I thought this was an interesting read by www.ekklesia.co.uk
"In recent years, the small number of
Christians who turn up to protest against Pride have been vastly outnumbered
by the Christians participating in it." www.christiansatpride.com
.

Lack of Money Perceived to Reduce Family Quality Time

In connection with last week's article entry, research has demonstrably proven that shortage of money can reduce the amount of time a family spends together. According to Peter Russell, the average family nowadays spends a mere amount of 49 minutes together daily. Natural bonding as well as the appropriate conveyance of values appear to be getting lost in that limited time frame.

 More than two-thirds of parents believe that in order to spend quality time with their children, a certain amount of cash is needed arguably for entertainment purposes. Parents and children alike believe that quality time revolves around spending their income. However, many overlook the fact that the strength of relationships can be improved via various other, less money-consuming activities.

Now during summer-time picnics in the park/garden and visits to the local playground are perfect destinations for soaking up the sun, and if the weather does not permit countryside outings, then these old, dusty board games stored away in cupboards can be of great use towards an entertaining family afternoon. Therefore, spending time together as a family does not necessarily mean to be spending loads of money even though consumerism likes to pond on the fact that the quality of life increases with the products we purchase.

Especially children seem to be magically drawn towards the colourful world of advertising which is why it is ever more so important to teach children the value of money at an early stage of their young life. Some parents do not see the correlation between shopping and stress. Going out to acquire products for and together with your children is not a very peaceful way of spending time together depending on the demands of the child and the gap between the child's expectations and the parents' disposition to fulfil these expectations.

Ever more often, it is important to leave the world of consumerism and consumption behind, relax and unwind. Only if the parents are at ease, it is possible to truly enjoy quality time and enhance and strengthen family relationships.

If you are interested in further information on how to manage your money effectively, why not attend one of our courses.

"If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings."

Brian Tracy

Today's the day! Off to my Step Up! To Your Confidence Course

I'm onto my final preparations for tomorrow's Step Up To Your Confidence
Course

'It is far better to be free to govern or misgovern yourself than to be
governed by anybody else'. Kwame Nkrumah

Just come back from an amazing mind-blowing workshop with Martin Williams on
7 Steps to increase Assets & Profitability of your business. The man is
seriously good!!! He filled so many gaps for me today in business growth and
development. Brilliant!

Parents behaving more confidently and authoritatively on week 4 of Easy
Tiger Parents Programmes

Remember I shared with you just few weeks ago that I have 3 parents on one
of my current Easy Tiger Parents Programmes whose children are hitting them.
Well, now that the parents have been given the tools to manage themselves
generally as an individual in their own right, as a partner and as a parent,
it is now time to focus on the children's behaviour. We will spend the whole
session next week dealing with this but only from a position of giving the
parents the tools to manage THEMSELVES within the situation and tools for
them to support their children to learn to communicate their wishes and
feelings without lashing out. I believe that children's behaviour is simply
a form of communication that something is wrong! Notice that the focus is
always on the parents to MANAGE the situation to affect CHANGE!

Meeting this morning and sales/profitability workshop. All day event but I
have some final preparations to do for tomorrow's Step Up! To Your
Confidence Course. Delegates are waiting in anticipation of and I am Looking
forward to it

Finished some preparation for Step Up! To Your Confidence Course Friday 25
June 2010

Creating a job description and contract of employment for admin assistant

Money skills can be taught to children from a very young age. For more information, follow this link: http://www.mainstreet.com/article/family/kids/tips-parents-teach-money-skills-any-age.

This quote has come to me again for the third time in a row: "When the door
is closed, you must learn to slide across the crack of the sill." Yoruba
Proverb. And I'm listening and looking at new ways of getting my service out
there to liberate more parents and to enlighten more professionals and
parents about self harm

Just 2 days to go for my Step Up! To Your Confidence Course. Looking forward
to a dynamic, exhilarating day

'When people say it's not the money, it's the principle, it's the money!'
Stuart Wilde. Parents Manage Your Money! Tele-Seminar/Tele-Conference 11
August 2010. Join here
http://ping.fm/5fuSg

Easy Tiger Parents Programmes today. Last week and this week - HUGE
Breakthrough weeks for parents!

How easy is it to pass on the right values to your children about money? See
my blog www.jennifermcleod.co.uk

Parents and Money

Managing disposable income and passing on the right values about dealing with financial matters is not always an easy task for parents. Many caregivers do not realize in what ways their money can go to waste and miss out on savings opportunities. In times of recession, financial matters seem to be top priority of many among us. A great risk to the parents' financial budget are the so called "boomerangers" – graduates and young adults who due to financial problems or relationship breakups have been forced to move back in with their parents.

Monetary problems, however, are not always the result of a financial crisis but are often self-induced. Many new parents start making wrong decisions financially as soon as their baby is born. Instead of investing in long-term saving plans for university, they overspend on clothing, cribs, push chairs, etc. without realising that most of these newly bought items will only be in use for just about a year. When money is short, parents could opt for hand-me-downs or go to second-hand shops and yard or car boot sales. The problem is, that the money-spending pattern of parents will reflect on their children. If parents are likely to spend money more generously they can actually afford to, chances are that their children will end up in debt as well.

In order to avoid this scenario, parents should feel inclined to talk about the taboo topic money to their children. These money lessons should take place as an early age as possible. Thanks to advertising and television, children can comprehend what money can buy at a very early stage in life. Therefore, it is important to pass on the values of money to children from a very young age onwards. Another problem is that in our digitalised word electronic gadgets for children are becoming increasingly expensive. The only way for children to learn how to handle money is via learning from their parents, e.g. by giving them a weekly spending budget. One has to keep in mind that parents also function as teachers, educators and promoters of their own personal values.

For a company like Step Up! International, it is a priority to educate parents on managing their money so that they can pass on these values to their children. 

'The moment you move out of the way, you make room for the miracle to take
place.' Dr Barbara King. How are you standing in your way?