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US Women’s Soccer Team Makes History Again – Winning, Inspiring Young Women and Girls

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Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Crystal Dunn, Ali Krieger and team fall on the right side of history while winning the 2019 World Cup in women’s soccer.

It’s been a while since I watched any sports game with as much enthusiasm as I watched the 2019 Women’s World Cup final game on Sunday, July 7, 2019. It was one of the most thrilling games I’ve seen in a long time.

Megan Rapinoe recently made news for her public, political stands on issues of social justice. Her teammate Alex Morgan backed her up (as teammates should). Then they all went out on the field on Sunday and backed up their words with action. They won the game against the Netherlands 2-0, snatching the World Cup for the fourth time (second time in a row). And let’s be clear — the Netherlands had a great defensive squad, including one of the top goal keepers in the league.

Inspiring Young Girls

I’m not the sports buff I used to be, but I know how inspiring it can be to see someone who looks like an older version of you winning, working hard, and doing the right thing. I know that the impact of this women’s soccer game and all the politics that surround it will likely be far reaching.

One of the issues currently being argued after their win is fair/equal pay for women sports players. All sorts of justifications have been made for why the men’s soccer team still makes more than the World Champion women’s soccer team. But those excuses are finally starting to fall by the wayside. Not only does the women’s team bring in more revenue, they also have the top selling gear (jerseys, t-shirts, etc) and consistent viewership. On what planet do you work harder, produce better results, but get paid less?

Personally, I’m proud of the USWNT Women’s Soccer Team, not just for being great athletes and winning the World Cup, but also for being a group that stands up for what they believe in. They are the types of roles models I think we need for young girls to help them achieve great things as adults.

Posted by Jade

Parenting Advice: Encouraging Your Kids to Be Productive Citizens

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Children need a strong positive influence and guidance from their parents in order to become productive members of society. Parents must teach their children right from wrong, monitor the media influence that they consume, understand the importance of keeping your word and demonstrate to their children that there are consequences to your actions.

Girls Smiling

Right vs. Wrong

Teaching kids right from wrong starts at a young age — for example, if a child takes a candy bar out of the grocery store without paying for it, the parent’s response shouldn’t be laughter or telling the child that it’s okay if you didn’t get caught. That sends the wrong message to a maturing brain. As the child gets older, bad behavior becomes the norm (as long as he doesn’t get caught) until one day he’s a major burden on his parents. Immediately voice your disappointment in negative behavior and make your child make things right. Holding a child responsible for his or her actions at a young age will have a significant effect on his or her choices in the future.

Social Media

Parents have to be more active in their child’s life more than ever before thanks to social media and the Internet. In today’s society, children are being negatively and heavily influenced by the music that they listen to, the movies that they watch and the video games that they play. Despite that reality, the parent is still the first and strongest influence in a child’s life from birth. From a very young age a parent will say the word “no” thousands of times because she cares for her child’s safety. Why should that concern for their safety end when they start listening to music, watching movies, using social media and playing mature video games as teens? Older kids also need to be taught right from wrong. Have meaningful conversations with them about the media that they consume on a daily basis so that they can put it in the proper perspective.

Learn To Keep Your Word

Children of today should learn that the words they say, even when first learning how to communicate, are vital to becoming a productive member in society. There’s an old adage that will forever ring true: “Your word is your bond.” This simply means that your word is everything. Parents teach their children this lesson by example — if you make a promise to your child, keep it.

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The importance of keeping your word can also be taught in many common scenarios. For instance, say a child joins the soccer team one day and then quits the next day. If the child is permitted to start and stop every activity on a whim, he will come to show the world that he can’t be counted on. He also won’t experience the satisfaction of following through on his word. Use these small instances as teaching moments to show the child the importance of keeping your commitments.

Teach Them That There Are Consequences to Your Actions

One of the most important lessons a parent can teach a child is that for every action there is a reaction. Every person in the world faces consequences for their actions whether big or small, good or bad. Sometimes those consequences come quickly, and other times they take longer to manifest.

As an example, if a child is caught fighting in school, they have to know that there are consequences for their actions that are largely out of your control as a parent. The principal will suspend the child, the police may be summoned to the school and charges could be pursued in juvenile court. Your child will expect you to save him from this situation, but a parent’s response should not be to fix, coddle or lie for a child. The child must learn from this experience because if he doesn’t, it will reoccur time and time again. The child should learn how society works as early as possible so that he’ll have time to correct his mentality and behavior.

All children need guidance from their parents or guardians on how to be a productive citizen from the beginning of their lives right up until they become self-sufficient adults. As the parent you are the first role model — you show children with your actions and words what’s acceptable. Lead boldly and admirably by example.

Posted by Louise

 

Photo Credits: Flickr/Torrey Wiley, Flickr/Stuart Richards

 

Teaching Kids to Love Themselves

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In today’s age of new technology, sadly kids are much more prone to be negatively influenced by what their family members, friends and even strangers have to say about them. Bullying has evolved due to social media.

Unfortunately, many children are not given the proper tools to deal with and cope with the negative influences that invade their daily lives.

Another sad fact is that most American youth now transform their personalities to emulate who they idolize. That may be a professional athlete, pop star or rapper with a questionable message.

First Love Yourself

Parents have to “STOP THE MADNESS” and instill a sense of self-esteem in their children. Here are some helpful tips for how to teach your kids to love themselves that will be useful to all parents; no matter their socioeconomic status.

Start As Early As Possible

The process of instilling self-love should begin when the child is an infant — babies are born with blank slates. Every bit of outside stimuli can affect their development.

Installing confidence within your child begins at an early age as well. For example, when they have accomplished a task and you feel that they have done their best, give them praise. Money and material things are not as valuable as your words of encouragement.

Be the Person You Want Your Children to Be

The saying “do as I say, not as I do” just doesn’t register with children. You are their first role model, so they are going to mimic what you do. Your child sees what you do and who you are every day you are together, so everything from how you cope with stress to how you let others speak to you means a lot. So if you want your child to love him or herself, you have to show love to yourself first and foremost.

Put Pop Stars In Their Place

Let your children have their favorite pop group, actors or rappers etc. But make them aware that these are privileged people — when they do certain things it may be accepted by society and thought of as “cool,” but if your child does it probably will not be. For instance, the famous women who choose to show their bodies to the world have highly paid security guards to protect their bodies — the average young woman does not have that level of protection and freedom. The famous rapper who posts images of himself using drugs has the money to hire a great lawyer if he gets into trouble — the average young man will have to rely on a poorly paid public defender.

Teach your child that those people are paid to act a certain way while on a stage performing, but it’s all for show.

Explain to them that idolizing others will only make them less like themselves and more like something or someone they are not. Tell them to be proud of who they are — teach them not to live vicariously through others by helping them bring out their own individuality.

Show Them Love

Your child’s sense of self-love really does begin at home. Show and tell your children that you love them everyday, and add an occasional hug to the mix. Children learn to express themselves with their parents first, and that is how they learn to love themselves. You have to demonstrate this to them in the most meaningful ways possible.

When they are little kids love to hug and express their love to you — encourage that throughout their lives.

Remember that the children of today are living in a different world from when you were young. Yet at the same time, certain facts of life are still the same. Show genuine love to your children and they will love you — most importantly they will learn to love themselves.

Posted by Eve

5 Healthy Breakfast Ideas for Kids

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When school is back in session, so are the hectic mornings. Kids need a healthy and filling breakfast to start their day, instead of a breakfast filled with sugar and processed foods. You can’t rely on the school’s breakfast options to provide your children with proper real nutritional value. Most of the meals that are prepared in schools today are filled with sugar.

Sugar as we all know gives the child a burst of energy that soon fades. So your child’s attention span will diminish as the sugar “high” begins to come down, making them feel tired and unfocused. Give your kids meals that will help them stay mentally and physically alert throughout their day at school, so that they will have the best shot at getting good grades. Here are 5 healthy breakfast ideas for kids that are relatively easy to prepare.

 

blueberry pancakes

1- Oatmeal With Honey And Raisins
Make a small batch of steel cut oatmeal for a healthy kids breakfast. Add some organic honey, and top it with raisins or dried cranberries.

2- Breakfast Wraps
Fill a whole wheat (low carb) wrap with scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and a few slices of ripe avocado. Wrap it up in aluminum foil so that your child can eat it at the bus stop.

3- Bran Banana Muffins
Make a batch of bran banana muffins on Sunday and use them for breakfast for the next couple of days. Add ripe bananas, crushed bran cereal, coconut flour, vanilla and organic honey to your mix to help make it tasty.

4- Blueberry Pancakes
For a healthier breakfast, add a handful of organic frozen blueberries to your pancake mix in the morning. If your child is not a fan of blueberries than substitute them with the organic frozen fruit that they prefer.

blueberry pancakes

5- Fruit Smoothie
When you’re really in a rush, make a fruit smoothie for your child to take on the school bus. Add almond or coconut milk, pineapple and/or strawberries, organic honey and some organic Greek yogurt to your smoothie maker. You can even try adding a bit of kale or spinach to give them more vitamins — it depends on what their taste buds will agree with.

 

fruit smoothie

So there are 5 healthy breakfast ideas for kids to try — they might inspire you to think of even more. Once you get into the routine of preparing these nutritious meals for your kids, it will get easier and easier. You’re providing your child with the necessary energy and nutritional content to get them through their day successfully. Your extra efforts may not be fully appreciated today, but you’ll see the results when you get their report cards.

Posted by Eve

Image credits: Flickr/geishabot, Flickr/ktylerconk, Flickr/75628061@N03

Back to School Tips for Parents

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Now that summer is over and the kids are back to school, you might need some help getting back into the “back to school” routine — rising early, getting the kids off to school, picking them up, attending their sports games and more. Here are a few back to school tips for parents:

1) Have a talk with your kids. Explain that families must work together as a team in order to be functional. Everyone has a job to do to make things run smoothly.

2) Everyone’s clothing should be chosen the night before so that time is not wasted in the morning choosing an outfit. Pick one or two days out of the week to do laundry (like Sunday night) to ensure that the kids always have something clean to wear. If your children are over the age of 12, assign them laundry duty on an alternating schedule.

School Supplies

3) A great day begins with a balanced breakfast — try to put together a breakfast that has at least one protein and one vegetable to give your kids a good start. Everyone’s morning will be made much easier if the meal is already prepped in the refrigerator the night before school. For instance, you can bake bacon in the toaster oven the night before and then heat it up in the morning. Choose healthy foods that can be heated quickly in the toaster oven.

4) Make large dinners that can feed your family for more than one meal. For example, make an extra large lasagna and put the remaining lasagna into the freezer or refrigerator to be heated and eaten another day. If you always make large dinners you will spend less time in the kitchen and more time with your family.

5) Get your children into the habit of completing their homework directly after school. After work is completed and checked by a parent, have each child place his or her backpack at the front door. Make them responsible for ensuring that all necessary items are placed in the school bag and ready for the next day.

6) Set up a “lunch line” on the kitchen counter right before bed, and have your children help out. You’re responsible for the sandwiches, one of the kids can put snacks in each lunch box and another packs it into the fridge. Turn it into family time — something that your kids will look forward to. Play some upbeat music and have a few non-sugary snacks available for them to enjoy (like chips and dip or salsa).

7) Purchase an alarm clock for each child. Then teach them how to set the clock as well as the alarm. Children love responsibility so give it to them. Explain that this is what adults have to do to be on time for work when they get older. It will also help them get prepared for college — a lot of kids are so used to having their mom wake them up for school that they have a hard time being on time when they’re on their own and need to attend classes.

8) Buy a large white dry erase board and detail each child’s responsibility before and after school. This way you as a parent are not repeating yourself on a daily basis regarding chores etc. Always remember to reward the child for completing all tasks that are on the board.

Use these back to school tips for parents to get your household in order this fall and beyond. The sooner you begin to organize your home, family and schedule, the better. Remember that children need to be raised with a sense of independence and taught not to completely rely on their parents — teach them early!

Posted by Eve

Image credit: Flickr/meddygarnet

Tasty 10 Minute Meal Ideas for Kids

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When the kids are back to school, of course they arrive home at the end of a long day HUNGRY. But you’ve had a long day too. You don’t always have to stress about making a big dinner — here are a few easy to make, tasty 10 minute meal ideas for kids.

Chicken Wrap - 10 Minute Meal Ideas

Chicken Wraps With Honey Mustard Sauce
Wraps are filling and quick to make. Just quickly grill some sliced chicken breast in olive oil. Place a few slices on a wrap of your choice, then add lettuce and shredded cheese. Make your sauce by combining Dijon mustard and a bit of honey. Drizzle the sauce on top and fold wrap. If you don’t feel like grilling the chicken, substitute it with a few slices of deli turkey meat.

Mouth Watering Mini Sliders
Sliders are always a hit with young kids, and they’re easy to make. In a large bowl add the ground meat of your choice, whether it’s ground beef, chicken, pork or turkey. Add Worcestershire Sauce to the ground beef and combine with a spoon or your fingers. Now make little sliders out of the meat and fry them on medium-high heat (about 4 minutes each side). If you can not find small buns for your sliders, simply take a large cup and press the rim onto a slice of bread. Put slices of cheese and other condiments on the table so that your kids can dress up their dinner themselves.

Shish Kabobs With Yogurt Sauce
Cut chicken breast into large cubes. Then cut onions and peppers into cubes. Start your skewer with onion then the chicken then pepper. Repeat. Generously sprinkle Greek seasoning on the skewers. Grill it in a pan or a George Foreman grill. While it’s cooking, mix Greek yogurt, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl until well combined. When skewers are done drizzle the sauce on top. (FYI if using wooden skewers soak them in water so the skewer does not burn and cut off any pointy ends for safety.) This meal can be served on a bed of cucumbers or on top of a salad.

Stay tuned for even more 10 minute meal ideas for kids to help make meal time easier for you and your family.

 

Photo credit: Flickr/dannynic