Gifts Your Children Will Not Forget

Here is an alphabetical list of 34 gifts your children will never forget.

1. Affirmation. Sometimes one simple word of affirmation can change an entire life. So make sure your children know how much you appreciate them. And then, remind them every chance you get.
2. Art. With the advent of the Internet, everyone who wants to create… can. The world just needs more people who want to.
3. Challenge. Encourage your child to dream big dreams. In turn, they will accomplish more than they thought possible… and probably even more than you thought possible.
4. Compassion/Justice. Life isn’t fair. It never will be – there are just too many variables. But when a wrong has been committed or a playing field can be leveled, you may want your child to be active in helping to level it.
5. Contentment. The need for more is contagious. Therefore, one of the greatest gifts you can give your children is an appreciation for being content with what they have… but not with who they are.
6. Curiosity. Teach your children to ask questions about who, what, where, how, why, and why not. “Stop asking so many questions” are words that should never leave a parents’ mouth.
7. Determination. One of the greatest determining factors in one’s success is the size of their will. How can you help grow your child’s today?
8. Discipline. Children need to learn everything from the ground-up including appropriate behaviors, how to get along with others, how to get results, and how to achieve their dreams. Discipline should not be avoided or withheld. Instead, it should be consistent and positive.
9. Encouragement. Words are powerful. They can create or they can destroy. The simple words that you choose to speak today can offer encouragement and positive thoughts to another child. Or your words can send them further into despair. So choose them carefully.
10. Faithfulness to your Spouse. Faithfulness in marriage includes more than just our bodies. It also includes our eyes, mind, heart, and soul. Guard your sexuality daily and devote it entirely to your spouse. Your children will absolutely take notice.
11. Finding Beauty. Help your children find beauty in everything they see… and in everyone they meet.
12. Generosity. Teach your children to be generous with your stuff so that they will become generous with theirs.
13. Honesty/Integrity. Children who learn the value and importance of honesty at a young age have a far greater opportunity to become honest adults. And honest adults who deal truthfully with others tend to feel better about themselves, enjoy their lives more, and sleep better at night.
14. Hope. Hope is knowing and believing that things will get better and improve. It creates strength, endurance, and resolve. And in the desperately difficult times of life, it calls us to press onward.
15. Hugs and Kisses.  Know that your children are never too old to receive physical affirmation of your love for them.
16. Imagination. If we have learned anything over the past 20 years, it’s that life is changing faster and faster with every passing day. The world tomorrow looks nothing like the world today. And the people with imagination are the ones not just living it, they are creating it.
17. Intentionality. Slow down, consider who you are, where you are going, and how to get there. And do the same for each of your children.
18. Your Lap. It’s the best place in the entire world for a book, story, or conversation. And it’s been right in front of you the whole time.
19. Lifelong Learning. A passion for learning is different from just studying to earn a grade or please teachers. It begins in the home. So read, ask questions, analyze, and expose. In other words, learn to love learning yourself.
20. Love. …but the greatest of these is love.
21. Meals Together. Meals provide unparalleled opportunity for relationship, the likes of which can not be found anywhere else. So much so, that a family that does not eat together does not grow together.
22. Nature. Children who learn to appreciate the world around them take care of the world around them. As a parent, you may be asking your kids to keep their rooms inside the house neat, clean, and orderly. Shouldn’t we also be teaching them to keep their world outside neat, clean, and orderly?
23. Opportunity. Kids need opportunities to experience new things so they can find out what they enjoy and what they are good at. And contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t have to require much money.
24. Optimism. Pessimists don’t change the world. Optimists do.
25. Peace. On a worldwide scale, you may think this is out of our hands. But in relation to the people around you, this is completely within your hands… and that’s a darn good place to start.
26. Pride.  Celebrate the little things in life.  After all, it is the little accomplishments in life that become the big accomplishments.
27. Room to Make mistakes. Kids are kids. That’s what makes them so much fun… and so desperately in need of your patience. Give them room to experiment, explore, and make mistakes.
28. Self-Esteem. People who learn to value themselves are more likely to have self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth. As a result, they are more likely to become adults who respect their values and stick to them… even when no one else is.
29. Sense of Humor. Laugh with your children everyday… for your sake and theirs.
30. Spirituality. Faith elevates our view of the universe, our world, and our lives. We would be wise to instill into our kids that they are more than just flesh and blood taking up space. They are also made of mind, heart, soul, and will. And decisions in their life should be based on more than just what everyone else with flesh and blood is doing.
31. Stability. A stable home becomes the foundation on which children build the rest of their lives. They need to know their place in the family, who they can trust, and who is going to be there for them. Don’t keep changing those things.
32. Time. The gift of time is the one gift you can never get back or take back. So think carefully about who (or what) is getting yours.
33. Uniqueness. What makes us different is what makes us special. Uniqueness should not be hidden. It should be proudly displayed for all the world to see, appreciate, and enjoy.
34. A Welcoming Home. To know that you can always come home is among the sweetest and most life-giving assurances in all the world. Is your home breathing life into your child?

Of course, none of these gifts are on sale at your local department store. But, you know the point.

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Top 10 Fibre Rich Foods

When people talk about fibre, the first thing that come to their minds are cereals. But beside bran cereals, there are a lot of foods that are pretty rich in fibre. Let’s cite the top 10.

     1.       Whole grain  

Any food made from rice, oats, corn, and the like are all grain products such as bread and pasta. But there are are two types of grains – the whole grains and refined grains. Whole grains contain most of the original structure of the raw source from where it is derived. They include the germ, endosperm, and the bran. When these grains are processed and refined, some of the important compounds are lost including iron, vitamin B-6, and the dietary fibre.  

2.       Popcorn

Watching movies? Go with the traditional plain popcorn! This healthy snack is very rich in fibre and is low in fat – perfect for dieters. A 4-cup of serving of popcorn has 7 grams of dietary fibre which is 25% of the daily recommended value. Most people think of popcorn as the buttery or cheesy, salty treat. But take away the sodium content and high-fat ingredients; popcorn is among the healthiest snacks you can eat! Try air popping the corn instead. 

3.       Beans

Beans are rich in carbohydrates, protein, and low in fat which makes it a perfect diet choice for athletes and runners. Furthermore, beans are hard to digest because it’s rich in fibre. Half a cup of black beans for instance already contains 9.7 grams of dietary fibre while peanuts have 3.25 grams. This makes you feel full for a longer period of time.

4.       Berries

Berries from the seed to the skin are great, delicious sources of fibre. One cup of blackberries contains whopping 8 grams of fibre while blueberries have 3.5. 

5.       Baked potato (with skin)

Potatoes are nutrient-rich crops containing high amount of vitamins and minerals. When served with its skin, it becomes super rich in fibre too. A baked potato with its skin contains more fibre than two slices of wholemeal bread. 

6.       Brown rice

In many countries particularly in Asia, eating means ‘eating rice’. There is a wide variety of rice and they are available in most time of the year. The brown rice is the rice with the hull or the outermost layer removed. But the milling and polishing which converts brown rice to white rice destroys many of its essential compounds, including fibre. One cup of brown rice contains 3.5 grams of fibre.

7.       Bran cereal

Eating bran cereals for breakfast is a good way to start your diet. When shopping for cereal products, choose the one which will give you 5 grams of fibre per serving. 

8.       Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are basically the best sources of fibre and incorporating them in your daily diet can give you most of your body’s daily requirement of this essential nutrient. Don’t overcook your vegetable dish as doing so can lessen the amount of its fibre. As much as possible, eat raw fruits and vegetables to maximise the health benefits you can get. 

9.       Oatmeal

Studies revealed that eating high-fibre diet helps lower down the cholesterol level in the body. Oatmeal is a healthy diet option if you have problems controlling your cholesterol levels. This cereal-based food has also been linked to a healthy heart. Oatmeal also contains soluble fibre which slows down digestion, making you feel fuller for a longer time. 

10.   Nuts

If you’re going nuts about your health, try incorporating nuts in your daily diet. Nuts that have higher amount of fibre are walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, and Macadamia nuts. They also contain lots of vitamins and minerals for an improved health.

Fibre is essential in keeping your weight under control. This substance is known to boost digestion and metabolism that’s why many dieters are advised to increase their intake of fibre. Fibre is also linked to lower cholesterol and reduced risk of colon cancer. So make sure you get the most of fibre every day!

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Top 10 Anti-Ageing Foods

You are what you eat. Our diet greatly affects how we look – from head to toe. If those fine lines, sagging skin, and flabby arms are making you feel sad, maybe it’s time that you make some tweaks in your daily diet. Here are ten of the best foods that won’t just satisfy your stomach but would also make you look younger.

     1.       Fatty Fish

Can’t think of a dish to prepare this evening? Why not have a hearty tuna? There’s a scientific research that says omega-3 fatty acids which come from fish act on an area in the brain that promotes good feeling. Positivism has long been associated with aging. If you keep smiling, you’ll look younger than your age. Not a fan of fish? You can eat walnuts, flaxseeds, and other plant-based sources of fish oil.  

2.       Lean Protein

Protein from lean meat and vegetables such as spinach, bulgur wheat, and raisins, are great sources of energy. If you’re into a workout program, you want to fuel your body with some of these foods. Be careful with animal protein. Avoid the fatty parts and stick to the lean. Energy-giving foods also include quinoa and marinara. 

3.       Potassium-rich Foods

To glow in the outside, you want to glow in the inside first. And if there’s any organ you want to start focusing on, it should be your heart. Foods rich in potassium, such as yogurt, spinach, almonds, blueberries, whole grains, marinara sauce, pomegranate, and the others are good for the heart. They help stabilise your blood pressure and prevent the build-up of cholesterol in the arteries. 

4.       Vitamin-E rich Foods

You know that exercising helps tone your muscles, shed free radicals from your body, and make you sexier. But it can be exhausting too. To boost your stamina, you want to feed yourself a dose of vitamin E. Foods high in vitamin E include sspinach, almonds, mustard greens, asparagus, bell peppers, turnip greens, etc. 

5.       Blueberries, cherries, and strawberries

Fruits and vegetables that are rich in lycopene and beta carotene are great for a healthy, beautiful and glowing skin. Why? These nutrients help block harmful UV rays that damage the skin. You also want to try blueberries, cherries, strawberries, kiwifruit, poblano pepper, walnuts, and kale. These fruits are also high in vitamin C which boosts collagen. 

6.       Fibre-rich foods

To avoid bums and fats, you want to improve your metabolism by eating lots of fibre-rich foods such as pineapples, apples, black beans, bulgur wheat, cinnamon, Greek yogurt, pistachios, and so on. 

7.       Antioxidant-filled Foods

There are certain fruits and veggies that are high in antioxidants such as walnuts, blueberries, curry powder, pecans, cinnamon, pomegranate juice, etc. Green tea is a great beverage choice too. It has lots of catechins and ECGCs – kinds of antioxidants that prevent the onset of serious health diseases.  

8.       Whole grains

Instead of white-flour cakes, white rice, and other goods made from refined grains, you want to eat more of whole grains. Refined grains can bolster your insulin levels which cause inflammation and skin damage. 

9.       Colourful Produce

You want to fill your plate with different kinds of fruits and veggies. The more colourful, the healthier! Fruits and veggies that have yellow, orange, and red pigments have carotenoids and antioxidants that flush away the toxins from your body.

10.   Wine

A glass of wine a day keeps the doctor away. Wine is known to aid in maintaining healthy heart. This beverage contains resveratrol – a type of antioxidant that is believed to counteract cell death in the heart and brain. But be sure to keep your wine consumption low because no matter how healthy it is, it’s still alcohol. Don’t like the taste of wine? Have some coffee as well. But limit yourself to 2 cups a day.

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How To Raise Creative Kids

If you are keen on creativity and innovation, you surely want your children to be creative as well. If so, the sooner you act, the better. Research is demonstrating that children rapidly lose their creative thinking skills as they grow older. Moreover, by the time a child reaches adolescence, the way she thinks is largely fixed. So the more you encourage your children to use more of their minds in order to think more creatively, the more likely you are to raise exceptionally creative children. 

Here are five suggestions for encouraging and maintaining creativity in your children: 

1. ANSWER QUESTIONS WITH QUESTIONS. 

Children ask lots of questions. As parents, we tend to give them direct answers. “What does ‘invertebrate’ mean?” a child might ask while watching a television documentary. A typical parent response is: “It means an animal that does not have a backbone.” There is nothing wrong with such an answer. It is correct. It provides your child with the information she seeks. But, why not ask: “What do you think ‘invertebrate’ means?” Your child has just watched a documentary about animals and has a lot of context in her mind. Very likely she can put that context together and hazard a good guess. Indeed, she has possibly done this already and is simply seeking confirmation. If her answer is correct, reward her and ask her how why she felt it was the correct answer. If her answer is wrong, reward her and ask her why she thought this was the answer. Then, reward her thinking and explain the correct answer. If you are not sure about the correct answer, see the next suggestion. Encouraging your child to gather information and make deductions based on that information is a form of creative problem solving. Make it a habit! 

2. FIND ANSWERS TOGETHER. 

As your children grow older, they will increasingly often ask questions that you cannot answer. As a parent, you may occasionally feel the need to cover up your ignorance. After all, your children look to you as the ultimate source of knowledge. At other times one of your children will ask a question in which you believe you know the correct answer, but are not sure. 

Rather than hazard a guess at the answer, a better response is, “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure. I believe the answer is…” and then add, “Let’s find out the correct answer.” Then do some research with your child in order to find that answer. That research may be a simple matter of searching on the web. But do not neglect other possibilities. Perhaps you have a book on the subject. Fetch it and look it up. Your child might be interested in reading the book. Go to the library. Before the age of the web and Google, libraries were the best information resource available. They are still wonderful places of reference with the added benefit that you often find interesting information that you were not seeking. 

You might also try experiments and illustration. When your science loving son asked why, if you drive a car around a curve too fast and lose control, you should turn into the skid, drew a sketch showing how the different forces were at work in a car accelerating around a curve. This made it very clear. 

3. REWARD FAILURE 

We all talk about the importance of accepting and rewarding failure in business. Yet all too many parents punish failure directly or indirectly. Your son enters a swimming competition and comes in last. How do you respond? “Maybe swimming isn’t for you?” “I told you that you had to practice more!” “Ralph took second place and he’s two years younger than you!”. Even a caring parent is likely to say something dismissive “It doesn’t matter. I love you the way you are.” 

Sadly, all of these responses are likely to discourage your son from ever entering a swimming competition again. Worse, they might discourage him from trying other things in which he is unsure of his capability. 

A far better response is, “I am so proud of you for entering the swimming competition and trying so hard.” And if your son feels badly, do not immediately tell him it doesn’t matter. Instead ask him, “why do you think you came in last?” This gives him and you a chance to analyse the problem so he can do better next time. Maybe he became too nervous and wasn’t breathing correctly. That’s great! Now you can talk about how he can deal with nervousness and breathing next time. 

4. TEACH THEM TO COOK 

Cooking and especially baking, is an incredible creative process. Think about a cake. You start with flour, eggs, sugar and a handful of other ingredients. Mix them and bake them and you have a wonderful cake. 

Once your kids learn the basics of baking a cook, making cookies or frying an omelet, let them experiment. And do not correct them beforehand unless they are endangering themselves, others or your kitchen. If they want to put twice as much chocolate in the cake, let them. If they want to see what happens if they use a brown sugar instead of white sugar, let them. Chances are, they will not ruin the cake. But by experimenting and seeing what happens, they learn a valuable creative process. Moreover, when things go wrong, they can often be fixed. The cake is too dry? Make a moist frosting. This is creative problem solving at its best! 

5. FEED YOUR CHILDREN A HEALTHY, BALANCED DIET 

A healthy mind and body feel better, deliver more energy and think better. Moreover, if you get your children in the habit of eating healthy food from an early age, it will form a life-long habit. They will be far less likely to have weight problems or health problems as they grow older. They will look better, have more energy and smell better. And most importantly, in the context of creativity, they will think better. 

The amazing thing is, eating a healthy diet is remarkably easy. It is a simple matter of getting a suitable balance of the key food groups while minimising the amount of sugary and fatty foods you eat.

In addition to eating a balanced diet, allow kids to stop eating when they are full and restrict the amount of sweets and non-healthy snacks they can eat (though let them eat healthy snacks, such as fruit, when they are hungry between meals). Forcing children to eat all the food on their plates and rewarding them with a huge dessert if they do so only encourages overeating. 






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The Mental Health Benefits of Exercise

MANY PEOPLE HIT the gym or pound the pavement to improve cardiovascular health, build muscle, and of course, get a rockin’ body, but working out has above-the-neck benefits, too. For the past decade or so, scientists have pondered how exercising can boost brain function.

Regardless of age or fitness level (yup, this includes everyone from walkers to marathoners), studies show that making time for exercise provides some serious mental benefits. Get inspired to exercise by reading up on these unexpected ways that working out can benefit mental health, relationships, and lead to a healthier and happier life overall.

1) Reduce stress. Rough day at the office? Take a walk or head to the gym for a quick workout. One of the most common mental benefits of exercise is stress relief. Working up a sweat can help manage physical and mental stress. Exercise also increases concentrations of norepinephrine, a chemical that can moderate the brain’s response to stress. So go ahead and get sweaty — working out can reduce stress and boost the body’s ability to deal with existing mental tension. Win-win!

2) Boost happy chemicals. Slogging through a few miles on the treadmill can be tough, but it’s worth the effort! Exercise releases endorphins, which create feelings of happiness and euphoria. Studies have shown that exercise can even alleviate symptoms among the clinically depressed. For this reason, doctors recommend that people suffering from depression or anxiety (or those who are just feeling blue) pencil in plenty of gym time. In some cases, exercise can be just as effective as antidepressant pills in treating depression. Don’t worry if you’re not exactly the gym rat type — getting a happy buzz from working out for just 30 minutes a few times a week can instantly boost overall mood.

3) Improve self-confidence. Hop on the treadmill to look (and more importantly, feel) like a million bucks. On a very basic level, physical fitness can boost self-esteem and improve positive self-image. Regardless of weight, size, gender, or age, exercise can quickly elevate a person’s perception of his or her attractiveness, that is, self-worth. How’s that for feeling the (self) love?

4) Enjoy the great outdoors. For an extra boost of self-love, take that workout outside. Exercising in the great outdoors can increase self-esteem even more. Find an outdoor workout that fits your style, whether it’s rock-climbing, hiking, renting a canoe, or just taking a jog in the park. Plus, all that Vitamin D acquired from soaking up the sun (while wearing sunscreen, of course!) can lessen the likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms. Why book a spa day when a little fresh air and sunshine (and exercise) can work wonders for self-confidence and happiness?

5) Prevent cognitive decline. It’s unpleasant, but it’s true — as we get older, our brains get a little… hazy. As aging and degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s kill off brain cells, the noggin actually shrinks, losing many important brain functions in the process. While exercise and a healthy diet can’t “cure” Alzheimer’s, they can help shore up the brain against cognitive decline that begins after age 45. Working out, especially between age 25 and 45, boosts the chemicals in the brain that support and prevent degeneration of the hippocampus, an important part of the brain for memory and learning.

6) Alleviate anxiety. Quick Q&A: Which is better at relieving anxiety — a warm bubble bath or a 20-minute jog? You might be surprised at the answer. The warm and fuzzy chemicals that are released during and after exercise can help people with anxiety disorders calm down. Hopping on the track or treadmill for some moderate-to-high intensity aerobic exercise (intervals, anyone?) can reduce anxiety sensitivity. And we thought intervals were just a good way to burn calories!

7) Boost brainpower. Those buff lab rats might be smarter than we think. Various studies on mice and men have shown that cardiovascular exercise can create new brain cells (aka neurogenesis) and improve overall brain performance. Ready to apply for a Nobel Prize? Studies suggest that a tough workout increases levels of a brain-derived protein (known as BDNF) in the body, believed to help with decision making, higher thinking, and learning.

8) Sharpen memory. Regular physical activity boosts memory and ability to learn new things. Getting sweaty increases production of cells in hippocampus responsible for memory and learning. For this reason, research has linked children’s brain development with level of physical fitness (take that, people who hate PE!). But exercise-based brainpower isn’t just for kids. Even if it’s not as fun as a game of Red Rover, working out can boost memory among grown-ups, too. A study showed that running sprints improved vocabulary retention among healthy adults.

9) Help control addiction. The brain releases dopamine, the “reward chemical” in response to any form of pleasure, be that exercise, sex, drugs, alcohol, or food. Unfortunately, some people become addicted to dopamine and dependent on the substances that produce it, like drugs or alcohol (and more rarely, food and sex). On the bright side, exercise can help in addiction recovery. Short exercise sessions can also effectively distract drug or alcohol addicts, making them de-prioritize cravings (at least in the short term). Working out when on the wagon has other benefits, too. Alcohol abuse disrupts many body processes, including circadian rhythms. As a result, alcoholics find they can’t fall asleep (or stay asleep) without drinking. Exercise can help reboot the body clock, helping people hit the hay at the right time.

10) Increase relaxation. Ever hit the hay after a long run or weight session at the gym? For some, a moderate workout can be the equivalent of a sleeping pill, even for people with insomnia. Moving around five to six hours before bedtime raises the body’s core temperature. When the body temp drops back to normal a few hours later, it signals the body that it’s time to sleep.

11) Get more done. Feeling uninspired in the cubicle? The solution might be just a short walk or jog away. Research shows that workers who take time for exercise on a regular basis are more productive and have more energy than their more sedentary peers. While busy schedules can make it tough to squeeze in a gym session in the middle of the day, some experts believe that midday is the ideal time for a workout due to the body’s circadian rhythms.

12) Tap into creativity. Most people end a tough workout with a hot shower, but maybe we should be breaking out the colored pencils instead. A heart-pumping gym session can boost creativity for up to two hours afterwards. Supercharge post-workout inspiration by exercising outdoors and interacting with nature. Next time you need a burst of creative thinking, hit the trails for a long walk or run to refresh the body and the brain at the same time.

13) Inspire others. Whether it’s a pick-up game of soccer, a group class at the gym, or just a run with a friend, exercise rarely happens in a bubble. And that’s good news for all of us. Studies show that most people perform better on aerobic tests when paired up with a workout buddy. Pin it to inspiration or good old-fashioned competition, nobody wants to let the other person down. In fact, being part of a team is so powerful that it can actually raise athletes’ tolerances for pain. Even fitness beginners can inspire each other to push harder during a sweat session, so find a workout buddy and get moving!

Working out can have positive effects far beyond the gym (and beach season). Gaining self-confidence, getting out of a funk, and even thinking smarter are some of the motivations to take time for exercise on a regular basis.