Extraordinary Thoughts to Keep the Babies Delighted for Ages

Big Foot Relay. Get the children fetch two shoeboxes with them. Magnetic Tape the lids onto the corners, then cut a one-inch-wide and four-inch long slit in to each one top. Get the contestants slip their feet into the slits in the boxes and race.

Batty Bowling. Retrieve a number of absurd or odd items that can be knocked over by a ball, much as a plastic milk carton, a candlestick, a stand-up doll, a plastic vase of blossoms, a pizza box, a pillar of clean cans, an umbrella stand, an empty oatmeal container, and a book. Line them up like bowling pins and grant the bowlers try to knock them through with volleyballs, tennis balls, or golf balls.

Blind Walk. Make an obstacle path from one end of the yard to the other. Line up the contestants and let them have a thorough look at the path. One at a time, blindfold the youngsters and have them walk the path without looking. Note each player’s time on the scoreboard.

Kill the Cockroach. Part the actors into 2 teams. Line them up, one in front of the other and set an odd object in front of the first players in line. They must kick the object crossways the yard and the across the finish line to win a point for their team. Kick things like a pillow, empty can, a sock, and so on.

Graduation Diplomas For All

Graduation Tassel

It has been a traditional practice for the graduation cap to have a tassel hanging from its top during each graduation ceremony, this practice traces its roots to the seventeenth century when the first tassels were made in France in a form of art known as passementrie. A graduation tassel is an embellishment or accessory that basically adds style and color to the gradation cap and attire. Graduates normally wear the tassel on the right of the cap before the ceremony and only transfer it to the left side of the cap after their diploma has been announced; this is usually done in unison using the left hand. Candidates, who already have a degree in their possession, wear the graduation tassel
on the left side of the gradation cap.
Tassels make a lovely souvenir from the gradation ceremony since they are small and light. However since a graduation tassel is not worn on a daily basis, it is important to find an appropriate and exciting way to preserve it and act as a constant reminder of the achievement made, this would be by attaching it to a key ring, car antenna, at the top of a pen one takes a liking for, to the cell phone or iPod or attaching it at the end of window blinds.

GraduationSource, a leader in graduation regalia products since 1960.

Panic

About 2 hours later, the contractions started. About 7-8 minutes apart at first, lasting around 30-45 seconds. A half hour later, 6-7 minutes apart, lasting 50-60 seconds. So we made her a bath to help with the pain that was now, pretty intense. While bathing, her contractions jumped to 4 minutes apart, lasting for 60+ seconds. Time to go!

By the time we got to the hospital, the contractions were obviously hurting her every 3 minutes or so. We thought we were going to have a baby tonight. Unfortunately, she wasn’t even dilated, at all. The nurse called our doctor to see what to do next. The doc said to give her a “knockout cocktail,” a concoction of morphine and a sleeping aid, for the pain, and send us home. The drugs will put her to sleep soon. I can’t believe that she’s not even close to giving birth and the pain is so bad that it stops her in her tracks, paralyzing her. It hurts to see her in this pain. I can’t even do anything but stick my fist in her back, and twist it around, just to ease the pain. Every three minutes of so, I’m doing this.

We get home, and hours pass in agony. She still hasn’t gotten any rest, because the pain is so bad not even the morphine and sleeping drugs are doing their job. She’s all groggy and starry eyed, but still can’t sleep. So I need to stay by her side at all times to help her through this. Holding her hand and pressing hard on her back every few minutes.

It’s hard to see her, my rock, my wife, in so much pain. In the back of my mind I am freaking out wondering, how bad is it going to be when the morphine wears off! The contractions are getting stronger and closer and longer now. And to think that the pain is going to get a lot worse breaks my heart. It’s going to be a long night. Tomorrow morning, we have a doctor’s appointment: Ultrasound, stress tests, and some other tests to see what’s going on and how the baby’s doing. Hopefully tomorrow’s the day.

By the way, now the contractions and pain are so close, it seems to never stop. I cannot wait to go to the hospital

Odds Of Getting Pregnant And Age

The odds of getting pregnant decline with age. The odds of getting pregnant are the greatest for a woman in her early twenties and then slowly decline with the passing years. Here are some numbers related to the chances of getting pregnant and age:

1. For ages early to mid-thirties - a woman in general will be about 15-20% less fertile.

2. For ages mid to late thirties - fertility will generally decline by up to 50%.

3. For women ages early to mid-forties - fertility declines by over 90%.

Why do the odds of getting pregnant generally decline as the woman gets older? Studies have indicated the reasons for fertility decline are related to the quality of the woman’s eggs as well as the quantity. A woman in her lifetime will typically produce about 400 fully developed eggs (usually one per month) that are capable of becoming implanted in the uterus and causing pregnancy. As these eggs get used up over thirty years or so and estrogen production slows so that the uterine and vaginal linings are no longer properly stimulated, pregnancy becomes less and less likely.

And what about the male’s role, age and the odds of getting pregnant? Studies have found that the probability of causing pregnancy for a man in his late thirties declines by about 40% from the probability during his twenties to mid-thirties.

How does a woman increase the odds of getting pregnant? Here are some tips:

• Know your fertile time - ovulation generally happens about 14 days before your next period begins. For women with cycles of 28 days, that could make day #14 your most fertile for getting pregnant (day #1 being the first day that your last period began).

• Monitor your basal body temperature - the slight elevations in your body temperature upon awakening each day will signal your most fertile time.

• Monitor your cervical mucus - ovulation will cause a change in the appearance and consistency of cervical mucus. Check yourself each day and you’ll be able to see the ‘egg-white-like’ vaginal discharge that indicates ovulation and your most fertile time.

• Adopt a healthy lifestyle - the odds of getting pregnant increase the more healthy you are. Healthy living includes a sensible diet, nutritional supplements, adequate quality sleep, managing stress, some exercise and weight management.

Planning to start a family, getting pregnant and pregnancy can be exciting, frustrating, fulfilling and without any certain outcome. Improving your health will add to the likelihood that you can become pregnant and have a healthy baby.

Copyright 2005 InfoSearch Publishing

Read more about pregnancy, ovulation tests and fertility monitors at www.safemenopausesolutions.com/ovulation-tests.html - Olinda Rola is President of InfoSearch Publishing and webmaster of www.safemenopausesolutions.com - a website of natural health articles for women of all ages.

We All Wish That Our Children Have Good Virtues, But… Are We Setting A Good Example Ourselves?

We all wish that our children should not smoke or drink, should not speak lies, should not steal, should not have a violent nature, etc… but are we setting a good example ourselves?

Just yesterday, I was at a friend’s place and his daughter came running up to us with her school calendar and asked him to put a remark for being absent for school. They had been to a close relative’s wedding and my friend merely wrote “Stomach Pain” and signed the calendar. Aren’t you indirectly teaching the child that it is OK to lie? I have seen so many parents protecting the guilt of their children by lying, I wonder what will happen to them when these children start lying to their parents themselves!

Smoking is a very bad habit and you must refrain from smoking, at least in front of children. When you smoke, your child watches your actions with great concentration and then even tries to imitate you. If you cannot leave the habit, go to the terrace / verandah and smoke. If you don’t have one, go for a walk and take your nicotine break there. If you have a spare room in your house, go there and remember to close / lock your door. So what if your child knows that you smoke? Don’t light up in front of him. If you are smoking and your child comes to you, extinguish your cigarette, even you have just started (even if you’re not a millionaire). Remember, passive smoking is just as dangerous to your child’s health. Don’t keep cigarettes lying around the house and always keep track of the number of cigarettes you have (even if you’re a millionaire). You don’t want your missing cigarettes found in your child’s schoolbag, do you? Remember one thing in your life - never ever ask your child to buy cigarettes for you, if you run out of them. If you do, be rest assured that your child will smoke, some day. You are exposing him to all the varieties of cigarettes, the touch, feel and smell of it, the cigarette vendor’s marketing skills and the other smokers. If your children ask you about your smoking habit, don’t lie. Tell them you do smoke and have accidently caught the habit. Don’t give a reason for smoking (like you are stressed, etc) as some day you will get a similar reason from him. Also tell him that you are trying to quit and genuinely give it a try. Get an anti-smoking screensaver and install it on your PC. You can get them free if you search on Google.com. Wouldn’t your children be happier if you lived a little longer?

The same goes for drinking. One important thing to remember - never get drunk in front of your children. If you are not in your senses, you could speak or do something that you shouldn’t, in front of your children. You can even cause physical or mental harm. If you MUST get drunk, go to a bar or confine yourself to a locked room. If your spouse is around, the better.

Don’t use foul language in front of children. As I mentioned earlier, children try to imitate you. If you come across a reckless driver and let off steam be careful with your words. Your child is listening. Never ever use foul language with your spouse and don’t abuse him / her, at least not in front of your children. I know, we all have our problems and married life (or any other life) isn’t a bed of roses. But try to confine your fights to your bedroom and control the decibel level unless you have a totally soundproof room. I have heard 3 year old children speaking the filthiest language, even if they probably don’t know what they’re speaking!

Never ever let go a child who stole something. Now, I’m not saying that if you found out that your child is stealing, jump on him or give him a tight slap. Don’t even humiliate him with shame. But sternly explain him that this is not right and make it crystal clear that it is not permitted. If he has stolen from a store, go back with him and make him return the item. If it is from school, make him return it to the teacher to avoid him from public shame. Explain to the teacher that you will be keeping an eye on him from repetition of the act. Follow your promise religiously and keep a check on his possessions within his schoolbag, his cupboard, etc. Is there something he possesses that is not bought by you? If so, be firm in knowing from where he got it from and insist on returning it. Don’t accept lies too easily, its as if you’re condoning the theft. Also remember, don’t keep money lying around the house even if you have money to burn. Make him understand the value of money. Maintain a limit on pocket money and encourage him to save. It is also time to think if the child needs more affection and attention at home and a watch over his company. If all attempts fail, approach a child psychiatrist.

Television, movies, games and comics also play a vital role in the psychology of the child. If he watches a lot of brutality, he may tend to act it out. Limit the time and type of programs he watches. Encourage him to watch productive programs suitable to his age. Although I don’t watch television often, recently I have been watching some serials and was quite surprised that most of them were centered around scheming women with criminal minds. A very important thing you should do is be with your child when watching television. If there is a scene which you shouldn’t want your child to see, distract him by asking him some question like “is your home work complete” and when he is looking at you, change the channel. If he insists to watch it, firmly tell him that it is not right for his age.

About The Author

Samir Jhaveri is the Head Marketing Director of http://www.Malamaal.com, a colossal estore that sells niche branded ebooks, softwares, website templates, scripts, recipes, etc, at phenomenal discounts. Most products also carry Resell Rights, so that you can resell the products and make profit. He also has a web hosting business with a record of 99.99 % Uptime across all servers and an excellent Customer friendly Support team.

Marriages May End But Families Are Forever

It was at that time when our marriage was falling apart and we completely hated each other when we needed to work constructively as parents, as our child’s world was crumbling too.

I have been divorced for over five years now and have a beautiful eleven year old daughter. My ex-husband has re married. They now have a baby girl. I get along very well with my ex husband and his wife and there are many reasons for this friendship.

Deciding to have a child was a separate commitment from the one we made to marry each other. So, from the time we divorced, we decided that we would not let that come in the way of us constructively being her parents.

Yes, but it was hard as we were both very childish back then. We both did terrible things to each other. He hid her passport and often threatened to take her away from me. I threatened to get a restraining order in place, such that he could not come within a certain radius of me. There was name-calling that lasted for months. We each competed for her love and affection and we each thought we were “better”. Luckily, both of us grew up and owned up to our respective childishness.

We had a few bad-examples around us to show us what we did not want for her and we genuinely started to cooperate.

I realised that no one apart from him has her best interest at heart as much as me. I also realised later when he was about to re-marry that I didn’t want my daughter to have to be with a Fairy Tale ‘Wicked Step Mother’. With these things in mind, I decided consciously to prioritise this friendship between my ex husband and myself, initially and then later, when he re married, I made choices to encourage a healthy and working friendship between his wife and myself, respecting her role as his wife and my daughter’s step mother and often seeking her support and opinions. I was careful never to cross the boundaries or to take advantage of the fact that I too was once married to him, for example, I never referred to my ex husband and me as “we” in front of her. I appreciate her influence in my daughter’s life. I discovered that people generally have so much to contribute to others, if we would only let them. I learnt from them too that when in a relationship or marriage, it was very healthy to encourage your current partner to tolerate and accept your ex spouse being discussed politely in the household.

What the experts think

You may think that this is about sacrificing and giving in but really it’s about being selfish. This is an approach preferred by Dr. Ron Wilkinson, PH.D, a psychotherapist in Dallas, Texas, with 23 years clinical experience working with families. In my discussions with him, he said “I encourage parents to be goal-oriented and selfish. In our culture, ’selfish’ tends to be seen as a dirty word. In a more pure sense, however, a selfish person is someone who gets what they want.” When each parent sees that there is something in it for them, to have a friendship with the ex-husband, for example, getting to look like the good guy, it makes the whole task easier to do.

Family functioning has been the major emphasis of Dr. Wilkinson’s study and training at both the master’s and doctoral level. He has treated many families struggling with this very issue, and has found time and again that nothing is more important to a child’s life post-divorce than the relationship between the two parents. Both his clinical and personal experience was confirmed by his 1992 research: that the parents’ relationship, more than anything else, determines the child’s post-divorce functioning.

A child, even a grown up one, is not concerned with who is right and who is wrong. They are concerned with having a relationship with both parentsregardless of their age.

All this requires fortitude and focus on the goal and not allowing the day to day irritations to get to you. In my training and experiences as a Life Coach and a parent, I learnt to practice the art of Responding versus Reacting. A reaction is automatic, not thought through consequentially, whereas a response is chosen. Between an action and its reaction there is a space, and in that space is the opportunity to choose. Responding is using that space to make that choice and to do or say what will get you closer to your goal rather than away from it. In your dealings with your ex spouse, always remind yourself that your goal is having a working and pleasant relationship with them and it is your goal because of what it’s going to bring YOU. Not just your child.

Develop the habit of carefully choosing your responses instead of impulsively reacting to each other.

Trust is one of the most important ingredients in this relationship. Remember that we are dealing here with your Flesh and Blood, and your ex-husband’s Flesh and Blood too. Both need to feel that the other will do what he/she says they will.

Win Win

Another thing that helps is to be polite “Please” and “Thank you” will get you very far. just remember “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”. In that way you win and your child wins. Of course, your ex spouse also wins. In human relationships, such as marriage and co-parenting either both partners actually win or actually lose. And when one wins at the expense of the other, the one who really loses is the child. So, although sometimes, revenge may seem sweet, check yourself and notice that the only ones who suffer and lose is your child.

Dr. Rick Hanson PH.D says that about 90% of what enables divorced parents to work well together is exactly what enables married parents to work well together, including personal well-being, insight into oneself, emotional openness, civility, empathy, goodwill, clarity about the values and principles that guide parenting practices, and skill at negotiating practical arrangements. The other 10% has to do with things like keeping one’s feelings about the divorce compartmentalised away from the business of co-parenting, working out the details of money, custody, vacations, grandparents and integrating new friends/lovers/mates. Employing the services of a Life Coach can make this a lot easier.

If all else fails, Dr. Hanson suggests - imagine that a video recording is being made of your discussion/quarrel/fight with your ex- and your children will be viewing it at some time in the future: how do you want to appear?

It’s okay to love them

Often children feel torn between two parents, this happens within marriages, and definitely in divorced families. It was important for my daughter to see that I was not jealous or hurt that she loved her step mom and her half sister too. We have pictures all over our place of her little half sister. I did not want to separate my child’s family from her.

There is nothing easy about this, and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. It is hard work. But it’s worth it. When we make a decision to have a child, it is a lifetime commitment and a promise to provide this child with all they need. Divorce may happen but does that mean that we deprive our child of their family? It’s never too late to start building this alliance.

Get clear on what you want for your child and yourself. Think ahead into the future-how it will impact your child when, because of your choices; only one parent is at their graduation, in the hospital waiting room when they get hurt or sick, or at their wedding? Children need both parents and if through a little hard work and perseverance, you can ensure that your child has that, why not do your part?

Ron Wilkinson, Ph.D. A psychotherapist in Dallas, Texas, with 23 years clinical experience working with families. On a more personal note he co-parented his two sons, now 21 and 24, with his ex-wife for the last 13 years and they remain friends yet today. He was very generous to discuss this topic at length with me.

Rick Hanson, Ph.D., clinical psychologist, father (with Jan Hanson) of a 15-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter, and first author of Mother Nurture: A Mother’s Guide to Health in Body, Mind, and Intimate Relationships (Penguin, 2002).

About The Author

Malti Bhojwani is a trained Life Coach, certified in Neuro Linguistic Programming. She challenges her clients by phone internationally, to re-own their wonderful attributes, which they have “forgotten” using powerful techniques to help discover strategies and create new ones. She works with you to integrate conflicting parts, because she believes that we can only truly move ahead when we are congruent! Call +61419 119900 or visit www.multi-coaching.com

malti@multi-coaching.com