Post by Meaghan Montrose

5 Ways to Encourage Young Children to Read

By Meaghan Montrose | May 5, 2009

The ability and desire to read are important traits for anyone to have. The knowledge and education you receive depends greatly on the amount and level of your reading. In order to increase the success of our children, it is important to support and encourage their literacy at a young age. This can be a challenging task. Here are some tips you can try to encourage your child to read:

1. Find reading material that interests your child. If your son or daughter is interested in sports, try subscribing to a magazine such as Sports Illustrated for kids to stimulate their interest.

2. Make books a reward or treat instead of forcing them on your child. Give your child books as a gift for their birthday/holiday or give them a gift card so they can pick out their own. This helps to make books exciting and something to look forward to.

3. Read together. Find a book you are both interested in. You can take turns reading aloud to each other or read separately, then discuss.

4. Get rid of distractions. Set aside some time during the week when there is no TV, radio, video games, etc… allowed. This down time will highlight reading a book as an enjoyable option.

5. Be a role model. The best way to encourage reading is to let your children see you reading. Let them know you find reading helpful and fun!

Meaghan Montrose presents 5 Ways to Encourage Young Children to Read | posted at TutorFi.com.

Post by Joshua Seth

Time Management Tips

By Joshua Seth |

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Before I give you these three powerful time management tips, have you thought about why people need to manage their time effectively in the first place? Why can’t we just get everything done that we need to do on a daily basis instead of letting things pile up and get out of control?

Well if you’re like more people, it’s because you procrastinate. You put things off til later and later never comes, or when it does you’re too overwhelmed to deal with things proactively and end up with your head in your hands swimming in a pool of self pity and exasperation.

There is a better way. A simple solution that you can use to get control of your life, take advantage of new opportunities, and enjoy peace of mind. It’s called taking action.

The Biggest Obstacle To Success

One of the biggest obstacles to success in life is procrastination. Literally hundreds of book shave been written on the subject. I’m convinced that people spend more time reading about how to stop procrastinating than actually getting things done.

All that research is adding to your list of things to do and your general feeling of overwhelm. Let me simplify the situation and get right to the heart of the matter.

You put things off for two reasons:

1. You haven’t put systems into place that will raise your efficiency; therefore, when you’re sitting at your desk, staring at a pile of papers you don’t know what do and end up doing very little.

2. On a subconscious level you don’t think of yourself as a person who “gets things done”; therefore, you manifest behaviors that reenforce your perception of yourself.

So it all comes down to knowing what to do and having the correct mental programming that will motivate you to do it.

Let’s start with “what to do” and then I’ll share with you “how to do it”.
3 Time Management Tips to Create an Efficient Productivity System
Overcoming procrastination and becoming a more productive person is much easier when you know efficient ways to accomplish your tasks.

1. Minimize repetitive tasks. Only check email twice a day. Only pay bills twice a month.

2. Sort things into 3 piles before you start to work. The three piles are:

• File what you’ll need to refer to later
• Trash what you don’t need at all
• Tasks are the things that are left

Do your tasks after you’ve done your sorting and you work will seem much less overwhelming.

To see an example of this method in action, watch this video on bill paying & speed reading magazines.

3. Keep your To Do lists short and simple. Write down the most important things to each day on a Post-It Note and then do them before any of your other work. By doing your most important work first each day, you will become more productive with less time and effort.

Subconscious Reprogramming

It’s not enough to know “what to do” you must also condition yourself to actually do it. You could try to use willpower to force yourself to put these time management tips into action. But that never lasts very long. A much better way to create permanent behavior change is to actually reprogram your thinking so you do things effortlessly and automatically.

I find self hypnosis to be a very effective to reframe your mindset and reduce the stress in your life at the same time. It works like this: if you think of yourself as a productive person who has an easy time handling any tasks that come your way you will take anxiety out of the equation and find it much easier to do more in less time. Simple, right.

Subconsciously you will want to get things done, so you won’t need to motivate yourself to do the work. You will feel compelled to take action now because of all the good feelings it creates when you get things done.

The problem is, most people don’t know how to use self hypnosis to get these results and actually going to a good hypnotist can very expensive, if they even know how to deal with this specific issue at all.

I’ve Already Done All The Work For You

I have developed a complete time management self hypnosis system designed to help you overcome procrastination, manage your time better, and get things done. Right now it even includes a bonus DVD with 21 time management tips I’ve put together that have the potential to totally revolutionize your quality of life and make you a happier, more successful, more productive person.

Discover how to Take Action Now and learn how easy it can be to…

Joshua Seth presents Time Management Tips posted at Joshua Seth Blog.

Post by JWalker

There is a growing concern and lots of talk about the the H1N1 Swine Flu Virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) is now calling the virus, which has infected an estimated 1,000 people and killed around 150 in Mexico, an "international public health emergency" that could reach global pandemic levels.

The U.S. has declared a national health emergency in the midst of uncertainty about whether the mounting sick count — with 1,600 cases or more in Mexico and at least 149 deaths — was from ongoing infections or merely resulted from health officials missing something that had been simmering for weeks or months.

The World Health Organization took the unprecedented step yesterday of warning that the world is probably on the verge of a pandemic, as new cases of swine flu mounted, the first death was reported in the United States and the dangerous virus appeared to arrive just outside the nation’s capital.

It is part of the Influenza A virus and carries all the nasty flu symptoms and can, if not treated, lead to pneumonia in some people. It can (at least in New Zealand) be easily treated.

"There are certain characteristics, molecular signatures, which this virus lacks," said Peter Palese, a microbiologist and influenza expert at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York. In particular, the swine flu lacks an amino acid that appears to increase the number of virus particles in the lungs and make the disease more deadly.

Ralph Tripp, an influenza expert at the University of Georgia, said that his early analysis of the virus’ protein-making instructions suggested that people exposed to the 1957 flu pandemic — which killed up to 2 million people worldwide — may have some immunity to the new strain.

Sherin said the state has informed counties to begin partial activation of emergency operation centers after the World Health Organization on Wednesday raised the swine flu pandemic alert level to 5, one step shy of a full pandemic alert.

From ABC news: "The baby, who died at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston Monday, was from Mexico and was in the United States to visit family in nearby Brownsville, Texas, officials said. The death is the first linked to swine flu to occur outside of Mexico." gothamist.com

So what can we do to help protect ourselves? According to Dr. Rydland of kidsWellness recommends that:

many of his patients and his family use a natural approach to flu prevention.

To learn more about Dr. Rydland and what natural supplements and treatments he recommends to help protect yourself and your children, please visit his website at:

KidsWellness.com

Don’t panic, don’t react out of fear! Educate and do everything you can to keep yourself safe and healthy. Make sure your entire family, even the children are taking the proper natural supplements to boost your immune system. Wash your hands often, teach your children clean hand safety. Try to stay away from large crowded areas, and if you do have the need to go to these types of functions, bring along a hand sanitizer. Use it often.

The KidsWellness site is a great place to learn more about the natural supplements that are needed to strengthen your body’s immune system.

Family Daily Defense found at kidsWellness:

Uses for new Family Daily Defense include*:

• As a daily tonic to prevent illness

• Airline travel and vacationing

• International travel

• Stress

• Day Care

• Individuals with frequent illness

• Exposure to illness, such as flu, cold viruses, bacterial infections, etc.

JWalker presents How To Protect Yourself and Your Family From The H1N1 Swine Flu Virus posted at natural-life-choices.com.

Post by SJ

Birthing Position That Makes Your Delivery Easy

Who says you have to deliver with the same birthing position throughout? If you feel uncomfortable, you can change your position to avoid cramps or straining of muscles. The catch is to reduce pain and make way for smooth delivery of the baby.

Let’s take a look at the different birthing positions and their comfort levels.

Standing

This position gives you the advantage of gravity. As the labor initiates, you can walk around a little to help it progress. Thereafter, stand with a support. This position dilates your cervix better and widens the opening of your pelvis. You get powerful contractions without much pain. The muscles of your uterus get ample oxygen and there’s less stress to the baby.

The only pitfall of standing during delivery is that your doctor finds it difficult to see the baby and has less control over the delivery process.

Standing On All Fours (Hands And Knees)

If you feel too tired to deliver by standing, you can try to get down on your hands and knees. It reduces contractions and eases back labor. (This happens when your baby’s head presses against the rear part of your pelvis.) Standing on all fours can avoid the need for episiotomy or laceration. Also, if the baby is large, this upright position is beneficial.

The only mild discomfort arises when the baby comes out. This is because it passes through the mother’s legs.

Kneeling

If you want to stay upright, but cannot stand, you can kneel on a pillow. Place your hands and knees on the bed. The knees should be apart according to comfort. This position eases the pain of contractions as well as backache. It helps when the baby exerts pressure on your spine. Also, it aids in rotation of the baby.

Semi-Sitting

This birthing position uses pillows under your arms, back, and knees. As you get contractions, you should wrap your hands around knees. Bring your knees near your shoulders. This position utilizes gravity effectively. It’s good for hospital beds. Doctors, too, can observe and access the perineum (area between rectum and vagina) easily.

Sitting

Sit with one knee relaxed and the other bent. Lean just a little to the back. Sitting helps your uterus to drop forward. This enhances blood circulation to your contracting muscles and lifts off pressure from your diaphragm. It also relaxes your perineum.

Sitting on the toilet seat might be painful though, as it exerts pressure.

Lying On One Side

This birthing position helps if you’ve high blood pressure, or are tired, or have opted for an epidural. It relaxes your perineum and lifts off pressure on your baby’s main blood supply. Besides this, giving birth while lying on your side hastens labor and makes way for easy contractions.

The pitfall is that it’s difficult to access fetal heart tone.

Squatting

This is perfect when you reach the second stage of labor. Squatting needs support. This position helps to open up your pelvis, turns gravity in your favor, and gives better control to you during delivery. It leads to fast passage of the baby and aids in its rotation. Your pelvis opens up 28% more than that in supine delivery position. Squatting can be tiring though.

Choose a birthing position you find most comfortable and turn your delivery into a pleasant experience.

SJ presents Birthing Position That Makes Your Delivery Easy posted at Pregnancy Info.

Post by VJ

Thoughts On Vaccines

With deadly flu’s breaking out everywhere you can’t help but to get paranoid. If you don’t have health insurance or money, the idea of catching even a chill will probably terrify you. The news, commercials, and people around you talking about it also don’t make it any better. The first thing any one would say is to get vaccinated. Does anyone know what a vaccine really is and why it may or may not be dangerous?

In a nut shell, a vaccine is the virus impaired in one way or another. Either by weakening the virus with a chemical or by making it inactive to where your body still reads it as a virus but won’t get too sick from it to where you won’t get better. It’s the whole idea of what ever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Your body downloads the information about the virus and creates immunity to it. If you’ve been vaccinated and you get the virus, your body will remember and fight it off before the bacteria multiplies. Your body does this naturally without vaccines. The problem is getting sick in order for your body to fight it off. The bad news is that there’s always a new strain of the virus that seems to develop every year. No one likes being sick and building their immune system naturally so they take a short cut. That’s where vaccinations come in. Americans take different vaccines every year.

There are always two sides of a story. You will always hear why you should or shouldn’t take pharmaceutical drugs. As with all pharmaceutical drugs there are side effects. Some vaccine side effects include nausea, headaches, and soreness at the injection location, dizziness, diarrhea, serious allergic reaction, fatigue, and the chills (fever). There are severe problems also but the manufacturers say there’s no hard evidence so I guess it’s not worth listing.

The flu shot is an interesting vaccine. We haven’t found a cure for the common cold yet there’s a vaccine for the flu. Why then are we taking a vaccine for it? Is it only to shorten our sick time? Being sick is not a fun event but it is necessary to build our immune system. If we constantly take short cuts then we miss all of the important stuff we were supposed to learn on the way. The best thing to do is to boost your immune system naturally and know how to heal yourself if and when you get sick.

Some ways to strengthen your immune system are to eat well and sleep just as well. Limit your alcohol consumption because it tends to lower your immune system. 10 servings of fruit and veggies a day will help you get all those necessary vitamins to keep you strong through out a cold spell. Drink lots of water so you can cleanse your body of toxins. Exercise to make sure your blood and heart are working properly. Your body is the only thing that cures you. No medicine or shot will do so. There’s medicine to alleviate symptoms. It’s like hitting the mute button. It doesn’t mean the TV isn’t on. You just can’t hear it, it’s still there. Our bodies are built to heal itself. There are herbs and medicines that help boost it but try to stay natural. You will always build a tolerance to drugs and then nothing in the world will be able to help you. Stay natural and stay healthy.

VJ presents Thoughts On Vaccines posted at My Path.

Mucus Plug

What is the mucus plug?

The mucus plug is a plug that fills and seals the cervical canal during pregnancy. It is formed by a small amount of cervical mucus.

What is it for?

The mucus plug acts as a protective barrier by deterring the passage of bacteria into the uterus.

Loosing your mucus plug?

As the woman gets closer to labor, the mucus plug discharges as the cervix begins to dilate. The plug may come out as a plug, a lump, or simply as increased vaginal discharge over several days. The mucus may be tinged with brown, pink, or red blood, which is why it is sometimes referred to as 'bloody show'. Loosing your mucus plug does NOT mean you will be going into labor soon. All it means is labor is approaching. Many women don't go into labor for another 1-2 weeks after loosing their mucus plug.

Note: Having sex or a vaginal exam my result in loosing your mucus plug

Note: The mucus plug can regenerate to a certain extent.

A Post from Meaghan Montrose

Dealing with ADHD: Treatment

By Meaghan Montrose | April 8, 2009

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In an earlier post, Dealing with ADHD: Identification and Diagnosis, I gave a list of symptoms and warning signs to determine if your child has ADHD. So you might be asking yourself, what do I do if I find out my child has ADHD? This post is going to cover the next step- treatment. Once your child is identified, there are two main types of treatment- medicinal and psychological.

Let’s focus on medicine first. If appropriate, your child’s doctor will prescribe a medication. This medicine will not cure ADHD, but it can alleviate the symptoms and help your child become more successful. There are a variety of drug options such as Concerta, Dextrostat, and Ritalin. Your doctor will prescribe the most appropriate for your child. Determining the best dosage of medication can be tricky and may take a while. This can be frustrating, but don’t give up hope. In general, doctors will start off with the lowest possible dose of medication and work up from there. It is a balance of making it easier for your child to function while limiting the side effects of the medication.

Some common side effects include difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, or change in personality. A change in personality means a child may come across as very mellow or emotionless. This change is more noticeable in children with ADHD because they are generally more active and full of emotion then children without ADHD. To help minimize these affects a doctor may suggest using less or no medication on the weekends when your child won’t be going to a structured environment like school.

Aside from medicine, there are ways to treat ADHD psychologically. Parents can help children through behavior modification. Children with ADHD are more successful when they are in organized, predictable, comfortable environments with routines in place. Here are some ways that parents can create that type of atmosphere:

1. Establish a consistent after school routine for your child such as eat snack, play for one hour, work on homework, eat dinner, in bed at 8:30.

2. Eliminate distractions when your child is doing homework or other tasks that require concentration. You can do this by turning off televisions and cell phones and setting your child up at a desk without “things” to play with like paperclips, stapler, knick knacks, etc…

3. Teach your child how to organize themselves using folders and a planner. You will have to spend a lot of time reinforcing this and helping them organize before they can do it on their own.

4. Stay in touch with your child’s teacher. This way you and the teacher can share techniques and strategies that you have both found useful with your child.

5. Keep in mind that your child is not acting out intentionally. Avoid blaming them and yelling, instead focus on developing strategies to stop the undesired behaviors. In fact, the best way to produce change is through positive reinforcement. Be sure to praise your child whenever they are doing something right.

6. Alter your child’s diet and exercise habits. There has been some evidence to suggest that increasing exercise and eliminating certain types of food that contain simple sugars or food additives can lessen the symptoms of ADHD.

Dealing with ADHD can be overwhelming and frustrating. Keep your cool and remember that your child is suffering from a disorder, they are not purposefully being a “bad” child. As with all medical conditions, be sure to seek the advice of a qualified professional.

Meaghan Montrose presents Dealing with ADHD: Treatment | posted at TutorFi.com.