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Quality time is so essential in any family relationship. Unfortunately, it seems like nowadays, everyone is always too busy to spend time with their loved ones. If you’re looking for ways to make more quality time for your family, look no further! Here are some tips to help you spend more quality time with your family.
Over the weekend, everyone goes out for a getaway, either with family or friends. A long- weekend trip is all about spending quality time with your loved ones. If you are planning for a long weekend family outing, then it is important to plan the menu well beforehand.
If you’re worried about your child because they always seem to be the last of their peers to reach certain milestones like saying their first words or developing motor skills, chances are there is nothing to worry about and they’re just doing things in their own time.
Although there are guidelines as to when kids should reach their important milestones, they are far from art in stone, and many kids will take a lot longer than predicted. That does not mean that there is anything to worry about. However, sometimes, there will be an underlying issue that could be keeping them back and you will need to address those.
Here are some of the most common reasons why milestones are not met to put your mind at ease and/or ensure that you get the necessary help for your child:
Hearing Loss
Depending on which stats you look at, between 2-3 of every 1000 children experiences hearing lossto some degree and this can lead to them not hitting important milestones such as developing speech. On average, children can speak between 30 and 50 words by the time they are 21 months old, with most speaking for the first time at least by the time they are 18 months old. If your child has not reached that target, but they understand speech well, it may just be that they are a late bloomer. However, if they don’t appear to understand what you’re saying, let alone being able to speak themselves, it could be that they can’t hear you well enough to do so and they may need a hearing aid or other treatments for which you will need to see a good ENT.
Asthma
If your child is able to speak, but they do not speak “correctly” and have trouble sounding out words, it could be that they are suffering from asthmawhich can make controlling the air they breath out difficult, thus making it harder to produce the right sounds. If you suspect this could be the case, seeing a doctor should be a priority.
Poor Muscle Tone
If you’re a worried parentbecause your child isn’t crawling at 8 months and hasn’t taken their first steps between 11-12 months, don’t panic yet. Is your child a little less chubby than the other babies? Does he or she have more weight on the upper body than the lower? It could be that weaker muscle tone and a top-heavy body are making it harder for them to do what they will eventually do given time – nothing to worry about.
Temperament
If your baby isn’t walking as soon as you think they should be, or they aren’t developing other motor skillsas quickly as their peers, it could also be that their temperament is the problem. You see, babies and toddlers who are more easily frustrated will push themselves to do things faster and more efficiently than babies who aren’t easily frustrated, simply so they can do what they want to do more easily. This, again, is nothing much to worry about.
Most of the time, when kids don’t hit their milestones as fast as you think they should, there’s no problem, but if they miss lots of milestones and they simply don’t appear to be making progress, you absolutely need to see a doctor because it could be the sign of a more serious illness or disorder. Your doctor should always be your first port of call!
When you’re busy with work, children and other commitments, it can be easy to neglect your spouse in the sense of not spending enough quality time together. Queue the idea of date nights. They’re a great way of spending some quality time together, a great reason to put your best frock on, and also gives you the chance to have time away from the kids to be yourself again. However, the same date night over and over can become monotonous quickly, so it’s important to try and switch up the plan for your date nights as often as possible. Here are some date night ideas that will blow everything else out of the park.
Photo by Annie Spratton Unsplash
While you might not get the chance to spend the night away from the children very often, you should make the most of the chances that you do get. Next time you’ve got the opportunity to be child free overnight, consider booking yourself a romantic hotel near the beach. This gives you the chance to take some long romantic walks on the beach, dine in seaside restaurants, and also get away from the full on routine that you have at home for a night. Sometimes simply spending the night away can do you both the world of good!
If you and your partner enjoy a good challenge, then why not book a date night in an escape roomso that you can challenge your minds and also work together to solve the puzzles that come with escape rooms? It encourages you to work together as a team, so if you’ve been finding yourself at loggerheads with your partner, it can really help you solve any issues you have and simply have fun together!
It’s understandable that sometimes you might not have the funds to take yourselves off for a plush date, but you don’t need money to have an awesome time together! Why not have a games night with your partner? Games like Wii sports encourage you to work together (or even challenge each other) and make for a fantastic night in. Have a few drinks and gather some nibbles and you can create a brilliant night without having to spend a penny!
If there’s one thing that’s needed in every relationship, it’s a good laugh as often as possible. With stresses of life it can be easy to forget about the lighthearted things in life, and that’s why you should take yourselves off to an open mic nightwhere you can volunteer yourselves to do five minutes or so of your favourite jokes (or even your own sketch). If you don’t fancy that, simply being around comedy for an evening will have you both laughing in no time. You never know, you might be better at stand up comedy than you think!
Try these amazing ideas so that you can shake up your next date night and fall in love with each other all over again! Remember that it’s not always where you are, it’s who you’re with!
Maintaining a happy family in such a busy modern world can be tough. Everyone’s got to focus on their own individual lives, after all. Your kids might be worried about school, whether they get a lot of homework to complete every week or they have problems with certain teachers, friends, and fellow classmates. You might have a lot on your mind in terms of your job, bills, and other important adult responsibilities. However, staying connected as a family is the best way to keep everyone happy and healthy, and we’ll discuss that in this article.
Stay physically active.
First of all, physical health is essential to happiness both today and in the long-term. When you’ve got so much to do in the average day, exercise is probably the last thing you want to put on your ‘To Do’ list. If you do have any free time then you and other members of your family probably watch TV on the couch or take a power nap to get through the rest of the day. It’s time to change this mentality in your household. Staying physically active won’t just ensure that you maintain a healthy figure but that your mental health improves too.
You should find some sort of physical activity that can get the whole family to spend time together. It’s also a great way to ensure that everybody commits to this new lifestyle. You might all want to go on more walks around your local park, for example. But you could really push yourselves by joining a new club. Perhaps you could take up dance as a family. That’ll be a fun way to socialize and relax without really thinking about the fact that you’re exercising. As we’ve discussed before, it’s important to look after the older members of your family, so you should invite the grandparents to join in with your new exercise routine. Remember, physical activity doesn’t have to be strenuous; getting your body moving is the important thing. If you choose an easy activity then everyone in the family can get involved.
Save money.
If you want a happier household then you should start saving money. It’ll mean you don’t have to worry so much about covering costs and your kids don’t have to worry about you. You could reduce energy bills by insulating your home more effectively and getting energy-efficient appliances, for example. If your kids are prone to ripping or ruining their clothes as soon as you buy new gear then you could even check out a service such as www.stitchit.co/services/ to mend their jeans, shirts, and so on. There’s no point in wasting money on new clothes all the time when your kids are just going to wreck anyway. Save that money for when they actually need new clothes because they’ve outgrown their old ones. Being frugal is about taking a look at your expenses and cutting out the waste. Your family will be much happier if you don’t have to worry about money. You can go on nice vacations or treat yourself to luxuries if you start being smarter with your finances.
Have weekly family meetings.
A final way in which you could keep everyone in the family happy and healthy is to hold a weekly family meeting. Happiness and healthiness are synonymous in many ways. If you want your family to have a healthy life then you need to prioritize their mental states. The best way to do that is to gather in a room and check in with everyone. Let people air their issues if they’re struggling at work, at school, or even at home. This is a chance for everyone in the family to support each other. It’s also a chance to have fun and bond as a family. Everyone could swap stories, as suggested over at www.webmd.com/parenting/. You could tell a funny story from your week or an old story from many years ago to make the kids laugh.
When you’re young, it seems impossible to imagine your parents or any other older relatives reaching the stage where they’re not able to do everything for themselves. Which means that when that time does come, it can be incredibly upsetting to come to terms with. However, just because it’s upsetting doesn’t mean that it’s something that you should ignore. The truth is that when your older relatives start to struggle with day-to-day tasks, their need for support is likely to fall onto you. Most people are more than happy to be there for older relatives when they need them, but they aren’t sure what they can actually do to help. With that in mind, here are some ways that you can more effectively care for your parents or any other older family members.
Set time aside for them
One of the hardest things for older people is the feeling that they no longer matter to those around them. As though, now that they’re older, they’re no longer as important as they might have been once upon a time. However, that’s obviously not true, and a great way to support them is to let them know how important they are to you by spending time with them. Sure, most of us have pretty busy lives, but the fact of the matter is, no one is too busy to take a little time out of their week to spend with someone important to them.
Get them professional help
Of course, the help that your older relative needs might be a little more specialised than just a sympathetic ear. If they need some kind of specialised care, then a service like Spectrum healthcare might just be perfect. Organisations like Spectrum offer some of the best home health care available meaning that they can get all of the help they need without having to go into a home and leave the place where they’re most comfortable.
Help them keep their independence
If there’s one thing that a lot of people say is harder than anything else when it comes to getting older, it’s the fact that they begin to feel as though they have no independence. If you’re looking after an older relative, then make sure that you’re not smothering or patronising them. Make sure that you can help them in ways that won’t make them feel useless or lacking in independence. If they can do things by themselves, don’t hover over them. Just because they need a little extra help doesn’t mean that they’ve suddenly turned into children who can’t do anything.
Of course, it’s important to remember that you shouldn’t put your life on hold in order to look after your relatives. Sure, you may be willing to make changes and sacrifices in order to help, but if you’re giving everything up, then you’re just going to end up missing out on time that you could spend on your own life. If you can’t take care of yourself, then you’re never going to be able to take care of anyone else.
For many, it can be a sad or even worrying time when a relative begins to require more and more care. This care can take many forms, but very often it will mean that they need to receive some kind of home care. When this becomes apparent, it can be a shock not just to the individual in question, but everyone around them. In these circumstances, it can help to know what your probable next steps are, so that you can make the most of it all and ensure that your relative receives exactly the care they need. Let’s look into some of the major concerns you will need to consider at this point.
Is It Really Time?
First of all, you will likely want to determine whether or not it is really time to find your elderly relative some home care. This might sound like an obvious question, but it is true that a surprising amount of people get put into this situation before it is really necessary to do so. You can be sure that it is the right time to find home care for them if nobody else is able to provide them with the care they really need, and if they are getting to the point where looking after themselves in a basic way day after day becomes difficult or even impossible. Make sure it is really time before you make the decision.
Choosing The Care
At this point, your most important decision will of course be what care to go for. It is highly likely that, no matter where you live, there will be a huge number of choices for home eldercare for you to choose between. The question here is how to know which are better than the others, something which can be hard to work out at first. To find the right home health care agencies can take some time, and it’s a good idea to have a little patience with the whole process. Remember too that you don’t want to end up choosing the wrong kind of care, or level of care, as this can actually be damaging in the long term. Don’t rush this process, and be sure to include your relative in all of the decisions as far as is possible.
Levels Of Care
There are many different levels of care which people can need, and it is essential that you work out which is needed in your situation, so that you can be sure that your loved one gets exactly the kind of attention they need. There are so many different individual cases, and no two are ever alike, so make sure you are paying attention to the actual needs of your elderly relative. If you do this, you can be sure of finding them the care they are really in need of, and not just a generic kind of care which can be applied to all. At the end of the day, you need to be sure that they are being treated as an individual, otherwise they are unlikely to be happy with the end result.
These days, children can be extremely technologically advanced. Whenever you are out and about, you will often see some very young children, toddlers even, playing on their parent’s smartphone. Some may even have their very own smartphone or tablet device themselves. Lots of people think that introducing children to technology in this way at an early age is good for them. It gives them the chance to develop some useful tech skills that will help them in later lives and getting to know tech from an early stage can keep them safe when online.
But is it really such a good idea to introduce young children to technology at such an early age? It is important to remember that there are some dangers associated with it.
Damage
One of the main worries about letting your kids loose on smartphones and tablet devices is that they might damage the expensive appliances. Kids can be very clumsy, and your phone or tablet might easily slip out of their hands and smash on a hard floor. Or, your kids might press something they shouldn’t and they could delete a lot of important data. But there are ways to protect your devices. Firstly, invest in a good quality cover that can protect it against physical damage. Secondly, make sure everything is backed up. In this video, Casey explains exactly how to back up your iPhone, and this process isn’t too different for Android phones. Once backed up, all your data and information is safe and secure.
Obesity
There is a growing problem with obesity currently in a number of Western countries. And the problem is becoming increasingly serious with children. A few parents are wary about letting their children spend a lot of time with technology because it encourages a sedentary way of life. When they aren’t exposed to technology, they will be much more inclined to play outside and lead an active lifestyle. So, if you are already worried about your child’s weight, it might be a good idea to wait a few years to introduce them to these technologies.
Sleep Deprivation
Another health issue that many parents associate with children and technology is sleep deprivation. The screens on all laptops, smartphones, and tablet devices emit a soft blue light that isn’t visible when you are looking at the screen. However, even though you can’t see it, the light is definitely there and can play havoc with melatonin, the hormone that helps us sleep. As a result, if a child is on a device too close to their bedtime, they will find it much harder to fall asleep. Plus, they won’t sleep as deeply as they should do, and will suffer from broken sleep through the night. So, if you do introduce your child to tech, be sure that you have a cut off point in the early evening. That way, they aren’t playing on games right up to bedtime.
Whether or not you do introduce your child to tech at an early age is up to you. But it’s good to weigh up both sides of the argument!
No one likes the idea of their parents, grandparents, or other elderly relatives having issues in their later life. Instead, you want to protect these people, giving them the best possible chance at a good life, without taking away any of the joy they used to have. This sort of challenge can be a hard one, as most people are busy enough looking after themselves, let alone having the time to care for someone else. To help you out with this area, this post will be going through some of the key considerations you should be making. Along with this, it will also be helping you to achieve this goal for your own loved ones.
When something goes wrong with someone’s body, it can often be hard for them to admit that there is an issue. As people notice more and more issues, as they usually do into their later life, it can be hard to be vocal about them, and a lot of elderly people will simply suffer in silence. The best way to combat this issue is through monitoring. You should always be looking out for differences in mood and behavior, as well as the way that they move. If you suspect a problem, they should get medical help as soon as possible.
Once you have started to monitor your loved ones, you can consider the ways that they will be cared for. In most cases, it’s best to avoid giving intimate care to someone you’re very close to. Taking this work into your own hands will hurt the memories you have of them, as you will see them in a very vulnerable and undignified state. To take this sort of work out of your hands, loads of companies have been started in recent years which can handle this care for you.
A lot of elderly people have to spend their mornings and evening popping pills to make sure all of the chemicals in their body have the right balance. From treatments which help with blood pressure, to ones which fight much more serious conditions, this medication is very important. To avoid any mistakes with this, an aged care medication company can deliver all of the treatments required, as and when they’re needed. This makes it a lot easier to keep on top of the medicines your loved one takes, while also ensuring the right options are used.
As you get older, having to rely on care from others and support in most aspects of your life can be very depressing. Just imagine becoming a child again, losing a lot of the abilities you once had and having to go back to being looked after. Of course, though, elderly people are adults, not children, making this a hard pill to swallow for most. All of the work you do for your loved ones should be to try and maintain as much of their independence as possible. For example, even if it might be easier for you to do all of the food shopping on your own, taking them with you will give your relative the chance to make their own choices.
Hopefully, this post will arm you with everything you need to start making your loved one’s lives as comfortable as possible. During this time in their life, it’s very easy for someone to lose a lot of the things they once loved. This is a shame, though, as it doesn’t have to be the case. Instead, you just need to start working harder to help them.
Food is a huge part of life; not only does it provide us with sustenance to live but for most people, it can be a very social thing too. We all know the importance of teaching our children to make healthy decisions, but did you know that it’s not just what’s on their plate that matters? Experts suggest that eating dinner as a family is highly beneficial too. Not only does this help us to teach our children good habits with food but it keeps families close and bonded as well. Plus children who eat with the family tend to consume healthier foods with more vegetables and less salt, sugar and saturated fat. If family meals have fallen by the wayside, here are a few tips for getting back on track.
Keep The Atmosphere Light and Friendly
Try to keep heated debates and discussions away from the dinner table. Keeping the vibe light and friendly will make family dinner times much more enjoyable, rather than something the family shies away from. If you have any serious topics to discuss with your kids or partner, call a family meeting rather than doing it over dinner. Switch off the tv, and instead put some music on low if you want a bit of background noise. Make a rule that there are no phones or tablets at the dinner table, it should be a place without distractions where you can chat and enjoy your food.
Aim To Eat At Least One Meal Together on Most Days
When everyone is busy and has different schedules, eating together every day probably isn’t going to be practical. But you should aim to eat together most days, whether that’s in the morning or the evening. It doesn’t have to be anything too fancy, for a weekday breakfast a couple of cereal options and a bowl of fresh chopped fruit everyone can spoon on top should do the trick. Or a few slices of toast with some tea and juice. The act of getting everyone together to enjoy this time is beneficial, it doesn’t have to be over a feast each day.
Dine Out Together
Dining out as a family is a wonderful treat. Tasty food served with no dishes to tackle afterward- bliss! While it can be expensive, it’s so nice to do every once in a while. If you look at online menu prices before deciding on a venue, you can work out roughly how much it’s going to cost. As you can see from Dave and Busters menu, there are some lower cost dishes as well as more expensive options, so it all depends on what you’re looking to spend. Just about everyone enjoys a meal out, so the perfect way to treat the family and get some all-important bonding time in.
Get Everyone Involved
Younger children will usually be more open to foods they have helped to prepare. When time allows it, you could have them help you wash vegetables or do a couple of simple tasks in the kitchen. Different family members could take it in turns to set the table or pour drinks. It helps to teach responsibility and helps you to all get into a routine when it comes to mealtimes.
