5.03.2009

Teaching Reading Skills to Empower Your Child!

Teaching reading skills is a wonderful gift that you can bestow to your child. In today’s fast paced technological age, reading as a hobby and for pleasure has taken a backseat. Children are so involved with television programs, extracurricular activities, friends and computer games that they hardly have any time for exercising their reading skills. Now, even if there is no harm is watching television or being engrossed with computer games, they don’t come anywhere near reading in terms of the benefits that it imparts to your child. Reading has the potential to open up a whole new world for your child and by indulging in this activity, your child will have an active imagination, great vocabulary, identification and empathy with other cultures and a broader vision of life.
If the merits of reading are so manifold, shouldn’t you as a parent be taking a more serious interest in teaching reading skills to your child? Many parents are cognizant of the important part that reading plays in the personal development of their children but have no clue about the ways of inculcating the reading habit in their kids. This article will provide suggestions and tips that you can use to make reading a very attractive option for your child. By doing so, you will be ensuring that your child is never lonely and has trusted friends (in the form of books) to guide and illuminate him throughout his life.
It is never too early to plan the development of reading habits in your child and a great way of teaching reading skills is to start when your child is merely a toddler. At this stage, your child is not equipped with the ability to read, but you should never let this be a drawback and come in the way of your child’s enjoyment with reading. Reading out to your child can help in enhancing his language skills at a very tender age. Even if your child does not understand everything that you read out, she will enjoy hearing your voice. If you combine this with interesting and exaggerated facial gestures as well as a nice range of voice modulation, your child will look forward to reading time with you.
With very young kids and toddlers, buying books with beautiful pictures is a way of capturing their interest. So, when you read out to your child, she will have the added pleasure of gazing at the pictures to her heart’s content. As your child grows up, you can start reading together since this is a great method of teaching reading skills. You do not have to restrict reading time to the home, but can also extend it to other places. So, rather than getting bored while waiting for your appointment with the doctor or waiting for your order in a restaurant, you could resort to reading with your child. This will not only help improve communication skills and thinking abilities, but it will also make your child feel as if she is sharing a secret pact with you. After all, how many people do you usually find reading in public?
Reading time with your child should be kept flexible so that your child can air her opinions or thoughts about the characters in the book when you are actually involved with the process of reading. You could also contribute by asking pertinent questions that set your child thinking about the book from a different perspective. Teaching reading skills in such a scenario will present no problems and will come very easy to your child. If you make this routine a part of your daily activity, your relationship with your child will also improve along with her reading skills. Another reason for the importance of regular reading is that children who take large breaks find it difficult to return to the reading hobby.
However, this does not mean that you force your child to read. There will be times when your child is a voracious reader while at other times; he will be totally disinterested in reading. You need to respect the different phases that your child goes through rather than being critical about his lowered pleasure in reading or the kind of books that are being read. What you can do is to have books lying at strategic points in the house, so that he is tempted to pick one and start reading. To do so, you do not necessarily have to spend a fortune in buying books as second-hand bookstores and yard sales will give you plenty of opportunity of buying good books at affordable prices.
If your child has an extremely busy schedule that allows no time to read, you could pick up collections of short stories or other magazines which do not take too long to peruse and ensure that the reading habit does not die down. An innovative way of teaching reading skills is to find taped books that can be listened to when you are driving your child to school or some other activity. Taking a trip to the library once a week along with your child is another way of introducing him to the world of books. You could even direct him to a book series meant for kids of his age since children usually get addicted to the characters that inhabit such a series.
Apart from this, you could also let him have a monthly allowance for books in addition to his pocket money. Teaching reading skills by doing so will be money well spent and your child will start building a list of books that he wants to buy each month. By arousing this kind of an interest in your child, you are ensuring that the reading habit will be a life-long one rather than short-lived and sporadic. Gifting books on birthdays and other special occasions is again something that you can do for obtaining the desired results.
Every child likes to have his/her own room in the house. If you extend this idea and create a small and exclusive reading area for him in the house, you efforts will be truly appreciated. Making this space special by arranging all your child’s favorite books and posters in an attractive way will enhance the appeal of this place for your child. Teaching reading skills could be reinforced by allowing your child to read late into the night on a Friday or a Saturday and dispensing with the bedtime rules on this particular day. Most children will lap up this chance as it is a deviation from their normal and boring routine.
Finally, you need to communicate to your child the enormous amount of pleasure that you yourself derive from reading. A child who sees his parents reading frequently and for fun will do so himself without too much persuasion on your part. So, teaching reading skills will be a lot easier for the parent who is an avid reader. In other words, make reading an integral part of your lifestyle and you will have an intelligent child who is bitten by the reading bug.

Four Ways to Help You Get Out of Debt | Debt Management

The United Kingdom personal debt today stands at £1,458 billion and the government intend to increase their debt to £175 billion this year and similar figures for the next three years. The latest figures available from Credit Action this month suggests that the average household debt is £59,765 including mortgages, £1.02 billion will be spent on credit card purchases today and £199 million will be paid in interest each day.
If you feel you are burdened with massive debts and finance problems then just consider these daunting statistics. Every ten minutes a home or property is repossessed and an average thirteen people are declared bankrupt every hour of the day. The government have even resorted to printing money to help their problems and 10.3 million British adults, have been hit so badly by the economic downturn that they are relying on their credit cards and other borrowings to help pay for there everyday living expenses. According to Post Office research they expect 2.6 million people are planning to spend more on their credit cards this year than they did last year in order to make ends meet.
What options are available if you are debt stricken?
There are currently four different ways to get out of debt. Each solution is designed to help people with different circumstances to repay their debts. They are:-
Debt Consolidation
If you have several debts like credit cards, personal loans, overdrafts, etc. Then you could arrange a personal unsecured loan that would allow you to repay the debt back over one to seven year. Alternatively you could choose to remortgage your home in an effort to spread your repayments over a longer period. This would bring down the monthly cost but you would pay more for the debt over the term of the new mortgage. Always think carefully before securing other debts against your home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage. Be certain that you can afford the new monthly repayments. If you cannot afford the repayments than one of the other debt solutions may be more suitable to your needs.
Debt Management Plan
This is an informal agreement between you and your creditors. Your creditors are the companies that you owe money to like a personal unsecured loan, car loans, credit cards, store cards, overdrafts, etc. A statement of account is drawn up detailing your income and expenditures like mortgage payments, gas, electricity, food, council tax, etc. This identifies the money you have left after you have paid all your bills to pay all your creditors. This can be arranged by yourself or you may choose one of the debt Management charity or the services of Debt Management Company. It is possible to have the interest rate frozen along with any other charges.
Individual Voluntary Arrangement or better known as an IVA
If you have accumulated unsecured debts of more than £15,000 and you are unable to meet your commitments to your creditors to repay the money you owe them. An Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) is a legally-binding agreement which is administered by an IVA practioner and agreed between you and your creditors. A realistic monthly contribution is agreed that is based on your ability to repay. The IVA agreement will last for a pre-determined length of time which is usually five years.In order to proceed with an IVA agreement you will need at least 75% of your creditors to agree to your proposal for it to go ahead. At the end of that period any outstanding debt remaining will be written off and you will be debt free. You should be aware that if you are a homeowner you may be required by your creditors to release some of the equity in your home to help settle your IVA.
The benefits of an IVA are the potential to write off a percentage of your overall debt; it will safeguard your home and your car; it will alleviate the day-to-day pressure from your creditors and it will help you avoid bankruptcy as long as you keep up the payments
Bankruptcy
Involves being declared bankrupt by a court of law for a period of 12 months, you are not allowed a bank account, and you could find yourself paying your creditors for the next three years before the full debt is written off. Your bankruptcy will remain on your credit file for the follow 6 years and some lenders in the future may still penalise you for many more years. You will be able to keep most of your household goods, your car for work as long as it costs around the £1,500 and you will lose your home and any equity in your home.
Bankruptcy could be the right solution if you have little to lose, you cannot afford to pay back your debts, you live in rented accommodation, possibly not paid a very high salary and you don’t have lots of very valuable assets. Then bankruptcy is a drastic way to get out of debt. The alternative solutions are a debt consolidation loan, an individual voluntary arrangements or IVA. Both an IVA and a Bankruptcy are considered as insolvencies by creditors and your credit rating will be affected for the next 6 years.

The Importance of Goal Setting For Kids

As parents, we want our children to get the best out of life and be ready to face any challenge that life throws at them. Nobody wants their child to be a weak and indecisive individual who is incapable of performing the various tasks that are integral for success. So, is there a way in which parents can prepare their children for the tough road ahead and ensure that they emerge as winners? After all, it is not enough that you wish for something, you also have to work towards it.
An extremely effective way of enhancing your child’s personality and achieving the above mentioned aims is to dabble with goal setting for kids. Generally, goal setting deals with two main facets-namely the controlling of emotions and enhancement of problem solving skills. If your kids are armed with these abilities, they can overcome practically any difficulty that hampers their progress.
There are certain things you need to take into account when goal setting for kids. Do not be carried away by your own idea and set impossible goals that are not suitable for the age group that your child belongs to. Many parents are perfectionists who want to transform their child into a genius and they look upon goal setting as a tool to do so. Such distorted motives may backfire in a big way and your child will end up withdrawing into his or her own shell as they are overwhelmed by parental expectations.
It is important that parents understand the true significance of goal setting for kids before starting with the entire exercise. You need to be a guide for your child and prompt him in the right direction rather than manipulate him into the person you think he should become with goal setting. So, start will small goals for younger children and as they grow into adolescents you can increase the difficulty and complexity of the goals.
Just as setting extremely difficult goals is not recommended, you should also not set very simple goals for your child. This may lead the child to assume that he will get everything he desires from life with minimal effort. Simplistic goals also lower the excitement levels associated with normal goal setting for kids. Ideally, you should set goals that challenge your child without robbing him of his confidence.
Analyzing the emotional state of your child is crucial before you set goals for him. If your child is feeling low and tired, you should set relatively easy goals whereas if he is in a pepped up and energetic mood, setting difficult goals will also not be too much of a problem. In other words, goal setting for kids is directly proportional to the child’s readiness for it.
When goal setting for kids, a lot of emphasis should be laid on the right way of solving problems. You need to tell your child that life may surprise him with unexpected obstacles but he should always be ready for it. Knowing the correct ways to combat the problem is not necessary. What he needs is a positive attitude and willingness to tackle the problem in a competent and smart manner. The motto is to keep looking for solutions until he finds the right answer.
In the course of our everyday lives, we find a lot of people who are defeated even before they begin grappling with the problems they encounter. Most of these people believe that prior to dealing with the problem or obstacle; they need to be aware of the different steps that will help in solving it. These people are paranoid about failure or making mistakes and so would rather not attempt the task. Goal setting for kids teaches them the valuable lesson that there is no need to obsess over mistakes and failure to the point that it leads to inaction. Ignorance on how to tackle a challenge does not imply that you do not make a decent attempt. When working on a problem, inspiration and solutions will come naturally during the working process. All you need to do is to alert your mind to the various possibilities of the situation.
The second integral aspect of goal setting for kids is teaching them the proper control of their emotions. Impulsive actions and lack of self-control can be a huge factor in limiting an individual’s potential for growth. Self-control cannot be learned easily as an adult but if the seeds are sowed in the initial stages of childhood, it requires very little effort to implement this on a daily basis. This is the reason that controlling emotions occupies such a central place in goal setting.
Self-control is a habit that can be inculcated into your child from an early stage. Most kids find it difficult to exert control over their selves as the natural impulse is the instant gratification of desires. However, if you regularly set small tasks for your child, this ability can be mastered by your child. For example, giving pocket money on a weekly basis and asking your child to save it for a couple of months so that he can buy something that he really wants rather than spending it immediately on some small item is a good way of teaching self-control. If your child is not interested in doing homework and wishes to go to the playground after school, you could tell him that by postponing playtime to finish homework first he will be getting an extra hour to play. These are small ways of goal setting for kids that will teach them to restrain their impulses and adopt a practical attitude towards life.
When engaging in goal setting for kids, it is vital that you provide feedback on a regular basis. This helps in raising the confidence levels of your child and he will have a realistic idea about himself. After each goal has been achieved, you can discuss the tactics employed and the things that you approve about the way your child set out to realize his goal. Always be honest with your feedback and never indulge in empty praises as a means of bolstering your child’s self-image. If you praise your child for something that he does not deserve, he will not be able to form a realistic impression about himself and this can lead to a lot of problems later.
The whole objective of goal setting for kids is the enhancement of their personality and mentally preparing them to face life in a positive spirit. This being the case, the focus should not be on winning or losing but learning from each experience. Ultimately, you as a parent should devise the goals in such a way that your child thoroughly enjoys himself and does not feel pressured at any stage of the activities. If you succeed in this, goal setting for kids can be a fantastic tool for learning.

4.10.2009

Cruise Celebrations For Weddings, Anniversaries And Other Milestones

With a little planning, any cruise can be turned into a special event whether it be romantic in nature like a honeymoon, renewal of vows, anniversary, or engagement to a lively birthday celebration -- you can do it all on a cruise ship.
Love boats
Cruise lines are aware of the captivating effects that their vessels have on couples. Nearly all offer options in the way of romance or anniversary packages that can be arranged ahead of time through a travel agent or directly with the cruise line.
Packages may include goodies such as a bottle of champagne or wine in the stateroom, flowers, logo robes to keep, couples spa treatments, formal photo portraits, breakfast in bed, or a private dinner on the stateroom balcony.
All couples dream of the perfect wedding and honeymoon and tying the knot on a cruise ship offers the best of both worlds. Best of all a wedding and honeymoon wrapped into one package takes all the worry out of planning. It's important to realize that cruise ship weddings are becoming increasingly popular, therefore, to avoid disappointment it's important to plan as soon as a wedding date is set.
Ceremonial details
Thousands of couples have taken the plunge at sea, often citing the ease and convenience afforded. Cruise line wedding coordinators relieve the anxiety of details such as arranging for a marriage license or finding a clergyman - details that can seem like a tough task to do in unfamiliar surroundings.
The marriage or renewal of vows ceremony can take place onboard the ship in a public space or, on some ships, in a wedding chapel. Shore side locations are also an option, like on a Caribbean beach, in a European villa or on an Alaskan glacier.
Services differ between cruise lines, so it's important to investigate all options before booking a cruise wedding or renewal of vows celebration. Packages can include not only the ceremony but also flowers, photographs, video recording, champagne, wedding cake and music. The majority of newer ships have dedicated wedding chapels. Only two cruise lines, Princess Cruises and Celebrity Cruises, offer the ship's captain as an option to officiate a wedding ceremony. Princess Cruises also offers a live "Wedding Cam" to couples exchanging vows in their onboard chapels; the cameras stream video over the web to family and friends who cannot attend the ceremony.
More reasons to celebrate
Special celebrations need not only be for weddings or renewal of vows. There are birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and job promotions to name a few. Basically anything that makes you feel like celebrating you can do on a cruise ship.Cruise lines offer a variety of unique celebration packages that can make your cruise even more spectacular. Most lines offer amenities like special cakes, a bottle of chilled champagne or wine at your table when you arrive, festive decorations, flowers, and special keepsake photographs.
Celebrating life milestones onboard a cruise ship is a fun and thrilling way to commemorate happy occasions. Add the convenience of having everything all in one place and professionals who take care of your every need - it's no wonder that a cruise ship is the perfect venue for all celebrations.