6 Virtues to Model for Your Child

You are your child’s first teacher and will impart impactful and lasting messages that influence his or her growth. Set a good example for your children so they may grow into successful, fulfilled, and conscientious adults. Here is a list of important traits that you can model for your children:

Generosity and Community Involvement

The idea of giving back is one that often goes unexplored when your own life is hectic and has many moving parts. Slow down and take the time to think about how you can give back to your community and be generous with your time and available resources. Community engagement and philanthropic work will look different for every family, depending on where you live, your income, your talents, and your passions.  For example, you can volunteer and support non-profit fundraising events, like serving as a water-station monitor for a run that donates its proceeds to a worthy cause. You could also donate money to individuals who serve the community and try to make society a better place. Show your kids that it’s worthwhile to reflect on how you can help those around you and assist with the running of school fundraisers thus becoming a contributing member of your community.

Work Ethic

Work ethic begins with the right mindset. Show your child that hard work is rewarding and requires you to think with a growth mindset. For example, you and your child should try to learn something together, like mechanics, ceramic-making, or another artisan skill. When the learning becomes tricky or if a mistake is made, explain to your child that messing up is part of the process and helps grow your understanding of the task. Show them that working hard to achieve the end result takes dedication and persistence.

Fulfilling Career

Your kid will be greatly influenced by your attitude and relationship with your career. Make sure your job offers you a balanced lifestyle and doesn’t cause you too much frustration. A career that allows you to be flexible in your hours and engage in entrepreneurial work will be a positive thing for your kid to see. Through companies like Amway, you can set your schedule to accommodate your busy life and have time to engage with your family. Making money with Amway will show your children how they can take initiative to start their own business and take their career into their own hands.

Respect

Respect can look different in many cultures and depends on the situation that you’re in. Talk to your child about what respect looks at home, in the classroom, in restaurants, with adults, and with his or her peers. Practice code-switching and acting with respect through role play at home. Additionally, model respect toward others by listening when others are speaking, acting kind, giving people grace when they make mistakes, accepting others’ differences, and never speaking poorly about people when they aren’t around. Your child will quickly pick up on your family’s cultural norms around respect and will display the same dispositions. Child Ventures offers additional ideas about why it’s important to teach your kid about the virtue of respect and how to do it.

Morals

You want your child to know the difference between right and wrong. Show them how they can be loving, kind, conscientious, honest, trustworthy and giving. If you notice that your child isn’t acting with integrity or displaying the aforementioned virtues, know that he or she is developing his or her capacity to regulate and reflect on behaviors. Psychology Today offers parents insight on child development of morals: “Around the age of five or six, children have developed a conscience—which is actually an internalized set of rules that you have taught them. Your regulations become her inner stop sign and will direct her. (Though it may be hard for you to believe, someday she’ll actually throw those dirty socks in the hamper.) Initially, she adopts your rules to please you. Later on, following these directives becomes a part of who she is.”

Social Emotional Literacy

Social-emotional learning is gaining a larger presence in schools; however, awareness and mindfulness should be modeled at home as well. When you become emotional—angry, sad, happy, energized, frustrated—engage in a dialogue with your child about why your feeling these emotions and your strategies for processing them. Explain to your kid that some emotions and ways of being are important for different activities. For example, high energy and aggression can fuel football players to perform well, and sadness can be important to identify what moves you and what is important to you. The ability to recognize emotions and regulate behaviors will help your child succeed in many realms of his or her life, from personal relationships to academic environments.

Think about the virtues that are most important to you and consider how you can model those for your children. Your lead will help them shape their own set of values and establish habitual behaviors. When you are your best self, your child will strive to do so as well.

Helping Your Children Learn This Summer

Summer can be an exciting and chaotic time for families with children. With your kids out of school, the entire routine that you have had gets thrown out of whack. There is less structure during the days. To ensure that your kids do not forget everything that they have learned during the year, there are many things that you and your family can do to ensure that your kids’ brains stay active. There is no activity that does not connect to learning in some way. Here are some things that you can do with your children, of any age, to ensure that they continue learning all summer long.

#1) Vacation

While many people believe that vacation is all about having fun and building unforgettable family memories, vacations can be even more beneficial. Recent studies have found that children who go on vacation with their family tend to do better in school the following year than those who did not go on a vacation that summer. Going on vacation helps children connect the things that they learn in school to real life. Children who go to the beach, an amusement park, a neighborhood park, the mountains, or any other place are able to connect what they read about to real-life events. This encourages their reading and participation in class.

#2) Interactive Television Shows

While we do not want to just sit our kids in front of the television all day long, we all know that it provides us with a much-needed break during the day. If you sit your children in front of the television for an hour a day you should ensure that they are watching the best kids educational shows possible. These shows typically encourage learning, spelling, reading, math, science, and social studies. No matter how old or young your child is, you can find an education television show for them to watch.

#3) Visit A Local Bookstore

You should encourage your children to read during the summer if it is not already mandatory by your school. Even if your child has to read summer reading books, you should still encourage them to read books that they find interesting. Some local bookstores, like Barnes & Noble, offer storytime each Saturday to encourage children to read. Children are able to connect with their peers, read along while they listen to a story, and look at other books while they are there. Some bookstores also give children a free book if they read so many books during the summer. This is a great motivator for some children.

#4) Cook or Bake With Your Children

If you are looking for a creative and fun way to work on math skills with your children this summer, you can cook and bake with them. Following recipes and measuring ingredients is a great and fun way to connect math to the real world. No matter how old or young your children are, you can find engaging ways to have them help you in the kitchen. For younger children, you

can ask them which is bigger, a tablespoon or a cup. Older children may have fun converting between ml and cups. If you are looking for a great recipe that is also healthy for you and your children, you can try baking banana oatmeal applesauce muffins. These muffins make the perfect breakfast or snack and can be shared with their friends if you are looking to set up playdates.

#5) Keep A Journal

If you are looking to improve your children’s writing and reading skills, you can encourage them to keep a journal this summer. Each day you can look to do something new and exciting with your children so that they have something to write about. If your children are young, you can help them write a sentence or two each day. If your children are older, you can encourage them to write a paragraph or even a whole page, depending on what you did that day. Keeping a journal not only helps them practice their skills, but it will be a fun thing for them to go back and read when they get older. You can encourage them to write each day by giving them stickers to decorate their pages with. Stickers are a great motivator for children of all ages.

Life’s Greatest Reward System

How Life Today is Set Up

Life today may be one of the most advanced structured societies that ever functioned. Everything is systematically arranged in a way that not only makes sense but balances out almost everything about our existence to a science. We have grocery stores for our specific nutritional needs, gyms for our active needs, and libraries for our various ideas or questions. We are very fortunate to have lived in such an organized period in time that actually allows us to function close to our fullest capacity.

Different Types of Awards

Awards can be some of life’s most amazing experiences. Awards come in many forms that usually come with the acceptance of growth and responsibility. Examples of great rewards are: · Trophies or glass awards can symbolize a beautiful representation of your accomplishments.

· Events or parties can be held to bring about reinforcing praise that adds emotional value and support.

· Accomplishments in themselves can be great rewards that can almost have a positive addictive effect on you and your life.

Use Time To Recognize Your Strengths

Now, we can address the topic of today. What are your strengths? What are you good at? It is amazing how we all are different. We may have things in common. We can even share common experiences with others. But we know that no two lives are ever completely the same. In order to thrive in any possible way, we must find our strength.

Our strengths were embedded somewhere in our DNA for specific reasons. They help to give us confidence, satisfaction, and even happiness. Some may be good at sports, music, cooking, and so much more!

School Can Be Used To Help Us Reveal Our Strengths

One thing that should be stressed to today’s youth or anyone who is in school is that school is a wonderful place to define and sculpt your strengths. I am sure we can all relate about classes that we just could not stay awake in or topics in lectures that you absolutely dreaded. This is just a part of life that most of us should take heed to and never overlook.

Neither should we overlook when we are doing great! Almost everyone can relate to this as well. We all have strengths that we just have to find. This is not always the easiest task. Our strengths can be an ability to combat the fear that we had to reveal from experience. It can even be the

ability to make people laugh that was revealed after facing really hard times. Your strength is your reward in life that will continue to reward you for eternity once it is received.

Sports Are Another Way To Reveal Strengths

The adrenaline pumps to your veins as your fans call your name. Remember to plant your feet, focus, breath, swing. 1,2,3 and there it goes! The ball is out of the park! The crowd goes wild!

This is a snippet from the day in the life of anyone who plays sports. Sports are constructed to teach us how to channel our feelings and drives to work properly and give us results! We must learn how to train and function in ways that stimulate ourselves as individuals. The most exciting sports advantage is that we get to share these experiences with a team. Most of us play sports with peers who are learning and experiencing similar things in life. So, this enables us to exercise and express our individual strengths in the ways that will most likely be highlighted in society.

Showcase Your Strengths In Business

Business is the big league of life. Most people will have to use all of the prior discussed situations to enhance their performance in the business world. Those who have successfully mastered their strengths and weaknesses will find themselves in manager positions. Those who know how to go above and beyond to beat fear and setbacks may even become CEOs.

Engaging in business is a way to enhance good qualities. The rewards of it are money plus other forms of gratification that make life better.

Simply Earth Essential Oil Recipe Box for July

Disclosure: I received free products to facilitate this review. Affiliate links are contained herein. The opinions are my own.

Last month I introduced you to Simply Earth.  They offer essential oils at an affordable price.  They also have a fun subscription program called the Essential Oil Recipe Box.  With the subscription program, they send you a box with four oils and other materials you need to create recipes included with the box, and all the recipes and materials follow a fun and unique theme!  Each subscription box is a $150 value for just $39, and it is a fantastic deal.  (In case you missed it, here’s the link so you check out my review of the June Box.)

When you subscribe, they also send you an awesome BONUS BOX for FREE!  The bonus box has several bottles as well as other great items like coconut oil, beeswax, and almond oil.  Anyone who’s ever used essential oils, knows that these items are definitely staples, and I think it’s great that they include these bonuses.

And if you order today using my referral link and coupon code: SSHOMEFREE you will also get a $40 gift card! [Read more…]

Friday Favorites Linky Party – Week 483

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet HomeTwitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Lisa at Condo BluesTwitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small ThingsPin

Penny at Penny’s PassionTwitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas SkyTwitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Jennifer at Busy Being JenniferTwitter | FB | Pin | Inst

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week’s favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

And if you love all of this week’s favorites, please pin, share, and invite your friends to this week’s linky party! [Read more…]

Wonderful Wellness: Easy Ways To Improve The Body And Mind

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How often have you said to yourself, “I’ll start a diet tomorrow” or “tomorrow I’m going to start exercising? Too often we think we can change our habits at the drop of a hat, or because we are feeling motivated that week. Then we find that the weight isn’t shifting or our end goal feels far away, it can result in self-sabotage- gaining weight and feeling lower than ever. None of the big changes with our longstanding habits can be done quickly, what is needed is a lifestyle change, and often that can seem overwhelming. For best results we need to change slowly, we grow into them so to speak. However, with a little bit of planning and some behavior changes, you genuinely can put yourself on the road to success. The Nutrition Insider has some great tips and ideas for you to consider.  And this article has just a few to get you started.

Keep Fit 

With busy lifestyles, just about all of us can find it hard to find the time to exercise. For this reason, finding ways to fit activity into our daily lives is the way to go. One of the best ways to tone up, burn calories and get the cardiovascular system going is walking, Making the choice to go for a good walk each day contributes to your weekly exercise and your fitness levels will soon improve. Walking is safer than jogging or running as it puts less strain on the joints, and is generally more enjoyable as it doesn’t feel like a slog. Choose your route, and walk each day with the intention you are going to enjoy it. It’s amazing how much more we notice when we are not rushing to get somewhere, but are walking for fitness. Take time to enjoy nature around you, the trees and the sky, the birds singing and you will find that it really is a pleasurable way to exercise. If you need more of a workout, pick up the pace or take a route which has hills- be sure to take plenty of water with you to keep you hydrated. The best thing about walking is it’s free, anyone can do it with no special equipment. And it’s easy to fit into your routine, give yourself a little extra time and walk to work, the shops or to friends instead of hopping in the car. Swimming is another low impact and enjoyable activity and is also very good for working out without putting pressure on the joints. A few lengths of breaststroke and you are using all your muscle groups, burning calories and toning at the same time. Many swimmers can feel very hungry after doing a few laps of the pool, so it’s advisable to take a healthy packed lunch with you to eat afterward- that way you won’t be tempted to dine at the first fast food place you pass on the way home! These activities do not follow a regimented plan like a gym workout which makes them more enjoyable, and if done on a regular basis will genuinely do you so much good. 

Eat Well

Most people tend to throw themselves into low fat and low-calorie diets when trying to shift excess weight, but more and more research is pointing to keto style diets being more effective. 

This is where you reduce the number of carbohydrates you eat, replacing them with moderate amounts of protein and healthy fats. Modern keto diets are different from the old style Atkins which you may be familiar with, you can enjoy many more vegetables and even many low carb fruits. It can be a healthy balanced way to eat and your body will be burning its own fat supplies as fuel, you will lose body weight more quickly without feeling hungry. For vegetarians and vegans, there are many enjoyable dishes which are healthy and will keep you feeling satisfied. Look online to find tasty new recipes and have fun learning to cook them for yourself. Reducing saturated fat in your diet is very beneficial as the cholesterol levels will drop reducing the risk of heart disease- simple swaps like using olive oil instead of vegetable oil, for example are good ways to do this. For the all-around eater who likes a bit of everything, portion control, and exercising is the key. By choosing fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds and reducing your saturated fats and salt you are onto a winner. Depriving yourself through a strict diet (unless for serious health reasons) will have you constantly thinking about food, often you give up because you feel so hungry and find yourself raiding the fridge usually opting for the most unhealthy thing in there because it seems so long since you tasted anything good. Feed your body healthy food every day to stop feeling hungry, and sometimes a little bit of a treat will keep you happy and fulfilled, just don’t overdo it. Take lots of walks, think about healthier food choices with correct portion sizes and your body and mind will thank you for it.

Healthy Mind

When it comes to health there is more to it than our physical body. True well-being involves taking care of the mind too. One way to do that is by getting back into education or taking a course.Studying is a good way to achieve goals and can boost mental health and give us a sense of accomplishment. One good way to study is online as fits around your life and is a flexible way to educated. There are hundreds of online colleges that offer accredited qualifications, so whether you want to study for a BSN to masters in nursing online or get a degree in engineering, a diploma in marketing or any kind of certification then you’re able to do so. Whether you already have a degree or qualification and want to take it further or you’re a newbie to higher education there’s something out there for you. Other ways to improve your mental health is to get enough sleep, it’s easier said than done but prioritise your sleep and organise your day so that you’re not working and busy until late at night. Spending time socialising with friends is also good for the soul, sometimes laughter and good conversation really is the best medicine. 

What kinds of things do you do regularly to boost your wellness?

6 Surefire Ways to Win Giveaways

Time and again you enter a sweepstake or a giveaway and you can’t walk away with any reward or prize money. By then you will probably have concluded that sweepstakes or giveaways are nothing more than a scam or a scandal to waste people’s time and only create brand publicity simply

Well, the truth of the matter is, sweepstakes actually work and winning them is possible, so long as you are persistent, patient and maintain a positive attitude. On top of that, you need to practice the right methods to employ to your advantage. Fortunately, we’ve got all that covered right here in this article.

Make use of the following strategies and start winning:

1. Create Facebook Interest Lists

One great way of constantly entering giveaways is to create Facebook lists that include pages that regularly hold giveaways. To create a Facebook list, all you have to do is:

a. Scroll down to the left sidebar until you see Interests.

b. Hover the mouse over to Interests and click the More link. You will then see the news feed change to show you lists that you’ve subscribed to or created. But if you’re starting out, you won’t see much on those lists.

c. Then click the +Add Interests button at the top of the page. The news feed area will change to show you a list of interests.

2. Follow Bloggers

Another great way of entering giveaways is to ‘like’ pages of bloggers who regularly hold and promote plenty of giveaways for items in your area of interest. But because Facebook doesn’t really show you pages of the posts that you ‘like,’ it’s a great idea to interact with your favorite Facebook pages by commenting and liking, which then tells Facebook that you’re interested in that type of content and you want more of it.

When you follow a page by liking it, you can use the settings on Facebook to ensure that you see only that page’s posts first or even get notifications for it.

Other than that, you can also subscribe to a blogger’s newsletter or just to their blog. This way you will receive an email about a giveaway every time something new has been posted.

3. Visit Giveaway Link Ups

Most bloggers will have a page that specifically lists giveaways. Some bloggers visit these pages and list their own giveaways.

4. Follow Social Media Hashtags

You can also find giveaways by following hashtags on multiple social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Just click a hashtag that you like and you will see all posts that related to that hashtag. You can click on generic giveaway hashtags such as #ContestAlert and #Sweeps.

5. Avoid Fake Giveaways and Competitions

Sometimes, clicking on a giveaway on Facebook could be nothing more than a well-thought-out scandal meant to extort money or other personal credentials from you. For example, there are posts that say “if you like this picture, you are eligible.” This is obviously spam and ads that promote contests like this are definitely setting you up to exploit you.

The best advice that we can give is only to enter competitions that are sponsored by a legitimate source, brand or company.

6. Enter as Often as Possible

The bigger the catch of fish you get in your net, the better your family will be satisfied at dinner. Likewise, the more you enter yourself in regular sweepstakes and giveaways, the better your chance will be at winning. It’s a simple formula that is basically common sense.

It’s also a good idea to keep track of the giveaways that you enter yourself in. Therefore, you should create a Google Docs spreadsheet just so you know which sweepstake or giveaway you’ve entered and when the winners will be announced.

Bonus tip: You can also participate in surveys and win prizes as well. And if that’s your thing, then click here.

Do Yourself a Favor and Quit Smoking

A regular cigarette contains tobacco. The tobacco in these cigarettes has harmful substances that are not good for your body not matter how smoke it. You have heard people developing health complications simply because of too much smoking. Health risks arise with continued smoking of one or even more cigarettes per day. So, with no doubt it would be a favor if you stop stopping and find a viable replacement. However, the transformation process can prove to be challenging. Nicotine is addictive and it is what makes cigarettes addictive. This means you will require an alternative that can yield low levels of nicotine as you gradually reduce its intake. The only surefire way is to use e-cigarettes at vape uk. These are electronic devices that help those who would like to quit smoking.

So, if you are still wondering why you should quit smoking, here are cons of smoking cigarettes to your body systems and organs.

Central Nervous System

Nicotine is one of the key ingredients of cigarettes which mostly alter moods. So, when you smoke it reaches the brain faster and brings a more satisfied feeling after it energizes your system. But with time, its effect wears off and you begin to feel tired. Typically, nicotine is a drug that creates certain habits and this explains why it is so hard to stop smoking. You find that without it you cannot properly perform usual tasks since you might be irritated, depressed, and worn out.

Cardiovascular System

It is right to note that smoking harms your body’s cardiovascular system. See, nicotine can lead to tightening of blood vessels which in turn restricts the flow of blood. Eventually, the process- if you do not stop taking more nicotine- can lead to peripheral artery diseases.

Similarly, smoking affects your blood pressure. Blood vessels weaken and blood may clot on some parts of the vessels. These entire can increases chances of developing stroke. However, you should not forget that those who you smoke around are also susceptible to the same health risks as you.

Sexuality and Reproductive System

See, genital areas require a lot of blood. Nicotine affects overall blood flow in your body. This means your genital areas will not receive enough blood. This happens to both women and men. In most cases,

sexual performance is highly affected especially in men. Women may experience sexual dissatisfaction due to reduced lubrication and can adversely affect their ability to reach orgasm.

Integumentary System

Skin changes are one of the obvious signs of smoking. And it is true that there are substances in tobacco that can actually alter the structure of your skin. Skin cancer can be a risk resulting from smoking. Also, your nails and toe nails can get fungal infections if you keep smoking several cigarettes every day. Lastly, you may experience hair loss, and balding if you do not stop smoking the soonest possible.

Conclusion

You have explored the various effects of smoking cigarettes. So, if you want to keep your body’s systems in good health, it is time you did a favor for yourself by quitting smoking. Hopefully, you will find vaping your best gateway to stopping smoking.

Calculate Flight Times Across Different Time Zones

A scientist discovers that he can travel forward and backwards in time. He shows this to the media. How is this possible?

As you contemplate the answer to this classic riddle – for those who can’t wait, we do provide the answer at the end of this article – we will share with you some fun facts that will help you to better understand what it means to cross multiple zones on a single flight.

A Blink of an Eye

Seeing that we are talking about time, is it possible to depart one place and arrive in another in what seems like the blink of an eye?

No, we are not talking about some new secret jet aircraft that can travel at warp speed. Warp speed – which at 670,616,629 miles per hour is travelling faster than the speed of light, is not yet possible. But, on one commercial flight, you can depart and arrive at your destination in 57 seconds give or take headwinds.

For a $51 airfare, a Scottish commercial airline will fly you between the islands of Westray and Papa Westray. Located in the Northern Isles of Scotland, it takes just 57 seconds to make the 1.7-mile flight. You will not need to reset your watch on this trip.

Flying Back to Yesterday

While 57 seconds is the shortest commercial flight in the world, this past October the record for the longest non-stop commercial flight is now 19 hours.

The route which will take travellers from Singapore to Newark, New Jersey, will see passengers depart Singapore at 10:00 AM on a Sunday and arrive at their destination in Newark at 10:00 PM local time Saturday.

Like trying to figure out the equation for time travel, you may be wondering how a 19 hour flight results in a 12 hour time difference. Simple answer: time zones in which some are only 30 to 45-minutes apart. We will get into that shortly.

In the meantime, and depending on your time of departure, when you fly west with a 12 hour time difference, you are actually heading towards yesterday! Flying east you are heading toward tomorrow. Talk about back-to-the-future! Or is it ahead-to-the-future?

All Time Zones are not Equal

How many people believe that 1 hour equals “one” time zone? To all but the most seasoned traveller, this seems like a reasonable assumption.

However, when you take into account the International Date Line (IDL) and the fact that several time zones are less than an hour apart, you have 27 time zones in total.

Besides the additional zones, it is also worth noting that time zones and local time are not the same. Especially when you include Daylight Savings Time and the fact that there are 37 different “local times” in use around the world.

Not a Straight Line

You have probably heard the old saying that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

While this sage advice is in many instances sound, when it comes to flying routes, a straight line is not the shortest path to your destination. The reason? The earth isn’t flat. Sphere-shaped, the best way to fly between two points is on an arc as opposed to a point A to B straight flight path.

Visualize this: draw a straight line between New York and London on a three-dimensional globe, then flatten it out into a two-dimensional map. Your straight line would then become an arc. Pretty cool, right?

A Timetable for Fun

From extending your birthday celebrations or chasing New Year’s Eve around the world, flying allows everyone to become a time traveller.

The best way to approach the travel experience and not get a headache trying to zone in on dates and times is to let several useful online tools do the math for you. So sit back, relax and enjoy the flight.

By the way, and in case you haven’t already figured it out, here is the answer to the riddle: the scientist takes planes to different time zones.

Friday Favorites Linky Party Week 482

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet HomeTwitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Lisa at Condo BluesTwitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small ThingsPin

Penny at Penny’s PassionTwitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas SkyTwitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Jennifer at Busy Being JenniferTwitter | FB | Pin | Inst

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week’s favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

And if you love all of this week’s favorites, please pin, share, and invite your friends to this week’s linky party! [Read more…]