their bodies together, learn new words and ideas, and learn about themselves as they explore what they like, what they like when and what they can do. Learning these physical and emotional controls, ways of expression and self-knowledge are necessary for a happy life now in childhood and in their future adulthood. This is the real reason why we let our toddlers take out the pots, pans and wooden spoons and bang them, making a terrible ruckus.How about even simpler, even more unassuming activities, such as having fun blowing a dandelion’s seeds into the air. The child development psychologists Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn in their book “Baby Minds: Brain-Building Games Your Baby Will Love” explain that such a simple yet fun and stimulating activity will stimulate your baby’s brain development. The practical conclusion that these researchers draw from the latest research is that “If your baby is not having fun, it’s probably not worth doing”.Thus, the conclusion we can draw is “If your small child is having fun, then it’s probably stimulating your child’s physical and mental development”. We already instinctively knew that, and so it’s wonderful to have researchers and experts confirming and encouraging this. Whenever my toddler pulls the toilet paper still on its roll and runs around the house redecorating it in toilet paper, I just tell myself that this is a fantastic activity for his brain, body and creative imagination.Actually, small children are programmed to learn and to engage in activities that will develop their minds and bodies. It probably has not escaped your attention that kids will naturally invent a fun and interesting game (fun and interesting to the child) out of absolutely anything. The brain plasticity scientist Lise Eliot explains in “What’s Going On In There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life” that there are way too many connections in the brain and communications with the rest of the body – billions of neurons and a quadrillion synapses at last count – for it to be preprogrammed in genetic DNA material. Thus, babies and children are programmed to try things out and to repetitively practise them for days and weeks and months, so that brain circuitry will sprout in the first place and then solidify to become permanent. Actually, this is my own layperson’s description. Lise Eliot refers to it as neurogenesis, synaptogenesis and myelination. It’s the reason why babies kick in the womb, so that the connection between the leg-kicking part of the brain and the actual leg can be developed. It’s the reason why my newly mobile son never tires of playing with the toilet brush in the toilet bowl, developing and practising his hand-eye coordination and his understanding of the physical world, in this visual, audio and tactile activity of splashing water.We all know that cuddling our babies and children is important for their emotional and psychological development. Lise Eliot gives examples in the chapter “The Importance of Touch” of how touch and physical contact increases physical and brain development. Studies show that premature babies that receive cuddling and massages thrive measurably more and do better on visual baby tests. Children with various medical problems had better clinical outcomes after receiving massage therapy. Perhaps you have seen the famous “Rescuing Hug” (such as at http://www.daurelia.com/spirit/rescue.htm or http://www.snopes.com/glurge/hug.htm), where the physical touch of her baby twin sister was responsible for the very survival of a premature baby.Let’s talk about talking. The very experienced authority on early childhood development Dr Burton White gives the following advice. Allow your newly mobile child to explore your home. He’ll bring things back to show you and will have a need to be fulfilled when doing that. Stop, quickly look and see what that need is, and then respond to the need. Dr Burton White says that the secret to teaching language, whether it be verbal language or sign language, is to respond to that need with language and play on that need. Dr White is the author of “First Three Years of Life” and “Raising a Happy Unspoiled Child”, and you can see and hear him giving this advice in Joseph Garcia’s “Sign with your Baby” video. And in my house, you can see me having a conversation with a toddler about a wet toilet brush he has just brought me.How to increase your child’s mathematics ability? Studies have shown that studying music statistically significantly increases children’s math skills and spatial-temporal reasoning abilities. The question now is why. A “Today’s Parent” article at http://www.todaysparent.com/education/general/article.jsp?content=20030903_124111_1696&page=1 cites a brain-imaging “Mozart Effect” type of study that showed that the same parts of the brain were active when listening to Mozart as when doing puzzles and playing chess, suggesting that music is like warm-up exercises for the brain. Another study cited in that article goes much further, suggesting that music is more than just a cultural artifact; that our brains are actually structured for music, just like our brains are structured for speech and walking. Brain patterns were mapped and assigned musical tones to mark changes in neural activity. When played back, instead of sounding like a random sequence of notes, it almost sounded like a melody of a recognizable style of music!“No!” – We hear it from those terrible-twos toddlers. Well, Lise Eliot in “What’s Going On In There?” presents a study about the effects of parents saying “No”, “Don’t” and “Stop it” on the development of their children. Research established that children that heard a larger proportion of this type of negative feedback had poorer language skills than children whose parents kept their negative responses to a minimum and instead gave encouraging, positive and dialog-inducing responses. The online games at www.KiddiesGames.com provide a fun model of this positive pattern of interaction. When the child playing a game gets something right, the friendly child character on the screen says “That’s right!” or congratulates the player. When the child playing a game clicks on the wrong thing, the upbeat child on the screen doesn’t actually say “No” or “Wrong”. Instead, it explains in the same positive tone what the child playing just did and what another possible (and correct) answer could have been. The feedback is accurate and positively and cheeringly encouraging. As far as I know, there have been no studies done on the effects that toddlers saying “No” to their parents have on those parents...Can you remember all this information next time you’re interacting with your small child? Let’s summarize it all like the current Canadian CBS Television campaign slogan – “1) Comfort, 2) play with and 3) teach your child”, in that order. This is how you water your child’s mind, and you’re probably already doing it. So follow your instinct, let your child lead the way to play, go with the flow and enjoy playing with your small child. While the results of recent studies may be news to you, the recommended actions are just a reminder!