Monthly Archives: June 2009

How to Ease Up Sibling Rivalry

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How to Ease Up Sibling Rivalry

Sibling rivalry can be a source of stress at home. An older child could feel insecure about his or her status as the center of attention at home and the apple of the eye of the parents. The new addition to the family may be very unwelcome to the child who came ahead. There are ways to relieve the tension.

1. Tell the older child honestly and in a direct manner of the coming birth.
Timing is the key to this approach. The older child should be told at least a month before, but not more than a month and a half, of a sibling coming to join the brood. If the child is informed too early, he or she might forget about the whole thing. If told too late, the child will not have enough time to let it all sink in.

2. Explain changes in your routine when the baby comes.
Tell your child things like: “You will be sleeping in the other room (or bed) when the baby is here.” Make the changes a couple of weeks before your baby’s arrival, so the older child will not connect the two actions and feel he or she had to be relocated in favor of the baby. Keep on telling your child you will always love him or her no matter what.

3. Clarify what happens when you go into labor.
Some weeks before you are due for delivery, explain to your child that you will have to go to the hospital when time comes for you to give birth. Your absence for a day or two will be enough to distress him or her. If you have arranged for a friend or relative to keep your child company, you could stage a dry run to gauge his or her reaction and you can fine tune matters. You child will feel he or she is a vital member of the family if you let him or her visit you and the baby in the hospital.

4. Get your child involved in caring for the baby.
Your toddler can help out in bathing the baby by letting him or her fetch the towel from the cabinet or wash the baby’s feet. Older siblings might find this fun and it is a good way to teach them responsibility. You may not have to tell him or her to talk gently to the baby or hum a tune when it cries. It could come naturally. If he or she insists on holding the baby, ask him or her to sit on a chair or the bed. Put pillows beside him or her and put the baby on his or her lap. Just make sure not to go too far away.

5. Spend time away from the baby with the older sibling.
The older sibling will naturally feel a degree of jealousy as he or she has to share his or her mother with someone who needs a lot of time and attention. Never scold your child if he or she shows you this.

It is better to assuage his or her feelings by saying something like, “I know you want me to spend more time with you, but your brother is still a small baby and there is no one else to take care of him but me.” This way you make it clear that you understand his or her viewpoint. You can read a book to your toddler or color some drawings with him or her while the baby is asleep.

How to Dine Out On a Budget

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Dine Out On a Budget

Despite the economic crisis, people still have to eat, and dine out sometimes. You could save money by eating home-cooked meals, but maybe it is a way to convince yourself that things are not that bad, because you can still dine out. Just to be sure you are not forced to ask if you could wash the dishes to pay for the balance of your check, you could use some dining-out-on-a-budget tips.

1. Bring Coupons
Many local or community newspapers have restaurant advertisements placed on them with promotional coupons attached. These coupons should be worth a few dollars, a boon to those dining out on a tight budget.

2. Choose Buffets / See If Kids Eat For Free
For below $10 per head, buffets can be a wonderful choice. Gorge on everything that is on the tables, without doing mathematical computations in your head while you try not to choke on a chicken wing. You should also be lucky to find restaurants that let children dine free of charge.

3. Go to Family-Style Restaurants
If you are taking your friends out for a meal, you can do worse by picking a family-style restaurant. Varied dishes will be brought to your table served the same way at home. For an entire meal, you will only pay a single price, truly easy on your budget while entertaining friends.

4. Select Appetizers
There is the mistaken notion that appetizers are high on calories and are not filling. It is not true at all. Appetizers are served in portions that one person cannot consume by himself. You can make a meal out of the appetizers. Select the appetizer sampler as you enjoy a couple of different foods for a low price.

5. Go for Vegetarian Dishes
Dishes without meat are usually cheaper than dishes cooked with meat. Pasta and salads usually don’t have meat, so they are cheaper. You can choose these dishes. Not only is it budget-friendly, it is also good for your health.

6. Ask for Half Portions
If you are on a budget, do not be afraid to ask for half portions when you dine out. Not only are half portions cheaper, but half portions are also healthier. Your typical entrée will usually contain well over 1,000 calories.

7. Make Two Meals Out Of Large Portions
Sometimes, you get served too much food that you cannot possibly consume in one sitting. Do not be embarrassed to ask for a doggy bag. You will have something extra for your next meal.

8. Request the Special
A lot of restaurants have daily specials. Not only will you be able to enjoy budget-friendly meals, you can also try new kinds of food. The next time you go to the same restaurant, you can order another of their specials.

9. Limit Drinks to Water
Before you go to a restaurant, tell everyone going with you that drinks will be limited to water. No soda, no juice, not even beer for yourself. You are on a budget, and drinking free water cuts out a good part of the check.

10. Ask for Local & Senior-Citizen Discounts
Besides asking if children eat for free, ask for a local discount especially if you reside in a tourist area. Normally, restaurants in tourist areas are too expensive for diners on a budget but these restaurants want to cultivate their local clientele and give them discounts. From 10 percent to as high as 25 percent is a lot of savings for the budget-challenged.

BBC News (unconfirmed report as of 3:00pm Los Angeles): Michael Jackson is dead! ROD: cardiac arrest. He is 50.

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BBC News (unconfirmed report as of 3:00pm Los Angeles): Michael Jackson is dead! ROD: cardiac arrest. He is 50.

  • -CNN, Yahoo News, LA coroner (Fred Corral), TMZ, and the LA Times now confirm the death of Michael Jackson (1958-2009). — as of 4:28pm June 25, 2009.
    -Collapsed at his West Side Home at approximately 12 noon.
    -His brother called 911 and the LA Fire Department responded.
    -Michael Jackson was not breathing when the LAFD arrived.
    -They were able to revived Michael Jackson but when he arrived at the hospital he suffered a coma.
    -Jackson family spokesman: the Jackson family is emotional and crying.

    • Top 5 Most Exclusive Hotels in the World

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    Royal Villa at Grand Resort Lagonissi, Athens, Greece

    Royal Villa at Grand Resort Lagonissi, Athens, Greece

    There is only one reason why such hotels are called exclusive – money. It takes a lot of dough to be able to spend a night in the hotels in this list. Most people’s jaws would drop knowing how much a single night’s stay costs at these ritzy hotels but that is why they are ritzy.

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    5 Easy Ways to Get a Loan during Recession

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    5 Easy Ways to Get a Loan during Recession

    5 Easy Ways to Get a Loan during Recession

    Can you loan me a dime? In this period of the 21st century where even the lone economic and military superpower in the world admits to be undergoing financial crisis, people seeking loans to tide them over is as common as panhandlers in the streets. Times are hard. If you need a loan bigger than 10 cents, do not be embarrassed to try and get one. The following steps may be of help.

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    Depression: Know the Leading Causes

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    Depression: Know the Leading Causes

    Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s 2003 study, National Healthcare Quality Report, revealed very disturbing figures on depression. About 15 percent of the sufferers will eventually commit suicide. Worse, in 2020, if little or nothing is done with this disorder, depression will be one of the leading causes of coronary heart diseases for both men and women. These statistics tell you one thing: you should do something about depression.

    One of the best ways to start looking for solutions is to know the causes. What forces a person to feel so weak that he or she can actually think of taking his or her own life? You might be surprised to know about some of them.

    You can blame it on genetics.
    You are definitely at a higher risk of suffering from depression if someone in your family has suffered from it at some point. It does not matter if it was mild or not. That is why if you sense that you have been habitually crying or feeling uneasy, it is time to seek professional help. You could already be affected by it.

    You are not eating right.
    A lot of people believe that depression is caused by moods or emotions. What they really do not know is that it can also be caused by physiological changes in your body. The brain has neurotransmitters called serotonin. This is the one that calms and gives you a “happy feeling.” If it is very low, that is when your mood changes and you start feeling really sad. You can increase it, though, by eating carbohydrates.

    However, there is a stern warning. Not all carbohydrates are going to be good. If you are sticking with high-sugar food, you are not only making yourself overweight (which is another cause of depression), but you are not increasing your serotonin level as well.

    You are not exercising.
    Have you ever tried running for at least 30 minutes? There is a good chance that you feel good all over right after. This is because exercise can help raise the level of endorphins in your brain. It then increases your sense of pleasure and euphoria. You would also not really feel any kind of emotional of physical pain.

    There could be plenty of other reasons for your depression. It is important that at the early signs of it, you will already seek professional advice. Avoid putting you—and the people around you—at a greater risk because of it.

    Internet Addiction and Why Support Is Highly Important

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    There are about 1.6 billion Internet users all over the world, according to a research by Internet World Stats. They log on the World Wide Web every day. This means that there are thousands of them who can be very vulnerable to Internet addiction—and around 10 percent of them really do.

    Internet addiction may affect anybody from kids to seniors, and their mental problems can range greatly. Some of them can be so obsessed that they can spend almost 24 hours a day in front of their computers. Others are addicted to Internet porn. In other words, this type of addiction can potentially bring disaster to the life of the sufferer as well as to his or her family. To be brought into the right track, one of the best ways they should do is get the support that he or she definitely needs.

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    Top 5 TV Shows for Kids

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    Sesame Street

    What would childhood be without TV shows? Sure, there will be no better substitute for children playing with their peers, learning to interact with people their own. For those kids, however, who choose to spend a lot of time watching television, here are some of the best shows created for them:

    1. Sesame Street
    The granddaddy of the modern kid TV shows. It was fun, it was informative, it was innovative, and it was fast. The producers of Sesame Street are aware that the children’s shows before them failed for one major reason – they were boring. One segment could stretch for minutes–not good, when your target audience has a median attention span of three seconds. If kid TV shows were auto races, Sesame Street was either F1 or NASCAR, its competition was the Paris-Dakar Rally. Broadcast on TV since 1969, Sesame Street has received more Emmy awards than any other TV series.

    The Electric Company

    2. The Electric Company
    Produced by Children’s Television Workshop (now the Sesame Workshop), the same people who did Sesame Street, Electric Company was like the teenaged sibling of the grade-schooler Sesame Street. Smart enough to anticipate that their audience would have to change their TV-watching tastes as they grew older, CTW did the Electric Company. Its humor was more mature than Sesame Street’s, so were its teaching methods, graduating from the numbers and letters of Sesame Street to words, phrases, and multiplication/division of Electric Company. It aired 780 episodes from 1971 to 1977.

    Blues Clues

    3. Blue’s Clues
    Another innovative kids’ TV show, Blue’s Clues pushed the envelope in its genre. With a combination of technology and a brilliant narrative format designed for preschoolers, Blues Clues was critically acclaimed and commercially successful, winning nine Emmy awards in its 10-year run and became the most commercially successful show for preschoolers. Its most famous characters were host Steve Burns and the animated dog Blues.

    Art Attack

    4. Art Attack
    Misleadingly simple but extremely entertaining, Art Attack was a resourceful British children’s show that focused on one thing only: how to do art. It involved illustration, painting, paper mache, T-shirt dyeing, and “Big Art Attack,” wherein host Neil Buchanan would come up with ingenious art pieces done on a football pitch, a tarmac, or a basketball court. Buchanan would have children guests who would show off their art and what would follow is an instructional program where Buchanan would demonstrate how to do art from beginning to end. The show ran from 1990 to 2007.

    Barney and Friends

    5. Barney and Friends
    Starting in 1992, this show starring a purple dinosaur (tyrannosaurus rex) is still going strong. A constantly happy (and some would say irritatingly optimistic) character involved in continuous song and dance routines, this show has puzzled critics with its longevity. It was created in 1987 by Sheryl Leach and proved to be a mildly regional success in her native Texas. After Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) picked up and overhauled the show in 1992, it became a national phenomenon despite critics pointing out its alleged lack of educational value for preschoolers. Supporters, on the other hand, say that it is a very age-appropriate program.

    How to Practice Self Control on Gadget Shopping

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    How to Practice Self Control on Gadget Shopping
    Shopping for the latest technological gadget is a very tempting way to spend that hard-earned money during pay day. But do you really need to splurge on the latest version of iPod or iTouch when you have a perfectly functional music or video player? Here are guaranteed ways for you to resist incurring unnecessary gadget update even in the most enticing conditions.

    1. Why replace when you can accessorize?
    Make the most of what you have before even entertaining the option of swapping it. Getting accessories is made more fun and interesting with different gadget brands competing, not only by coming up with the most innovative product features, but also by providing a variety of fashion merchandise. For laptops, there are colorful and lively skins to choose from. With laptop skins, you get to cover up the numerous scratches on the surface of your gadget. Laptop skins also come in easily removable and replaceable adhesive that leave no residue on the surface.

    2. Impulsive shopping is indeed one of the manifestations of reckless spending.
    To curb this difficulty, personal financial management strategies must be employed. Budgeting involves appropriating your resources according to the most urgent matters such as bills payment and emergency fund allocation. If in your calculation, you realize that you still have something to spare to fuel your gadget fancy, then that is the only time to give yourself a go signal.

    3. Who says you need to get away from the shopping mall to prevent yourself from spending?
    Go window-shopping to do more research on that gadget in mind. Compare products of different brands in terms of price, features, and accessibility of support services. Raking the market for the best option proves to be the most practical way of enjoying the best buy when you finally find it.

    4. Make a list of the things and gadgets you want to buy.
    This way, you are able to visualize your wants, and easily weigh them out according to the intensity of your desire, and to its necessity. Responsible spending requires the ability to focus on specific purchase goals.

    5. Enjoy your existing gadgets to its full capacity.
    The latest gadgets may only have upgraded systems and additional features that you can well avail of from the brand’s website or from other sites that offer free downloads. Pack your gadget with widgets and software add-ons to increase its versatile functions to parallel those of the latest versions.