It is the rare couple who don't have babies (although it seems the trend of being child-free is increasing). Children are priceless source of support in old age. Parents (couples who have a child or children) tend to be surrounded with greater number of friends and have greater satisfaction with life.
Having babies means requiring "equipments". Some of them are baby carrier and baby stroller. Compared with the 70's when I was a parent, parents are much fussier nowadays plus they have greater choices. And many of them are prepared to spend. I know because I just became a grandfather. My daughter and son-in-law bought a pretty expensive baby carrier and baby stroller. However, with greater choice comes a greater headache of finding the right one for you. I remembered they took a very long time to find the stroller they wanted.
Really, I think you don't need to go through the hassle they went through, for there are online Baby Carrier reviews and Stroller Reviews easily accessible from your home computer.
The above reviews is ranked using a WIZERANK value which the site claim uses proprietary technology which cannot be manipulated. In other words, it is supposed to reflect the opinions and satisfactions with the ranked products of the users. WIZERANK value ranged from 100 to 1 with 100 being the best and 1 being the worst. With this, choosing the right carrier or stroller for your baby become a breeze.
There are other ways to use the review sites. You can search for products using criteria like price, brands, carry position, infant weight or carrier type. For example, if you are as spendthrift as my daughter and her husband, you can go for the high end baby carrier. If you are as stingy as me, you may look for the budget baby carrier.
There are many ways to use those baby carrier and baby stroller reviews sites. You can go check for yourself.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Help for parents: Baby Carrier and Stroller Reviews
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Family Friendly Hotels
Have you ever had that experience of taking your family (with kids) on a vacation or business-cum-pleasure trip, stay in a "nice" hotel, then find to your horror your kids switching on the TV and getting adult entertainment? That is a problem hotel booking sites are still unable to solve. If you are fortunate, you may be able to get a remote control with parental control mode, which let you lock a preset number of kid-friendly channels. However, this is a problem that is difficult to solve. Perhaps what can be done is not to leave your kids in the hotel room alone, but this will not be an option if you have 2 rooms, one for you and your spouse, and one for the kids. Parents are probably looking forward to the time they can get a family safe hotel booking site.
What you can get now are Family Friendly Hotels which offers activities like playgrounds, game rooms, arcades that can keep your kids away from the TV, and for family with very young kids, and babysitting services. However, I noticed that on this site, you can only chose states in the United States of America, Canada, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Puerto Rico and Australia. You can search for hotels worldwide by countries, but once you get to those sits, you wouldn't find a family friendly option. I suppose the site owner or owners are working hard to include more countries.
However, recreational vehicles (RV) are a common way for family to travel, and parents control exactly what is inside their RV. And if this is the mode of travel you chose for your family, RV Parks and Campgrounds, and this site includes all the states in US plus Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy and Spain, plus special sites for national parks and state parks.
It is also not uncommon for family to have pets, and if your family travel for extended periods, you just can't leave your pets alone in the house. You will need to find a friend who is willing to take care of them for you or find a boarding place for pets. If you can't get these alternatives, or you or your children just can't bear not to have them at their sides all the time, there is another alternative - Pet Friendly Hotels
Friday, August 24, 2007
Parenting Tips
This is a good video taken from Youtube uploaded by virginiaelder who also produces a parenting ezine.
How to Create an Emotional Bond with Your Child
How to Create an Emotional Bond with Your Child
By Anthony Kane, MDOne of the most powerful tools a parents have for raising their children is the natural emotional bond that exists between them and their child. Children who feel close to their parents will have a strong desire to obey them. No child with this type of connection to his parents will want to risk hurting that connection by disobeying them. When such a relationship exists, the mere look of dissatisfaction on the face of a parent will usually be enough to curb inappropriate behavior. This bond is so strong and so potent that it lasts even though adolescence when most of the disciplinary tools at our disposal are ineffective. Often, it is the only tool we have in guiding our teenage children. Parents who do not have such a connection with their children have lost a vital resource necessary for successful parenting.
In addition, this bond is essential for the child's emotional stability. A recent psychology experiment studied people in their forties, whose parent were emotionally distant from them. These people were often depressed and lacked a sense of emotional well being. They had more difficulty in adjusting to the work environment and new social situations.
How do you develop this type of loving bond with your child? It begins in your child's infancy and is built by giving your child the love and affection that he needs.
Many well-meaning mothers are completely unaware that their own children are suffering from the lack of physical touch. There are many reasons for this. Most people associate deprived children as those who are neglected, abused, or chronically ill. However, the truth is that many of our children who come from good homes are not getting the physical warmth and love that they need. In our two-income society, unaffectionate caretakers, who provide for the child’s physical needs with as little warm and contact as possible, often raise children. Also, many of us did not receive enough physical love and warmth as children. As a result, it is not natural to us to cuddle, coo, kiss, and love our children affectionately. In addition, some children naturally need more physical warmth. These touch-deprived children fill our schools. They are the ones who often look sad and depressed, suffering from not getting their physical needs for contact.
The United States is one of the richest countries in the history of the world. Yet, our children in general are touch starved. We are busy with our lives and our careers. We often raise our children in broken homes. We as parents are suffering under the burden of so much physical and emotional stress, that we are often just glad to make it through the day without hitting or screaming at our children. Who has time to give them affection? Yet, this is what our children crave most from us. We fill our houses with toys and things for our children, but it is us that they really need.
There is much talk about the generation gap. We all know that adolescents naturally rebel. Sometimes we look at our little children and wonder what is going to be in ten years when this cute little four-year-old turns fourteen. Will he be one of the children who abuses drugs? Is he going to steal? Is he going to do worse? What is going to be?
You need to take the time now, and give your child the physical warmth and love that your child needs. If you build strong bonds of love with your child now, while he is still young, then all these problems that you read about, will be just that; things that you read about. You will not experience these problems in your own home, because you have developed a strong relationship with you child.
Anthony Kane, MD
ADD ADHD Advances
Anthony Kane, MD is a physician, an international lecturer, and director of special education. He is the author of a book, numerous articles, and a number of online programs dealing with ADHD treatment, ODD, child behavior issues, and education. You may visit his website, ADD ADHD Advances, and sign up for the ADD ADHD Advances online journal.
Source: www.isnare.com
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Parents should get life insurance to protect dependents
What does the word parent mean? It means having a child or children. And when they are young, they are totally dependent upon the parent to provide the food for them, to provide a roof over their head, to clothe them, to provide for their needs like incidental necessities - tooth brush, tooth paste, towels, soap, etc. To provide the school or college fees.
Parents are human. That means they cannot be 100% sure they will always be around while the child or children are dependent on them. It is their responsibility to continue to provide for their child or children's needs if, to put it crudely, they die. And this is what life insurance is all about. To have a sum of money to enable the family to continue, preferably with the same standard of living, when they are gone as when they were still around.
There are many types of insurance of which the cheapest and purest form is term life insurance. It is like car or fire insurance. You pay premium for a defined period of time. If anything happened to you, a sum of money called sum insured is paid to the beneficiaries. If at the end of that defined period, nothing happen, you get nothing back. My opinion is in a period of high inflation, term life insurance, is the most logical type of insurance one should get.
For a young family, the house they stay in is most likely to have been bought with the help of a housing loan. The distinctive feature of a housing loan is that as you make the monthly repayments, the amount owed is reduced. Now there is a special type of insurance called mortgage insurance where the sum insured is reduced in tandem with the reduced loan outstanding. This is even cheaper than term life insurance and ensure that your dependent will continue to have a roof over their head if (sorry) you die.
Now not every parents are well to do. Some have to struggle to make ends meet. If you are in such circumstances, you should look for affordable insurance quotes for families.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Bridal Shower Invitations
It is common in US and Canada for bridal shower to be organised by the bridesmaids before the wedding. A bridal shower is a party given for the bride before the wedding, usually organised by the bridesmaids to offer gifts for the bride and groom for their new home.
However, it is not uncommon for bridesmaids to be sisters of the brides, in which case, the bridal shower may be organised by the family. In any case, invitation cards for the bridal shower need to be sent out.
Bridal Shower Invitations Store has a great variety of bridal shower elegant and sophisticated invitation card designs. To invite friends and family over for a cup of tea, Bridal Shower Invitations Store has a teapot design. For a more feminine design, Bridal Shower Invitations Store has a card with the picture of a bride where wording can be put in the bride's dress and 2 lines can be printed on the veil. Bridal Shower Invitations Store also has a creative invitation card design in form of a handbag with a black ribbon as a handle. Perhaps the bridal shower include dancing, in which case the card with pictures of dancing shoes may be suitable.
For convenience, choose and order your bridal shower by surfing over to Bridal Shower Invitations Online
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Planning weddings and custom wedding invitation cards
If you are a parent, you will have children. And children grows up, and eventually get married. If you have a grown up child who is going to get married, there are wedding to be planned, and that include getting wedding invitation cards to be designed, printed and sent out.
It is good to have custom wedding invitation cards to be printed, and for this daunting task, Custom Wedding Invitations can help. There are 12 categories of custom wediing cards for you to choose from:
A Wedding
Enchanting Borders
Red Colonial
Recherche - Ecru
All Wrapped Up
Luminous in Lavender
Maple Breeze
Classic Tradition
Butterfly Wishes
The Color Blue
A Wedding
Secret Garden
You can request for a sample of the card, but there will be a charge of $2. If you order 100 cards or more, you will be given free Thank You Notes.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Why Plan an After Prom Party
Why Plan an After Prom Party
by: Lori Heatherington
From the time I enrolled my daughter in elementary school it seemed that the world was out to ruin her innocence.
Her know-it-all six year old friends with older brothers and sisters shared the world’s reality with her on a daily basis. And I, who was happy living in the land of talking stuffed animals, was in no hurry to debate the concept of Santa Claus.
Unfortunately, that age of innocence doesn’t last long enough. Whether we like it or not, reality plops itself on the sofa in our living room and sits there while our children struggle through adolescence. About the time that we’re able to find some common ground, they’re talking to us about claiming their independence and graduating from high school.
If there’s one thing I’ve discovered in parenting, it’s that we can protect our children from many things when they’re under our roof. Once they’re out of sight however, their own their own. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad will happen; unless they’re with one of those know-it-all friends they’ve known since the first grade.
Seriously, peer influence can be a constant source of challenge, growth, and heated conversations in homes across America. In addition to marketing messages that conflict with our parenting goals, our teenagers are heavily influenced by their friends. Therefore, it’s imperative that we do what we can to guide and protect them.
The pressure to experiment with alcohol and drugs is a constant source in the lives of teenagers and is often the gateway to risky sexual encounters. In addition to alcohol, many teenagers resort to tobacco, club drugs, inhalants, steroids, and methamphetamines just to fit in. Why not make it easy for them to just say no on prom night!
Because prom night is seen as a “right of passage,” anything parents can do to create an alternative to rented hotel rooms and unsupervised parties is a wise idea. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (see www.madd.org/stats/2421), on the weekend of my daughter’s prom in May 2000, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, FARS data reported that there were 246 total traffic fatalities. From the “Prom/Graduation Weekend Alcohol-Related Fatalities – 2000” report, 136 of the motor vehicle traffic fatalities (55.2%) were alcohol related.
With the help of the community and one another, parents can take a stand against the negative persuasion and fight the devastating statistics as reported by the NHTSA. By following the outline in the After Prom Party Guide, parents can plan and implement an After Prom party to keep their teenagers off the street after the prom. Designed to insure the safety and well being of high school teenagers, all-night After Prom parties are a sure bet for free food, fun and entertainment.
Although most parents come to accept the fact that their children do make their own choices and they can’t blame the first grade friends for every bad decision, no parent wants the challenge of “what if” questions of themselves. Prom night is supposed to be a wonderful time - let’s make it our mission to keep our teenagers safe and off the streets. That idea was the motivation and the inspiration behind the After Prom Party Guide.
[ Submitted with ArticleSubmitter Pro - Article Submitter Pro ]
About The Author
Lori Heatherington's experience with after prom party planning began when she took it upon herself to coordinate an after prom party for her daughter's senior class. That event and ensuing research resulted in her new book, the After Prom Party Guide, available at After Prom.
Lori holds a marketing degree from Dallas Baptist University in Dallas, Texas. She co-authored her first book with her husband, "The Complete Small Business Internet Guide" (published by Macmillan). Lori currently works full-time for the Humane Society of Northwest Montana as Administrative Director.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Advice to expecting parents
I have a personal story to tell. At one stage of my marriage to my late wife, we were having a difficult relationship at a stage when she was pregnant with one of my sons. She probably had spell of anger, and hormones related to that was probably flowing through her bloodstream. It is not difficult to believe that similar hormones were flowing through the foetus bloodstream too. And I believe this may have affected the foetus.
The consequence - I have a son with a bad temper to deal with. Things you do during pregnancy may come back to haunt you. The moral of the story is, keep the atmosphere calm and serene during pregnancy if you don't want the same thing that has happened to me.