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How far does violence extend, how do we determine exactly who is responsible for the violence that children are seeing on television and in music.  What about video game’s, who is taking the responsibility for the violence and awful things that, are occurring right before the eyes of the youth today?  Many politicians are looking to eagerly blame the media and entertainment industry.  Is that the correct place to lay the blame?  Perhaps parents are the people ultimately to blame.

More parents today than ever before are working longer hours just to stay afloat financially.  This alone results in phenomenal numbers of children being left with a television as the babysitter in charge of teaching right from wrong.  How does a child learn the difference between right and wrong, when their parents are nowhere to be found?  Where does the parents’ responsibility to parent a child and the governments’ right to parent a child merge?

Does the government even have a right to parent children?  Should the government be allowed to determine what is appropriate for all children to watch, or should that be ultimately left up to the parents to decide on their own?  There have been television shows, movies, musical artists, and even books banned because the government does not approve.

Where is the line drawn in who controls what the children are watching?  Is it really up to the parents, or is it left to the children to decide on their own?  When did parents lose the ability to control what their child watches, and when did the parent become subject to the child’s own opinion?  While some advances in technology have been wonderful, there is also much effort by the government to control what a parent does with their own child, and it is this more than anything that has caused controversy on a civil liberties basis.

There have been several inventions and developments that are able to help parents monitor their children; from the v-chip to programs that log instant messenger programs.

These developments are great for the parents looking to monitor their child themselves, but what about the music industry.  Most parents are constantly told that the violence their child is exposed to is the fault of the music industry.  The blame is placed on the singers and producers for releasing the music.

Much blame is placed everywhere but the parents for taking responsibility for their own children and determining what is best for them.  With politicians attempting to punish some area of the entertainment industry each time a national tragedy occurs, it puts a major crimp on the ability of parents to decide for themselves what is acceptable for their child and what is not.  Many are left to allow their child to choose from the options that are left, once the government has omitted the choices that are bad.

Is this censorship, or helping raise children?  Many seem to think it leans heavily towards censorship, a place the governments should not be treading.  Many others tend to feel that it should be a high priority of the government to protect everyone from something that can potentially be bad, without even giving people the option to make their own decisions.

The issue as to what extent the government should intervene with the way in which we live our lives is hotly contested, and it works in a much larger circle than just the control of our children.  Should the government take a step back, and allow society to use its freedoms and powers for self regulation, or is there a need for intervention to ensure the greater good and justice for the welfare of society as a whole?  For the time being, it seems as though the most pragmatic approach relates somewhere in the middle, although it will be interesting to see developments in this area over the coming years.

As a college student, I am always looking for ways to save some money. If you’re a college student reading this, I suggest trying to rent textbooks instead of buying them. Chegg.com is a website that offers textbook rentals so you don’t have to buy a onetime used book! Textbooks aside, I have found that I spend most of my money on food. In order to cut this down, I have gotten into the habit of preparing lunch or breakfast the night BEFORE I need it. This way, the laziness of the morning won’t get in the way of your money saving plan. Also, I suggest taking out money from the bank rather than bringing an ATM card with you. While ATM cards are very convenient, it is too easy to keep taking money out. If you take $40 with you and leave your ATM card at home, the most you could possibly spend is $40. This is a good way to monitor your spending.

This is the time of year when the parents of many preschoolers must decide where their child will attend school in the fall. I wanted to take this opportunity to share my experience with Montessori preschool education.

My son is completing his second year in a Montessori preschool program and attended from the age of 3 1/2.

I chose Montessori for several reasons. First, my son is a bright, inquisitive child who already had a sound grounding in recognition of his alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors before he started preschool. I was worried that he might be bored in a more traditional preschool. Montessori’s highly individual program means he is always challenged and interested. In addition, my son is a very active child and the Montessori program gives him lots of opportunity for free play outdoors and indoors as well as more freedom to move about, stand, or even lie on the ground while working on his lessons in the classroom.

In my opinion one of Montessori’s great advantages is the fact that the child drives the educational experience. My son’s interests and abilities determine his unique educational program and so his lessons may overlap but are not identical to those of his classmates. This makes him an eager and motivated student.

The education program offered by Montessori also includes many advantages. My son’s experience includes the arts, math and science, language, and life skills. He regularly impresses our friends and family with his knowledge of science, sign language, and other areas not traditionally included in preschool programs.

I also like the fact that his classroom includes a wider range of ages so he has friends who are both younger and older. In addition, he really enjoys having regular contact with the elementary-age students who serve as both role models and friends.

Finally, as a parent, I cannot stress enough the benefits that a program like Montessori offers in terms of life skills. All students are expected to be responsible for their own personal hygiene as well as maintenance and cleaning of the classroom and food areas. While support is offered by adults and older children, even young children can learn to clean up after themselves. It has certainly had an impact on my son’s willingness and ability to help out at home.

Recently I compared preschool experiences with a friend whose child is completing her second year in what most people consider to be the top preschool program in our community. We compared our children’s skills to the checklist provided by our school district of 60 skills (including cognitive skills, listening and sequencing skills, language skills, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and social/emotional skills) that will help children transition into kindergarten. My son has all 60 skills while her daughter lacked skills in each of the areas.

I recommend every parent at least consider Montessori for their child as it is a child-centered learning approach that can provide an excellent foundation for a child’s future growth and learning.

I am fairly certain that most of us have either seen or at the very least heard of the hit situation comedy “Married with Children” that dominated television for quite a few years and is still shown in syndication in many markets around the world. There are some wonderful insights that are shown by this often dysfunctional family and a few pearls to bring into your everyday lives. The same can be said when it comes to cooking with children.

There is little on this earth that can teach you about yourself and the way your children view you as easily as cooking with your children. Of course, this is the perfect opportunity for many of us to let our hair down a little, relax, and have fun in the kitchen. Unfortunately, if you are anything like me, this is a difficult process to say the least. I am a bit of a control freak in my kitchen. It is my domain or sovereign territory so to speak. For this reason it is difficult to give up that little bit of control and hand over the reins to any one of my children.

On the other hand, I know they are learning important skills that they honestly need to know in life. This knowledge of course doesn’t make it any less difficult when I’m scraping tomato sauce out of places I would never have thought to discover it on my own. If you are considering cooking with children you need to make sure you have the proper ingredients on hand before beginning. You certainly do not want to be caught without that cup full of patience you will be requiring nor do you wish to need to leave in the middle of things for a run to the local grocery store to pick up the missing ingredients.

Another great rule of thumb when it comes to cooking with children is the KISS rule. Keep it simple silly. This rule will help out more than you ever realize. First of all, most children have relatively short attention spans. While they want to learn and help mommy out, they also do not want to have enough time to get bored with the details. Use simple recipes when cooking with children and your chances for success will be much greater than with overly complicated or ingredient intense recipes.

As if this wasn’t enough to absorb another very important rule when it comes to cooking with children is to clean as you go whenever possible. Trust me on this. While there is part of you who will want to put off the task of cleaning the messes that are made until later or wait till the end and only clean once, this allows the opportunity for messes to layer and compound themselves. Constantly clean throughout the process for the best possible results. You should enlist your children in the cleaning process as well. While it may be easier to do yourself, it is far more important to teach them the basics of cleaning as you go. Remember one day they will more than likely invade your kitchen while you’re not looking.

Cooking with children can be an incredible way to have a fun day if you are able to let go of the control that you too often hold over the kitchen. Give over the keys to your kingdom for a day of fun and frolicking among the flour and sugar and see just how many wonderful memories you can make with your little ones along the way.

Childhood Eczema is increasing and is becoming a common problem to school age children. According to National Eczema society of UK it is a common disease effecting children up to one fifth of all children in UK. The harshness of this disease can vary in different forms. This disease shows its effect on the skin of child and so the symptoms of this disease can also be judged from the inspection of the child’s skin. In its initial forms the skin is hot, itchy and dry while in more severe forms the skin becomes raw, broken and which also results in bleeding which looks very unpleasant and cause uncomfortableness, sleeplessness to child but it is not infectious and it cannot spread to others just by touching. The Aromatherapy treatment can reduce the effect of Eczema in child. The treatment of Eczema can be done with Aromatherapy by the application of Essential Oils on the child through massage but before applying these essential oils it is advisable better not to take risk and should consult from professional Aromatherapist rather than self prescribe this is to avoid any harm because these essential oils can cause harm to children if applied incorrectly. This has been proved by one experiment. The experiment was done to find a better, efficient and effective solution to Eczema. The experiment was that a group consisting of eight children was taken to test the application of Aromatherapy. These children were divided into two groups randomly in which first group received treatment of Aromatherapy in which the essential oils choose to massage the children skin were from among 36 commonly used essential oils. These Essential oils were German Chamomile, Thyme, spike, lavender, benzoin and Litsea cubeba. While another group of children received massage without essential oils. This was done for the period of eight weeks in which massage was given by the therapist once a week while for remaining times mother gave massage to their children. The treatments were evaluated day by day. Children from both groups showed improvement but there were no differences in the improvement of both the groups.

As a beginner at age seven, learning to play the piano was a difficult and exasperating feat because it involved too much time, concentration, and tenacity.  If my mother had not been a professional musician and teacher, I would have abandoned the piano after the first year.

The hardest feat to master was sitting down to practice because the other kids were out playing and I couldn’t join them.  This frustrated me and hindered my concentration.  I could see them playing jump rope or hopscotch, and I wanted to play too.

Another hard feat to overcome was the actual technical skills involved.  Learning rhythm did not come easy for me.  To compound the problem, learning to coordinate both hands when each hand had a different rhythm pattern became so exasperating that it was not uncommon to observe me at the piano with gritted teeth.  Of course, as a child, it is instinctive to try to weasel out of doing something right and to do it wrong because it is easier.  I couldn’t get away with that either, because my mother, as a professional musician, could be at the other end of the house and just know when I did something wrong.  It didn’t seem possible she could know but she did.  It is hard to know how many times she used to yell at me from the opposite end of the house, “wrong fingering Gail,” or “wrong rhythm. Gail.”   How could she know??  I never figured it out until I was MUCH older.

Last but DEFINITELY not least, were those confounded yearly recitals.  Of course beginners played first and progressively the order of players would continue to the most advanced playing last.   My first year playing naturally made me the first to play because I was the beginner.  After I had finished, I begrudgingly sat through 39 other performers!  My mother had never had so many students as she did that year.  That was the one day of my life that time stood still!  That day I became a world-class fidgeter.

Years came and went and I did master the piano, thanks to my mother’s perseverance and occasionally gritted teeth.  I had developed above-average concentration ability, discipline, and a sense of pride and accomplishment that carried over into my other school work and my adult life.  Unfortunately, as I look back on my adult life, I erred in judgment and persevered at times when I should not have.  But, at least through my school days, my perseverance paid off and my musical talents excelled and by the time I was in seventh grade, I was first chair clarinetist too.   Taking everything into consideration, despite the gritted teeth and temper tantrums, learning to play the piano was worth it after all.

Education is one of the most beautiful and important forms of love. However, it requires courage. Parents often take a kind of “shortcut” giving to their children what is easy and expensive, avoiding what is really necessary.

Education starts with feelings, gestures, and authenticity. Setting rules with speeches is not educating, but taming a child. Mothers and fathers should be like the light that illuminates a dark room.

A child feels lost when he doesn’t know where to go has no limits and definitions. Physical security is as important as the psychological one. Feeling safe is also feeling understood, accepted and embraced, not only protected from material hazards. Security has also to do with being helped to understand the world and understand oneself.

During a lifetime, parents will be the North Star for their children. Becoming aware of what this means reflecting on the quality of the relationship we have with them.

What are the values that guide our lives?
What kind of people we are?

We live in times of transition. Maternity and paternity are no longer pre-established models. Being a mother and a father is a human condition that is entering a new phase of creation and discovery. But, still children need something solid and reliable.

Pregnancy is one of the most special times in a woman’s life. When chosen, it is synonymous of happiness. This is a work in progress with many changes and new situation along the way.

The new mother should not neglect to observe her skin, since it reflects the changes of stress, malaise, fatigue, etc… Care should be widespread, both face and the rest of the body.

An important component of pregnancy is periodically having nice relaxing massages. This healing art has multiple therapeutic effects on skin, nervous system, muscular, skeletal, circulatory, lymphatic, digestive, endocrine and gastrointestinal. During pregnancy, massage has major importance for the remarkable effects it produces.

Because of the effect of touch on the endocrine system, massage facilitates the inhibition of certain stress hormones and releases endorphins – the soothing hormones – such as the oxytocin and the prolactin. The first hormone acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain and it has an important role in orgasm, social recognition, pair bonding, anxiety, trust, love, and maternal behaviors. And most of all, oxytocin facilitates the process of delivery. The prolactin is primarily associated with lactation. The act of a baby suckling the nipples stimulates the production of prolactin, which fills the breast with milk.

Myself being at the age of 20, I know very well that Moms can be your best friend or your worst fear. Personally, I have developed an amazing relationship with my mother. I can not only talk to her about anything, but she listens to me. However, I would be lying if I told you we always had that relationship. Especially in high school, when I first started to crave that beautiful freedom, my mother and I would often argue. Thinking back on it now, I realize that friction occurred, when my desire for freedom was combated by her fear of losing me. A tip for all those trying to find peace with their mother: empathize. Although it may be hard for an adolescent to put themselves in a mother’s mindset, the better the understanding, the more peace. Since I became more understanding of my mother, the frequency of our arguments has diminished. Not only did this allow us to be happier, but it improved our abilities to communicate greatly. Since the times we communicate aren’t forced by way of arguments, we are able to communicate positively and coexist. For this reason, I believe the keys to a positive relationship with your mother are empathy, and understanding.

Nowadays, there are lots of issues affecting women. First of all, ’’the gender equality

women ” in many countries specially not really developed or dictatorial countries where women are considered as the ”inferior sex” in the society; in these societies, women don’t have the right to decide but to obey their man without any complain. Secondly, exists a violence named domestic violence which is also an issue for the women; in this situation, women are beaten or verbally abused in the family sometimes in front of the children. Most developed countries have nowadays regulated the family issues by laws and punishments. Also the women in armed conflict are not really making stable the family: when it comes to go for a conflict, the woman who leaves the family could be back not with the same peace of mind she had for the family life. A woman also has to please a man by different ways. She will have to do all type of makeover to look good or when her man like it or even in order to avoid her man dating other woman.