Lovely Momentos » Plan

Giving Your Children The Best Start in Life

LovelyM — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:00:36 +0000

Every parent wants the best start for the children in life. In terms of getting the children into the best school in the country, or out of the country, enrolling them in various enrichment courses such as Creative Writing, Entrepreneurship as early as age 9, computer classes like Flash, Microsoft and sometimes, even crash courses in JavaScript.

While the IT lessons may be exaggerated for those aged 9, the others aren’t. All the lessons need money. Lots of money. Not every family can afford it despite the parents both working hard full time. Even ballet, martial arts to help the kids’ health, all need money, more than the enrichment classes that schools have subsidised for them.

Whatever in life that parents want to give to their children, it’s always the best possible option. Parents just want their children to have a better life than they do, no matter what the financial situation is. If it helps their children to get ahead faster than other children in class, for example, better mathematics calculations in their heads, they will send them off to abacus classes. If it helps the children to do better in spelling, they will send them off to courses that teach the kids on phonics.

All these efforts are done in hopes of helping the children to do better in life and perhaps have a better lifestyle in future. The things that parents do while the children are too young to understand have all been done in hope. Hope that the children will grow up to be useful people and an added bonus is to be well-known in a good name.

However, how many are really able to do it in the current situation when subsidised courses come with a condition that not all may qualify for the subsidies / scholarships / bursaries? In this case, how do parents really help their children get a good start in life?

Family Classic: Mary Poppins

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Marriage is Like a Business

LovelyM — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:00:35 +0000

After you marry, every asset either of you acquires is jointly held. That’s why you both need to be in sync on your long-term financial goals, from paying off the mortgage to putting away for retirement. Ideally, you should talk about all this before you wed. If you don’t, you can end up deeply frustrated and financially spent. ~ Suze Orman ~ [Source]

Marriage is like a business whereby both are willing to work at it. It take two to clap and if neither is willing to settle for a compromise, then it isn’t working. Often, divorcing because of monetary issues is a sad end to a marriage because both are adults and squabbling about money because of differences affects the children too. Unless it’s about worsening gambling issues.

photo credit: -AroFarMeR-

An interesting case is that staying married means the wealth can be more than what being single means. However, if one marries a rich person just because of money, the ugly name calling starts and one doesn’t to be in the bad light for long.

Treating marriage like a business for too much without any feelings will also make it feel fake. Obviously, you didn’t just marry your partner without love and care. Sometimes, being a business owner can hurt your marrige. You work so hard to make money but neglecting them in the end can make things worse.

As always, the issue of money in any marriage is one that causes fights when mishandled.

How did you handle your marriage to make it run like a prospering business?

Sleeping With Your Business Partner

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Dealing With School Bullies

LovelyM — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:00:49 +0000

I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: ‘The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that’s fair.’ In these words he epitomized the history of the human race. ~ Bertrand Russell ~ [Source]

Having studied in school, one knows when one is being bullied for getting in the way or just by being there. Sometimes, because one is smaller in size, one gets picked on every day until one is afraid of going to school. Parents are often exasperated when their children refused to attend school by crying, whining, faking illnesses and even get angry in some cases.

photo credit: mangee

In order to find out the root causes, there are warning signs to look out for.

Has lost interest in school work or suddenly begins to do poorly in school
Appears sad, moody, teary, or depressed when he or she comes home
Complains frequently of headaches, stomachaches, or other physical ailments
Has trouble sleeping or has frequent bad dreams
Experiences a loss of appetite
Appears anxious and/or suffers from low self-esteem

At this time, pay attention to your child is important. They are vulnerable at this moment. Believe in your children since you are the one whom they will turn to when the teachers or friends are unable to help them. You can help your child by taking steps to help your child in these 5 steps.

Once the child is with a group of friends, the bullying rate will decrease as bullies are cowards, they take on people who can’t fight back and smaller in size than they are. Sometimes, it is so scary that a video is posted online for the world to see how one poor girl was stripped in front of boys and girls mercilessly.

At other times, the bullied commits suicide, in some countries, mass suicides.

How did you deal with bullying and help your child?

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Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

LovelyM — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:00:55 +0000

When you’re in love you never really know whether your elation comes from the qualities of the one you love, or if it attributes them to her; whether the light which surrounds her like a halo comes from you, from her, or from the meeting of your sparks. ~ Natalie Clifford Barney ~ [Source]

It’s that time of the year to find some romantic gifts for your partner again. It’s never easy to find the perfect gift so let’s see what the guides have to say, shall we? AskMen suggests buying jerky for the dog that you girlfriend owns and loves. Alternatives are chocolates, aren’t they sinful?

photo credit: lynncaticus

How about an animated e card from Blue Mountain or 123 Greetings? If you like to add some personal touches, make your own Valentine Card. Try the layouts from the following designs.

Hook, Line and Sinker

Valentine’s Day is one of the days to consider popping the question if you haven’t done so. One of the tips is that it doesn’t have to be elaborate to be romantic either. All it needs is a touch of thought to the whole proposal. At this time of the year when budget is an issue, don’t burst it since you do need a lot more when it comes to the traditional wedding dinner that most elders want to see.

Have you prepared for Valentine’s Day yet?

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Male Hair Care

LovelyM — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:00:18 +0000

The men have limited beauty products since most of the beauty related products are focused towards the women. However, it doesn’t mean that the men are losing out. Male hair care is as important as hair care for women. Going bald at the age of 30 is not a welcoming sight.

photo credit: star5112

Good shampoo and hair conditioner are important to ensuring that the hair is lush and soft to the touch. Raking the fingers through soft hair is considered a form of tender care to some while it may mean something else to others.

In Singapore, you will notice Beijing 101, Yunnan, Adonis, and many other hair care centres targeted at hair loss control and related hair care products. Males tend to lose hair from the following ways: thining and fine hair, receding hairline and crown areas losing moderate to excessive hair.

Hair Care Products

Phyto Phytocedrat Sebo-regulating Shampoo – For oily scalps, oily scalps lead to more hair loss.

MiN New York Wash DHT Daily Shampoo – Create healthy hair by inhibiting DHT while delivering essential nutrients.

Leonor Greyl Regeneresence Naturelle (Scalp Purifier) – A pre-shampoo treatment for damaged scalps.

Redken for Men Retaliate Anti Dandruff Shampoo – Dandruffs are hateful things that should be gotten rid of.

Borghese Shampoo Purificante Cleansing Treatment for Hair and Scalp – Helps to create volume, substance and hair thickness.

Men-U Healthy Hair / Scalp Shampoo – Reduces flaky and itchy scalp.

Aveda Men Pure-Formance Shampoo – Leaves the scalp less itchy and irritated thus making it healthier.

While these are some of the various products that help men with their hair issues, there are many more ways to keep healthy hair. Diet, for example, plays a part too.

What are your favourite hair care methods or products?

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Planning Family Holidays

LovelyM — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:30:22 +0000

A good holiday is one spent among people whose notions of time are vaguer than yours. ~ John B. Priestly ~ [Source]

Family holidays can be as easy as ABC or as difficult as you try your best to accommodate to everyone’s schedule. With young children, you needn’t worry about the schedule. You worry about if they will get carsick en route to another state or airsick during a long flight.

Driving from Singapore to Malaysia’s Genting Highlands can be a challenge when young children are carsick and you need to take 10 minutes break after every or two hour. The drive to the customs can take as long as an hour due to the long queue.

photo credit: Epioles

Taking the aeroplane for the first time can be daunting since young children have short attention spans. They need changes to the games or are unable to sleep during the flight especially if it’s more than five hours. Parents have to think of various travelling games beforehand and use them to entertain the kids.

As the years go by, planning family holidays take its toil as the children have their own friends to spend the time with. They prefer going out with people their age rather than with the family. A friend once visited Taiwan for the first time with the family but returned home unhappy with the trip. It was a packaged tour that the family insisted despite their familiarity with the language.

photo credit: Leonard John Matthews

Perhaps, family holidays can be boring when going to a place with the family members you see on a daily basis. What if one day, they cease to be on a daily basis?

What are the challenges you face while planning for family holidays?

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Study Habits and Homework for Children

LovelyM — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:30:58 +0000

Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in. ~ Leonardo Da Vinci ~ [Source]

Young children often need to be guided on completing their homework and submit on time. As an adult, you can help them by establishing a schedule for them. Teach them on how to schedule their homework and play time so that you won’t have to supervise them too much.

photo credit: Amanda Munoz

Children can learn goal setting so that they will be motivated to study. From there, they learn how to break down the huge chunks of information into manageable sizes to help themselves. This will also help them in realising that they can plan for achieving the goals.

In addition, parents don’t always have to provide the answers. They simply listen. The child will talk through the problem and finally arrive at the answer while some prompts from the parents. For those who may have dyslexic children to look after, other forms of studying helps.

Spelling tests and speed reading can be reduced for dyslexics. They tend to be able to dictate more easily than writing down. They also take longer time in completing their homework, therefore, time should be taken into consideration.

How do you help your children in their studies?

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Teaching Children About Sex

LovelyM — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:00:48 +0000

Just saying ‘no’ prevents teenage pregnancy the way ‘Have a nice day’ cures chronic depression. ~ Faye Wattleton ~ [Source]

Explaining the birds and bees to young kids who ask the age-old question, “Mummy, where did I come from?” will put any adult into a blushing machine. Telling them that you ‘got’ them from the hospital may result in teenage pregnancies that you didn’t want them to in the first place.

photo credit: Eugenia_y_Julian

Telling them about the father ‘placing a seed’ in mother doesn’t cut it as they would wonder how a father is able to place a seed in the first place. Teaching children about sex can bring about different methods that adults want to convey to the kids. Some prefer to tell them directly while others prefer to do it subtly.

Yet others want to sterilise teenage girls temporarily. Having babies at the tender age of 18 or 19 is tough as one doesn’t have a job to feed the baby and sometimes, babies. While one may be able to enjoy a less slogging working pace when one reaches 30 while others are slogging it out for their children, what does this teach the child about sex?

You don’t want to be the parents of this girl who wants a baby so desperately at the age of 15 and fighting to have one despite the mother’s pleas. She went on to have multiple sexual intercourses with different boys in order to have her baby to take care of.

Besides teaching children about sex, they should know about sexually transmitted diseases. It is sad when they know the diseases are out there but expect themselves to get it instead of saving themselves from the diseases.

It is even worse when one’s father wants to be a grandfather and risks another woman’s health to get AIDS in order to have a grandchild. The risk of the child being HIV positive is also there.

Teaching children about sex isn’t going to be an easy path but if it helps to form the path to proper family planning and prevent themselves from being infected, why not?

What are the ways you have taught your children about sex?

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Herbs for Pregnancies

LovelyM — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:00:07 +0000

It is said that letting the young boys jump on the bridal bed several times helps to let the newly weds get pregnant faster and blessed with lots of kids. Others believe in eating herbs to keep the womb warm so that the fetus will attach to the womb and stick.

photo credit: Wendkuni

The older generations used to believe that if a woman is unable to bear a child, she is barren. They believe that the men is never the problem. This used to result in the men marrying a second wife in hopes of having children to carry on the family lineage.

Before going blindly to buy all the herbs, find out what the effects they may have on your health during the pregnancy. There are herbs that are meant to be taken as recommended and women are cautioned not to overdose on them so that they can keep themselves and the babies healthy.

Some of the herbs to be avoided during pregnancies.

Aloe Vera
Angelica
Autumn Crocus
Barberry
Black Cohosh
Celery Seed
Cinnamon

Herbs that help elevate symptoms during the pregnancies.

Chamomile – Chamomile can help calm anxious nerves and may help reduce some inflammation.
Nettles – Nettles are nourishing and contain many minerals including calcium and iron.
Alfalfa – This plant contains blood clotting vitamin K, multiple enzymes, minerals and vitamins that are beneficial during pregnancy.
Red Raspberry leaf – This herb helps lactation and may help with nausea. Some midwives use it to help prevent miscarriage. May also help ease the pains of labor.
Rose Hips – Rose hips are an exceptional source of vitamin C.

Besides using herbs, acupuncture is also used as an alternative to getting pregnant.

Two teams of researchers in Germany and China have found that adding acupuncture to the treatment regimen of women using assisted reproductive techniques to have a child can dramatically improve the woman’s chances of getting pregnant by up to 20%.

What herbs you used to get pregnant or help you during your pregnancy?

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Show Me The Money!

LovelyM — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 02:00:03 +0000

Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are. ~ James W. Frick ~ [Source]

Having children means you have to spend on them too instead of just for yourself. Your child may want to buy that cute puppy whose tail is wagging hard. Sometimes, your children bring home strays like dogs and cats that look like Puss in Boots from Shrek in real life.

photo credit: booleansplit

Other times, they will want Wii, Nintendo DS, DSi, and many other toys that will cost more as they grow up. Parents may struggle with the buy-or-not-buy mentality. When one refuses to buy for the child, the child may use drastic measures such as stealing to satisfy their wants.

Are you one of the parents who pay too much for the kids? Finding it difficult to teach the children on when to spend their money wisely? Fear not, try these 15 ways to teach them about money. Teaching them in their early years about spending versus saving can make a difference in future.

One of the ways to let the child know about how money is earned is to let them have a job. Before that, you would be the one deciding if they are ready for it and whether it will affect their studies. If there are still toys that look new, get your child to sell them to those who want them.

Sometimes, you need to use different techniques for each child as they are still individuals and no one behaves the same way. The important steps to teaching a child about money includes establishing spending limits. Let them know the difference between wants and needs.

What have you done to help your child understand the value of money?

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