Helping Moms Make Money At Home
Moms are at risk of losing their minds
Who could forget that intelligence-sapping side effect of having a baby – pregnancy brain?
Your once-lucid faculties turn to mush and you can’t remember your husband’s name or whether you went out shopping for milk or a new bed.
Once the baby arrives, many of us can’t wait to get our bodies back in shape. But it’s important to give your brain a workout too and recharge your razor-sharp wits. [Read more…]
Growing up I remember my mom and my grandmother always reminding me to eat breakfast. As a parent I make sure that my children eat breakfast every day. When they get up and get ready for school, they also have breakfast before class starts to make sure they get their day off to a good start. On the weekends we try to eat breakfast as a family because during the week mornings are hectic and quick breakfast options are a must.
Below you will find the top 10 reasons to encourage your kids to volunteer!
#1: Volunteering helps foster empathy – Empathy is the most critical disposition for responding to the needs of others. We need to be able to imagine what other people may be going through or feeling. Volunteering helps engage our natural empathic sense, but you have to make sure that there are opportunities to talk about the purpose and experience of any volunteer activity if the recipients aren’t visible in the process (making sandwiches for the homeless isn’t the same as helping to deliver the sandwiches to homeless people).
#2: Volunteering helps develop a sense of self-efficacy -Children may understand that other people need help or that there are projects that could make a community more habitable or productive, but feel helpless or unclear that an individual can do anything about it in response. Volunteering can provide experiences that affirm a young person’s sense that they can make a difference through their own effort and skills. These experiences can empower young people to apply themselves in other contexts, including school and other organized activities, such as faith-based youth groups or scouting.
#3: Volunteers gain experience working with other people – Social skills are best learned in social situations. When people come together to engage in a meaningful task, issues of communication, power, collaboration and trust rise to the surface in a supportive context. It’s easier, although still a challenge, to learn to navigate these waters with others who may be more skillful and be in a position to offer supportive feedback. It’s a good way for parents and children to see each other in a different light, as well, and learn together.
#4: Volunteering develops new skills – In addition to social skills, practical experiences of organizing tasks and using physical and mental capabilities to get jobs done is fundamental to successful work of any kind. In school, these skills are often fragmented or unrelated to real-world applications. Service activities offer the chance to apply and test our abilities, as well as learn from other kids or adults in a way that engages kids’ natural drive for competence.
# 5: Volunteering provides the opportunity to explore new interests and develop new passions – There is nothing more exhilarating than discovering a new field of interest that sparks a real passion for learning and doing. One of the wonderful things about being our species is our inquisitiveness and motivation to investigate and find meaning in discovery. Service activities have the potential to expose us to these opportunities and see how other people live their passions.
#6: Volunteers learn a lot – In the process of joining with others in service, volunteers learn about their community and the larger world. It takes us out of our own sphere of self-interest and self-absorption and opens us to issues and solutions, as well as other people’s needs.
#7: Volunteers actually make a difference in other people’s lives – Think about how much more impoverished our communities would be if all of the volunteer services disappeared. This is a lesson that children can be taught early and take with them into adulthood. For example, volunteers are critical in:
#8: Volunteering encourages civic responsibility – Community service and volunteerism are a way to teach the importance of investing in our community and the people who live in it. We want our kids to not only be successful in their work and personal lives, but to learn what it means to be a citizen in our republic. The American values of democratic decision-making, social justice and equal opportunity require active participation for us to have a successfully functioning country.
#9: Volunteering offers you a chance to give back – It’s important for children to see that there are small and large opportunities to support community resources that your family uses or that benefit people they care about. Whether it’s offering to help man a booth to support improvements in a park you use, or joining a fundraising walk to support medical research for a disease that afflicts a family member or friend, children and adults alike can feel empowered through participation.
#10: Volunteering is good for you – While this is the last reason for volunteering on this list, and may not be the most important, it is good to know that research has consistently shown that acting altruistically has real benefits. Volunteering provides physical and mental rewards; it has been shown to:
In partnership with Wear the Cape and the kidkind foundation, Dr. Brown has embarked on a critical mission to help parents across the country support the development of character in their kids. For additional resources from Dr. Brown and to learn more about Wear the Cape and the kidkind foundation, go to www.wearthecapekids.com.
Donating to a good cause is a great idea and gives you a real sense of pride when you see the life changing work your money goes towards. But what if you feel as though you want to do more? Have you ever thought about volunteering in Africa and what it would mean for you?
Of course the main reasons for volunteering abroad is the idea that you’re helping people in a hands on way. So a big question is what can you do for others? But probably equally as important is what you can expect from undertaking voluntary work in Africa; you need to think about this seriously before you volunteer.
One very good reason is the great need for people to help out on the ground; although you need to realize that most organizations like to recruit as many people to help from local areas as the need is often long term. Just because you volunteer doesn’t mean that you’re going to be accepted; nor does it mean you should stop trying.
A good deal of the work being done by UNICEF to relieve suffering in the South Sudan Children’s Food Crisis is completed by volunteers and aid workers on the ground who are helping to secure fresh water supplies, protecting children against malnutrition and providing them with an environment in which they can play, as all children should be able to.
To those of us who have enough food on the table, starvation and malnutrition often seem a far off concern; one that we can’t really appreciate. Unfortunately they are all too real and by volunteering you can help to aid people in Africa who are suffering.
If only it was as simple as that, but there are many things you need to think about before you go to Africa to volunteer.
This may seem obvious but there’s no point in getting to one of the remote areas you may be volunteering in only to complain about the lack of running water and electricity.
You are not just going down the road; you’re traveling to another continent. In a lot of the rural areas life is very traditional and you will be expedited to adhere to the way of life there.
If your are volunteering for a longer period of time you stand more chance of getting illnesses such as malaria. You need to take all of the necessary precautions and listen to the people at the organization you are working for. It’s also important to remember that the medics in the area will know exactly how to deal with any problems.
The most obvious benefit is that you will be providing help to people who really need it. But you will also have the benefit of expanding your own horizons by seeing a whole different side of life. You’ll also get the satisfaction of knowing that you’re doing something that actually makes a real difference; a satisfaction that you’ll be sharing with other volunteers, many of whom will become good friends of your’s during and after your volunteering experience.
