And this is why you don’t put things you don’t want out in public on your MySpace page. A student teacher has been refused her credential due to a picture labeled “drunken pirate” on her MySpace page, because the college felt the photo was unprofessional. They felt the photo would encourage underage drinking.

Considering that she was rated superior or competent in all other areas, I find this ridiculous. It’s a part of her private life, and it’s certainly not that she was showing underage drinking. Drinking is legal for teachers off duty, after all.

I could even see the college informing her that it would be a good idea to take the image down and remind her that some would see it as unprofessional. But to deny her the credential she had earned over something so simple is ridiculous. Read the rest of this entry »

Guilt. It surrounds a mother’s day pretty much no matter the choices she makes. Work outside the home? Negligent. Stay at home? Lazy.

And it just keeps coming.

No matter what you do, sometimes you have to make compromises. You may have to work outside the home so that your family has enough to eat and a roof over their heads. Or it may just keep you sane. Despite what some may say, this is not a bad thing!

That’s a point where I disagree with many of my fellow stay at home moms. Many feel a mother should stay at home if at all possible. I agree, but my definition of possible includes mom’s sanity.

Frankly, I think there are more important things for a mother to worry about than whether or not her choices meet with everyone else’s approval. Doing the best you can for your family in your own way is far more important. Read the rest of this entry »

I see it all the time, people wanting to work at home but not knowing how to get started. And it’s interesting to see who has realistic ideas about what they could do and who has been taken in by the fantasy of the easy life working at home.

You see, one of the most important things you can do is ask yourself questions about working at home. Don’t just go to forums and ask everyone else. You need to ask yourself too.

• Ask yourself what you want to do from home.

“I don’t know, whatever pays well,” is not a good enough answer. Looking for ways to work at home when you don’t have any goals at all is not going to get you anywhere.

This is why you always hear answers about the need to have a passion for whatever you do. It is the starting point for any at-home career. You need more than just passion, but without that you aren’t likely to get far. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s one of the most dangerous things you can do as a parent – washing your children’s favorite stuffed animals. It can lead to tears, tantrums and begging for the swift return of the filthy toy.

But you have to be careful in washing these toys. They can be highly sensitive to the heat from the dryer, may develop splits in their seams, rough fur or other issues.

Many can be safely washed in the washer. Tying them up in a pillowcase can help protect them from damage in there.

But others can only stand surface washing. This is especially true of stiff toys where time spent in the washer can break them down too much. You may have to rely on surface washing with these. Using a soapy cloth and warm water is generally sufficient. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite how easy it is to dread science, it can be a lot of fun for your children. Kids love to do basic science experiments from a very early age.

One of the easiest ways to encourage an interest in science is to buy science kits. Depending on your children’s ages, these can be simple or more complex, and require varying amounts of direct parental supervision.

Even though she’s too young for most of them, my daughter has been begging for a robot kit. At her age, a robot kit would have to be just a few quick clicks, not something really challenging. She’s 4, after all, and many are for ages 14+. Were she old enough, though, she’d probably enjoy something like the amphibious solar vehicle.

In the past we did show her how to do a crystal growing kit. It wasn’t something she could do herself, but she certainly could watch the way I mixed it for her, and wait rather impatiently for them to grow. Of course, the impatience probably lasts a while. But the nice thing about the crystal growing kit was that we managed to break them down and do it over again.

I’ve often enjoyed helping my kids with some science basics. At the ages of my kids, kitchen level experiments work well, but as they get older we’ll get more complex. It’s a lot of fun.

Reading other blogs can be addicting. It can also eat up way too much time. However, many times I find inspiration for things I want to blog about, topics I want to comment on, or just plain interesting reading. Done right, reading a range of blogs isn’t too bad a time waster (other times, though…).

1. The Dilbert Blog
   Way too much fun. The comments can take a lot of time to read, so I don’t always go through them, but surprisingly thought provoking at times.
2. ShoeMoney
   One of the big affiliate marketing blogs. Lots of great topics and food for thought.
3. ClickNewz
   Lynn Terry’s blog about internet marketing. Often interesting and some pretty good interaction.
4. SEOmoz
   I read this one kind of off and on. Lots of great information, though.
5. ProBlogger
   Lots of tips on earning money as a blogger and plenty of comments.
6. eMoms at Home
   Another of those blogs I can really get into as a fellow work at home mom.
7. Table for 5
   I grew up with my mom and 3 sisters, so I can really sympathize with such a crowd. Raising kids can be mighty hectic.
8. GeekySpeaky
   Just appeals to the geek in me. She also runs the SupahStar Saturday meme, which I was recently featured in.
9. SEO Book Blog
   Really interesting if you’re interesting in SEO and what’s going on with search.
10. Freakonomics Blog
    Not an everyday read, but the titles drag me in often enough.
11. Green Options Blog
    Lots of great posts on the environment and environmental products.
12. Chris Garrett on New Media
    SEO, blog critiques and so much more.
13. Self Made Minds
    Blog by a couple of internet entrepreneurs. Certainly something I can get into.

No, I don’t read every post every day; I’d lose way too much working time. But these all get scanned regularly, and interesting topics read more carefully.

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One of the hardest things about working at home is the tendency for it to take over a great deal of your day. This can be true of work at home jobs, but it is far more likely to be true when you run a home business. After all, you don’t want to just drop things when business picks up.

But this is hard when you’re trying to be there for your family. Working more hours means less time with your children. What can you do?

One of the things that can really help is knowing when you need to hire someone to help you with your business. Think about getting a virtual assistant for those routine matters that don’t need your personal attention, for example.

If you do a lot of article marketing, you should consider investing in an article submission program or membership. I use Article Marketer (with a lifetime membership), and I love it. Write up my articles, then schedule their distribution through their system. They get the big article sites as well as tons of little ones and article mailing lists. That saves me hours and hours of work. Read the rest of this entry »

[tags]wordless wednesday[/tags]

I’ve read the usual theories on time outs. Most say a minute per year of age is generally about right. But it’s my experience that it isn’t always enough.

To me, the length can depend on what you need to accomplish with the time out. Sometimes a time out is just a cool off, in which case a few minutes may be all that is needed.

But I’ve found that with my daughter sometimes a short time out is just not sufficient to make her think about what she’s doing. 4-5 minutes sitting in time out is nothing to her if she’s just in that mood to refuse to do her chores. A longer one becomes necessary to get her attention.

So I’m curious about what methods other parents use to set the length of a time out. I use shorter times for minor issues or cool off time, but I’ve noticed a definite need for longer ones when I need my daughter to think a little harder.

How about in your family?

[tags]time out,children,kids,discipline[/tags]

I know my kids get frustrated sometimes hearing the word “no”. I’m also sure there are times they hear “yes” more often than they should. It’s tough being strict enough without overdoing it.

One of the things I’ve noticed is that no matter how hard you try to be fair, when you have more than one child each will be treated a little differently. I consider this quite reasonable, actually. What you allow each child to do and to have depends on their age and needs.

For me, saying no to my son can be harder. It’s not that I want to spoil him, it’s that he’s still only talking a little bit, so he has to put a lot more effort into asking for things (mostly by dragging me and pointing), so he asks for less. Read the rest of this entry »