Adults Have A Big Influence On Youth Actions

Have you ever sat there in a world of your own having a cigarette and thinking nothing of it? Next time have a look around you and see who is watching you, do you have teenage relatives? Do your friends have young children or teenagers? If you answered yes to any of these then it is highly likely that you have ‘been seen’ smoking. If this could be true then there is a possibility these kids may look at smoking and think that it is in some way it is cool or acceptable. The next step could see them trying cigarettes and eventually becoming addicted.

Obviously this is something only smokers will relate to but smokers may also be unaware of. Children are generally educated in school about the dangers of smoking but this could all be wiped out with just one moment of carelessness by an adult they look upto smoking when they should really know better.

If you are likely to be in a position of responsibility like this and you smoke then you need to look at your habit and even consider quitting smoking. Electronic cigarettes can be a great alternative to smoking tobacco even if you don’t want to quit. Take a look at this E-Lites review for instance, you can just introduce this product to help you reduce the amount of cigarettes you smoke.

 

Categories: Education

Ensure our Youth are Financially Savvy

Ensuring that our youth are financially savvy and ready to take on one of life’s most important aspects (finances) is crucial to our society’s future.  Understanding how loan amortization works using an amortization calculator is an important part of this process.  These skills will become particularly useful when a young person grows up and purchases a home.

An amortization calculator is used in the calculation of the amount you pay on a month to month basis for your loan or house mortgage. Aspects of the mortgage such as the principal, interest and the duration you pay the loan are the most common variables used to in this calculation. Ideally this term is used in the repayment of mortgages but it can also be used in other aspects of credit such as credit card payment. Mostly it involves the calculation of the exact amount you’ll be paying for the interest and for the principal every month.

The first step in the amount you will pay every month is to determine the exact principal of the loan or mortgage. Basically, the principal is the exact amount you borrow. This amount can sometimes include any associated cost that will accompany the loan. Mostly the processing fees are included in these associated costs and add up to the money which will be regarded as your principal.

Once you have the determined the principal, the next step is determining what your monthly pay will be. The monthly pay is the amount that you will pat with to go to your loan repayment. To do this, you will need to know the interest rate and also the period you will be paying the loan. For instance, if your principal is $10000, the pay duration is ten years and interest rate is five percent, your monthly payment will be around one hundred and six dollars.

After you know your monthly payment, you now determine the exact amount of interest you will be paying every month. Basically, you will pay more in terms of interest in the initial stages of the loan repayment; this amount will keep on reducing as the months proceed. Also, your principal repayment will be low in the initial months and keep increasing as the months go by.

Using the example given above, you should expect to pay around $41.67 as interest for the first month. This amount will be calculated using the total number of months it will take to pay the mortgage in this case one hundred and twenty months. The interest and the principal are also used in the calculation.

This result will come from multiplying ten thousand dollars with the five percent interest and then dividing with one twenty months.Once you have the above figures, you’ll now come up with a repayment schedule. For instance, if you are using the above example, you would pay around forty two dollars for the interest and around sixty four for the principal in the first month.

These two figures basically will total your monthly pay. As the months proceed, you’ll apply the same formula for calculation of these values. This will go on until you are done repaying the loan.

The amortization calculator can be found online. Most of the software that calculate these amounts can easily be downloaded online. Also, there are programs such as spread sheets you could use. Though the internet can be helpful, sometimes it is good to know how these amounts are calculated.

Categories: Education

Educate your Children about Serious Health Issues

It’s very important to teach your children about serious health issues such as hypertension at a young age.  You can use tools such as this blood pressure chart to visually illustrate hypertension’s importance to your children’s health.  Blood pressure is an integral part of one’s overall health.  Here is some info you may choose to share with your children about blood pressure:

Blood pressure is something that is of concern for everyone. It is one of the leading issues discussed in the health media. The chief concern in today’s world is the effect of hypertension and how it can negatively affect the body. There are many people who realize the important of adjusting their health and overall well being in order to prevent illness.

The first thing that a person should do is understand the importance of diet and how the foods they eat can contribute to lowering or raising their blood pressure. This is not as simple as it sounds. There are many factors that go into creating a well balanced diet. It will be imperative that you look into all of the foods that you are currently eating and determine if they are creating an unpleasant environment for you.

The first thing to think about is how much salt you are taking with your meals. Salt is found naturally in many foods. However, it is often the case that people add additional salt to their meals. This is going to be a problem for most people, its problematic because it increases the amount of sodium that you ingest.

Additionally, it should be remembered that you need to completely change the amount of bad foods. Fried foods, cheese, and meats are all foods that can and often times do contribute to hypertension. It is important to remember that you do not want to completely remove all salt from your diet. Salt is necessary, however you get enough of it from foods so that adding it is almost certainly unnecessary.

A person who is concerned about their healthy should also consider including a decent amount of exercise into your lifestyle. Exercise is perhaps the second most important aspect when it comes to staying healthy. You will want to have a decent amount of cardiovascular exercise. This is the type of exercise that allows you to have the best physical benefit.

What you can do is set up a daily exercise schedule. It is important that you follow this schedule and make sure that it incorporates all of the most important things, such as running or jogging, swimming, or power walking. This will ensure that you have the maximum amount of beneficial exercise.

It is very important to not over do exercise. Any form of physical exertion is going to create stress. What you should look to do is to minimize the danger that is inherent. The best way to do this is to start slowly. This will allow you to determine what is the correct strategy for you.

It is vital that you maintain a good blood pressure level. This will prevent many of the most common diseases from occurring. The two ways to do this are exercise and diet. Once you have set a plan up, it is vital that you follow it. This will ensure that you have the maximum amount of success. Take the initiative and begin the path to good living today.

Categories: Education

Encouraging Independence For Our Teens

Teaching children life skills sounds like a good and prudent thing to do. Still, deep-down I didn’t really want to encourage my children to become independent.

When I look at my oldest, now 21, I see beyond the mascara and her hip haircut to the big blue eyes and fuzzy blond hair of the beautiful baby who made me a mom. My second-born (all 6’4” of him) will always, in my heart, be the chubby little newborn who thrilled me with the fact that he was a boy (a big deal to someone who is one of four sisters that never got the brother they wanted.)

Number three came along six years after her brother, and was the answer to all our prayers. When I look at her, I don’t just see the growing-like-a-weed young teen that she is, but the smiling, ruddy little doll whose siblings carried her around like a prize. And even my youngest, the one who almost didn’t make it and who spent his first month in the newborn ICU attached to tubes and wires and equipment, is strong, solid and insistent on doing things for himself (especially when his mom treats him like her baby.)

We moms cherish our children. We spent many sleepless nights with them when they were crying babies, feverish youngsters and emotional teens. We went without so they could have whatever they needed. After all the years of love and hard work we invested in our children, why would we want to give them up?

As if the thought of letting them go isn’t hard enough, there’s the fact of what’s going on in this world. Releasing a beloved child into the society depicted in our newspapers and on our televisions—one that glorifies drinking, drugs, and sex, and faces a steady barrage of terrorism, war and natural disasters—is pretty darn scary. The thought of even one of those things makes me want to gather my children under my wings and keep them there.

Sure, on the surface, “trying their wings” and other such euphemisms sound good. But there are so many things that can go wrong, so many things we can’t control. Someone once said that becoming a mother means spending the rest of your life walking around with your heart outside your body, and isn’t that the truth? It’s hard enough dealing with the physical and psychological disorders they receive in daily living now. Why would we want to send them out among the wolves?

To me, releasing them out into the world meant:

  • They might make big financial mistakes.
  • They might do things I don’t approve of.

And even worse:

  • They might get physically or emotionally hurt.
  • They might move away, maybe even far away.
  • They might not need me anymore.
Categories: Education,Youth

How To Let The Kids Of The World Find Out About Peace

That was the question, the answer is marketing. Primarily internet marketing. Children of all ages all over the world have a need to find out about peace. Peace can come in a number of forms. Maybe they need to find peace from war, school bullies, mental illness, even parental abuse. They are always on the internet, even if only using their phones. If you have a service and need to get the word out it honestly needs to come through the internet. Whether it’s social media like Facebook or Twitter or just an informational website that gets the word out. Finding the best SEO company will know best how help these children recognize your goal and spread the word for you.

Teaching Through Gardening and Growing Vines

Wine isn’t something any child should have access to.  Vines and grapes on the other hand, might be.

Grape vines are one of the great teaching plants for young children.  Aside from going through an entire seasonal cycle, they are incredibly resilient and can be watered an incredible amount, or they can be hardly watered at all.  Plus, they are low enough to the ground for children to be able to see the grapes growing throughout the entire year.

Of course, October brings a special surprise, the ability to pick and eat the grapes you’ve grown and watched for an entire year.  Having your children help grow grapes will help to teach patience and responsibility.  I think those are two traits which are essential to teaching children that peace is important in this world.  Without patience, finding world peace likely sounds like an impossible dream.  Without responsibility, peace will never be possible.

Even a wine of the month club can appreciate that grapes are sometimes not best used for wine.

Categories: Uncategorized

The iPad and Aggressive Children

The evolution of social media, including how much time children spend in front of the television or the iPad has been heavily criticized. Is the iPad 2 a better option in controlling aggressive children? There are a lot of things that you can do with an iPad 2, and with it you can monitor the activities of your child. An iPad 2 jailbreak has a lot of benefits and more features that you never thought was possible before.

iPad 2 has more advanced capabilities than ever before. You can boast of more advanced features and by jailbreaking it you will reap even more benefits. Having trouble in controlling an aggressive child? Then giving him this gadget might be one of the best solutions that you can come up with, especially when iPad 2 jailbreak is integrated into this cool gadget.

In a certain study, it has been proven that children spend more time in front of the television than on the classroom. Since the television cannot be regulated by parents, it has been proven that the iPad 2 is a much better option. With certain entertainment applications and other options which you can avail by downloading iPad 2 jailbreak software you have control over what your kid watches. Now, aggressive shows and advertising cannot reach them thanks to the options being granted by iPad 2.

iPad 2 jailbreak gives you the power to tweak your device and make it operate the way you have always wanted.  Another great thing about iPad 2 jailbreak is that it makes learning for your child more interactive and flexible. With endless possibilities, the iPad 2 serves as an amazing learning tool as well.

iPad 2 jailbreak you can access all the apps that you need and want! The possibilities are never ending with an iPad 2 jailbreak. Better customization and more entertainment options are within your grasp with the help of reputable iPad 2 jailbreak software. With these being said, you have the power to put some security features in it restricting the programs that your child gets to watch.

The Importance of the Work of The Peace Corps Volunteers

As an organization the Peace Corps in the US has been in existence since 1961, when it was created by an executive order issued by then President John F Kennedy. since then thousands of young people have traveled all over the world helping people less fortunate than themselves while learning more about their world and the way it works.

At the time the act declared as an organization the Peace Corps was being formed to “ promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower”.

What a Peace Corps volunteer in this day and age does varies a great deal. Some still go out in the countryside in counties all over the world and assist the locals with simple everyday tasks like gathering firewood, fulfilling the “trained manpower” mandate. In many countries where reliable electricity and gas supplies are still not always available firewood remains a primary everyday source of heat and method of cooking. These volunteers will live amongst these people sharing their knowledge and learning from their hosts, the intention for the program from the beginning, a peaceful exchange of knowledge and ideas.

Another area where Peace Corps volunteers have become very active is in the field of conservation education. Some of the biggest programs being implemented in 68 different counties around the world by the Peace Corps include the creation of effective and more efficient forms of farming, education about recycling and the implementation of effective recycling programs and basic environmental education to help people learn how they themselves can save their own dwindling ecosystems.

Categories: Education

Sleep Deprived Children Can Be More Violent

Lack of sleep in children can result in violence and also disorders such as ADHD.  Like most adults, children who do not get good rest can be grumpy and unproductive.  In many cases children will end up having a higher chance of becoming a bully.

 

The sleep disorder known as sleep apnea is also prevalent in children and is helping lead to unnecessary violence in school; if you are the parent of child who bullies others than you may want to look into whether your child is getting quality sleep.  This very well may be the simple fix to a problem that will only get worse with time.

Categories: Childhood

Less Stressed Parents Will Result In More Well Behaved Children

Children take after their parents, this is something that we all have seen time and time again.  They start copying you at a very young age and continue that trend as they get older; sometimes this takes place on a subconscious level.  Your child can tell if you are full of stress and believe it or not your mood will effect theirs and will also rub off on you.

 

If you are constantly worried about things your child will feed off of that and it could affect their behavior.  There are certain things that may be out of your control that affect your stress levels; however there also matters which you can control, such as personal finance.  Personal finance is the source of many adults stress levels spiking, whether they are struggling with making more money or paying off the credit card debt through a debt relief program.  If you can find ways to lower the stress in your financial life this may have a very positive effect on your child’s mood.

Categories: Children

Mathematics not Massacres – Getting African Children on the Right Start to Life

One of the unsung tragedies of modern times is the practice unsavory rebel organizations in certain African countries have of recruiting children to fight their battles.  Young children, frequently orphaned by the parties involved, are taken and raised to fight for groups such as the LRA in Uganda.

These children, denied any other role models or authority figures, are taught to support and fight for whatever causes these outfits are battling for. In Sudan, young children of this type – sometimes collectively referred to as the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’ were drafted into rebel armies.

Rather than going to school to learn mathematics and other life skills, these kids were taught to inflict the horrors they had suffered onto yet more innocent victims.  The horrible spiral of violence, once started, is very difficult to stop.

It is up to responsible governments – with the help of NGO’s – to try to help these poor children back onto the path to a productive and prosperous life.  The most important step that can be taken is to retrieve these children from these outfits – which are basically brutal gangs – and find them safe homes with proper schooling.

With well-balanced loving adult role models, these children can start to heal.  With a proper education – learning the details of ‘Soh Cah Toa‘ in Trigonometry, rather than the ‘Rat Rat Rat’ sound of machine gun fire – these kids have the hopes of obtaining gainful non-violent employment as adults.

Thousands of children growing up learning the arts and behaviors of war is perhaps the most insidious and damaging activity for a countries future.  It is imperative that everyone with the means do their best to save both current and future generations from this scourge – raising and educating kids in peace pays dividends not just for the children but for society as a whole.

 

Categories: Education

Keitetsi Means ‘Fearless’. Choose An Appropriate Name When Christening Your Baby

The name Keitetsi means ‘Fearless’ and the story of her fighting in Uganda and killing soldiers before she even became a teenager certainly suggests her name is appropriate.

A name is perhaps the most important thing parents will give their baby, apart from life itself. Some of the names we see when we make our personalised christening gifts are less suited to the kids who bear them. The publicity many celebrities receive when giving their offspring unusual names is not helpful. There is a fashion to give a baby a made up name or a traditional name with a different spelling. Parents should remember that that cute little baby boy will probably grow to be a strapping six footer and a name that seemed cute when he could be cradled in one hand may not be suitable in later life.

Keitetsi was fighting and killing at a time when most kids are running around the playground at school. Keitetsi wouldn’t know the meaning of bullying, but a child with a weird name is a target for teasing from other children. Think carefully when choosing your baby’s name.

Categories: Children

Teaching Health to Youngsters May Reduce Aggressive Attitudes

Rising levels of “new illnesses” such as ADHD in school aged children is prompting more parents to pay more attention to the foods which they feed their children. Is it possible that our current high fat, high sugar and highly processed eating habits are causing more aggressive behavior in our kids? This is a genuine concern for any parent today.

picture of children fighting at school No one wants to see their child being beaten up. And most parents would prefer if their son or daughter is not attacking other kids. There’s a small minority who would no doubt be proud to see their little red neck terrorizing other kids at school. However, today, we’ll focus on the civil members of our society.

There is no doubt that in general, the foods we’re feeding our kids are often very far from whole foods. With busy schedules, we do not always have the time to cook meals from scratch. This, in my opinion, would undoubtedly help the health and mental clarity of our children.

What we can do, even if time is short, is to try and feed our kids more fruits and vegetables. You may be thinking that this is easier said than done. But have you considered juicing as an option? These honest juicer reviews will help you pick out an appliance that will be able to make the drinks you want while also matching your budget. My own son loves making juices and it’s a great way for me to feed him the healthy foods that I want him to eat. Teaching our children about the benefits of eating (and drinking) their fruits and vegetables from a young age is likely to be of enormous benefit to them as the grow into adults.

Further reading about Diet and Behavior in Children

Categories: Children

Beware of the Television Programs Shown in Child Care

While many parents believe that submitting a power of attorney form to their local child care center is the best thing that they can do to protect their child’s health and well being while in group care, the reality is that there are many other things that can compromise the long-term health of their child while in this type of scenario.  Parents need to be aware of what kind of television programs are being aired during their child’s stay in child care and be mindful of the impact this can have on their child’s behavior.

The documentary Consuming Kids exposes the long-term effects of letting children watch certain seemingly “safe” television programs while in group child care (or at school).  The bonus footage at the end, showing two different real-life scenarios, is particularly disturbing.

In one scenario, a group of children watches the television program Barney.  Afterwards, the children peacefully play with each other, singing songs and dancing with each other like they saw in the program.  Next, the same group of children watches the television program Power Rangers.  After watching this program, they begin to fight and hit each other violently, have trouble settling down, and scream and yell.  Although Power Rangers is supposedly a child-friendly program, the children obviously picked up violent behaviors in the program and are acting out in real life.

A parent of a child who had watched Power Rangers while in child care would be upset and confused as to why their normally well-behaved child was kicking, screaming, and fighting while at home.  For this reason, parents need to be aware of what programs are being aired in child care.  We need to teach kids peace, not violence.

Categories: Children,Education

Teen Jobs Teach Kids To Work Together

Kids have a very different experience growing up today than they did 50 years ago. It was a simpler time back then and children growing up had a lot less temptations. Parents also had an easier time because there were fewer ways for their kids to get into trouble and raising them, while never easy, was surely simpler than it is today.

The world seems to have become increasingly violent in recent years. Either that or we just have a lot more access to violence and bad things in the news every day. Kids today are exposed to all sorts of news about everything that is going wrong in the world when in years past, their contact with such information was much more limited.

Rather than get involved with the bad elements and violence, teens need places to go after school and things to do. This is especially the case now that many times, it is common that both of their parents are working. Jobs for 17 year olds and teens of all ages are not only a great way to keep them occupied and make money but they also help teach kids to get along with other people and start to have a respect for authority. Teen jobs are a godsend for the kids, their parents, and society as a whole.

Unfortunately, one of the big casualties of this economic downturn that began in 2008 is the reduction of such jobs for teens. We hear all the time how the unemployment rate is around 9% to 10% but what we never hear is the rate for teenagers. That rate is close to double that of adults, and kids who want to work are rarely talked about in the news.

The lack of jobs for kids will make a lasting impact on them as many will not learn the job and social skills they need to learn at this early age. Additionally, they will probably go into their 20′s having lots of doubts about whether they will ever be able to find meaningful jobs. This high rejection rates they experience as young job hunters will impact their psyche later on in life.

Categories: Youth
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Teach Kids Peace

Kids and nature

When the Christian messiah, Jesus Christ, made the statement that the kingdom of heaven belonged to children he was definitely on to something; an examination of the living conditions of the mushroom Cordyceps might provide a hint to what one of the world’s most influential teachers, if not the most influential, had in mind. Cordyceps is a genus of ascomyete fungi that has over 400 species of fungi; Cordyceps is also a parasite. The question that many a reader is probably asking at this point is: what exactly does teaching kids peace have to do with parasites? Keep an open mind and read on, maybe, just maybe you will see the connection here.

As a parasite, Cordyceps is essentially abode in insects and plants. When it lodges itself in the body of a host it begins by replacing the tissues of the host, this is manifested by the development of an elongated fruiting body that may be cylindrical in shape branched or even a whole lot of complex designs. Although the term parasite conjures up images of distortion and harvesting where one has not reaped Cordyceps has a saving grace in that its genetic build up has elements that have a medicinal value to them. This is where the connection with teaching kids peace comes in.

As children get to be socialized in the diverse cultures that many of us draw our extraction from, they inevitably come across many shades of individuals. Some of these folks will be inevitably tagged as free loaders, douche bags, the scum of the earth, et al. Remember that as the American hero Martin Luther King put it: do not judge men by the color of their skin but the content of their character, which might be renditioned in the following format for purposes of this article: do not judge men by their appearance but by the content of their character. This is the lesson that ought to be passed on as you teach kids peace. Look at the positive side of people.

Categories: Education

Woodstock Posters Offer a Piece of History to Music Fans

The original Woodstock poster  billed the now legendary festival as “3 days of Peace and Music” that were being offered in White Lake, NY, a place that many of the people who intended to travel to see all of the famous names had never heard of.

woodstock poster

The original artwork used on the poster was created by Arnold Skolnick. The image of white dove perched at the end of a guitar has become an iconic piece of art in its own right and won Skolnick both international acclaim and a place in history. What you may not know is that the New York graphic artist was only given three days to create and deliver his work to festival organizers. Amazingly enough although the famous image has made millions of dollars for  various people over the years all that Skolnick ever made off it was a single royalty check for $15 when he delivered the project to his employer!

International Children Peace Prize

During 2003 and 2009 it was not a good time to be a child in the Swat region of Pakistan. The Swat region lies among huge vallies and hills along the Pakistani and Afghanistan borders.  It is an area of great beauty and is even known as the Switzerland of Asia.  However that’s where the good stuff ends when the region fell under the control of the Taliban.

One of the very first rules was to order all the schools to close, as part of an edict designed to stop the education specifically of girls.  When this happened Malala Yousafzai was only eleven years old.  However at great risk to herself she started an anonymous diary on the BBC Urdu’s website.   This blog became so famous she later featured in a couple of New York Times documentaries covering her experiences.

Here’s an extract from the times after the strict Sharia law was relaxed and the ban on the schools was lifted.

Today our teacher asked us how many girls listen to FM radio and most of the girls said that they used to but not anymore. But few girls said that they still listen to it. Girls were of the view that once FM radio transmission is stopped only then peace can return to Swat.

The Taleban say that they use FM radio to propagate teachings of the Koran but commander Khalil after a brief teaching of the Koran subtly switches over to threaten opponents. Announcements regarding fighting, activities and murders are made on FM radio.

During our recess today we saw helicopters flying. The helicopters fly very low over our school. Girls called out to the soldiers and they waved back. Soldiers seem to be tired of waving now.

 

Now however the bravery of this little girl has been recognised and Malala Yousafzai has been nominated for the International Kids Peace Prize which is awarded each year by a Dutch charity called Kidsrights.

You can see all her diaries online at the BBC web site if you search for Malala Yousafzai.  If you are able to watch Iplayer abroad then you can also see the BBC interview that was recorded after the area was returned to normal rule.  The story is quite an inspiration to children and adults across the world many who of course take these basic rights of schooling for granted.