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How to Give Your Child the Best Chance at Succeeding in School

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Here are some thoughts on how you can give your child the best chance at succeeding in school.

Your child’s performance in school now can have long-term effects on his or her adult life. There are a few ways to ensure that you and your child navigate the current school term with great success. Some of these tips may seem challenging at first, but with perseverance each day will become easier.

Make Sure Your Child is Well Rested

When you send your young one to school with an inadequate amount of sleep it can interfere with their learning process. The child will become frustrated, cranky and/or sleepy by days end. All of this will block and hamper what the teacher is attempting to teach your child. By making sure that your child has a minimum of 8-10 hours of sleep on school nights is the first vital key to their daily success. It is best to maintain a routine of bedtime hours for your child. You may get some resistance in the beginning. Although, children do thrive with consistent behaviors and habits. Once their nightly routine is set in stone you will soon see a difference in their attentiveness and attitude while at school. As a result your child’s teacher will notice the difference and appreciate your efforts.

Limit Sugar and Caffeine Intake

Credit: Flickr; chefranden
Credit: Flickr; chefranden

There has been plenty of research on the effects of sugar and caffeine when introduced into a child’s daily diet. So, if your child is ingesting high amounts of caffeine and sugar on a regular basis, you may want to switch to healthier alternatives. If you give it a thought, it seems to be normal to start your child’s day with milk, cereal and a bit of orange juice. Yet, when you break it down all of those products contain high amounts of sugar. This will make your child begin the day with a sugar “rush”. The child’s mood and attention span will soon change as the sugar “rush” wears off.

Instead, try making your child a breakfast consisting of eggs, a side of fresh fruit and a bottled water or a freshly-made smoothie. The eggs are loaded with protein, the fresh fruit contains natural sugars and the bottled water provides them with hydration.

As for their school lunch, many parents opt for the kids to purchase lunch at school. It is important to know the school menu to ensure that they are eating the healthiest lunch possible. If your child has food allergies or issues contact your school to discuss what can be done. For those parents who prepare lunch on a daily basis, try switching to a more filling and healthier food. For example, avoid giving your child a juice box or caffeine-filled soda — instead give them a bottled water or freshly pressed juice with no added sugar. This will again keep them hydrated through the day. Instead of white bread use a whole grain bread to prepare sandwiches. As for a snack, try giving them celery sticks and peanut butter. With just a few changes to your child’s daily eating habits you can give them the brain power and energy to make their learning easier.

Stay Involved with Class Work, Homework and Projects

Make it a daily habit to give assistance and review your child’s homework every day. Be sure that they are comprehending their home work and school work. Remember, to have patience with them. Show them understanding. They have extremely long school hours and tire easily. Besides, stressful situations affects them as they do us as parents. Encourage them to do their best and complete their homework with care, but don’t push them to the point where they’ll be overwhelmed and stressed out every day.

Start with these basic tips for how to give your child the best chance at succeeding in school. In my opinion, a child’s path to success begins at home. The parent who is actively involved with their child’s nutrition and efforts at school is the parent whose child will have a greater chance at success — not just in school but in life as well.

Posted by Eve

How to Deal with Perfectionists: A Step-By-Step Guide

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Someone who continually strives for perfection and expects everyone around them to do the same can be a constant drain on patience, productivity and the sanity of those around them. Here are some tips for how to deal with perfectionists.

If you’ve ever had to work with a perfectionist, you know how frustrating an experience it can be. Someone who continually strives for perfection and expects everyone around them to do the same can be a constant drain on patience, productivity and the sanity of their peers, friends, family members and co-workers. Here are some tips for how to deal with a perfectionist in a way that will allow you to keep your head on straight while getting things done.

1) Recognize the Problem and Try to Understand

The first step to resolving any problem is understanding what is going on. You have to identify the problem before you do anything else.

Perfectionists didn’t just become that way. They were either created by parents who were never satisfied, or became that way due to some other traumatic experience in their life. It is a psychological issue that has to be resolved with a professional. In the meantime, now that you know that they have a problem, maybe you can find some sympathy for them as you continue to deal with them. Know that no, you are not crazy, there is definitely something seriously wrong with wanting to always be 100% perfect all of the time. It is impossible to achieve, which is why most perfectionists are tormented.

2) Be Firm and Decisive

Since a perfectionist may not be the most decisive person, it is your job to take on that role when dealing with them. For example, if you are working on a project at your place of employment with a known perfectionist, don’t play into their game. You may allow them a few times to go back and forth with their ideas and rounds of changes, but at some point (preferably sooner than later) you must be firm in your assertions and explain that while we all would love to have the project turn out 100% perfect, there is a deadline to meet, and there is always room for error. If necessary, things can be updated and taken note of for future projects. Then, take the reigns and say something like, “This is our final round of changes, do you see any last minute details you’d like to complete.”

3) Allow Them to Do Their Thing — Walk Away

If the perfectionist chooses to become unreasonable at your assertions to make a final decision and decides that they want to continue to wrangling over the same issue, let them do it on their own. You do not have to be held hostage by a perfectionist. Take a deep breath, do your part to the best of your ability and then leave the perfectionist to his or her task. They may end up working on the same thing until two or three in the morning, but that is not your problem. As long as you did your part to the fullest of your ability (and keep proof of that fact if you’re at work), you are not required to be a part of the perfectionists’ process. Don’t feel bad about it as long as you’ve done your part. If you’re dealing with a perfectionist at work and the situation becomes a serious problem, or you feel that the perfectionist may try to harm your professional reputation, definitely express your concerns with your boss or project leader in advance.

By using this process and keeping a clear, level head, you can avoid conflicts with perfectionists and best manage the relationship so that it works for everyone involved.

Posted by Jade

Are Families Not as Close as They Used to Be?

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Over the years, it seems that families are not as close as they used to be. Here is a brief discussion of the possible causes of this unfortunate trend.

Families Don’t Have Dinner Together Anymore

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Flickr; Joshin Yamada

There was a commercial campaign on TVLand/Nick@Nite touting the importance of families eating at the “dinner table.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce initiated Family Day, a day to bring families together to eat dinner. This is because many families do not even eat together anymore. The TV and computer have become the most popular “dinner companions.” We tend to multi-task while eating instead of focusing on our loved ones.

I believe this is a big reason why families are not as close as they were in prior years. Family dinner is a major bonding time for families that’s supposed to happen each night. Forty years ago, it was almost unheard of for a family to eat dinner in separate rooms, but now it has become the norm.

Less Fathers in the Picture

Unfortunately, fathers have become less present and responsible in the lives of their families. According to statistics from the National Center for Health about 40 percent of children are born out of wedlock. It’s estimated that a third of children in America are living in fatherless homes.

In many cases, the father is the strong gel of the family — he keeps everyone together and feeling stable due to his role as head of the family. But when a mother is left to raise her family alone, she is faced with the dilemma of needing to work more, and at odder times to accommodate her family’s needs, even if she is receiving child support. Since the new head of household is home less, there is no one to “gel” the family and keep them bonded. Of course, this is also true for mothers who leave their families with a single father.

The Internet and Television

The Internet was created about thirty years ago. Since then, according to Internet World Stats, over 300 million Americans are active online as of 2014 (a saturation of about 85% of the population), and they spend an average of 23 hours per week using the internet. Most people are having a love affair with their computers that transcends the relationships they have with their families. Every free moment is spent surfing, working, or emailing friends. The ideal dinner for most people, due to their hectic, internet-ready lifestyle, is a frozen dinner and a plastic fork in front of their computer monitor or phone. Taking an hour out of their time to just sit with their family members is unheard of.

This is also the case with television. There has been an advent of more engaging television programs, such as reality television and serial prime-time programs, which have stories that continue from episode to episode. These programs leave people on edge and have them anxiously anticipating the next show, more so than they anticipate talking to and bonding with their families.

Family members, especially busy, working parents, and teenagers are spending less time with each other, due to computers, lifestyle and confused priorities. Let’s spend more time loving our families and less time consumed with other minor matters that won’t even really matter in the long-term.

Posted by Jade

The Long Term Effects of Text Messaging & Social Media

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Are your eyes and hands glued to your phone most of the day? Here are some thoughts about the possible effects of text messaging and using social media too much.

 

Courtesy: Flickr; Michele Ursino
Courtesy: Flickr; Michele Ursino

Most people look at text messaging as a blessing because our time is precious — we don’t always have the luxury of picking up the phone and having a long conversation with a friend, brother or sister about how our week went. If you call a co-worker simply to tell him “I just emailed you the report,” you might get roped into a lengthy conversation about what the boss did yesterday.

So now, all you have to do is use your text message phone service to drop a note, and your job is done. Have to wish someone Happy Birthday? You no longer have to make a 15 minute long call or rush them off the phone. Just send a text message and you’ve done your part.

But there is a downside to using text messaging and social media as a replacement for human contact. Here are a few possible long term effects from text messaging and using social media too much.

Disconnect with Friends and Family

When you use your text message phone features and social media apps all of the time, you may start to experience a disconnect from the people you love. Since you never speak to them on the phone, over time you may start to distance yourself from your friends, family, and loved ones who live far away from you.

Sometimes you just need to hear someone’s voice. There is nothing quite like speaking to someone, because you can gauge their mood better. Your friend might text message phone you telling you that she’s fine, but in reality she’s crying on the other end. Instead of a text message, a phone call will help you determine her mood and possibly give her the consolation and conversation she really needs to get through the day.

Thumb and Eye Issues

As text message phone use increases over time, people may start to feel the physical effects of constantly using their thumbs to type messages on tiny keyboards. If you send 20 text messages a day, with 160 characters each, over the next 5 years, you will have pressed your thumbs over 5.8 million times! All those presses are wearing on your thumbs over time. So you may want to think about that as you type a 10 page text to your friend about the guy you met at the party last night.

Looking at a cell phone screen can also cause problems with your eyesight. Adjusting your eyes to see very small letters and words on a fluorescent screen for long periods of time can cause a strain on your eyes.

You Miss Life and Possible Connections with New People

I was once walking through a train station and just about every person that I passed had his or her head down looking at a cellphone. When you’re addicted to texting and social media, you run the risk of missing out on connecting with new people out there in the world. You never know if that person you passed while focused on your phone could have been one of your soul mates.

If you use a text message cell phone, do a self-evaluation to see if you’re use can be classified as addiction or obsession. Don’t allow a piece of technology to negatively affect your healthy or your relationships with others.

Posted by Jade

Returning to Your Childhood Home As An Adult

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I sincerely enjoy returning to the childhood home where I was raised to visit my parents. There are so many memories packed into every inch of that house. For example, when I look at the stair case, I can vividly remember sliding down those same stairs on a cardboard box, having fun for hours.

However, there are certain realizations, as adults, that we need to keep in mind when returning to our parents home. In this economic climate some of us need to return to our parents home due loss of employment, home or spouse. First of all, I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the home where I had so many minor and major life experiences. Yet, on my previous visit to my parents, I realized that I needed to change my mind set when visiting my parents. I noticed that although their energy and thrust for life was still present, there was something different about them. My mom, for instance, did not cook the same and my dad no longer enjoyed his outside chores. My mom instead, chose to either order out or cook a meal in the microwave. While my dad had hired landscapers to do all of the outside chores. Seeing that took me for a loop. Growing up my mom cooked three homemade meals a day including desserts and my dad lavished on his lawn, garden and flowers. I then opened my eyes a little wider and realized that after all of the years that they both had taken care of their children and instilled in all of us a sense of duty and pride in our accomplishments, they were tired. Tired of having to teach, listen, cook, work hard to show us how to properly run a happy and prideful family.

Now, when I visit my parents with my mate and children, I make sure that everyone is actively involved with the daily chores. Such as, cooking, cleaning and removal of garbage. I basically attempt to give them a break from doing these chores while my family visits. After all, we are the ones adding to the untidiness to the house. It pains me now to think of how many meals were cooked for me, as an adult, while I sat down in the living room waiting to be told, by mom, that dinner was ready. Me and my family now instruct her to sit and wait to be called for dinner. Of course, she is never to far from the kitchen to ensure that I am precisely following her recipes!! As for dad, if there were any chores he wanted done outside on the property, we all pitched in, while again he sat and watched making sure it was done the way he wanted.

I guess my best advice, is to make yourself a commodity. In other words, PITCH in! No adult lives for free, so if you are moving back home, any income you bring into the home, your parents should most definitely receive a percentage. If you are visiting, make a trip to the grocers to buy all of the necessary foods that you or your family enjoy. Don’t just sit on the couch, ask your parents if they need anything done in or outside of the home. I can say that my parents enjoyed my family more because we truly acted like a family. We also bonded in more ways because we were all actively enjoying one another’s company. As our parents age, they appreciate any and all help given.

I hope that this advice about returning to your childhood home has made someone re-evaluate their parents and show more appreciation to them.

 

Posted by Lorraine

Ideas for Huddles and Team Motivation

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If you’re the coach of your child’s sports team or you’re the captain of a team at work or for intramural fun, here are a few ideas for huddles that your team can implement as motivation at practice and games.

A group huddle is a time for a team to gather close together in a circle to discuss and upcoming play or move in a competition. It is most common in sports events. A football coach named Amos Alonzo Stagg created the huddle in 1896 as a way of blocking out the racket from the crowd right before a play. The huddle is also a way to assure that all team members are on the same page and to get everyone motivated to do a good job.

Tell a Motivational Story

sports pic
© Cristina | Dreamstime Stock Photos

If you have ample time, tell a short story that will help to motivate the team during the huddle. The story can be funny or serious, but it should definitely have an educational or motivational value. You can even leave the story open-ended or rhetorical so that the members will think about the answer before going out on the playing field. If you are the coach, keep a repertoire of reflective, inspiring stories for your team on hand.

Change Up the Huddle Leader

Don’t always just let the coach or team captain say something in a huddle. Switch it up from time to time. Allow individual team members to give the short motivational speech or start a “call and response.” This will help to get everyone involved and make each team member feel equally important to the team’s purpose. Encourage each member to be creative and think of catchy phrases and chants to use in the huddle.

Also, decide on what you will all say at the end of the huddle to signify that you are ready to go play. For instance, “Go team” is a popular saying, but you can also yell out the team motto or mascot (“Wolves!”).

Handshake

Have a team meeting to decide on a secret handshake that you all will use during games. This might seem like a minor detail, but something as small as a handshake could help to unify a team. Make sure every team member is “in the know” on the handshake or else you will look disorganized. Brainstorm some fun hand signals, slaps, and claps that you can integrate into a custom handshake for team members to use during games. Rehearse it in practice, just as you would a play.

Get Nice Team Shirts to Boost Morale

Have custom team shirts made for your members to wear outside of games and practice. These should be good looking shirts that each member is proud to wear. Have each member wear his shirt on game day to show your team unity.

Use these ideas for huddles and team motivation to help take your squad to the top!

Posted by Jade