9 Ways to Get More Out of Your Day

Time to Ignore the Hourglass
— By Life Coach Mary Guarino, Ph.D.

About The Author

Dr. Mary Guarino Dr. Mary Guarino is a life coach that specializes in helping people evaluate and improve their lives, particularly women, in the areas of life transitions and interpersonal relationships. She holds a Ph.D. in Lifespan Developmental Psychology and a coaching certificate from the Institute for Life Coaching.

Comment: This is a good article whether you are pregnant or caring for a very young child. Too often we have too much to do, we are exhausted, and the things that give us pleasure have to be put on the back burner. Another important part of living well is having friends and family who listen to you. Making sure when you voice your opinions, those opinions and ideas are not disregarded by the people who say they love you most.

Comment: I got this fabulous story from Susie E. She finds the neatest stuff. I’m wondering how difficult it would be to eat fish in front of fish? Would this be a terrible distraction for kids?

The  World's First All-glass Undersea Restaurant Opens


The  Maldives 15 April marks  the day that the first ever all-glass
undersea restaurant in the  world opens its doors for business at the
Hilton Maldives Resort  & Spa. Ithaa* will sit five meters below the waves of the Indian Ocean, surrounded by a vibrant coral reef and encased in clear acrylic offering diners 270 degrees of panoramic underwater views.

"We have used aquarium technology to put diners face to face with the stunning underwater environment of the Maldives," says Carsten Schieck, General manager of Hilton Maldives Resort and Spa. "Our guests always comment on being blown away byt the color, clarity, and beauty of the underwater world in the Maldives, so it seemed the perfect idea to build a restaurant where diners can experience fine cuisine and take time to enjoy the views without ever getting their feet wet."

Created by MJ Murphy Ltd, a design consultancy based in New Zealand, Ithaa’s distinctive feature is the use of curved transparent acrylic walls and roof are similar to those used in aquarium attractions. “The fact that the entire restaurant except for the floor is made of clear acrylic makes this unique in the world. We are currently planting a coral garden on the reef to add tot he spectacular views of the rays, sharks and many colorful fish that live around the area,” say’s Schieck.

Central Maine Morning Sentinel

I am confused about an issue related to the school funding problems referred to in Amy Calder’s March 29 article.

If we are truly struggling to adequately fund public education, kindergarten through grade 12, and I know we are, why are the Department of Education and others submitting bills to the state Legislature that appear to be advocating free public preschool education for all, regardless of a family’s ability to pay, or if whether a child is “at risk” in some way.

We are not just talking teachers. Consider a whole new tier of program development, assessment, teacher certification, transportation, etc. How can we afford to do this if we can’t afford teachers for our school-aged children? Who will pick up the tab? In my mind that’s just the tip of the iceberg, but it has me perplexed to say the least.

Mary-Lou Ogden

Waterville

Comment: This is a letter from a concerned reader, and it makes sense the way things are today. Now let’s take another step. The key word here is “school aged.” If we are going to think out of the box, then we have to be out of the box to accomplish something new.

Let’s consider the child first. What does it mean to say a child is school aged? In today’s common usage, school aged means a child who is traditionally five – eighteen. In today’s new world, perhaps we need to change that. In today’s world of internal individuality and external sameness, perhaps we need to finally realize that all children are not alike. They might all be dressed alike, and have the same haircuts, but internally, we realize that they are fundamentally very different.

Difference is seen especially in beginning education. Some children should start regular classes at three or four, and some not until they are six or seven, because each child makes the choice to listen and to understand when he is ready to let go of his baby years.

And who cares how old someone is at a particular landmark? Should all people who graduate from college be 21? Should all military recruits be 18? Should people wait until age 25 to marry?

Equipping a school corporation with preschool simply means it will take on another group of children. It doesn’t mean a whole new curriculum. Some four year olds are perfectly capable of doing regular kindergarten work, and that’s the point. The windows of education are open only for a short time. If the window closes because child has been held back to satisfy a birthdate cut off or a parent not willing to let go, the child is going to lose out.

At the same time, by insisting that a child who is naturally behind be pushed through the system, the child also suffers.

By opening schools to SOME four year olds, we are offering to those who are ready, a piece of the cake that otherwise might not happen until it’s too late. Children love to learn. They are hungry for knowledge and experience and that doesn’t just happen at some magic cut off date.

The Day

Getting Early Childhood Education Right

Comment: It’s like saying, “Every family needs to live in a three bedroom house, sit down at the table for such and such a meal at such and such a time, and everyone should take vitamins. ” There are so many professionals who want to trump up education to preschools, and the only thing they can think to do is procure money. I’ve said it before: shouldn’t the plan be in place first?

There is no plan because when you speak of really educating very young children, most people don’t have a clue about what that means. Because very young children don’t read, the idea is that they can’t really learn. Yet at the same time, professionals concede that the human being learns more during the preschool years than he will ever learn.

If that was different; if the human being learned more in the college years, and we made him dig ditches during those years, it would be a good insight into what’s wrong with today’s early childhood plan.

Article:

She offered a five-year plan for greater investment in PreK-16 education, a new kind of family-school-government partnership, and a clearly articulated statement of accountability for child outcomes and educational program performance.

This is not about tinkering around the edges. Funding for the preschool years and for the critical K-12 and higher education years that follow would be dramatically increased.

On March 2, the co-chairmmen of the General Assembly’s Education Committee pressed representatives of the administration on questions of timing and pacing, management and accountability.

Although everyone is using different words, the governor’s message and the message of legislative leadership has been virtually the same: Let’s get it done, but let’s get it right.

Last summer, the state’s Early Childhood Education Cabinet published a set of goals and proposed action steps to “get it right” for our youngest children. The report is short. Its title is catchy. And nearly 1,000 citizens have talked about it over the fall. In their view, the direction is right and we should get on with it.

In just six short words, the cabinet conveyed its goals for young children: Ready by 5, Fine by 9.

All children should be ready for the grand adventure of schooling as they enter kindergarten. All children should be achieving school success by the end of third grade, as measured by their reading scores.

The early childhood focus and the kindergarten-through-college focus are both built on a set of clear values and principles.

To have ready children, the cabinet reasoned, we need “ready families” because families are children’s protectors, caregivers, and first teachers. To have ready families, we need “ready communities” because children and families live, work and thrive (or not) in 169 Connecticut communities and thousands of neighborhoods.

To have children who achieve as students, we need “ready schools” that welcome, challenge and support both children and their families.

But families, schools, communities and local providers cannot do this alone, either. To achieve Connecticut’s two goals for early childhood — ready by five and fine by nine — we also need a “ready state.”

Connecticut already invests more than a half-billion dollars in programs for children to age five. Some argue that this is not enough. Indeed, the Governor’s budget proposes that we spend an additional $83 million over the next two years to help achieve our early childhood goals, and more after that. Beyond that, education aid to cities and towns would increase, over five years, by 59 percent.

How can we know that we are getting our money’s worth? How can we make these existing and new resources work better, smarter and harder for all of us? How can we make sure that our agencies and programs work together so every child, every family, and every dollar gets our personal attention? This the proper work of a “ready state.”

Last December, the Early Childhood Research and Policy Council — established by executive order and led by the business, philanthropic and education sectors — proposed up an Early Childhood Investment Plan. It makes a strong case for matching program expansion with investments in quality, accountability, management and data.

In short, they said, “Let’s get it done, but get it right.”

Last year about 41,500 babies were born in Connecticut. Unless things change dramatically, nearly half of them will come to the kindergarten door in 2011 without the full set of skills that they need for early schooling. If nothing changes, by 2015, one third of them will not have the academic skills to succeed in the 4th grade and beyond. And the pipeline to later school failure, teen pregnancy and crime will continue to be filled. Equally important, our employers — small and large — will not have access to the kind of smart, well-educated work force that they need to remain competitive in today’s “flat” world.

Some argue that we can build preschools or prisons; it’s our choice. While there are no silver bullets in this world or this work, the statement of making a “policy choice” is not far off the mark. Connecticut’s pipeline to educational, personal, societal and economic challenge (and, for too many, failure) begins here.

However the details of these investment proposals are finally shaped, we must be guided by one simple principle.

Let’s get it done, but get it right.

Janice M. Gruendel, Ph.D., is Gov. Rell’s senior advisor on Early Childhood Education and co-chairperson of the Early Childhood Education Cabinet. She lives in Branford.

Catholics Attack German Plans to Boost Child Care

(Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Durango’s Day-care Dilemma

By Thomas Munro and Karla Sluis | Herald Staff Writers

Martha McClellan has been getting the phone calls seeking child care.

“People calling from out of town trying to move here, they’re just shocked,” she said.

Alicia Zepeda’s been getting them too, 10 to 15 a day.

“One woman was in tears, calling me in tears,” she said.

Linda Brockway has been getting three calls a day about her 12 full slots.

“The shortage is really bad,” she said. “It’s gotten worse over the last two years for sure.”

McClellan and other members of the Early Childhood Council in La Plata County have formed a task force to get the word out about what they say is a crisis in child-care resources. As the Southwest Colorado Childcare Resource and Referral coordinator, she keeps a list of the 57 child-care providers in the county, in theory to refer mothers to providers. But in reality, she is generally referring them to waiting lists.

“For infants and toddlers, there’s nothing right now,” McClellan said. “Waiting lists are a couple of years long.

“Sometimes by the time the name comes up, they’ve gone to public school.”

At Children’s House, which provides care to 60 children ages 3-6 at a home on West Third Avenue, Zepeda saw her waiting list grow to 180 people before she replaced it with four lists limited to 20 children for each age group.

“It’s still not guaranteed they’ll get in,” she said. “I’ve had people on the list for two or three years.”

It’s not uncommon for local day cares to charge a fee to place a child’s name on a wait list. One school charges $50.

McClellan said Durango’s lack of slots is not unique but is worse than most parents have experienced.

“I think it’s a statewide problem, but it’s particularly difficult here,” she said.

As a result, many parents coming to Durango arrive with unrealistic expectations.

“They start by saying, ‘I’d like a Montessori preschool,'” McClellan said. Then they get a reality check.

McClellan said the deficit in child care, which she estimated at 719 slots in the 0-3 age group, is hard on both parents and children. For children, there are the potential benefits of licensed care at the time when 75 percent of their brain cells are developing, and they are learning to be social creatures. For parents, there is the need to have quality care for their children while they work.

“At least two women have lost their jobs that I know of because of the lack of child care,” McClellan said of her experience in eight months as the referral coordinator.

The quickest answer to the shortage would be the addition of more large centers such as Children’s House. But city and state licensing and regulations and low profits can make such businesses difficult propositions.

“It’s not a money-making business,” Zepeda said. “It’s hard to staff because you can’t pay teachers.”

McClellan said local day-care center teachers are paid on average $11 per hour. A few centers also provide benefits. Working parents in La Plata County pay on average $630 per month for full-time day care for infants, and $551 per month for toddlers.

Providers face hurdles

The cost of real estate in Durango makes the purchase of large homes for centers nearly impossible. Increasingly active neighborhood organizations resist the centers, which can mean increased traffic. City fees and parking requirements for businesses are other major hurdles.

There are two major categories of licensed child-care providers: the large centers like Children’s House and individual homes serving smaller numbers of children.

Brockway, who provides child care for six kids at a time in her west 23rd Street home, enjoys a better profit margin than Zepeda but faces different challenges.

“In your own house you don’t have the flexibility, and it can be isolating,” Brockway said.

For this and other reasons, McClellan said many licensed home providers quit after two or three years once their own kids are old enough for school.

Farmington resident Aimee Girard followed this pattern. She ran Teddy Bear Daycare from her former home on Glenisle Avenue in Durango. She started the business in 2001 because she had been laid off and had trouble finding a job. She also wanted to be home when her four children got home from school.

“I think there are a lot of people who decide to do it as a business because they can’t afford to pay for outside day care.”

Some open, others close

But three years later, she decided to close.

“Part of it was burnout, and a big part of it was a change of life with my marriage and family,” Girard said.

“As soon as a couple (providers) open, another couple will close,” said McClellan, who also helps shepherd potential providers toward education and licensing.

Individual nannies are not on McClellan’s referral list, but she says there is a deep need for the service.

“I get requests all the time from the hotels,” she said. “A professional nanny service that’s licensed and bonded would be very successful here.”

McClellan said a number of child-care ventures have failed in Durango because of three key factors: the lack of business savvy of many providers, slim profit margins and a lack of city and county support.

Zepeda said she had seen little government help.

“I would like to see more of a cooperative basis with the city and the state to somehow help us with the real estate or regulation aspects,” she said.

Looking up?

Help may be on the way, as the work of McClellan’s task force is beginning to bear fruit. She said a letter she wrote that was published in The Durango Herald drew responses from City Councilor Renee Parsons and now-newly-elected councilors Leigh Meigs and Michael Rendon, all pledging to begin to address the subject after the election. She also met with County Commissioner Joelle Riddle, who said Tuesday the child-care shortage was a painfully familiar issue for her.

“Being a single mother in Durango was really devastating for me,” Riddle said.

She said sufficient quality child care is an essential element of the quality of life in La Plata County.

“I want to research all the possibilities,” she said.

One part of the solution to Durango’s major child-care shortfall will likely be finding more people like Brockway, who said her job is great because she gets “paid to play all day.”

“If you really like kids, it’s the way to go,” she said.

Girard agrees, and says she has even considered reopening her day care in Farmington, where she says parents also struggle to find spots for their children.

“The biggest reward was having the kids in my home,” Girard said. “They’re still a part of my family. And I liked being able to help support working families and be a part of raising their kids.”

karla@durangoherald`.com

I’m posting this because it’s just fun and so like working with kids. It’s about humor. We all need more humor in our lives. We all need to laugh more. Watch a child; he’s laughing a lot. When the noise level gets really loud in school, the question is always, “Are they laughing or crying?” If they are laughing that’s a good thing – open a door and let ‘er rip.

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a “gripe
sheet,” which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft.

The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the
form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here
are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas’ pilots
(marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by
maintenance engineers.

By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has “never, ever”, had an accident.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.

S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.

S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.

S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.

S: Live bugs on backorder.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet
per minute descent.

S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.

S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.

S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.

S: That’s what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.

S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.

S: Suspect you’re right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.

S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.

S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.

S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.

S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last……..

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a
midget pounding on something with a hammer.

S: Took hammer away from midget

Just for fun from Susie E:

Gentle Thoughts For Today:

Birds of a feather flock together and crap on your car.

When I'm feeling down, I like to whistle. It makes the neighbor's dog run to the end of his chain and gag himself.

A penny saved is a government oversight.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement

He who hesitates is probably right.

Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are " XL."

If you think there is good in everybody, you haven't met everybody.

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he can tell when he's really in trouble.

There's always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt.

Did you ever notice when you put the together with IRS it spells “theirs?”

I’m very excited because yesterday Miss Amy’s friend Cat came over as a Master Gardener of Evansville, and proposed a wonderful gardening project.

Beginning today, each of our children will form a team of 2 to put in their own little garden outside by the parking lot. Today we will begin to think about what we’d like to plant in our own little patch.

On Wednesday, we will clean up the plot, weed, and get ready to measure off three feet areas and make the patch our own. We will make little signs that designate who belongs to what.

Every Wednesday we will work on this through the summer.

The Master Gardeners will come in on Wednesdays to teach about plants, work with the children in the gardens and help them keep a plant journal. It’s a great program and we are very grateful.

Please make sure you begin to visit our gardens regularly.

POINT OF VIEW/ Ikuko Arikita:Don’t leave child-care burden only to women

04/07/2007

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Comment: I love this. It’s well worth reading. This woman and those she is writing about could be anywhere.

I am a mother of three children in Kawasaki. Perhaps health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa might call me “a very healthy birth-giving machine.”

In addition to raising my children, I have also volunteered on child care issues for the last 14 years, publishing a child-care information magazine, offering counseling and organizing mothers’ circles and lectures.

The government’s proposals on the declining birthrate are very questionable.

For one thing, the government says if the birthrate falls any further, the pension system will fall apart. Yet the whole purpose of social security systems is to provide an environment for the populace to live happily.

Saying women must produce more babies just to maintain a system is like putting the cart before the horse. There is something wrong with a system that cannot be maintained. It makes more sense to change the system.

Faced with a declining birthrate, we need to work out a way for people to lead happy lives when there are fewer children.

Mothers risk their lives to give birth. Once babies are born, parents must tend them 24 hours a day for years without a break. This burden falls mostly on mothers and women in child-care services.

In other words, women are forced to turn to each other to make up for the government’s lack of aid for raising families.

Although local governments say they are willing to help, they are implementing budget cuts. With no money or outside help to count on, today’s mothers are struggling.

Some mothers who come to our group meetings say their husbands are overworked and depressed, so they cannot ask them to help out more with the kids. Others complain that while they want to work, they can’t because day-care centers are full.

The gap among working women is also growing wider, not only in terms of wages but also over child-care leave and the understanding of their employers and co-workers.

Rising reports of child abuse can also be partly blamed on financial difficulties at home. Although communities across Japan have opened centers where children can play under the eye of child-care specialists, poor families do not have the money to enroll their children in such programs.

Another emerging trend questions “parents’ ability to raise children.” But all the mothers I know work hard and deal well with their children every day. The more concerned they are about their children, the more troubled and hurt they are at such criticism from those around them.

And the media hypes up problems in the home, such as kids’ refusal to go to school and juvenile crime. It even divides people into “winners” and “losers,” a cruel attitude that makes parents more anxious and drives children into corners.

It is unreasonable for the government and society to expect community volunteers to support them alone.

For several years in the Kanagawa Prefecture and Tokyo area, I and several university teachers have run a workshop for mothers that focuses on self-development. The classes aim to help mothers to get together and write and talk about their child-care problems. In doing so, they can confirm their own growth and development as they care for their children.

Last year, a young father-to-be took part in our program. This man, after hearing moms speak about their pregnancies and the problems they encountered in raising their children, told them: “Thank you for doing a fine job.”

One mother told me: “It was the first time someone other than my husband has ever said something like that to me.” Others also said they were moved by his words.

After his child was born, the young man started his own child-care group. Every time a new mother joins, he tells her the same words, he said.

The declining birthrate is not Japan’s most serious problem. It is the government’s and society’s attitude of placing the burden of child care on women alone.

The government’s measures to fight the declining birthrate continue to put pressure on mothers both implicitly and explicitly.