"Parenting.org"- A helping resource for parents

Parenting.org is a FREE resource for parnets. They answer your parenting questions with resources and guidance on how to successfully raise, praise, discipline, teach and love your child.

You can find parenting help, free tips, advice, resources and guidance at this site. There are many valuable resources, articles and stories offering parenting help. It is a site from Boys town.org, a non-profit, non-sectarian organization.
What more you can get from the site?
(In their own words)

"If you're a parent educator or professional who works with families, you've come to the right place.
Whether you work through a school system, a public organization, or private organization, you're expected to help parents. It's a challenge. There are single parents, stepparents, traditional and nontraditional families.
Each parent you deal with,-------

- Represents a different background and circumstance.

- Comes from a childhood of unique and varying degrees of problems and dysfunction.

- Have different parenting experiences and expectations.
- When the diversity is so great, how do you respond? Where do you find sound advice that parents can apply to their own situations? Where do you find affordable professional material and programs to help you on the job?

This is your source for information on things that concern family life. From parenting to child development, you'll find the resources you need."
More about the site:
They specialize in training, consulting, and researching parenting practices that will help you and others like you deal with the day-to-day care taking, guidance, and development of your child.

There are a lot of informative articles according to age group, and you are a parent or an educator, these useful and full of advice articles can be helping source.
- Caring and care for Kids and Children ages 0-4
- Caring and care for Kids and Children ages 5-9
- Help Parenting Tweens, Preteens and Young Adolescents ages 10-14
- Help Parenting Teenagers and High School Teens Ages 15 and Up
-

FREE e-books offers:

1- "What Every Parent Should Know"
(127k PDF File)
"It is about facts on dangers affecting today's youth. Whether you're a mom or dad looking for assurance or struggling to keep your kids free from trouble, this compact guide puts proven solutions at your fingertips.

Concise and easy-to-read, this booklet outlines the warning signs of kids who abuse drugs and alcohol, feel depressed or suicidal, are overly influenced by peers, confused by sex, involved in gang activity, are prone to self-injury, distressed by divorce, suffer eating disorders, and lack the values and the skills to set appropriate boundaries, solve problems, or build relationships."


2- "Rules for Unruly Children"
(724k PDF File)
Rules for Unruly Children, written by Richard L. Munger for use by Boys Town, is meant to change your child's problem behavior as quickly as possible, using simple techniques that will work with most children. This book offers parenting approaches that:

- Can be learned quickly
- Can be used immediately
- Gives quick results
- Work with most problem behaviors

Download link for both books:

Impact of computer use on child's vision

All about vision is a source of trustworthy information on eye health and vision correction options.

How long hours use of computer can effect the vision of our children, there are useful articles about the topic:

According to a survey report:

- 90 percent of school-age children have computer access at home or in school.

- 54 million children in the United States alone use a computer at home or in school.
Several recent studies provide evidence that computers can have a negative impact on a child's vision:

* 25 percent to 30 percent of computer-using children need corrective eyewear to work comfortably and safely at the computer at home or in school, says a study at the University of California at Berkeley School of Optometry.

* The percentage of first-graders with myopia has increased from 12.1 percent to 20.4 percent since 1995, according to a study by the Department of Health in Taiwan.

* A similar study in Singapore found that in three years the percentage of seven- to nine-year-olds with myopia had doubled, to 34 percent.

Sitting for hours in front of a computer screen stresses a child's eyes because the computer forces the child's vision system to focus and strain a lot more than any other task. Twenty years ago, most children played outside, and their distant vision was more important. Today, most children work at a computer either at home or school each day. Sitting in front of a computer and staring at a computer screen is causing vision problems that were not known years ago.

Today it is a "near-point world," and parents need to be aware of the vision problems associated with computer work. Computer use demands fine motor skills from young eyes that are not well developed. Only when the visual system matures is a child better able to handle the stress of a computer on that system.

According to the American Optometric Association, the impact of computer use on children's vision involves these factors:

Children have a limited degree of self-awareness. They may perform a task on the computer for hours with few breaks. This prolonged activity can cause eye focusing and eye strain problems.

Children are very adaptable. They assume that what they see and how they see is normal — even if their vision is problematic. That's why it is important for parents to monitor the time a child spends working at a computer.

Children are smaller than adults. Since computer workstations are often arranged for adult use, this can change the viewing angle for children. Computer users should view the screen slightly downward, at a 15-degree angle. Furthermore, as a result of difficulty reaching the keyboard or placing their feet on the floor, a child may experience neck, shoulder and/or back pain.
Five Tips for Preventing Computer Vision Syndrome in Children
Many pediatric eye doctors believe that environmental stress of the "near-point world" rather than heredity is creating the myopia (nearsightedness) epidemic. In fact, children using computers before their visual systems are fully developed are at the very heart of the public health problem called computer vision syndrome (CVS). To prevent your child from suffering from CVS, follow these five tips:

Before starting school, every child should have a comprehensive eye exam, including near-point (computer and reading) and distance testing.

Workstations should be arranged to suit a child — not an adult.

The recommended distance between the monitor and the eye for children is 18-28 inches. By viewing the computer screen closer than 18 inches, children risk straining their eyes. Read more tips for adjusting the monitor and room lighting to reduce glare.

Parents and teachers should be aware of any behavior that indicates potential problems, such as eye redness, frequent rubbing of the eyes, head turns and other unusual postures, or complaints of blurriness or eye fatigue. Avoidance of the computer may also be an indication of discomfort.

Most importantly, have your child's eyes examined by a computer vision specialist.
Link to the article: Children and Computer Vision Syndrome By Larry K. Wan, O.D.

For parents: (A lot of informative material at) Children's Vision: What Parents Need to Know

* A Guide to Children's Vision Problems

* Vision Therapy for Children

Get parent's advice and tips at "Minti"

There are a lot of message boards or forums for parents but "minti" is different in this sense that it is for parents and from the parents.
This is a social community, where parents can share and gain valuable advice. minti is about advice, friendship and community for parents.

Mainly the site contains articles about parenting and topics range from pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, babies, early childhood, schooling, tweens, teenage years and beyond.
It all started in 2005, by Rachel Cook, who was inspired by "wikipedia" and felt the need for "parent to parent advice-opedia"

The story behind the creation of this site is interesting:

What prompted the creation of Minti?

"When becoming a mother for the first time, Co-Founder, Rachel Cook discovered motherhood was actually about trial and error. She sought ways of finding information to alleviate the downsides of this method. She discovered how little concise, detailed information was available to be passed down from experienced mothers and fathers, particularly on what methods worked and what didn't, in bringing up children. Gaining this tried and proven advice was a constant challenge. The really good advice appeared to be spread via word of mouth or on an ad-hoc basis. There was not enough advice and experience captured to choose alternatives from and it was tough to get the 'good advice' spread around the world to other parents.

Rachel researched the space for over more than a year and discovered that a single place where concise, clear advice and experiences from parents and targeted at the modern parent was lacking. The industry 'appeared' to be fragmented and she found mounting evidence of an influx of parents requiring more depth and understanding to the advice. Magazine articles and books were great sources of information but they could not be thoroughly discussed and expanded on. In many situations where serious help was required only those families with high disposable incomes could gain access to expert 'hands on' advice implemented in the home.

If this was the situation in Perth, Western Australia, then what was it like in the world's biggest economy, the U.S. Rachel searched for a site that offered parenting advice "first hand" from parents but could not find one that solved the problem without excessive advertising, "experts" rather than real parents and difficult to search information.

The desire to create a place for parents to share advice on a global footing fuelled the vision to pull a team together to make Minti happen."
Their mission is to create a “the world’s largest parent to parent advice-opedia”.
What site offers?

- Over 4000 parenting advice articles.
- Advice powered by parents, not corporations
- Over 600 interest groups to join
- Free profile page with blog and photo storage
- Membership is FREE

For fresh news and posts:
- minti blog
- The parenting advice page provides advice written by parents, for parents and ranked according to how useful it is.

Sign up at register page and after becoming member you can also write articles about your parent experiences.

Review: "Ashop Commerce"- provider of e-commerce software

As blogs are becoming popular to internet users, more blogs are being created. According to Technorati, currently there are 51.8 Million weblogs and the blogosphere continues to double about every 6 months. Bloggers are now interested in monetizing their blogs. Many bloggers prefer to place ads on their blogs, and many like to sell products at their blogs.

Now selling online has become very easy by using shopping cart software, which can help anyone to sell online. It is mainly a shopping cart software, offering you to create online selling place at your blog or site.

"Ashop Commerce" has provided this software, which is so easy to use that you don't need to know HTML language, or other IT related matters. Because you may get the full manual alongwith the software. You are provided live support from the site. And even you are a blogger or site owner with no previous selling online experience, you are guided well to create your online store with the help of this (shopping cart)ecommerce software.

Check the frequently asked question page for more details.

Site is offering a 10 day FREE trial for shopping cart software.

Role of educational toys and games in skill development

Educational toys are part of the modern educator's curriculum. These educational toys and games are fun to play while they help the child in skill development.

Wikipedia says:

Educational Toys In Child Development:
"Educational toys enhance intellectual, social, emotional, and/or physical development. Educational toys are thus designed to encourage reasonable development milestones within appropriate age groups.

For preschool age youngsters, simple wooden blocks might be a good starting point for a child to begin to understand causal relationships, basic principals of science (e.g. if a block falls from the top of a structure, it will fall until a surface stops its fall), and develop patience and rudimentary hand-eye coordination.

For a child moving towards elementary school, other, more sophisticated manipulatives might further aid the development of these skills. Interlocking manipulative toys like Legos or puzzles challenge the child to improve hand/eye coordination, patience, and an understanding of spacial relationships. Finally, a child in elementary school might use very sophisticated construction sets that include moving parts, motors and others to help further understand the complex workings of the world. Importantly, the educational value derived by the child increases when the educational toy is age appropriate."

In an article from "Creativity Institute" it says:
"Playing with blocks can be good for children with ADHD"

"Block play can be great for many ages. From simple stack-up and knock-over fun to imaginative building. Blocks teach problem-solving skills, because a child discovers how stacking and matching can produce different results. They can also become components of pretend play, because a child can fantasize what the structures are. There are also big foam blocks that are almost "life size" and let children create their own fantasy playhouses. These lightweight blocks are so versatile, they can be climbed on or tunneled under. Magnetic block and construction sets have pieces that connect in more ways than can conventional plastic snap-together blocks and allow even more imaginative opportunities. And don't forget the versatility of the classic wooden building blocks.
Blocks, like many traditional toys, have other educational advantages for a child with ADHD. The number of positive outcomes is limitless, so children can continue playing until they've reached a level of personal satisfaction."

* Nik Nak toys offers: Child Development Chart: It is Child Development Toy Guide for you to use when considering which toys to give to loved ones. This provides guidelines to development stages and then suggests appropriate educational toys.

Teachers can use this guide in kindergarten or pre-school stages, where you need to provide learning in a fun way.

Someone said "Education is what creates true motivated free thinkers." and there is no doubt that when learning is fun, you can get success in creating true motivated free thinkers.

* Find the right toy.com is online retailer of educational toys for all children. It guides you in finding the right toy for your child. This site is useful for both parents and teachers as it guides you to choose the toys, which might help in developing skill level in many areas like as "visual, sensory, social, emotional, and so on.

It showcases meaningful advances in child development and educational learning toys. From kids' mobility toys to visual learning and developmental toys, your leader in educational toys.
What they do?

"We do the legwork for you, sorting through the veritable litany of "developmental" toys and educational "learning" toys. We've taken professional experience in developmental therapy and put it to work, screening toys that make a difference in the lives of children and parents. When it comes to child development and occupational therapy toys, we're serious about success. From kids' mobility toys to sensory stimulation toys and improving hand eye coordination. Our collection of educational toys capitalizes on your child's strengths by using them to develop weaknesses. With developmental toys and more we've put the child back in child development."

* Creativity Institute deals in toys which bring out the creativity in your child. They believe that "Every child has creative ability just waiting to be tapped!"
What they say:
"We've selected toys we believe can help develop creativity in children, whether the creative process comes naturally to them or not.

Through our newsletter and articles featured on creativityinstitute.com, we do everything we can to try to help parents nurture creativity in their children with helpful hints, advice and suggested activities."
Their blog has many useful posts about creativity.

* Learning toy center says in "Why Educational Toys For Your Child?":

"Learning and developing new skills as a child grows can make a big impact on their life. Educational toys and games help stimulate a child’s creativity as well as their development. "

*** Sites providing educational toys and games for your child

Importance of time management in academic career

Every teacher or student knows that time management is very important to improve academic performance.
There are number of sites, which provide time management tips and techniques. A few links are given here:

* Academic Tips.org suggests these tips:

1. Personal Time Survey
2. Study Hour Formular
3. Daily Schedules
4. Don't be a Perfectionist
5. Learn to Say NO
6. Learn to Prioritize
7. Combine Several Activities
8. Conclusion
For the detailed article:

Time management

* www.vt.edu/(Virginia tech) suggests an interactive time management test:
-For the link: Study Skills Self Help Information

* The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University are recognized Catholic liberal arts colleges, and they suggest these 23 time management techniques:

23 TIME MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

STUDY WHEN:
- Plan two study hours for every hour you spend in class.
- Study difficult (or boring) subjects first.
- Avoid scheduling marathon study sessions.
- Be aware of your best time of day.
- Use waiting time.
- Use a regular study area.

STUDY WHERE:
- Choose a place that minimizes visual and auditory distractions.
- Use the library or empty classrooms. Get out of a noisy dorm.
- Don't get too comfortable. Sit (or even stand) so that you can remain awake and attentive.
- Find a better place when productivity falls off.

YOU AND THE OUTSIDE WORLD:
- Pay attention to your attention.
- Agree with roommates about study time.
- Avoid noise distractions.
- Notice how others misuse your time.
- Get off the phone.
- Learn to say no.
- Hang a "Do Not Disturb!" sign on your door.
- Ask: "What is one task I can accomplish toward my goal?"
- Ask: "Am I beating myself up?" (lighten up, don't berate self).
- Ask: "Is this a piano?" (or, "Are you a perfectionist?")
- Ask: "How did I just waste time?"
- Ask: "Would I pay myself for what I'm doing right now?"
- Ask: "Can I do just one more thing?" (Stretch yourself).

Article link:
Time management

* time management from study guide zone

"School for Champion"- A site helping you achieve your goals

School for champions is an educational site providing you articles on different topics relating to teaching and schools. How to be successful and achieve our dreams is the main focus of the site.

What it means for "Champion", site explains it:

"Being a champion is about doing your best to achieve difficult goals. Our concept is that by optimizing your health, knowledge, excellence, value to others and character, you have a better chance of achievement or even winning. These are called the 5 Powers of a Champion™ and they can turn our students into champions in whatever they do."
Mission:
To help you achieve your dreams, in these areas:

- Assisting you with basic education and strategies for success,
- Providing you with principles to help you become a champion in whatever you do, and
- Encouraging you to champion worthy causes by helping others

People access lessons over 500,000 times each month. Students and teachers from many colleges, high schools, and middle schools use the site.

Check their blog for reader question and feedback

How to be a champion?
(Suggestion)

Live Your Life as a Champion:
1- Have Vitality
2- Have Knowledge
3- Have Excellence
4- Have Value
5- Have Character
Be a Champion!

There are a lot of article links at left side bar. I searched for few links and there were number of more articles relating to that topic. As I clicked on "mental healt"h link, resulting page was a series of articles on these topics:
- Understanding mental health
- Maintaining mental health
- Healing mental wounds
- Specific ailments
and more.

Link:

Speed reading tips and techniques

Adults or students who need to read a lot, feel the pressure of time. Reading faster may be a solution to the problem,
but how speed reading techniques help us achieving more within short time?

According to Wikipedia:
"Speed reading is a collection of reading methods which attempt to increase rates of reading without greatly reducing comprehension or retention.

It is important to understand that no absolute distinct "normal" and "speed-reading" types of reading exist in practice, since all readers use some of the techniques used in speed reading (such as identifying words without focusing on each letter, not sounding out all words, not sub-vocalizing some phrases, or spending less time on some phrases than others, and skimming small sections). Speed reading is characterized by an analysis of trade-offs between measures of speed and comprehension, recognizing that different types of reading call for different speed and comprehension rates, and that those rates may be improved with practice.

Speed Reading expert Don Wetmore says:

The average person spends about two hours per day reading at the rate of about 200 words per minute. If you can double your reading speed, you can cut your reading time in half. What takes two hours can now be done in one hour. An extra hour a day for you. Seven hours per week and 365 hours for you over the next year. That’s the equivalent of nine additional workweeks over the next year to spend time with your family or hobbies or work on those important tasks that are being neglected."

Full article link: speed reading

I have searched for sites which provide FREE tips, techniques to learn speed reading, and present it for students, teachers and parents who want to read more at speed and learn more.

Links and sites providing tips, technique for speed reading!

* Read fast now provides many articles on reading, teaching someone to read and speed reading methods.
-In one of the articles "Reading Fast – Why You Might Want to Think About Speed Reading" it says:

"Your Comprehension and Retention Will Improve
One of the main reasons you’ll want to think about learning how to speed read is because your ability to comprehend and retain the material you read will be increased when you know how to speed read. Speed reading is far more than just learning how to read fast, but it is a technique that helps you learn to pull out the important information as you read and how to retain it as well. So, instead of reading through some information only to realize you don’t remember a word you read, speed reading can help you comprehend what you read and retain it for future use.

You’ll Save Time
Another benefit of speed reading that definitely makes it worth your time to learn is that it can really save you a huge amount of time. You can read a book or other document in just half the time you used to if you learn how to speed read. Speed reading allows you to ready quickly and to just skim the material in order to get the information that you need from the material. So, whether you are reading material for work, school, or for pleasure, you’ll be able to do it in just a fraction of the time it used to take you.

Reading Will Become Enjoyable
People who learn how to speed read also find that they start to enjoy reading. For many people, reading is a task that is less than exciting to them because it takes them so much time. However, when they learn how to speed read, instead of feeling that reading is boring and time consuming, they begin to find that it is enjoyable and interesting. Not only will you find that you enjoy having the opportunity to read, but you will also find that you increase and develop your intellectual skills as well.

Grades Can Be Improved
If you happen to be in high school or even in college, you can also benefit from learning how to speed read. Many students feel overwhelmed with the amount of information they are required to read, absorb, and learn; however, speed reading can definitely help. There have been many students who have been able to increase their comprehension and therefore their grades by learning how to speed read. So, if you want to improve what you gain from your education and also your grades, speed reading is a great skill to take advantage of.

Increased Vocabulary
Learning how to speed read can also help you to increase your vocabulary as well. As you become a better and faster reader, you will learn more words and build up the vocabulary that you have. You will not only increase your vocabulary, but you will also enrich your knowledge as well. So, speed reading is a great way to improve and enhance your knowledge and education as a person.

So, as you can see, there are many great reasons that learning how to speed read is an excellent choice. With all of these excellent benefits presented to you, no doubt you can see why it is so important to take a course in speed reading on your own. There are many excellent speed reading courses available to you today, some free and some you may have to pay for. Taking the time to learn the art of speed reading will benefit you in your personal life, in your life at work, and it can also help you as you pursue a higher education as well."


* dictator is a program for on-screen reading of text files, developed with the intention of making it easier to read some of the fine electronic texts available on the net.
The problem with these texts is that reading them on-screen the conventional way is a drag and printing them out is time-consuming, costly, and wasteful. Dictator provides an alternative approach called Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) in which words are displayed consecutively in the same place at a user-controllable rate. This method prevents unconscious re-reading of adjacent text and decreases the tendency of the reader to oralise the text, allowing for increased reading speeds. RSVP also permits the use of larger fonts for text display which improves text clarity. While it does take some getting used to, with a little practise you may find that reading with Dictator becomes faster and easier than reading from a book.

Double Your Reading Rate is from "Scott H Young" blog. He himself tried the speed reading methods and now he is a faster reader. He says that he could read at 450 words per minute before using the techniques, but he could increase that rate to around 900 words per minute.
He suggests six major keys to improve reading skill, which are:

1- Reading is Not Linear: You can skip down to read only my main bullet points, or read them in practically any order.
2- Stop Subvocalizing: Subvocalizing is the saying of words aloud or in your mind. It slows down your reading speed.
3- Practice Reading: Practice reading means reading faster than you can actually read.
4- Use a Pointer: You should use your finger as a pointer. By moving your finger faster than you can actually read, your eyes get used to viewing text faster than your brain can process what is written down
5- Eliminate Distractions: Avoid internal or external distrations.
6- Find Your Motivation: If you can connect what you are reading to a deeply held motivation, and determine your specific purpose for reading you can maintain a very alert and focused state.

Full article link: Double Your Reading Rate

* Speed Reading and Speed Listening at "Getting things done" blog. It also suggests 6 tips which are:
1- Take a few minutes to “get to know” the book
2- Decide which parts of the book you are going to read
3- Sit up straight in a suitable environment
4- Keep moving your eyes no matter what!
5- Don’t mutter under your breath or in your mind
6- Stay focused and monitor your comprehension
Full article link: Speed Reading and Speed Listening

* 4 tips for reading better and retaining more at "Gear fire which provides tips for academic success.

* An article at "Study skills" blog: 4 tips - Catch up with speed readers

* How to Learn Speed Reading at "WikiHow"

* Improving Reading speeds at "Speed readin.com

- Speed Reading - Learn to Read Faster at the same site.