Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Teaching Your Child About Respect

One of the most important things parents can teach their children is respect. And respect is not the same as obedience. Children might obey because they are afraid. However if they respect you, they will obey because they know that you have their best interest at heart.

The best way to teach respect is to show respect. When our children experience respect, they know what it feels like and begin to understand how important it is.

Respect is an attitude. Being respectful helps a child not only succeed in school but also later in life. If children don't have respect for peers, authority, or themselves, it's almost impossible for them to succeed. A respectful child takes care of belongings and responsibilities, and a respectful child gets along with others.

Al thought schools teach children about respect, parents play a significant role and have the most influence on molding their children to become respectful individuals. Until children show respect at home, it's unlikely they will show it outside the home.

Respecting your child

Learning to treat children with respect will require a change of heart, that can come only from a major shift in consciousness of how we see our children and how we define respect.

Like adults, children have human dignity too. To treat a person with respect is to acknowledge and preserve their human dignity. To treat a person with disrespect is to attack their human dignity.

If we want to bring out respectful children, we must first be respectful parents, teachers and care givers.

Children are our mirrors. they reflect back to us everything we say and do. 95% of everything our children learn, they learn from what is modeled for them. Only 5% of all they learn is from direct instruction. We are role models for our children. What we speak is what we teach. Children record every word we ever say to them or in front of them. The language children grow up hearing is the language they will speak.

How can you show respect to your child?

- Be positive. Don't embarrass, insult or make fun of your child. Compliment him or her.
- Be honest. If you do something wrong, admit it and apologize.
- Be trusting. Let your child makes choices and take responsibility.
- Be reliable. Keep promises that you make. Show your child that you mean what you say.
- Be fair. Listen to your child's side of the story before reaching a conclusion.
- Be polite. Use 'please' and 'thank you.' Knock before entering your child's room.
- Be a good listener. Give your child your full attention.

More Respect Tactics

When you set rules at home, explain to your child why the rule is important. For example, if you have a rule that says 'No taking of dinner in front of the TV,' do explain that this is because dinner time is the time for everyone to get together, catch up on what has happened during the talk, to talk and to show care and love for one another in the family.

• Teach your children to respect themselves. Self-respect is one of the most important forms of respect. Once we respect ourselves, it is easier to respect others.

• Help them set and achieve goals. Their self-respect will skyrocket when they see themselves achieving those goals.

• Encourage honesty and integrity. Let your children know that they may be able to fool some people, but they can't fool themselves. There is no pride in stealing, cheating or lying.

• Your opinion means a lot to your children. If you believe your children can succeed, they will believe they can as well. Build their independence. Give them responsibilities as soon as they can handle them.

• Most importantly, show love! Say "I Love You" often, and give plenty of hugs and kisses. If your child makes a mistake, remind them that they are still loved.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Healing & Cleansing with Barley


High in fibre, barley is also a kidney cleanser.. Better yet, with regular intake it helps to prevent heart disease.

EU HOOI KHAW writes –

BARLEY water was always a regular drink when we were still living at home.
Whenever we had to go for a medical exam that included a urine test, my mum would make us drink barley water a day before it to make sure we got a positive result !

My mother was a wise woman. I later found out from an Australian naturopath that barley is known to be a kidney cleanser, and he happily downed glasses of it at a meal we had in a coffeeshop here.

Barley is good for your intestinal health too. Try to eat the barley grains you find in your drink or sweet broth with fu chook (beancurd skin) and ginkgo nuts.

It's high in fibre which feeds the friendly bacteria in the colon and helps! speed up the transit of fecal matter in it. In this way it helps prevent haemorrhoids and colon cancer.

The propionic acid and beta glucan from barley's insoluble fibre also help lower cholesterol and prevent the formation of gallstones.

Eating barley regularly is a preventive step against heart disease as, besides the fibre content, it is also high in niacin, a B vitamin good for lowering cholesterol.

Diabetics should eat more barley as the fibre will prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high. It also provides relief from constipation or diarrhoea for those suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Barley is rich in selenium which prevents cancer and relieves symptoms of asthma and arthritis. It is a good source of manganese, copper and phosphorous.

Malt sugar comes from sprouted barley which, when fermented, is an ingredient in beer and other alcoholic beverages.

Barley, whose Latin name is Hordeum vulgare, has been cultivated for more than 10,000 years.

Since ancient times, barley has been used for healing purposes and has been known to the Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Athletes in Greece and Rome in those days were known to eat barley bread to give them strength.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

May I Borrow $25?

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'

DAD: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the man.

SON: 'Daddy, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the man said angrily.

SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'If you must know, I make $50 an hour.'

SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow $25?'

The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.'

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think:

Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' He asked.

'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.

'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $25 you asked for.'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the father grumbled.

'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.'

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Olympic's Facts

Recently you might have enjoyed the Beijing 2008 Olympic series of games. Here are some interesting Olympic's Facts for your reading...
  • Around 1913, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, The founder of the Modern Olympics designed the Olympic Flag. The Olympic Flag made its debut at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium.

  • Background Color of the Olympic Flag white. It is plain white, with no border, and five rings in the center. The plain white background is symbolic of peace throughout the games.

  • The five colors of the rings on the Olympic Flag are blue, yellow, black, red, and green. Three rings are across the top, and two are along the bottom. From left to right are blue, black and red across the top with yellow and green along the bottom. Yellow and green colors may be found on most flags of the world.

  • The five interlinked Olympic rings on the Flag represents continents & continent.At the end of each Olympic Games, the mayor of that host-city presents the flag to the mayor of the next host-city. It rests at the town hall of the next host-city for four years until the Opening Ceremony of their Olympic Games.

  • The Olympic Torch Relay symbolizes the passing of the Olympic traditions from one generation to the next. The Torch Relay began in the Ancient Olympics and was revived at the 1936 Berlin Games. The torch was lit by the sun's rays at Olympia and carried by relay to the host-city of the Games. The Olympic Flame symbolises purity, the endeavor for perfection and the struggle for victory, as well as representing peace and friendship.
  • Motto of the Olympic is 'Citius, Altius, Fortius'. 'Swifter, Higher, Stronger'. The other three are all parts of the Olympic Creed.

  • At the start of each Olympics, every athlete promises to play fairly and obey all of the Olympic rules. One athlete from the host country takes the Oath on behalf of all athletes. Even Olympic officials takes the Oath While holding a corner of the Olympic Flag, one official from the host country repeats an oath, similiar to that of the athletes, on behalf of all the officials.

  • Greece is first in line during the Opening Ceremony's Parade of Nations. The host city is last, and the others are in alphabetical order.

  • During the Opening Ceremony, doves are released that symbolizes Peace.

  • In the Closing Parade, the athletes are not separated into national teams as they enter the stadium. This is to symbolize the unity and friendship of the Games. It is a tradition which started at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. John Ian Wing, a 17 year old Australian boy of Chinese origin, wrote to the Games organisers a few days before the closing - his idea was adopted, and gave birth to another Olympic tradition.