Children in the Home Business Environment

Children in the Home Business Environment

by: Stone Evans

Operating a home business is seldom easy and interruptions come in all shapes, sizes and forms.

Between the family, friends and neighbors who call or come by, and the telemarketers who insist on ringing your number off the hook, getting through the workday can be a real challenge.

When you introduce children into the home office environment, your productivity and patience can be seriously tested.

For example, right now my threeyear old daughter is pulling on my shirt and begging me to read her a story. Clearly, Im in the middle of something important here, but how can I say no to those eyes? Ill be right back…

Ok, that wasnt so bad was it? Shes happy, Im happy (having bonded with my daughter) and now Im back to continue my conversation with you 🙂 Whats the lesson here? Flexibility is a major key to balancing your home business priorities with your familys needs.

I can tell you from firsthand experience that maintaining a deep level of concentration on work in a home business for long periods of time is next to impossible. Naptime does offer some reprieve, but any break from the kids is usually short lived.

Even with older children, summertime introduces new challenges with kids running in and out of the house all throughout the day.

I would like to share with you some of the tips I have discovered to help manage your home office with children in your midst. Since children of different ages pose different challenges, I will present my tips in terms of age groups.

OLDER CHILDREN AND TEENS

We will look at older children first since they pose the least challenge to our work productivity.

Children, who are old enough to understand the idea of schedules and chores, are old enough to understand the needs of your home business. Explain to your children that you do your work at home so that you can be near them when they need you. But also be sure they understand that you must do your work so that you will have the money necessary to keep your house, feed the family and to provide them with money for entertainment.

Once your children understand the necessity of your work, then outline a work schedule and explain it to them. Do make sure they understand that emergencies are definitely an acceptable reason to interrupt your work. Then make sure they understand that between hours x and y, you will be doing work and then hold them to respecting your schedule.

INFANTS

Infants will never understand your needs for work. But fortunately, babies do well under a schedule or routine. Instead of expecting your child to work around your schedule, schedule your work around the needs of your baby.

It is simple. Babies eat, sleep and poop. Sometimes they play. Fortunately, babies sleep more than they do anything else.

Naptime offers the best advantage for getting your work done. Get your baby into a routine of eat, sleep and play, and you will experience unexpected levels of productivity.

TODDLERS

If you have a toddler running around the house while you are operating your home business, then you may find that your hair turning gray or disappearing altogether. But, gray hair is a sign of character, right. 😉

I am venturing to guess that the person who devised the door lock for the inside of the house did so because he had toddlers in his own home. Inside door locks should only be utilized when you are making that important phone call and your toddler is screaming for your attention. At all other times, your door should remain unlocked with your door open.

Develop a routine with your children for meal times, naptimes, and play times. Work these times into your work schedule and adhere to them. If you fail to keep appointments with your children, your children will have less respect for your work and do more to prevent you from the completion of your work.

Don’t be afraid to let your children sit in your lap while you are working. It helps them to feel wanted and it helps them to be a part of your daily life. There are times when it is okay for them to be sitting in your lap while you work, and at other times you need them out of your lap. Don’t be afraid to tell them to get down and go play or read a book so that you can resume your work.

Permit your children to have their toys in your office. Often they will sit contently and play while you work. Just knowing you are near is enough to keep them happy.

Be prepared to take an hourly break to deal with your toddler. Try to do potty breaks at your hourly break and to do drink refills. This can help your child grow into a routine that will work well with your home business. At each break, spend a few minutes with your child giving hugs and kisses and talking with your child about what he or she wants to talk about.

Toddlers don’t always do well with the routine, so be prepared to take a few minutes when needed to give the attention that your child so desperately needs in the moment.

IN CONCLUSION

I hope these tips serve to help you in the challenge of operating a successful home business.

My home business permits me to fulfill my financial obligations *AND* see my children grow up. I would never contemplate trading my home business for another kind of business. Even with the added challenges of dealing with toddlers in my home office, the upsides far outweigh the downsides.

Growing my own home business with children around has definitely given me a new respect for all people who successfully run a home business with kids in the work environment. I tip my hat to you… You deserve it!

About The Author

Stone Evans owns the Home Business Resource Directory where you can find everything youกll ever need to start, run and grow a home based business at: http://www.HomeBusiness.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 19, 2004

by Stone Evans

Video Game Violence…What Do You Think About It?

Video Game Violence…What Do You Think About It?

by: Daniel Punch

Ever since video game designers were able to put red pixels on their imaginary characters that had recently deceased, there have been people crusading against their subversive ways. The outrage at video games seems to be cyclic, fading very briefly before exploding into the public eye once more with renewed frenzy. The controversy seems to have sparked up again in recent times, with numerous crimes being blamed on the corruptive influence of video games. There have also been various กcontroversiesก surrounding recent video games and their content in the areas of both violence and sexuality.

The first game to receive widespread criticism and media attention was the martial art fighting game กMortal Kombatก. This game included large spurts of blood emitted from attacks and also กFatalitiesก that could be performed on stunned opponents after their defeat. These Fatalities were gruesome animation sequences showing the victorious player killing their defeated opponent in a vast variety of ways. Gamers revelled in this new experience and the controversy surrounding the violence caused mass hype that informed the less informed gamers that the game was out there. Consequently gamers played the new game just to find out what all the talk was about, thereby greatly increasing revenue.

One of the largest sparks of controversy has been the recent กHot Coffeeก modification for กGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA:SA)ก. This involved unlocking a sexually oriented minigame that had been removed from the game before release, although evidently not from the source code. The creators of the game, Rockstar Entertainment, obviously realised that this particular part of the game was not appropriate for the video gaming public and removed access to it. An enterprising fan of the game found out and modified the original code to give access to the content once again. Lawsuits were brought against Rockstar for including such content in their game, although the validity of the lawsuit has to be questioned. If the game is simply purchased and played as intended by the developers, this admittedly tasteless and inappropriate mini game would never be encountered. It is not until the usermade modification is downloaded and installed that the player is able to access the content.

Regardless of whoกs to blame, กGTA: SAก was rerated in America and banned from sale in Australia. Oddly enough the gratuitous and encouraged violence in the game went largely unnoticed in the wake of the กscandalousก sex scenes involving clothed, cartoonesque people.

When examined objectively almost all games contain a certain amount of violent content. The kidfriendly bright and colourful กMarioก games by Nintendo feature a character stomping on animated creatureกs heads. In fact the majority of games, even childrenกs games, involve the protagonist crusading against an enemy horde of some sort and generally กdisposingก of them in some manner, whether it be striking them with a weapon or body part (feet, hands, possibly a tail depending on the nature of the character). The only real stand out difference is that in a childrenกs game the กbadก characters will generally bounce backwards in a cute manner and explode with a humorous puff sound (or simply disappear) whereas in a game oriented towards older mature players, the characters are more likely to be (somewhat) realistic, spraying a gusher of red upon their demise.

Whenever some young person somewhere commits a violent crime these days it seems to get blamed on a video game, from กDuke Nukemก and กQuakeก being accused for the Columbine High massacre, to a more recent incident involving a group of minors attributing their violent actions to the กMortal Kombatก video games. Without any solid evidence either way itกs hard to say whether or not video game violence actually has much of an influence on players. To really be sure youกd probably have to have a control group of isolated children that have never seen a violent movie or played a bloodthirsty video game. History does however show that brutal crimes were committed long before video games or even movies came into existence.

Children are quite easily influenced by something that they’re excited about and Iกve seen this happen a lot. Playing a wrestling video game with a group of eight year olds often leads to the eight year olds screaming raucously and trying to pin each other down on the ground. Preteens will often punch and kick their way out of a cinema in terrible combat stances after having viewed a martial arts movie. The current content rating system in place is not geared towards consumer restriction; it is largely aimed at simply informing the public about what they are going to experience. Legal restrictions are not actually put in place until the higher, more severe ratings like in xrated films. Parents, guardians, and society in general need to start taking an interest in who is viewing certain types of content. Instead of complaining about the entertainment a child is enjoying, the parent could be there at the beginning looking at the rating that is printed clearly on the packaging of all entertainment. A simple กI don’t think thatกs suitable, how about this game? It has a lizard!ก distracts the child a surprising number of times. In my experience, children genuinely just want people to take an interest in what they’re interested in, not just murmuring indistinctly, กYes dear, thatกs nice.ก as the child installs the newest violent game.

What about the children that are playing the games in the restricted ratings categories? The only way that they can even get the game into their possession is if a parent (or someone of legal age) purchases the game for the child, or if the store disregards the rating guidelines in place and sells it to them regardless. Either way the fact that a gameกs content has fallen into a minorกs hands is not the fault of the game developer.

Iกm not out to defend the integrity of artistic vision presented in video games as many other gamers are. Frankly there seems to me to be little artistic integrity in rendering blood that is ever more liquid in appearance. I do however enjoy playing some games that are quite violent in nature and in many cases the violent nature of the game increases my enjoyment. Video games are escapism, thereกs (arguably) no point in playing a video game that simulates something you can just walk outside and do (and yet sports games somehow consistently sell in large numbers… curious…). Interestingly I have never yet felt the overwhelming desire to break down into a kung fu stance and commit murder. Perhaps more important than simply banning questionable content in video games would be studying why this content is so appealing to todayกs society?

About The Author

Daniel Punch

M6.Net Web Helpers

http://www.m6.net

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 30

by Daniel Punch

How Cybersquatters Make Money from Your Children’s

How Cybersquatters Make Money from Your Children’s and Your Own Innocent Flubs

by: Anti Spam League

Getting clicks and traffic by accident appears to be big business. And by ‘big’ I mean worth MILLIONS of dollars! While typosquatting is unfortunately not a new online marketing practice, its use and, moreover, its ABUSE has grown significantly and exponentially since 2000.

Cybersquatting means registering, trafficking in or using a domain name with the intent to profit in bad faith from the goodwill of a trademark that belongs to someone else. It commonly refers to the practice of buying up domain names that use incorporate the names of existing businesses with the intent to sell the names for a profit to those businesses. The term derives from squatting, the practice of building some kind of home or dwelling or in some way using someone elseกs landed property without their permission.

Typosquatting, although very similar to cybersquatting, has a slightly different, but much more serious purpose: it is employed by people who want to divert traffic to their websites. Typosquatters typically purchase a domain name that is a variation of a popular domain name with the expectation that some of the traffic for the original web site will stray to theirs by capitalizing on web surfers´ misspellings of those popular domain names.

How can large companies, with all their IT experts, not foresee something like this happening? How come they allow tons of opportunistics to make revenue every time innocent Internet users mistype the original brandnames or trademarks? The answer is, cybersquatting originated at a time when most businesses were not savvy about the commercial opportunities on the Internet. Since opportunities like these rarely knock on one’s door more than once, these socalled ‘entrepreneurs’ reserved and registered domain names corresponding to the names of wellknown businesses with the intent of selling the names back to the companies when they finally woke up. Commercial domain names are obtained from companies that are authorized to ensure that a domain name you want is unique (no one else already has it) and issue it to you if it is. However, these registries make no attempt to determine whether the domain name is one that rightfully ought to go to someone else. The principle is ‘First come, first served.’ Panasonic, Fryกs Electronics, Hertz and Avon were among the first targets of cybersquatters. Wellknown products, sports and political figures and other celebrities are also among the victims. Today, although the practice itself is growing, opportunities for cybersquatters are rapidly diminishing, because most businesses now know that nailing down domain names is a top priority. Although trademark laws may offer some protection, it is often cheaper to buy the domain name from the cybersquatter than it is to sue for its use: these processes cost money, and though you may be able to recover your costs and attorney fees if you win, there is no guarantee; itกs completely up to the judge. Examples of domains sold by cybersquatters to companies include drugstore.com, furniture.com, gardening.com, and Internet.com. Cybersquatters may also regularly comb lists of recently expired domain names, hoping to sell back the name to a registrant who inadvertently let their domain name expire.

How do you know if the domain name you want is being used by a cybersquatter? As a general rule, first check to see if the domain name takes you to a legitimate website. If it takes you to a website that appears to be functional and reasonably related in its subject matter to the domain name, you probably are not facing a case of cybersquatting. But if you own a trademark and find that someone is holding it hostage as a domain name until you pay a large sum for it, you may be the victim of cybersquatting. You can sue to get your domain name and possibly some money damages under a 1999 federal law known as the AntiCybersquatting Consumer Protection Act or you can initiate arbitration proceedings under the authority of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and win the name back without the expense and aggravation of a lawsuit. The ICANN arbitration system is considered by trademark experts to be faster and less expensive than suing under the ACPA, and the procedure does not require an attorney.

Typosquatting, however, is a much more dangerous practice because it is commonly used by pornographers. Typosquatting is based on the probability that a certain number of Internet users will mistype the name of a web site (or its URL) when browsing the web. Typosquatters usually register several possible typos for a brand name or web site known for its high traffic, then monitor to see how many clicks per day each of their typo domain names receives, and finally use the information to sell advertising for the web sites that receive a high volume of accidental traffic. Ironically, advertising revenue might come from selling ads to the original siteกs competitors or by providing redirect pages to related products or services.

There are multiple ways in which typosquatters may turn typos into revenue. When surfers mistype popular URLs, squatter companies throw up ads in hidden browser windows, making money off of ads few people see. As a consequence, companies such as AT&T Corp. and The New York Times are paying for ad impressions even though the ads are buried. Finally, when visitors try to close their browsers or otherwise leave the web site in question, there is one more attempt at monetizing the mistake. Another browser window usually pops up, with a different web site’s name. This one contains more advertisements. It’s a never ending story that sure gets on the nerves of most of us!

The success of companies that practice Cybersquatter points out some serious flaws in the Internetกs domain name system and in two of the webกs most prominent revenue models: Affiliate Programs and Advertising Reselling. Advertising resellers such as 24/7 Media Inc., Advertising.com Inc. and iBoost Technology Inc. contract with large advertisers and then automatically feed ads onto thousands of web sites. The automated method of placing ads on sites can make tracking where those ads end up a very difficult task.

Needless to say, typosquatters do not think there is anything wrong with using people’s errors to grow traffic. However, it is a whole different story when typosquatting is employed by pornographers to attract children to their websites. Until now, there have been few methods of stopping pornographers and others abusing the domain name system from misleading children and adults into accessing sites masquerading as popular legitimate sites. Many adult web sites misrepresent their content or the nature of their sites by registering domain names that are intentionally confusing, using page coding designed to mislead search engines, distributing false advertising to promote site traffic, or hijacking visitors of another site.

The problem is particularly serious when children are involved. Just as adults do, children get spam and unsolicited instant messages with graphic sexual images, content, or links to pornographic sites. Statistics show that 20% to 30% of traffic to adult sites is comprised of children. Many masquerade as messages from trusted friends or web sites. Children also may be tricked into visiting a pornographic site when they search for ageappropriate words or phrases on a search engine. Even if you find it hard to believe, depending on the type of marketing or advertising model used by a particular web site, there may be no incentive to filter children. In fact, targeting children may be an effective way of increasing ad revenue. The name of the game is web site traffic where adult sites are concerned. So they cannot rely just on keywords to increase traffic.

As part of the Amber Alert legislation, typosquatting is now a crime in the United States. Porn network czar John Zuccarini was the first person charged under the new typosquatting law by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York and pleaded guilty in 2004. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Until the enactment of the Protect Act (most commonly known as the ‘Amber Alert’ legislation), stopping typosquatters was a civil matter, or perhaps (under extraordinary circumstances) a consumer fraud matter. The sites Zuccarini has been found to have cybersquatted include those referring to Nicole Kidman, Backstreet Boys, Encarta and others. His manipulation of Aaron Carterกs and Britney Spearsก names is among his more recent abuses. Courts have already held that there is no legitimate purpose for Zuccarinin registering and using the typodomains other than to trade on the popularity of the underlying domain names, celebrities and products involved.

In summary, cybersquatters and typosquatters are unethical companies and individuals that want to profit from your family’s and your own confusion and spelling mistakes. If you want to help protect your children and others online, drop by www.AntiSPAMLeague.org website and report those who are engaged in these and other unscrupulous online marketing practices. Become a member for free and sign up to receive our Newsletters with useful and valuable information on how to handle abuses on the Internet. Also, look for more articles on related topics on our web site. You will learn how we can really make a difference by working together with consumers and companies to preserve Internet users’ freedom and privacy while promoting loyal advertising and good art on marketing practices.

About The Author

The purpose of the Anti SPAM League is to help consumers and business owners reduce the amount of SPAM they receive. In addition, our Anti SPAM organization believes that educating site owners in the area of SPAM prevention and ways to successfully and responsibly market their sites, is key in making a difference.

www.AntiSpamLeague.org

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 22, 2004

by Anti Spam League

Internet Safety

Internet Safety

by: Sharon Housley

Parents are constantly struggling with ways to keep their children safe online. The Internet has a global reach and at this point no bounds, or limitations. Outside of installing filtering software children should be educated in order to protect themselves to this virtual monster. Weกve put together a collection of ten tips that should be observed while surfing online. At the very least these tips will prompt family discussions regarding safety.

1.) When on the internet personal information should be kept private. Just because someone asks doesn’t mean you need to tell them. When someone asks for personal information, consider how they might use that information and whether it is necessary for them to have it.

2.) If you are conversing with someone online, don’t assume that they are being honest with you. Just because they say they’re 16 doesn’t mean they are.

3.) Do not release your password to anyone, even if they say they are from your online provider.

4.) Overall it is best not to respond to unsolicited email (SPAM), if there is something flagrant or inappropriate in the email, consider reporting the sender to their Internet Service Provider (ISP).

5.) Do not give out or post identifying information, including address or telephone numbers.

6.) You may want to create a nickname for a screen name in chat rooms.

7.) Keep in mind when posting in chat rooms or newsgroups, that there may be lurkers (people who read but do not post). Your information can be read and seen by all.

8.) Keep an open dialogue with children surfing the Internet, remember if they come to you with a problem, your first reaction should not be to take away the Internet. Applaud childกs confidence in confiding in you and work together to find a solution.

9.) Overall it is not a good idea to post or exchange pictures over the Internet

10.) Try to keep in mind the Internet is global and is *not* governed by any entity. This means that there are no limitations or checks on the information posted and accessible to Internet users.

Additional Resources:

The following resources will assist in staying safe online.

Collection of Internet Access and Filtering Software http://www.monitoringsoftware.net/accessmonitoring.htm

Contract for Safe Surfing http://www.911paging.com/internetsafety/internetcontract.htm

About The Author

Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com . Additional articles can be found at http://www.smallbusinesssoftware.net/freewebsitecontent.htm

This article was posted on March 29, 2004

by Sharon Housley

Cell Phone Antenna May Pose Health Hazards

Cell Phone Antenna May Pose Health Hazards

by: Peter Lenkefi

There is growing consensus that cell phone antennas may be harmful to humans due to the huge volume of electromagnetic waves that get concentrated around it during the receipt and placing of calls. This danger is even further aggravated by cellular manufacturers who place the internal antennas close to the earpiece.

Mobile phones are basically radio sets and therefore emit energy radio signals that can penetrate the body and cause harm.

There have been several commissions on the study of the effect of mobile phone on the human body and the most pronounced has been The Stewart Report which suggested that radio waves indeed penetrate human bodies from mobile phone antennas and specially recommended that children who obviously have softer skulls be extra careful and use the device sparingly. The report further went on to state that the brain cells of children are not as fully developed as those of adults and can therefore be at greater risk as they absorb the radiation more than fully hardened adult skulls.

These hazards may exist but cell phones have become part of everyday living like cars and cannot be dispensed with. In the light of this fact, doing away with our phones may not be a practical approach to solving the health hazards issue. Rather we can adopt some habits to mitigate the effects of the radiation.

Children should not use cell phones for long calls. They should sue land lines instead so as to minimize the length of contact with the radiation emitted by the device.

Consumers should buy phones with low specific absorption rate (SAR). Mobile phones should be kept away from the body as much as possible. They can be put in the purse or bag and only brought into contact with the body when there is the need to make or receive a call.

Users should try to keep their conversations short.

If possible, SMS messages can be sent instead of calls so that there is less contact with the body especially around the skull area.

Keep switching between both ears so that one particular ear does not absorb the full brunt of the radiation all the time.

Radiation emission is at the highest when the phone is trying to connect so keep the phone away from the skull till you see the call fully connected.

Weak signal results in higher radiation so avoid making calls in areas where reception is poor as the device will try to boost its power to get you a connection and resultantly bombard you with more radiation.

We cannot do away with cellular devices looking at the convenience they have ushered consumers in. Nevertheless, we can adopt some helpful attitudes to minimize the harmful effects this technology is bringing to mankind.

About The Author

Peter Lenkefi

For more more information about the hazards that cell phone antenas may pose please visit http://www.cellularmobilephones.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 17

by Peter Lenkefi

How to Stay Focused on Your Home Business Goals

How to Stay Focused on Your Home Business Goals

by: Stone Evans

When you are the owner of a home business, you will find hundreds of distractions that vie for your time, energy and focus.

Common distractions include: children, family, friends, neighbors, pets, phone calls, mail, household chores, video games, television, neighborhood children, visitors, and so many more.

As an owner of a home based business, you must always remember your purpose in bringing your profession home. What was your reason for wanting to own a home business? Was your goal to work from home so that you can share in the lives of your children? Was your goal to be out from under the rule of a tyrannical boss? Was your goal to have the freedom to work when it is convenient for you? Was your goal to make tons of money working for yourself?

Hereกs a few good tips that will help you stay focused on your home business:

TIP #1: Whatever your reason for going out on your own, you must keep your reason in the forefront of your mind. If you forget your reason for starting your own home business, you will not be working for yourself for long. It is far too easy to let circumstance drive your activities and when circumstance is in the driverกs seat, you are more likely to crash and burn.

TIP #2: Remember your own business is a lot like a real job. Some people go to work to play, some go to socialize, and others most often those who are paid in a commission or tip environment go to work to work and to make money. When you work for yourself, your salary is directly proportional to your productivity. Therefore, wouldn’t it make sense to stay focused on getting as much done in as short of a period as possible?

Go to work to work and to make money. Leave playtime and recreation for when your workday has ended.

TIP #3: When you are dealing with family in the course of your workday, it is important to schedule your activities as much as possible. With small children, you must take time when you must, but you should also work hard to make sure you dedicate a specific number of hours to your workday.

With older children, it is much easier to tell them that you will be working between the hours of x and y. Your children and your friends must understand that certain hours of your day are devoted to the activities of your business.

TIP #4: Don’t permit your friends and extended family to run over you. Many people get the blind idea that if one works from home then they are not actually working.

Wellmeaning people may try to fill your doorway to bring advice about getting a real job. Others may simply believe that if you are at home, then you are fair game for chitchat and socialization.

You must stand firm. You must make certain your friends and family understands that when you are working, then you ARE working! If they wish to socialize with you, then they need to do it during the hours that are not dedicated to your home business.

You are the only one who can stand up for you. Your friends and family will seldom be able to appreciate your dedication to your home business, unless you make the effort to make sure that they have the same respect for your business that you do.

TIP #5: You should allot a certain portion of your day to email and to regular mail. For example, allot one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon to handling your written communications.

Unless you dedicate certain times to the handling of these communications, you will soon find yourself on the downward slope of decreased productivity.

TIP #6: When you find yourself spending too much time doing nonproductive activities, then you should seriously consider finding a thirdparty service provider who will assist you in those nonprofitable business activities.

As an example, you might be in the mailorder business. You might believe that your time is best spent writing ad copy and setting up your advertising, but you find yourself spending far too much time taking care of your books to take care of your advertising in the manner that you should. In this event, it might make more sense to hire a bookkeeper to handle your financial records for you.

CONCLUSION: In the end, the success of your home business is entirely and completely reliant upon you and the decisions that you make.

You had your reasons for deciding to start your own home based business. You must always keep your reasons in the forefront of your mind. You must always be able to rely upon your own self and your dedication to the success of your business.

Your friends and family might be annoyed that they cannot come visit upon their own whim, but when success comes to you and your business, they will better appreciate you for putting your foot down when necessary.

Success is within your reach, if only you can stay focused on your goals. You must decide to reach for your goals, and then, you must have the discipline necessary to reach them.

About The Author

Stone Evans owns the Home Business Resource Directory where you can find everything youกll ever need to start, run and grow a home based business at: http://www.HomeBusiness.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 19, 2004

by Stone Evans

Childhood Obesity & Parentsก Healthy Food Confusio

Childhood Obesity & Parentsก Healthy Food Confusion

by: Cheryl Haining

Many parents struggle to know which foods are healthy for their children. When they are able to opt for healthy choices, about twothirds struggle to get their children to eat healthily, a poll of nearly 800 parents found. Developing Patient Partnerships (DPP), which commissioned the survey, said that parents need more support to tackle the growing problem of childhood obesity. Childhood obesity has tripled in the past 20 years, official figures show.

Recent studies suggest that parents do not know what good nutrition is. Perhaps advertising of fast foods, and busy life styles has contributed to this. Nutritional meals can be prepared quickly and simply at home.

Of the parents of children aged 15 years and younger questioned by the DPP, 45% said they found it difficult to work out which foods were healthy for their children. When parents did select healthy foods, 65% said they struggled to motivate their children to eat it. Threequarters of parents blamed advertising and marketing of unhealthy snacks and drinks for making this job so difficult. Another 87% believed that schools should play a big role in teaching children how to be healthy.

When more than a thousand children aged seven to 16 were questioned about their lifestyles, 70% said they would be more likely to eat healthily and get active if their parents were doing it. Only 16% said they ate the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. This suggests that parents are not making healthy food choices themselves. There are strong links between obesity and ill health. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare lists the following increased risks of cancers in obese people:

MEN WOMEN

Cancer % Increase Risk Cancer %increase Risk

Prostate 23 Uterus 178

Leukaemia 43 Kidney 110

Bowel 53 Bowel 35

Liver 128 Liver 48

Gallbladder 76 Breast 71

Statistics such as these are a stark reminder of the importance of maintaining a healthy weight level. Children must be given every opportunity to have a healthy body. In order to get their family on track to a healthy lifestyle parents need to learn how to feed themselves and their family good nutrition.

A simple way to improve nutrition is to add raw fruit and vegetables to family diets. These are foods that have no preservatives or added color. They provide plenty of vitamins, mineral, antioxidants, fiber, water and trace elements. (All necessary for good nutrition.) They look appetizing and have high water content. They have a firm texture which means we need to chew them well. This aids the digestive system. The body quickly and easily processes them. This means less work for the digestive system.

They are natural, that is, not processed and prepackaged with extra chemicals. They are pure energy – living foods. Look for different colored vegetables and fruits when you shop. Experiment with ones you have never tasted. Visit a market for more variety and fresher foods. Eat at least one from each group every day.

Red/Purple Group includes tomatoes, watermelon, berries, cherries, and grapes

Orange/Yellow includes carrots, sweet potato, squash, mangoes, cantaloupe, apricots, oranges, mandarins pineapples and many stone fruits

Yellow/green among this group are avocado, spinach, beans, peppers, corn, beans, broccoli, green leafy vegetables,

White/green some in this group asparagus, celery, garlic, leeks, mushrooms, pears

For more information read, ขWhat Color is Your Foodข by Dr D Heber.

Experiment with adding these to your daily diet. Of course a balanced diet must also include daily servings of dairy, whole grains and protein. Start with the simple idea of adding more fresh fruit and vegetables to the family’s daily food intake. This simple step will have fantastic and long lasting impact on your health.

About The Author

Cheryl Haining is a skin care, body shape and nutrition coach. She has her own successful business. Her mission statement is to ensure everyone reaches his or her optimum body shape, size and condition. Contact Cheryl at www.uloseweight.net To learn how to create an income stream from home visit www.keybusinesstips.info.

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This article was posted on August 30

by Cheryl Haining

New Years Resolutions for WAHMs Everywhere

New Years Resolutions for WAHMs Everywhere

by: Debbi Cunnington

Happy New Yearกs Ladies!

The beginning of a new year is always a good time to sit down and reflect upon past endeavors and make plans for the future. Be it short term or long term goals, now is a good time to make your plans.

Many WAHMs out there are busy (when aren’t we busy) setting ideas to paper as they begin a fresh, new year. However, many resolutions that will be made will be doomed to fail, simply because of the career path we have chosen, so I resolve this year to keep my fellow WAHMs from disappointment.

Ladies! Stand with me now and recite the New Yearกs WAHMolutions:

1. We resolve to tackle each new day as it comes, each new task as it presents itself, each new disaster with as much grace as humanly possible (when the baby tore off his diaper, the cat lovingly placed a token of her affection on your keyboard, or your oldest son forgot to do his homework again). We will live in the moment and not plan too far ahead, as who really knows what will happen when you have kids? And we will always remember, we are investing each and every day in the future our childrenกs future.

2. We resolve not to sweat the small stuff, be it small children, small animals, or small holes that have appeared in our carpets. We will let the dishes sit in the sink because at the end of the day, the kids don’t care if they eat out of the dogกs dish as long as we’re there to watch.

3. We resolve NOT to be supermom. Need we say more?

4. We resolve to eat takeout food more often, consider Ramen noodles their own food group, serve Macaroni & Cheese at least once a day, and generally avoid any type of meal that smacks of กgourmetก (please refer to resolution number 3). Further, we resolve to believe that if it isn’t sticky, or if falls within the 10 second rule, itกs still clean.

5. We resolve to ignore the extra weight gain from sitting at a desk most of the day, ignore the wrinkles, the lack of makeup, the pony tail or clip in our hair, the untweezed eyebrows, unmanicured hands, and clothes with second hand chocolate (or Macaroni & cheese) that are a huge part of us. The kids do not really care what we look like, and if our husband does, let him try being a WAHM for just 1 week. We dare him.

6. We resolve to take time as often as possible to take a bubble bath, a sauna, do our nails, put on makeup, whatever little things make us feel human. We must stop to do this now and again. It isn’t selfish and the kids will understand.

7. We resolve to never lose sight of why we are doing this….why we are overworked, stressed out, and tired. We love our children fiercely and want only the best for them. Even if we are working long hours in front of the computer, we are still available to kiss a booboo, look at a freshly painted picture, stop an argument, make lunch, make snacks, play barbies, make a Lego castle, discuss YuGiOh, catch a bit of Dora the Explorer on TV, explore, find, and dream with our children. And THAT is what really matters.

About The Author

Debbi Cunnington is a work at home mother of 3 children and the owner of 2 successful freelance businesses, both creative at www.bearcreative.com and organizational at www.tsbooks.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 02, 2004

by Debbi Cunnington