How habit of reading books enhance your life skills?

Did you know that reading can keep your mind active and engaged well into old age?
Habit of reading books not only keeps your mind busy but it enhance your life skills in many ways. Read the benefits of reading books and decide yourself if it makes your life better or not?

Developing good reading skills means that you can think for yourself. That you can read about the advantages and disadvantages of anything from breast feeding to homeschooling to taking a vacation to Ireland. And then you make up your own mind about what's best for you and your family.

More benefits of reading books:

• When reading a book you gain not only knowledge but you share another person's view of the world.
• A book can comfort and console and be returned to again and again, like meeting an old friend.
• A book can grow with you. When you re-read it as your life develops, you will gain more and different insights into the work.
• Reading reduces stress
• It can be a thing of beauty.
• It feeds your spirit.
• It keeps your brain in shape. Similar to solve puzzles, reading books allows your mind to practice his skills of treatment.
• Develop your critical thinking skills: One of the main benefits of reading books is its ability to develop your critical thinking skills.
• It makes you more eloquent: Nothing is quite as reading books for you help become a better conversationalist.
• It is available: One of the great benefits of reading books is that the information that it can be viewed again and again.

You can buy books, hire from nearest library, browse through net or read ebooks, or simply hire from offline or online sources like 'booksfree'

Useful links:

* The Benefits of Reading

* 8 Benefits of Reading

* The 26 Major Advantages to Reading More Books

How to empower your child's self esteem?

Healthy promotion of self esteem skill among children is very important as it can help them grow as a positive and confident personality. This article would be helpful for parents and teachers to help learn this very essential life skill for their children. There are many techniques and tips which are useful to empower and boost the self esteem skill.

Webster's dictionary defines self-esteem as "a confidence and satisfaction in oneself" and self-concept as "the mental image one has of oneself "

Self-esteem is considered to be the overall value that one places on oneself as a person (Harter, 1989), whereas self-concept is viewed as the body of self-knowledge that individuals possess about themselves (Rosenberg, 1986).

When parents and teachers of young children talk about the need for good self-esteem, they usually mean that children should have "good feelings" about themselves. With young children, self-esteem refers to the extent to which they expect to be accepted and valued by the adults and peers who are important to them. During their early years, young children's self-esteem is based largely on their perceptions of how the important adults in their lives judge them. The extent to which children believe they have the characteristics valued by the important adults and peers in their lives figures greatly in the development of self-esteem. For example, in families and communities that value athletic ability highly, children who excel in athletics are likely to have a high level of self-esteem, whereas children who are less athletic or who are criticized as being physically inept or clumsy are likely to suffer from low self-esteem.

Children and teenagers with low self esteem will display a variety of traits, including:

- Being easily influenced by advertising or others.
- Avoiding new challenges for fear of failure.
- Becoming frustrated easily by setbacks.
- Blaming others when activities are unsuccessful.
- Disbelieving that (s)he has any talents or special abilities.
- Feeling unloved.

Children and teenagers with a high level of self esteem and strong feelings of self worth will also display stereotypical traits, such as:
- Welcoming new challenges.
- Tolerating frustration.
- Taking responsibility for unsuccessful ventures.
- Recognising and sharing his/her talents and special abilities.
- Feeling loved, and loving others in return.

While many children develop self esteem as they grow, for some children self esteem must be nurtured and tended. Parents and teachers can help the children develop this life skill by adopting few simple tips and techniques. Parents are at the front line of promoting children's self esteem, and while often their opinion is enough to make even the littlest chest swell with pride.

Be loving with your child, giving hugs and kisses regardless of achievements.
Help your child set realistic, attainable goals.
Praise your child for the effort, not for the outcome.
Avoid criticising your child's performance at a given task, and instead praise his/her enthusiasm or imagination.
Encourage your child to engage in activities due to interest, not ability.
Do not tolerate self criticism from your child. Help him/her focus on positive points.
Lead by example. Do not criticise yourself in front of your children.
Foster a caring environment at home by dispelling sibling rivalry.

Sources: Developing Self Esteem

Debbie Mandal at 'Bella Online' who si a stress management editor suggests these tips to boost child's self esteem:

* Exercise: Children need to be active to relieve stress hormones and sharpen learning ability which improves by 20% after exercise. Athletics, teams, dance classes and one-on-one sports training create empowerment by literally strengthening both the body and the mind.

* Healthy eating: If you want children to think highly of themselves, make sure that they eat quality foods, not junk. Food and mood are connected. A rainbow array of fruits and vegetables create sunny dispositions. Lean proteins promote academic success. Whole grains help manage stress.

* Guiding children to pick a creative hobby: Nurture their creativity. Nothing boosts self-esteem like developing a creative gift which might range from cooking and constructing to singing and writing. Through creativity children can tangibly identify and observe their uniqueness. “Look what I did.”

* Carving out private time: Children are overscheduled and over-stimulated. They need quality, private time to explore and find their own way to reset their natural rhythm. You don’t have to constantly amuse them when they say, “I’m bored.”

* Give them responsibilities and chores: Even if you have a nanny or a housekeeper, children need to do chores. Contributing to the household gives them structure and accountability which creates personal pride. Small children can help set the table or pick up their toys.

* Humor: Laughter breaks negativity instantly. Show your children how to reduce and reinterpret those “little disasters” with a comic eye. Children who have a sense of humor are magnets for positive social relationships.


Related articles: How Can We Strengthen Children's Self-Esteem?

Teach your children budget and saving money

As a parent this is our duty to teach them or show them the life skills by being a model yourself or simply teach them about money, budget and savings. From the very early age they should know what is budget and saving, because these lessons would work for them in a long run. An important step towards training of money saving is to teach them "not to be impressed by advertised products". Here are some tips which can be helpful in this connection:

HOW TO GET YOUR CHILDREN "BRAND FREE"

Those of you that have children know what an excursion to the local mall or supermarket can be like. If you're not careful, this simple trip can easily become a wallet draining experience.
How often have you heard:

"I want Luchables because EVERYONE eats them at lunch!"
"Come on mom, these cool pants only cost $80."
"Dad, everyone has a Playstation II, I need one too!"
"I need 2 sodas and 2 bags of chips everyday!"

Certainly, we as parents want to make our children happy and not deprive them of a delightful childhood, but who's to say that you must give in to every one of your child's requests.

Why must you work twenty overtime hours just so your son can have a new video gaming system? Why must your grocery bill be over $200 just so your children can have the latest cereal, ice-cream, snacks, candies, and sodas available?

Truth About "Brand Names"
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Brand names cost money. Quite a bit of money. Especially when you add them up over time. The reasons these brands must charge more money is to cover their enormous advertising and marketing costs.

Since children are constantly bombarded with advertisements on the television and amongst their peers at school, they are most likely going to ask you for these same products.

No one really enjoys telling their children they can't have something they want, however looking at the bigger picture, what lesson are we teaching our kids if we simply give in to their every request?

For one, they are not learning the value of money and the role it plays in our lives. Secondly, they are not learning about the importance of conservation and how to properly budget their money.

Learning to budget and save money at an early age will really come in handy especially as they grow older, start driving, and get offered tempting pre-approved credit cards through the mail.

If they are not careful and able to budget their money effectively, this new found freedom may drain all the money from their pockets.

Teaching The Importance of Conservation
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Not only is this the perfect opportunity to get your children "Brand Free" and away from the expensive, trendy stuff, but it's also the perfect opportunity to teach them the value of money.

Here's one way you can approach this.

Explain to your children that the money you spend on clothes, food, toys, etc, depletes the amount you are able to save for future needs.

Explain that starting today, only the NECESSITIES will be purchased. No more ice cream, chips, soda, candy, lunchables, except maybe on special occasions. Toys and games will need to be earned and will no longer be given away for free. Etc...

For example, you could state that you will only be purchasing Cheerios (or another low priced cereal). If your children want to have Captain Crunch or Cookie Crisp, they will have to buy them using their own money.

Same principal for their lunches. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, tuna fish, apples, oranges, carrots, and raisons. If they want Lunchables or some other type of non-nutritious fast food, they will have to buy it with their own money.

Soon, you will have your child(ren) deciding "Is a Quarter Pounder Meal worth $4.50 out of my savings?" or "Do I really need that new video game that cost $50?".

This "brand free" approach can be applied to all other shopping areas aside from the supermarket example.

When you are shopping for clothes, ONLY buy the necessities. Ignore the most expensive and most popular items. Only buy what you, or the children, absolutely need, ignore all the rest.

Regarding toys and games, you can make it so that your children ONLY get "free" toys on Christmas and their birthdays. If they want something additional, they must purchase the item with their own money.

Taking These Ideas One Step Further
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Once you have inspired your children to participate in this money saving, "brand free" lifestyle, it's time to MOTIVATE them to help increase their success.

As with everything in life, having a goal to strive for greatly increases the probability of success.

Goals help us stay focused on the task at hand. Goals help the individual strive for something tangible that's meaningful or important to them.

A runner's goal may be to shave 10 seconds off their lap time. This runner will then practice, workout, and time themselves, striving to run a lap 10 seconds faster than before.

In our "brand free" exercise, you may want to come up with a goal that you and your children can strive towards. For example, you could establish a short term goal that states, if your children can eat healthy and not ask for any "brand name stuff" for two months, you will take them to any movie they want to see.

Here are some more ideas for the various goal ranges:

Short Term: 1-3 months
picnic, trip to beach, movie of their choice

Medium Range: 3-8 months
new game, doll house, Chuck-E-Cheese trip

Long Term: 8-12 months
Disneyland trip, Water Theme park, day at the carnival

Sticking To Your Plan
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Regardless what your decide to implement, remember that this is your plan. You are the parent, so you decide what's best for your children. Don't take any negative remarks or any bad mouthing from your kids in regards to this new lifestyle. Stick with it!

Just keep in mind that these exercises and lessons will benefit your children in the long run regardless of what they may think of it at the moment.

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