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Five tricks to teaching your child courteous communication

By Faye Rogaski

Respect for yourself is the foundation of respect for others. Lead by example and show your child that YOU respect yourself and take good care of yourself each day. It’s not what you say, it’s what you do.

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9 Cash-Saving Tips That Pay Big Bucks

complaintsboard.com

The expression "a penny saved is a penny earned" doesn't cut it these days. But saving a few dollars here and there can add up...

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TheOnlineMom.com offers parents and consumers a guide to the top-rated, age-appropriate, kid-tested and parent-approved tech toys and gifts.

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Teach Your Kid Confidence - from Birth

By Cynthia Ramnarace

Even Babies Can Be Confident. What can you do when your child is an infant to help him develop the confidence to "try, try again"?
Create a predictable routine. When your baby knows that after having his bath he'll be fed and then go to bed, he doesn't have to worry about what's going to happen next. Instead, his mind is free to focus on mastering new skills, such as how to get his belly up off the floor so he can crawl.

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Cutting Grocery Costs without Cutting Nutrition

Simple, healthy, and affordable ways to weather the rising price of food

Karen Collins, R.D., American Institute of Cancer Research

Grocery prices are projected to increase again in 2008 – that’s following 2007’s highest annual increase in 17 years. But surviving these tough economic times doesn’t have to mean sacrificing good nutrition. Some simple strategies can help you cut food costs and eat more healthfully, too.

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Madlynn is Kid of the Month

Fight against credit card rate hikes

by Gerri Willis, CNN finance editor

As expected, credit card issuers are raising fees and rates just before legislative restrictions take place next February. But you don't have to be vulnerable. Here are some alternatives to bank credit cards.

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91 Ways to Save on Almost Anything

Here's how to stretch your dollars -- and pinch your pennies 'til they scream -- while you feel little or no pain.

by Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine

Want to save a buck? How about a few hundred or a couple thousand?

We took a look at eight spending categories in your budget and identified dozens of ways you can keep more money. Whether you need to plug leaks in your spending, learn where to find the best deals or even trick yourself into shaving expenses, we've got something for everyone.

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10 Tips for Improving Your Family's Eating Habits

With today’s busy lifestyles, families don’t always eat as healthfully as we would like. But by practicing healthy eating habits at home, you can make it easier for your family to eat right. Try these 10 tips designed to encourage healthy eating habits:

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Still Going It Alone: Mothering With Faith and Finesse When the Children Have Grown

by Michele Howe

Still Going It Alone addresses issues common to women who have been at the task of single parenting for some seasons. These unique women now face the prospect of sending their children off to college, to a distant career site, or to be married and must continue to fulfill their ever-altering parental role. Moms with grown children also realize the need for wise financial planning and career re-assessment. Each single mom understands they may never re-marry, that growing old and retiring alone is a very real possibility. For many, the future looms in uncertainty. This resource book will provide practical hope and continually redirect women to the source of all comfort, God and His word.

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How to deal with economic stress

Stressed about the economy? You certainly aren’t alone. According to a recent survey from the American Psychological Association, 74% of Americans say work or money cause them stress and anxiety.
The thing is, stress has a huge impact on your body. It can cause headaches, impair your immune system, disrupt your digestive system and can even affect heart function.

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Basic Legal Recommendations for Women

by Michele Howe

According to Toledo attorney, Stephen Pennington, there are some fundamental legal concerns that every woman should understand, plan, and prepare for in order to best protect her financial assets in lieu of a possible divorce, death of a spouse, or for simple common sense financial survival.

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Alcohol Prevention Web Site for Middle School Students

The Cool Spot Helps Young Teens Resist Peer Pressure and Alcohol
Bethesda, MD – A new version of The Cool Spot, a youth alcohol prevention Web site, launched this week. The site, aimed at 11- to 13-year-olds, was created by The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Do You Want To Know How Your Nanny Is Doing Her Job?

We want to introduce to HowsMyNanny.com, a web service started in the Fall of 2006 by Jill Starishevsk, a nine-year veteran of a District Attorney’s Office in New York City who works in the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Bureau. While on maternity leave of her second child, she developed this website.

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AMERICA'S WORST RESTAURANTS FOR KIDS REVEALED

Eat This, Not That! Authors Grade 43 National Chains; 6 Receive an "F"

A year-long study of children's meals has revealed vast dietary differences among America's favorite fast-food and sit-down chain restaurants... and discovered that many of America's most popular chain restaurants are nutritional nightmares for America's children.

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Consumer: top stories
 

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Single Moms - find here resources on financial aid, scholarships, help with basic needs, food, prescription drugs, health care, housing, legal info, and much more...

 


Motherhood Brings Meaning, But Maybe Not How You Thought It Would

 

by Laura Fortgang,
author of The Little Book on Meaning

It's long been assumed that motherhood brings meaning to our lives. We guide, love, nurture and support our offspring and sometimes feel appreciated in return -- all elements that can fuel our connectedness and satisfaction in the world. It's easy to find meaningful moments as a mom, but it's when things are tough that it seems we don't know how to interpret what meaning is. What if the greatest reward and meaning of being a mother is the growth our children force us to do?

 

Being a parent is a very hard job no matter how you slice it, but to further the true blessing that children are is to work equally hard on being conscious and mindful of the growth our kids call forth in us. Perhaps your patience needs work or your critical side needs to be quieted or you need to learn compassion or you could stand to give up some perfectionism. Parenting in a kind and loving way can only come if we face these issues in ourselves. Maybe this is the true meaning behind being in relationship with these souls.

 

There is no greater hot button for me than feeling rendered irrelevant or ineffective. Not being able to calm and fussy baby or now, a pre-teen who is convinced they are unpopular and therefore unworthy of living are circumstances that can set me off into an irrational frustration that usually results in an ugly scene. I might yell or let something come out of my mouth that is less than constructive. Shame follows instantly but it has taken years to massage this issue into a submissive state where I can stay reasonably conscious and restrain from acting out of a lower consciousness. (i.e. dysfunctional behavior)

 

I know better. I teach people how to communicate more effectively, I teach spiritual concepts, I have practiced yoga and meditation. Why is this still hard? Because this is the real work. These children (I have a total of three) make me face my own demons, my own feelings of helplessness or unworthiness. It is only as I work through them that I can really be free and present for them. It is only through their presence refining me, the grain sand in the oyster, that a pearl will emerge. A pearl that brightens things for everyone once the work is done.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's not about mom being perfect before she can parent. It's about the path that dishes out its bumps and makes us better because of them. Our children are part of those bumps. Their problems are our problems, their personalities hand picked to iron out the wrinkles in our being, their triumphs ours to hope we had something to do with.

 

Each of my children shines a spotlight on the places where my capacity for love can stand to grow. Of course, they are all talented and beautiful and I love them more than anything, but they also grow me. And growth is often painful or at least uncomfortable. They are here FOR us -- to grow us -- they don't come to us to just be lovely adornments to our life who exist to make us happy.



My fussy baby/pre-teen is very sensitive and TLC from mom is often not effective. I am still working on the patience and bandwidth needed to find an entry to his psyche that allows comfort and connection. It comes often but it's an unpredictable series of attempts through the maze of his wiring to open him back to breathing at ease with the flow of life. It's work and it's a testament to love that we hang in there together to get back to it.

 

My middle child can be petulant and needs to be right at all costs. ARGH! Despite being beautiful, caring and talented in many creative ways, her resistance is a common stumbling block to discipline, cooperation and negotiation. Our relationship causes me to be confronted with my own need to be right. It took me a couple of years to learn that a power struggle was not going to be the answer.

 

I had to give up the fight to be right and learn not to be hooked by the pull of that game. I found a way to stay above the fray like a mature adult should (if they didn't have their own wounds) and guide her to her own answers that often show her how very mistaken her logic is! Of course, I don't gloat but I have finally learned to unhook from the drama that she is so good at creating.

 

My youngest has introduced me to the world of having a child with special needs. He's had a seizure disorder and we've entered the world of special education. After four years, we have suddenly gone into remission and are hoping to be pronounced cured soon. The growth being asked of me through this child has been about trusting my judgment before that of experts and advocating for my child medically and education-wise. He has grown me into a warrior. Not a barbaric warrior, but rather a force to reckoned with who will draw on whatever strength I may not have even known I had to do right by him. Despite doubt, worry and sleepless nights, the challenge has been to remain mentally strong enough to keep looking for solutions and believe in my son's ability to heal. Trying to stay in love instead of in fear. This has been part of my personal journey and what I work with clients on and here, it has been tested more and more.

 

Meaningful connections as mothers? Certainly! Always a sunny, easy ride? Hardly ever! Our children are in reality ministers to our soul's growth. They have a higher calling then whatever their careers turn out to be. We have to let our little ministers to their very big work. Even if we, their mothers, are the greatest work they came to transform.

 

©2009 Laura Fortgang, author of The Little Book on Meaning


 

About Author:

Laura Fortgang, author of The Little Book on Meaning, is a nationally renowned speaker and life coach, helping individuals, small businesses, and corporations forge new directions and weather change. A contributing editor for Redbook magazine with a regular feature called "Live Your Dreams," Laura recently became ordained as an Interfaith Minister. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

 

Learn more about The Little Book on Meaning




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Top 8 Tips for Reducing Kids Screen Time This Summer

Reducing time spent in front of televisions and computers is one of the easiest ways to improve your family's health. Here are eight simple ways to limit screen time so you can help crank up your kids’ energy, re-charge their minds, and improve their health.

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What would you change?

Weekly Column, by Annette Bridges

Change -- some people dread it, and others can’t get enough. It may be much like the idiom, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” When it comes to what we would alter or why we would make a modification, the answers vary because we all have different things we value, want, need and consider important.

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Being a Role Model

by Laurie Cesario-Overton

If I had to choose one sentence that would best describe what I feel parents need to learn, it would be this: Be your child's BEST ROLE MODEL in all the ways that truly count. Be your child's HERO. Whatever you do, do it for all the right reasons.

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How to Find the Best Car Loans for Single Moms

Financial Advice for Single Moms

The best car loans for single mothers might be just around the corner at your local car lot.

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3 Money Rules for Stay-at-Home Moms

As we all know, life is unpredictable. We lose jobs, get divorced and even become widowed...
Here are three steps stay-at-home parents should take to better manage their own and the family’s finances.

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You May Have Too Much Debt But You Also Have Options

How Life Works

If you feel like you're in over your head with personal debt, you're not alone. Millions of Americans have become overextended, many as a result of easy credit and the recessions. Credit cards, medical bills, personal loans and raising interest rates do not make a good financial mix.

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Could fat babies mean fat toddlers?

A new study from Harvard Medical School found that babies who gained weight quickly had a sharply higher risk of obesity. The study followed close to 600 babies and found those in the top quarter of weight for their length at 6 months had a 40 percent higher risk of obesity by age 3 than smaller babies.

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Crystal Bowersox - A Single Mom And A Real American Idol

Read how the amazing Crystal Bowersox. the runner-up of American Idol Season 9, handles fame and life as a single mom, raising her 17 month old son.

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5 Ways for Single Moms to Save Money

Single moms are always looking for ways to save money, and for good reason... It’s important to find ways to cut corners on the little things that perhaps you don’t think about too often, because those are usually where your biggest money drains are.

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Suze Orman's Recession Rescue Plan - helps you survive in times of financial crisis

OPRAH.com

Do you know what your family would do if you lost your job - or worse, your home? Financial expert Suze Orman is ready to help you devise a recession rescue plan to survive - and possibly thrive - during this deepening financial crisis...

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Your Just-in-Case Emergency Plan

by RealSimple

Who do you call if you can't make it home in time to meet the kids' bus? Who do you trust to take in your mail when you're on vacation? Who do you trust with the extra set of keys to your house?

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How to save $10,000

By Liz Pulliam Weston

If you were hoping for a list of small tweaks you could make in your spending to save $10,000 a year, sorry. The reality is that $10,000 is a lot of money. And saving big money usually means making big changes in the areas where we spend the most, such as: Housing, Transportation, Food.

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The Super, Sexy, Single Mom on a Budget

by Renee Rayles

A quick reference guide designed for the busy, single mom who has

little time to read while running the mom taxi, cooking dinner, helping with homework, and trying to fit in a date night every now and then.

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Single Mothers &
Male Role-Models / Mentors

Single mothers carry an enormous load of responsibility, especially those having sole and/or primary custody of minor children. They nourish, they nurture, they teach, they discipline, they shelter, they protect, and they provide… all without the assistance of another equally-invested adult.

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Mom's Obesity Raises Newborn's Heart Risk

from the National Institute of Health

The more obese a woman is when she becomes pregnant, the greater the likelihood that her newborn baby will have a congenital heart defect, a new study suggests. The finding raises concerns because 1 in 5 women are obese at the start of pregnancy in the United States.

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The 10-Ingredient Shopping Trip

By Tara Parker-Pope and Mark Bittman

... In his latest “How to Cook Everything” segment on the Today Show, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman makes it surprisingly easy to cook a week’s worth of dinners with just a 10-ingredient shopping trip.

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Your 5-minute guide to protecting your identity

20 steps to protect yourself from identity theft, and seven ways to clean up things if you become a victim.

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TheOnlineMom.com offers parents and consumers a guide to the top-rated, age-appropriate, kid-tested and parent-approved tech toys and gifts.

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Single Moms in the News

6 Best Celebrity Single Moms
Read about Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Kimora Lee Simmons, Mary-Louise Parker... read more

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

by Jeff Kinney

For those wondering why tween boys don’t read very much, the answer is that more books aren’t like this...

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Watch for Credit Card Tricks

A spin-free guide to reading the fine print in credit card offers and agreements.

Telephone payment fees: Some cards charge a fee if you use your pay-by-phone.
Late payment fee: Could be as high as $39. If the mail gets there five minutes late, ouch! Some cards have a sliding scale, and for any balance over $1,000, you’re nicked for the highest fee.
Annual fees: as high as $135, often for a rewards program But many cards are shouting “No annual fee” to distract you from their other fees.
Transaction fees: up to 5% for cash advances Want a quick $100 from an ATM? Watch out for a $10 minimum charge. Maximum? Read the agreement. And remember, cash advances usually come at a higher interest rate.

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Short-term Payday Loans

econ4u.org

...Which are more expensive, late fees or short-term loans?...
A short-term payday loan can be a better option than overdraft fees, reconnect fees, late payment fees or a damaged credit rating when the loan is repaid promptly. However, these loans are not suited for longer repayment periods...
Being realistic about budgeting can help avoid the need for short-term borrowing.

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The best financial advice ever

Prince Charming isn't coming. Live like a college student...
By Liz Pulliam Weston
If you're doing well financially, chances are you had help.
... If you're not doing well financially, maybe you're finally ready to hear some advice that could make all the difference.

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Find 7 More Hours in a Day

From O, The Oprah Magazine

Handle things once

Don't listen to the news first thing in the morning
Make good use of waiting time
Think "half-time"
Be decisive and move on
Lighten up on your cleaning standards
Write it down
Turn off technology during your high-energy time
Monitor time-sapping addictions

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Tips on How to Take Care of Yourself During a Global Crisis

by complaintsboard.com

During these last few months, the stress levels have been on the rise, from people struggling with finances, to the banking stresses, to the swine flu projected pandemic. There is a lot of uncertainty, a lot of unnecessary panic, and a lot of overall fear...
For one thing, with the information overload that is being thrown in every which direction except straight leaves you wondering what is the truth, and what is not? ...

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How-To Never Look Tired - 25 easy tricks that replace sleep

by Wendy Schmid

That coworker’s voice is full of concern when she says, “How are you? You look tired.” But her sympathy doesn’t stop you from wanting to throttle her. Nobody wants to appear sleep deprived—and nobody has to anymore. “It’s easier than ever to not let exhaustion show on your face.

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10 Bad Habits That Lead to Debt Disaster

Little things add up fast. Learn from these mistakes and try these tips to start paying off your debt.

Sometimes the only way to stop a snowballing problem is to go back to the top of the hill and find out what started it. If you're up to your eyeballs in credit card debt, take a step back and recount your money missteps.

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7 Secrets to Raising a Happy Child

What Makes a Child Happy?

We all want the same things for our kids. We want them to grow up to love and be loved, to follow their dreams, to find success. Mostly, though, we want them to be happy. But just how much control do we have over our children's happiness?

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