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Making Dogs Feel Special

August 02, 2018

Surprise a dog lover you know or a furry friend with a basket of treats and toys. Design the basket so that it's easy for the dog to open if you decide to give it to the animal. Use clear or animal print cellophane to wrap the basket when you're done adding the items that you want to include. Setting a theme for dog gift baskets is often the easiest way to get the things that you want to give. Examples of themes include items for new puppies and a new mom, celebrating a birthday, or celebrating a holiday.




 Instead of a basket for the base, you can use a dog bed. This will allow for the entire gift to be functional for the animal. A wicker basket with a pillow is an option as well and can also be used as a bed for a smaller dog. A chest for all of the dog's toys is also an option to consider instead of using a basket. Incorporate a blend of treats that the dog can eat, daily care essentials, and a few toys. If the basket is for someone who loves dogs, then you could include a mug with a word or phrase on the outside or a wine glass with an image of paw prints or something else related to dogs. Decorative signs for the wall, a table, or a shelf are also options to include in a basket for someone who loves dogs.

 Making a basket for a dog to enjoy is often easier. Make sure the treats that you include are easy to eat for the animal. Get a variety of toys that the dog can play with according to the animal's age and health. Pet supplies to put inside the basket could be anything from pads for the floor or shampoo for a relaxing bath.

sponsored

How to Focus on Studying when You Have Too Many Responsibilities

July 08, 2018


The older you get, the harder it is to study. Not only your memory isn’t as sophisticated as when you were children, but your responsibility also increase. If you are high schooler or college students who happens not to be born with silver spoon, you probably have one (or more) part time job to help you cover the cost of your study (or saving for your future education). Even if you’re lucky enough to not need any part time job (yet), then you’re probably busy in extracurricular programs because you need to polish your CV for future use.

So, distraction increased as you get older. How do you get back your focus to study if that’s the case? Here some points from us for you.


1.    Put Studying Back on Your Top List

You may deny this for a moment. “What do you mean, put it back? It has always been on the top!”

But, has it? It’s easy for studying to slip down on your priority list because of a couple of reasons. First, it seems like it’s not urgent, compared to other things with closer deadline (like this month’s rent or this week’s first date with someone you’ve been crushing on for a long time). You feel like, there’s always tomorrow to study, the final test won’t be coming for at least three months anyway. Second, studying is not fun, so it’s easy to procrastinate on it. And if you’ve started procrastinating, you know that you’ll have thousands of reasons not to do it.
So, if you want to focus on your study, put it back on your top priority. Sure paying rent is important, but you can have two important things to do simultaneously. Just make sure one of them is studying.

2.    Eliminate or Delegatethe Unnecessary

What if you have difficulty in step 1 because you have too many important things? Then it’s time to eliminate some of them. List all of your current responsibilities, from studying, to part time work, to attending some clubs, to spending quality time with your friends, to doing laundry and cleaning your dorm.

Now, separate them into three part: the important, the urgent, and neither. The important part may only have three list, and your study should be one of them. You decide how the rest of them are sorted.

Then, take the neither part, and eliminate them from all of your plan. Hopefully forever, but if you can’t, then at least this week. If you still can’t delete or postpone them for a certain time, then think of a way to give those task to other people (for example, by calling your senior in the journalist club that always give you more task than necessary and say finally say no to him assigning you to cover a news).

3.    Build Supportive Environment

The power of environment is sometimes bigger than our own willpower. It’s hard to follow a low-carbs diet if you stock rice, bread, and cookies in your dorm room. Similarly, it’s hard to focus on studying if you’re surrounded by TV, music, or phone that won’t stop pinging from notification.

Focus more on your study by building a supportive environment on that. Find a place where there is no TV or music or probably even friends – if you’re that easily distracted. If you live alone, then studying at home can be the solution. However, it also depends on your studying style. Some people can actually fall asleep when they study at home, without anyone else to supervise.

The ideal study place that works for me is a quiet public place not too close to your school or campus (less chance to bump into someone who can pull you into hours-long conversation), like library or coffee shop. During that time, turn your phone off and hide it from your sight. Some people study better with music, but only choose songs without lyric, because lyric can be actually distracting.

4.    Set Aside Time

This step is easier said than done. Because, if you haven’t done the previous steps, you would think that you don’t have enough time in a day. However, if you have diligently eliminate or delegate your task except the absolute necessary (in which your study time is included), you will find yourself with enough time pocket to fill.

Now that you find you actually have time to study, it’s time to actually use it. For the first few times, treat the study time as sacred. It means, nothing can get in the way between you and your study time. Not your co-workers’ request to switch shift and not your peer group inviting you for pizza (yes, say no even to pizza). After several weeks, you’ll see studying as a routine, and it will take you less effort to start compared to today.

5.    Take One Way Commitment

If you’re a stubborn person, then maybe it’s time to take a harder approach. Take one way commitment to study, one that you can’t back up from so you’ll have no other choice to do it. The best commitment you can take on studying is to hire a tutor. Not only you will be less likely to skip the study session because you’ve already paid for it, but you actually get additional support from other people to study.

Moreover, by hiring a tutor, you can understand a subject faster, and therefore you can have extra time to study more material, or use that time to finish other duty you have. But, remember to use that extra time only after you’ve finished your tutoring session.

Distraction will always be there, and we suspect it will increasingly get worse in the following years, with the development of technology. However, you can still rely on your inner quality to stay focused in this very distracting environment, by following our advice. Do you have other advice we haven’t thought before to be more focused at school?

Caregiving

Basic Tips Child Care Providers Can Use to Guide Children's Behavior

May 08, 2018

Here are some basic tips child care providers can use to guide children's behavior. Remember the different strategies work best at different ages.

Keep rules simple and easy to understand.

Discuss rules with children and write them down. Consider children's suggestions for rules. Repeat the rules often. A few rules that work well with children include:

  • Help each other.
  • Take care of our toys.
  • Say "please and "thank you".
  • Be kind to each other.

Say what you mean.

Use "do" instead of "don't" whenever possible. Choose your words carefully, especially when you are guiding children's behavior. Keep sentences short and simple. Focus on what to do rather than what not to do.
  • Try saying "Slow down and walk" instead of "stop running".
  • Try saying "Come hold y hand" instead of "don't touch anything".
  • Try saying "Keep your feet on the floor" instead of "don't climb on the table"
  • Try saying "Use a quiet voice inside" instead of "stop shouting".
Talk with children - not "at" them.

Children often don't pay attention when you are talking (or shouting) "at" them. Guidance is much more effective when you talk to children at their eye level. Look them in the eyes, touch them on the shoulder, and talk with them. Resist the urge to simply lecture. Instead, give children time to respond, and listen genuinely to their point of view.

Set a good example.

Children watch you all the time. They say how you talk to other children and adults. They say how you cope with anger or frustration. They watch how you deal with sadness and joy. They listen to how you say "I'm sorry". The way you handle the ups and downs of life teaches children a lot about how to behave and get along with others.

Encourage the children to set good examples for each other.

Children also learn a great deal from each other. Encourage appropriate way to share, play and be kind to each other. Give clear, simple choices. Give children a choice only when there is a choice. For example, saying "It is nap time, do you want to lie down now?" is not really an option if your rule is that everyone will rest at nap time.

Show respect for children.

Talk to children about misbehavior in private, rather than in front of others. Remind them of reasons for rules, and discuss what they can do differently.

Catch children being good.

All children want attention. It is better to give them positive attention for good behavior than negative attention for misbehavior. Comment on something positive about each child, each day. Better yet, strive for several times a day. And share the good news. When children have done something positive, mention it to other children and parents.

Encourage like a good coach instead of a cheerleader.

A cheerleader just shouts general praise! "What a great job!" or "What a beautiful picture!" A good coach tells you what you're doing right, uses praise as a teaching tool, and lets you know why he or she is proud of you. If a child sets the table, you might say, "You did such a good job setting the table!. You put the spoons and forks in the right place and remembered the napkins!" When you look at a child's painting, you might remark, "This painting just glows with color. You used blue, green, red, yellow, and orange. Tell me how you did this!"

Use play activities to teach social skills.

Become a character of children's pretend play and show children how to use good manners and be kind. Read children's books that show how children resolve problems. Play "what if" games. Encourage children to act out ways to work together.

Teach children how to resolve conflict and solve problems.

Help them recognize and name feelings, identify problems clearly, come up with ideas for solving the problem, and try possible solutions.


Image by Google

Teach children how to apologize.

Learning how to apologize is a skill. Young children have a hard time understanding another child's feelings, but by the time they are four years old they should begin to recognize that apologizing is a good way to make up for hurting someone else. Keep it simple. With time and practice, children will not have to be prompted, and their apology will be more genuine. Teach preschoolers and school-age children the four basic steps of apologizing:
  • Look at the other child
  • Say the child's name
  • Say "I'm sorry"
  • Say why
Teach children how to correct their misbehavior.

If a child throws a food onto the floor, give him a broom and show him how to clean it up. If a child draws on the wall, give her a wet cloth to clean the wall. even if the child cannot successfully clean up the entire mess alone, participating in clean-up teaches him that his actions have consequences. Overtime, experiencing consequences helps children learn self-control.

blogging

IBT: Back to its original home and more...

April 28, 2018

This may not come as a surprise to all, but to my followers and subscribers (though I'm not sure how many are left as of this time), I blog today! just made its way back home - to BLOGGER!

So what's with the long hiatus and the sudden changes?

Well, being in the field of teaching full time plays the primary reason, although, it never dawned on me to totally quit blogging as I know deep in my soul that it is a passion I cannot let go of so I still fire updates now and then.

What Photobucket did also affected my motivation a lot. I supposed most bloggers are familiar to this story. Most of the photos I used in all my pages were hosted by them (for free of course) so the sudden changes was like a doom to my blogging endeavor. It took me awhile to rebuild that "spirit" and do something instead of letting everything I have worked for for a long time go to waste. Thus, the recent changes.

And so to keep all my pages from untoward circumstances of any form, I have decided to take all my Worpress-hosted blogs back to Blogger and IBT is one of them. Of course, along with that is another brand new look I have painstakingly took time with just to put everything back in place. It's good to know though that my tweaking ability is still around to help me get through it all.

I am also thankful that it's summer still! I have the liberty to sit down and spend some solid time dealing with online undertakings.

Spending wise, from here onward, I only have to worry about domain renewal now. That's what I have been trying to keep, whether the page is streaming or not. After all, it not about the monetary gain, but the long years worth of good memories that I kept here is what matters. And I have just decided to continue piling up more of it here as well as to my other pages.

household tips

How to Lower Your Electric Bills in Your New Apartment

February 11, 2018

A new apartment is very exciting for anyone. Whether it is your first apartment or you just moved into a new one, decorating and furnishing an apartment can be a great project. It can also be a fun and worthwhile experience to discover ways to save money in a new apartment, especially on the electric bill. Whether you are moving into a unit in st louis apartments or in another city, doing small methods to lower your electric bill can help reduce the overall expenses in your new apartment and save you more money for your other necessities. Here are quick and simple ways to help lessen the electric bill in your apartment.

 Turn Off the Lights


Image from Google

This is perhaps the simplest thing an apartment owner can do to save money in reducing his or her electric bill. Turn the lights off in the rooms you are not in. In addition, use bulbs and lamps that are not greedy on electric power to ensure that you have ample lighting in your home without having to spend much on electricity.

Use Shades and Blinds
Shades or blinds are cheap tools to keep the cool in during the summer and the heat in during winter. Simply close them during the day in the summer to keep the house cool. In the winter, open them and let the sunshine in during the day and close them in the evening to keep the warmth in.

Heat Frequently Used Rooms
Use a portable heater to heat the rooms where you and your family spend time the most. Set the thermostat lower for the rest of the rooms in the apartment. If you will leave the house for a long while, turn the thermostat down at least five degrees while you are gone. Put on an extra layer of clothes, and keep the thermostat down when you get home.

Clean the Lint Trap If you have to use a dryer, clean the lint trap first. Dryers use less electricity and have to work less to dry clothes with a clean lint trap. Wash Full Loads When using a washing machine or a dishwasher, only wash a full load. When it comes to the dishwasher, only use it when you have company or large groups for dinner. Manually wash dishes and your clothes if you have the time to do so to save on water and electric bill.

Remember to Unplug When appliances are not being used, unplug them. Devices such as radio, hair dryer, television set, and stereo use small amounts of electricity even when not in use if they are plugged in.

There are lots of ways to control your electric bill in your apartment. With the tips above, you do not only save yourself from humongous electricity bills, but you also make sure that your appliances and the apartment itself are maintained well.