- Inc. Online
- ABC's The View From the Bay
Clever Parents.com
By Debbye Cannon
In 1979 a large passenger jet with 257 people on board left
As the pilots flew onward, the white of the snow and ice covering the volcano blended with the white of the clouds above, making it appear as though they were flying over flat ground. By the time the instruments sounded the warning that the ground was rising fast toward them, it was too late. The airplane crashed into the side of the volcano, killing everyone on board. It was a terrible tragedy brought on by a minor error–a matter of only a few degrees.
(Excerpt from a talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf , April 2008)
Like this story, I find that the differnce between success and failure is often the matter of a few degrees…. the small things. That is exactly why I look for the SMARTcuts(TM). These are not “get over easy” schemes, but simple ways to work and play smart so that life has more room for abundance. It’s smart to get the “have to do” things off your list quickly and easily so there is more time and energy left for the “I’d love to do” things….like a watching your children’s sports, a romantic dinner with your sweetheart, quiet time for reading a good book. Time is a constant. We can’t create more. We can only use the time we have to our best advantage.
I hope you will use creativity to simplify your life. Join me in “living outside the box”and finding ways that work, instead of the same old ways. As Dr. Phill would say, “How’s that working for you?”
FR*EE Digital PhotoBook Until Sunday Only!
I wasn’t able to watch Oprah’s show with Peter Walsh (Organizer), but I got a message via my Utah Organizer Girlfriends that there is a free offer from Snapfish until this Sunday only. You do have to pay $6.99 shipping, but it would make a great gift (SMARTcut for shopping!) for under $10! I’ve used Snapfish before to make great little mini albums. It’s quick and easy, especially if you have one event (say Halloween) pics still in your camera or downloaded in one file. You add some captions and PRESTO! Done! They make a physical book for you…I’ve done the inexpensive spiral bound ones. Great for a family reunion, holiday or whatever especially if you want duplicate copies for friends/family.
One more Photo SMARTcut(TM) for busy BusinessMoms…Make mini albums (either Snapfish or just little “grandma books”) for a holiday and store the book w/ your holiday decorations. Fun to put out seasonally and look back over the particular holiday from years past. I put these little books in a big bowl in the family room for easy access and enjoyment. If you are feeling overwhelmed by YEARS of back logged photos and memoribilia, just get started on NOW. At least you won’t be getting further behind!
In the early 1980’s Debbye had 2 children under 2, an Army husband, and life was eating her alive! No dinner ready, messy house, sticky floors, etc. She was overwhelmed and then she started a home-based business. What WAS she thinking?!
For survival, Debbye designed a system to organize life’s many repetitive activities, plan meals and streamline shopping. Soon friends and family wanted to know her SMARTcutsTM systems. She began teaching local workshops and eventually published “Organizing Without Agonizing” in 1988.
Experience has made her a great resource for the BusinessMom who finds herself swallowed up with the demands of running a household, corralling kids, expanding business, teaching Sunday school and leading Scout troops simultaneously! After creating her own entrepreneurial ventures and over 25 successful years in internationally-known direct selling companies, Debbye became the BusinessMom Mentor.
She now enjoys speaking, teaching and believe it or not even loves making “house calls” for Miracle Makeovers. Her passion is mentoring BusinessMoms around the globe to find the SMARTcutsTM to simplify life and create “serenity and prosperity” for their businesses and families. It’s good to know that there really is a way to not only survive, but succeed!
Health Mama is back but wearing the education hat. The economy has taken its toll in many different ways for countless people. For me, I’m no longer mom from Maine but Woods Hole, Massachusetts and my job isn’t writing but teaching writing and reading to eighth graders. I was blessed to find a job opening in the grade level of choice as well as in a district just beginning to implement the ideal literacy program; one which allows children a choice in their learning empowering them to reach much higher goals than even they ever expected.
No “loosey-goosey” program here. This one is based on Harvard research and a considerable amount of hard work teaching kids to become critical thinkers, to make good choices for themselves, and evaluate their achievements while setting goals for the future to maximize their learning. It’s diligent and constant work providing enough reading material to inspire every kid while teaching essential reading/writing strategies and skills but the rewards are life changing.
So how can that same learning be promoted at home? Easily. It starts with an environment rich in print materials from magazines and newspapers to classic stories and, yes, graphic novels. We’ve all heard it before, reading, reading and more reading equals success on standardized tests and improved skills across the board.
Previously I spent thousands of dollars at Amazon.com or at bookstores, the local family owned are my favorite. (Check out Titcomb’s Book Shop in Sandwich, Massachusetts - http://www.titcombsbookshop.com) Since having to watch every dime, frequenting the library has become a life saver. I’ve been lucky that both the Maine and Massachusetts communities I’ve settled in use the library as another social gathering place making them thriving institutions and open often to the public. Maddy, my seven year old daughter, and I make it a scheduled event each week.
In my renewed search to build my classroom library and become knowledgeable in the current (current being the operative word here) young adult reading materials available, I also came across some truly useful websites designed for parents and children promoting the latest and greatest reads. Leveling is just part of the task; finding something that inspires a child to look forward to reading is another issue altogether.
TheReadingTub.com is one of my favorites! The owner/founder has a tremendous passion and established a site worth a repeated visit and has a newsletter filled with beneficial information. In her words:
“The Reading Tub® is yet another example of how nurturing a small idea can lead to big things. A simple comment from Aunt Susie about helping parents pick out books for their kids generated an idea for a website to help them do just that. Within a few weeks, two other families jumped in with their energy and creativity.” www.thereadingtub.com
Bookwink is another site I just found. It’s a terrific place to visit for book talks, an essential part of my classroom activities, only this one is online complete with video footage giving the books an intriguing perspective!
“Bookwink’s mission is to inspire kids to read. Through podcasting and web video, we hope to connect kids in Grades 3 through 8 with books that will make them excited about reading. The videos are approximately 3 minutes long and are updated monthly. Each video booktalk is about a different topic, and additional read-alikes can be found on the Bookwink website. You can look for books by subject, grade level, author or title. We are constantly updating the booklists with our newest favorite books.” www.bookwink.com
In my class, the eighth grade girls are obsessed with the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer - www.stepheniemeyer.com. At first I was turned off with the whole vampire thing but they are addicting novels and you have nothing to fear except vampires and werewolves. If language and sexually active teens is a worry, none of that exists. Oh sure, there is a drama rich love story taking place but no foul language and I don’t remember the last time I read a romance that essentially leaves all the love making - when there is any after they marry - strictly to the imagination. The down side is that it is the typical weak female and strong dominant male relationship. It offers no real female roll model here but does get kids to read, book to nose, hours on end. I’d discuss the main character’s, Bella’s, lack of character, poor choices, and ultimate useless whininess…I thought Laura Croft took care of that ages ago! With the Twilight movie coming out soon, it is probably already a household name.
I recommend The Uglies series of books as a better choice for strong characters complete with strange plot and the right dose of weirdness by Scott Westerfeld. www.scottwesterfeld.com. I’m just starting to read them so I’ll let you know how it goes.
Next month will also include boy choices. Most of the guys in my class are currently reading Tolkien, thanks to me, Paolini (Brisngr), and Sacher - anything by these authors.
Happy Reading with your children!
Mel Ackerman
Melissa is the mother of a six year old little girl, Madeline, and the wife of a former ship captain. She and her family just moved to Maine a year ago from Monterey, CA to experience a change in lifestyle and become middle aged entrepreneurs. After 22 years of teaching, Mel (Melissa) needed more time with her family and so she and a friend started Dancestones.org; the business of giving comfort through Maine’s rolled stones. Reading and Writing are her deepest passions- when she’s not collecting stones in remote areas of Maine!
Amy Lang, MA - Birds + Bees + Kids®
Every couple of years the Kaiser Family Foundation does a review of the sexual content on TV shows. They look at all television programming, everything from PBS Kids to HBO. What they discovered may surprise you – it did me!
70% of television programs have some sexual content.
This includes everything from flirting and suggestion to full on sexual activity, including intercourse. Safer sex is rarely mentioned so if you were hoping your kids might be learning a bit about safe sex along with their dose of sex on TV, you’re out of luck.
If you are thinking the shows your kids are watching are just fine and virtually sex free, think again. TV shows like “The Suite Life with Zack and Cody” are full of flirting and sexual banter.
One of the boys who is 10 or so at the time, actually hits on a 15 or 16 year old girl in one episode. What do you think about your 10 year old watching
this and what they might be learning about relationships and girls?
Young girls love to watch “Hannah Montana” and “High School Musical”. The story lines are engaging and interesting; the music and dancing is fun and exciting.
But what are 7 year olds learning when they are watching high school girls move through their high school girl world? They are being exposed to sexual situations and ideas that would not even show up on their radar until they were in their late tweens if not for these types of shows.
The end result of all this sexual content is that our kids are becoming sexualized at a very young age. They think, act and feel in a sexual way that is beyond developmental appropriateness.
There may be some real good that could come from turning off the TV. A study came out this week that shows a direct link between watching TV with sexual content and teen pregnancy.
Teens who watched shows where sex was regularly shown or discussed had two to three times the risk of pregnancy than young people exposed to lower levels of sexual content, the study says.
Are you thinking “not MY kid”? I bet the parents of the kids in the study thought the same thing. Nobody wants to think their kids will make stupid choices – but they do and they will.
It’s our job to help them make better choices and I think there is plenty to be gained from monitoring the shows our kids are watching and discussing the content with our children.
If you are worried about your child’s innocence, turn off the TV and let your kids grow up in their own time – they have plenty of time to learn about dating, sex, flirting and romance when it’s appropriate.
birdsandbeesandkids.com ©2008 Birds + Bees + Kids® LLC 206-661-2245
About the Author: Through her business, Birds + Bees + Kids, Amy Lang teaches parents how to talk to their children of any age about sex, love and relationships. She has a 16-year history as a Sexual Health Educator, a Masters in Applied Behavioral Science and loves to help people learn about this vital part of parenting.
You’re in the cornfield and suddenly you hear it. . .
“If you build it, they will come.”
Worked great for Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, right? So, why not for your next information product? Ah, if only it were that simple.
Way too often I hear colleagues and clients talking about how they created a terrific new product or program that they just knew was going to be really useful to their audience - and no one wanted it.
But when I do a little digging, I find out that they waited until they had totally finished developing the thing before they started promoting it. And their idea of promotion was 1 or 2 emails saying, “Here’s this brilliant thing. Please buy it.”
Well no wonder they didn’t make many sales. That’s not an effective marketing strategy. They didn’t give their “peeps” a chance to get in the mood to buy before giving up and deciding no one was interested.
See, Kevin did us a grave disservice by teaching us to put the cart before the horse. All too many solo-preneurs think that creating a fabulous product or service means it will “market itself.” Terrible mistake!
Please understand, my success-minded friend, whatever services you offer in your wonderful business, you can’t escape the necessity of marketing. Unless you don’t care about reaching more people or making any money. Then you have permission to beg off on the promotion.
I’m sure most of you are familiar with the concept that it takes multiple exposures before a potential customer becomes a buyer. It used to be like, seven to nine. Now, with all the competition online, I think it’s something like ten to fifteen. In any case, it’s definitely more than two!
You’ve got an important message to share with your audience. So you want to do everything you can to make sure that message is received. And spending some time during the creation phase to create a marketing plan for whatever you’re creating is crucial to the success of your sales. Ad hoc isn’t going to get the results you want – or deserve- for all the effort you put into your product or program.
I happen to call this expanded sequence of promotional activities a launch. The word launch is defined as meaning - to spring forward or set in motion. And that’s exactly the purpose behind a product (or program) launch.
To set in motion the sales of your product, program or event.
A successful launch requires a plan and some follow through, but the benefits –in the form of increased exposure, stronger connection with your audience and dramatically higher sales- are absolutely worth it.
©2008 Helen Graves
Helen Graves, Grand Poohbah of Crackerjack Online Marketing Strategy, is an expert at showing soul-inspired entrepreneurs how to attract eager clients with simple, effective internet marketing strategies.
Visit www.Product-Campaign.com to get a hold of her online marketing campaign strategy resource, “The 3 Crucial Keys to Creating Desire So Your Products and Programs Sell Like Hotcakes.”
Hey all you sports parents,
Do you feel like you are a loving and supportive parent? Or are you a bit fanatical and neurotic about your child’s successes and failures? Whether your child is a swimmer, football player or cheerleader, I found this great questionnaire that will give you great insight into your sports parenting skills. Depending on how you score, this questionnaire will give you tips to help you and your child get the most out of your experiences.
Swim On Friends!
Ruthie Palmatier
A Parent’s Questionnaire - Dr. Alan Goldberg - Competitive Advantage
Take this questionnaire to see if you’re doing everything possible to help your child have a successful and healthy sports experience.
Answer each question with a 1, 2, 3 or 4: 1 = never true; 2 = occasionally true; 3 = mostly true; 4 = always true.
- I get really frustrated and upset when my child performs below his/her capabilities.
- I give my child critical feedback on his/her performance after each game.
- If I didn’t push my child, he/she wouldn’t practice.
- If my child doesn’t excel and win, I see very little point in his participating in the sport.
- I can be very critical when my child makes mistakes or loses.
- I set goals with my child in relation to the sport.
- I think it’s my job to motivate my child to get better.
- I feel angry and embarrassed when my child performs poorly.
- The most important thing for my child’s sport participation is that he/she have fun.
- I get really upset with bad calls by the officials.
- Most coaches don’t know what they are talking about.
- I keep a performance log/journal/statistics on my child’s performance so we can monitor his/her progress.
- I feel guilty about some of the things I say to my child after he/she plays.
- I try to watch most practices so that I can correct my child when he makes mistakes.
- When my child fails I can feel his pain and disappointment.
- I think it’s important that my child gets used to having coaches yell at him/her to help prepare him/her for life.
- My spouse and I argue about how I treat my son/daughter in relation to his/her sport.
- I try to help my child keep his/her failures and the sport in perspective.
- I’m never very concerned about the outcome of my child’s game/match/race.
- I will not allow my child to be put down or yelled at by a coach.
- If my child wasn’t so defensive when it comes to my feedback, he/she could become a better athlete.
- It’s not my job to evaluate or criticize my child’s performances.
- I feel that my child owes us a certain performance level given all the sacrifices we’ve made for him/her.
- I believe my child’s sport belongs to him/her and not to me.
- I just want my child to feel good about him/herself and be happy when he/she plays.
Scoring
Add scores for questions #1-8, 10-14,16, 17, 21 & 23. (If you answered question #2 with a “mostly true” you add 3 points to the total score.) Subtract scores for questions #9, 15, 18-20, 22, 24, & 25.
Interpretation for Parent Questionnaire
The higher the score, the more potential damage you are doing to your child. High scores indicate that you are playing the wrong role on the team and if you continue, you will increase the chances of your child burning out, struggling with performance problems and dropping out. Low scores mean that you are on track and doing the things necessary to insure that your child has a positive and life-enriching sports experience.
If you scored a:
60 – 50 = You are doing everything in your power to seriously damage your child’s self-esteem, ruin their sports experience and make them a candidate for long term psychotherapy later on in their life. If you continue your ways, your child will most likely drop out of sports. If you force them to continue, chances are good that they will struggle with serious performance problems. On the off chance that they do achieve success, they will not be able to appreciate what they’ve accomplished. Finally, your long term relationship with them will be seriously jeopardized because of your lack of perspective and behaviors.
49 – 39 = You are not being supportive enough and are doing too many things wrong. You are over-involved and putting too much pressure on your child. You need to back down, chill out and let them enjoy their sport. This kind of a parental stance will drive your child out of sports.
38 – 20 = You’re OK, but you need some help getting unhooked. You need to be more consistently supportive and take less of a pushing/coaching role.
19 – 1 = You are pretty much on track as a parent. You are positive and doing most of the right things to insure your child has a positive youth sports experience.
0 – 15 = BRAVO!!!! You are truly a winning parent. You can give workshops to other parents on how to help your child become successful in their sport.
Courtesy of: © 2006 USA Swimming and The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. All Rights Reserved.
By Brianna Young
When you’re newly preggo, you want everyone to know that your little bump is actually baby. What better way to do that than sport a hot mom tee from Dreem!
Dreem (www.shopdreem.com) has an awesome selection of graphic tees and thermals, and this mom-to-be got the chance to wear and review a long-sleeved tee – the Rock and Roll Baby (link http://www.shopdreem.com/Maternity-Tees/Rock-and-Roll-Baby.html) tee, to be exact.
[Click on graphic for larger image] |
My baby pooch is prominent, and this comfy tee let me show the world that there’s a bun in the oven. Its stretchy fabric was comfortable and breathable, and even though it was chilly out, I felt warm and cozy.
It hugged my belly and the Rock and Roll graphic perfectly covered the pooching part. The sleeves were stretchy enough to push up if I felt too warm, and they didn’t lose their shape if I needed to do that. My tee washed up well, and the graphic is just as clear as the day I got it. Dry these tees on low, though, so they don’t shrink. The Rock and Roll tee is perfect for that early pregnancy belly, but may not be long enough for me to wear in a couple of months. I tend to carry low, however, so I think that’s why it seems shorter on me. If you carry higher, you probably won’t have any length issues. I have a friend who is 6 foot 1 and in her early pregnancy it fits her well too. |
The best thing about the Rock and Roll baby tee is that I can wear this after the baby is born. It’s so comfy that it’s a must-pack for my hospital bag. And the sweet guitar graphic applies even when my bun is done!
Overall, my Dreem tee is one of the most comfortable maternity shirts I own – and it’s definitely the hippest! Dreem has a ton of graphics to choose from, so you’re sure to find something that suits your style!
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By Kim Estes |
| The Holidays are here. OK, I said it. Hard to believe but true! The holiday season is often hectic and can be incredibly stressful to many parents. This year, global changes and uncertainty are also factoring into our holiday mood. There are so many things going on around us and often personal safety gets overlooked during this hectic time. However, now is the best time to brush up on safety with your family. There will be lots of interaction with family and friends and new experiences and new places. Now is a great time to practice “what if” scenarios with your kids. Believe it or not, taking time to talk safety with your kids will take some of the anxiety out of your holiday season and theirs. |
Here are some great tips on how to stay safe during the holidays.
Safety while shopping:
- Have a designated spot (like a sales counter) to meet at if you get separated.
- Make sure younger kids practice their name, your name and cell phone number
- Remind kids never to leave the store, no matter what!
- Practice identifying “safe grown ups” while you are out and about
- Older kids should always take a friend when going to the mall without and adult
- Remind kids to always check first with you before going anywhere or accepting gifts
- Never leave children unattended in stores, arcades, or playgrounds
Safety at holiday parties:
- Let your child chose who they wish to show affection to. Do not force them to kiss or hug someone. Even if it means hurting Grandma or Uncle Joes feelings. Your child needs to know they have power over their own bodies.
- Check in on your kids when you are at a large gathering or function. Make sure they are doing OK.
- Kids need to check first with a parent before going off with someone at the party (eg. To play video games or watch a movie in the bedroom or leaving the house to go play in the front yard)
- Have each adult at the party take 20 minute “shifts” to cruise around and check on the kids to make sure they are all doing OK.
- If someone is making your child uncomfortable (excessive tickling, hugging, wrestling) intervene on your child’s behalf to end the behavior. You child needs to know they have your support and that you are there to protect them, no matter what.
Most of all have a safe and wonderful holiday season!
Questions… concerns…. Contact us! kim@pomwa.org We are here to help!