Showing posts with label when. Show all posts
Showing posts with label when. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Is Your Family Really Benefiting When You Work at Home
Youve beaten the obstacles and found a way to work at home, whether by finding a job or starting a home business. But is your work getting in the way of time with your family? It may be time to make sure you are finding balance between working at home and your family.
Lets take a look at some easy things you can do to ensure that you are spending time with your family.
1. Make time for play. Family activities are a great way to relax away from work. It can be as simple as taking a walk or going to the park, or it could be a full day excursion to a museum, amusement part or beach. You dont have to leave the house, of course. You could play games, make cookies or do other fun activities around the house. The point is to simply have fun as a family and have time to talk to each other.
Lets take a look at some easy things you can do to ensure that you are spending time with your family.
1. Make time for play. Family activities are a great way to relax away from work. It can be as simple as taking a walk or going to the park, or it could be a full day excursion to a museum, amusement part or beach. You dont have to leave the house, of course. You could play games, make cookies or do other fun activities around the house. The point is to simply have fun as a family and have time to talk to each other.
One way to start is to plan a family night. Tell everyone they have to be home on a particular evening each week and do things as a family. Even if you just rent a movie to watch together, its something youre doing together.
If youre married, make sure you plan a regular date night with your spouse. Frequency may depend on how old your children are and how often you can get babysitting, but it is important for your marriage to have time as a couple.
You dont have to spend a lot of money to have fun with your family. Just make time for fun.
2. Be there for your childrens activities. If your children are involved in sports, acting, singing or other activities, make sure you are there for all the games, performances or other important events. It will help your children to know that they are very important to you.
3. Set rules and enforce them. If your children understand when they can interrupt your work you will be able to get more done in less time, giving you more time for your family.
Of course, you need to be consistent. If kids get away with breaking the rules some of the time, they will test the rules often. Consistency will save you time in the long run, even if you arent sure you want to spare the time at a particular moment.
4. Pay attention to what kind of attention each child needs. Every child is different. Some demand attention while others are so quiet its easy to forget that they need you too. Make sure you spend time with each child as an individual.
5. When the kids come home from school, take some time to talk about their day. They will appreciate your interest. You should also make sure they understand their homework and start it at whatever time they do best at finishing it. Some do best starting homework immediately on getting home, while others do better if they can play for a while first. Be aware of your childs needs.
6. If your work is something the children can help with, let them be involved. If not, you can still at least talk to them about what you do. This sets a good example for your children by helping them to know what working is really about.
Its easy to get buried in the needs of your work when you work at home. A little bit of planning can go a long way toward making working at home a wonderful experience for all. Your family is why you decided to work at home, so dont let your time with them get put aside.
Its easy to get buried in the needs of your work when you work at home. A little bit of planning can go a long way toward making working at home a wonderful experience for all. Your family is why you decided to work at home, so dont let your time with them get put aside.
Friday, March 6, 2015
When Meat Eaters And Vegetarians Share Thanksgiving
The Vegetarian at the Thanksgiving Table
The other day CNN had a lunchtime poll – “The Vegetarian at the Thanksgiving Table”. Their question was: “Should a meat-eating Thanksgiving host be expected to accommodate a vegetarian guest?” This provocative question certainly stirred up a lot of strong opinions and emotions.
* Forty three percent stated that if they invited a vegetarian to Thanksgiving dinner, they would put a lot of effort into their dishes. But some weren’t that gracious.
* A little less than a third of the respondents said if they were given fair warning, they would make one or two things they can eat. (How terribly generous of them!)
* About 8% (1,234 people) said they wouldn’t make anything special, but they’re free to bring their own food.
* Three percent (502 people) said, “You come to my house and you eat what I serve you. It’s rude not to. Just pick the meat out”.
* Nearly 2% (260 people) actually stated, “vegetarians aren’t welcome in my house”.
* The hostility came from both sides with approximately the same amount (252 votes) claiming, “meat-eaters aren’t welcome at my table”.
* But some kindness prevailed as 138 people said, “if they won’t eat meat, I won’t even allow it on the table. We’ll all be vegetarians today”. But that was from less than 1% of the participants.
Would People with Other Food Restrictions Face Such Scrutiny?
I wonder where all this hostility is coming from? It’s Thanksgiving! A day when we all should be loving and thankful? If someone couldn’t eat the oyster stuffing because they had a seafood allergy, I don’t think they would meet such opposition. But there are two sides to every story. Let’s try to understand each one.
The Vegan Guests Point of View
From the vegetarian or vegan point of view, Thanksgiving can be the most uncomfortable day of the year. After all, it’s a holiday where one of the main events is cooking a poor bird that, from their view, has spent its entire miserable life waiting to be killed, stuffed and eaten on Thanksgiving. This is especially uncomfortable for the vegan who has chosen this lifestyle for reasons of compassion. For those who eschew meat for environmental reasons, not to contribute to the harmful effects that industrial farming is having on the planet, watching this ritual can be equally distasteful. The “vegan for health” may be the least offended as their avoidance of animal products may not be as deeply rooted in their beliefs.
The Meat Eaters Point of View
From the meat-eating hosts’ viewpoint, this is a significant occasion and the site and smell of the turkey roasting in the oven brings back wonderful memories of past holidays. It may have taken them years to perfect grandma’s sausage stuffing and there’s no way they are going to make something different. And making mashed potatoes, or any vegetable for that matter, without butter is just unthinkable. Don’t even mention that the sugar in the cranberry sauce may have been filtered through bone char and would also be off limits to their vegan guests – that might push them completely over the edge!
The Family Dynamics
What makes this situation an order of magnitude more sensitive is when family is involved. A mother thinking, “where did I go wrong? Why did my child adopt such freakish eating habits?” Or “why does she have to be such a pain in the ass on such an important holiday?” (At least that’s what my mother would have said!) The child feeling so disappointed that her parents not only won’t empathize with her cause but chastises her for taking it on. Perhaps she was wishing that the entire family would share a compassionate, meat free holiday together. What was she thinking?
Remember, Its a Joyous Occasion
At the end of the day, Thanksgiving should be a joyous holiday to be happily spent with friends and family, not a day to argue about religion, politics or whether or not to be a vegetarian. A meat-eating host should make an effort to have ample dishes for their vegetarian guests to eat and encourage them to bring a dish to share. A vegan host must also be open minded enough to allow someone to bring a turkey for those who want to eat it. You can mail them a copy of Jonathan Safran Foer’s, “Eating Animals” or T. Colin Campbell’s, “The China Study” next week - after the holiday. Most importantly, everyone has to respect each other’s lifestyle.
So for you vegans out there who will share a table with meat eaters next Thursday, do the best you can. Try and catch a vegan potluck later in the day where you can actually get something to eat and share your Thanksgiving stories with your like minded friends.
For those of you who must have your turkey on Thanksgiving, at least take a moment and thank the little guy for making the ultimate sacrifice for you on this holiday.
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