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I love singing to my 2 year old (30+ lb) baby as I put him into his crib each night and my back is not hurting me… I have been using the AnthroDesk ErgoSlant Anti-Fatigue Mat for a while now and I can tell the difference.
I am sure you were wondering why I would review a desk mat on a family-related site, but I am a working-mom who is up between 5 and 6 with the kids and do not get off my feet until 11. I am either running after the kids, standing at my desk or on my feet cooking and cleaning. As you can imagine, my back, neck, legs, knees, feet… basically, everything aches! My lovely husband (aka Daddy of the Daddy’s Life) received an offer from AnthroDesk to try the ErgoSlant Anti-Fatigue Mat, knowing that I have a standup desk at work, he turned this to opportunity to me. The plan was for me to take it to work but I decided to open the box and ‘test’ it at home first. Although it may not have been specifically designed for home use, it has been so helpful at home it never made it to the office...
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Raising Money Savvy Kids: Embracing Your Role as Chief Financial Parent As a parent, you want to prepare your children for a lifetime of success. Teaching your kids about the value of money can help them establish a healthy relationship with money so they make smart, informed decisions about their financial futures. But, talking about money isn’t easy. Some parents feel reluctant to start the conversation because they are afraid that talking about wealth will have an adverse impact on their child’s initiative and ambition. Other parents simply don’t know how to do it or where to begin. Preparing for the Money Talk Money is a complex subject and talking about it may bring up a range of complicated feelings. However, if you avoid the topic, you may miss an important opportunity to educate your children and prepare them for financial success. By starting these conversations early, you make money a family matter and set the foundation for an ongoing, lifelong dialogue. But, before you begin the conversations with your kids, you need to prepare by exploring and understanding your own values about wealth. Ask yourself these important questions:
Once you have a clear picture of your own values, discuss them with your spouse or partner. The more successful you are in harmonizing your messages about money, the more successful you’ll be in managing the conversation with your children. Breaking the Ice The key to getting your kids to listen to—and participate in—a conversation about money is to talk with them, not at them. The money talk should be a conversation, rather than a lecture. You might want to try asking your children questions that challenge their assumptions about money and inspire them to formulate their own answers. If you aren’t sure where to start, begin with the basics: earning, saving, spending, borrowing and giving. Any conversation about money should include a discussion about priorities and the difference between needs, wants and wishes. It may also be useful to talk about what money means to you as a family:
If you need help navigating the money talk, a Financial Advisor can help you create a family mission statement or provide tips that help you tackle difficult money topics and transform them into meaningful family discussions. Disclosures Article by Morgan Stanley and provided courtesy of Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor. Jonathan Macy is a Financial Advisor in Aventura, Florida at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”). He can be reached by email at jonathan.macy@morganstanley.com or by telephone at (305) 937 – 6802. This article has been prepared for informational purposes only. The information and data in the article has been obtained from sources outside of Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley makes no representations or guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the information or data from sources outside of Morgan Stanley. It does not provide individually tailored investment advice and has been prepared without regard to the individual financial circumstances and objectives of persons who receive it. The strategies and/or investments discussed in this article may not be suitable for all investors. Morgan Stanley recommends that investors independently evaluate particular investments and strategies, and encourages investors to seek the advice of a Financial Advisor. The appropriateness of a particular investment or strategy will depend on an investor’s individual circumstances and objectives. Jonathan Macy may only transact business, follow-up with individualized responses, or render personalized investment advice for compensation, in states where he is registered or excluded or exempted from registration, FINRA Broker Check http://brokercheck.finra.org/Search/Search.aspx]. © 2018 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. CRC 2159768 07/2018 We will go on and on about this, but reading is fundamental. We have read to our children from Day 1. We have not stopped. At a minimum, we read 2-3 books to each of our boys every night before bed. They love it. Every single minute. Is it easy to fit into a working parent's schedule every single day? Of course not! But it means the world to our boys so we figure it out.
There is a tremendous amount of value from the time we spend reading. The first, and most obvious, is that they learn to read and want to learn new things from the beginning. Our boys love reading! They go to bookstores and libraries and pick up books for us to read to them and buy. The second benefit is that they gain a thirst for knowledge. They want to read. They want to learn. They ask questions. They think about all kinds of things that we as parents would never think to ask. And the more we read to them, the more the questions become detailed and are well thought out - not just "why?" Another benefit is simply spending quality time together. We have preached time and again about family time and being present. What better way to spend time with your children then reading to them and then tucking them into bed? They enjoy the routine and enjoy the time with mommy and daddy. There are undoubtedly many more benefits, but these are the ones that jump out at us. Our routine has been the same since Day 1 - bath, books, bed. It is some of the best quality time a parent could ask for and some of the best that a child could be given. We love reading to our children and will continue to do it for as long as we can. The impact is clear. They love to read. They want to learn. We recommend that you do it for your children. But you should also do it for yourselves. It is worth every minute. Being a parent is hard (at least if you care about your children and their future). There is no way around it. There is no vacation. There are no days off. There are huge ups. There are huge downs. Some days our boys wake up super happy and ready to take on the world. Other days quite the opposite. There is no way to prepare yourself as there is no way to tell how they will be in the morning.
Our view is fairly simple - if you want to have children and be a parent then do it. Dive in head first and go to the max. If you are having children simply because other people want you to or you believe that it is what you should be doing then stop right there. You will not be happy and it will make being a parent so much more difficult that your children will feel it as well. There are some people who will tell you how hard it is to be a parent and you cannot help but just laugh. (See example here). Everyone has a different definition of "hard work," but it is hard to have sympathy or empathy for a person who has unlimited resources to help with raising their children. That is not hard work. Hard work is waking up at all hours of the night with your child when they are sick and getting up the next day and not slowing down. Hard work is getting up before dark in the morning to go to work so you can be home in time for dinner, bed and bath with your children then finishing your work after they are asleep. Hard work is making sure they have good habits and are polite and respectful. h While it is definitely hard work, it is most definitely gratifying. In our home, everything we do is for our children. We would not have it any other way. As any parent can attest to, entertaining a child or children can be a challenge. When our children are babies and are still exploring it is fairly easy to entertain them in between naps. A few toys on their mat or some blocks and they are good to go for a long time.
It is when our children get older that it becomes more and more challenging. Our youngest is still okay with staying home for the day. He would prefer to be out and about but that is not always an option. Our oldest, on the other hand, needs a change of pace otherwise cabin fever turns into the Tasmanian devil and the wheels come off in no time. When we can take them out of the house the activities are fairly standard - museum, park, splash pad, friend's house or an indoor playground. When we are stuck in the house because of weather or illness, the creativity must kick in. We are not creative enough to compete with this guy "Doting Dad Uses A Projector To Dazzle His Daughter ,7, With Dinosaurs Outside Her Window." Kudos to him for going that far and making the rest of us look bad while he does. But we try. And try hard. Our sons love a fort or rocket ship built out of couch cushions and pillows and blankets. They love a homemade obstacle course. They will swim for hours in the pool (not creative but great for burning energy). We color with them. We read with them. We are always looking for new (and affordable) ways to keep them entertained. We are still very much of the belief that screen time should be limited to non existent. Occasionally we let our boys watch Daniel Tiger or Bob The Builder but we try to make that a last resort. Our oldest has an iPad but he only uses it for educational games. And he hardly even asks for it (so little that it may actually not even be charged). When the day is over all we want is to see our children smile and be happy. So if it means getting on the floor and building legos or pretending to be captured or playing mini basketball on hands and knees then so be it. While the saying is "Happy Wife, Happy Life," it can be applied just as easily to our children. And it should be.  Life Hack. Giving medicine to children can be a difficult task in and of itself. We put the days and times in our family calendar so we can remember when it’s time for each dose. Sometimes we there is so much going on that we do not always remember if we gave our boys the last dose. To help you remember put a simple chart on the bottle and check it off after you prepare each dose. Once the chart is full you know you have given your child all of the prescribed doses.
#thedaddyslife #lifehacks #lifehack #chart #medicine #helpfultips #family #child #remember #memory #dontforget  Loveataly is a must try! An absolute must!
Our family loves to eat. We love food. Good food. While South Florida has its spots and is known for the weather, the food is not the reason to live here. So when we find a restaurant that is good we get super excited and scream it from the rooftops. Loveataly is one of those places. It sits quietly in North Miami at 2216 NE 123rd St, North Miami, FL 33181. The moment you open the doors, this family welcomes you right in. Sit wherever you like. The food is authentic and scratch made. There is not a single meal, let alone dish that we have eaten that has not been extraordinary. Yes, we understand the bar is being set high. Deservedly so. Whether it's the wine, the pizza, pasta, or whatever you eat you will smile with each bite. If you like good Italian food, you must give this place a try. We will not put our hands in someone else's pocket, but the prices are very reasonable in our opinion. The hardest part about eating there is deciding what to eat - the last dish was delicious do we want it again? Do we try something new? What do we try? No answer is wrong as you cannot go wrong there. The only recommendation we have is to go hungry and wear your thanksgiving pants... Our boys are eaters through and through. Our oldest learned fairly quickly to be clean about it. Our youngest does not share the same interest.
So in order for us to protect our kitchen table from the daily all out warfare we call mealtime, we needed some help. It came in the form of Neat Solutions Table Toppers. They come in a few different colors and are made of silicone and are BPA and PVC free which is important to us. They are light and easy to clean. When the food or spoon or dish or cup gets lands on the placemat it does a fairly good job of protecting the table. Obviously it cannot help when our son launches something across the table. And it cannot stop our son from lifting it off the table and tossing it along with all of the crumbs and mess he left on it. Overall it is a good product that serves its simple but important purpose. The price is quite reasonable (click here to see) and it is reusable which is nice - otherwise we would be buying 10 per day the way our son eats... Our boys are about two and a half years apart in age. They could not be more different if they tried. Yes, they come from the same gene pool and depending on whether they are next to mommy or daddy will depend on who they look more like. That is where it ends.
They are both smart, very very smart. One is intellectual, the other has street smarts. One likes music, the other likes sports. One likes to build and learn, the other likes to demolish. One is careful and cautious, the other throws caution to the wind and dives head first. They are both good eaters. One exhibits control, the other acts like he has not seen a meal in ten years. They are both good looking, cute boys (I know we are biased, but this is from strangers on the street). One has lighter features, the other has darker features. We definitely wonder how they are related given they are so different. Then we watch them play - our youngest follows the older like a puppy dog. He wants to do what he does. He wants to play what he plays. He wants to read what he reads. He is doing his best imitation of his older brother in his own way. He observe him and mimic his behavior again and again. Our oldest does not always want or like all of the attention he receives from his younger brother, but we explain to him that he simply wants to spend time with him and learn from him. Imitation is the finest form of flattery... If you are a member of our community, you know how important education is to us. We want our children to have all of the opportunities to learn and grow and find their passion. When we come across a book or game that helps our children hit those goals we like to share it with our community.
In the past we have talked about the Kidlo app and how amazing it is. They have now added a math section which continues along the same path of ingenuity and entertainment for your children. Our oldest enjoys it and we recommend it. As a member of our community, you have the chance to try it out for free by following the steps below: Download the app: https://itunes.apple.com/ us/app/preschool-math-games-fo r-kids/id425126773?ls=1&mt=8 - Go to 'Grown Ups' section in the app (The wheel icon on the home screen) - Tap on the 'Discount Code' button - Enter this code: thedaddyslife - Voila, you will have access to the limited offer. |
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