3 Tips for Traveling with Kids

January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Image by Benjamin.Griffiths via Flickr

Traveling with children can be a hassle, but going on a family vacation doesn’t have to be complete chaos. Taking a little time to properly plan ahead can make a huge difference. The following three tips can help your vacation be less stressful like it should be.

Check Airport Rules

You have probably spent a lot of time searching for cheap San Francisco flights or for the company that gives the best deals, but you need to remember to research the rules and regulations of the airport. This will help your check in process go more smoothly and prevent you from over packing. Check to see if there are regulations on strollers and car seats or if there is an extra fee. In most cases, you do not have to pay extra for these items, but you should confirm this with the airport. You will also want to check how much baggage each person is allowed to bring, what size is appropriate, etc. Most airports only allow small bottles of liquid on the plane, so make sure you bring along travel sized containers and put them in a plastic bag. Don’t bring along anything that is not allowed or it may get thrown out.

Bring Along Entertainment

Whether you have a video game policy you enforce at your home or not, it doesn’t hurt to let your children play games while you travel. This will keep them from distracting others around them by keeping them occupied and entertained. Forms of entertainment that you may want to bring along include coloring books, travel DVD players, portable electronics, and more. You may also want to bring along snacks to keep your children satisfied while you travel.

Plan Ahead

It’s always good to plan ahead when going on vacation, but traveling with children can take extra research and planning. Make sure you have plenty to do at your destination to keep your children occupied and having fun. Plan a variety of activities that both your children and you will enjoy, such as going to the beach, checking out a water park, going to an amusement park, or exploring a museum. If you are planning to leave your kids alone while the adults enjoy an activity, make sure they have supervision, whether one of your children is old enough to watch the others or your hotel offers childcare services. Planning ahead is important when traveling with children, but don’t be afraid to try something off of the itinerary.

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: , ,

Finding Associations for Women Online

August 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We tend to think of it as a man’s world, which is ridiculous for so many reasons, but it nevertheless seems to hold true in many accounts. Consider the world of business. It is almost expected that the CEO or Director of Operations is going to be a man committed to the success of his business.

We all know that while this may hold true in many cases, it is simply not always the case. Women have made huge strides in terms of being accepted as leaders. The last few presidential cycles has witnessed more women at the forefront than ever before. And women are becoming business leaders and entrepreneurs at an ever growing rate.

With this shift in societal architecture, a need for women to form supportive groups that further their goals and aspirations has arisen. There are many such associations that can be found online and, if the specific groups can’t be found, there are many capable women ready to start them.

Finding such associations online can be done through search engines using key words like “women” and “associations.” It also is helpful to use words pertinent to the reason for the association in question—whether it be “female entrepreneurs” or “mothers working from home.”

Canada offers a very direct means of finding such organizations by use of Canada 411. There, a woman can quickly research the associations offered to them in particular or other groups and organizations that might help them become more successful, regardless of the field or endeavor in which they are interested.

Filed Under: Feminism, Society Tagged With: , ,

Women in American Politics

July 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Nancy Pelosi photo portrait as Speaker of the ...

Image via Wikipedia

Amazingly enough, for what some consider to be the “best country in the world,” the United States has a shockingly low female representation in all levels of politics. There are currently 20 women holding the leadership positions of their country, either as Prime Ministers, Chancellor or President.

Sri Lanka was the first country which, in 1960, elected Sirivamo Bandaranaike as their Premier Minister. In 1974, Argentina elected Isabel Perón as their President. Since then, women have held any manor of political position throughout the world. In the United States, however, women have never held the office of either President or Vice President.

While the offices of the United States President, Kazakhstan President and many more have gone without women, there are plenty of women in powerful positions. In the United States, women such as Hilary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Condeleezza Rice are all trailblazers. Hopefully, the work of these women will one day make it possible for a woman to hold the office of President in the US. Even Barbara Walters was recently quoted saying that the USA would benefit from a woman leader.

It is interesting to note, that even countries who are dealing with intense economic, political and humanitarian issues have women leaders. If women can capably run those countries, why can Americans not elect a woman as President?

Only time will tell. Recent American politics has seen Hilary Clinton run for President and Sarah Palin run for Vice President. Perhaps the next time the US has an election, a woman will be elected into office.

Filed Under: Women

Don’t Sleep Walk Through Life – Live It!

July 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In today’s current economic climate, it is almost always necessary for families to have two incomes. Over the past two years, there has been a steady increase in the number of working women. This has forced more and more women to face a very real problem – there are only 24 hours in a day and none of us have a clone. As women’s issues go, dealing with the stress and workload of being a working mom doesn’t often get press, but it should. Today’s working moms are putting in more hours than ever before as they attempt to balance their home life, their work life, their children, and their spouses.

As mom’s, to some extent, we must do it all. Going back to work after we have children does little to change this attitude. If anything, it only makes it worse. We still want to prepare meals, go to soccer practice, and spend quality time with our spouses, but as our days get stretched thinner and thinner, we often are left wondering just how much sleep we actually must have.

Before you get to the point where you want to tear your husband’s leg hair out, you should take a few minutes to step back and reconsider. What things are you doing that could delegate? How often do you find yourself going behind your spouse when he has tried to help with the chores? Are there things that you can give up doing? You may find that be readjusting your priorities you can place yourself to live life instead of sleepwalk through it.

Filed Under: Society, Women Tagged With: , ,

Balancing the PTA with the PTA’int

July 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We struggle to say no. The PTA calls, needing twelve dozen cookies, tomorrow, and do we even hesitate?  Of course not.  We don’t want to be judged as inadequate.  We will do what we have to do, even if we have to bake oatmeal raisin cookies at four in the morning, to get them to the PTA on time.

We work, we work at home, we struggle with deadlines as they whiz by, and we wonder if we can find balance between the school meetings and the office meetings. We lose ourselves in the daily rush of mediocrity.
How do we juggle our responsibilities, and still maintain some semblance of normalcy? How do we keep our hopes and dreams from getting buried?

Here are some suggestions:
1. Keep a journal. Whether it is a photo journal, a diary, a sketchbook, whatever your secret talent, take a few moments a day to recover your creativity.

2. Remember to breathe. In the moments of the most stress, practice deep-breathing techniques. They’ll help you focus, and help you keep your calm.

3. Practice saying ‘no.’  remember that no one expects you to be Super Woman.  It’s perfectly understandable if you can’t make those cookies, after all.

4. Take time for yourself.  Schedule yourself a day at the spa, or a haircut, or a simple trip to the bookstore.  Spend some time with just yourself, and concentrate on rejuvenation.  Do what relaxes you most.  There is no right an wrong here, only what you need.

5. Spend time with just your significant other.  No kids, if you have them, no dogs, no bosses.  Just the two of you.  Take time to reconnect to one another; find out why you fell in love in the first place.  6. Back away from the laundry.  Who cares if there’s a mountain of laundry that needs doing!?  Take that time periodically to spend time with your family or your best buddies.  Laundry will never make you laugh like your children or your girlfriends will.

Filed Under: General, Society Tagged With: , ,

Issues Working Women Face

June 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
sexual harassment ?

Image by krembo1 via Flickr

Men and women are supposed to be equal when it comes to the workplace. They are supposed to have equal pay, benefits and job opportunities. However, that is not the case. Women continue to face a number of issues in the workplace.

Here’s a look at a number of the issues working women face on a daily basis.

Childcare Costs

Women are still viewed as the main provider for childcare. That puts the burden on working women to find a suitable childcare alternative for the hours that they are working. This is an added expense that many men do not have to consider when entering the workforce.

The Pay Gap Between Genders

Many companies will have you believe that men and women are making the same amount of money but a recent survey says otherwise. A recent survey discovered that there is still a significant difference in salaries between what women make and what men make. This difference is believed to be a direct result of women taking lower paying jobs and the time they take off to raise children.

Sexual Harassment

Many working women face the possibility of encountering sexual harassment in the workplace. While sexual harassment is a crime and punishable by law many women still encounter this issue regularly while they are in the workforce.

While some men encounter these types of problems the majority of the people who handle childcare costs, face unequal pay and encounter sexual harassment continue to be women who have entered the workforce. That is why these issues are considered working women’s issues.

Filed Under: Feminism, Women Tagged With: , ,

There is No Unbiased Elephant

May 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It seems strange that we automatically assume that the news is reported free of bias. We tend to think of the “news” as being equivalent with the “truth.” Of course it makes sense we would see it this way since we think of news as events that take place. What could be more cut and dried? It either happened or it didn’t: truth or untruth. The problem of course appears when we attempt to describe the news.

New York Times

Image via Wikipedia

Think of the reporting of news as the blind men describing an elephant. One feels the tail and assumes the elephant is a rope. Another feels the leg and says the elephant is a pillar – and so it goes as each describes a part of the elephant. When a news event takes place people can’t help but gravitate to a certain part of the story

When a politician speaks it is easy for the person reporting on the story to see the event from his perspective. It’s actually normal human behavior to do this. If the reporter favors the politician he will focus on those aspects of the (elephant) politician that are positive. Another reporter may believe the politician to be untrustworthy. In this case his interpretation will focus on the negative feature of the elephant/politician.

The problem isn’t that one network, newspaper, or blog is biased. The problem is assuming that any of them are unbiased. The only way to approach the truth when it comes to the news is to review reports written by those with opposing points-of-view and attempt to reconstruct the elephant as accurately as possible given the various different perspectives.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , ,

How You Get Into Office

March 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Many people are fed up with the kind of treatment that they get from those in office, but the truth is that it’s very difficult to blame the politicians singularly for the shoddy treatment that the citizens get. The political machine makes it very difficult for people to do their jobs and that leads to a whole world of trouble for the people who have health care and education needs.

Let’s forget, for just a second, about the differences between the two political parties that complicates the political landscape but let’s go back to what someone must do in order to be a part of the political system at all.

A person who is running for office on a major level, even if it’s on the major local level, is doing it because they are committed to seeing the benefits of being in politics. It will cost them six figures of their own money easily to get involved. Of course they cannot do it alone and therefore they reach out to other political people to find investors. The money that is given to them is done in good faith. The faith is that when all is said and done they will give back just what they put in. This makes the job they have to do so much harder. When they get into office they have to start paying back favors before they can make a difference. It’s a tough way to live but it’s the price they paid to get into office in the first place.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , ,

Understanding The Political Machine

March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

These days it appears that there is a shift in the political landscape. These days there seems to be a focus on what people want and the American people are starting to stand up for themselves. We often hear about what the politician is will to be for the people but rarely does that translate into anything relevant or worth while. The truth is that most of the politicians say they are there to help but they are more interested in keeping their job then they are about doing what’s right and what is in the best interest of the people. It’s the way the political system works that makes it tough for the newly appointed politician to do their job.

For instance once a politician gets into office they must think about some things as it relates to their job. There are usually in their office because their political party went to bat for them. Now their first day in office the idea of funding the new childrens hospital is coming up. There is a lot of money that could go to the hospital and it would help a lot of people. However there are people in the party who want that land to go to a commercial real estate developer because they have been generous to those in the party. So now while it would make more sense to have the hospital they have to now it would make sense to keep their party and it’s biggest supporters happy. This is how you keep your job. It’s the way the machine works and it’s a sad reality but a reality none the less.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , ,

Sexual Harassment: Crossing The Line

March 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Is there still a problem with women in the workplace? Is there still a problem with sexual harassment? The truth is that there are plenty of cases that are still going on, but it’s hard to know when a line is crossed. Now, in the work place there are certainly times when it’s easy to tell when there is sexual harassment that has occurred, but there are plenty of times where a normal conversation between co-workers can be uncomfortable, so here are some of the things that you should keep in mind when it comes to co-workers at the work place.

The first thing is there are plenty of times when a conversation you have or you overhear can be sexual harassment. If you are someone around you is engaged in sexual suggestive conversation then you can bet there will be an issue with you violating or being violated by someone else. What you hear can be just as damaging as what you say. Don’t make the mistake of saying anything inappropriate. Even if you have a friend at work that you feel comfortable with, just keep the sexual talk outside of the work place.

The next thing to remember is a comment can be damaging too. You might think that a comment you make in passing, even if it is meant as a joke, is something that will get blown off, but more often than not it’s something that gets blown up. It’s rather unfortunate but people listen to everything you say and you can never be sure what is or is not offensive to someone else. The best thing you can do is to tr and remember that if it’s borderline at best than it’s just best not to say it. That is the key when it comes to sexual harassment in the workplace.

Filed Under: Feminism, Society Tagged With: , ,
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