So, keeping this in mind, here are a few critical chores, I believe, are connected to success and if taught to a child early enough, will develop positive & effective habits later on in their adult life. If you can get your kids to do these willingly & correctly on their own by age 12 (if not before), count yourself lucky

Making the Bed: Setting Goals

Here’s what making your bed (or not) reveals about your personality

This is the first opportunity for success every morning. It’s the first task that is presented to the child when he/she wakes up & often signals their response or how they will react towards other activities throughout the day.

I remember teaching & explaining the importance of making the bed to my sons (now age 10 and 12) a few years ago. They share a room and have bunk beds. The older one is on the top bunk. Initially the younger one would forget but eventually has got into the rhythm of making his bed. Every time I asked ‘boys, are your beds made?’ the answer was always ‘yes!’ I thought my job was done. The older one started off strong but I recently discovered he’s been shoving his blanket out of sight, behind a huge body pillow. Since he’s on the top bunk, it’s hard to notice the bed isn’t made the way he was taught and supposed to do it. When questioned, he had no excuse for not making his bed. What possible good did he achieve by not doing the right thing? Was there anything more urgent he needed done instead & why did he not come back later to finish his bed?  Was he also giving his teachers the slip with homework or assignments, was he slipping up elsewhere by taking what he thinks is the easy way out? Was this laziness or slyness? These were questions I had to ask him because I had to make him see that they were not good qualities to have in the world of adults or when he worked his first paid job.

What I realized is that unlike my younger son, the older one for some reason, finds it hard to set goals and rules for himself. He finds it difficult to follow goals others may have laid down too (like making the bed). So, he’ll need more time or guidance. But in the process, I’m hoping that making the bed will teach him to set goals in life because that’s important.

Taking out the Trash – Solving Problems, Starting Anew

What Japan can teach us about cleanliness

My husband & I were watching a few minutes of Jerry Seinfeld’s standup comedy last night where he talked about an object’s journey to becoming junk, how everything in a house is  pre-trash stage, eventually on its way to becoming junk. eBay is a newer concept of people transferring trash from one person to another. And while the jokes made us laugh, it’s also kind of true. Getting rid of trash is necessary & needs to be done routinely. Physical trash if unattended to, causes disease. For me, a messy room is also a messy mind. I cannot concentrate with mess around me. Mess inhibits creativity & so, the process of cleaning up the house, taking out the trash is rejuvenating & cathartic.

For kids, taking out the trash can serve as a lesson i.e. It’s ok to make mistakes & it’s ok when things don’t work out the way you expect, but it’s important to understand that mistakes, like cleaning up trash, can be fixed and that every time you fix something, the possibility of starting a new will always be available! There’s no need to feel bogged down with childish worries and let the trash pile up. Taking out the trash is always the solution

Taking care of the Pet: Love & Responsibility

5 Ways to Help Your Pets Stay Healthy and Strong in 2019

My sons have had hermit crabs as pets for 3 years now. The first pair died & we replaced them. The replaced crabs are still with us and the credit of keeping them alive (this time) goes to my older son. He has a connection with animals. He even feeds & pets the neighborhood cat who’s started to visit us regularly.

Looking after a pet, gives the child a sense of purpose. It has developed nurturing qualities in my son. He loves his pet and knows he plays a big role in keeping them clean, happy & fed. Having a pet, I believe, teaches a child to look beyond themselves and towards other’s needs. The world could use a bit more of that

Doing their Laundry: Planning & Hard work

Cleaning Skills to Teach Your Children

‘Laundry’. My husband shudders at that word and so do I sometimes. Not only is it chaotic, rule-bound, painstaking and time-consuming, but the thought of the number of sweaters that shrunk & ‘whites’ that became off white at their best and discolored at their worst, makes me want to cry.

Now, imagine your kids doing their own laundry.

Why should you create this nightmare for them? Why, when the load is heavy and it involves rules & using chemicals and an electronic washing machine that could get damaged? The answer – to root out laziness and teach your kid about hard work, planning & responsibility.

My kids used to have a gala time switching out clothes throughout the week, like it was a fashion show, with no regard about who took care of doing the laundry, folding their clothes or making sure they had a neatly organized closet. So, at first, I made them only fold their clothes & put them away. And boy did they grumble about that but it taught them, at least, to be more responsible about rotating their clothes & keeping their closet clean. Then I began to notice my younger one getting both mentally & physically lazy, refusing to think logically, and putting up a resistance to do any kind of work (except make his bed). So, I decided to make him responsible for all laundry in his room, including his brother’s. This would involve being aware when to do the laundry, washing, drying, setting timers on the machine, deciding how much detergent & water to load, separating clothes, making sure the machine and laundry room was clean & everything in place when he was done, bringing the laundry up to his room & then folding all the clothes and putting them away. The task truly is exhausting. On a weekday, he’d need to balance his schoolwork and sports and find the time to do all of this.

Skip to 6 months later! My little guy is a pro at laundry, he maintains good grades at school & has a great willingness towards work. No complaints whatsoever. He thinks critically and even plans his day and tasks ahead on his own with little guidance from us. I’m so proud of him, eager to see what he’s capable of. And we owe it all to ‘doing the laundry’. Since he doesn’t seem to be lazy anymore & that issue is resolved, I felt there wasn’t a need for him to continue doing the Laundry .I’m now making his older brother do it and let’s just say, I’m looking forward to the end of another 6 months to see if this experiment takes similar roots!

Putting together a simple meal: Gratitude & Survival

2 Questions You Should Ask Your Kids at Dinner

I can write a book on how ungrateful kids are about homecooked meals. From eating excruciatingly slowly, to wasting their food, to not saying ‘thank you’ when served their meals to comments like ‘I can eat a whole lot at olive garden’ and ‘ why can’t we have more of that ravioli (store bought, frozen or out of a can) like we do at grandmas?”…. these are all signs of the sense of entitlement a child has towards food. It’s common, we may have done it when we were kids and we’ve all heard about the starving children in Africa & Asia and why we shouldn’t waste food. But let’s face it, when we grew up, we very quickly and painfully discovered that life isn’t a buffet and neither are our meals.

Sure, fast-food tastes great but so does every other unhealthy food and Olive Garden is heaven on a plate but isn’t sustainable every day, even on a 6-figure salary!

More importantly, it’s not just irritating for the parents but every time a child acts difficult with meals, he/she is unnecessarily obsessing about the food, making himself/herself a slave to it and preventing himself/ herself from moving on to other more creative thoughts and activities. At no rate would I ever encourage a child’s ranting about meals.

So, it boils down to being grateful for what you have and if you’re not happy with it at least learn to fix it on your own, like a little adult. And here’s where my suggestion of a child learning to  put together a simple meal comes in. Example – boiling/ frying eggs, cooking rice, brewing tea/ coffee, cutting veggies, tossing a salad, learning how to operate an oven so you can grill/ bake fish & veggies on a try. I taught my kids to do it all last summer with the intention that one day in the week, they prepare a homecooked, healthy dinner for the family & their father & I will eat it without grumbling. That is yet to happen but on a daily basis, they do put together their own lunches to take to school – PB or ham sandwiches, cut fruit, crackers & other snacks.

There’s always a post its reminder on the cabinet door in case they may forget how to do lunch, but I relieved to confidently know if ever my husband or I leave the kids on their own, they will not starve or wait to get the next meal served to them. Often, they ask if they can help with dinner & I take that as a sign that they are beginning to understand & appreciate the love & work that goes into preparing a meal.

Choosing their outfits: Awareness

4 Reasons Why Your Kids Should Pick Out Their Own Clothes

How you dress may say something about who you are, but how you carry yourself speaks volumes! That’s something I learnt as a little girl studying in a convent. We had a uniform but there were other standards governing how we did our hair, wore our socks, polished our shoes and managed our fingernails. Times have changed, true, but that discipline has stayed with me till this day. It’s something I’ve tried to instill in my boys.

By encouraging them to choose their own outfits for school, I’m teaching them that they are responsible for how they want to represent themselves to others. Not only are they enjoying discovering their own styles, they also know that different occasions call for different attire. Casual sporty school clothes & sneakers are not appropriate for a more reverent occasion like attending Sunday Mass. The clothes they wear also serve as a physical cue or awareness as to where they are and how to behave.

This will prepare them for how to get on in the real work environment.

Doing the Dishes: Service & Discipline

Dear Kids: Do Your Own Damn Dishes

Like taking out trash, washing the dishes and cleaning up after meals is a necessary activity. There’s no escaping it in the adult world, so kids might as well get a head start. This chore is especially helpful to solve the problem of children who are slow eaters – the last one who finishes eating gets to clean up. And while they are ‘cleaning up’ perhaps they could do a little introspection to see how they can improve themselves to avoid a repeated episode of dish-washing. The truth is, like I said at the start, it’s not something that can be avoided as an adult.

An easy childhood, without chores, accountability or responsibility may be fun in the short term, but could lead to a more difficult & challenging life as an adult. My point to this litany of chores and why kids should do them is this: Learning how to cope!

Life is a juggling act. It’s all about coping & multitasking. The more self-reliant you are, the less you have to depend on people and situations. You can better control the outcome and you have a better grip on life. That’s when you stop coping and start living successfully and what parent doesn’t want that for their kid.. So, while other members of the family may dote on your child, it’s your primary job as a parent to teach your child to cope, to become self-reliant as quick as possible!

The post Raising Success – 7 Chores You Kids Should Be Doing & Why appeared first on InstantELLA.

Starting college is like starting a new adventure, one that will only change your life for the better.

Now it might seem intimidating to have to start at the bottom of the totem pole again, but college is a totally different story, and being a freshman comes with its own perks.

Going to College? No?

Freshman year of college is full of amazing opportunities to figure out your passions, make new friends, and have so much fun.

Here are seven other awesome things about being a college freshman that will have you packing your bags and ready to leave tomorrow.

Great social opportunities

4 Reasons Why College Is Going to Be the Best Time of Your Life

From clubs to sports to just your normal classes, college is full of a ton of opportunities to meet new people and make lifelong friends.

Even your college freshman housing can be a way to make a new connection because most of the time you will be set up with a roommate that’s most likely someone you’ve never met before.

A chance to try new things

7 Tips To Help You Succeed In College

Being on your own means that you have to make your own decisions, which also means an opportunity to try things you have never tried before.

There will likely be so many different people from so many different places all with different upbringings and lives different from your own. Not to mention the fact that you will probably be living in a new city, perhaps even in a different state, which can also expose you to new things to try.

The place to find your passion

The Best College for the Best You

High school was about doing the things you need to do to get to college, whereas college is where you learn to find your passion.

You can take all kinds of different classes to find out what really moves you and what you could see yourself doing for the rest of your life.

Time to learn life skills

4 Things You Can Do to Feel More like an Actual Adult

Laundry? Clean room? Prepare dinner? Those are all things that you are in charge of doing for yourself now, which can be overwhelming sometimes, but it’s just a few of the life skills you learn going to college.

But it can also be fun, and even in your college freshman housing you can band together with all the other freshman and make doing all your adulting into a fun game or a time to spend together bonding over this new experience.

To learn to live on your own

5 Qualities of Great Student Apartments

Along with life skills, college is the place to learn to live on your own without relying on your parents or even people you grew up with.

Self-reliance is so important, especially in the years after college and on into adulthood.

How to be disciplined

How to Combine Working and Studying While You Are in College?

Between class, work, social life and everything else going on, learning to juggle it all might be difficult at first. But over time you will find out that one of the awesome things about college is that you learn to be more disciplined and make it all work in your favor.

It may not be easy, but it will be worth it and something you will be always grateful for.

Finally, to have some fun

And last but certainly not least, one of the most awesome and greatest parts about college is all the fun you will have at college!

Although there are a lot of serious, adult-type benefits, one of the best is that you are free to have so much fun in your new experiences in this new place and while learning so many new things about yourself.

The post 7 Awesome Things about Being a College Freshman appeared first on InstantELLA.

The wonderful thing about teachers, though, is that they love what they are doing. They try to support the kids that come into their classrooms, and they are usually doing their best to provide the best possible learning environment for each of their students.

Here are a few things that parents of preschool and grade-school age children can do to help your kids’ teachers.

Donate Books

25 doable ways to volunteer at your kid’s school

Teachers love to have books available for their students to read during their downtime. A great way to support your child’s teacher is to give her a few books. These could be books that your children no longer like or even stories that you picked up at a garage sale. However you come by the books, the teacher will be grateful to add them to their meager supply.

Purchase School Supplies

What Teachers Need Most in 2018 (in Every Grade Level and Subject)

Most parents roll their eyes when they see the school supplies list. They think that it isn’t fair that they have to buy hand sanitizer and tissue for the classroom. This may come as a surprise to those parents, but your child will probably need tissue and hand sanitizer sometime during the semester. If you don’t buy it then the teacher will have to and chances are your student will still use those things.

One way to make those supply lists more useful is to include items that help students learn more efficiently and cut down on waste. For example, a pen that can be erased cleanly lets kids fix mistakes without messy crossings-out or extra paper. Many parents and teachers have found practical value in the Pilot FriXion erasable pen, which comes in pens, highlighters and stamps and erases neatly for neater homework. Tucking a couple of these into a pencil case can save time and help students turn in cleaner work more confidently.

Be Involved In the Classroom

Why I Volunteered in My Kid’s Classroom and You Should Too

Teachers are always looking for volunteers to come into the classroom and help with activities. Whether it is dressing up as a witch and serving the children “snot-stew” (based on the children’s book Snot Stew) around Halloween, or being the chaperone on a field trip, the teacher will be grateful for any help you’re willing to provide.

Attending School Board Meetings

Three Reasons Why You Should Attend Your Next School Board Meeting

If you are able to help on a more managerial level, try to make it to the next school board meeting. This is where all of the big decisions are made, and your extra voice could be the difference between a band competition and new parking spots for seniors.

Volunteer

A+ Secrets of Awesome School Volunteers

There are lots of ways to volunteer besides in the classroom. You could be part of the parent music committee and help with the band and choir. You could be a coach on the speech and debate team. By doing these sorts of these you help make possible what the teachers are trying to do for your kids.

If you’ve read through this list and none of these suggestions seem like things you could do, then talk with your kid’s teacher. They will be thrilled that you are willing to lend a hand and, most likely, they will be more than happy to find somewhere for you to help.

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Hans Christian Anderson said, “Where words fail, music speaks.” This has been seen in the lives of elderly patients as they come alive by the memories conjured by old melodies. As people age, their minds and souls continue to grow and become trapped in failing bodies.

Keeping It Old School – Retro Things Tech Won’t Replace

Music can help improve the quality of life of elderly people limited in their daily activities. Between their home health care and struggles to do daily tasks older people who are stuck in their homes have lost much of their joy to live. Music can help them regain that passion for life. Here are a few ideas for incorporating more music into your loved one’s life. You can even incorporate these ideas into a plan with top home care agency in Philadelphia.

MP3 Player

What Do You Do With Your Old Phone?

It won’t take you long to load 100 of your loved one’s favorite songs on to an MP3 player or another music device, but it will afford them hours upon hours of enjoyment. Whether it is big band music from the early 1900s or 80’s hair bands, it shouldn’t take too long to find the music that speaks to their soul. If you have a little bit of time to devote to the project you could even make a list of their favorite songs to put on their music device.

Play an Instrument

If your loved one used to play an instrument, even if it was back in their 20’s, don’t be afraid to pull out the case, dust it off and play a few notes. It may surprise you how quickly they remember how to play. If they’re willing you could sign them up for lessons so they can continue increasing their talent.

By encouraging them to play you are helping them to have another hobby that they can invest themselves in and feel like they are progressing instead of just sitting around the house. If they are confident enough you could even do a mini-recital with them so they can show their friends and family the progress they are making.

Concert

Michel Legrand, Oscar-winning composer, dies aged 86

If you hear that a concert is coming to town that they might enjoy then get tickets and take your loved one. A sit-down concert is a great way for them to get out of the house and enjoy something they love.

Music While Exercising

Movement to Music’ helps elders exercise gently

If your loved one has an exercise routine that they do each day, even if it is just walking around the house, try playing some of their favorite upbeat songs from when they were younger. The music may help them to keep better balance as they focus on something else while walking. It could also help them to remember days gone by so be prepared to listen to some riveting stories from before you were born. Some senior living community facilities implement this practice into their daily routines to help facilitate memory support.

Drumming workshops music to residents’ ears

You will be surprised at how alive the music makes your elderly loved one feel and act. They will have stories to tell and melodies to hum along with as they enjoy a blast from their past.

The post Music and the Elderly appeared first on InstantELLA.

Hopefully, for most of us, the answer would be we have no idea. And that is because, for many people, our families are what made us who we are today, for better or worse, and we don’t even want to have to think about how our lives would be without them.

And there are many social and economic reasons that show the benefits of a thriving and healthy family unitand the positive effects it can have on an individual, but most don’t need any scientific evidence to know that is true.

From giving us love and people to rely on and teaching us skills to live in the world, your family is what made you who you are today.

Here are four reasons why your family is probably the most important thing in your life, and hopefully will always be.

They help you feel safe

Getting Proper Medical Care for Your Family

The world can be a scary place filled with so much uncertainty, but thanks to your family you learned you could live in it despite those fears.

Your family made you feel that whatever happened at school, work, or with your friends, you could come home and relax in a place where you knew people loved you and wanted to see you thrive.

It helped you to understand how to be that way for them and other people as well, and you want to pass that along to your own family someday.

They help you make the right decisions

Ways to Bring Your Family Closer Together

Life is full of so many choices, and not all of them are good ones.

Luckily, if you had parents and siblings who helped lead you down good paths and influenced you to make the best decisions for you and your life that definitely steered you in the right direction.

The great thing about family is they most likely taught you how to have success and be happy, but let you choose along the way how to get there. And when you made mistakes, as we all do, they were there for you too and helped pick you up and get you going even when it felt like you couldn’t do so.

They taught you important habits

Adulting

Thank goodness for parents who taught us important hygiene, grooming and health habits, or who knows where we all would be.

Things like going to the doctor every year, or visiting Family Dental Health Center to get your teeth cleaned and a check-up, or even that showering every day is important.

Sadly, not every person had someone to teach them these things, so if you have parents or other family members who did, it’s good to remember that and be grateful for it.

They showed you love

We sometimes take for granted how great it is to know there are people, sometimes several, in the world who love you exactly the way you are and always will.

Having a family who loves you can a bring a person such comfort and peace, and help them to be a confident and emotionally healthy person.

This is why when you have your own family, or if you have one now, make sure to love them as much as you can.

The post 4 Reasons Your Family Is the Most Important Thing in Your Life appeared first on InstantELLA.

High school is done and as you reflect back you probably think of all the fun times you had with your friends, all the football games and activities you went to, the dances, and just all your teachers and classes.

For some these are very fond memories, maybe some of the best so far, and for others, let’s just say they were very excited and eager to leave those years behind.

The Best College for the Best You

Whatever feelings you had about high school the good news is that for pretty much everyone, starting college and the things you will see and do will trump anything you experienced in high school. You will make some of the best memories of your life.

Here are four reasons why college is going to be the best time of your life and a time to grow and change into the best version of yourself.

You get to leave home

Finding Your Tribe in the Tech Age

For some, this may sound scary and overwhelming and it definitely might be at first, but you will find over time that leaving home is probably the best thing you ever did to let yourself grow and to become the independent person you always wanted to be.

Whether it’s a couple hours away or clear across the country, leaving home is one of the big steps of the college experience but one that teaches you self-reliance and how to make your own choices based on what you want and not anyone else like your parents, teachers, or siblings.

You get to live on your own

How to Combine Working and Studying While You Are in College?

Part of leaving home means you get to live on your own whether that means a dorm room or an apartment.

But the good news is that you usually aren’t completely alone and have roommates and friends around to keep you company.

And the best thing about living in a dorm or student apartments is that you can make the place your own and make it comfortable and do fun things like game nights, all-night study sessions, or movie nights with your friends.

You can choose what you want to learn

Has Technology Made Student – Life Easier? It’s Time To Find Out!

Remember all those boring or super hard classes in high school that you had to take?

Well, the great thing about college is although there will be some general education classes that you will be required to take the rest will all be classes that you get to choose, including the major you want to eventually focus on.

Fun Things To Do For College Students this Fall

That means if you’ve always wanted to learn about art history, or anatomy, or sociology you can! And if you have no idea what you want to study you can take a bunch of random classes and find something you like.

You can even take fun classes like guitar, dance, or slam poetry; basically whatever sounds good to you.

You can find your tribe

Puzzling It Out: How Brain Teasers Can Be Good for You

One of the best parts of college is that you are now in a place with thousands of intelligent people who are around your age and many of them interested in a lot of the things you are. Whether it’s bonding over a shared love for doom pedals in a music club, attending poetry readings and writing, joining the dance club and enjoying dancing the night away at campus events or immersing yourself in the theater scene, there’s a group for every passion. Dive in, and you’ll soon realize that your tribe is just waiting to be found.

Most colleges have so many groups and organizations that you can be a part of that help you to find out more about yourself as well as connect with like-minded people.

And a lot of these people will turn into some of your best, lifelong friends.

The post 4 Reasons Why College Is Going to Be the Best Time of Your Life appeared first on InstantELLA.

Seeking help or personal improvement?

Has Technology Made Student – Life Easier? It’s Time To Find Out!

In as much as students always hope for the best grades and in which case, qualify for admission to higher levels of learning, writing end term papers has been quite an impediment among those whose skills fall below par. Apart from seeking help from third parties, it should also be understood that there is room for improvement for the poor writer who hardly gets any good grades.  This can be achieved in a number of ways. It is either one embarks of rigorous training if he or she wants to make improvements or look for someone who can adequately answer to a question of who can help me do my math homework perfectly.

Mobile Applications Make Parents’ Life Easier

This post focuses on top hacks that will make a difference in one’s approach to literary composition and consequently beget better grades. Note that the tips discussed hereafter are time tested and also full proofed by experts.

Mind Topic and Thesis

How to Find Sources for Your Research Effectively Online

To write a great academic research paper, essay or thesis, one of the things that every student must factor in is the need for a strong, original and relevant topic. While a good number of students always find it challenging to come up with the best, one thing that is for sure is that this can be approached in many different and productive ways.

Rely on Experts to Help You Express Yourself

For instance, group discussions, research on topic prompts and brainstorming have never disappointed.  This is one bit that custom research paper writers always take into serious consideration in order to meet students’ expectations.

Own Voice To Reach The Audience

The Ultimate Guide to Your Medical Education

Originality is an important aspect in academic paper writing. It is all about being unique in the sound and feels readers get from a piece of composition.  This is all about translating own voice unto a piece of writing to enrich readers with new style and knowledge.

Cut & Proofread

Creative Writing as a Career: What Are Your Options?

One of the mistakes students make when it comes to writing term papers is handing in their papers without going through them to identify mistakes and make necessary corrections. In fact, failing to check on this has been a reason why marks are deducted on a piece of composition.  There are many word processing tools and programs that can help with grammar check. Take care not to use those which at worst, do article spinning even when hiring assignment help online.

No Experience Needed: How To Get Any Job With No Experience

In concluding, there shouldn’t be a reason why students out to complain all the time whenever writing tasks are assigned. With so many experts tips published on the blogosphere and including practises that one can make a habit, it is only a matter of days before one becomes a top-notch essayist.

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