Women Considering Pregnancy May Want to Go Vegetarian

A recent nutritionist has suggested that women who are, or are considering getting pregnant, may think twice about eating meat and dairy products.

The added hormones found in animal products seem to increase the chances of conceiving twins or other multiples. Women who typically eat a “plant-based diet had twins at one-fifth the rate of women who consumed milk and meat.”

However, it’s not only twinning that is at issue. A diet rich in hormone-added animal products also seem to increase the risk of cancer.

The insulin-like growth hormone (IGF-1) is the problematic element in animal products. Elevated levels seem to happen quickly, one study “showed that the addition of three daily, eight-ounce servings of nonfat or 1 percent milk for 12 weeks caused a 10 percent rise in IGF-1 levels.”

Read the entire article: “A Healthier Diet During Pregnancy”

Living with Epilepsy

When our child is sick, we get frantic. No matter if it is just a cough or cold or a fever, we find ourselves constantly checking to see if our kid is okay. I know I was one kid who loved sick days because it meant more time with my mom. I carry with me a lot of loving memories of my mom and her chicken shell sopas - that’s a family recipe for chicken soup.

I remember the look in my mom and dad’s eyes when my sister had to be rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night. She was having convulsions and none of us knew what to do. All we could do was pray and trust that the doctors would be able to treat her quickly.

Now that I am a parent myself, I have felt that heart clutching moment when you know something is wrong with your child and you are helpless. It all comes down to acting quickly to get proper medical attention, trusting your doctors and a whole lot of prayer.

My heart goes out to those parents who have a child with a long term sickness. The daughter of my friend has been admitted to the hospital. After more than a week, her daughter will be coming home tomorrow. The epilepsy though is still there though quieted for the moment.

The National Society of Epilepsy defines epilepsy as the tendency to have repeated seizures that begin in the brain. Anyone can develop, at any age. It is not limited to any sex, gender or age and zeizures happen for various reasons.
There isn’t much that can be done about epilepsy. There is no cure at this time. All that can be done is to make sure that your child is taking the proper medicines and has a first class doctor.

What do you do if your child or a member of your family is having a seizure:

• clear the area of anything that can harm him or her, such as possible falling objects or sharp items.
• Call for medical assistance immediately.

If your loved one has epilepsy, thay can live a normal full life. It is best though to make sure that they have a medical alert bracelt or necklace that lists the diagnosis they were given, medication, doctor and an emergency number to call. This will allow the team to give your child exactly what he needs more quickly and that can make all the difference.

Manners, Manners, Manners

We hear it all the time as we grow up. “Say the magic word”, “Don’t forget to say please and thank you”, “let the ladies go first”. From the way we walk, stand, sit, eat, talk, and just about everything else, our parents insisted we learn manners. The phrase my sisters and I heard most growing up from my mom was, “ladies, poise!”

Manners are a sign of good breeding. They are what marks us as individuals of class. Good manners never go out of fashion and it is to the benefit of every individual to have them.

So I try to raise my kids as well as my mom taught me. They get lessons on table manners as we eat together and we all get lessons constantly (myself included) on courtesy and respect. And yes, someday soon I will tell my daughters, “ladies, poise please.”

Telling the truth to your adopted child

Parents who adopted a child must determine what and when they will tell their child about their adoption. Many adoption workers advise parents to introduce the word “adoption” as early as possible so that it becomes a comfortable part of a child’s vocabulary and to tell a child, between the ages of 6 and 8 that he is adopted. In addition, there is some question about whether a child under 6 years of age can understand the meaning of adoption and be able to work through the losses implied by learning that he was born into a different family.

Although it is obvious to adults, young children often believe that they are either adopted or born. It is important, when telling them about their adoption, to help them understand that they were born first and that all children, adopted or not, are conceived and born in the same way. The birth came first, then next the adoption.

Waiting until adolescence to reveal a child’s adoption to him or her is not recommended.

Children who were adopted when they were older than 2, or who are of a different race from their adoptive parents, need to be told about their adoption earlier. With older children, who bring with them memories of a past, failure to acknowledge those memories and to have a chance to talk about them can reinforce the attachment problems inherent in shifts in caretakers early in life.

If your adopted child is of a different race or has very different physical features from your family, you must be observant of the signs that he or she is aware of the difference. Your child may have noticed it, or someone else may have commented on it. You will want to explain to your child that the birth process is the same for everyone but accept that people in other cultures have distinguishing physical features and their own rich heritage. Sometimes children who look different from the rest of their family need to be assured that their parents love them and intend to keep them.

Money, Anger and Your Child

Whether you’re a single parent or a loving pair, everyone has some sort of financial problems. It can be really tough to make ends meet, especially when you’re not just feeding yourself. Sometimes it can feel like you hang on with the tip of your fingernails and just pray that you make it til the next paycheck comes in.

So here you are carefully watching your budget, trying to make sure that you have enough to buy all your basic needs then your son or daughter loses the brand new shirt you just bought for his or her use. It seems like partial amnesia has set in and they can’t even retrace their steps so that you could try to look for it.

Anger takes over most people at this point. Before you lose your temper, please take deep breaths. Breath until you can speak calmly. Yes, it is annoying and drives you crazy that they can’t seem to grasp the value of money but here’s the thing. They will not be able to understand you if you talk with them while you’re angry.

Children can tune into your emotions very easily. The more they love you, the quicker they do it. When you rage they rarely listen. They just get overcome by fear.

For some parents, it won’t be easy to wait and keep your voice low and even. You’ll be amazed to find that the effect on your child lasts their lifetime. If you yell everytime they make mistakes, they learn to hide and never come to you when they need help for fear of judgement, both as children and as adults. On the other hand, if you treat them with respect and try to explain to them the root of your concern, you may be surprised at how deep your relationship will grow.

Take the opportunity to teach your kids the value of money right then and there. Don’t let the anger overwhelm you. Let your child know that you value them more than the money.

Mycoplasma in Kids

When your kids go to school, you’ll be surprised of the many types of viruses and bacteria they could bring home. Take for example this morning, I received an email from my daughter’s school, stating that there’s Mycoplasma infection going around the premises. Hmm, Mycowhat? I did some research on it and turns out that this is a bacteria that can cause sore throat, bronchitis, and pneumonia.

Found in the throat of infected persons and spread to other people through the air by sneezing or coughing. It can also be spread by touching tissues or other things recently soiled by secretions from the nose or throat of an infected person.

People of any age can get Mycoplasma:

Children under 5 years usually have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. The illness is recognized more in school-age children and young adults. Occasionally, epidemics can occur, especially in military populations and institutions (colleges, for example) where people live in close quarters. These occur more often in late summer or fall.

Symptoms to look for include:

Headache
Tiredness
Cough, often in spasms
Chest discomfort
Sore throat
Fever

Read more about it here

Related sources: Mycoplasma Infections

Pornography and teens today

The access to pornography for teens is certainly worthy of concern nowadays.

During previous years, finding a pornographic magazine or video under your teenage son’s bed was fairly common. Boys are naturally curious when it comes to sex and used to get their information from magazines or videos.

Today, the Internet has made accessing pornography as simple as the click of a mouse. If you are not monitoring the sites that your teenager visits, there might be chances that he or she has seen pornography, that includes pictures that shows deviant behavior.

Even if your teen isn’t regularly searching for those kind of sites, spam emails can give them access links to those sites also. These emails are sent out randomly to tease readers.

Below are information about some applications or media that could trigger your alarm as a responsible parent in observing your teen’s activity:

Music
Lyrics of much of the music listened to by teenagers today could also contain pornographic words, not only for the girls, but also for the boys whose focus becomes what they can get and rarely on what they can give. This can affect future relationships and sure to suffer because of the perversions that our teens are being raised on.

Chat
Chat room is another problem. Anyone can login as an individual who just wants a friend to “chat” with. There isn’t any way to regulate or restrict a pervert from pretending to be that “friend”. If trust has been established, your teenager is open for being exposed to pornography, or it could be worse.

What to do
If you notice that your son is starting to show aggressive behavior, being antisocial, there could be chances that he or she is already being influenced by pornography.

Do whatever you can to limit his or her access to those pornographic items. While looking a pornographic magazine or video may have been considered acceptable behavior at one time, looking at the adult content on the Internet should not be permitted. Webcams are also an invitation to trouble, particularly if your son or daughter spends time in chat rooms. Pedophiles often will ask for pictures as a “remembrance”, and as your son/daughter starts to get comfortable in front of the camera, problems can really arise. There are countless web sites out there that displays amateur videos of boys/girls undressing or doing tease.

Don’t ever assume that your kids are protected. Today, level of peer pressure is different than that of years ago. Pornography surely leads to promiscuous and perverse behavior.

China’s Topless Women’s Health Ad

A television presenter for “Women’s Health” channel in China, Chen Dan, has made a public apology after appearing topless with two other women on recent Shangmei Gynaecology Hospital advertisemtent for women’s health.

“A caption referred to the three women as spokeswomen for “pink ribbon” — a “series of activities concerned about women’s health,” — but made no reference to breast cancer prevention.”
The advertisements appeared in bus stops and billboards in Hunan’s capital, Changsha. Titled, “Clever Girls Love Themselves More,” a commenter called the ads a “serious attack on women” on the grounds that it “goes completely beyond the moral and aesthetic baseline.”

The ads were not the first to show women topless in hopes of gaining attention for women’s health. Several Chinese actresses posed nude to support breast cancer in an October 2005 magazine ad.

I’m not sure how I feel about this type of advertising. On one hand, it’s only a breast and if the object is to demystify women’s body and encourage women to realize that their health is of utmost importance, then I’m all for it. On the other hand, if it’s only a ploy to make heads turn in a typical pose oriented for the male gaze, eh, not so much. This is one of those cases where I wish I could see the actual ads for myself.

So I did what anyone would do, I googled it.

Being American-born, I can’t say how this ad functions in Chinese society. From my perspective, it is very typical sex-kitten in the posing and in her look. However, she’s not showing anything but her back. The image is stark and definitely eye-catching. I could see why the ads creators chose it. It stops people in their tracks and makes them look at the ad. The controversial discussion following it only promotes the hospital’s name even more. I understand, I think.

How do you feel about it?

Read the full article here: “China irked by topless women’s health ad,” Reuters UK.
See the partial ad here: “TV presenter apologizes for topless ad,” China View.

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Parenting - It’s A Tough Job

Most people long to have a Brady Bunch type of Family where everybody obviouly loves each other and life is just so perfect. Unfortunately, rare is it that we achieve that. Instead we have parents who don’t really know how to be parents, children who believe they know everything and make better parents, interfering but well meaning relatives and friends, and a whole lot of confusion.

Parenting really isn’t easy. No one is ever really completely ready for the impact of having this new life in their hands. No matter how many books you read or how much baby sitting you’ve done, when it is your own child, you can get frantic over the littlest things. You watch them as they sleep, counting their breaths and hoping that all is well.

As they grow up the peer pressure increases and we as parents can only pray that we armed them well for the onslaught of temptations of sex, drug and violence. We pray that we raised them right and with a strong respect for self such that they can resist these bad influences and make it through to becoming adult without those unnecessary painful experiences. 

Parenting isn’t easy, and for some it can be thankless. Still, in the end there is nothing that compares to the hug of your daughter when she comes home from school or the moment when she walks down the aisle on your arm. Nothing can replace the moment when she says thanks for taking care of us, mom and dad. And if they never say it, does it matter? As long as you’ve done your best and they grow up good people, then the job is well done. Just wait. Someday they’ll be parents themselves and then they’ll understand.

Witch/Pagan Parenting

There are no standard for parenting Pagans/Witch children. Other religions have doctrines of how adherents should parents usually carved into stone. Witchcraft and Paganism does not require to follow to any set of rules personally as parents.

So what does being a good Pagan/Witch parent mean? Are we adrift in the sea of parenting, alone floating aimlessly? Or do we have a course charted and have set sail with our young crew, only to find we have set sail with others?

We share this wondrous ride in the unknown waters of parenthood, each sailing their own course but corresponding or attuning with others. Parenting of itself is a journey wrought with questions and insecurity, Pagan/Witch parenting even more so, as we do not have a church on every corner, where we meet with others and take parenting courses. There can be a sense of isolation in Pagan/Witch parenting, even when we have the boon of having those we share magical lives with, needless to state those who are solitary or in more isolated areas.

How do we raise these Magical gifts the Goddess has enriched our lives with? Pagan parenting is something that is not a widely discussed, or up to this time, not accepted topic in this world. We need to share skills and beliefs with others that has a wide understanding of the reality and the magic that lies
beneath it, the magic of celebrating life. Everyday we can offer a Pagan/Witch parenting community and others who have children they love and want to instrumental in their nurturing, a set of ideas to ponder. As we all need to forge our own paths in life, parenting included, it can be helpful to reflect on what others say, and take what we can use and leave the rest behind.

As The Goddess and God set us forth on our own course to sail, we too, as adults that love children, prepare them to set forth as well. Assisting them in plotting their own course as we continue to plot and sail our own.

Mommy, don’t go!

These words are often heard when you bring and leave your child to/in the daycare, a friend’s place or even with the babysitter. Hurtful screams that most of the time makes your heart tighten and make you want to take him home again.

Unfortunately, this feeling is a very common part of a child’s early years. Though this behavior is perfectly normal, it could be very unsettling. So having the understanding on why this is happening and having strategies for both of you to cope is essential to get through this temporary phase.

Between 8 months to 1 year old, your child is growing into a more independent toddler - yet he or she is even more uncertain about being separated from you. This is when separation anxiety typically develops. Whether you’re just getting something in the other room or going to the toilet, your child clings to you and ignores anything or anyone around him.

Read more

managing divorce anger

Anger is not a gift. And it is normal for a realtionship to have this kind of twist.
But for couples who are going for divorce, this emotion is often anything but healthy.
It is a special kind of anger that usually hasn’t been experienced before.
When anger and divorce is combined, it’s often treated as a misguided means of hanging on to
a failed marriage. For many people that really longs for a company, a bad relationship is better than no relationship at all.

Divorce anger lets people to punish their ex as often as possible, while keeping an ongoing “bitter” relationship.
It’s a situation that leaves both partners in the long and winding divorce world of growth obstruction and self-awareness.
Some people really keep their anger so secretly that their rage takes over their whole lives, affecting all their thoughts and actions.
They weigh every action to see how much harm it will bring on their ex.

Divorce anger is often expressed through the legal process itself.
During this process, it is important to remember that your lawyer is your adviser, not your friend.
Releasing anger to your ex through the legal process invariably leads to prolonged, emotional proceedings that will
ultimately leave you, and of course, the family resources out.
Using the legal process as a way to express your anger is a bad idea for a couple of key reasons; it is the wrong way, and it is very expensive.

The legal divorce process itself tends to add fuel to both parties’ anger.
Often times it leads to dividing property and trying to prove your case for custody or support.

So how can you cope with this new and intense anger? The key lies in understanding its roots, where did you first fall
and finding possitive ways to express the hurt, disappointment, and loss that both party is feeling now as you proceed through separation.

Anger can really be a very healthy and positive tool for change, and it has a lot of energy compared to happiness when released
but if we use it destructively, all we do is destory our mood and keep misseries coming.

Final word is, people have to learn to have anger work for them possitively, not negatively.

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