|
Carey Kinsolving is a syndicated columnist, producer, author, speaker and website developer. To see Carey’s Kid TV Interviews and more, visit http://www.KidsTalkAboutGod.org/ The Kids Talk About God website contains free, online content for children and families. Print free lessons from the ‘Kids Color Me Bible’ and make your own book. Watch for free the adventures of an 11-year-old girl traveling around the world, visiting missionaries in the Mission Explorers Streaming Video. Print Bible pictures drawn by kids that illustrate Scripture verses. Receive a complimentary, weekly e-mail subscription to our Devotional Bible Lessons. Bible quotations in this column are from the New King James Version.
Copyright 2006 Carey Kinsolving
January 12, 2008
Through study and research over the years, it is found that one tenth of today’s teenagers experience or have dealt with problems such as alcohol or drug abuse, depression, ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), teen pregnancy, suicide attempt, eating disorder etc. Will there ever be a stop to the rising & intimidating number of troubled teens? Who should be held responsible?
‘It is absolutely unnecessary to point fingers at any party for what has happened to the youths of today. Instead, they should work together to address and tackle the problem’, says Dirk Kirkland who is a senior teacher in an elementary school in the UK. Each and every party should take the initiative and make the effort to help these troubled teens and not unfairly concluding that they are a lost cause and not worthy to be helped.
Parents
Parents are always the first and sometimes the sole party to be blamed for any problems faced or caused by their children. Parents do play the most important role in ‘moulding’ their children into who they are but they cant be entirely blamed for everything. It is inevitable that their children are unconsciously exposed to certain negative influences in their growing up process which eventually misleads them. Parents must keep a tab on their children but at the same time avoid exerting any unwanted pressure on them. Trust & respect are values that I firmly believe should exist in a parent-child relationship.
Education
Today’s education system can be further improved and designed in a more effective method whereby instilling moral values and principles amongst students is one of the main emphases. I believe that today’s educators shouldn’t be hired solely based on his/her academic achievement but also his/her experience in the teaching field as well as ability to educate, motivate and inspire the students. The educators should gain respect from their students and not cause intimidation nor aversion.
Last but not least, religion. Religion is usually an aspect that is overlooked by most people. Having strong beliefs or faith usually indicates how strong your character is, your values as well as principles are. One of the main objectives of all religions is to instill good moral values and principles in their believers. Religious teachers (pastors, priests, prophet, monk, counselor etc) should always be available for providing guidance, counsel, assistance to those who need them and in this case, particularly the teens.
Read all about schools & programs for troubled teens at www.for-the-touchdown.com/troubled_teen
|
Bren Davis works for a non profit organization that deals with youths.
December 5, 2007
If you go to any toy store or even look at the shelves at Wal-Mart in the toy section you will see various war toys. Things like plastic machine guns, plastic army hats, jet fighter planes and army tanks. When we were growing up there were G.I. Joe’s and other such war toys.
I can remember as a team building nearly every 1:72 scale plastic model airplane and World War II Army tank and yet I do not believe that this caused me to love war. Nevertheless the question has been brought up by some folks that say these toys do indeed glorify war; indeed and maybe they do, I am not a psychologist.
But do war toys of today?s children cause wars? I doubt that, as we are not necessarily a nation which runs around causing wars, but rather has been put into a position of being the head police dog to prevent catastrophic leadership failure resulting in human rights abuses, losses of freedom and tyrannical dictators run a muck.
One thing is for sure however and that is that these toys are much more real life and detailed than anything our parents had. Should our children be subjected to war toys, so they can understand that sometimes the price of freedom costs a lot more than we think? Consider this and debate it amongst yourselves if you like.
|
‘Lance Winslow’ - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington
November 2, 2007
When September rolls around, parents all across the country gleefully take to the stores, loading up their carts with all the supplies their little darlings will need to make it through the coming academic year. After all, school is a really busy time, and to do well, you need to be prepared.
The same holds true for tradeshows. Autumn is the busiest time of year for exhibitors — and just like those students we were talking about, to do well, your booth staffers need to be prepared. It’s time to do a little shopping! Instead of stocking up with notebooks, number 2 pencils and highlighters, your booth staffers need a different set of supplies. Here’s what you need for tradeshow back to school:
Notebooks
Staffing the tradeshow is a lot of work. There is a lot your booth staff has to know — about what to say, when to say it, how to say it, and what questions to ask. Luckily, if your team is prepared with lots of notes from the pre-show training you provided before the show season started, they’ll be well prepared.
What do you do if your team hasn’t been preparing? Even the worst student can occassionally pull off an A+ with some last minute cramming. Consider a day long intensive training session, attended by every member of your team. This is as important for the ‘old hands’ as for the newbies. Everyone needs to brush up on something!
School Uniform
Many school systems require uniforms. They say it promotes a more focused learning environment, cuts down on distractions, and helps their student body convey a specific image.
The same is true for the tradeshow environment. While it may not be appropriate for your booth staffers to wear a uniform, it is essential that they all present a similiar, professional appearance.
Be specific when detailing what you want your staffers to wear. ‘Office casual’ doesn’t help. Instead, list the elements of the look you want: Shirt with collar, black slacks, blue tie, scarf, etc.
Pens & Pencils
In the course of a tradeshow, your staffers will speak with hundreds of people. There’s no way they’ll remember names and faces after the event. That means when they’re looking at a pile of business cards, it’ll be impossible to discern who was a likely prospect for a big sale and who was a nitpicker who only wanted to complain about his last purchase. As a result, often, neither lead gets followed up!
Select and implement a lead-gathering system. Train your people how to use it — especially important if it’s a newer, high-tech system — and insist upon its use. This way, your staffers will be gathering more high quality information. Follow up will be easier and more effective.
For ultimate results, make sure that your lead gathering system has a prioritization function. Hot leads should be handled immediately — perhaps overnighted back to the home office for next-day follow up — while others should be sorted into promising, maybe, and unlikely categories.
Listening Ears
This is the one supply teachers wish their students had! It’s crucial to listen more than you talk, especially in the tradeshow environment. Ask qualifying questions and learn what the attendee’s problems are. What do they need?
It’s only after you understand the attendee that you can start offering solutions to their problem. This is the crucial part of relationship building, the vital aspect of face to face marketing.
Too many staffers, eager to talk with as many people as possible in as short a time as possible, get in a pattern of repeating their sales spiel over and over and over, without ever listening to the attendee. This is not very effective. Insist your staffers wear their listening ears.
Assignment Book
Students use assignment books to write down what their teacher assigns for homework. Booth staffers don’t have homework, but they do need to know exactly what they’re supposed to be doing, and when they’re supposed to be doing it.
Before the show starts, clearly deliniate who will be working the booth, and at what times. Assign break and meal periods — which need to happen off of the show floor. Don’t just leave this up to your team to decide for themselves. Otherwise, someone will wind up missing a break and become disgruntled and cranky, or someone else will take far too long of a lunch, leaving his peers to shoulder an unfair share of the load.
Additionally, delegate responsibilities. Who is responsible for making sure the display is set up properly? Who takes it down and prepares it for shipping at the end of the day? Someone has to overnight hot leads back to the home office, and so on. Make sure your team knows who is expected to do what.
|
Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: ?Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies,? working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. For a free copy of ?10 Common Mistakes Exhibitors Make?, e-mail: article4@thetradeshowcoach.com; website: http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com
October 31, 2007
The English word ‘crisis’ is translated by the Chinese with two little Characters; one means ‘danger,’ the other ‘Opportunity.
…Jean Hougk
One thing that never seizes to amaze me is that , just when I think I have everything all figured out, something happens to throw me completely out of sync.
Take the other day, after having successfully come through a major family crisis, I knew that nothing, just nothing, would ever shake my confidence in God again. What I was slowly learning was that as long as I am willing to hang in there trusting God in the face of all impossibilities, I would come out victorious.
I have tried to live this way now for many years, and as I get older, it appears that the challenges get tougher. For some time, I have tried to work out why I loose some minor battles, and win out in some major ones.
I figured out that the times when I lost the battles were those times when things looked so impossible that I felt it was better to throw in the towel! Give up! Quit!!
As I followed this line of thought, I learnt that my job is to stick things out and trust him. Do the best I can and look up to him.
Convinced of this, I made the declaration to my self that nothing would ever throw me again. After forty something odd years, I had finally learned the secret.
And then it happened.
A parents nightmare. One of my teenage children did not come home from a visit to a friend house. At about 11 p.m realizing how late it was, I called him on his mobile telephone and was informed in a rather incoherent manner that he did not think he was coming home that night. We had had problems off and on with this particular child and at this stage, I felt that we were now reaching some understanding and that things were beginning to settle down. He did not want to tell me where he was, and was quite certain he would not be coming home that night. While having this conversation with him on the phone, a million images fought for attention in my mind.
Where was he, what was he doing, all the things the news media is filled with crowded my mind. My husband was away on a business trip to another continent, and even if I called him, what could he do from where he was.
I tried to reason with my son, I pleaded, I threatened, I cried, …for the most part he did not say much. He also did not hang up the phone on me either. At the end, out of frustration, I banged the phone on him. Later when I tried to call back, he had switched off his mobile phone.
Not wanting to wake the other children up, I went to the sitting room, sat on my favorite chair and wept. Somewhere at the back of my mind I remembered God, but with the seriousness of this latest crisis, he seemed so very far away, almost irrelevant when compared to the very immediate situation I was facing.
My son, I could see him now, was probably holed up God knows where, doing things I dared not even think about. Who was he with, what would happen to him, I thought of calling the police, but gave up that thought immediately. They would only tell me that they can only report him missing after 48 hours.
My thoughts turned again to God, how I wish I could see him physically now.
I would ask why he would let such a thing happen, why was it taking so long to have the turn around I so desired from him, after a while of thinking this or that, and purely because I felt I ought to do something, I picked up my old worn confession book and mechanically began to recite the biblical affirmations compiled.
These confessions or biblical affirmation were taken out of scriptures and they ranged from confessions of my position in Christ Jesus to confessions of Gods provisions. It usually took me about 30 minutes to go through these particular set of confession, and I had done these mechanically every morning for about nine months now. It was part of my morning devotion ritual, the idea being that I would build into my spirit or as some would call it my subconscious mind some positive affirmations that would reprogramme me, and would come in handy on a day of crisis.
The day of crisis was now here, and as I went through these confessions mechanically, I really did not think these particular set of confessions were particularly relevant to the matter at hand, but I said them anyway. Since I could not reach my son again by telephone, and I had no one to unburden to ,nor appetite for prayer, I felt the only thing to do was to mechanically do the confessions. That would at least take care of the next thirty minutes. I dared not think of what I would do after that.
And then it happened. I got through saying my confessions, and realized that my frightened heart had somewhat quietened down, and in the time it took me to complete the last sentences, I realized that where before there was despair, hope had come back in, and with it the old fighting spirit. I was no longer the dejected mother , in her place was the fighting mum. No way was the devil going to steal my child. I would fight, and I would win. Like a lion after her cub, I completed my confessions and charged with prayer. I prayed, I praised, I sang hymns, I demanded that my son come home.
And I did not cry.
Some hours later, thoroughly exhausted I thanked God for taking care of my child wherever he was, and reminded him that I would keep trusting him to bring my son home safely. And then I went to sleep in peace.
One could say I was emotionally exhausted, but I do not think so, I had peace.
The next day through calls to some of his friends, I was able to find out that my son had spent the night at a friends house. A friend whose parents were away on vacation. When I went later in the morning to pick him up, they were all still sleeping. Meekly he got into the car with me and we drove home. Though the troubles at home did not all get resolved immediately, everyday we had some victories, but the greatest victory of all for me, was my confidence in God. I did not give up, I did the only thing I could, and God saw me through.
It is now sometime since we have had any such major blow outs at home. In this crisis, one truth shines bright and clear to me. Nothing beats confessing the scriptures in bringing peace to an overwhelmed mind. I must add though that confessions appears to manifest instantaneous results if one has already some routine of saying these affirmations , preferably before a crisis. Someone has said, ‘In consistency lies the power’ Done this way, in the face a crisis, the effect of confessions is instantaneous.
This has been my experience and that of those whom I know have made this way of life theirs. For those who would like to know more about how confession works, see my article ‘The power of Gods word’ or how to wield the Sword of the spirit’
www.Lifestrategiescenter.com
October 27, 2007
Want students to listen and learn better? Create a better listening attitude towards learners.
A learning attitude from students starts with a listening attitude from teachers. Listening tells students that you care.
Children know that listening is an act of the heart. The ears hear but the heart listens. The ears hear but the heart responds. The heart, not the ears, opens communication between teacher and student.
Students learn best in an environment where they listen best. If they are not listening in the classroom they are not learning. Students will not listen to what you have to say if they feel you are not listening to what they have to say. Students need to be able to feel free to express themselves. They will only feel free to express themselves if they feel that they will be heard.
There is some fear among educators that freedom of expression in the classroom can lead to chaos. Freedom of expression does not create chaos. Freedom of expression leads to academic achievement. Freedom of student expression opens pathways of discovery for teachers and students.
The discovery pathways start with teachers and students listening to each other. Teachers discover that students are creative, imaginative, and truly want to learn. Teachers discover that whatever message they want to get across, students can help them do so if there has been a connection of the heart. Students discover that teachers are friends. They discover someone with whom they can communicate. They discover a love of listening and learning.
Linda Winchester,author
Copyright ? 9/9/06
|
Linda winchester is a reading teacher of 30 years. she is also an author and web master.
http://www.kidreadingparties.com
October 26, 2007
Childhood is a time in the life of each person which plays a major role in shaping of behavior and attributes of a person for rest of life. If a child is not provided with all the basic necessities essential for life then it could severely hit the growth of child. In developing nations like India living standards of people vary very sharply. The living style of people is hit by money, location, caste, religion and position in society. Usually people who have large money or upper position in society are able to give good childhood to their children. But unfortunately numbers of these kinds of people are very less.
Still there are 60% of people in India, who come under list of parents which are not able to provide all the basic necessities to their children. These basic necessities may include proper education, intellectual and emotional support for growth and fulfillment of small desires. Many children complete their whole childhood while compromising for many basic requirements. In today world where high technologies are invading the minds of our children with faster speed, it becomes more important to provide a suitable growth options for children. Today?s children feel more desperate as compared to their brother and sisters few years back.
The risky point is that this desperation could lead to damaging impact on the life of children when they become adult. I am sharing one of the common problems faced by many individuals in India. It is lack of confidence and ability to speak fluent English. English as emerged as big rewarding language in terms of growth in profession and getting good jobs. However still most of the children in India belong to middle class living in small cities or villages, where there is no option available to learn and enhance English.
Therefore, many children are not able to complete their dreams. Sometimes even smallest desires are remained burred inside the heart of these young bloods because of lack of money or understanding. All this cause many talented children to live degraded lives in their adulthood. Moreover some of people even after getting good starts in adulthood are not able to come out of these childhood setbacks. Some people even restore to negative habits for coming out of childhood memories. It is advent from the latest data released by some voluntary organization; there is widespread increase in the use of sedative and narcotics by many young students in India.
|
http://thoughts-of-a-ordinary-man.blogspot.com/
http://www.geocities.com/arvindkatoch1
October 25, 2007
No doubt, saving money is difficult enough for adults. Attempting to educate children how to save money and why they would want to is easier said than done.
The importance of saving money and an agreement or understanding on how it will be spent should be discussed in early childhood, around the age of 5 or 6. Describing how the family budget works would be a good start. Discussing how budgeted items (food, utilities, groceries, clothing, etc.) are separated helps children understand that although money comes into the household, it also goes out in the form of expenses.
This may be a good time for you to help them set their ?budget? as well. Categories such as ?Savings,? ?Charity? and ?My Spending Money? are some examples. Learning early that a certain percentage of money that comes in (allowance, birthday money, gifts from grandparents, etc.) must be saved is a great way to instill good habits.
To enhance the child?s experience, purchase a piggy bank or money box with a theme or character that the child likes. An appropriate wallet or purse to safely carry monies will also help facilitate the understanding of ?protecting? savings.
Teaching children the difference between wants and needs may be difficult, so you will need to be open and talk about the expectations. Children must be allowed to make mistakes ? spontaneous purchases on something they want and then not having the money to purchase something they really want is an expensive lesson that won?t soon be forgotten.
The most important benefit of teaching children to save early is this ? self worth, confidence and financial independence are established, while reinforcing basic math and reading comprehension skills. If you start early and follow a system of teaching and practical experience, children will be smart consumers and financially responsible and successful adults.
The author is co-owner of DandyPanda, offering children’s furniture, kids room decor, toys and accessories that assist in your child’s growth and development. Through bright colors and bold patterns, the company’s products are designed to stimulate a child’s imagination.
October 24, 2007
We noticed a while ago that all the websites available do not offer a great deal of choice when it comes to wanting to print out a page that your kids can colour in.
We decided to take it upon ourselves to change all that so that kids anywhere can print out the characters they want and when they want.
If you have been searching for a colouring book site that contains all your child’s favourite characters then you have finally found the website you need. We are dedicated to providing you with free colour in book pages with phase 1 of our website due to be completed by the end of April 2006. This phases, once complete will hold around 2800 colouring book pages for your children and we expect our site to be in excess of 10,000 colouring book pages by the end of 2006.
Remember have fun as that is what this site is all about.
Our current characters include
3 Little Pigs, Action Man, Alice in Wonderland, Anastasia, Andy Pandy, Aristocats, Asterix, Atlantis, Babaar, Baby Toons, Batman, Beauty and the Beast, Bob the Builder, Brother Bear, Care Bears, Chicken Little , Chronicles of Narnia, Donald Duck, Dragonball Z, Dumbo, Fantastic 4, Finding Nemo , Garfield, Harry Potter, Hercules, Home on the Range, Incredibles, Jungle Book, King Kong, Lady and the Tramp, Lilo and Stitch, Lion King, Little Polar Bear, Little Red Riding Hood, Little Mermaid, Madagascar, Magic Roundabout, Mickey Mouse, Monsters Inc., Mulan, Muppet Babies, My Little Pony, Noddy, Oliver and Company, Paddington Bear, Peter Pan, Peter Rabbit, Pinocchio, Pokemon, Powerpuff Girls, Power Rangers, Robots, Scooby Doo, Shark Tale, Shrek, Sinbad, Sleeping Beauty, Snoopy, Snow White, Spiderman, Star Wars, Tarzan, Teenage Mutant Turtles, Teletubbies, Tom and Jerry, Toy Story, Treasure Planet, Tweety Pie, Wallace and Gromit, Winnie the Pooh
You can find all these images available at
www.colouringbookpages.co.uk
|
Neil Thurlwell is a 28 year old website designer, search engine optimisation consultant and father of 3 based in the UK. He decided to construct a website designed solely for kids. You can find tyhese free printable pages on www.colouringbookpages.co.uk
October 22, 2007
Printable Classroom Bulletin Boards: A Quick Way To Decorate Your Classroom
Teachers, are you tired of spending too much money for bulletin board decorations at the teacher store?
Maybe you would make the sacrifice if you could find what you need. Most so called teacher stores have an abundance of everything except bulletin board materials. Their limited supply usually consists of a few extremes. The materials are extremely lacking in content, extremely commercial looking, and extremely costly. Then you have to decide whether or not you are going to settle for something you really don’t want. You could probably make your own materials if you just had the time.
Finding time to make bulletin boards always been a struggle for teachers. They are a must have; but teachers must have time to do them. Most teachers never have enough have time to do them. They should be fun to do. Instead they are often a source of stress. Stress comes from first of all deciding what you are going to put on your boards. Do you have the materials on hand that you need. Making the boards require tracing letters and cutting them out. A very arduous and time consuming task. You must do this at home or after school. The next arduous task is finding pictures that are appropriate for your bulletin board. Laminating the letters and cutting them a second time. Laminating and cutting out pictures and borders. I have seen teachers take weeks to get one bulletin board done. Most teachers have at least two and sometimes three bulletin boards to decorate. Over a period of days or weeks you manage to finish. You sit down and know that you are done for at least another month.
The principal comes into your classroom,admires your bulletin board and asks you if you would decorate the one in the
hallway. Well, that did it. You start to seriously think about retirement. Relax, don’t quit. Ready made, printable classroom bulletin boards are at your service. That’s right. Just go to your computer and print them out. Most of them will print out in a title banner that has to be scotch taped at the seams. Accompanying lesson sheets that match do not have to be taped. Just print them out and put them on your bulletin board. The bulletin board materials should be laminated for longer wear. Take them to your classroom(or principals office) and put them up in five minutes.
Printable bulletin boards for teachers are the best thing since sliced bread. You never have to get sick over bulletin boards again. You now have an emergency room to go to. The room where your computer is. Anytime you have a bulletin board emergency go to your emergency room to get your bulletin board prescription. You will be treated and done in less than an hour.
Linda Winchester,author
www.kidreadingparties.com
Copyright ? 9/10/06
| | | | | | | | |