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Nobody can deny, deny, having children cooped up in the house on a rainy day can be one of the most infuriating and frustrating experiences ever especially when you not only have your own children in the house but the rest of the streets children as well.

So what do you do?

Well as a parent it is your responsibility to help these children develop the skills to act in a responsible way. The most effective way, is to do that by getting all the children involved in activities together, with you. This will do two things, one it will help you set the ground rules on behavior in the house that is acceptable and two it will allow the children as a whole to socialise and to work as a group together. Learning the ability to socialise and to work together as a team will hold them in great stead as they enter university or go into the work force.

So how do we do that …I have outlined below four strategies that will help you to keep the children occupied whilst it is raining outside.

Strategy 1 – Play Group Games

In the hustle and bustle of our world today, far too many families do not spend enough time socialising with their children. One of the best ways to do this is to turn off the computer or computer games and to play a group game together regardless of the age of the children. That is right; you can include children as young as 2 and as old as sixteen with these games. The choice which is most important is the game you play.

When you are playing group games, everyone must have a role for each person or if someone is not included they are going to become disruptive and this strategy will not work. One of the games my parents used to play with me, my brother and our friends was Monopoly. Now I here you all saying it, how is a two year old going to play this game. Well, in reality, you need to include the younger people with the older children so that they can work as a team.

The older member makes the decision on what houses to buy, whether to build a hotel or how much rent to charge but the younger children, can role the dice and count to where the pieces need to go on the board, slightly older children at the age of 5 or 6 could actually read the Chance cards out. From an educational point of view, having the two year olds count the number of squares their piece needs to jump to will help with them learn their numbers for school. Getting the 5 or 6 year olds to read the Chance cards helps them to learn to read and being in a team with an older child will help them learn as a team and the older children learn the ability of patience and also how to work in a team with people of varying age. Plus the most important thing is that the older children learn the value of money.

Ultimately, playing group games like this will help all of the children and adolescents in their development towards becoming an adult and you as the parents will get to keep your sanity for another day. One thing I would strongly suggest is that you never tell a child they are to young to be involved, always find something for them to do in the game, so that they feel just as involved as the others. If you have ever watched a child grow up, they always tell you that they are a big kid now, help them to become one and play an important role in society as the skills you teach them now are what they will use as adults.

Strategy 2 – Have a Bake Off

Rainy Days are absolutely fantastic for Bake Off days. Now if you do not know what a bake off day is, it is a day where the kids make their own deserts for lunch or afternoon tea. These were fantastic times in our family and one of the key benefits it taught me was how to cook. In the days of fast food, many adults have seemed to by pass the art of cooking. When I met my wife, she was flat out boiling an egg but over the last few years she has become an accomplished cook.

When you have a bake off, cook simple things like cookies or muffins as these are really simple things to cook and all the children regardless of age can help. Whilst I do not condone 2- 8 year olds going anywhere near an oven (that is for grown ups) they can play an important role in putting all the ingredients together, mixing them, measuring them out and most importantly decorating them at the end. The key advantage of getting them to do the measuring them is to help them learn measurements, counting and numbers. You can also get them to read the instructions in the cook book or on the back of the packets.

When the cookies or muffins are ready to be decorated, play a game with the children in getting them to count the number of items they are going to put on their cookies or muffins. For example if they were going to put a face on the muffin, talk about how many eyes will you put on the muffin, where will you put the mouth on the muffin and how many ears will it have. Each of these discussions will help in learning to count and they will also improve their skills in expressing themselves.

Strategy 3 – Discuss A Book, Video or Computer Game Together

When people first here of the third strategy, they immediately think about books like the Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter but they do not have to be. Look when you have a number of children in your house, get them all together, read a book to them and then talk about the book. Doing this is going to help in their development and will give them a huge step forward when it comes to high school.

Learning to analyse a book and express what you think are the messages of the book will help your children immensely when they go to school. In High School today across the western world, one of the tasks in their English classes they are going to be expected to read a book and then write an essay about the messages they have found in the book and the sooner they learn these skills, the more effective they will be in their classes.

For younger children you might read a Dr Seuss book and then look at the pictures with them. Talk to your children about the pictures. For example if you are reading a book about hats and there is a hat on the ground, talk about what might be under the hat. Get the children to tell you the colour of the hat.

In essence it doe not matter whether you read a book, watch a video or play a computer game, to gain some educational value and to get your children thinking, simply talk about what they have seen or read. Get them to talk about the messages that may have been in the book or video and when it comes to computer games, talk to them in terms of strategy and how they can do better next time. Our children have an innate want to learn and the more we can foster that attitude the more your children will grow and learn and play an important role in society.

Strategy 4 – Make Meditation Into A Game

Meditation … I know, I saw you stop and think then. Meditation for kids, you have got to be kidding. No! If you can teach children how to meditate at a young age you will find that they will continue it as they get older. It has also been shown that children who know how to meditate will be much calmer and in control of their emotions. Further to this, it has been shown that adults who meditate over longer periods have less coronary disease. I watched a research documentary a few years ago where they took ten people who had never meditated and had incredibly high blood pressure and taught them to meditate. They found over a 6 month period those people were able to control their blood pressure more effectively. In fact when they began to meditate for a period of 20 minutes their blood pressure dropped dramatically.

Look the bottom line is this, Buddhist monks have been meditating as part of their religion for thousands of years and it amazes me to this day how many monks live to an age over 100 years so all I can say is there is definitely something in this. For the past 10 years I have used meditation to help control my stress levels and I feel much better for it.

Meditation for children must be fun and simple. The techniques for children never involve mantras or anything along those lines, they should simply teach the children how to relax and to focus on their inner self. There are lots of internet sites available on teaching children to meditate but one thing you must consider, be very cautious of the type of music you use for meditation. I recommend Baroque Meditation music that has 60 beats a minute as this is the heart rate we are supposed to have. Research has shown that baroque meditation music at 60 beats a minute actually promotes the release of alpha waves from both our left and right sides of our brains. These alpha waves help bring about a sense of calm and can also help in promoting creativity, learning and calmness.

Look the bottom line is this, if you want to decrease the stress in your house on those rainy days, then the best way is to occupy your children. By using these four strategies I have outlined, you are also helping your children in their development and as a parent that should always be the most important thing you need to consider. Your children are you future and the future of this world, by helping in their development, let us hope they will contribute to a much more safer world.

To finish off, I really want to take a moment to reiterate the Four Strategies once again:

Strategy 1 – Play Group Games

Strategy 2 – Have a Bake Off

Strategy 3 – Discuss A Book, Video or Computer Game Together

Strategy 4 – Make Meditation Into A Game

Chris has a Six Step Meditation Program called Relaxation Techniques for Stress Management, Baroque Meditation Music – Meditation Music and Seven Ways of Reducing Stress

For years you’ve probably been hearing about blogs, bloggers, the blogosphere, and all things “bloggy”. When most people hear the term blog they might think of some geek in their underwear writing unimportant and pointless stuff for other geeks to read. While many blogs might be like this, political blogs are of a different class.

Political blogs can be very informative, enlightening, and funny. If you like politics and think you have what it takes to write a blog on politics, you came to the right place. I’m going to share a few tips with you on how to write a great political blog. Even if you don’t know how to write like a journalist it doesn’t matter -all you need is passion (and a little knowledge).

If you don’t have strong political opinions then let me stop you right there and suggest you pick a different topic than politics. In order to write a great blog on politics you have to have politics on the brain, meaning, you have to be a politics enthusiast. That doesn’t mean you have to like politics or politicians (good luck finding someone who does) but you should care about how politics and politicians affect your daily life and the lives of others.

Alright, so you’ve decided that you absolutely, positively want to write a political blog. Now what?

Step One: Identify your identity

In order to connect with people who might stumble across your blog you will want to align yourself with a label. A label let’s people know “hey, this person thinks like me”. While some people say they don’t like labels or don’t fall into any label or category you shouldn’t take the label too seriously. A label can be something specific like “far left wing liberal” or it can be broad like “independent”. I find it easier to gain followers by being narrow (i.e. conservative) than by being broad (i.e. moderate) but that’s your call. An easy way to be broad is to write on something all-encompassing like Canadian politics or American politics.

Step Two: Sign up with a blog site

I highly recommend using Blogger’s free blog hosting service. Go to Blogger’s website and take a tour and read the tutorial. Even if you have never used HTML you will find Blogger very easy to use. Also get a Gmail account which is integrated into Blogger and makes everything so much easier.

Step Three: Start writing

Don’t even think about it, just start writing. Pick a few topics you want to write about and start hammering away. Once you get a few articles under your belt you’re going to feel very satisfied with what you just created. Try to keep your articles between 150 and 400 words. Any more than that is simply too long -most people don’t have time to read long blog posts. Most people don’t even read newspaper articles in their entirety. Think quality, not quantity.

Step Four: Network, network, network

You will want to connect with other blogs that write on the same topic. If you write a blog on the U.S. Senate, try to find other blogs on that same topic and develop a business relationship with them. This way, you will create a symbiotic relationship with others who share you interests. Their fans and followers will become your fans and followers.

Step Five: Be consistent!

Who wants to bookmark a blog that only posts once a month. Posting weekly is the bare minimum. I cannot stress how effective it is to post daily. People like routine, they like checking in on the same websites on their lunch break or after work when they sit down in front of the computer. You can appeal to these people by always having something new to see and read every day. People will come back to you.

Now you are ready to write your own blog on politics! Remember to welcome input from readers -they are your customers!

The author of this article, Tyler, is a political enthusiast who follows every Canadian political party. Tyler takes a moderate point of view to tackle issues like the Canada fall election.

Automotive tools are highly specialized in nature. Many a time a particular automotive tool serves only a single purpose. Therefore it is essential to have a set of automotive tools in order to avoid any interruptions in the business. However the automotive tool set is extremely expensive. At times, the cost of the tool is more than the cost of vehicle that needs repair. Sometimes the cost of tool set may be more than the vehicle needs to be repaired. Hence automotive tool financing is becoming essential nowadays.

There are some legitimate financing companies have an expertise in financing automotive tools. You can seek their help by submitting an online application provided by them. They ensure fast approval of the amount required to acquire automotive tool set.

Automotive tools financing is normally available under various options. Automotive Air compressor is one among them which helps in acquiring the equipment which costs thousands of dollars. There are various types of compressors like compact air compressor, piston compressor, single stage compressor, two stage compressor and so on. Due to automotive tool financing it is possible for almost all companies to acquire any of the aforementioned types of air compressors.

Automotive hand tool financing is required to keep ready a well-equipped set of hand tools like wrenches, screwdrivers, clamps, sockets, installer or remover equipments etc. These tools are indispensable for running an automotive repairing business. Acquiring any one of them is affordable to all. But keeping a set of such tools is really expensive and hence the need for automotive hand tool financing is essential.

Welder financing is yet another category of automotive tool financing. A high quality welder is important for the automotive business. There are some precise welders like arc welder, stick welder, TIG welder, and MIG welder and so on. They are essential to apply heat in a given area. The sophisticated nature of the welders raises their price tags and that’s why automotive repair business people go for automotive tool financing to acquire them.

Automotive waste and recycling equipment are required by certain companies for disposing the hazardous wastes in a safer way. In fact many shops find it profitable to recycle the wastes. Therefore such equipments are becoming essential in an automotive repair shops. They are highly expensive and as a result of which automotive tool financing is required to acquire these equipments.

Brake lathe is yet important equipment in any automotive repair shops. They allow you to work on all types of brakes. You may need a combination of brake lathe, heavy duty brake lathe or car brake lathe depending upon the type of your business. However any type of brake lathe is expensive and not possible within the reach of all. Hence brake lathe financing is essential.

The automotive industry has undergone several changes in the past hundred years. Keeping yourself updated of the changes and using the latest equipment can help increase your revenues. Though essential, this equipment is very expensive and so seeking the help of a financing company is required. Some genuine financing companies offer assistance to acquire automotive tools without any frustrating procedures.

Chris Fletcher is an Account Executive at a leading equipment financing company http://www.crestcapital.com/Catalog/ providing equipment leasing in all 50 states. Chris is a frequent contributor to print as well as online publications, and is the author of a blog on commercial financing topics.

When we have only one cat and she misses the litterbox, it can be hard to fix. When we have more than one cat in the house, it can be even harder. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help stop litterbox problems in a multi-cat home. first of all, act fast. A litterbox problem that continues for a long time can become harder and harder to solve. Litterbox mistakes can lead to territorial responses, and disturb the routines and hierarchies of your entire household. Will Muffin still want to take her daily afternoon snooze on the couch if Tiger urinated there? She may find some other area, displacing more and more of your cats, and creating fighting and other dominance displays. If you put off solving the problem, hoping it will go away on its own, you may find it multiplying in your home.

Find the culprit. Before you even try to determine the “why,” figure out the “who.” If you catch it early enough, you can hopefully nail it down to one cat. Many people like to isolate each cat to determine which cat is causing the problem, but displacing one cat, even overnight, can sometimes lead to dominance displays in the others, as they claim undefended territory. If you have new cats, or kittens reaching adulthood, you may want to visit the vet for help. Your veterinarian can prescribe fluorescein for your cats, helping you to determine which urine stain(s) glow under an ultraviolet light.

Rule out a Veterinary Problem. Veterinary causes underlie many litterbox problems, particularly in household with older cats or those with access to the outdoors. Urinary tract infections are one of many common causes, where the cat develops an aversion to the box as a painful place to be. Other health problems can also cause litterbox mistakes. Worse, without visiting the veterinarian, your other cats may be at risk, which could cause the problem to multiply. No behavior techniques in the world will help a cat with a veterinary problem, so don’t skip the trip to the vet.

Observe the Behavior. If the vet rules out a health problem, I next recommend a brief observation period. It’s always very frustrating to the owner to let the cat continue his litterbox mistakes, but it gives you the knowledge to attack the specific problem. During the observation period, try to concentrate on the things in the environment that may be important to your cat, like litterboxes, food bowls, favorite places, the routines of the other cats and people in the home, etc. Start a journal where you record as much information as you can about every litterbox mistake, then look for links. Does the cat always use the same room? Is it always on carpeting? Does it happen after meals, or at some other time of day? Are the other cats nearby? Did you have guests over? When you isolate the specific stimuli involved, it allows you greater control without making major changes in the environment that may upset the rest of the cats.

Break the Habit. Elimination sites are matters of preference, and when the cat gets into the routine of going to a certain location, you’ll need to prevent the behavior from recurring. Since the smell of declining urine is a signal for the cat to “reapply,” clean the accident site with a pet odor remover – perhaps multiple times to get past the cat’s sensitive nose. Block off the area while the product does its work. Remote deterrents, that work whether you are around or not, will keep the cat from returning to the area whenever you aren’t standing guard. Double-sided tape or an upside-down plastic carpet runner, pointy feet up, can keep your cat from standing in the same area. Cats also hate to be startled, so anything that can safely surprise the cat when he visits that area can help make the area less “cat-friendly.”

Make the current litterbox more appealing. While you are preventing bad habits, make good habits more appealing. The litterbox should be clean, have privacy, and in multi-cat homes, escapability is also important. This simply means that the cat can see off a distance, so he won’t be ambushed in the box, or on his way there. Most cats prefer clumping, non-perfumed litter, but work with your individual cat to determine whether a box of a different size, shape, or litter would help.

Retrain the cats. If it doesn’t seem to help to address the individual factors in your journal, or your cat has never regularly used the litterbox, you may want to retrain the cat by himself. Use this as a last resort, since removing the cat from the hierarchy may upset the routines of all the cats in the home. Keep the cat in a small, uncarpeted room, with a clean litterbox, food bowl, and toys in opposite corners. Pick up all rugs from the floor, so the only soft place to choose to eliminate will be the litterbox. Visit the cat often, and clean the box regularly. I also recommend recording the times that the cat uses the box. Many cats stick to a regular routine, so once you’ve determined when the cat is likely to use the box, you can let the cat out during low-risk times to maintain the hierarchy, and put him back in the room with the litterbox during high risk periods. Repetition of successful use will increase the cat’s preference to the box.

General stress reduction. In some situations, it’s difficult to determine specific environmental triggers for a problem behavior. However, sometimes general stress reduction techniques will prove helpful, particularly in multi-cat homes. For litterbox problems that have arisen from territorial disputes, additional resources may reduce competition for resources. Extra litterboxes and food bowls are always helpful, but remember that YOU are also an important resource, so give each cat as much attention as they could possibly want. Exercise can also help redirect cats energies. It can also help desensitize cats to each other, while they are praised for attacking a toy while the other cat watches. Routines are also very important in multi-cat homes, particularly when older cats are involved. Scheduled feeding, petting and exercise periods at the same time and location every day can further reduce stress that may be contributing to the litterbox problem.

Litterbox problems in multi-cat homes can be difficult. However, caring responsible owners can have an advantage solving the problem with they use quick, decisive actions and apply solid behavioral techniques.

Keith Londrie II is the Webmaster of [http://cat.about-animals.info] A website that specializes in providing information on cats [http://cat.about-animals.info] that you can research on the internet at your own pace. Please Visit [http://cat.about-animals.info] now!