I just saw American Idol on Fontana Direct TV last night. J.Lo (Jennifer Lopez) makes me sick. She is so gorgeous! She has the most beautiful skin I have ever seen. Her skin is so clear and shiny and healthy looking. I would love to have skin like that. How old is she? I’m pretty sure she’s in her thirties, right? She looks amazing. I would love to look as good as she does. I bet she has a lot of makeup on, or procedures done to make her look so good. Probably a hair stylist, a makeup designer, a fitness coach, chef, fashion designer, etc. I bet anyone would look good if they had all that help and support all day. I barely have time to wash my makeup at night before I crawl into bed. Ha! I bet if I could increase the amount of water I drank, I could have healthier looking skin. I bet J. Lo drinks 4 gallons of water a day, with how healthy her skin looks

Teach the value of education early in a child’s life. Children are naturally curious and observant. They may be wondering why you love reading books or magazines. Tell them that they need to learn to read to be able to also share such enjoyment. It would help if you would tell your children on a daily basis how important getting a good education is in attaining goals and dreams in life.

Be creative when teaching children during their formative years. If you are not a teacher in profession, you could still strive to be an effective home tutor to your kids. You see, as a parent, you should also learn how to make your children enjoy learning and studying. You could impose play and fun activities at home to make children realize that learning is not as boring as they think.

Take your children to educational yet fun parks. Instead of taking them to the malls to stroll, why not take them to a museum, a science center, or a zoo for a change? When they get more curious about things, tell them they would know more if they would continue getting education. This strategy would certainly make them more motivated to learn and study.

Introduce the computer to children. Computers never fail to amaze people, especially young children. It seems that this is a computer generation. Of course, emphasize to your kids that they could not in any way exploit the potential of computers and the Internet without getting necessary education. In no time, you would hear them asking you how they could learn more. By that time, you should realize that the ball is in your hands.
Take your children to the streets where there are vagabonds and beggars. This may not sound very nice, but you could tell your children they could end up like those unfortunate people if they fail to get necessary education. You could surely instantly see the frights in their faces, for sure.

How about applying education or learning to daily activities? You could incorporate mathematics to daily tasks and situations. Their love for learning could start if you rely on them in doing specific tasks. Incorporate counting, reading, and writing on those simple tasks. For example, you take them to the market and make them buy certain items (like 5 apples, 10 oranges, and the likes). At the end of the day, you could see them get the thrill and satisfaction.

Enroll your children to the most reputable and effective schools. Traditionally, parents treat schooling of children as investments. If you want them to love education, make sure to place them into an environment that would foster comfort, fun, and learning at the same time. Do not hesitate because of high costs. Most of the time, the best and most effective schools call for premium in their quality of education. If it would make your children better individuals, why not spend for it?

Guest post of the week by Val Flores

My best friend is having her first child this summer. She’s 20 weeks today, and has an appointment with the midwife to do an ultrasound. She is requesting to find out the baby’s sex, if possible. I am so excited to hear if she is having a boy or a girl. She said she wouldn’t know who to call first, and wanted to be fair, so she’s just going to update her status on Facebook after she finds out, and we will all see at the same time. Can I just tell you that I have been sitting here on my exede satellite internet, pushing refresh on the Facebook page over and over and over? I can barely stand it. I totally think she is having a girl, and I’m usually right about these things. I don’t know why I think that, but I just get a feeling and I’ve been right for the last 3 pregnancies of my friends. She just seems like a “girl mom,” if you ask me. We will see!

No parent would want to send his child to an indecent and uncomfortable school. This is because parents mostly believe that beautiful and homey places help children cope up better so they could open up and learn lessons. This could be verified from the psychological concept of association. Most of the time, parents want to draw appropriateness from identifiable and physical features. Thus, you should not be surprised if many of them judge schools with the most beautiful campuses as among the best, without further looking into overall quality of education.

This perception is very much alive not just in third-world countries but also in the more developed ones. In the US, it has been a common knowledge that school infrastructures are among the major investments of educational institutions. Schools strive harder to beautify and improve its surroundings and buildings before accepting students. In fact, many schools across the US are designed by famous architects. One would always be in awe upon seeing and appreciating the splendid built and architecture of some of the famous campuses in this side of the planet.

In struggling countries, schools are more likely to be judged by their aesthetic appearance. That is why many parents and children complain about lack and low quality of education, without really assessing the quality of teaching and mode of instructions. This is due to the almost universal thinking that education is guided and influenced by the surroundings. To most people, education could not be facilitated in a place that is less conducive for students and teachers.

That view could be arguably true. That is because how could students focus on studies if they are distracted by inferiority of their classrooms? How could teachers have the drive to teach if they smell foul odors in the room? In the view of real educators, education should go beyond such facets. Students who are most willing and motivated to learn would open their minds to learning no matter how bad their surroundings are. The best driven teachers would always strive to teach no matter how distracted and unmotivated they are.

Are you aware that in most countries, government budgets on education are spent building school structures and facilities than in paying teachers and investing in good learning materials? That is the reason why many global governments complain about the currently higher costs of education. Are they to blame when most people generally agree with that notion?

You must have your own fond memories of your school lives. You could argue that education could not have been complete if not for your beautiful and conducive school building. While such structures are important, people should not forget that the content, quality, and overall effectiveness of curriculum and teaching modes are far more important. School buildings really facilitate education, but it would always be the drive and motivation within students and teachers that would make a difference.

We recently visited my cousin who moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He has several odd jobs out there when the ski lifts aren’t open. One is working for Wyoming Home Security installing home security systems. He doesn’t mind having odd jobs because he is out there to simply ski and enjoy himself. He loves to fly fish. Last summer, he caught a record trout. He was so proud of it and e-mailed everyone in the family a picture. My grandfather teases him and says that he moved out there to live the life of leisure. The funny thing is that my cousin was accepted to law school straight out of undergrad. He has deferred his admission the maximum number of times and has to go next year. That’s why we decided that we should get out to visit him before he moves back to the East coast. Skiing in Jackson Hole was tough though. I didn’t realize how steep the mountain is. I really enjoyed skiing and seeing my cousin. I am actually sad that he isn’t going to be out there longer.

Always remember that every time you are listening carefully and intently to your child, he becomes more comfortable and you tend to genuinely understand his feelings and emotions. Realize that proper and effective communication could help build your child’s self discipline. It is also the key to teaching him the core values of discipline and respect. Master good communication with your child and see how parenting could be more enjoyable and easier for you. Here are some guidelines.

Always strive to establish proper eye contact every time you communicate with your child. Through doing so, you could be able to collect other context and verbal clues to better understand his feelings and emotions. Pay particular attention to hand gestures, facial expressions, and most importantly, voluntary or involuntary bodily movements. There could be non-verbal clues to the message he is trying to tell.

Then, be particularly attentive whenever your child is speaking. Try not to do or finish another task while you talk with him. This is because doing so could make him feel that you lack time to even listen to your child. Do not get preoccupied with anything else or other activities and try to listen attentively to every word he says. Focus on the message he is trying to convey to you.

Try to practice or observe reflective listening. This could be easy on your part. Whenever your child tries to tell you something, paraphrase or repeat his words or your understanding of what he says. This way, you could get a more concise and clearer understanding of what he is trying to say. It could also make your child comfortable because the burden of making you understand his message is eased off. Try asking him questions so that you could indicate you are listening intently and that you are interested to really understand him.

Avoid using foul and unlikely words or language. If you get angry, control your temper and try to remain as calm and as nice as you could. Your child may easily be scared by strong and impulsive words you may uncontrollably utter during sudden surges of emotions. It is important to make your child feel that your reaction to his message is just cool. It would not help making your child fearful as doing so could only make him scared ad reluctant to approach you. Being pleasant really helps all the time.

Be specific and short when giving feedbacks or responses to your child’s message. Remember to provide feedback as soon as you could. It would not help to delay feedbacks and reactions. At the same time, try not to facilitate long lectures and speeches when reprimanding him, if ever there is a need to do so. When talking to your child, remember to always be short and straight to the point as he may not have the patience to listen. Children are easily bored, so try not to sound and look boring to him, if you really aim understanding your child and dealing with him.

The amount of information that’s available on the internet now is just amazing. It’s so great that I can get so many of my errands done online. I don’t miss the days when I had to make a bunch of phone calls to find out information on certain products or services. I do all my banking online, and rarely have to go to a teller for anything. I have also started doing most of my shopping online, which is awesome. I can even order groceries and have them delivered directly to my house. I’ve recently been in the market for a home security system and was able to compare several sites. I think I’m going to go with www.besthomesecurity.com. The best thing about doing all my shopping and errands online is that I can get so much done in such a small amount of time. It’s so nice to take care of things right from the comfort of my home, and not have to drive all over town. I’m also saving a ton of cash because I can compare and get the best deals.

If you must clean your carpets on a regular basis it may be a smart idea to purchase a carpet cleaner yourself. If you cannot afford a good carpet cleaner then the next best thing is to rent one from your local hardware store or big-box store. Even though this will suffice there are times when the carpet needs to be cleaned by a professional. This is especially true when there is a change of seasons such as in the fall when there is a tremendous amount of leaves to be tracked in or during wetter seasons when mud gets tracked in. The best place to start is online. Whether you want to compare carpet cleaning companies Austin, Tx or Anaheim, California there professionals well-equipped to tackle your dirty carpets. One such company to check out can be found at http://www.thesteamteam.com/austin-restoration-services/smoke-fire.shtml.

We got hughes net satellite internet and have been able to get a lot of things done from home that we usually had to run into town to get done. I had no idea that our local pharmacy had a website where you could manage and refill your prescriptions simply with a click of a button. I can also check the status of the prescription on-line to make sure that it can be filled ( they have it in stock) and that the prescription is ready before I head to town to pick it up. Also, local businesses with a website often post coupons that you can print off and use. The dry cleaning place that we use runs a great special every month where we can use on-line coupons. Last month, I printed off coupons and got my husbands slacks dry cleaned for only two dollars a pair, what a deal! I really just did not realize what all you could do with the internet at your house and also how many local businesses used websites.