Every time I turn on the TV or radio or read a newspaper or magazine, there’s news about the Swine Flu. Colds and flu spread so easily that sometimes you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you will get sick. But we’ve heard time and time again from medical experts that keeping ou hands clean is the best way to prevent getting sick. Once school starts, that’s when airborne illnesses spread.

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Here’s what I know from common sense:

1. Wash, Wash, Wash – Talk to your kids about washing their hands may times throughout the day. At home, wash your hands together in the sink. Show them how to rub them together fast and wash both top and bottom of hands with soap.
2. Hand Sanitizer - I am not a big fan of this stuff because it fries the heck out of my hands, but it does cut germs. Put a small bottle in your child’s lunch box. He might think it is fun to use it.
3. Hand Habits – Nail biters, thumb suckers and cuticle chewers are more likely to get sick. Try to get your child to stop these habits.
4. Nutrition - A healthy diet is essential for everyone to stay healthy. Bad diets compromise the immune system, making it more likely for a person to contract an illness. High sugar and fat diets are not going to keep your child healthy. Vitamins can help.
5. Sleep Habits – Does your child get enough sleep? Exhaustion will bring down your ability to fight off colds and flu. Get your child into a good sleeping routine, winding down at least an hour before bed and going to bed at the same time every night.
6. Fitness – Everyone in the family needs regular exercise including your children. They will sleep better, feel better and strengthen their immune systems.
7. Schedules -  Don’t schedule your children with extracurricular activities. A hectic lifestyle is not a healthy one. Kids, like adults, need unscheduled down time.
8. Friends – Keep your child from going to friends’ houses and from them coming to your house for play time if wither child or any of their family members are sick.
9. Kissing - I heard an MD on Good Morning America today say that people in his office are not shaking hands due to the Swine Flu. He recommended that it is good idea to forgo the usual kissing hello of friends as well. It may be impossible to get small kids to keep their hands to themselves, but you can try to explain this to them.
10. Keep her Home – If your child does get sick – especially with flu-like systems, don’t send her to school. Many moms have to work, but they should have a backup system for home care from a friend or family member when their kids are sick. If parents kept their kids home when they are sick, it would make a HUGE difference in preventing the spread of germs.

I was in Starbucks today working for an hour and observing. What great people watching you can do in there! Here’s what I noticed:

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1. There were 5 men in there between the ages of 50-60. All 5 had very elongated oval heads and the same grey hair, with similar balding patterns. All sat alone. All faced in the same direction.
2. A woman with a very sweaty back, a bag of takeout food and a stack of newsletters from her church came in and talked to herself out loud. She was trying to decide where to sit, but was thinking out loud and shaking her head about the logistics of sitting and eating on the different chairs. I offered to help her make a decision. We finally worked it out. She went up to order a drink and was unable to make a decision about that either. The barista was geting frustrated. She came back to her seat about 20 minutes later and fussed with her takeout bag, her new drink and her papers. It was fascinating to watch. When she got up to leave, her back was twice as sweaty as when she arrived , even though the A/C was quite chilly in there. Not sure what that was all about.
3. An adorable elderly lady came in and took the sweaty lady’s seat. She looked at my laptop and tried to think of the word “internet” but was unable to do so. She was trying to ask me how it works in a house and how one can sign up for it and then learn how to use it. Her 3 granddaughters approached her. I told her that they would teach her. But she said that they don’t want her to learn because then they would have to share their computers with her. When it was time for her to leave, she was unable to get up on her own. I got up to help, but her granddaughters yanked her arms and got her up. It was obvious that this was something they were used to doing. Poor old thing got in her car and drove the 2 kids. We could not believe she could drive, given the shape she was in. That’s South Florida for ya!
4. A man sat down on the couch next to my daughter (she was doing her homework) and he started to work on his computer. He dialed someone on his cell. Literally every 5 minutes or less, he told the person he was talking to that he had a call on the other line. Not only did he click back and forth repeatedly, but he did not stop talking for a second. Whoever was on the other line(s) could not possibly have said one word to him. It was as if he had taken a massive verbal diarrhea pill.

My daughter and I couldn’t take it any longer, so we left.

I was watching the local news last night and saw this segment about combatting depression during this bad economy. Here’s the short article on the CBS Channel 4 News site. What I like best is the acronym the doctor uses to help people during tough times. It’s simple, but it makes sense.

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I often listen to free teleseminars and webinars that promise to help me sell more books, get more creative marketing ideas and  make more money. Often I get at least 1 good idea to try new methods. But most often, the free seminar leaves out the most crucial info I would need to be successful at whatever the speaker is proposing. And the reason for that, naturally, is because the speaker wants to sell you the “clincher” idea that will really make you hugely successful. He is not going to reveal it for free. He entices you with success stories, mostly about his own unbelievable endeavors. I usually hang up the phone and think, “Wow. That guy really knows his stuff. I can do that!”

But here is what you really need to know and do when participating in these calls and internet events:

• If the speaker’s own stories about his success seem beyond amazing, they are likely not all true.
• There is no way to really check on someone to verify his income from a business.
• Google the speaker’s name and type in the word “scam” with that to see what comes up. Also check to see in general what customers of that speaker and his companies say about doing business with him.
• If the speaker’s fee for a follow up paid seminar, online materials, books, CDs, DVDs are very high, don’t pay for it. And you will find that they are usually shockingly high.
• Get what you can from the free information. There’s nothing wrong with buying a non-fiction book from the speaker to get more info on the subject. But paying hundreds or thousands of dollars is likely a waste of money.
• According to my research, many “Money Back Guarantees” are not honored by companies. Dissatisfied customers claim that they get no response. Thank God for the internet, because it makes it much harder for bad people to hide!!
• If you feel that you really want to buy an expensive product, find several other people to share both the product and the cost with you.
• If it seems too good to be true, it is. Trust your own judgement. The only way to succeed is good-old fashioned hard work.

Has your child entered?

Read About it Now

Look at a wall map, atlas or globe with your kids. Can you find these bodies of water on the European continent? Can you find any others?

Adriatic Sea

Baltic Sea

Barents Sea

Black Sea

Bospurus Strait

Celtic Sea

English Channel

Gulf of Finland

Ionian Sea

Mediterranean Sea

North Atlantic

North Sea

Norwegian Sea

Strait of Dover

White Sea

A to Z Home’s Cool is so popular that it has been visited more than 71 million times! I’m not surprised. This comprehensive website provides readers with information and resources far beyond what they ever expected to find. Here you can get all the lessons, learning materials, testing, recommendations on books, games and toys, support groups, informative articles, laws and legislation on homeschooling and so much more that I cannot possible mention it all. Despite the massive volume of info here, this site is well organized and easy to use.

Homeschool guide Ann Zeise knows her stuff, and she is there to help the many homeschoolers out there give their children the best education possible. I cannot imagine that there is a single homeschool question Ann cannot answer! She is friendly, informative and passionate about education at home.

Even if your child is not homeschooled, this is an excellent site to get education information! If you think about it, all children are homeschooled to some degree anyway.

Follow Ann on Twitter by clicking here.

Please read this excellent article posted today in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. It will give you insight into whether or not your child’s teacher has all the qualities a good teacher should have.

Is Your Child’s Teacher a Super Teacher?

http://school.discoveryeducation.com

One of my closest friends, Taina Mustamaa lives in Kotka, Finland. That is east of Helsinki. She and her family own a quaint, rustic cottage (with no running water or electricity) in the rural southeastern part of Finland, close to the Russian border. This is known as the municipality of Virolahti. The population is extremely sparse, but nature abounds. Click here for Google Map.

Thanks for the photos Taina! I miss you!

Through experience it has occurred to me that the younger generation is behind the Baby Boomer’s generation when it comes to manners and work ethic. Yes, there are overachievers and drones in every age group as well as those with impeccable manners and those who are greatly lacking in etiquette. But as a children’s book author meeting many children and as a parent of a teenager with friends who come over (clarification – my daughter is grateful, motivated and hard-working and we are not strict), I have noticed that “pleases” and thank-yous” are so rare among other kids that I am totally impressed and grateful when I receive them. There’s something fundamentally wrong with that, isn’t there? If I failed to say thank you or please as a child, my Mom would have lectured me for an hour about manners. And then she would have relectured me the next day. Thank God.

Other observations have to do with motivation and work ethic, pure and simple. I have numerous successful friends with kids who have graduated from high school or college and really do not take the initiative to do anything with their lives. No plan, no job, no drive. They are nice kids, but seem to have no ambition, no passion for anything. In Florida there are many teens who do not bother to get their driver’s licenses. Huh, you say? This is not because their parents do not let them or because they do not have a car to use to practice driving. It’s because they are lazy and do not want to bother studying for the test. I cannot think of a single person my age I know who did not get his license the day he turned 16.

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I pose these questions:

1. Does the Baby Boomer generation expect less from their kids than the Baby Boomers’ parents expected from them?
2. Does the increase in cost and quantity of gifts given to kids spoil them by making them think money is easy to come by?
3. What can we do as parents to make sure our kids have the manners, motivation and a work ethic that will ensure a successful, independent future for them?

Here’s what I know:

1. A child’s manners are learned from her parents and should be taught, with kindness, from birth.
2. Children learn by example. If you say please and thank you and write thank-you notes, so will your kids.
3. Motivation comes from within. If kids are handed too many material things and tasks are completed for them, they will not be motivated.
4. Motivation also depends a great deal upon self confidence. A child who is constantly criticized, belittled or scolded will often lack motivation due to fear of failure.
5. Following through with tasks has to do with all three – manners, motivation and work ethic. Returning phone calls, emails, making good on promises and simply finishing what has been started are required for success in work and in life. Kids who not only observe their parents following through, but are also respectfully expected (by their parents) to follow through will be more successful in life.
6. Children learn the value of hard work through reward. They need incentive to put forth an effort. But they should not be rewarded when they do not take action.
7. Kids do not enjoy hearing hardship stories about the days of ol’ in your life, your parents’ or grandparents’ lives. It does not generally motivate them nor can they relate to them.
8. It is natural for parents to want to give their kids a better life than what they had, but too much is too much. Spoiled children grow up to be unhappy, unproductive adults.

Manners, Motivation, Work Ethic – Does Your Child Have Them?

Do you?