Gardening with Kids 2
August 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Gardening with Kids
I hope you have read the article before this and have though about doing some gardening with your children. If not, I hope you get inspired to do an activity that will let your children be outdoors exploring and enjoying nature. Children need vitamin D for healthy bone development, what a better way for them to get this essential nutrient than from sunlight while gardening?
Gardening for my family is being together, talking and hoping one of the plants will truly make it and surprise us with some fruit or vegetable. It’s not difficult to garden. It’s difficult to get great results when you have two children as your helpers.
A solution for you is to enlist the help of a fertilizer that will truly help and make your plants grow. I have used many of those commercially available ones at gardening and retail stores and have stopped after the first use. Have you ever read the labels? Do you want your kid smelling and most likely inhaling those fumes?
Great Big Plants is a company that produces a fertilizer that will meet your expectations. It’s an organic liquid fertilizer that has been packaged beautifully and works incredibly. The most important thing though, it’s the ease of mind that you will get when using it. My 11 year old can help my 3 year old pour the fertilizer into the watering can without us thinking they’ll get cancer or other illness because they’re smelling fumes that they should not have.
The greatest thing for everybody is that we DO get results. Indoor plants that were slowly but surely dying came back to life within days and had flowers and new sprouts as well. Plants outside have grown twice as much as before with great results. The product DOES work and it’s easy to use. No fumes to smell, no worries and no wasting your money buying other products that will generate no results.
For you organically conscious people, this product is certified organic by the state of Washington. Finally, an organic product that gives you great results.
Article Submitted By: Neo M.
IMF Music Festival - Cleveland
August 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment
All over the world, there are in depth music institutes where kids can get advanced music opportunities, new experiences and interact with kids that are also serious about music. The kids also get to meet adults that have chosen careers in music.
This year we decided to see what these music institutes are all about. We attended the IMF Music Festival - http://www.intmusfest.org.
It is important to remember that we are a dedicated Suzuki family, which means we take music seriously and our older daughter has been performing since she was 4 years old. Suzuki is expensive though. We pay for individual piano lessons and group music lessons. We also pay for separate guitar and voice lessons. So we kept putting off participating in the music festival as well because of the additional cost.
We will be listing the good and bad things we found with the music festival. But the first question I want to answer is, will we do it again? Yes.
Ultimately, there were the benefits that made it well worth the $400+ cost.
- Our daughter got several chances to perform, including an honors program and playing with an orchestra. These were priceless opportunities that gave her confidence and experience.
- The talent show was anything goes, and our daughter played the guitar while our three year old danced. It got a roar of applause and was a good experience for both.
- Fencing – Yes, they had classes in other areas as well, and our daughter really enjoyed fencing.
- Great support – Some of the faculty and teachers spoke very highly of Alexandra and gave her a lot of pointers and praise. Some even said they would love to be her teacher if she ever moved to their area.
- Variety – We saw flute, harp, Indian and Persian instruments and singing as well as the expected violin, viola, cello and piano.
Finally, it was the attitude shift. After Alexandra saw other kids that were very talented as well, it motivated her to do more work and practice, because she wants to go back next year and be even better.
Was the International Music Festival good? Yes. Could it be better? Yes.
Here are the things we were not crazy about.
- Lots of things required additional expenses – We did not participate in anything that cost extra, and there were a lot of them. This left us with long dead times where people were out doing things. We ended up leaving early on the last day because we did not want to pay for 4 people to go on the Good Time Cruise or pay extra for the picnic.
- Too much information – It was hard to figure out exactly what to do at times. While there was a lot of published information, it was confusing at times and there was too much of it. People that had come in years past clearly had a better idea of what was going on.
- Cancellation of classes – because attendance was down, they canceled some of the classes, including the advanced piano class we signed up for. We would have liked to substitute guitar, but that was canceled too. The end result was less music instruction than we’d hoped for.
- Long breaks for commuters – We live about 1 hour from the institute, so we drove every day. However, we had a long break usually from 3:00 to 7:00 at night. Not fun for us to waste so much time, especially with a three year old. It seems better designed for those people staying close by in the hotel.
There were some other things from a marketing prospective I would change. They seemed to ask for donations a lot, but did not give an envelope where people could donate later and drop it someplace. I did not have cash or check with me, so I could not donate anything. Also, they made it hard to pay for things with a credit card. Supposedly, you could give Dr. Landers the credit card and he could process it, but no one seemed excited about that and I did not want to bother him, so we just did not pay for the extra trip we were considering going on.
Also, first time attendees did not seem to feel like they meshed well with the community. I would have had people working specifically with the first year people to make sure they met more people and understood everything. (They did a good job of answering questions, but more integration with the group would ensure more would return next year)
Lastly, I think there was a very noticeable amount of frustration on the part of the people running the event. Attendance was down and the way it was mentioned several times along with the complaining we overheard several times made me concerned that they may not even survive next year. I hope they do. I also home they hire a business/event manager to help market and run the event. The people that were there were great, but they are not event professionals and they did not seem to realize that they were performing even when standing in the hall and chatting.
So to summarize, I would recommend these kinds of festivals if you are serious about music and want your kids to be inspired. If you are running these kinds of events, make things easier, make sure people connect more and remind every instructor and volunteer that it is a five day performance.
Gardening and Kids
July 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Gardening and Kids
Summer is the perfect time to do activities with your children that otherwise you never have time to do during the school year.
Gardening with your children is not only beneficial in building character, but is a physical activity that they might enjoy as well. It gives them a sense of creating something, a sense of achievement that wasn’t difficult to attain.
Have you seen their faces when they’re picking that ripe tomato from the plant? Have you seen them smile when they are the first one to spot that red pepper? Gardening with your children can be a very rewarding experience for both of you, and could forge memories that may last a lifetime.
What a better way for them to learn about plants, their care and the problem of world hunger than when they are side by side gardening with you? A time that will help them form a stronger relationship with nature,you and the world around them
Be crazy…plant a garden and some memories at the same time.
Article Submitted By: Neo M.
Getting Kids to Eat Salads
July 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Getting kids to eat salads can be very difficult.
Getting adults to eat salads can be difficult as well.
The funny thing about salads is that it really is a habit you have to form. Forcing down spinach or broccoli once in a while can be challenging. If you eat it every day, I guarantee that at some point you will start missing it if you skip a day.
Here are some tips to getting kids to eat salads regularly.
1) Start with a salad before other things are on the table.
2) Give kids SMALL salad portions and praise them for eating it.
3) Serve a salad every day. Eventually they will just expect it and it will become a non-issue.
4) Make the kids salad out of mostly things they already like. We do a small amount of spinach with carrots and cucumbers.
That is it. Don’t give up quickly and your kids will be eating salads in no time.
Daily Food for Ultimate Health
February 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
One of the most effective things you can do to have better health is to post in your kitchen a list of things you will eat every day. At each meal, I review this checklist to make sure I am getting all the great foods I want in my diet.
I made this list from combining things from Dr. Phil and other health reading I have done. Your list may not be the same, but all of these things are good for everyone to have regularly. Tweak this list for yourself, but be sure to print it out and try to get every food in your diet every day.
- Vegetables - Not corn or potato
- Fiber - Pinto Beans, Black Beans or Lentils
- Green Leaf - Spinach or Callard Greens
- Healthy Nut Mix - Including almonds and walnuts - not peanuts.
- Asprin
- Fish (Salmon at least 3 times a week)
- Water
- Low Fat Milk
- Coffee
- Cooked Tomato
- Low Fat Yougurt
- Sunflower Seeds
- Red Wine - 2 times per week or more.
This is my personal list, but it works very well for me. With the kids, we take out coffee, red wine, asprin and fish (vegetarian) and add things like flax seed, soy sauce, berries and bananas.
They key is to identify what you want in your diet and post a healthy checklist that everyone mentally checks every day. This works like a charm and is a great way to support each other.
Downhill Skiing Tips for your First Time
February 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Getting out and doing downhill skiing can quickly change you and your kids from waiting for winter to end to waiting for more snow to fall.
This year we took the challenge and bought a package for skiing. It contains 6 weeks of lessons and passes, plus three free passes to use whenever we want.
After the first trip, our 10 year old daughter was ready to quit. Luckily, we’d made the financial commitment and we were going back even if it killed us.
Now, 6 trips later, it is her favorite sport and we are thinking we should have bought a bigger package. To help you get through that first ski trip, here are some tips we learned the hard way.
- Boots go on and off much easier if you fully loosen them. I mean take off the binding so it is flapping around. We struggled the first couple of times because we did not know how loose they go.
- The first time skiing stinks. It does for everyone and you just have to go back and try it again. Once you start to get it, you will love it.
- Take lessons. They usually offer fairly inexpensive lessons and they really do help you get the basics down so you can start enjoying it.
- Don’t go someplace where they only have a tow rope. Probably the thing that made our first trip the most miserable was that we had to use the tow rope. It is a cable that has metal bars and you hang on as it drags you up the mountain.
- Make sure your books are tight. If you are not snug in those boots you have much less control.
- Keep turning. If you can keep turning, you will eventually be going up hill and slow down.
- Go regularly when you are learning and you really do pick it up fast. I can say I tried the black diamond once, and paid. But I feel great on the intermediate hills. Our first trip is a distant memory.
- Use Goggles - If it is at all windy and cold, using goggles keeps the ice and snow from blowing in your eyes. We bought a pair for $15 and it was a good investment.
If you are visiting us, I hope you have made a commitement to add more adventure to your life, and downhill skiing is a great and fun adventure.
Your Family Enterprise
February 16, 2008 | 1 Comment
One of the greatest mistakes our schools make is the lack of focus on finance. Not balancing your checkbook or managing your charge cards, but how to create wealth. When someone complains about the economy or the job market, what are they complaining about? They are complaining that there are not more individuals that are skilled at creating businesses, jobs and wealth. All business starts with individuals.
Family Entrepreneurships is one solution to this problem. We do not mean family entrepreneurship as in starting a family restaurant. We are talking about setting off on a journey to learn how to be entrepreneurs together.
First let’s look at the word Entrepreneurship. It is not the same as business owner. An entrepreneur is skilled at creating wealth. A business owner should be skilled at managing. If you are a family of entrepreneurs, you are using your skills to produce wealth, but not necessarily opening up and office or hiring staff.
This is an important distinction. My first attempt at family entrepreneurship was my 8 year old starting a business. She had a lot of fun, but the difficulty of building a business instead of focusing on building wealth hurt our success.
Start Simple and Learn Together
The first step to creating an environment is to start very simple and grow. Your primary goal is wealth creation, even if it is $50 a month.
There are plenty of business plan templates online. Write a business plan that focuses on wealth creation – but keep it to only a few pages. If you need more pages, the idea is too complex for your first idea.
Your business plan should answer the following questions:
- How will we make money?
- How will we find customers?
- Why would customers by from us?
- What are our start-up expenses?
- How much time does each person need to put in?
- What are each person’s responsibilities?
- What do you currently spend money on that could become a business expense?
The benefits of having a while family involved in a successful enterprise are big. There are substantial tax advantages, there is the learning your family is getting, there is freedom if you build your business to the point where it becomes a reliable cash machine and you are building and investment for the future.
The key thing to remember is you are going to have many more benefits if it actually has some income. Don’t start something that is going to take a year to see a dollar unless you already have other money making ventures running. Simplicity and an income focus are what is going to sustain your energy and contribute to your family entrepreneurship success.
Ice Skating with 2 Year Olds
February 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Taking a 2 year old ice skating can be tricky. When you go, you may be there for 5 minutes or two hours. It just depends on the reaction of your child after they first set foot onto the ice.
Our first trip we did not take safety gear - imagining that we’d be there for a few minutes and never let her go. It turned out she was there for almost two hours and did some independent skating right away. Our advice is take a bike helmet and any other desired safety gear, because you never know.
How do you get your young child interested in ice skating?
Our daughter Maya watched ice skating on television first. She loved the outfits and the skating and wanted to go right away. We actually used this as a reward for potty training - you can’t skate as well wearing a diaper.
Six things you can do to help your young child get a fast start in ice skating:
- Get stiff skates to support their ankles or cut a cardboard tube to insert into the skate and give them more ankle support.
- After one or two trips, buy them skates. You can get great deals on skates at a used sporting goods store and they quickly pay for themselves. Then you just trade them in when you need a bigger size.
- Practice marching before you go. The first thing they will do is march on the ice with their skates. Later they will glide.
- Take a skilled skater with you. You cannot just shove a new skater out there. Someone has to be with them until they develop great skills.
- Take pictures, clap and encourage their small successes. They will love it.
- Build a lifestyle where the whole family can go during the day when there are not crowds. Doing things during the day, during the work week is a great advantage.
This is one of those great workouts that you and your kids can enjoy all their life.
Opening Doors with Music & Art
February 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
If you are waiting for public schools to turn your kids into great musicians or artists, you are in trouble. Creativity and expression, even if it is not a chosen profession, is a key component to great Lifestyle Design.
Adventure is the cornerstone of Lifestlye
February 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Family Travel and Adventure is the cornerstone of making a lifestyle change that frees you up to enjoy life. This category has articles about where to go with kids, how to take more trips and how to enjoy locations with the whole family.