children Archives - Page 15 of 18

Starting Out on the Right Road: Teaching your Kids to Be Savvy with Money

April 26, 2017 by admin

Is your teenager already showing signs of money irresponsibility? Maybe you should have taught them about finances when they were little kids. Don’t worry, though. Money experts say it’s not too late to teach your kids how to build a budget. In the interest of happy families and easier money management, we’re pleased to present the following advice about how and when to teach youngsters ways to be savvy with their cash.

Age-appropriate money lessons

There are perfect ages to teach your kids certain concepts about cash. Between the ages of two and three is a great time to begin giving toddlers a rudimentary explanation about money. A senior research scientist at Yale, Dorothy Singer, says that very young kids are not quite ready to grasp the value of money but can learn the names of coins. Start with a fun identification game. Supervise kids as they trace around coins of different denominations. Color in the shapes and talk about the name of each coin. Explain how a dime, although smaller than a nickel, is worth more. They won’t get the idea of “worth” until they’re somewhat older, but it’s a good place to start. Set up a “store” in the game room and let kids exchange play money for empty cereal boxes and other grocery items, says Parents magazine.

Youngsters aged four and five are ready to handle a bit more money information. Let them use child-safe scissors to clip coupons before grocery shopping day. Six- and seven-year-olds may be old enough to receive a small weekly allowance. Open a bank savings account in their name, and teach your child the joy of tucking away some money every week. Spend some, share some, and save a little extra for a special future purchase.

Save for a reasonable goal

When your child wants a new toy, let them save money toward the purchase and offer to meet them halfway. Choosing a goal that can be attained within a few weeks sets your kid up for success. Say your child has a $10 toy in mind. If they save half of a $2 weekly allowance, they can amass their half of the price in five weeks. Match their five, buy the toy and let your child feel proud that they made a financial goal and reached it. This small act may improve your kid’s money management skills for the rest of their life, say money pros at Forbes magazine.

Set a good example

If your own money skills have been lax, don’t hesitate to consult with a credit counselor who may help you get back on the right track. Check here to learn more about credit card consolidation and other savvy ways to put your money life back together.

Kids who learn how to handle money at a young age tend to be smarter consumers as adults. Show your little ones how to spend, save, and share.

One Step At a Time:Taking Your Kids On a Financial Learning Journey

April 19, 2017 by admin

Source

One of the most valuable lessons you can teach your kids is about the importance of money. However, long, laborious lectures aren’t going to work. Instead, you need to turn day-to-day things, like going to the bank or the ATM machine, into lessons about money.

When your children are young, you can turn imaginary games into real-life money concepts that they can learn from. So, here are some lessons you can incorporate into your child’s day that will provide them with savvy financial advice for the future:

Where Does Money Come from?

It’s easy to understand why kids think money grows on trees, especially in a day where reams of cash come straight out of a hole in the wall. That’s why it’s important to teach them where the money comes from, and that it isn’t an endless resource. Explain that, in order to get money from the bank, you need to work hard first, and that the bank is just a safe place to store it (understandably, after the recent economic crash, you will have to remove some of your cynicism from this remark)!

How Can I Budget for Things I Want?

One of the easiest ways to teach your kids how to manage money is to give them an allowance. Therefore, if they spend all of this on the latest video game, they’ll learn they won’t have enough left over for the new pair of shoes they’ve been looking for. This allows them to gain first-hand experiences of what happens if they overspend and don’t budget properly.

Why Should I Save?

Impulse buying is easy when you’ve been given some money, but your child needs to learn that you shouldn’t spend all your money as soon as you get it. So, when you go shopping, create a list and allocate a budget to each item. Then, look at prices online and for any offers, comparing these to make sure you’re getting the most for your money. This routine planning will help them to make good financial purchases in the future.

Why Should I Be a Bit Skeptical?

Even though you don’t want to make your child feel as though every company is corrupt and out to get them, it’s important they understand the need to look into every deal or contract in detail. For example, if there’s an offer on the TV, it’s key they understand the company is trying to sell them something by making them feel a certain way. I.e. if you have these clothes, you’ll be the most popular kid in school.

This will provide them with important skills they can use when taking out loans or credit cards in the future, teaching them to learn more about the application before proceeding.

Why Should I Keep Track of My Spending?

You child’s money management skills will be enhanced just by knowing exactly where their money is going. To keep track of their spending, encourage them to set up a spreadsheet on their computer or in a notebook, making a file for all their statements and receipts.

With these simple tricks, you can start to teach your child important life lessons that will help them significantly in the future.

Stop Learning Loss: Keeping Your Child’s Mind Sharp Over the Summer Break

April 15, 2017 by admin

Kids love the months of summer vacation, but sadly, these weeks out of school can be a detriment to their education. Many children suffer from learning loss during the summer; that means they can lose up to two months of academic learning depending on their grade level and the subject. Math learning loss is the most common. So how can you make sure your kids don’t experience learning loss this summer? One solution is summer school. Here’s a look at the pros and cons of summer schooling.

What the Advocates Say

Structured learning: Kids need a plan of structured learningso that they retain their growing foundation of knowledge. Many parents would prefer to have year-round school so summer school is a good substitute to help kids stay on track.

Extra-curricularlearning: Some kids may be reluctant to take summer school classes. One way you can get round this is to put them into a class that you think they really need and let them pick another one for fun.

Start early: It’s best to weave summer school classes into your kid’s lives from the beginning of their schooling. That way it’s a normal part of their routine. If you want to find out more about different types of available summer school programs, check out Cambridge summer school.

What the Opposition Says

Summer is for fun: Kids need time to relax and recharge and this is what the summer vacation is for. They need this time for unstructured play, which is just as important as their education.

Learning on vacation: Learning isn’t confined to the classroom. Children need different life experiencesto grow into well-rounded adults. Summer vacation is a good time for the family to do things together and some of these things can be educational, like visiting a museum or a day trip to a nature preserve.

Letting off the pressure: Kids need a break from school so they have time to be kids. Time at school can be stressful with all the testing and pressure to perform. Why shorten their childhood even more with summer school?

How to Pick a Summer School

If you do decide on a summer school program, you’ll want to pick the right one for your child’s age and ability. Most summer programs are less formal than the regular classroom and kids are taught in smaller groups. The best programs include hands-on learning, sports, field trips and reading and math skills. To make sure your children get the most out of their summer program, enroll them in something they enjoy. For example, if your son is crazy about science but not really sporty, baseball camp will not interest him but science camp will. If your daughter has a talent for learning languages, immersive Spanish classes may be just the thing.

You don’t have to put your kids in classes all through the summer vacation. You could set up a mixture if classes here and there so they get to spend time at home with the family as well as learning.

New Parents, Mind These Tips To Buy Convertible Baby Cot

April 11, 2017 by admin

Every new parent invariably face it. With so much love and concern for their newborn they often feel confused about taking care of their baby in the best possible way. Obviously more than anything else they become more concerned about the interior of their baby room. Yes, when it comes to baby room we cannot take the considerations about furniture lightly since this is something to play crucial role in creating s pleasant and vibrant atmosphere which is important for the baby.

These days, as saving floor space and managing things with low footprint furniture became important, especially to create more space inside baby room, convertible baby cot beds are widely preferred. They are incredibly cute, neat and functionally superb. Most important of all, they allow parents more flexibility to use the bed all the way up to the teens. But when buying convertible cot for your sweetheart little one, remember the following tips.

1. Ease Of Use

The first and most important point is to choose a bed which is exceptionally easy to use. In this respect you should keep in mind that cot beds for babies vary a lot as far as as flexibility and ease of use is concerned. First of all, the side of the cot that goes up and down should work smoothly and should be lighter for the hands. Moreover, this dropside should be lower enough as well allowing easy reach. Secondly, it should be made in a way that prevents the child to open it but should be easy for the grownups to do the same.

2. Safety Considerations

Source – http://funique.co.uk

Another important consideration is the safety measures incorporated in the convertible cot bed. First of all, make sure the cots you are going to purchase carries the safety certification and stamp of trust from local authorities and industry ratings. After you do this check by verifying industry certifications and trustmarks on safety, you can now go in depth for a better safety check.

First of all, see whether the cot bed is deep enough to prevent the child from falling out. While the depth at the upper side after the mattress laid out should be around 30 cm, the same should be at least 15 cm when the cot bed is lowered.

Now see whether the mattress just fit perfectly around all sides of the bed. To ensure this you need to buy mattress with at least 4 cm wider mattress compared to the cot size on both sides. In any case your baby should be prevented from rolling onto the gap between mattress and the cot.

Now, as a last measure you need to see whether there is really any danger for your baby’s limbs or head to get entrapped in the cot openings. While you need to prevent the baby from falling out, it is important make the big openings at least between 5cm and 9.5cm. To prevent limbs to get entrapped the small openings

should be at least between 3cm and 5cm wide.

3. Make Sure That The Cot Paint Is Not Toxic

Babies have an uncanny knack of chewing and licking anything they find and parents often take all measures to prevent them from touching and licking anything. Naturally, the paint of a cot bed is equally important to ensure your baby is not getting exposed to any toxic substance. So, just make sure that the cot bed is not painted with a toxic paint like lead based ones.

4. Perfect Contrast And Colour

Those who think colour is just an insignificant consideration for baby cot just are not aware how it can affect the mood of your baby. Babies are most responsive to colours and so all furniture pieces and elements inside the baby room should create the perfect contrast and gleeful ambience.

When choosing colours for the convertible baby cot, beside contrast, you should also mind gender of the baby. Neutral colours like Grey and White can be good for contrast. For girl child you can prefer feminine colours like pink or pale yellow, while for boy child the cot bed colour can be vibrant blue, light green or even a soothing shade of orange.

Things that Couples with Kids Should Consider before Getting a Divorce

April 4, 2017 by admin

Getting a divorce is very rarely a comfortable experience and if you have kids, things get even more complicated. While no one from the outside has the right to judge you for your decision, there are things that both the parents should consider for the future well-being of their children. On that note, let’s take a look at some those points before you call the divorce attorney.

It’s Not the Same for Them

Getting separated after a particularly suffocating marriage can be a life-changing and positive experience for you, but it’s almost certainly not the same for them. Do not try to make them a part of your delight if they don’t want that. Never use force to “make” them accept the situation. Seeing one’s parents leave each other and learning to live with just one parent most of the time can be a harrowing experience. The best thing you can do is give them time to adjust to the new situation and provide them with your support when they need it.

Be with Your Kids

For many, divorce is a release and while we are not denying that, if you have kids, you need to be with them during and right after the divorce. It is necessary that both parties adjust to the new situation and all that comes with it, but what about the kids? You took a decision that they likely had no part in but have just turned their world around and changed everything in that world. The logical thing to do is not to just pack up and move to chase a new life right away but to be with your kids and help them adjust to the current situation.

Don’t make them feel like they have just lost both of their parents by going away on that exotic vacation right after a divorce. The vacation will surely come later, but the kids come first. If the children are young and you already have a boyfriend or girlfriend, it is important that they are given the opportunity to view that person not as an intruder into their lives, but as a part of the family. It will not happen right away or may not even happen easily, but the patience and the effort need to be there.

Not Everything Will Be Peachy

The partner being left will always feel betrayed and victimized, while the one who files for the divorce will likely feel more positive. The clash of heightened emotions makes for two very unstable people, which isn’t good news for kids, especially small children. One must act both cautiously and with empathy for the ex in order to make the painful transition phase as smooth as possible for both parties and, especially, the children. Also, even after the divorce is over, it is very likely that you will continue to come in regular contact with your ex since you both have children together. There might also be other issues like maintaining legal agreements, allowing maintenance, and dealing with negligent exes among others.

Even though divorce is not always the best solution to all the problems in your marriage, it might often be the only option left. In such cases, a qualified divorce attorney will help you make a case and win the divorce in your favor, but even then, it is ideal to consider and reconsider some of the points made here until you are sure about getting that divorce.