Category: Lifestyle

Keep Your Kids Healthy This Spring Season

With many bright and sunny days, spring is the perfect season for outdoor games and exploration. However, along with the days of extra fun for your kids, comes the higher risk of injuries, accidents, or diseases.

Here are a few essential tips on how to minimize those risks, and keep your kids healthy this spring season.

Use Sunscreen

Since your kids will be spending a lot of time outdoors, exposed to sun rays, you must take adequate measures of precaution.

The skin grows thicker as we age – the skin of the face, limbs, and trunk in kids aged two to 13 is significantly thinner than in adults and much more sensitive.

A study found that UV exposure during the first 18 years of our lives is the most critical when it comes to premature aging, skin damage, and skin cancer.

To minimize the risks of getting sunburns now, and severe skin damage later, your kids should be protected from UVA and UVB rays even during the cloudy days.

Make sure they have their sunscreen on 15 to 30 minutes before going out. If your kids will stay longer outside, ensure they/you reapply it often.

Using protective hats and clothing during outdoor activities is also advised.

Watch Out for Allergies

When the springtime comes, everything blooms, including our allergies. Kids can have as severe allergies as adults and can develop them anytime.

The most common symptoms of allergies include itchy eyes, ears and throat, heavy breathing, repetitive sneezing, and a runny nose.

There are many ways to keep your kids healthy during allergy season. If they already have a history of allergic rhinitis, they must start taking their medications early, at the end of March, before their symptoms begin to develop.

However, if besides these symptoms, your kid has a fever too, it’s more likely they are affected by the virus than a seasonal allergy. To make your kids’ immune system stronger, as well as ready to fight flu and infections, consider natural children’s supplements so that you’re sure they have all essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients needed.

Beware of Ticks and Insect Bites

Ticks are another risk related to the spring season and spending more time outdoors. They begin to hatch as soon as the ground defrosts, and since they carry and transmit Lyme disease, their bites can be extremely dangerous to kids.

However, to transmit Lyme disease, a tick needs to be attached to the skin for more than 36 hours. To reduce the risk of developing the disease, check your children for ticks before they go to bed. Pay special attention to skin folds and the scalp, as ticks love dark and warm places.

If you find the tick attached to your kids’ skin, have it properly removed.

Bites and stings of other insects, such as spiders, bees, and wasps can be harmful too and require a medical action. Teach your kids to let you or other adults know if they’ve been stung by an insect immediately.

If there are any symptoms of an allergic reaction, such as hives, difficulty breathing, nausea, dizziness, or a tight feeling in the throat, seek medical help right away.

It’s also essential to remove the stinger from the skin as quickly as possible and wash the area with soap and water.

Also, teach your kids how to minimize the risk of getting bitten or stung when they’re outdoors.

Develop Healthy Habits

You should make it your goal to use this spring season wisely, and bring more healthy habits into the life of your kids, and your whole family.

Your kids will best learn by your example, so consider focusing more on:

  • Healthy food. Spring is a perfect season to enrich your meals with fruits, veggies, and grain. Try to be more creative and include them in your cuisine the fun way, and teach your kids to like them. The health of your kids and their development largely depends on their nutrition, so try to cut down on the processed food.
  • Your kids need to take enough water whole year-round, but it’s harder to stay adequately hydrated during spring and summer. Teach your kids to always have their water bottles with them. Also, remind them to replenish themselves often.
  • Active lifestyle. Use the happy spring days to walk with your kids around the park, go jogging, hiking, or cycling. If they see how much you value physical activity, they’ll think highly of it too, so they’ll find it reasonable to engage in sports and lead a healthier lifestyle later on. However, to minimize the risks of getting injured, make sure your kids always have the proper gear.

Washing Up

Kids will be kids, and when they’re back home from the outside, they’ll be dirty.

However, while it’s almost impossible to change this fact, you can do a lot for their health by enforcing a good washing-up policy.

Teach your kids to wash their hands when they’re back from the outside, as well as not to consume food, touch their face, nose, or mouth with dirty hands.

By using the tips above, your kids will be protected this spring. However, if they acquire healthy habits, they will be in good health for many years to come.

Kevin has gone through an extensive home renovation with his son, which he has both

thoroughly enjoyed, and dreaded every morning. He is now the proud owner of half his dream house (the other half has been waiting for spring). You can read more of Kevin’s work on PlainHelp.

How to Throw a Destination Wedding that All Your Guests Will Love

It doesn’t matter where you get married. However, it matters a lot how you greet and treat the guests who will come to attend your wedding ceremony. You need to be a little more careful in every aspect of your marriage ceremony when you decide to have a destination wedding to fulfill the dream you had.

Here are some practical tips/steps that can help you to please your wedding guests:

Choose an ideal place

There is a high possibility that you would already have a spot in your mind if you are willing to have a destination wedding. The place may be a gorgeous resort, a particular city of your choice or somewhere off your hometown/country. Whatever the selection you make, start knowing more about it.

In your search, you should keep the comfort of your guests in mind and select the destination where you can keep your guests busy in several activities before and after your actual marriage ceremony begins/ends.

Assist your guests to get ready

Your wedding day is a very special day for you. It is also special for your guests too. They need time for preparation, and you can help them in this regard. After selecting a venue for your destination wedding, you must share venue details with your guests. Ask them to start their preparation a little earlier and get ready before the scheduled time. You can send them a kit with welcome wedding signs and notes, describing date, place and instructions on how to get ready for that particular location.  

Offer transportation to and from

You are inviting people to attend your marriage ceremony, and so, you must take care of their conveniences. Whether you have chosen a city around your hometown or foreign place for your destination wedding, you must keep the transportation in your mind. Hire a small to big vehicle to let your guests from their house to an airport and vice versa.

Host an interactive meeting

In a destination wedding, people have enough time before, between and after a marriage ceremony. They can feel bored or lonely, especially when they are not well-familiar with each other. Before the departure for the wedding venue, schedule a day & time and request all your guests to attend this introductory meeting. On the arrival of all the guests, start introducing all of them to one another after refreshments. With this, you can assist all your guests to mingle with each other so that they can have a well-familiarity with all of them.

Do arrange for a cocktail after arrival at the venue

Reaching the venue of your destination wedding doesn’t mean that the marriage ceremony will get start soon. It will have a start as per the scheduled date and time. There is a gap between the arrival of the guests and the beginning of marriage rituals, even if you schedule the arrival of guests on your big day. Between that, you can treat them to their favorite snacks and wines. In order to escape from directing your people, you can indirectly help them to find their favorite drinks by sticking custom labels for wine bottles. They will be happy to find their preferred drinks without making any extra effort.

Book all the required services in advance

Whether your destination wedding is at a hotel or a resort in a far city/country, you need to take care of all your guests. Fix a seat for every guest and give a wake-up call facility for every morning. Talk to the associated staff and request them to ensure the availability of all the amenities for your guests. Moreover, you can start planning your wedding by exploring resorts, venues, and wedding packages at ParadiseWeddings.com.

Produce a Go Gift for all your guests

Greeting on arrival is not enough. You should take care of their departure too. In your destination wedding, there is a gap between your and your guests departures. So, you should have a proper arrangement for their departure. As your marriage ceremony comes to an end, request all your guests to leave for their home after taking rest. On their departure, present a Go Gift to all of them with a personal note. In the gift pack, ensure to include the essentials that can assist them to get rid of post-celebration outcomes.  

Conclusion

Planning a destination wedding takes time and money. In your planning, keeping the convenience of all the people helps you get the real price for all that you invest. Keeping everything, from the selection of a venue to departure, can make you all your guests happy in your marriage ceremony.  

       

         

Essential Elements of Home Extension in the Melbourne South East

House extensions can change how you live in your home without expecting you to move to another property. Regardless of whether you mean to reach out up, out, or to the side, there are some key things to know before your venture starts from the legalities and coordination to spending plans and developers. To assist you in exploring your home extension venture here, some factors you have to know before your plan starts rolling.

House Extensions Need to Coordinate with Building Regulations 

Regardless of whether your home extension in Melbourne southeast can be worked under Permitted Development rights and won’t need arranging authorization, the work must get Building Regulations endorsement.

The Building Regulations set out the least necessities for necessary respectability, fire wellbeing, vitality effectiveness, clammy sealing, ventilation, and other vital angles that guarantee a structure is sheltered. Most of the fix works are avoided from Building Regulations, with the individual cases of substitution windows, underpinning, and reworking. In any case, aside from specific new structures, for example, sheds, storehouses, and some conservatories, all-new structure work, including alterations, must conform to the Building Regulations.

Common Examples of Work Needing Approval Such As:

  1. Home extensions in Melbourne southeast, for example, needs statutory approval for a kitchen, room, living room, and so on 
  2. Loft transformations 
  3. Internal auxiliary modifications, for example, the evacuation of a heap bearing divider 
  4. Installation of showers, WCs, which include new seepage or waste pipes 
  5. Installation of further warming machines
  6. New fireplaces or pipes 
  7. Altered openings for new windows

1. Do House Extensions In Melbourne South East Add Value?

For house expansions to bode well, you have to ensure the worth included is more prominently than the expense of the venture recorded. It tends to be hard to evaluate yet finding comparable neighborhood properties and perceiving the amount they’ve sold for, and it can be a helpful guide. Knowing about the roof is an incentive in your general vicinity, and you can plan for setting up to modify your arrangements if vital.

2. Limitation Of The Extension

Frequently extenders get engrossed with just thinking about the venture regarding square meters, not as far as what that size is adding to the house. Greater isn’t in every case better with regards to home extensions, and there are conventional methods of making the sentiment of more space without including an enormous expansion. This is usually accomplished through the smart plan of the new space, yet in addition, what is as of now there. On the off chance that you are expecting to coordinate your home expansion in Melbourne southeast to the current property, you have to source coordinating materials (which is once in a while more complicated than one might expect).

3. Pick the Right Designer For Your Home Extension In Melbourne South East

With regard to the structure of your expansions, there are various choices you can look over.

These include:

    • Architects 
    • Architectural professionals 
    • Designer specialists
    • Package manufacture organizations’ in-house design groups

Request suggestions from companions, family, and neighbors, yet in addition, look online for practices that have planned activities like what you want to construct.

4. Plan In Efficiency Early On

By concentrating on the texture of your new house expansion, you might have the option to overwhelm the essential esteem far and airtightness levels determined by the Building Regulations.

In any case, adding a thermally-effective expansion to an inadequately protected home won’t make it less expensive to run medium-term, and you should hope to improve the effectiveness of the principle house while the developers are nearby.

5. Stretching Out Above A Single Story

While it might appear to be intimating to expand a single story or the garage, these structures may not be able to help the total load. There are choices where the old structure isn’t adequate: support existing shallow establishments, fortify or sidestep the current with a steel outline slept within new solid cushion footings, or obliterate and revamp. The last is frequently preferred as the most practical choice.

Conclusion

Home extensions are an essential part of our modern culture. With the requirement of more space, this option becomes a very viable one.

Useful Tips for Scoring The Best Deal When Buying Trucks for Your Business

Having your own business is an exciting adventure, there’s no denying it. However, it is also a demanding endeavor. Small business owners have a lot on their hands and staying profitable these days is definitely not a simple task. One of the biggest challenges these entrepreneurs are facing is the inability to transport their goods. A lot of them are hiring transportation companies for this purpose, but this usually costs a lot of money. This is why it’s better to have your own means of transportation. 

Buying a truck is a good investment, however, you have to know where to look and how to negotiate a price. This is why today we are going to share some useful tips for scoring the best deal when buying trucks for your small business.

Know what kind of vehicle you need for your small business

It doesn’t matter what line of work you are in, if you are looking to buy a used truck for your small business, you must know exactly what you need from this vehicle. If you are just transporting your products, you have to make sure there is enough room for your cargo. Also, if your merchandise is fragile, you must get a reliable and smooth ride for your small business. 

On the other hand, if you are providing a service, like plumbing or carpentry, your truck has to be suitable for carrying different parts and tools. Knowing exactly what you require for your job will help you to pick the perfect vehicle for your small business. Also, it will prevent someone from selling you something you don’t need. Being this responsible will save you some money.

Buy used vehicles

If you just started your business, you probably don’t have resources for new vehicles. This is perfectly normal and if you want to stay profitable, you should definitely try some cheaper options. For example, you should buy used trucks for sale in your town, as getting a used truck is the perfect investment for your small business. The best thing about buying a used vehicle is the fact that its value does not depreciate as soon as you drive it off the lot. As you probably know, this is what happens when you buy a new car or truck. 

Therefore, make sure to research your local market. This is the only way you will be able to find reputable used car dealerships and salesmen. Knowing who you are dealing with is important.

Build a good relationship with the salesman

When you go to a car dealership to buy yourself a used vehicle, you are engaging in a relationship with the salesperson. What kind of relationship you will have depends on your behavior. The salesman or saleswoman is trying to sell the product and earn as much money as possible. You, on the other hand, are trying to get the best deal for your truck. In order to achieve your financial goals and get the best price for your vehicle, you have to build a good relationship with the salesperson. 

This is not a simple task. You have to find a way to soften them without being condescending or patronizing. The best way to do this is to be kind, pleasant, and to talk about some mutual interests other than cars.

Don’t be afraid to negotiate

One of the best things about buying a used vehicle is that its price is not fixed. Of course, there is a sticker price, but you can lower it if you know how to negotiate. Sadly, a lot of people are afraid to bargain because they doubt their abilities. This is why they end up paying a lot more than they should. Therefore, if you want to get the best possible deal and save some money, you have to be prepared for negotiation. 

Believe it or not, you don’t have to be a skilled negotiator, you just have to do your research and know the current prices. Also, don’t think of negotiation as an argument with the salesperson. It’s just a friendly conversation about cars. This pleasant attitude will help you to soften the salesperson and get the best deal for your truck.

Buying a used truck is not a simple task, especially if it’s your first time. However, if you stick to these instructions, you will find the perfect vehicle for your small business.

5 Ways to Get Your Kids Interested in Golf 

In this day and age, getting your kids interested in sports, music, reading, or any other hobby other than playing video games is quite hard. This wasn’t the case ten or fifteen years ago, but it’s nothing to worry about – you just need to think harder and find something that might interest them. And keep in mind that weirder ideas and suggestions are quite popular, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box and find a great activity for your loved ones. Golf is among those less popular ideas that can still go a long way and make your kids interested in investing their time and energy into this sport. If this is something you’d like to do as well, here are five great ways that will probably help you get your children interested in golf.

Teach them the basics

One of the main reasons why so many kids don’t like golfing is because they know nothing about this game. Instead, they prefer football or basketball, because all their friends are playing these sports and they can join them. But, if you took some time to teach your kids a thing or two about golfing and show them why it’s so much fun, you might be able to reach them more easily. 

Teaching your kids how to golf may not be the easiest thing you’ll ever do, but it’s still a wonderful idea. Show them the equipment, pay special attention to the clubs, show them the difference, and tell them everything they need to know. This will show your kids how exciting golfing is and will keep them interested in the future as well, so it’s a great way to start turning your idea into practice. Look into the top 10 disc golf putters to get started on your journey. 

Don’t criticize them

This is one of the worst things you can do when trying to get your kids interested in any new activity – criticizing them is bad for their motivation and their willingness to continue learning new things. Instead of being critical and turning into a bad guy, you should keep things light and try to encourage your kids to have fun. That way, they’ll start liking golf more easily and it will always remind them of the great time they’ve had with you.

Lots of grown-ups have a problem understanding their children and responding to their needs in the right way. Just because you love golfing and think this is the best past-time activity in the world doesn’t mean your child will love it as well. Take it easy, stay cool and relaxed, and try to help your kids have as much fun as possible while playing golf.

 

Get the right equipment

Once your children learn a few basics things about golfing and understand why this activity is so prestigious yet exciting, they’ll want to know more and more things. Luckily, there are always new things you can teach them, so be sure to cover all the bases. 

Start by talking about the equipment. Besides the aforementioned different clubs, you also need to have the right shoes, the right gloves, the right bag, and the right outfit. Finding all these things can be quite hard, so don’t be afraid to rely on professionals as well. Many great websites could help you find suitable equipment quickly and professionally. Look into their articles and you’ll learn quite a lot about golfing equipment and useful tips, so look into them asap.

Forget about your own game

Teaching your kids to do anything in this world usually means we have to take a break from whatever we’re doing and focus on them. And if you’re a passionate golfer, this might not always be that easy. That’s why you have to forget about your own gave and turn into a tutor for your loved ones.

Another thing you could do is take your kids golfing and let them observe you while you’re playing. That way, they’ll learn more about the basics and start developing strategies of their own. Observing things before actually doing them is a must, especially for young kids who have no idea what they’re doing, so let them watch you before they start using golfing equipment on your own.

Keep having fun

In the end, this is the most important thing when golfing and an idea that should really help you attract your kids to this amazing game. Just keep telling and showing them how much fun you’re having, and they’ll start associating golfing with fun on their own. Once you do that, encouraging them to have even more fun is quite easy, and your children will turn into golfing fans before you know it!

Turning golf into a fun, children-friendly activity might take a while, so be persistent and don’t give up. Come up with some mini-golfing sessions between yourself and your child, and use this time to teach them even more reasons why golfing is so great. You could also bring sandwiches and snacks that will satisfy their hunger, which means your children will be ready to continue golfing even after a while, and that’s something all parents are looking for.

Getting your kids interested in golfing isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it’s not that hard either. You just need to stay focused and dedicated to your final result, so just imagine how much fun you’ll be having playing golf with your children in the decades to come as well.

How Stylish Swag Bags Can Soar and Seal the Glamour Quotient in Your Next Corporate Event?

No influential (and impressive!) corporate events can be complete without a swag bag! Of course, all guests love freebies! Even if it is a free t-shirt or just socks or a power bank for that matter. But getting a bag full of awesome goodies always makes one feel like opening Christmas gifts. This is one thing that surely is the most anticipated thing in any of your corporate events, following the food and beverages.

Are you new to the concept of a swag bag? Well, a swag bag is basically a bag full of wonderful goodies and/or munchies distributed by the brand/sponsors of the event during, before or after the event. To a casual onlooker, they are just a token of appreciation to the guests and participants from the organizer of the event (or the sponsor). But in reality, a swag bag goes much beyond that! It also serves the purpose of excellent marketing for your brand if you curate the bag and its content wisely. Like, you can choose custom backpacks from Levella Promotions with your name or logo on it and add some excellent freebies in it to ensure your brand gets maximum leverage through it. They can provide you the same in wonderful designs, excellent quality, long lasting and attractive colors. In fact, they are like specialists in promotional products and offer them in huge spectrums.

Ø Factors that guarantee the best swag bag for your event!

So far, you have understood the importance of a great swag bag at your corporate event. But there’s more to it than dumping anything in them and distributing It casually to your guests. Let’s read about the tips through which a swag bag helps you get a hundred percent benefit as a brand.

o Always keep your audience in mind — When curating a swag bag, always bear in mind the type of audience that’s going to attend your event. Assume yourself in their shoes and think about what you’d love most in the bag and select the items accordingly.

o Ensure the bag conveys your message candidly — Your swag bag and the contents in it are a chance for you to convey whatever message you have to give about your brand or business. Ensure you are doing so wisely. Customize the bag according to your brand name and theme, and fill it with contents that would say something about your brand. Example, if you are a restaurant, a sample miniature menu card, some dry food items, bottled beverages, etc. may work.

o Fill in some useful items — The more practical and useful things you put in your swag bag, the more favoritism you get from your audience. And if these things are of excellent quality and look fabulous too, then your guests are going to carry them along everywhere. This again spreads good words about you further. Example – someone carrying a reusable coffee cup with your branding is spreading your brand name to wherever she/he is going.

o Add some munchies too — Even if your guests would have loved the buffet in the event and drank to their heart’s content, but promotional water bottles, juice pack in the swag bag or a cookie box in it has its own sweet charm. That’s one sureshot secret mantra to happy customers which always works positively.

o E-swag guarantees brownie points — If you love your customers more, you can always surprise them with an e-voucher or gift card in the swag bag. This actually serves a double purpose for you! One – the guests go gaga with joy. Second — The gift card can be a redeemable discount or offer a coupon that can be availed at your site or store.  This would lead to larger traffic for your business or service.

 A swag bag actually depicts your message clear and loud to your guests not only during the celebrations but also long after the event is over! The better its contents are, the more appreciation is conveyed from your side to them. And this factor certainly assures happy clients, employees, guests, and customers and seals future loyalty from them!

How To Improve Your Baby’s Health In Winter 

Discover crucial baby health care tips that will help you more with your little one. As parents, we all want what’s best for our children. Get started today by reading all the essentials about baby health care!

Babies need care and support regularly until they are old enough to cater for themselves. However, the requirement for baby health care is more important when winter draws near. When the temperature of the atmosphere is low, diverse processes are activated within the body, which provides safety for the organs.

Key Baby Health Care Tips

A good percentage of the energy which is produced is used to regulate the temperature of the body. The winter season is the ideal period for viruses and microbes to bloom, and babies are most susceptible to having their immune system weakened.  You can also employ the use of baby health products such as babies probiotics and baby health trackers, which detects if there are baby health problems, but you should also take into account some tips.

Make Use Of A Humidifier

This is one of the best ways to safeguard the health of your baby, especially when the temperature is likely to reduce drastically. Instead of using conventional heating systems, which will make the room and the skin of your baby dry, because of the absence of water vapor. 

For you to regulate the moisture levels in your room, and ensure it is kept at an optimal level, which would be suitable for your baby, you need to use a humidifier.

Make Use Of A Moisturizer

This is a basic baby health care piece of advice. The skin of a baby is more sensitive than an adult’s. When the weather is not favorable, it acts adversely on the skin of a baby. We can still manage ourselves during winter, but it gets very uncomfortable for babies. To solve this issue, all you need do is ensure the skin of your child is kept as soft as possible. 

One way you can achieve this is to use skin creams, which are made particularly for babies, or perhaps a skin lotion. Use products which have a high butter and milk cream content. You can also decide to opt for milk cream because it avails you a natural way of maintaining the texture and glow of your baby’s skin. 

Don’t Use Many Products

This is another basic baby health care piece of advice. One mistake which parents often make is, they use many products, thinking their combined effects would be instrumental in safeguarding the health of their babies during winter. This does not usually work out as planned, as the health of the baby stands to be endangered if lots of products are used. Parents are advised to stick just to creams and lotions. 

Some parents make the mistake of giving their babies one bath too many, and this bares their skin to shampoos and soaps. With this, their skin is rid of the remaining moisture on their bodies, and it makes their skin drier than before. This does not undermine the fact that bathing during winter is enjoyable, but babies should be exposed to soaps once or twice a week.

Massage The Body Of Your Baby Thoroughly

This is an essential baby health care tip. Irrespective of the season you birthed your baby, it is highly advised by health practitioners that you should ensure you massage your baby well. The primary benefit of massage is, it triggers the flow of blood within the body, and it enhances the consciousness of well-being, which improves the immune system of your baby. 

When you are massaging your baby, you need to ensure it is done under a warm atmosphere, at a very suitable and comfortable time for both you and the baby. It is also recommended that you use natural oils for this purpose.

Avoid Heavy Blankets

The use of heavy blankets is another mistake that parents commit. To you, it might look like the most appropriate way to keep your baby warm during winter. However, it would interest you to know that you are endangering the health of your baby. Some babies have been lost to the icy hands of death because of the inability to breathe properly. 

Babies are not really strong enough to pull off the blanket when they are feeling uncomfortable, and if a parent is not observant, something unpleasant could occur. The best measure to put in this case is to use a light blanket, and also ensure the temperature of the room is kept at an optimal level. With this, you rest assured that your baby would feel comfortable, and there would be no reason for your child to get suffocated by the blanket. 

Wear Comfortable Clothing For Your Baby

Parents need to know that there is a thin line between keeping your baby warm proficiently, and keeping him or her uncomfortable. When you continually adorn your child with socks, gloves, and thick sweaters, you are preventing your child from having smooth movements. It also becomes very uncomfortable for the child. 

In baby health care, to avoid this, ensure you clothe your baby based on the temperature range of the room at that moment. You should also choose clothes that will thoroughly cover the body of your baby but would not serve as a burden. Gloves and socks are great because it would help your child to sleep well. 

Keep A Warm Temperature

It is quite challenging to monitor the temperature of your room, and your baby’s every time, but it is worth it. You should shut the windows if you are somewhere where the cold air blows regularly. Furthermore, you need to find a way to ensure the air within the room remains ventilated.

Conclusion

Baby health care during winter is something you should never be negligent about. Parents who have lost their babies during winter would have been careless at some point. Hence, to avoid unpleasant acts like that from occurring, you need to ensure you stick to the above-mentioned health baby tips. 

Health baby products are known to ensure baby health and safety, and you can get some of them from hospitals and baby stores.

One of the reasons why babies fall sick during winter is because they are not properly catered for. Some parents might think it is due to inadequate nutrition, but a good number of times, it is usually beyond that healthy baby foods. If your baby shows signs of illness during winter, it is advised that you take him or her to see a health specialist who would advise you on what to do.

What do you think of these baby health care tips? Let us know in the comments!

About the author

Elizabeth is currently a stay-at-home mom who lives with her two babies and her husband. She is an accountant by day, now working remotely, and full-time mother by night. She writes a lot about parenting at Top-Mom.

Transparency as a Key Performance in Modern Business Ethics

While the trend might have been started with smaller startups, pardon the pun, larger companies are now realizing the benefits of transparency, as they continue to establish ethical ground rules and causes that their business models stand for. Let’s expand on the benefits of transparency in today’s world of business and how they can apply to your company’s business ethics.

Improves employee happiness

A recent survey conducted by TINYpulse, a company specialized in providing weekly employee engagement polls revealed that employees with a transparent mindset are more committed to their organization and, as a result, more productive. Discovering a surprisingly powerful connection between transparency and happiness, the survey ends in a conclusion that management transparency and interpersonal communication has a correlation coefficient of .937 with employee happiness. The best thing is that improving transparency costs next to nothing but requires continual dialogue between staff and management. Some companies are even successfully using transparency to attract and retain talent. This may even help you when you are managing employee benefits as you can ensure that they will improve the happiness of your employees.

Retains public trust

When applied in the workplace, transparency doesn’t only improve your employee motivation and happiness, but also your marketing efforts, website traffic, etc. When you’re transparent, it’s much easier to gain trust from your audience, which makes it easier for you to convert many of your visitors into shoppers. In May 2015, bakery-café chain Panera Bread vowed to stop using artificial ingredients by the end of 2016. In the end, they took an extra step and launched a transparent menu campaign that listed detailed ingredients, calories, and nutritional info for every product. For their head chef, it’s all about the choice that customers make between health and decadence. 

Many businesses start their transparency journey by publishing some of their private information. This may include public revenue, hiring policies, and wages. There are also sites that automatically pull such data and post it in a user-friendly way. This way, your customers can tell exactly how you’re standing from a business point of view, as well as how much you’re earning vs. what you’re spending on.

Visibility on social media

In this day and age, most businesses have at least one social media account. The whopping 88 percent of companies use social media marketing to relate with their customers in a world that is active 24-7 and already publicly available to a wide base of consumers. On social media, information spreads like a bushfire, and the audience is always hungry for new developments. 

Only one piece of misplaced or leaked information is enough to ruin a company’s reputation. In March 2017, McDonald’s Twitter followers were astonished by a surprising and derogatory tweet about President Trump. Although the tweet was quickly identified as a work of hackers, it showed how sensitive corporate social accounts can be. It’s in the best interest of every business to provide this information transparently and responsibly, and ultimately prevent an unintentional leak.

Study good case practices

In the past two years, more than a few companies attracted public attention with business ethics practices that contributed significantly to both employee engagement and customer trust. In an unprecedented approach to company transparency, social media company Buffer made all employee salaries public, proving they aren’t holding anything back. Transparency is essential for creating and nurturing trust with your customers because it erases any mistrust or uncertainty that may arise about the products or services. Another bright example that’s worth mentioning is Youi, an insurance company from Australia. From the very beginning, they’ve been transparent and straightforward with their customers about all insurance products and services their offer, most recently including the NSW Greenslip case. Once again, they’ve proven that when you’re open about your practices, you’re ready to acknowledge possible shortcomings of your business operations, which reassures the customers you have nothing to hide from them. 

These two examples show that successful companies are beginning to understand that transparent business ethics raise their reputation among consumers and employees alike. In a direct showdown, a service provider that is ready to reveal information is more likely to be chosen over a competitor that keeps its customers in the dark.

Building a culture of transparency

Simply making some business information public isn’t enough to build a transparent culture.

 You need a plan and tools that allow for transparent communications. You need to be open about the reasons behind the decisions that you and other company managers make. It’s your goal to make every employee understand why it’s important to share details about hiring, growth trends, finances, strategic directions, and tactical decisions.

 As one of the backbones of transparency, you should always strive for honest feedback. Motivate openness and honesty in communication and send anonymous surveys that measure employees’ engagement, leadership, and alignment with the company’s mission.

Risks of being transparent

There are strong cases for risks on both sides of company transparency. While there are many stories of marriage of business success and transparency, there are a few dark stories of companies that failed to use transparency in the right way only to have it backfire. 

In a Canadian engineering firm, the founder and CEO used to personally evaluate each employee’s contribution for the year and award each person a Christmas bonus at his own discretion. However, as the company grew, more transparent processes and practices were introduced and among others and a fair bonus system was created based on pre-established KPIs. The result was that employee’s perception of transparent bonuses was much worse than when they were determined by the judgement of the founding CEO.

 It’s only too easy to make too much information public, which leads to an overflow of data, which in return makes it more difficult for the management to make decisions. Such an influx of overshared information can frighten team members, as now every mistake can be interpreted that someone is altering the numbers for purpose. This not only suppresses creativity but can also reduce performance as people might want to play it low key.

Although creating a culture of transparency takes time and effort, its payoffs are hard to ignore. Apart from improving relationships between highly-motivated employees, you’ll be able to build a great ethical foundation on which to develop your future projects and attract new talent. Since transparency works both ways, if you don’t have good news, be honest and explain your reasons. Both your employees and customers will appreciate your open approach.

Important Considerations for Opening a Successful Private Clinic of Your Own

Opening a clinic of your own requires a lot of hard work. Besides comprehensive knowledge of your medical field, you also need to have strong work ethics, communicational skills, and many other qualities. Still, the reward of helping people is worth it. So, if you want to start your own private clinic, here are some of the things you need to consider before you open your doors to patients. 

Get financing

Proper financing is the key to starting your own private practice. Unfortunately, many professionals and medical schools are deep in depth which makes the process of starting your own business very hard. Luckily, there are institutions that have a specialized medical division that provides loans to healthcare establishments. Since they specialize in this kind of work, they understand doctors’ needs and all the challenges they face, so they know how to provide the best financial help. Before you get your loan, you’ll need to put in a request and submit your business plan. Make sure to be humble with your expenses (especially with medical equipment), so you can make your changes of a good loan bigger. 

Pick a location

The next step is to pick a location for your medical practice so you can start seeing patients and earning money. If you don’t have a location, you can’t start putting your degree to good use. When choosing a location, consider whether you want to be located in the city or in a quieter area. All in all, you want to be located in an area people gravitate to, so you can build a large list of patients. Also, consider how far you want to be located from your home, so you can quickly pop up at work in case of an emergency. 

Invest in proper equipment

When you find the location and handle your finances, you need to fill your clinic with all the necessary equipment needed for tending to patients. The exact equipment depends greatly on your practice, just make sure to cover everything you might need for successful treatment and diagnostics. Additionally, you will require various computers and communication devices to handle internal and external communication. Your waiting room will need comfortable furniture to provide a warm environment for your patients to relax. Even your restrooms should be well equipped and in excellent condition. Consider One Point Partitions for a practical and comfortable bathroom layout. This might seem like a lot of expenses, but there are many practical leasing options that can help you cut some of the initial costs. 

Pay special attention to lighting

Patients who come to your practice will most likely feel unwell and nervous. But good lighting can affect more than just the way they look—it can seriously affect the mood of your clients. So, consider adding quality lighting that will manage your patients’ mood and health stats (blood pressure, water balance, hunger and thirst, and body temperature). And probably the most important operative technical factor is lighting that may improve operation and provide you with high-intensity illumination without shadows or glare. This is crucial for surgeons who need to see well in order to interpret the condition of the organs, blood vessels, and tissues. Luckily, there are specialized manufacturers who focus on medical lighting that meets high hygiene standards and provide the practice with the longevity of installed equipment.

Staff your clinic

Your clinic needs to be staffed with professionals before the doors open. Make sure to keep in mind your practice’s mission and philosophy during the hiring process. The process depends on your particular practice but you will most likely need certified nurses and a team of employees for your front office desk. When writing the job description, mention the requirements (formal education, work experience, communication skills) and the type of benefits for every position. It’s very important to fill your space with people who agree with your values and have the overall goal of your clinic in mind at all times. 

Build your brand

Since your practice is a business, you need to advertise it in order to attract clients and stay afloat. One of the best ways to grow your client base is to create a strong and recognizable brand identity that will set you apart from the competition. Your brand is everything people might associate with your business: your logo, office, quality of care…You can express your ideology though company colors, mission, client support and even follow-up emails or phone calls. Branding should also play a strong role in your marketing efforts. 

Even after you start working, there will still be things to learn about. Having a private practice requires constant dedication, which can be a little overwhelming for some. But, once you get a hang of it, you will not only grow your business but also create a long list of grateful people you’ve helped. 

How to Make Your Family Car Last Longer?

A family car is not unlike a family member. It has its duties in the household. It increases your homestead’s overhead and it’s really hard to part with it. Still, with the right maintenance and involvement of the entire family, you can drastically prolong its useful life. This will benefit your budget, as well as help you out on the sentimental side (by postponing the need to part with a beloved family vehicle). With all of this in mind and without further ado, here are the top six ways to make your family car last longer.

1. Discuss your driving habits

Before we start, you need to keep in mind that there are some driving habits that can help save your car in the long run. For instance, cruising and driving in the correct gear are methods that can substantially improve the wellbeing of your car’s engine. Other than this, great braking habits and keeping your foot off the clutch can also do wonders for the mechanics of your vehicle. Sadly, while these may sound intuitive, not everyone is aware of just how much of a difference these habits make. So, as a family in which you’re not the only driver, it’s vital that this is openly discussed.

2. Watch out for fluids

The next thing you need to take into consideration is the fluids of your vehicle and the impact of skimming on them when there’s no need for such a thing. Your engine simply can’t work without oil, however, a lot of people postpone oil replacement for as long as they can. Keep in mind that old and stale oil may drastically impact your engine’s functionality. When doing so, try studying which viscosity is adequate for which weather conditions (hot vs. cold) and avoid buying cheap oil in order to save money. This is a dangerous practice that will come to backfire in the nearest future.

3. DIY part replacement

While you do not want to handle all of your car’s maintenance on your own, there are some simple repairs that you should definitely try your hand at. Replacing spark plugs and windshield wipers, as well as fixing the car paint scratches are just some of the things you can do in order to keep your car in top condition for a lot longer. One of the ways to make these DIY attempts more frugal is to find a reliable supplier of car parts and order from them.

4. Tend to your tires

Keep in mind that the state of your tires may be pivotal when it comes to the overall maintenance of your vehicle. So, make sure to keep your tires properly inflated, as well as to replace them every now and then. You see, depending on whether your car has an FWD, AWD or RWD, your tires will wear out unevenly, which is why it’s recommended that you rotate your tires every 3,000 to 5,000 miles. This may sound as excessive but it can definitely help keep your car in top condition for a lot longer. Needless to say, keeping a spare tire is a definite must.

5. Regularly take it for service

There are some things that you just can’t pull off on your own, which is why it’s important that you regularly take the car to be serviced. The biggest problem with this issue is finding a mechanic that you can trust. Those who are reluctant to show you old parts (after replacing them with new ones), as well as those who refuse to show you the receipts for the parts that they’ve purchased on your behalf definitely have something to hide. Make sure to keep both your eyes open for these occurrences.

6. Keep it clean

A lot of people may see keeping their car clean as a matter of aesthetics, however, by avoiding to do so, you will encourage the rusting process on the body of the vehicle. When covered in muck, some parts of the vehicle are known to malfunction. We’re talking about suspension components and bushings. Other than this, you want to be proud of your family car and your ability to pull this off depends on its neatness. So, regularly wash it and even try polishing and waxing it every now and then. Needless to say, this can also add to its resale value.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, no asset gets hit as hard by depreciation as your family car. This is why tending to it properly helps you keep its value for a lot longer. This alone would be worth any effort we’ve discussed in the list above.