Don’t Do Your Child’s Homework for Them

One of the biggest complaints of students of all ages is the amount of homework they are assigned. This is true for kindergarteners, college students, and everyone in between. Teachers expect that the students will do their own homework, perhaps with a little help from their parents. You don’t do your children’s homework for them, though, right? An article in The Telegraph reveals some surprising things about who is really doing the homework that teachers assign. The information comes from a poll of 2,000 parents who had children between the ages of 5 and 15. The research showed that in … Continue reading

Is it Ever Ok to Bribe your Kids?

How do you get your children to do what you want them to? What do you do to encourage them to do certain things and to refrain from doing other things? Many parents have, at least sometimes, resorted to bribing their children. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Is it ever ok to bribe your kids? New findings reveal some interesting answers to these questions. First, it would be helpful to figure out what a bribe is (and what it isn’t). Author Ellen Perry points out that there is a continuum to be aware of. Motivation is one one end, … Continue reading

Fun Father’s Day Reads

Forget about the tacky tie, fluorescent golf balls, and the tennis racket-shaped bug zapper.  What Dad really wants this Father’s Day is some quality time with the TV remote, his trusty recliner and a plate of bacon. Of course, what Dad wants for the upcoming holiday and what his enthusiastic young offspring want for him may be vastly different.  Fortunately, the following Father’s Day reads may be the key to compromise.  Kids can cuddle up with Dad on his favorite chair and share quality time reading the delightful holiday-themed page turners… while Mom cooks a pile of pork products for a post-story time … Continue reading

Is the “Special K” Challenge For You?

Have you ever taken the “Special K” challenge?  I did a few years ago, back when the only real good cereal was their red berries.  Since then, numerous other kinds of low-fat cereals have been developed, including blueberry and fruit & yogurt (my personal favorite). I can tell you that I did have success with this challenge.  However, there is a downfall to it, which I will share at the end. So how does the challenge work?  You eat two servings of the cereal everyday, along with just half a cup of low-fat milk.  You can do this for either … Continue reading

Extra Expenses of Caring for an Elderly Parent in Your Home

If you will be caring for an elderly parent in your home, you may need to budget for some extra expenses. Even if your parent has his or her own income to pay for items such as prescription medication, you still may have additional costs that creep up and raise your bills at the end of the month. Make sure to put a little extra aside in the following categories of your budget. Electricity With an extra person in your home, you may see an increase in your electric bill. Many elderly people can’t get around and tend to watch … Continue reading

Teaching Your Sons to Be Better Men

In a world where playing video games is more appealing than providing for a family or going to college it is especially important to teach our sons the value of working hard and growing up. While I intend to keep my son little forever, eventually the universe is going to combine against me and make him grow up. For some men, this doesn’t mean much. They are grown up but living in a child’s world. Believe it or not the number of men playing video games between the ages of 18 and 34 surpasses those between the ages of 13 … Continue reading

Learning Marriage from Your Parents

I was raised with somewhat progressive views on marriage.  It feels strange to even be typing that, and it’s certainly nothing I ever thought growing up.  I know that on the overall spectrum of views on marriage, the ideals with which I was raised would only be in the middle, and probably closer to the conservative side of the middle.  But it’s still so surprising to me how many people aren’t even that far. I’ve already shared my story about my college roommate.   The reason she and her boyfriend didn’t talk for years about division of labor in the household, … Continue reading

Reasons to Remove Snow from Your Roof

Snow can be pretty, but it can also be problematic. Those who live in places that regularly get snow realize that they will have to remove snow from their cars and driveways. State Farm points out that that it is a good idea to take the time to remove the snow from the roof of your home, too. When I was really young, I remember a time when my family experienced a Midwestern blizzard. Snow piled up higher than I’d ever seen it before (or since). My father used a rake to knock snow from the roof. Once he cleared … Continue reading

Don’t Feed Your Pets Leftovers from Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Today, many of us have lots of delicious leftovers to eat. Don’t feed the leftovers to your pets! People food can make pets really sick. VPI has a list of holiday-related medical conditions that you definitely don’t want your pet to suffer with! It can be very tempting to feed your dog or cat some leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner. Many pets will beg for food every time your family eat dinner, (even when it isn’t Thanksgiving). Some pet owners do give in and will toss their dog or cat some people food to eat. Got more leftovers … Continue reading

Spice Up Thanksgiving Layouts

Depending on the size and scope of your Thanksgiving Day festivities you could opt to create an entire scrapbook documenting the occasion or simply dedicate a few pages in a holiday-themed memory album. Many beginner scrapbookers select the latter because they don’t know how to fill the space. However, you don’t have to shoot hundreds of photos or go broke purchasing stacks of expensive embellishments to get rid of white space on your layouts. An affordable way to spice up your Thanksgiving layouts is to pepper them with poems that sum up the tone of the holiday. Fortunately, you can … Continue reading