Month: January 2019

How to Help Your Child Become a Successful Student

As a parent, you need to make sure your child has the most amazing childhood ever. However, the job of a parent is even more complicated – you need to do everything you can to help your child achieve the best possible results in the future, and this is why you are your child’s most important teacher. The new day and age made things even more complicated as the school expectations are higher than before, so what can you do to help your child become a successful student and thus provide them with a shiny and successful career after the school and college are over?

1. Be involved

The first thing you need to do as a parent is to actually be involved in the schooling of your child. This means attending every parent-teacher meeting, as well as the meetings at the start of every school year. This is a great way to learn more about the actual teachers of your children and get to know something more about the curriculum and the expectations. This is what will help you make your own plans connected to your child’s education as you will know what aspects you need to pay attention to. If you have the option, you can also volunteer at your child’s school and in that way stay closer to the teachers and other parents – you never know when you will need them.

2. Find a good tutor

Once the semester or the school year starts, you will get to see if your child needs more work in a certain subject or if they excel somewhere, and this is where you step in. It is very important to know your child and thus know what type of tutoring your child needs, and try to find the best tutor for your child. It’s also very important to know everything about the pros and cons of online vs in-person tutoring; some children might enjoy the first one, while the latter might be perfect for students who like face to face communication. Make sure to explain to your child that having a tutor doesn’t mean that they’re performing badly, but that you want for them to excel at a certain subject where they need more work. Tutoring is also a great way to make your child learn something more about a subject and stay one step ahead of the curriculum.

3. Respect the homework

Homework is an essential part of schooling. It’s not only there to make the students revise a certain lesson, it’s also there to teach your child responsibility and work ethic – two aspects that will be extremely important for the child’s future. This is why you, as a parent, need to support the homework expectations and do whatever you can so that your child completes this task without any problems. In addition to making your child know that homework is a priority, you can help them by making sure they avoid distractions such as TVs or smartphones. Make sure that you’re there while your child is doing their homework, especially if they’re very young – be there to offer guidance, answer questions and interpret assignment instructions.

4. Teach organizational skills

There’s nothing more important and effective that you can teach your child than organizational skills. These will not only be helpful throughout school and college, but throughout their working life as well, and this is considered one of the most important skills a person acquires throughout their lives. Teach your child how to make to-do lists and how to respect them. If you want to make this task even more interesting for your child, you can use the perks of technology and find a good app that they will use (after all, they are growing up in the era of technology). Moreover, make sure that your child keeps their desk in perfect order and talk to them about why this is important.

5. Take attendance seriously

Finally, be the kind of parent who takes attendance seriously. Of course, if the kid is sick and cannot go to school, it’s always best to stay at home, but if your child is missing a lot of school due to illness, make sure to check with the teacher about the work that needs to be completed.

 

As you can see, your child’s performance at school does not depend solely on them – you should, as a parent, do whatever you can to teach your child how to take school seriously. Use fun ways or even games to teach your child good organization and responsibility. The day when they will be extremely grateful to you for this will eventually come.

A Busy Mom’s Guide To Staying Healthy And Losing Weight

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/mother-daughter-family-park-child-1171569/

Most people think they lead busy lives and don’t have time for anything, but those people usually aren’t mothers. Even though their lives might be busy, they have no idea how much work, effort, and dedication it takes to bring up a whole other human being while still taking care of yourself. Some mothers lose themselves completely to their children, but your life isn’t over just because you have a baby. In fact, the healthier and happier you are, the happier and healthier your child will be as they thrive off positive emotions, especially at a very young age.

1. Schedule workout time

Even though you may have many obligations as a dedicated mother, it’s not impossible to set aside a few hours a week for yourself. You could leave the children with your husband, parents, or babysitter and go for a run or to the gym. Some time away from your kids will help you both grow as individuals without damaging your bond.

More importantly, you’ll learn it’s not a sin to devote some time to look your best. Let your workout time set you free. It will help your body process stress more easily, rejuvenate your mind, and make you fitter. All of this will also be extremely beneficial for your mental health. Being busy is only a matter of shifting priorities and your workout time should definitely be at the top of that list.

2. Don’t starve yourself

A mistake most mothers make is that they skip meals and go on crash diets which basically restrict anything but water. This way, it seems like you’re losing steady weight but as soon as you start eating normally again, it just comes back. What you’re actually doing is starving your body from all the nutrients it needs. The same happens when you’re skipping meals- you may think you’re doing yourself a favor but you’ll just be hungrier later which will lead to junk food cravings and set back your progress.

Try another approach. Eat little, but eat frequently. Three meals a day and two snacks should be enough. Make sure these are all well-balanced and home-cooked meals which include a lot of vegetables, protein, and even some carbs. If you don’t have time to cook daily, try prepping your meals a week in advance. Cook the same food for your kids to build healthy eating habits from a young age and enjoy your results together. If you are into supplements, and based on the advice of your doctor, you may also try fat burners formulated for women.


Source: https://pixabay.com/en/salad-fresh-veggies-vegetables-791891/

3. Join other mums

The key to success can sometimes lay in numbers. If you’re having trouble sticking to your diet or workout regimes, you can find a mum group and ask them for help. All of these women are on the same journey you are, and sticking together makes them stick to their resolutions. These groups usually plan activities together and have similar goals in mind, so it’s fairly easy to fit in.

Another benefit of joining hands with other mums is that you always have someone to lean on. When the rest of the world doesn’t understand what you’re going through, these mums will. You can always talk to someone about your concerns, and there’ll always be someone to cheer for your progress. If there isn’t a mum group in your area, you can try forming one with your friends or neighbors. It might be an excellent opportunity to make new friends or strengthen bonds with old ones, too.

4. Consider getting some work done

If you need some help along the way to health and happiness, you can always consider getting some work done. Reconstructive and plastic surgery can make you more confident, enhance your health, and give you the motivation to stay on your new journey. It’s time we let the stigma toward surgery die and realize the amazing benefits they can have; especially for busy mothers who need a push in the right direction.

In most cases, no major surgery is needed. In fact, as Dr. Ross Farhadieh trustfully says: “Often, the most subtle surgical enhancements can have a profound effect on your self-confidence and self-esteem”. These subtle changes can be enough to make you realize your worth, too. What’s more, they’ll give you a head start in the losing weight department and provide fertile grounds for success. Don’t stop yourself from being the best version of yourself that you can be just because you’re too afraid to step out of your comfort zone.

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/belly-heart-love-girl-relaxation-3186730/

5. Play with your kids

Children are naturally curious and like running around and exploring every environment they find themselves in. Encourage and join them in their new adventures, and you’ll find out just how much more you’ll be moving. Plan outside activities where you can all play in the park or at the beach. Teach them to ride a bike and have family rides around the neighborhood every day.

Anything can be a fun activity and an opportunity to keep moving if you try hard enough. When it’s rainy outside, make your own playground at home. Play inside a tag or hide and seek, build a pillow fort together or play pretend. Tap into your inner child and enjoy youth with your children. Not only will you bond through all the family activities, but it will also boost your immune system and help you lose weight. Cherish every moment you have together and use it wisely. Both you and your children will benefit from it.

Conclusion

As you can see, being a happy, healthy, and fit mum isn’t impossible. You don’t need to rely on crash diets or dangerous drugs like Ozempic to lose weight. Sure, you’ll need to work on your organizational skills, but in the end, the results will be worth it. You won’t be less present in your child’s life just because you took some time for yourself. Setting an example for your children by managing to lead a healthy lifestyle will give them the grounds to grow into healthy adults who have the right values in life. If not for yourself, you should be healthy and fit for your children.

How to Get The Best Out of January Sales in London

Few would disagree that the January sales aren’t quite the thing they were a few years ago; murmurs in the retail world have suggested that Black Friday is the big event nowadays.

Nevertheless, it’s still a prime shopping period and one that shops brace themselves for. This also means that the majority are more than happy to plaster their marketing with January sales deals – all in the bid of getting us to spend a little more money.

London is arguably the capital for January sales. Bearing this in mind, how exactly do you prepare for this period of intense shopping? Let’s review some tips to help you along.

Go with a shopping list

It sounds utterly boring, but January is also the month where most of us are looking to save money as well. Ultimately, you don’t want to be purchasing anything that catches your eye on the high street, there needs to be a genuine requirement for it.

This is where the shopping list comes into play. Yes, it’s structured, but if you happen to be heading over to Covent Garden firstly research if the shops with sales on are there. In truth, it’s not really a conundrum with this area of London due to the sheer number of retailers there, but the advice is universal.

Keep both eyes open with new or unusual brands

We all love a bargain, and when it comes to sales season it can be tempting to pledge your money with a new brand that seems to be offering something completely out of the ordinary. Electronics brands usually fall into this category, as it’s so easy to catch consumer’s eye with tech buzzwords.

For example, a 4K TV from an unknown brand might sound the real deal from the packaging, but delving deeper into the spec may give you the real reason it’s priced so much lower than Sony.

Always ignore the ‘saving’

Nowadays, shops tend to advertise huge ‘savings’ wherever you turn. Across January especially, it can be tempting to think that all of these savings mean that you will pay significantly less than the original price.

As such, simply look at the cost and compare to other shops. Even if there appears to have been a 50% drop in the price, there’s no guarantee that this original price is in line with the market anyway. This is another reason why it is so important to make sure that you have researched what you are buying beforehand. It doesn’t just mean that you don’t buy “wasteful items”, but it can help manage your price expectations correctly as well.

The returns policies can vary

There are a lot of misconceptions about returns policies. By law, shops don’t actually have to have them. Of course, the vast majority do, but this is worth investigating if you think there is a risk of your returning items.

At the same time, over Christmas returns periods tend to be extended. Find out whether these extended returns policies extend through to the new year or not.

How Can Window Awning Be So Beneficial For Your Home and Sleep?

Everybody knows the basics of what not to do before bed. Thinks like drinking lots of coffee and gorging yourself on food can inhibit the full sleeping experience. However, there are some things you can miss if you haven’t done your research. Lots of things can affect your sleeping pattern and it’s good to stay informed if you want to feel well-rested every morning.

1. Color can affect a lot of things

Color is one of the most important things when it comes to room decorations. Understandably, some people might prefer vibrant colors and interesting patterns on their wall. However, not all colors are created equal. Some can affect the quality of your sleep. Bright and bold isn’t the way to go if you want some good shut-eye when you hit the sack. Chaotic patterns act much like clutter because they excite the mind and encourage activity.

If your brain is buzzing and registering these patterns as something worth staying awake, it will prevent you from getting a good night’s sleep. It’s best to keep your walls a calming color with as a few patterns as possible. Earthy tones and hues are the way to go.

2. Blue lights are bad lights

With the amount of technology that surrounds us increasing constantly, you will find more things that shine brightly in the dark than ever before. Some of these lights come from screens on standby or phones being charged. Either way, they aren’t very good for sleep. Research has shown that the blue lights emitted by electronics can disrupt your sleep patterns and even wake you up if you aren’t a very heavy sleeper.

Light triggers the body’s natural mechanism for waking up. Even having your phone light up from a message can suddenly reduce the amount of melatonin your body is producing. This will affect light sleepers the most, so they should focus on diverting those light sources from their bed,

3. The mattress does the heavy lifting

They can be quite expensive purchases nowadays, but quality mattresses are essential nonetheless. Sleeping on an old and worn out mattress can harmful for both your back and sleeping patterns. With an inadequate one, you might find yourself sleepy and groggy even with a full nights’ sleep.

Getting a good mattress is a solid investment either way you look at it. For starters, you get to enjoy the comfort it provides, but you also get to appreciate some quality sleep. Memory foam is considered a top choice when it comes to healthy sleeping. The material gently contours around your body and helps you get into healthy positions while you sleep.

4. Windows are a weak point

Once the sun goes down, lights go up. Street lights and cars illuminate the night and they can enter through your window and disrupt your shut-eye. Getting your window covered properly is crucial if you want an uninterrupted snooze. A good way to cover a window and prevent that pesky light from entering is getting yourself some Venetian blinds or window awnings. If you don’t know where to look, well-known companies like Oztech can give you some good examples.

Light isn’t the only thing creeping into your bedroom, there are also lots of noises to look out for. Nightlife is dynamic and loud, but there’s no reason for it to keep you up if you just want to hit the sack. Soundproof your windows and aim for thicker walls for your bedroom to keep out unwanted noises.

5. The temperature will make or break sleep

Whether it’s keeping warm in the winter or keeping cool in the summer, the temperature is a hot topic when it comes to sleep. It’s understandable that going too high or too low won’t be comfortable when you’re in bed. When it’s too hot out, AC units and fans are often used, but they can be noisy and inefficient. This doesn’t mean you should stop using them, however.

Getting good thermal insulation should be your goal. If possible, upgrade your walls and windows so that heat isn’t constantly entering your home and it has time to cool down during the night. There are blankets that you can use in both winter and summer, due to being made from good insulators that will keep both the heat and the cold.

Conclusion

Sleep is more complicated than we give it credit for. Just about everything can affect your sleep pattern and you have to be prepared to make some changes.  Changing the color of your walls and covering your windows might not seem like much of a change, but doing these things will ensure you have a proper night’s sleep.

Recovering After A Holiday Fraught With Overspending

Americans spend $700 per individual on average, nationally, every Christmas. Australians spend $1,300+ in the same area every Christmas. That’s a lot of money! If you’re in a two-parent household, you’ll likely spend $2,600+ this year. That’s enough to buy your teenager their first used car! That’s community college tuition for a semester or five months’ rent!

January is a month that is cold in the United States and hot in Oz. Everybody’s uncomfortable for one reason or another, and also a little lighter in the wallet. How you bounce back in January can set your course for the entire year. This is one reason each year in your life seems to go faster and faster: you hit the ground running in January and never get a break until the end of the year.

Such is life, though; if you don’t hit the ground running, the best you’ll be able to do at the end of the year is tread water. If you do start the year off right, at the very least you can rest with your family for a few weeks.

With this in mind, following are some tips to help you overcome holiday losses. Don’t panic, there are always options out there. Here’s a site of professional solutions to help you fill out your financial New Year’s resolutions; and following are some considerable tactics worth looking into.


Examine Finances And Draft A Budget

What have you been spending money on over the last three to six months? You should include Christmas spending, but qualify that by examining yearly spending outside the holidays. Eliminate unnecessary expenditures. Determine what is more discretionary than necessary, and draft a plan going forward to free up resources.

Refinance Loans

If you’ve got debt from multiple areas, you can combine it together and refinance. Say you’ve got $3k in credit card debt and $10k in student debt that you’re paying a certain amount on every month. Now say every year you pay about $1,000 in additional interest.

You could refinance these debts into a single monthly payment with reduced interest, perhaps dropping $500 from what you spend annually. It’s not it’s something. What you can save will depend on how much you owe, and the kind of interest on your loans. Still, there is always room to save resources.

Live Beneath Your Means And Cut Out Creature Comforts

Here’s the big reason people go into debt: they’re trying to keep up with the Jones’ and end up living beyond their means. Ignore the Joneses, don’t worry about them. Worry about saving money and increasing that which you own beyond government or corporate interdiction. Live beneath your means.

Are you eating out every week? Would you say you spend $100 a week on either fast food or fine dining? That’s $400 a month, or $4,800 a year. If you can just replace that with home-cooked meals for a year, you’ll save almost enough for two Christmases in a two-person household.

What about coffee? If you’re spending an average of $3 a day on coffee from a little cafe near your house, that’s $1,095 a year. Instead spend $95 on coffee filters, machines, and grounds, and don’t buy those $3 beverages. Combined with dine-in savings, you’ve just saved $5,800.

How much do you spend at the bar on average? $100 a week? How about on smoking? $20 a week? If altogether you’re spending $500 on your vices every month, cutting them out could save you another $6k a year!

Bouncing Back

The holidays are hectic and expensive for everybody, but you don’t have to go broke buying people presents. If you think about things conscientiously from the beginning, look into secondary means of expanding existing assets like remodeling, live beneath your means, and refinance existing debt, you can free up thousands of dollars every year.