War Declared On Instant Messenger: How to Stop Your Child from Wasting Their Life Away Online

Written by Christopher Pizzo M.Ed.


Hey Parents! I hate to tell you, but there is no such thing as “useful instant messaging”. Your crafty child might try to take advantage of your lack of “Techie” know how when they say in that whiney voice... “But Mom I’m IMing my friends about homework.” Don’t buy it! They are simply playing uprepparttar school is important bit so they can get you off their back.

To be fair, yes kids might spend a couple minutes discussing their school assignments. But for every 30 seconds of actual work, another 30 minutes are lost in useless chatter withrepparttar 111218 hundred or so “friends” on their buddy list! And if your child consistently pullsrepparttar 111219 “I didn’t knowrepparttar 111220 assignment” excuse, then bigger school problems than instant messaging are onrepparttar 111221 horizon.

You can easily stoprepparttar 111222 hours upon hours of instant messaging with one simple gesture… PULL THE PLUG! Now, I don’t really mean to literally pullrepparttar 111223 plug out ofrepparttar 111224 computer on your child. The last thing we want to do is get into a power struggle with your child, or break your $1500 computer.

No, what I mean is simply lay downrepparttar 111225 law. Allocate a specific period of instant messaging time per day. One hour of IMing is not going to kill anyone or their social life. And in that one hour time slot they will have plenty of time to discuss homework, their teacher,repparttar 111226 new kid in class, or whatever.

Right now you might be saying, “That sounds great Chris, but what happens when my kid refuses to adhere torepparttar 111227 allotted time?” When your child disregards your house rules it simply means they have too much free time on their hands. We all know that idleness isrepparttar 111228 devil’s playground. It might be time to up their chore responsibilities. Or sign them up for an after school art class or even a sport or karate. Sometimesrepparttar 111229 best answer is to simply spend some quality time with them. Set up a time each day to play scrabble, take a walk or cook something together. It really doesn’t matter what it is, just play to your kids interests and keep them busy.

Living the Simple Life

Written by Arleen M. Kaptur


The trend of today for many people is to liverepparttar "simple life." However, what exactly isrepparttar 111217 simple life? There are as many answers to this question as there are individuals looking to findrepparttar 111218 peace and contentment that seems so evasive. Yet, in their hearts there is a void, an empty spot that modern consumption just cannot fill. So,people sit there pondering what they can do to liverepparttar 111219 simple life, whilerepparttar 111220 television's volume is on high andrepparttar 111221 voice mail fills up with messages. After all this thinking, hunger comes into play. A quick trip to McDonald's or Burger King and then back home to an evening of station-broadcast news and opinions, and thenrepparttar 111222 comedies of late-night shows. You knwo,repparttar 111223 no-holds-barred laughter at everything and anything, and nothing is beyond beignrepparttar 111224 butt of jokes.

The Simple Life is right there in your heart and in your home. It just needs a little dusting off, or perhaps you can move some of your possessions torepparttar 111225 side to make room for Simple Life to breathe some fresh air and come into play in your life. Whoa! how can a person haverepparttar 111226 simple life right there when real simple life is living inrepparttar 111227 woods withrepparttar 111228 bears andrepparttar 111229 deer and hunting and fishing for your food. Yes, there are some that find this type of life very satisfying and then there are those that do not. Who is correct? Both are indeed correct. The Simple Life is not letting your possessions control you, it is living within your means and not worrying about mounting debt, and it is laughter, quiet, and learning and evaluating all that goes around you. It is not accepting what you see on television orrepparttar 111230 internet as written in stone; for in fact, it is someone's opinion or view of a situation and it may or may not be yours. It is not joining every group, committee, or cause, so that there is no time for famly, friends, and individualism.

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