How is your child affected during the first 9 months during pregancy?

Amplify’d from www.parentsconnect.com

What are some Valentine's traditions I can start with my family?

The earlier you start traditions, the more likely they will continue to be practiced and cherished. For young ones, you might want to try putting red food coloring in their milk, make heart-shaped pancakes with red heart smiley faces or stick valentines and chocolate kisses in their lunch boxes. Do something uniquely meaningful for each of your children, to show them that they are each your special valentine. (And as they grow older, the specific "something" may change, but the tradition will remain.) Perhaps dinner can consist of everyone's favorite food—which might mean that you end up with several dessert items on the table!

You can also spread the tradition of love to include other people, or things. Teach random acts of kindness, and encourage your kids to find three ways that they can be loving and caring on February 14. Or do family acts of kindness. For instance, take cookies to a nursing home, bring food to the local animal shelter, send homemade cards to kids in the hospital or make a contribution to your favorite charity.

Answered by Dr. Vicki Panaccione Read more at www.parentsconnect.com

 

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How is your child affected during the first 9 months during pregancy?

Amplify’d from committedparent.wordpress.com

Like it or not, parents and teachers are in the brain change business!

“No matter what business you’re involved in, first and foremost you’re in the brain change business.” So asserts Houston neuro-psychiatrist, Bruce Perry. In line with that premise, it makes great sense to know at least a few of the basics about how your own and other people’s brains grow and change in ways that could possibly help make them work like Einstein’s, Michelangelo’s and Mother Teresa’s all rolled into one!

The brain is perhaps best thought of as a collection of interconnected endocrine glands – roughly 52 indiv- idual parts controlling different actions. They all must work together to “process energy and infor- mation.” Thinking about the brain in such terms – as a network of organs that must optimally process the energy and information of our daily lives – turns out to be a very useful template to help us understand our own and others’ reactions to the world, and to make good decisions in response to them. Ideally, we only want ourselves and our family and friends involved in activities that their brains are developmentally suited to handle, and perhaps a little bit more. It’s the “little bit more” that can become tricky, which is how we build resilience in ourselves and our kids. I’ll be discussing resilience often in these columns.

Associations Make it Happen

Another important way to think about our brain is as an associating organ. By that, I simply mean that it learns a lot by putting things together. Things like words and pictures, up and down, hot and cold, thoughts and feelings. By pairing things that make the brain feel good with things that we want ourselves or our children to learn, the neurons in the brain become richly connected. A variation of this is sometimes known as “Grandmother’s Rule: You may do what you want to do – when you’ve done what you need to do.” By pairing preferred actions with less exciting necessary duties, like brushing teeth and going to bed at a set, regular time, reinforced learning takes place

Plastic is as Plastic Does

Finally, one last thing to realize and remember about the brain and the business of trying to change it, is that the brain is exquisitely “plastic. Read more at committedparent.wordpress.com

 

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How is your child affected during the first 9 months during pregancy?

We know that a mother who abuses drugs or smokes can cause damages to the physical and mental state of their children. What about one's general mental health and style of personality? Does playing Mozart really help the fetus? Can reading to a child in the womb make them a better reader? Author Annie Murphy Paul researches this very ideas in her new book. Take a look at the clipping form the Scientific American magazine on her book below. Share your thoughts on this interesting concept about the first 9 months!

Amplify’d from www.scientificamerican.com

Origins: How the Nine Months before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives by Annie Murphy Paul. Free Press, 2010

Does your birth month have an impact on your mental health? The startling answer seems to be yes. “Schizophrenics are about 10 percent more likely than the rest of the population to have been born in late winter and early spring,” says journalist Annie Murphy Paul in Origins: How the Nine Months before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives. The reason for that could be that mothers are more likely to catch a viral infection during that time of the year.

Origins provides a journey through the burgeoning field of fetal origins. Paul explores the extent to which a mother’s experience influences the fetus’s physical and mental development.

Contrary to prevailing notions, the placenta is not an insulating capsule that completely protects the fetus from the outside world. Paul describes the womb as a mailbox that constantly accepts “biological postcards from the world outside.” The food a mother eats and the emotions she feels during pregnancy send important signals to the fetus that become “part of its flesh and blood.” Read more at www.scientificamerican.com

 

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What are the 11 Big Trends for 2011?

What's your take on these "crucial consumer trends?"

Amplify’d from trendwatching.com

December 2010 | Another new year, another roller coaster of threats and opportunities. We tend to focus on the latter as, amidst currency wars and defaulting nations, there are more opportunities than ever for creative brands and entrepreneurs to deliver on changing consumer needs. From Brazil to Belgium. No rest for the wicked in 2011!

1. RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS In 2011, there will be no excuses left not to be kind as a brand. Here's why... Read more » 2. URBANOMICS Are you ready for hundreds of millions of more daring, more experienced consumers? And that's just one side effect of rapid global urbanization... Read more » 3. PRICING PANDEMONIUM Flash sales, group buying, GPS-driven deals: in 2011 pricing will never be the same... Read more » 4. MADE FOR CHINA (IF NOT BRIC) In 2011, expect an increasing number of 'Western' brands to launch new products or even new brands dedicated (if not paying proper respect) to consumers in emerging markets... Read more » 5. ONLINE STATUS SYMBOLS In 2011, you can’t go wrong supplying your (online-loving) customers with any kind of symbol, virtual or 'real world', that helps them display to peers their online contributions, creations or popularity... Read more » 6. WELLTHY As good health is now as important to some consumers as having the biggest, newest or shiniest status symbols, growing numbers of consumers will expect health products and services in 2011 to prevent misery (if not improve their quality of life), rather than merely treating illnesses and ailments... Read more » 7. SOCIAL-LITES AND TWINSUMERS SOCIAL-LITES are all about discovery, as consumers become curators; actively broadcasting, remixing, compiling, commenting, sharing and recommending content, products, purchases, experiences to both their friends and wider audiences... Read more » 8. EMERGING GENEROSITY In 2011, brands and wealthy individuals from emerging markets (yes, especially China) will increasingly be expected to give, donate, care and sympathize versus just sell and take. And not just in their home countries, but on a global scale... Read more » 9. PLANNED SPONTANEITY With lifestyles having become fragmented, with dense urban environments offering consumers any number of instantly available options, and with cell/smartphones having created a generation who have little experience of making (or sticking to) rigid plans, 2011 will see full-on PLANNED SPONTANEITY... Read more » 10. ECO SUPERIOR When it comes to 'green consumption' in 2011, expect a rise in ECO-SUPERIOR products: products that are not only eco-friendly, but superior to polluting incumbents in every possible way... Read more » 11. OWNER-LESS 2011 could be the year when sharing and renting really tips into mainstream consumer consciousness... Read more » Read more at trendwatching.com

 

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What a deal? Facebook's new game changer?

Do you offer 'deals" at your place of business or online marketing service? Share your thoughts here.

Amplify’d from www.atiattractionmarketing.com

Facebook Deals is a new feature of Facebook Places. Deals was created so businesses can offer specials to the millions of people participating in Places. What can Deals do for you? Simple, it can help you get customers, spread the word about your brand and build customer loyalty.

First off there are 4 kinds of deals you can offer:

Individual Deals: If you’re looking to offer a one-time deal, create an Individual Deal. You can offer this type of deal to both new and existing customers

Loyalty Deals: To focus on rewarding your most loyal customers, create a Loyalty Deal. You have the opportunity to create a deal that can be claimed after no fewer than two and no more than 20 check-ins. Virtual Punch Cards!!!

Charity Deals: Show people that you care about more than just the bottom line. Create Charity Deals to make a donation in the amount of your choice to the charity of your choice each time someone claims your deal. This is a great way for your business to give back to the community. Please note that you must manage the donation process.

Friend Deals: People don’t always buy, shop, or eat alone. To offer a deal to a group of people, create a Friend Deal. Friend Deals allow you to offer discounts to groups of up to 8 people, when they check in together. These deals can build even more exposure for your business because in order to claim your deal, your customers need to introduce what you have to offer to their friends and family. Read more at www.atiattractionmarketing.com

 

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Amplify’d from www.heartmath.org

er as a day of gratitude for the nations’ harvest

Thanksgiving Day in the United States and – did you know – in Brazil is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November as a day of gratitude for the nations’ harvests

Advanced research at the Institute of HeartMath and elsewhere has provided evidence that gratitude is not simply a nice sentiment or feeling. Sustained feelings of gratitude have real benefits, including the following:

Biochemical changes

Increased positivity

Boost to the immune system

Emotional "compound interest"

Thankfully, gratitude and appreciation can create their own positive psychophysiological holiday in your body – without the necessity of a feast.

Appreciation Exercise

Take a few short appreciation breaks during the day. During each break take one or two minutes to breathe deeply through the area of the heart. While doing so, try to hold a sincere feeling of appreciation in your heart area

activating a positive feeling like appreciation literally shifts our physiology, helping to balance our heart rhythms and nervous system, and creates more coherence between the heart, brain and rest of the body.Read more at www.heartmath.org

 

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Follow Thirsty Fish on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter (tough decisions)

When you are marketing, you have to be tough. That includes tough decisions, like to keep or not keep a blog running. I know a blog opens up search engine opportunities but I have had to look at my time and consider how to best use it to promote the Thirsty Fish mission and brand. Without going through the gory details, I have decided not to keep this blog running. Thirsty Fish will keep swimming along a sea of questions and answers but in new waters, so to speak.
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