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Most Recent Articles
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- The Kitchen Hot Spot
If you belong to those lucky people who have had the privilege of enjoying a warm breakfast or the happy voices of the family crowd gathered around the kitchen table, it is most likely that this cooking spot in your family's house brings back a lot of happy memories every time you enter its premises. Like many of you, my family kitchen has been the focal point of my life from childhood to adulthood. Although I cannot always recall with confidence, whether or not a conversation took place in any other room inside my family's house, I am usually able to remember the one that took place inside the kitchen.
My cultural background evolves around food. When people in my home country decide to spend some quality time together, they usually do it around food. Asking a visitor if he is hungry the moment he enters our house is not considered rude or inconsiderate. On the contrary, this is a question one asks in order to make sure that the other feels welcomed. It is actually impolite not to ask if your guest needs to drink or to eat anything even before they are sited in the living-room couch. Although this practice made me wonder while I was a kid why people popped the "million-dollar" question after the guest has been comfortably seated, I realized as the years went by that there is a big difference between asking someone if he or she want to eat or drink anything from inviting that person to enter the sanctuary of the kitchen. The process of opening the door of the kitchen and letting the other person explore its content is saved to be offered to those who have successfully passed the line between "I like you" and "I love you." Even though my father, in particular, was the one that usually left the fridge door open to everyone's sight, the understanding that this was an act of goodwill was more than obvious. Those who managed to stay in the kitchen room more often became clearer to me as I grew up that were the people my parents really cared for and wanted to share their lives with. - The Time When Children Decide To Spend Really Counts
A variety of authors have written over the years what should be the amount of allowance a child is provided with or if a allowance should be provided at the first place. Different people follow different practices and the issue here is not what is better, but rather what parents consider to work best for their kids. The amount of money a child receives as a reward or a weekly stipend is not the only thing important. What I consider to be extremely important is the way kids learn to spend the money they receive for whatever reason since the responsibility lessons these practices provide will shape the children's character and will direct their actions for the rest of their lives.
I remember one sunny day, while sitting on a bench in my home city's park and reading a book, that I was given the opportunity to become a witness of a rather unusual, at least for my experiences, event. As I was near a children's playground I was able to hear parents talking to their children and them screaming their answers, laughing and playing with friends. At some point, a lady came and sat next to me, holding a kid's bike. A few minutes later, I watched her son approach and asking her if she wanted anything. That made me stop reading and I raised my head to observe the child better. The boy was not more than ten years old and seemed a very pleasant and happy kid. He was looking at his mother, who was in her early forties, while pointing at an ice-cream selling machine a few meters down the road. I listened to her as she replied that the ice-cream would not be a good idea for neither of them at this point, since he was still playing football with his friends and he has been sweating. An ice-cream or anything really cold would probably harm his throat and he would not be able to speak later. The boy heard the reply and as this was not what he expected to hear, he decided to put on an unhappy face and beg for the ice-cream. His mother did not back up from her original decision and argued that since he is a big boy now, he could make his own decisions. But, since she was still his mother, she would not jeopardize his health by giving him money to buy something that could later trouble him. The boy then decided to follow another strategy and responded that he was going to buy as many ice-creams as he wanted with the money his dad has given him earlier during the week, as a reward for his school performance. The mother agreed that if this was where he wanted to spend his money on, she was not going to stop him. She just added at the end, as the kid was looking at her with a suspicious face since he could not understand why his mother agreed with his plan, that "in case you do buy the ice-creams you want now, instead waiting for an hour to eat the one we have at home, you will decrease the amount you have been saving in order to buy that special basket you want so much for your bike. But if this is what you want, I will not stop you." - Gifts They Will Remember
If your kid's birthday is approaching fast and you are searching the market for an idea that will excite your child and be memorable, you should better read the following ideas and avoid spending a fortune on an item that might be disregarded as soon as the packaging is off the box.
- Books: Books on history, geography, literature, or those discussing hobbies and crafts can be an excellent present for any age. The musical or squeaky books can be given to smaller ones, preschoolers can receive short stories with coloring pages, older children will be happy to read an adventure and mystery story, and young teenagers are always interesting in examining something trendy or seeing the world-even through the pages of a book. Select the right book according to your child's interest and introduce them from an early age to the amazing world of books. - Keep Family Traditions Alive
Each family , big or small, loud or quiet, has its own traditions that are followed more or less unchanged for a long period of time. Keeping these family traditions alive is not only the responsibility of the parents, but also the grandparents, the uncles and aunts, the family friends and in most cases, the responsibility of children. Whether you consider a family tradition to be the annual family vacations to that special place you visit every year, the Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas presents and birthday parties, the fact remains that families come closer and share the memories of past rituals performed to honor everyone.
When children are still young, so too are parents, family traditions seem to be more sentimental and involve a lot of playing around. As kids get older and parents as well, families try to keep their traditions alive by reaching mutual agreements among the family members. The son that wants to go to a football match and escape the tradition of having to sit down, like every other Sunday, with his whole ten-member family for dinner, can cause some trouble when allowed not to be present often. Keeping the tradition is thus not only the responsibility of the parents in a family, as people seem to believe, but also that of children who will at some point create their own traditions and strive to keep them alive in their own families. Understanding the importance of spending those precious moments with your parents or with your children, will lead you to cherish the instances you had a chance to speak through your actions. - Mother Nature
Nature is the very essence of all the entities that make up the universe. Mother Nature is the mythical personification of nature that has created, managed, distributed and even regenerated all the ecosystems in the biosphere. From ancient times, images of women that represent "mother earth" or "mother nature" are timeless. In fact, long before people begun to record history, goddesses were worshipped, as they were associated with fertility and agriculture. Even today people use the name of nature as being equivalent to a divine power that is able to guide the adaptation of species when these are subjected to natural environmental change or when they suffer serious damage due to the changes human exploitation has produced.
Along history and during the human evolutionary process, the world has witnessed countless numbers of peoples, tribes, ethnic groups, cultures and empires. In fact, a variety of cultures the common denominator of "mother nature" is illustrated in the scripts of different civilizations like Incan, Assyrian, Babylonian, Slavonic, Roman, Greek, and Indo-European fertility religions. Some were governed by matriarchies, with groups of women in many communities assuming enormous responsibilities-taking charge of their people's survival-always aiming in finding ways of providing them with food and drink, helping them to grow and develop, and taking care of the elderly and the sick. Women, in short, have taken on the responsibility of guiding people's development, whatever the costs. - The Parents Television Council
The Parents Television Council (PTC) has been a watchdog of family values on television since it was founded in 1995 by longtime political activist L. Brent Bozell III. It is a US-based nonprofit organization which aims to "restore television to its roots as an independent and socially responsible entertainment medium". The group's stance if officially nonpartisan in nature, but it is known for taking a conservative stand on sensitive matters. It has embarked on a number of highly-visible undertakings, including cable choice for family-friendly networks, exposing advertisers that advertise on objectionable programming and calling attention to the disrespect of religion on television.
The PTC is mainly involved in the evaluation and rating of TV programs as well as in educating media as to what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable television fare as well as in organizing national advocacy efforts, when necessary. - Have Fun With Your Kids
It is time to stop hearing that phrase "I am bored" again. Although some days it looks like you have no energy left to devote to your kids , it is important for you to remember that these are the times that they will later cherish in their memory and you will be glad you had a chance to experience a variety of things with them. Having fun is not that difficult. Just get off the couch and open the door to excitement.
Spending some quality time with your children does not only help them build a better relationship with you, it does also offer to you the opportunity to examine how your kids feel to be able to smile to something else than that TV set they are usually watching. One interesting idea is for you to invest in buying a trampoline. If you have a garden or a park nearby, trampolines are always fun to play with regardless of the kids' age. Burning calories and having fun can be combined through this exciting outdoor activity and if you have a video-camera prepare to film your kids' movements up on the air. - The Role Model Of Tiger Woods
Earl Woods, the father of the world's top golfer Tiger Woods, died of prostate cancer in early-May 2006 at the age of 74. Most people regarded Earl with great respect for being the architect and driving force behind Tiger's awesome career. But to Tiger, his father meant something else.
"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply," said Tiger. "I'm overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn't be where I am today without him, and I'm honored to continue his legacy of sharing and caring." - Family Dinners Essential To Communication
You've heard the research. You know that establishing the habit of sitting down together for dinner as a family is critical to building and maintaining healthy communication with your children. But then you look at your calendar and wonder how in the world you can make time to squeeze in a family dinner every night.
First of all, as long as your family sits down together for dinner a majority of the time, it's not necessary to do it every single night. However, if you find yourself unable to make time for a family dinner once or twice a week, you may need to take a hard look at your family's schedule and see what activities can be eliminated or cut back. Once your calendar is clear and you're ready to establish the habit of dining together, you need some survival strategies in order to plan, prepare and clean up after family dinners. - Finding Your Genealogy
One activity that many families find rewarding and exciting is researching their genealogy. Who doesn't want to know where they came from? Plus, if you research your roots back far enough, odds are that you could be surprised with some type of connection to a historical figure. While there are many sites that provide genealogy packages, doing the work yourself can really be rewarding when it comes to getting to know your relations.
First, when researching your genealogy, you should get some paperwork organized. You should create forms that you should distribute to the relatives that you know of that consist of places to fill in information regarding the births, deaths, marriages, and spouses of those that they know of in the family. Some people find it important to make the entries as complete as possible, listing family stories, occupations held, and other information about the entrants. You may also want to consider purchasing a program that helps you to log this information to ease the amount of paperwork that you will be doing. When you get information from a relation, be sure to ask them if they have any genealogical information that can help you in your hunt. Family bibles are one thing that can provide information about lineage that you may not be able to find elsewhere. - Hosting A Family Game Night
More and more, families are finding that their connections with each other are not as strong as they should be. With the rush-rush attitude of today and TV and the internet taking up more and more of our individual time, we often take our families for granted. To that end, many families have begun creating ‘game nights' as an opportunity to spend time with loved ones while having a great time. With the business of modern day life, scheduling a game night once a week or even once a month can provide a much-needed break from the stressful aspects of life. When we play games, we allow ourselves to have fun and let the wild side of our personality come out. You can learn a lot about your family members when you take them on in a board game challenge!
Having a good time with their parents is one of the greatest opportunities that you can give your child. Society often tells us that to be good parents, we need to take our children to various activities, signing them up for sports and hobbies and letting them learn things on their own. Game nights provide a way for children to interact positively with their parents and siblings, helping them to develop a stronger sense of family than most children. - Corporal Punishment Around The World
I was listening to one of the Parent Teacher Association meetings we have regularly at my son’s school when our normal chit chat and conversations about the weather were ended abruptly by a question from Mrs. Stallworth.
“Is it right to discipline kids with spanking and other forms of corporal punishment?” asked the usually meek Mrs. Stallworth. The question caused immediate silence in the room as the normally loquacious parents and teachers seemed stunned by the frankness of the question. I’m sure no one wanted to imagine the thought of considering whether or not it is right to spank their kids. It was surprising, no doubt about that. But after we recovered from our initial shock, we realized that the question was relevant. - American Family Foundation
Among the dozens of different groups that have sprouted over the years clamoring for various family-related issues, the American Family Foundation (AFA) has to be one of the most highly-visible and controversial of the lot. The groups has come a long way since being established as a wholly conservative, Christian non-profit organization in 1977 by Rev. Donald Wildmon. At that time, the group was known as the National Federation for Decency and it was based in Tupelo, Mississippi.
One of the areas where the AFA is visible is through the articles that it publishes regularly promoting traditional nuclear family values and the main tenets of Christianity. The group is known for its strong support for Christian missionaries and its intense hatred and opposition against abortion, homosexuality and pornography. They are also known for their role in promoting "clean entertainment" and for preaching the values of thrift and railing against excessive debt.
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