Business, economic development - the unofficial Chamber of Commerce

1. They can make mistakes under your guidance

2. They will learn how to save for the future

3. They will learn that money doesn’t “grow on trees”

4. They will appreciate what they have

5. They will learn to make choices and set priorities

6. They may stop nagging you for money

7. There will be less friction in your household

8. They will learn healthy financial behaviors

9. They will learn your values

10. You can teach them that it isn’t all “about the money”

11. They will learn how to spend wisely

12. They will be prepared to enter the grown-up world.

13. Allowances will teach your children to be resourceful, independent and unique.

14. An allowance is a “tool to empower your children to avoid commercialism’s clutches.”

15. You can teach them to avoid the pitfalls of debt

16. You can help them improve their communication skills around money.

17. An allowance now could help them avoid future “marital money chaos”

18. They’ll learn the difference between quantity and quality.

19. They’ll learn how it feels to make a poor choice and have to live with it.

20. They’ll learn how to resist impulses (sometimes, maybe!)

21. They’ll learn to appreciate and take care of their things.

For help in designing an Allowance system that works for your family, please contact Cindy at 541-387-2995 or by e-mail.

(c) Phelps Creek Financial Coaching - All Rights Reserved

Cindy S. Morus (www.phelps-creek.com) is a Certified Financial Recovery Counselor specializing in showing women and their families how to achieve financial well-being and peace of mind. She is also a Certified Credit Report Reviewer and Get Clients NOW! licensee. Contact her at 541-387-2995 or cmorus@phelps-creek.com She is also the publisher and editor of “Financial Fitness”, an internet gazette dedicated to helping people improve their financial fitness no matter what decisions were made in the past.

Attention Ezine editors/Site owners: Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or website as long as you leave all links in place, do not alter the content and include our resource box as listed above. If you do use the material please send us a note (cmorus@phelps-creek.com) so we can take a look. Thanks.

Why people get stretches?

Many studies concluded that people can get striae (stretch marks) any time their skin is stretching or growing quickly. The result is atrophy of the deeper dermal layers of the skin and a grossly visible stretch mark.

Women are prone to get them during pregnancy when they can appear on the abdomen, breasts or hips.Many women get stretch marks during pregnancy, many do not. Whether you get them or not is truly a matter of genes.

Taking them as a natural part of pregnancy, women are interested to prevent them. The bad news is, there isn’t anything that effectively to prevents stretch marks. Although stretch marks are often noticeable during the pregnancy, the good news is that, they usually slowly change their redness to pink and then silvery and pale as time passes.

People have had some success with pure cocoa butter or with creams containing this ingredient. Avoiding excessive weight gain may help a bit, but is natural for a women to gain weight when she grow a baby. Although vitamin E have been proposed to prevent striae, it has not been shown to be effective yet. So don’t spend your energy and money using ineffective or unsafe treatments and wait. If they do not disappear, laser therapy, dermabrasion and topical medications could be effective in diminishing them.

Valerian D is a freelance writer interested in issues affecting such as stretch marks and pregnancy

So, you’ve got a child at school, and they know how to read and write well. Perhaps they do very well academically.

This is, of course, very important, but how well does your child communicate orally?
Are they a confident, clear speaker?

Chances are, that within the school system, your child spends the majority of time
focused on writing and reading skills, while not so much time on oratory ones. If
you look objectively at your own life for a single day, you will notice that most of
your interactions with other people require you to know how to speak and listen
well. Good oral communicators find it easier to make friends and will find it easier
in the long term to find and hold good jobs.

Good oratory skills are only one of the benefits that learning drama gives your child.

Here are some more:

• In learning drama, your child is learning a wide range of appropriate (and
inappropriate) ways of communicating. They learn to project their voice and to
speak words clearly.

• Your child learns those subtle cues that we all give away when we are interacting
with someone else. It may mean a mannerism, or understanding that someone is
angry - even when they say they are not - but their lips are tightened in a line, arms
are folded across the chest.

• In learning drama, your child is learning that important quality of empathy. It
allows, if only briefly, for the actor to experience how someone else thinks and acts.

• Your child learns how to act, obviously. This may seem a weird thing - who but
actors need to act? We do. We do it every single day. We put on a smile at the
checkout lady when we really feel like crap. We go to a job interview, terribly
nervous and yet hide our nerves (that is act).

• Drama works to promote your child’s imagination. Imagination is one of life’s
essential ingredients. Take for example, the teenager who has just been ‘dumped’
by their boyfriend. In amongst the tears and heartache, imagination (if it has been
allowed to develop) begins to take hold. The ‘minds eye’ starts working, and the
teen can begin to see other possibilities - a new boyfriend, or how staying single
could actually be a good thing. It starts as a seed and grows until what was
imagined becomes reality.

• Imagination gives life excitement - it keeps things interesting. Even our top
scientists need an imagination. In order to find a cure for cancer, for example, the
scientist must first be able to imagine a cure.

• Drama, by its very nature requires that the child be put into circumstances -
physically, mentally and emotionally - that are outside their understanding of how
things should be. This helps them to grow as a person.

So, you can see that by encouraging drama both at school and in the home, you are
giving your child some enormous personal benefits that will stay with them long
into adulthood.

Marilynn McLachlan
http://www.generationxparenting.com
Cynical, Creative, Conscious
Giving modern families a voice. Join up today!

Nappy rash appears when your baby’s skin is irritated by wee and poo contained in the nappy area. The skin appears red and raw due to bacteria and germs penetrating the normally protected layer of skin exposed to the irritants.

Regularly changing your baby’s nappy is the best deterrent of nappy rash, however it is most likely that nappy rash will appear at some stage during the time your baby is wearing nappies.

When you change your baby’s nappy be sure to clean the area thoroughly with warm water and a soft cloth or cotton wool. After cleaning be sure to dry the area as much as possible as moisture can contribute to the problem.

If you use nappy wipes or “wet wipes” to clean your baby’s nappy area be mindful that these products typically contain certain chemicals or perfumes which can sting your baby’s skin, especially if the skin has become broken from the rash.

Check for brands of nappy wipes which are perfume and alcohol free for best results and follow the advice given above of ensuring the area is well cleaned and dry after use.

A number of nappy creams and ointments are available for use with nappy rash, ranging from medicated creams to natural organic solutions. Most creams are zinc based which acts as a barrier against the skin and protects from bacteria and germs.

If the nappy rash does not improve when using a cream, perhaps try different products until you find one which provides good relief. There’s not much difference between expensive and store bought creams as the important factor is finding a preparation which works for your baby.

If possible try and leave your baby bare, without a nappy, for short periods of time to allow the skin to “breathe”. Of course leaving a nappy off comes with the obvious problems so watch out for the toilet signs or if your baby is not yet mobile you can lay them on a changing mat or suitable covered surface.

Should the nappy rash symptoms worsen or not show signs of improvement despite your treatment and care, you should consult your doctor or health care practitioner. If a nappy rash becomes infected then an antibiotic cream may be prescribed.

Babyshower games can be the best part or the worst part of a baby shower. Not everyone likes to get up and do the baby dance or embarrass themselves in front of a group they may or may not know well. It is easy to find free babyshower games online and, if you spend some time reading through them, you will most likely find some fun baby shower games that all of your guests will enjoy.

Before the shower, ask each guest to bring a baby photo of themselves and then display all of the photos on a decorated bulletin board. Be sure to include the guest of honor! This is a nice way to break the ice and allows the guests to mingle and get to know one another a bit. It might be a good idea to start with some non action, writing games. You can make a word search online and fill it in with baby words. Or have a name game where you mix-up popular baby names and the guests unscramble them. The first person to complete the page should receive a prize. As the guests begin to warm up, you can offer some more unique baby shower games.

One game is to fill newborn diapers with small amounts of crushed chocolate candy bars. The guests then smell the diapers and decide if it is a Butterfinger, a Snickers bar or just plain milk chocolate. It is funny to watch the looks on people’s faces as they see people sniffing tiny diapers! You can have them write out their guesses and then give the person with the most correct answers a prize.

If you have more time on your hands, you can adapt some of the more popular board games like Pictionary or Taboo into baby shower games. For Pictionary, make some cards that would ask your guests to draw different baby items like bottles or diapers or pacifiers. For Taboo, follow the directions for the game, but again, substitute baby words on the cards. Just remember to have a buzzer on hand, as the guests like to buzz any words that shouldn’t be said!

If you are still at a loss as to what to play, you can find hundreds of printable babyshower games for a small fee. With delicious food, good baby shower games and a celebrated mom to be, your baby shower will be a great success.

Kelly Jezek is a successful Webmaster and publisher of mybabyshowerhelper.com She provides more helpful tips on planning the perfect baby shower at her site. Visit my baby shower helper today!

“Getting organized” is more than eliminating clutter and creating neat storage systems. One of the most important areas of organizing is task management. It’s never too early (or too late) to teach kids how to get and stay organized with schoolwork. The skills they learn now will carry over into high school, college, and ultimately, their careers and home management as adults.

1. Establish a great homework routine. With your child, determine the best time for
daily school work and stick with it. For some kids, it will be right after school.
Others may need some downtime to play, and then it’s time to hit the books. The
most important thing is to stick to the schedule so your child knows what’s
expected.

2. Set up the space. Have a designated study area, such as the kitchen table. But for
unique assignments, allow for some flexibility such as moving to a rocking chair for
reading chapter books. Create a school supply box and keep it well stocked with
supplies (paper, pens, pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, ruler, sticky notes, calculator,
etc.) so kids don’t have an excuse to get up.

3. Make sure you know what’s going on. Instruct children to unload their backpacks
as
soon as they come home. Have them hang up their bags in a designated area (try a
coat rack, pegs on the wall, or a wicker laundry basket near the front door) for easy
access tomorrow and bring homework to the designated study area. Check in each
day so you’re aware of their workload and take special care when they seem
overwhelmed.

4. Encourage the use of lists and planners. The older kids get, the more homework
and
activities they’ll have. Teach them to manage their tasks with the use of simple lists
or a planner/calendar of some sort. Office supply stores sell ones with cute kid-
friendly designs, or use computer lists (or even PDAs) for techie kids. When they
learn of upcoming assignments, tests, or events, they should write them down
in their planners.

5. Encourage color coding. Color affects our mood and memory. Let kids pick the
colors of their folders and notebooks to correspond to different classes. If green
reminds them of science, then they’ll know instantly to grab the green notebook
when looking for their science notes.

Copyright 2005 Time to Organize. All rights reserved.

Sara Pedersen, veteran professional organizer, is the author of the FREE
e-newsletter “Organzing Dreams.” Sign up today at http://www.time2organize.net to
receive your FREE quarterly subscription. Then, make YOUR organizing dreams
come true by visiting http://www.time2organize.net where you’ll find dozens of organizing
tips, before and after photos, an interactive quiz and much more.

All newborns are, of course, different. Some sleep better than others at a young age, which prompts many parents to trade stories of how “lucky” or “unlucky” they were with a given child.

There is, no doubt, a certain amount of mystery to getting a child to sleep well and through the night on his own. Nevertheless, a plethora of baby sleep tips exist intended to speed up the process which your child goes through before sleeping on his own.

Getting your child to sleep on his own in a timely fashion involves speeding up a natural transition: the one from sleeping with his mother to sleeping on his own.

At first, when your baby wakes up in the middle of the night, he will cry for his mother, as this is the only way he knows how to fall asleep.

One of the things you must do as a parent is help create the best environment for your baby to fall asleep on his own.

Many people naturally assume that the best environment for sleep is one of total silence: most of us are familiar with having to tiptoe around a sleeping baby’s room.

Although a quiet environment is the best one for most adults, you’d be well advised to remember where your newborn baby has been sleeping for the past nine months: in his mother’s womb.

In the womb, of course, your newborn slept in many situations that were far from quiet - when the mother was out in public, or socializing with other people. For this reason a newborn baby will often sleep better by being exposed to some quiet background noise.

You should be trying to allow some ambient “white noise” to be around your baby when he goes to sleep.

Sudden loud noises will, of course, rouse him, but in most cases some background chatter and other soothing noises will help the sleep process: most adults, I’m sure, can likely remember falling asleep to the sounds of their parents and their friends having a conversation.

There are products marketed to new parents to create these ambient noises - most notably audio CDs containing tracks of soothing noise.

It usually isn’t necessary to buy these, however - in most cases simply leaving the door to the baby’s nursery ajar will do the trick. In a similar vein, if your baby falls asleep around company, allow him to stay there rather than moving him to a quiet room.

By helping to create the best possible environment for your baby’s sleep, you help him learn to fall asleep in his own.

Often a humming noise can help - we all know how easy it can be to fall asleep in a moving car - so having a humidifier or fan in the baby’s room can often do wonders.

Whatever solution you choose, remember that it needn’t be overly complicated. Simply leave the door ajar, or let your baby sleep in the company of others.

Contrary to what many people intuitively think, if you keep your baby from sleeping in total silence, he’ll often sleep much better.

Drikus Botha is wellknown for his articles and e-courses.

You can subscribe to one of his free baby sleep tips e-courses right here

What are the Factors that can Rule Out the Presence of ADHD?

By George Gallegos, Ph.D.
www.youADDitup.com

According to the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-IV, ADHD is a disorder that first presents in childhood usually observed before the age of seven years in a child. It is characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, distractibility, impulsivity, and/or hyperactivity. Impairment is realized in one or more major life areas typically in the home, in the classroom, in social interactions, in occupational settings, or other areas of adaptive functioning. The symptom list goes on to describe a variety of interferences that can be presented with ADHD that can easily disrupt performance, learning, and behavior in any child. Curiously, the symptom description fails to specify the amount or severity of symptoms with the exception that the interference must exceed normal developmental levels evident in children. As a result, parents and professionals alike are left with the challenge of distinguishing excessive ADHD symptoms from those that are normal for a child’s specific level of development.

Good practice demands that an ADHD evaluation include the gathering of multiple types of information from a variety of sources. A simultaneous effort must be made to rule out as many alternative disorders that can present with similar attention and performance difficulties. This could include but not be limited to the impairments observed in learning disabilities, developmental delays in younger children, sensory regulation dysfunction, mood difficulties and depression, anxiety, as well as basic low motivational effort. These alternative disruptions will easily and predictably interfere with a child’s optimal performance and learning in the classroom. However, distinguishing these interferences in the classroom remains a challenge for teachers and professionals especially when attention deficits are characteristic of a variety of interfering disorders.

As a child psychologist, I realize this professional challenge every time I begin a new ADHD evaluation for a presented child. I will then lament the absence of an accurate and objective evaluation for ADHD that can effectively distinguish inattention from alternative interfering conditions. On occasion, I will be fortunate to learn crucial information about the presenting child that I have come to recognize as “Rule Outs” of ADHD. While these Rule Out factors are not necessarily absolute in their distinguishing ability, they usually increase my potential of accurately diagnosing ADHD.

Age of onset is one of these differential diagnostic factors. The presence of ADHD can be recognized at least by the age of seven in a child. Generally by this age, a child has developed in multiple areas including cognitive, social, emotional, behavioral, and physical so as to allow them to meet the majority of routine expectations held for that student in the classroom. The same cannot be said for five year old children who may still be developing their ability to self regulate attention and activity level so as to facilitate learning in the kindergarten classroom. My comfort level in attempting ADHD evaluations is substantially improved when the identified child is at least six years of age. By this chronological age, I can more accurately use my clinical expertise and judgment to determine when activity and inattention is observed beyond expected developmental levels.

I use a related Rule Out factor whenever I evaluate students who are somewhat older in age. Recently, I evaluated a fifth grade girl referred due to her lower academic achievement and difficulty attending specifically in the area of Math. Her absence of inattentive symptoms or concerns during earlier elementary years cast serious doubt on a possible ADHD diagnostic. Not only was there an absence of earlier ADHD concerns, but this student enjoyed excellent academic achievement and performance in all prior elementary years. Unfortunately, her math performance began to show degradation as she progressed in curriculum involving higher abstraction in concepts and problem solving. In my opinion, increased academic challenge will predictably generate higher levels of inattention and poor task engagement in students and cannot be recognized as the neurological impairment of ADHD.

Rule Out factors are critical when considering any child for ADHD. Specifically, children should show evidence of ADHD by age seven and the symptoms can not be confused with delayed child development. ADHD symptom interference should be recognized by classroom teachers in every elementary grade without fail, and the interference should be evidenced in every academic area. This suggests that an ADHD student will show some amount of impaired attention in all subjects and activities. And finally, ADHD interference will not suddenly present in fourth or fifth grade correspondent with the increasing curriculum demands in elementary school. In the current example, a student who demonstrates developmentally appropriate ability to sustain task engagement early in elementary school will not lose this ability in later grades. More accurately, learning weaknesses or motivational problems frequently present in students struggling with the progressive academic demands in the classroom. These students will almost certainly have trouble keeping focused and attentive to their assigned work.

These Rule Out factors are certainly useful in arriving at an accurate diagnosis of ADHD in any child or student. Although such Rule Out factors can reasonably dismiss the diagnosis of ADHD, such factors are largely suggestive rather than absolute in making this diagnostic determination. The non-specific descriptive criteria of ADHD (DSM-IV) in combination with the lack of objective ADHD testing will continue to set the stage for significant clinical judgment contributing to its final diagnosis. While there are numerous factors and indicators that will support an accurate diagnosis of ADHD, there are numerous variant presentations of this disorder that must be considered either to diagnose or rule out this disorder.

I am a child psychologist recently retired from the public school district. I continue to maintain a private practice devoted to the assessment of ADHD in children. I have recently developed a parent questionnaire that helps parents decide whether to pursue a formal ADHD evaluation for their child. This questionnaire can be viewed at http://www.youadditup.com

When couples find out that they will be parents, they usually want to tell everyone about it! The Internet has given moms and dads an easy way to broadcast the great news to friends and family worldwide. Anyone can create a wonderful baby website using one of many “do it yourself” baby website builders. The user just fills in forms, and clicks on buttons and the content and pictures are sent to beautiful baby templates. The parents do not need to know any programming or special skills whatsoever to make a beautiful baby website.

The baby website allows the future Mom to share her pregnancy with people around the globe. She can upload pictures of her growing belly and share ultrasounds of the baby, which are pictures of the baby inside her. Many women like to keep a journal of what they are going through during pregnancy. If there are some pages on the baby website that are very private, and they only want to give access to certain individuals, they can easily password protect those pages.

Some baby websites even allow the user to upload a digital video clip, so relatives can see the baby’s first movements and keep track of milestone events. It’s been a God Send for one set of Grandparents who live in London England, according to Marla Miller who lives in New York City. She created a baby website for her newborn with no skills whatsoever using a baby website builder. “Justin’s grandparents were too old to travel and see him after I gave birth, but they were able to see him minutes after he was born because we uploaded a video clip from the delivery. We put up a new video every week which makes them feel like they live next door instead of on the other side of the world”.

It is very easy to upload your favorite song as well on many baby websites, which makes the website even more fun. Parents can create special pages such as a quiz page and a family page where they include pictures and information on the rest of the clan. That way interested parties can watch everyone develop not just the newborn. Most baby websites also have several photo albums and a guest book where visitors can leave a message.

Baby websites give friends and family an easy method to give the new baby a gift. Most parents register their babies for a gift registry at a baby store, and it is easy to make direct links to the baby registry right on the baby website. This gives people a fast and easy way to give a gift that the parents actually want, instead of a gift that needs to be returned. It is truly appreciated by the gift giver as well as the receiver.

The baby website can eventually be converted into a family website and become a communications hub for the entire family. Best of all it is lots of fun, easy to do, and it keeps families in touch who would otherwise not be involved in each other’s lives.

Robert Hirscheimer is the President of http://www.baby.myevent.com, the #1 website builder on the Internet. Myevent.com allows anyone to create an incredible website with no skills for any event. There are special features for Wedding Websites, Class Reunion Websites, Family Reunion websites or a website for any milestone event. The company also has a generic website builder where anyone can create a website for a business, foundation, association or any other purpose. Go to http://www.baby.myevent.com to start a 7 day free trial with no credit card required. The cost is only $9.95 after the free trial.

The crying – oh, the crying. A colicky baby can really drive you to the edge. Failed attempts to soothe her crying may leave you wondering if you are cut out to be a parent after all. But, don’t worry, you are. You just need to arm yourself with some tools to battle each colic-crying outburst.

But, first, let’s define why your colic baby cries.

The most popular theory from scientists lately is an underdeveloped and immature nervous system. I know all women who have given birth can attest to the fact that a baby has a big head. Right?

Wrong. Actually, a baby’s head isn’t big enough to house a brain that is mature enough to have all the survival tools a human infant needs. Their brain is only the size of an apple. The birth canal cannot handle a bigger head (thank God). So, when a baby is born, the only inherent survival skills are sneezing, sucking, swallowing and….CRYING!

Most babies (80%, that is) are capable of crying for a reason, and then calming themselves down. These are usually what I call “the good sleepers” or “easy babies”. They are awake for awhile to learn and accept stimuli. Then they sleep to recover and awake to take in more stimuli.

Unfortunately, a colicky baby is usually NOT a “good sleeper” or an “easy baby”. They are high-maintenance. Their nervous system is overloaded with all the sights and sounds of a new world. And by about dinner time, they’ve had it. The crying begins. Once they start crying, they lack the mechanism to calm themselves down. In my experience, most mothers with colicky infants tell the same story. Their baby fights going to sleep. They won’t take a nap. They won’t stay asleep once they do finally go to sleep. These poor babies never take the time to recover from all the stimuli they have taken in over the course of a day.

So this is where you, as a parent, step in. Reduce the environmental stimuli and recreate the feeling your baby had while in the womb.

Remember, in the womb, your baby was packed in tightly. It was dark. It was warm. And the prominent sound she heard was the “whoosh” of blood flowing through the placenta. This “whoosh” is a little louder than the noise of a vacuum cleaner running.

However, there are other items you might have around the house that can lull your over stimulated colic baby to sleep. Most babies can be soothed by rhythmic, monotonous, low-pitched, humming sound that repeats at 60-70 pulses per minute. Here are 10 such items for you to try:

1.A shower running
2.A fan
3.A running dishwasher
4.A running washing machine
5.A very loud, ticking clock
6.A bathroom fan turned on with the light off
7.A metronome set a 60 beats per minute
8.A radio tuned to static
9.A tv tuned to static
10.Smooth jazz or easy listening stations

While listening to these rhythmic sounds, it is best to lower the lights, and make your baby comfortable. Remember, we are trying to recreate the feeling of being in the womb.

Finally, it is true what you read. Baby colic does eventually come to an end. As your baby grows, and their brains increase in size, all of the circuits mature and they learn the survival tools necessary to cope. It only takes about three to six months. In the meantime, when you feel a crying outburst about to happen, turn off the lights…and turn on all your household appliances.

Just kidding!

Cherie L. Stirewalt is a colic baby survivor and shares her colic experiences on her website Colic-Baby-Bootcamp.com. The site offers a one-of-a-kind white noise download and white noise CD to help frustrated parents cope with their fussy baby fast!

Join the Free Colic Baby Bootcamp newsletter and receive more colic related tips and tricks at http://www.colic-baby-bootcamp.com/newsletter.html.