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Runaway children are regarded as serious social problem. For runaway children, the main problem is family matters like neglecting children, physical or sexual abuse, family violence and family substance (drugs or alcohol) abuse. However, it is not always that children who runaway are from an abusive home, sometimes it is simply because they don’t like the life style and regulation of family or it becomes boring for them. These all problems lead children to depression, anxiety and at last hopelessness and forced to runaway from home. Runaway children are not bad but the decision they make is bad that they usually take quickly without thinking about the future consequences. Because runaway children are unable to face the pressure of the problem surrounding them and to escape from it, they run away from home.

It is also necessary to know that not a single child runs away from home without having contact with other person who has already had experience about running away from home. This kind of company influences more over the mind of child and when condition comes into the life that leads them to depression and anxiety, that time influence makes them to runaway from home.

Other reasons that can make a child to runaway from home are following:

Constant quarrels of parents causes child to feel insecure.

Sibling rivalry or arrival of new child.

Fear of physical danger for wrong doing.

Failure or fewer grades in examination or test paper.

To accompany a friend in distress.

All children are naturally insecure and immature emotionally as it is a part of growing process. Each day they become more secure when family is a close knit one with proper freedom for communication and to express their emotions. But if family fails to meet the love for children, children become unstable and try to escape from that atmosphere to get freedom. However, after running away from home, they feel completely lonely and without support of family. They feel guilt for running away from home and then decide to come back to home. Usually period of running away from home doesn’t remain for long time. But when it becomes habitual then it is advised to consult with psychiatrics for psychotherapy.

Runaway can be of four categories.

Running to children are those who are running from home in search of excitement of life like limitless pleasures, instant gratification and freedom. These children leaves home without any reason mentioned above.

Running from children are those who run away from home to escape from negative within home like physical and sexual abuse, financial hardship, neglect of alcoholic parents or stepparent. These children run away not to look for excitement of life but to look for a life that is tolerable. These children have no desire to return home to the same environment of neglecting parents.

Throw away children are not those who have run away from home because of their own desire or to escape from problem of family but they are forced to leave because of intense alienation with their family. These children are engaged more in antisocial works and criminal acts.

Forsaken children are those who are forced to leave the home because of inability of their family to support them financially and this kind is seen in the family with large number of members. These children have little or no emotional, social and economic support in family. These children feel themselves victimized and poor self-concepts.

Here we will be discussing causes, signs and symptoms related to psychological problems like depression, anxiety, drug addiction, etc. seen in runaway children. As we have already discussed above that children are emotionally immature and so they are sometime sad or depressed but it doesn’t mean that they have depression as disease. If symptoms persist two or more weeks and interfere with social life, school activities and family life, it can be said that a child may have depression. Usually, depression in children is diagnosed when there is evidence of change in behavior like anger or acting out. Depression in children has major symptoms like sadness, feeling of hopelessness and changes in mood. Sometime depression runs in family as genetical problem.

Signs and symptoms of depression can be as following:

Anger or irritability

Withdrawal of social life or activity

Persistent feeling of sadness and hopelessness or guilt

Feeling of rejection

Increased or decreased appetite

Insomnia (sleeplessness) or excessive sleep

Crying and or sudden outburst of inappropriate words

Fatigue or tiredness or low energy

Unable to concentrate in particular thing like study

Thoughts of death or suicide

Different complaints like stomachache, headache and these complaints are irresponsive to medicines.

Most children will manifest different symptoms at different time and mostly suffer from social life withdrawal, less interest in school activities or a change in appearance. Sometimes children suffering from depression may start alcohol, drugs or other things to get relief from stress especially when they are above 12 years. Children who have history of family violence, physical and sexual abuse and also suffer from depression are at risk for suicide. These children have unstable mood that makes them to runaway from home to be free from depressive thoughts and surroundings causing them to be depressed. When children runaway from home, they are not under the burden of certain regulations of the family and they are free to do anything especially drug addiction is the major problem in these children. They start to take drugs to calm their mind as treatment for anxiety and depression. After some period of time it turns into a habit that is drug addiction or abuse. At least half of children, who are drug addict, they are in depression, attention deficit disorder, post-traumatic stress and other psychological problems.

Signs that may indicate about a child who is drug addict are of following but these are not limited to: change in friends, lying, stealing, long periods of staying away from home, problem with family relationship, confused and unable to understand or unconscious, drastic change in behavior and decreased school performance.

But symptoms of drug addiction are different depending on the drug being abused. However, some common symptoms can be seen like anxiety, depression (on drug withdrawal), instability of mood, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramp or diarrhea, tremor and hallucination. Some of them are seen on withdrawal of drug and some are seen at prolong use of drug.

When you find your child using drugs and alcohol, it is advised to act soon; longer the child abuses, there are high chances of addiction. Individual should be careful while holding child with drug abuse otherwise it may hurt their feelings and may runaway from home. It is better to consult with psychiatrist or to rehabilitation consultant.

There are many other consequences related to runaway as they need to survive and away from home they will do anything to survive from panhandling (begging) to prostitution and some get involve in drug supplying or pornographic movies. Due to these kinds of activities there are high chances of HIV infection, malnutrition, heart infection like infective endocarditis (especially in drug addicts who use injection for drug into veins), other sexually transmitted diseases, robbery and sexual assaults.

Some steps that can prevent or decrease chances of runaway are following:

Though, these steps are not working for all as it depends on the level of trust and they are only suggestions, these measures are preferred than a cure.

Never challenge to a child for runaway.

Never use negative feelings or thoughts toward child that may indicate that you do not respect child.

Never raise your voice when your child is raising voice.

Stay calm and quite, have eye contact and give no response when child is angry or shouting until child is calm.

Never interrupt when your child is saying or expressing something even though you are not ready to agree with them until he or she is done.

Never use negative words like liar, selfish, immature, childish, cruel, stupid etc. as these words will hurt them and make them to think worse about themselves and about you.

Never neglect them or scold when they are wrong but explain them in what way they were wrong and help them to correct their mistakes.

Never use any kind of drugs or alcohol in front of children as it may attract their thoughts toward it and make them to follow you even though you may not have thought.

Give children equal chance to speak and to express their opinion and if you are not agree, simply explain them what can be consequences for that and if you are agree, do not let them do what they want.

Get professional’s advice if your child is demanding and threatening that they should be allowed to do whatever they want.

Help your children to learn to be responsible for their deeds.

Protect your children from feeling of loneliness and isolation.

Make the situation where children are able to learn to take positive decisions.

Encourage your children to try to succeed even they fail to perform some activity or examination or test papers.

Seek counseling or treatment for any instability of emotion or mood (depression, anxiety etc) or change in behavior that may interfere with the social life.

Running away solves nothing and so many teens learn that they are not safer on streets than they were with their parents or guardian .Runaway children usually turn home after one or two days as they felt lack of economic and residential support. When they return home, it advised not to scold them or to be angry on them but receive them with love and have sympathy for them. Returned runaway children already have emotional trauma and feeling of guilt of running away from home. Ask gently what make them to run away, where they went, and so on to find out the mistake and to correct them explaining them difficulties that may come into their lives after running away from home. For such children who return home, the best treatment modality is TLC (tender loving care) and after sometime that trauma will heal and there won’t be any serious consequences.

But when this becomes habitual to runaway from home even in small matter, it is better to consult with mental health professional and help to evaluate the conflict they have. Or if there is any psychological problem like depression, it is advised to start medication with loving care and helps to change the atmosphere that makes them depressed. If it is because of drug addiction, it is advised to join rehabilitation programs.

It is always better to take preventive measures that may help to avoid unpleasant reality of running away from home and then to face the difficulties of this brutal world.

One simple way to help children to prevent runaway is to communicate, listen, help, understand and try to solve the problem.

Though runaway has become a serious problem, we as adults are able to control it by understanding the heart of children and giving them loving care. It is possible to change the way of thinking and behavior and emotion status of children while they are growing.

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ABSTRACT

The importance of parental involvement as an accelerating and motivating factor in their children’s education is a worldwide-accepted fact. This research project provides an in depth explanation along with specific reasons, the importance of parents’ involvement in their children’s education. It also discusses the parenting techniques, their types and their consequences if neglected. It also describes the ways to measure the outcome of the positive parental involvement. Furthermore, it mentions the teachers involvement and the difficulties faced by the teachers in getting parents involved in their children’s (this is further supported by the examples of two teachers who with their deliberate efforts won the parents over to devote their maximum attention towards their children), single-parent involvement, children’s own efforts to improve their academic levels and joint home-school based interventions. A detailed analysis of the different main ideas is given, based on the findings from other research surveys and projects.

INTRODUCTION:

Parental involvement can be seen to fall into three types: 1) Behavioral, 2) Intellectual and 3) Personal. The research explores the effect of multi-dimensional participation of parents and the resulting progress of children in their studies when different parental resources were dedicated to them. Actively participating parents help their children in their academic development by going to schools and participating in open houses. By keenly observing the behavior of their children they can rightly judge the kind of behavior or the allocation of resources required by their children. Such caring parents can also motivate teachers to become more attentive towards a particular student, thus maintaining the cycle of parent-teacher involvement. Encourage Building up cognitive and perception abilities in a child is a major concern in the upbringing of the child. The way the parents involve their children in cognitive learning is by exposing them to different cognitively stimulating activities and materials such as books, electronic media and current events at home. This helps the child to practice all sorts of language comprehending skills at the school. The results show a remarkably positive behavior at the school and with peers.

Two parenting processes namely the Supportive Parenting (SP) and Harsh Parenting (HP) helped a lot in the research of parental involvement in their children’s education. By adjusting the levels of supportive parenting, different levels of successful outcomes were observed. Supportive parenting in even kindergarten students yielded positive results. Four measures of supportive parenting were used in the study, they were:

1. Proactive teaching.

2. Calm discussion in disciplinary encounters.

3. Warmth.

4. Interest and involvement in peer activities.

The assessments were conducted when children entered kindergarten and when they reached grade 6. There was a factor noted to hinder children’s development: family adversity. It was the result of a multipurpose negative process that included the risk of low socio-economic status, single-parenting and family stress. Child maladjustments were found to be more common in families with such adversities. No matter how much negative impacts were cast, SP was found to overcome the risks associated with family adversity. SP was strongly related to adjustment procedures in grade 6 children who had single parent family or experienced low socio-economic status (SES) in their early childhood.

In a way to socialize their children, parents adopted the techniques of calm discussion and proactive teaching. They helped lessen the behavioral problems by carrying long discussions with their children, cultivating in them a sense of respect, calmness and peace of mind. Mothers also participated actively in reducing the peer stress among their children. It is also a widely accepted fact that supportive parenting plays an important role in the children’s development of empathy, prosocial behavior and emotional competence. On the negative side, the absence of supportive parenting may be related to the development of internal problems such as anxiety and depression.

Lack of the necessary parental care and attention is the main factor for the subsequent rise in the percentage of juvenile delinquency (crime among children). The absence of parental instructions causes children to develop irreversible behavioral and emotional problems. They in order to seek attention, resort to crimes thinking that in this way they could fulfill their wishes. They may revert to uncontrolled violence if not kept an eye upon. Such criminal activities cannot be brought to a halt until their distressing symptoms of low self-esteem, depression, dysphonic mood, tension and worries, and other disturbances are relieved. And the importance of parents’ role in this regard cannot be over-emphasized.

In an effort to describe parental involvement, many researchers use a term “Transition”(Lombardi, Joan). “Transition” is used to describe the time period in which children move from home to school, from school to after school activities, from one activity to another within a pre-school, or from pre-school to kindergarten. The untiring endeavors of teachers in the phenomenon of transition cannot be ignored. They prepared the children and their parents to face the problems of adjusting to elementary school programs that had different psychology, teaching styles and structure than the programs offered at the kindergarten level. In the elementary level schools the teachers had to face serious challenges in motivating the parents to take interest in their children’s activities. The teachers adopted different methods to involve the parents in day-to-day classroom and home activities. They used to send notes, invitation of parent-teacher meetings, invitation of parental guidance sessions and training sessions, continuously directing the parent’s attention towards their children. Patricia Brown Clark suggests that it is very important to keep the line of communication between teachers and parents open, so that the parents can interact with the teachers and get up to date information of their children’s school activities. One way to involve parents is to schedule school events and arranging classroom activities such as volunteering for libraries, acting as classroom aides or efficiently organizing lunch breaks. The teachers also opt for making phone calls at the children’s houses to keep in touch with the parents and getting to know the extent to which they are contributing towards the welfare of their children. Apart from the above activities, the teachers also assign home activities for both the parents and their children so that the parents remain indulged in their children and the children get to study at home. However, it was a bad and disappointing experience for the teachers when many of the parents failed to respond as expected. Many of the parents were so overwhelmed with their official work that they could hardly take out some time for their beloved children.

Moreover, for some parents their schoolings were not positive and character-boosting experiences, therefore they preferred to keep a distance from their children’s school as well. This made it really difficult and at times impossible for teachers to bring the parental involvement to the desired level. Nevertheless, the activities of two teachers proved greatly fruitful in making parents involved in their children. They were Carlos Valdez, an art teacher and 8th grade class sponsor, and Mike Hogan, the school’s band director. They did it by involving parents in music festivals and other school ceremonies. They proved to be great examples for the future teachers to come.

If the children’s academic development programs are to prove successful they must share two characteristics:

1) Developmentally appropriate practice:

A child’s academic progress is clearly reflected by the appropriate practice he/she administers while in school life. During transitions from pre-school to kindergarten, a child if given the exact developmentally appropriate practice tends to learn a great deal of language and playing skills. He develops a keen interest in exploring his environments and interacting (without hesitation) with his adults.

2) Supportive services:

These include the assistance that the school provides to low-income family students. The services include health care, childcare and community care. This strengthens the relation between school and children and creates a sense of security and confidence among the children. They get to learn that their communities are a part of their school since the school’s supportive services strive to help community development.

It is commonly believed that children are good self-teachers. Their self-initiated strategies help improve their expression, creativity, intellectual capabilities and extra-curricular skills. This idea is proved by the documentation of young children’s work provided by Reggio Emilia :

“The Reggio Emilia educators highlight young children’s amazing capabilities and indicate that it is through the unity of thinking and feeling that young children can explore their world, represent their ideas, and communicate with others at their highest level.”(Edwards, Pope. C, Springate, Wright.K)

The climax rests in the fact that how the parents would know that their sincere involvements are really proving worthwhile for their children. The answer lies in the attitude of the children. The degree of parental involvement can be judged by a child’s attitude towards his school subjects, his academic desires and achievements. There is a direct relationship between academic achievements and the attitude towards school. Schunk in 1981 had the following idea of aspiration or academic desires:

“Level of aspiration is defined as one’s subjective probability that he or she will reach a certain level of education.”(Abu, H. & Maher, M)

As a result children who received adequate parental concern were found to be much more confident in their academic desires and achievements than those who could not get the right amount of parental concern.

The individual involvement of mothers and fathers also plays a vital role in the behavioral development of a child. Students from one-parent household were observed to show less positive attitude towards schools and studies as compared to students from two-parent households. One study aimed at investigating parental concern showed that despite mothers’ sincere endeavors, the role of fathers could not be ignored and both served as an important foundation for the future progress of the child. This can be proved from the following fact:

According to a recent report from the National Center for Educational Statistics (1997), compared to their counterparts, children with involved fathers are more likely to have participated in educational activities with their parents (e.g., to have visited a museum or a historical site with their parents in the past month), and are more likely to have access to multiple types of resources at home as well (as measured by the proportion of parents who belong to community or professional organizations, or regularly volunteer in the community). (Flouri, E. And Buchanan, A, Pg.142)

Also, the parental involvement has been discussed and implemented in terms of interventions or prevention programs, which are nothing but safety measures taken to assure healthy and perfect upbringing of the child. The study uses school-based and home-only intervention programs to find out the extent of intellectual capabilities found in children from different family backgrounds. The success of one school-based interventions can be proved from the following fact, which was a part of “Education Service Improvement Plan 2001-2005” of Edinburgh:

—-The Scottish Executive Discipline Task Force, which studied the causes of poor behavior among pupils in schools produced a report of ‘Better Behavior – Better Learning’ in June 2001. The report included 36 recommendations for action, which were then turned into an Action Plan in 2002. Many of these have implications for the Education Authority. (Craig Millar Instep Project)

References

Abu, H. & Maher, M. (2000). A structural model of attitudes towards school subjects, academic aspiration and achievement. Educational Psychology, 20, 75-84.

Angoff, W.H. (1988). The nature-nurture debate, aptitudes and group differences. American Psychologist, 43, 713-720

Berger, D. (2003). The Developing Person, Worth Publishers

Brown, P. C. (1989). Involving Parents in the Education of Their Children. ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education Urbana IL.

“Craig Millar Instep Project” [http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/CEC/Recreation/Libraries/] Local_Organisations/local_Craigmillar_Instep_Project.html&

http://www.inspire.edin.org/pages/paperA.htm – context

DeKlyen, M., Speltz, M.L., & Greenberg, M.T. (1998).

Fathering and early onset conduct problems: Positive and negative parenting, father-son attachment, and the marital context. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 1, 3-21.

Edwards, Carolyn Pope; Springate, Kay Wright (1995), Encouraging Creativity in Early Childhood Classrooms, Eric Digest.

Flouri, E. & Buchanan, A. (2004). Early father’s and mothers involvement and child’s later educational outcomes. Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford, UK, British Journal of Educational Psychology 74, 141-153

Fortier, M.S., Vallerand, R.J., & Guay, F. (1995). Academic motivation and school performance: Toward a structural model. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 20, 257-274.

Ganzach, Y. (2000). Parents’ education, cognitive ability, educational expectations and educational attainment: Interactive effects. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 419-441.

Georgiou, S. (1999). Parental attributions as predictors of involvement and influences on child achievement. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 69, 409-429.

Grolnick, W.S., & Slowiaczek, M.L. (1994). Parents’ involvement in children’s schooling: A multidimensional conceptualization and motivational model. Child Development, 65, 237-252.

Halsey, P. (2004). Nurturing the Parent Involvement, Two middle Level Teachers Share their Secrets. Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Vol 77, No. 4, pages 135-137 WN: 04062038590002

Lombardi, Joan (1992), Beyond Transition: Ensuring Continuity in Early Childhood Services, Eric Digest.

Masse, L.C., & Tremblay, R.E. (1999). Kindergarten disruptive behavior, family adversity, gender and elementary school failure. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 23, 225-240.

Mulkey, L.M., Crain, R.L, & Harrington, A.J.C. (1992). One parent households and achievement: Economic and behavioral explanations of a small effect. Sociology & Education, 65, 48-65.

Pamela A. Halsey (2004) Nurturing the Parent Involvement, Two middle Level Teachers Share their Secrets. Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Vol 77, No. 4, pages 135-137 WN: 04062038590002.

Pettit, G.S., Bates, J.E., & Dodge, K.A. (1997). Supportive parenting ecological context and children’s adjustment: A seven year longitudinal study. Child Development, 68, 908-923.

Ramey, C.T., Campbell, F.A, & Ramey, S.L, (1999). Early intervention: Successful pathways to improving intellectual development. Developmental Neuropsychology, 16, 385-392.

Shepard, J. & Carlson, J.S. (2003).

An Empirical Evaluation of School-Based Prevention Programs that Involve Parents. Oklahoma State University and, Michigan State University, copyright, Wiley Periodicals, Psychology in the Schools, Vol. 40 (6), pages 641-656

Updegraff, K.A., McHale, S.M., Crouter, A.C. (1996). Gender roles in marriage: What do they mean for girls’ and boys’ school achievement? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25, 73-88.

Yongman, M.W., Kindlon, D., & Earls, F. (1995). Father involvement and cognitive/behavioral outcomes of preterm infants. Journal of American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 58-66.

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Fawwad works as a staff writer for TermPapersCorner,Inc. Term Papers Corner Provide high quality custom term paper, custom essay and thesis writing service to students and professionals. We are currently having a writing competition visit Writing Contest 2005

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Consider professional online auto repair help when it comes to repairing your own car. You may just avoid a disaster.

Your vehicle is a big investment and it should be treated as such. When it comes to auto repair it can go two ways.

You can be successful and fix it right the first time. Or you can make matters worse by creating additional problems. The latter will increase repair costs and down time of the vehicle.

Let me give you a real life example of this. I had a gentleman e-mail me for help with a no start condition. My first advice to him was to get some online auto repair help from a quality manual, to properly diagnose the problem.

My favorite online auto service manual has the best no start diagnostic charts in the business, because they come straight from the factory auto service manuals. Easy to follow tree charts with pictures and tech tips.

The gentleman told me he could not afford the $24.95 and he thought replacing the distributor would fix the problem. A new distributor was $650.00.

He bought and replaced the distributor but this did not fix the problem. It was also not returnable like most electrical parts. Again I said cut your loses and get any kind of auto service manual and diagnose the problem, do not through parts at it.

Well He replaced the coil, cap, rotor, wires and spark plugs. It Still would not start. Now he is a thousand dollars deep in un-needed parts. The guy who could not afford $25. Finally he towed the car to the auto repair shop and they fixed it for about $500.00 by replacing the fuel pump.

As a side note I did try to help him by explaining, in a no start condition you either have no fuel or no spark (or rarely no air). The gentleman explained he was getting plenty of fuel. But he was not.

So $1,850 later he was driving again. And to let you know step 1 on the diagnostic tree chart was an in-depth procedure with pictures for checking for fuel delivery.

Also the online repair manuals had a technical service bulletin on the fuel pump for this specific vehicle. This is why the online auto repair manual can help you. What if you had the same auto repair information that the dealership level technician has?

But in a format that provides step-by-step instructions and pictures that a person of any skill level can follow. The virtual online auto repair help system was created to bring top-level information to the do it yourself auto repair public.

Find the auto repair information you need quickly and easily with the online auto repair manuals handy search engine. Just type in the component or area of the vehicle you need assistance with and the online programs provides you with just what you’re looking for.

No more hunting through old-fashioned paper auto repair manuals filled with outdated information. You now have access to the same information professional auto repair mechanics use. Mechanics may have more hands on experience then you but they are not smarter then you, they just know how to find the required information for a specific automotive repair.

Mark Gittelman is an ASE Certified Master Technician With more than 23 years experience in the auto repair business. For more free information and stories visit his Automotive web site. Or if you would like to post a car question visit the online auto repair help page.

You may have a reputable automotive shop that you regularly use for your vehicle maintenance such as tire replacement, oil changes and other routine issues. If you don’t have a regular shop, you can ask your family, friends and coworkers whom they trust. Recommendations from these people should be held in high esteem, because a local auto shop that has earned the trust of your family and friends will work hard to make you a customer for life.

If you have significant engine problems with your car, you’ll first want to check your warranty and see if the manufacturer covers the issue. When you bring your car to the shop, you’ll need to ask if the automotive shop guarantees their work in case the issue is not fixed properly or if it comes back without warning. The automotive shop manager will be able to discuss the policies of the shop and offer you a guarantee on the work to be performed on your vehicle.

Be sure to inquire about the type of parts the automotive shop will use on your car. Are they brand name, quality products or cheap, generic products? Make sure they are using only high quality parts. Either way, you will be charged labor fees, so be certain the parts they replace on your vehicle are brand name, quality products.

Depending on your specific engine problem, you may need to leave your vehicle at the auto shop for an extended period of time. Make sure you arrange for transportation. Your favorite auto repair shop may be located near a bus line or taxi stand. Also, your insurance company may offer a rental car. Some repair shops will offer a courtesy vehicle or provide a drop off/pick up service so you can work during the day and get your vehicle back in the evening.

Before any work is performed on your vehicle, be sure to ask for an estimate. Agree on a price and ask your mechanic to specifically outline what work is to be done. A good auto shop will alert you of any additional issues that come up during the repair that was not initially noticed. Therefore, you won’t be surprised when you see charges for parts and labor on work that you never authorized.

It is important that you trust your automotive technicians. You are leaving your car in their hands and are counting on the fact that they are experienced, trained and can properly fix the issue at hand. If you do not already have a good relationship with a local automotive shop, ask your friends and neighbors who they trust. Begin using a popular auto shop for your routine maintenance issues, and you’ll begin to develop a trusting relationship with them and get to know the mechanics on a more personal level. Then you can feel good about leaving your car in their hands when larger engine issues arise.

Mr. Oliver is a marketing agent of Dyke Tire and Battery. The auto mechanic repair shop stocks tires for virtually every vehicle on the road and also offers local Richmond-ers a great place to take their vehicles in for repair. Whether you need a simple oil change, new tires or a rotation, or engine repair, Dyke Tire and Battery can help get you back on the road again. For more information on their Richmond Mechanic Virginia please visit their website.

Looking for a good online family movie club or family movie review?

Family movies sell lots of tickets at the box office and every year there are one or more blockbuster movies that are family films.

But with the high price of movie tickets and theatre concessions, watching movies on DVD as a family movie night in the comfort of your own home, is quickly becoming very popular.

Online DVD Movie Clubs

Online there are a number of DVD movie clubs that include family movies in their rental libraries, but only a few actually specialize in providing quality family fare.

While other companies produce some family pictures, none has come close to the huge library of movies that Disney has given us.

Walt Disney brought us Steamboat Willie in 1928 starring Mickey Mouse and in 1973, the Disney Studios gave us Snow White, the first feature length animated movie.

Disney Movie Club

Online the Disney Movie Club offers their signature classic movies, recent releases, preschool videos, sing-a-long video and other popular family choices.

Movie Clubs

Other online family movie clubs include Family Pass (formerly known as Mentura) which bills itself as “your ticket to family entertainment.” Family Pass carries a wide selection of movies, television programs, educational and home school videos and spiritual fare. All targeted at a family audience.

Edited Movies

Another popular source of movies suitable for family viewing comes from companies that specialize in editing movies to remove profanity, excessive violence and more adult situations.

Club members can rent the edited, version of popular movies that might otherwise be far less than family friendly.

Online clubs that edit movies include CleanFilms, Flick’s Club, Family Edited DVDs and CleanFlix to name a few.

DVD Software Filters

A company called ClearPlay offers DVD software that removes graphic violence, profanity and more adult situations. Movie filters are put together for specific movies and ClearPlay’s list continues to grow.

Family Movie Reviews

Online is also a great place to discover family movie review sites that help parents when it comes to deciding which movies to see in theatres or on DVD.

The Dove Foundation, long a family movie advocate, provides online movie and video reviews. And if you’re out shopping for movies or videos at your favorite store, you can look for the Dove Foundation’s Seal of Approval (much like the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval”). The Dove Foundation’s seal is only awarded to movies and videos that meet certain family viewing standards and have been screened and reviewed by Dove Foundation reviewers.

Other movie reviews available online include The Family Style Movie Guide, Movie Mom, Screen It!, Family Cow, Grading the Movies, Kids-In-Mind, and Ted Baehr’s MovieGuide which examines and rates movies from a Christian value stand point.

Family Movie Night

Watching movies at home on DVD as a special night for the entire family has become very popular.

Why spend a small fortune taking your family to see a movie at a theatre when you can have quality fun time in your own home? With a special movie night you control the films your family sees. No more unpleasant surprises! And you’re guaranteed the best seat in the house.

DVD Movie Club

It’s easy to join an online movie club that offers movies for the family or better yet “specializes” in family movies and video.

So take a look at what’s on the internet and join a family movie club. Most offer a variety of special benefits to club members that make online club membership very convenient and affordable.

Then pick up some delicious popcorn and some other treats and start the wonderful tradition of family movie night in your home, a tradition you and your children will fondly remember for years to come.

And remember, some of the best and most popular films of all time have been family movies.

To learn more visit http://fun-dvd-movie-club.blogspot.com/2008/08/blockbuster-dvd.html right now

The thought of writing a resume intimidates almost anyone. It’s difficult to know where to start or what to include. It can seem like an insurmountable task. Here are 15 tips to help you not only tackle the task, but also write a winning resume.

1. Determine your job search objective prior to writing the resume. Once you have determined your objective, you can structure the content of your resume around that objective. Think of your objective as the bull’s-eye to focus your resume on hitting. If you write your resume without having a clear objective in mind, it will likely come across as unfocused to those that read it. Take the time before you start your resume to form a clear objective.

2. Think of your resume as a marketing tool. Think of yourself as a product, potential employers as your customers, and your resume as a brochure about you. Market yourself through your resume. What are your features and benefits? What makes you unique? Make sure to convey this information in your resume.

3. Use your resume to obtain an interview, not a job. You don’t need to go into detail about every accomplishment. Strive to be clear and concise. The purpose of your resume is to generate enough interest in you to have an employer contact you for an interview. Use the interview to provide a more detailed explanation of your accomplishments and to land a job offer.

4. Use bulleted sentences. In the body of your resume, use bullets with short sentences rather than lengthy paragraphs. Resumes are read quickly. This bulleted sentence format makes it easier for someone to quickly scan your resume and still absorb it.

5. Use action words. Action words cause your resume to pop. To add life to your resume, use bulleted sentences that begin with action words like prepared, developed, monitored, and presented.

6. Use #’s, $’s and %’s. Numbers, dollars, and percentages stand out in the body of a resume. Use them. Here are two examples:

• Managed a department of 10 with a budget of $1,000,000.
• Increased sales by 25% in a 15-state territory.

7. Lead with your strengths. Since resumes are typically reviewed in 30 seconds, take the time to determine which bullets most strongly support your job search objective. Put those strong points first where they are more apt to be read.

8. Play Match Game. Review want ads for positions that interest you. Use the key words listed in these ads to match them to bullets in your resume. If you have missed any key words, add them to your resume.

9. Use buzzwords. If there are terms that show your competence in a particular field, use them in your resume. For marketing people, use “competitive analysis.” For accounting types, use “reconciled accounts.”

10. Accent the positive. Leave off negatives and irrelevant points. If you feel your date of graduation will subject you to age discrimination, leave the date off your resume. If you do some duties in your current job that don’t support your job search objective, leave them off your resume. Focus on the duties that do support your objective. Leave off irrelevant personal information like your height and weight.

11. Show what you know. Rather than going into depth in one area, use your resume to highlight your breadth of knowledge. Use an interview to provide more detail.

12. Show who you know. If you have reported to someone important such as a vice president or department manager, say so in your resume. Having reported to someone important causes the reader to infer that you are important.

13. Construct your resume to read easily. Leave white space. Use a font size no smaller than 10 point. Limit the length of your resume to 1-2 pages. Remember, resumes are reviewed quickly. Help the reader to scan your resume efficiently and effectively.

14. Have someone else review your resume. Since you are so close to your situation, it can be difficult for you to hit all your high points and clearly convey all your accomplishments. Have someone review your job search objective, your resume, and listings of positions that interest you. Encourage them to ask questions. Their questions can help you to discover items you inadvertently left off your resume. Revise your resume to include these items. Their questions can also point to items on your resume that are confusing to the reader. Clarify your resume based on this input.

15. Submit your resume to potential employers. Have the courage to submit your resume. Think of it as a game where your odds of winning increase with every resume you submit. You really do increase your odds with every resume you submit. Use a three-tiered approach. Apply for some jobs that appear to be beneath you. Perhaps they will turn out to be more than they appeared to be once you interview for them. Or perhaps once you have your foot in the door you can learn of other opportunities. Apply for jobs that seem to be just at your level. You will get interviews for some of those jobs. See how each job stacks up. Try for some jobs that seem like a stretch. That’s how you grow — by taking risks. Don’t rule yourself out. Trust the process. Good luck in your job search!

Copyright 1999 – 2004 Quest Career Services, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Ann Hackett is the President and founder of Quest Career Services, LLC (http://www.QuestCareer.com), an online resume writing and outplacement services company. Ann can be reached at ahackett@QuestCareer.com or 952-929-4197.

You may have heard the popular saying that ‘people fear public speaking more than death’. Whatever the truth of that claim, there is no doubt that a fear of public speaking is very common. If you are scared or nervous about speaking in front of an audience, you can take heart that you are not alone.

Today, perhaps more than any point in history, effective verbal communication skills are essential to success in all types of businesses and workplaces. The majority of students and professionals in all walks of life are likely to be called upon to give a presentation at some point.

A fear of public speaking can hamper your performance or even worse, cause you to purposefully avoid situations where you may need to present in front of an audience. It can prevent you from getting your point across, from performing at your best and advancing your business or career. I know all this, because I myself have suffered in the past from the paralysing effects that a fear of public speaking can have on your life and career.

Change your focus

The first step on my journey to overcoming this fear was to change my perspective of the problem. If you are a nervous or fearful speaker then you are likely to have an aspiration to ‘overcome my fear of public speaking’, or something similar. It is this aspiration that you need to change before anything else. You need to change what you are trying to avoid e.g. ‘ I don’t want to be scared of public speaking anymore’ to what you want to happen instead.

I am asking you to substitute a negative statement with a positive one. So your new aspiration might be something like ‘I want to become a relaxed and professional public speaker’. Once you have identified what it is you want in this positive way, then make it a firm goal by writing it down on paper. Review that goal every single day. Think about what it will mean, what you will hear, see and feel when it becomes reality.

If you keep on focusing on overcoming your fear of public speaking you may be creating what psychologists call a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’. By focusing on what you positively want instead you create an impetus for changing the way that you think about public speaking and consequently the way you feel about it.

Your ‘problem’ of public speaking is ultimately caused by the way you think. There is no doubt that you really are nervous and you may have physical effects just thinking about speaking in public. But, all these effects are directly caused by the way you think about presenting.

So my advice is to change the way you think about you fears before you do anything else. Focus on becoming great speaker rather than avoiding the fear and nerves. I am not claiming that by changing your focus and setting a positive written goal will solve you speaking nerves. I am saying that it is the first step.

Practical benefits

The result for me of this process was a real interest in public speaking and a desire to master the skills of presenting. It transformed public speaking from a real fear into one of the most engaging and interesting aspects of my life.

Once you change your focus, there are many other practical steps you can take to achieve your speaking goals. I will write about these steps in future articles, but for now, I suggest that you cultivate an interest in the subject, by reading books and articles about speaking and presenting. I also recommend that you join Toastmasters International. This fantastic organisation has thousands of clubs around the world providing a non-judgemental, practical education in public speaking for its members.

If you were attracted to this article because it is titled ‘ The first step to overcoming you fear of public speaking’, then I suggest that in future you should look for articles that are titled ‘How to be a great, confident presenter’!.

Read more articles on Presentation and Public Speaking Skills at http://www.PresentationHeaven.com

With the multitude of internet marketing services and techniques that you hear about daily as you get bombarded with promotional material after promotional material in our emails you come to realize two things. The rationalization of these two main focal points are what lead many online marketers to their doom.

The first thing you come to terms with as you start to focus is how truly overwhelming all of this is! You can’t possibly learn all of these new internet marketing techniques fast enough, master them and implement them effectively all at one time so that you can begin to promote your products, services or affiliate programs.

This brings you to the second realization. You need help! So you decide to hire internet marketing services that are provided by outside experts and so called gurus that promise to help you bring in more traffic, help you build your email list and ultimately increase your monthly sales volume. Don’t worry we’ve all made this mistake, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Take One Day To Evaluate All Of Your Resources

I can’t stress how important this is. Internet marketing services FEED on your frustrations! They know that you are bombarded daily by emails that you get from other internet marketing veterans that want to sell you their own products and services. In fact they’re counting on the fact that you’ve actually bought and paid for several of these and that at this point you’re so way beyond frustrated that you’ll do anything, even PAY THEM MONEY to provide you their own internet marketing services that are using the same internet marketing techniques that you could be using yourself for free.

Cancel The Majority Of Your Subscriptions

This is hard for most of us to do. We’ve grown to depend on the advice of these so called internet marketing services, experts and gurus. There is a symbiotic co-dependent relationship formed that has gotten you in the rut you’re in. I’m sure that most of the people you get all these emails are nice, but their bottom line is NOT to be you’re friend. They want to make money online just like YOU want to make money online. The key thing to consider here is that you need to STOP giving them your money and STOP spending all that time reading the tons and tons of emails, so that you can focus on what works and take action.

Stop Paying Internet Marketing Service Providers

This is often the hardest link in your chain to break. What little success that you’ve achieved thus far is only there because of your internet marketing efforts. In that back of your mind you’re telling yourself that the internet marketing services that are provided by online providers are working, just not quite as well as you want them too. The truth is that their using the exact same internet marketing techniques that everyone else is and these techniques are NOT hard to learn! When you stop paying for all the internet marketing services and start focusing your time and money more directly on taking ACTION you’ll notice that you’re paying out less money and yet at the same time your monthly income and website page ranks are still increasing.

Now Is The Time To Take Action And Start Profiting

I realize that things are still very overwhelming, especially if you’re just getting started or if you’ve have a history of trial and error which has brought you in little or no success. Take a deep breath, relax, relate, release and let go of that past that has haunted you. Let go of the overwhelming frustration that comes from inexperience if that is the problem. Internet marketing services and all these so called new internet marketing techniques are NOT the answer. Here’s a clue to get you started;

Social Networking & Social Marketing Is Not New

From the early days of the internet there have been internet marketing services that provided advertising services on bulletin boards, which later lead people to going online using dial up connections and creating social networks of their own through their AOL or other ISP connections. This is how things were done in the early days. What has changed isn’t the concept of social networking & marketing or internet marketing services. The real change that people are talking so much about with the whole buzz of the Web 2.0 craze isn’t social networking & marketing at all, it’s the fact that it’s become so incredibly easy!

With WYSIWYG The Learning Curve Is No Longer Steep

Social Networking & Marketing is definitely getting more popular with the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interfaces that we see on MySpace, Squidoo, YouTube, FaceBook and the “groups” that you can join through Yahoo, MSN and the almighty Google. The new advancements make things easy to customize, add video and in many cases create your own “squeeze page” that you can publish and then use to promote your products, services and affiliate programs.

This is the secret to the internet marketing services that many of you are already paying for. Using these same principals there are online blogs and forums that you can use as well and these are no secret either. The only thing that makes it harder for newbies and people who have failed in the past is that they either don’t know HOW, they don’t know WHERE or they don’t fully understand WHY certain things are done the way they are.

One last thing to give you something to think about before I go

Please bare in mind that this is solely based on my own biased opinion, which comes from years of experience as a web designer, web host and internet marketing promoter. My thoughts on all of this are simple if you would like to save an incredible amount of time, energy and money. Try by focusing on ONE THING at a time and learn everything you can. There are video, audio and pdf style tutorials readily available at reasonable prices. All you need to do is find ONE SOURCE that you can get as much material from as possible at a reasonable price and then begin your learning experience.

Go in to this with an open mind. Often you may think that YOU KNOW something, when in truth you are familiar with what it is and the basics of how it works, but you’re not yet proficient enough to be called an “expert”…..yet. I add that last little bit because I believe that with the right tutoring you can and will be one!

Internet Marketing Services Are Charging Too Much

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Internet Marketing That Gets You Proven Results

In this article I will introduce my personal definition of play, but acknowledge that play is basically indefinable because it is so vast and variable. I examine free flow play and the obstacles to play, and the purpose and value of play. I examine one small group of students working definition of play as a developmental tool that helps children develop holistically and other aspects of our definition, ie a developmental journey, play being accessible to all, and the aspect of fun and enjoyment in play. Alongside this, this article examines structured and unstructured play, including theorists views and I include some of my own observations and examine the play content in them.

Before I extend on group’s definition of play, I would like to state my own theory about play, and explain what I mean stressing again, that play is basically indefinable because of its flexible and vast nature.

My theory is that play is fluid. It can take many forms, have many meanings, express itself in many ways, but it cannot be contained in a box or shape and labelled as ‘play’. If play is taken out of one context and into another it changes its shape and purpose, and the way it moves and performs. All of it is play in its many facets, and all of it is of equal value, because it meets the differing needs of the child at the time it is being played.

Play is fluid so therefore cannot be defined purely as one aspect or another, and as water is fluid, so is play – it changes its shape to its environment, circumstances and players, taking on different forms, expressions and meanings to the players concerned. It has intrinsic meaning to the children and may change direction at any moment, according to the children’s needs and personality etc. Bruce verifies that play is like fluid and free-flowing,

She stated: “the whole point about play is that it cannot be pinned down. It flows. It is on the move.” (Bruce 2004:154)

Free-flowing play can be limited by obstacles such as time, adults, relationships, routines, outcomes, interferences, circumstances, environment, or disability, and may not flow in the natural direction a child may wish to take it if limited by any of the above obstacles. However, because play is fluid, it can continue where it was left, or be restarted and flow in entirely different direction if obstacles do not restrict play.

Props may be used during free flow play which then takes on a symbolic characteristic, and children may engage in role play or socio-dramatic, plus rough and tumble, all rolled up into one, making it difficult to untangle and define! Children do not need adults to direct free-flow or fluid play, only to keep them safe from harming themselves or harming others. This may be viewed as an obstacle by children (and so it is) but as long as adults are not being ‘over-protective’ or ‘over-restrictive’ and children understand the need for safety rules (they tend to like rules in play anyway!) then the

obstacle or interruption is only a temporary obstacle, that children can overcome and move one, because their play is flexible and fluid.

The purpose or value of play, as mentioned is intrinsic to the child and players and appears to be part of children’s developmental journey. Bruce (2004:149) describes play as a process with no productive end. Play helps children develop in a holistic way, developing their social interactions, language skills, co-operation, understanding of how the world works, and personal, social and emotional development. Play is a tool that brings knowledge and experiences together. Vygotsky viewed play as a vehicle (or tool) for social interaction. Bruner believed roleplay was a vehicle (or tool) for learning about society’s rules and conventions. Piaget believed play unifies children’s experiences, knowledge and experience. Frobel, Steiner, and Issacs were the biggest advocates of holistic development. Frobel believed learning and development is holistic, involving the child, other adults and the environment, and that childhood is a stage in it’s own right. Steiner based his principles on Frobels and developed a programme involving

play. Issacs believed play was central to the overall development of the child.

Play is as an important of children’s developmental journey – it becomes a tool by which children learn to develop in a holistic manner, it enables them to understand themselves, other people, their community and the world around them. Play also enables children to act out experiences, past and present, and enter into fantasy worlds. Bruner believed that play is process-led rather than task orientated, but also believed it prepares children for adulthood. (Fisher 1996:97) We are all on a lifelong journey and the journey, and the journey for me may be different to your journey. We may start at the same place, but go in different directions, and we may meet again but be different people, because life (and play, as part of that process) shapes the people and character we become. The journey of developing and learning is a long, slow, and ongoing process throughout life – a developmental journey which starts at birth and finishes at death, and play in its many fluid forms, becomes part of the process.

If play is structured, directed or initiated by adults, play takes on a different role. If play has a goal, target or outcome for a child to achieve, often children do not view this type of play as play, but as work…. they view

work as teacher-directed and play as choice, sitting down as working, and being active as playing (Wood & Attfield, 2005:17). However, a divide between play and work cannot easily be made. Children learn in and through play, whether it is teacher initiated or child initiated. Frobel, Steiner, Issacs, Piaget believed play should not be directed. Miss Boyce believed in a mixed approach, including free flow play and a more structured timetable for teacher-directed sessions. Montessori, demonstrated skills to children and did not believe in freeplay. Brunner saw play as a process but also believed adults need to scaffold children’s experiences in order to help them progress to the next stage, as did Vygotsky, who advocated adults working alongside children to build on / scaffold their understanding to move them onto the next stage. McMillian also believed in a structured environment that was planned to support children’s needs, and which integrated subjects such as maths, science and literacy.

Whether play is adult led or child led, children will learn many skills through play such as; co-operation, negotiation, other people’s views, social skills, language skills, fine and gross motor skills may improve and other skills may

be mastered, thinking and cognitive skills are used and improved, so therefore children will learn through play whether there is an intended outcome or not! My own observations of children’s play confirmed this. Children learned through many different types of play, structured and unstructured. Structured play helped children develop more in the cognitive realm whereas unstructured play helped children develop more in the creative, language, physical and personal/social realm.

If they do meet the outcomes (which they should do if the resources, processes and intensions are aimed at the right level…) then this is an added bonus! If planned and resourced correctly by practitioners, play can help children meet targets within the Foundation Stage or Key stage 1, covering all aspects of the curriculum from Personal, social and emotional development through to creative development.

Adults can improve the quality of children’s play by providing a rich variety of resources, and well planned structured play, indoors and out, needs sensitive scaffolding for children to progress or learn new skills and knowledge. Adults also need to provide plenty of free flow play, and time

to complete tasks. If adults aim to intervene as little as possible in free play, this will provide a better outcome for children.

In structured play the teacher/adult has used play as a ‘tool’ (others call it a vehicle or medium) but may not be viewed as play in its purest form. Play cannot be categorized into ‘play’ or ‘not play’ (because play is fluid and takes many forms) but may be better defined as ‘more pure play’ or ‘less pure play” (Wood & Attfield 2005:4-5) Wood and Attfield further define pure play as unstructured, active, fun, a process, pretend, child invented and child-choosen. Linden states, “Circumstances can prevent or restrict play. Constraints may be placed by adults or the environment limits children’s experiences. Alternatively, developmental problems, disability or illness can shape the possibilities for children.” Play may be hampered (children may have obstacles to play) if they have any form of disability or cultural, language, social or economic differences. Children (like adults) tend to be exclusive, uncertain about things or people they don’t understand or are not like them, unless they are informed/educated that all children have an equal right to play and should be granted access and opportunities to play.

Children need adults to be good role models demonstrating equality by provision and adaptability to children’s needs. Children need adults to provide different types of play or different ways of playing, so that children can access it. Some children may need more adult support to access play, especially if there is some form of disability or complex needs. These children may access play differently, but all children have the same right to develop in a holistic way that all children do. All children need the ‘tool’ of play for their own development; because play is fluid, the way the tool is used may be different.

I observed a young boy (of about 8 years old) and other children aged between 6-10 years in a social club setting. All the children, except the little boy of 8, were engaged in locomotive play. They were chasing, tickling, rolling, dancing etc throughout the night, mainly in small groups of children. The play looked chaotic but was not out of place in the setting. The adults observed this play and did not intervene. The children appeared

to have no purpose or intension but to enjoy themselves, and the value to them was in participating in the fun, making up games and dances, enjoying social activities together and passing time in an enjoyable way.

The other little boy of 8 however, did not join in any of the play, he merely acknowledged the other children. Instead of playing with the other children, this little boy stood in front of the band that was performing, and appeared to be conducting them (using a toy), virtually all night. He was engrossed in his play/work. Later on when the band had a break, he circled around the

hall floor, (walking on his toes) making ‘car-like’ movements. At this point the boy may have been involved in role play. However, his first play was very difficult to understand (possibly role play or practice play?) This little boy appeared to have special needs along the line of Asperger’s syndrome (noted from previous study and personal experience) I suspected Asperger’s syndrome because he did not communicate with the other children, contact them, play alongside them, or join in their play. When they came near him once during locomotive play, he visible repelled / moved himself clearly out of their way. He couldn’t or didn’t access any type of social, co-operative or

parallel play, but preferred his own solitary activity and the type of play he engaged in was repetitive. Although his play didn’t make sense to me, it was meaningful to him. He appeared to believe he was truly directing the band (though they ignored him and continued their performance) however he was engrossed in roleplay or practice play and appeared to enjoy what he was doing. His play was intrinsically valuable to him and he had as much right to play in this way as the other children had to play in their way. Linden Stated “Play stems from children’s own perception of the world and how it works… play is a very personal, creative activity… within children’s understanding, their play is meaningful in it connection to non-play reality. (2000:43).

I also observed other types of play in other settings with younger children. The type of play I observed included socio-dramatic (2-3 year olds involved in playing with dolls, prams and accessories, going shopping etc); exploratory play (2-3 year olds exploring playdough and cutters, moulding, shaping, cutting etc); creative play – free painting, mixing paints, making patterns and pictures and epistemic play (2-6 year olds involved in table top games,

including sounds game, snakes & ladders and alphabet jigsaw). The learning processes during these observations was vast, from social skills, co-operation and concentration to language skills, physical skills, fine motor skills, mathematic skills, creative skills to cognitive skills, being used, extended and enhanced in play to the benefit of the child/ren concerned.

Play however, is not just a tool that enables development, play in itself is fun and has value in itself. Play is as valuable to the child as work is to adults. Fisher (96:103) stated “Play has its own intrinsic rewards, it is done spontaneously and voluntary and it is thoroughly enjoyable.” If play is self-chosen, self-motivated and directed, then it can only be enjoyable. Theorists such as Lazarus and Garvey hold this view; indeed children would not engage in play so readily if it were not so! Linden (2001:44) stated, “children play for play’s sake. The activity is an end in itself and is not undertaken for an end product.”

Conclusion

In this article I have stated my theory of play as being fluid, and other aspects or definitions of play and its value in children’s development. Included in this are some theorist’s views of play, and observations of children’s play and what they are gaining from it, noting however, that defining play in all its elements, is very difficult! Play has many facets and functions it is impossible for one or two statements to adequately state what play is or does and many theorists hold differing views, reflecting this difficulty.

Play has become a tool in the Early Years sector and education and it is key to understanding how children think and feel. It has become clearer to me that play is crucial to children’s social and emotional development, and other aspects such as language skills, cognitive skills and understanding the world in which they live. It has also become clearer to me that the least amount of time adults intervene in children’s play, the better! (Though of course there is a time when structured play is appropriate). Play is enjoyable and motivating and a tool that develops children holistically and plays is fluid in that it fulfils many different roles that aids children in their developmental journey.

http://childsworld.info

Ruth Grigg

Starting out in internet marketing is almost always overwhelming

to e-business newcomers, even if they are seasoned business

professionals or marketing experts. Internet marketing is truly

original and quite different from traditional marketing. The

complexity is compounded for those who do not have vast

experience operating or marketing a business. Whatever the

circumstances, many new internet entrepreneurs ponder the idea of

hiring an internet marketing expert to get their internet-based

business off the ground.

There are different types of internet marketing experts who

provide various levels of support and services. Hiring or

contracting to a full-service internet marketing expert can be

quite expensive, but using limited services of an internet

marketing expert can be both cost-effective and advantageous for

a new internet business. Another option to hiring an internet

marketing expert is to pursue training and educational

opportunities in internet marketing that will prepare you to

become an internet marketing expert yourself.

Some services offered internet marketing expert firms include:

1. Preparation of marketing plans

2. Internet marketing

consulting services

3. Management of specific internet marketing

campaigns

4. Full-service planning and management of the internet

marketing program

Having an internet marketing expert craft a marketing plan that

is specific to your business is a good way to gain an

introduction to internet marketing and to realize your internet

marketing potential. A marketing plan prepared by an internet

marketing expert should contain an analysis of your business and

your industry as well as identifying and evaluating your

competition and recommending a niche market for you to target.

The internet marketing expert should also outline internet

marketing strategies for you to use to reach your target market

and to drive targeted traffic to your website. Specifics of your

planned internet marketing campaign should be included in the

marketing plan along with milestones and an internet marketing

budget. Using an internet marketing expert in this capacity will

provide you with a clear internet marketing plan that will serve

as a guide for your internet marketing program.

Internet consulting services provided by an internet marketing

expert can be provided one-on-one, through classes or through

coaching. Generally, such consulting services accomplish the same

thing as a marketing plan prepared by an internet marketing

expert, but they are less formal and more intended to condition

you to prepare and administer your own marketing plan and

program. Working with an internet marketing expert on a

consulting basis is a great way to learn about internet marketing

and to prepare yourself to manage your own internet marketing

program.

Sometimes you may find it beneficial to hire or contract an

internet marketing expert to manage a specific area of your

internet marketing campaign that is time consuming. Search engine

optimization and pay-per-click management are examples of these

specific activities that may benefit from the use of an internet

marketing expert. Both require ongoing monitoring and adjustments

to be continually effective and cost-efficient. Linking campaigns

are also ongoing, time consuming tasks that you may want to

consider outsourcing to an internet marketing expert.

A full-service internet marketing expert generally provides a

wide-array of internet marketing services. Among them are the

marketing planning tasks of reviewing the industry, identifying

the competition, analyzing the market, pinpointing a target

market, developing a unique selling proposition, identifying

marketing methods, and planning the marketing budget. Once the

marketing plan is in place and approved by you, the full-service

internet marketing expert actually launches and manages your

internet marketing campaign.

Considering all of the levels of service that an internet

marketing expert can provide will help you to decide whether or

not to hire an internet marketing expert. The main advantages of

using the services of an internet marketing expert are access to

expertise and freeing up your time. The disadvantage, of course,

is the cost associated with the use of an internet marketing

expert. In making that crucial decision for your unique business,

a cost-benefit analysis can provide guidance to ensure that you

make the best decision for your business.

Copyright Christopher J. Enders. Are you at the end of your rope, fed up and confused by all the scrambled internet marketing advice you’re getting? Whether you are new to internet marketing, or a website owner who wants to make more money from your website, learn the proven strategies that will sky-rocket your internet business at http://BiznessTips.com

Politics have been a part of Chicago for some time. By politics we mean the heated politics of Chicago. From the University of Chicago, which has seen some great political leaders, to the leaders of Chicago in the past who were known to have mob connections, Chicago has been a political firecracker for some time.

They say that the two things you should never discuss are politics and religion, but that does not stop a lot of the talk of the heated politics of Chicago. Many people want to know Chicago politics inside and out, and want to know what the big news for the city’s political scene is. This love for the Chicago political scene is something many in the city share. However, finding people to talk to about politics can be extremely difficult to do.

Just as the history of Chicago has been very diverse, so have its political views. The politics of Chicago have not only been heated, but have led to impacts in the nation that is here today. They have also laid the groundwork to a number of events that would be factors in the world as a whole as a well. Some of the newer cities of the United States have to give thanks to some of the greater minds and political views of the Windy City.

In recent years, some of the greats in the corporate world and political world have sought places in the Southwestern United States. Some have seen this as a means of fleeing the fires that they fueled in Chicago, other have merely seen this as them wanting to have a transition to the next stage of their lives. The heated politics of Chicago can literally eat someone alive and spit out the remains without a second thought. That is part of what makes Chicago one of the political centers and also one of the hot spots for change in the Midwest.

Many have seen the legendary Al Capone as a nightmare in the streets of Chicago, and have seen how he would consume the legal system. One can’t say Capone’s name though without mentioning how he was the catalyst in the creation of the FBI. This level of corruption that Capone brought forth also instigated a higher level of how politics were viewed in Chicago and how the dirty politicians were dealt with. In the bluntest of terms, just as the Chicago sports fans won’t tolerate verbal jabs; the political arena of Chicago is no different.

Some have seen that Chicago is one of the harder roads for politicians, yet it is also a road that had garnered a higher level of respect of the politicians that have surfaced from the torrents of the political world there. This has been a city that has shown what a cut throat environment politics can be and also where a politician can be revered by those that support them.

The author runs a website about Chicago politics. This has been truer with the rich political history that Chicago offers and the direct impact it has had on both the state and Federal government.

Are you are snow skiing beginner? Maybe you have been skiing once and are looking for ways to improve your endurance?

I’m here to tell you that to get the best out of your next ski holiday, it is crucial that you prepare yourself so you have the endurance to ski all day and enjoy the ski nightlife afterward.

The thing is that everyone realizes how awesome snow skiing is and how once you start you are hooked for life… it’s that addictive! However a lot of people take for granted just how much energy your body uses if you are skiing all day, not to mention the pressure on your muscles and joints.

When I was first introduced to skiing I fell in love with it, but I found that I had a problem with endurance and having enough energy to ski for the entire day. What I realized was that because I was only skiing for two weeks a year, my body struggled during those two weeks because I was simply not preparing myself prior to my ski holiday. I would always finish the day at 2pm or 3pm because I was too tired and sore and then sleep for 10 to 12 hours.

The thing is that if you are a snow ski beginner then in order to get the most out of each skiing day and have enough energy to enjoy the ski resort nightlife, then it is absolutely crucial that you undertake some kind of ski holiday fitness preparation.

I can say that when I started incorporating ski fitness preparation prior to my ski holiday, I found that it made a dramatic difference. Ski fitness can be incorporated into your gym routine or weekly fitness routine, it really is not that different. The key is to know what exercises to do.

I happened to stumble across an awesome ski fitness at home program that is specifically designed for snow ski fitness. If you are looking for the specific ski fitness exercises to give you all the endurance you will need then you must check out Avalanche Ski Training [http://www.skiing-made-easy.com/] as it is specifically designed for the snow skier.

Why Use Resume Objectives

Before we can discuss the pitfalls you first need to understand the reasons for including your resume objectives and how they relate to your resume and interview selection process.

Including an objectives section at the beginning of your resume provides a brief introduction to the purpose of the resume, highlighting your career objectives and the type of job you are seeking.

It is very common for job-seekers to include a brief objectives section at the beginning of their resume The objectives section can be an important part of a resume, and might be the first thing employers looks at. Therefore you should put considerable thought into constructing focused and clear objectives.

Look At These Resume Objective Examples

A resume objective does exactly what the name suggests; it highlights your objectives and states the type of job you are seeking.

Here are some examples of career objectives:

· To obtain an elementary education teaching position with upward mobility to a principalship.

· To obtain a position in manufacturing operations and development which will utilize acquired knowledge and collective experience.

· Public relations writer for a large metropolitan hospital.

· Auditor position in the public accounting field in the Philadelphia area.

As you can see, the objectives are short and sweet; meaning they are to the point in describing the purpose of creating your resume.

Doorway To The Interview… Resumes

What is a resume… usually it is the first contact you have with potential employers. It is also where you list your skills and create a marketable presentation so that companies understand the benefits of employing you.

Your resume is also the first (and possibly the last!) opportunity you have to persuade your prospective employer to give you an interview.

Clearly… it is in your best interests to ensure your resume is compelling enough to leave the recruiter with no other option but to invite you to an interview.

If you want to learn more about writing resumes that get interviews, visit a site such as Top Career Resumes where you will find numerous articles and tips.

Or, if you prefer… a cost effective alternative is to use a resume writing service to prepare your resume for you.

Pitfalls of Using Resume Objectives

You may have noticed that all previous references to objectives focus on you and therein lies the pitfall!

Employers are not interested in what you want…

If your objectives fail to match those of the employer, you will not even get to first base! So keep your options open until you find out more about their objectives.

Some people decide to omit the objectives section and use that space to highlight other abilities and accomplishments. Whether you choose to use resume objectives or not will depend greatly on your particular situation.

Reasons Against…

A few experts feel that the resume objectives section can be limiting to job seekers. It makes you be very specific as to your goals. This may be constraining if you want to be general and leave your options open.

Employers on average take only 30 seconds to look at a resume. The objectives section is the first thing that catches their eye. If you have a specific objective written, for example to obtain a managerial position, the manager may pass on your resume if he was looking for some other position.

If you are thinking about getting a professionally written resume, now would be a good time.

However, remember that the objectives section can disqualify you for jobs different from your stated objective… if you are not looking for a targeted job you can skip the section without many negative consequences.

It would be advisable to skip the resume objective section rather than be too vague. Unfocused objectives will put off many hiring managers. They may not end up looking at your experience and skills, which would of shown you to be a suitable candidate for the job.

Reasons For…

If you do include your resume objectives, you should construct several different resumes, each specifically tailored to the job you are applying for. You will want to make your resume relevant to each job. The objectives section may be the best way to create job specific resumes.

A draw back of not including the objectives section is that a hiring manager may not be willing to search your resume to figure out your job objectives and goals… and may bypass your resume.

If you have a specific job position in mind and are clear about your objectives, this section can be useful in informing potential employers about your reasons for applying.

In either case, it may pay you to seek professional advice before you make your final decision. The modest cost of doing this pales into insignificance compared with the cost of making a poor career decision.

Stating Your Resume Objectives

This has greatest benefits for career changers and recent college graduates. Your objectives should be concise and to the point, to quickly inform employers about your background and goals.

Entry-level workers can state in their resume objectives that they are recent graduates looking for positions in their particular field. Career changers should state how they can use their previously earned skills to make a transition into their new career.

Be Employer Focused

An alternative to resume objectives might be the ‘Qualifications Summary’ section. This is a section where you can briefly discuss your skills and how you intend to use them.

This can make your resume more employer focused, as the employer wants to find out what you can do for them. This might be more beneficial than having a self-focused resume, simply listing what you want to do.

Many employers prefer to have employees that are focused on their goals and motivated to achieving them. A well presented objective can be just the high-impact tool that can get a hiring manager’s attention from the start.

Finally…

When writing your resume objectives you have to consider your career plans. If you have not already done so, now would be a good time to get assistance with career assessment and planning.

When you have completed your planning and taken some time to match your interests with your chosen career, your resume objectives should complement the results you obtained through your searches.

Do you know how to use resume objective samples when writing your resume? Learn more about resume objectives by visiting my site at http://rogers-resume-help-center.com/resume-objectives.html

Offering online marketing services is certainly an opportunity to

consider if you are interested in starting an internet business

that will enable you to work from home. Internet business is

booming, no doubt, and there are many people venturing into

e-business who haven’t a clue how to go about marketing on the

internet. Online marketing services are not exclusive to

e-business; they can also be beneficial to brick-and-mortar type

retail or wholesale companies. Thus, there are many different

target audiences to choose from when offering online marketing

services. This enables you to identify and pursue a niche market.

There are a few things to do before launching an online marketing

services company:

1. Familiarize yourself with online marketing services

2. Conduct market research to identify a niche market

3. Decide which online marketing services you will offer

4. Become an expert

The next phase of launching your online marketing services

company involves:

1. Preparing your business plan and marketing plan

2. Developing your policies and service procedures

3. Marketing your online marketing services

4. Providing exceptional customer service

5. Building a base of repeat customers and referrals

for your online marketing services

With the internet, it is easy to review online marketing services

and to find out about your competition. A competitive analysis is

essential to differentiating and positioning your online

marketing services company. In your review of online marketing

services, you will get some great ideas about what services you

can offer and how to professionally present them.

Market research is the key to identifying a niche market to

target for your online marketing services company. For instance,

you may market your services only to attorneys, only to wholesale

grocers, only to work-from-home moms, etc. With an online

marketing services company, truly the world is your playground.

However, by narrowing the scope of your target market by finding

a niche to market to, you’re advertising will have a stronger

impact as you can become known as an expert in online marketing

services for whatever field or niche you choose to market to.

Once you have reviewed other online marketing services, analyzed

your competition, and identified your target market, you are

ready to decide which online marketing services you wish to

offer. This is another opportunity to define a niche. For

instance, you may offer only pay-per-click management services

and you can position yourself as an expert in that area which can

be credible if that is the only service you offer. You can also

offer a whole menu of online marketing services with various

mixes in package deals which can be appealing to clients.

Whichever online marketing services you choose to offer, if you

are presenting yourself as an expert, make absolutely sure that

you are one before you take on your first customer. The

reputation of your online marketing services is at stake. If you

present yourself as an expert in search engine optimization for

instance, and you cannot achieve good ranking for your clients,

your credibility will be lost and this can frequently result in

your reputation being ruined via discussions about your company

through online marketing and business forums.

Preparing your business plan and marketing plan should be a

first-step before you launch your online marketing services

business. Writing a business plan just makes sense because it

helps you to put your ideas down on paper, to set your goals, to

think through issues and to define your budget. Your marketing

plan is equally important as it will serve to keep you focused on

the important aspects of your online marketing services business.

For suggestions about what should be included in a business plan

and marketing plan, visit the website for the Small Business

Administration . There you will find excellent guidance for

business planning.

Policies and service procedures are important for two reasons.

One, to protect your business; and two, to ensure that you

provide excellent service to your customers and that they

understand up front what your services entail. When marketing

your online marketing services business online, you should at a

minimum have a terms-of-use policy and a privacy policy. Through

your terms of use, it is a good idea to disclose your policy

regarding refund requests or your service guarantees as well as

any limitations to your service.

Taking customer service a step further, your service policies

will govern how you do business. Your systems will enable you to

provide the services. Starting out, you don’t necessarily need

anything fancy, but as your company grows, automating some of

your sales and service features is a good idea. An example of an

automated customer service tool is an autoresponder that confirms

you have received an order. Repeat customers will come to you if

you offer excellent online marketing services.

It is easier to retain a customer than to get a new one, so

always keep that in mind when working with your customers. Happy

customers are also extremely valuable to an online marketing

services company because they will refer you to their friends and

associates. To encourage referrals, you may offer your customers

some type of incentive (like a 10% discount) if they refer a new,

buying client to you.

Copyright Christopher J. Enders. Are you at the end of your rope, fed up and confused by all the scrambled internet marketing advice you’re getting? Whether you are new to internet marketing, or a website owner who wants to make more money from your website, learn the proven strategies that will sky-rocket your internet business at http://BiznessTips.com

Florida health insurance companies are now feeling the effects of the increased price transparency that the Internet brings. Now longer is it a process of days or even weeks to obtain multiple health insurance quotes from top Florida health insurance companies. The simplest and most efficient way to obtain health insurance in Florida is simply to make the top health insurance companies in the state (Golden Rule/United Healthcare, Aetna, and Humana) compete for your business!

If you cringe at the thought of a United Healthcare agent, an Aetna agent, and a Humana agent all clustering around you amongst a swarm of other Florida health insurance agents and trying to push their company’s policy upon you then read on; for health insurance shopping on the Internet has simplified everything. There are numerous Florida health insurance websites that offer Florida health insurance quotes but there are quite a few very important distinctions between the different types.

There are two main types of websites that offer Florida health insurance quotes to Florida health insurance shoppers: Marketing Organizations and Insurance Agencies.

Marketing Organizations do not sell insurance, are not regulated by any insurance department, and generally have no knowledge whatsoever concerning Florida health insurance. However, they can offer consumers a somewhat appealing service. How can they assist in purchasing health insurance?

They act as a middleman between Florida health insurance shoppers and Florida health insurance agents. When Mrs. Smith in Tampa, FL requests a health insurance quote then the marketing company sells her information as a lead to 5 or more Florida insurance agents.

Ignoring the privacy issues and the issue of the qualifications of the health insurance agents that will be purchasing your information there is the larger and more practical issue of do you really want to have 5+ insurance agents aggressively seeking your business?

Imagine that each health insurance agent is taught in their sales training to call you at least 5 times and email you at least 3 times before “giving up” on you as an insurance prospect: that means that you have received 25 phone calls and 15 emails from various insurance agents!

The second type of website that offers Florida health insurance quotes is the website that is run by an insurance agency (note that it is very important to find only an independent Florida insurance agency – meaning an agency that is not tied to working with only one health insurance company but can show you health insurance quotes from all of the top Florida health insurance companies. This is also why we will ignore the quasi third group of websites that offer Florida health insurance quotes: the health insurance carrier websites themselves. These can be a good service but very time consuming. There is a better way to shop for Florida health insurance. Read on-).

Most independent insurance agency websites offer a feature that will allow you to request Florida health insurance quotes. However, there is a much better way to shop for Florida health insurance! Rather than waiting for your request for health insurance quotes to be filled; look for a website that offers instant and LIVE Florida health insurance quotes from top Florida health insurance companies.

With instant LIVE Florida health insurance quotes you have the best of both worlds: you receive the benefits of competitive pricing by viewing the top Florida health insurance companies quotes side by side (the strong point of the marketing organization website model) as well as personal, expert help (the strong point of the insurance agency website model). Not to mention the added benefit of viewing the health insurance quotes from the different health insurance companies in the same format – enabling easy side by side comparisons of benefits. This allows for a true “apples to apples” comparison.

View up to 20 LIVE Florida health insurance quotes from top Florida health insurance companies like Aetna, Humana and Golden Rule/United Healthcare all in less than 20 seconds! View LIVE Florida health insurance quotes now and take advantage of the Internet’s price transparency!

Get free health insurance quotes by comparing all of the top health insurance plans in your zip code – in less time than it takes to brush your teeth!

Comparison shop multiple insurance companies instantly and in real time by viewing free Florida health insurance quotes: Aetna, Humana, United Healthcare and more.

With more and more companies wanting to integrate their products into the lives of

celebrities, now seems like a good time to take a closer look at Celebrity Product

Placement, describe three common approaches, and outline what steps can be taken

to guarantee results.

The term “Celebrity Product Placement” is used to describe several related

techniques, but its definition applies to each: free products are distributed to

celebrities in expectation of a promotional benefit. Unlike the more overt, paid-for

endorsement, it offers a distinct advantage. It can appear like a product choice

made on individual preference.

Most marketers are unaware of their options in this category (one form features

contracts with celebrities, guaranteeing performance and allowing marketers to

actively leverage celebrity patrons in the media) and therefore many overlook a very

powerful influencer-marketing technique.

In this article, I will describe each of the three main approaches and discuss their

relative merits by listing their pros and cons. I also hope to quash any

misconception that Celebrity Product Placement has to be a gamble, and show you

how best to secure a return on investment (R.O.I.).

But first, a little history…

Celebrity Product Placement (sometimes called “Celebrity Seeding”) has been with us

since the dawn of marketing. Centuries before Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped into

his first Hummer, an 18th century potter named Josiah Wedgwood began supplying

his wares to England’s Queen Charlotte. Being given the title “Potter to Her Majesty”

led to a huge amount of publicity for Wedgwood which he took advantage of using

the term “Queen’s Ware” wherever he could.

It wasn’t until the 20th century that marketers keyed-in on America’s “royalty”:

Hollywood. But more often than not they met with disappointing results. Some

companies responded only to occasional requests for products (“gifting”), while

others made half-hearted attempts to distribute them without first devising a means

to guarantee results (“seeding”). In the end, most companies seeded product “to the

wind” and failed to grow anything of value.

Those efforts that did succeed, however, were so successful that independent

specialists emerged to help companies achieve better results. But the services they

offer vary and so do the results.

What’s It All About?

Marketers have long known the power of celebrity to influence consumer-

purchasing decisions. The term “borrowed equity” has been used to describe how a

celebrity endorsement can bestow upon a product special attributes and cache it

might not otherwise have.

The same concept applies to Celebrity Product Placement. But unlike celebrity

endorsements, where a highly compensated personality appears in commercial

advertising, Celebrity Product Placement offers marketers a more subtle and highly

effective means of reaching the public – via the media they consume by choice.

Indeed, Celebrity Product Placement is as much about placing products with

celebrities as it is about getting stories about those relationships into the press.

Regardless of the approach, Celebrity Product Placement strategies have a common

aim: to tie celebrities (thought-leaders, influencers) with consumer products in the

public consciousness.

Three different techniques offer three different levels of control over that placement:

gifting-the-talent (this usually involves supplying products for gift bags at live

events); product seeding (products are distributed more widely in hopes of securing

a promotional benefit and kicking off a trend); and, barter relationships (individual

celebrities agree to participate in custom programs in exchange for valuable

products).

Let’s take a look at each one in greater detail.

GIFTING-THE-TALENT

“Everybody” knows that celebrities own all the coolest stuff, and well before

everybody else. Celebrities travel the world and every minute detail of their daily

lives pervades the media. As style-leaders, they are perhaps our most powerful

influencers. It’s no wonder then that companies are lining up to give them the latest

gifts and gadgets for free.

One method to do this is called “Gifting-The-Talent.” This generally involves

supplying free product for insertion into “goody bags” which are handed out as

‘thank you’ gifts to celebrity presenters and award nominees at the now-countless

awards shows and charity benefits that dot the entertainment landscape.

At last year’s Academy Awards, for example, one of two Best Actress gift-bags

featured Gucci sunglasses, a Sprint PCS phone, Christian Tse 18-carat gold Iris

earrings, and more. The Best Actor bag featured Gucci eyewear, a Maurice Lacroix

Swiss watch and assorted other goodies. According to news reports, the retail value

of one such group of bags at the Oscars exceeded $110,000 each!

But how effective is this practice? If the goal of Celebrity Product Placement is to get

press coverage, can we measure the value of gift-bag placements? What types of

products are suitable and which are not? And what level of control does this strategy

offer marketers both in terms of demographics and reach?

There is no denying the value of being associated with these glitzy events, and by

extension, the celebrities who populate them. On the plus side, they offer a rare

opportunity to get close to the biggest stars in the world. On the minus side, the

marketer has no control in matching up celebrities who hold sway over their

particular demographic. They have to play the cards they are dealt.

Gifting-the-talent at award shows virtually guarantees mentions in the celebrity

press at the time of the event; but without permission to associate the celebrity’s

name and likeness with the product, marketers don’t have the leeway to truly

leverage those relationships in their own press activities.

Gifting-the-talent in this way has other limitations: first-movers snap-up desirable

categories and, of course, not all products are deemed appropriate. You won’t find

an energy drink in these bags.

PRODUCT SEEDING

Product Seeding offers marketers more control over whom to place products with

but, conversely, less control over how (or if) those products get used. And, while

virtually any product – from bottled water to consumer electronics – can be seeded

with celebrities, marketers are playing the odds here. But the payoff can be huge if

the seeding is supported by a creative strategy.

Product Seeding is the oldest form of Celebrity Product Placement. Products are

distributed more widely. They can be aimed at celebrities who are most compelling

to your demographic. And they can be delivered directly to the celebrity without the

filters imposed by events. Of course, working with a specialist who can get your

product directly to celebrities becomes paramount here. Film and television product

placement agencies are NOT set up for this practice.

Taken by itself, Product Seeding is a gamble. If you send enough freebies to

Hollywood but you don’t have a creative strategy, a celebrity might be photographed

using your product or evangelizing it on a talk show. But if one looks at Product

Seeding as one tactic in a larger Celebrity Product Placement effort, it can pay big

dividends – particularly in identifying celebrities who have a true affinity for your

product.

Energy Brands, makers of the Glaceau Vitamin Water line, discovered this in 2004.

As a result of its long-time strategy to “home deliver” the vitamin-enhanced drink

to celebrities (including Sean “Puffy” Combs and Tom Cruise), the company gained a

fan in 50 Cent. Having mentioned his preference for the product in a series of

interviews, the Hip Hop star – who is well known for his fitness-centered lifestyle –

became an obvious choice for brand spokesperson.

Speaking to Ad Age magazine, Energy Brands’ VP of marketing, Rohan Oza, said

“We’ve seen that when 50 Cent incorporates [Vitamin Water] into his daily routine …

the brand gets on the airwaves and we create a lot of trial.” Making vitamin water a

visible part of the rapper’s healthy lifestyle worked so well the company launched a

new “Formula 50″ variety named for the artist.

Such “organic” relationships can grow from Product Seeding. Not only can marketers

benefit from press mentions, but the process can be used to uncover promotional

opportunities and, in some cases, identify the most ideal product endorsers.

Product Seeding remains a gamble but, if executed properly, one well worth taking.

Relatively speaking, it is a very low-cost marketing program. And the return on

investment – though difficult to forecast compared to barter relationships discussed

below – can be big. But what if your goal is limited to getting press mentions? Can a

publicist hedge his or her bets in this category?

One of the great things about Product Seeding is how creative you can get. For

Trident White chewing gum, the company commissioned a Harris poll asking the

public to vote on the best “celebrity smiles.” My company, which specializes in

celebrity product placement, delivered gift baskets of the product to the Top 6

winners, allowing Trident to plug the celebrities in their press materials.

On another occasion, Electrolux – maker of a new high-end, super-quiet vacuum

cleaner – wanted to align their product with celebrities. We identified 6 celebrity

moms who had recently given birth and – touting the fact that these vacuums would

not wake a sleeping baby – made gifts of the product to each. Here again, the

company was able to use celebrities to draw press coverage for its product. And

they were able to reference these celebrities because they were stating facts (a gift

was made to…).

But what if you want tighter integration with celebrities? Suppose you need to

forecast a return on investment in order to get approval for a Celebrity Product

Placement campaign? And what if you want celebrities to provide feedback about

your product and authorize use of their names and likenesses as part of your press

campaign?

BARTER RELATIONSHIPS

Barter is, perhaps, the only way to guarantee performance on the part of the

celebrity. Unlike other forms of gifting, this is a quid pro quo relationship whereby

the celebrity agrees in advance to participate in the marketer’s promotional activities

- in exchange for valuable product.

Celebrity Product Placement campaigns of this type work best for big-ticket items

such as consumer electronics and (the loan of) cars. But with creative approaches,

special product questionnaires and generous “Right of Publicity” agreements,

marketers can use the celebrity’s name, likeness and opinion as part of their public

relations campaigns.

Celebrity Product Placement – via barter agreements – is also among the most

affordable ways to use celebrities. For the price of a few products, and sometimes a

token honorarium, companies can integrate testimonials into their PR materials and

create customized celebrity content for their websites.

They can involve numerous stars in a press campaign for less than the cost of a

single paid celebrity spokesperson. It is one of the most under-exploited tactics

available to marketers today.

A Case Study: Sony Electronics

The Sony CD Mavica – at the time, the only digital camera offering a built-in CD-

Rom – had failed to penetrate the increasingly crowded market for digital imaging

products. This was troubling for Sony because the CD Mavica offered clear

advantages over its competitors; namely, freedom from wires. But that message had

failed to reach the public.

Sony wanted to involve celebrities with their products and for that involvement to

influence the public in a meaningful way. They wanted a high-profile event –

preferably benefiting charity – upon which to launch a yearlong press campaign in

time for the Christmas shopping season. The focus: to promote the simplicity of

CD-based photography.

The budget was limited. But, having learned that the latest Sony products could be

made available to gift the talent, The Hollywood-Madison Group proposed a

Celebrity Product Placement campaign. Each celebrity would be asked to take a

picture of what “Freedom” means to them, and those photos would be auctioned off

for charity.

Such an artistic challenge, coupled with the prospect of receiving free Sony product,

not only served to induce celebrities to participate, but offered us an extraordinary

opportunity: to frame these pictures and mount an exhibition which raised money

for charity. Indeed, the charity component attracted higher-caliber celebrities and

provided the “hook” to draw media attention.

We successfully placed the Sony CD Mavica digital camera with fifteen top stars

including Eric McCormack, Alyssa Milano and Dennis Hopper. The photographs were

then offered for sale on eBay as part of Wired magazine’s annual charity auction,

and put on display at a star-studded event in Los Angeles.

Fifteen top celebrities demonstrated the practical use of Sony’s product and

authorized the use of their names, likenesses and opinions about the product for

press and marketing purposes (for one year). Sony received free advertising for its

product in print and online for three months (worth an estimated $100,000), as well

as 3.6 million webpage impressions (auction as a whole) and national press

coverage including Entertainment Tonight.

You can read more about this project on our website>celebrity_projects>influencer

campaigns.

Conclusion

Celebrity Product Placement offers marketers an exciting way to influence

consumer-purchasing decisions. Properly executed, it can be a low-cost, high-

return proposition. As such, it should be part of every consumer-marketing

program.

Three different approaches offer three different results: gifting-the-talent (narrow

focus); product seeding (broad focus) and, barter relationships (one-on-one focus).

But, as we have seen, a tightly integrated celebrity product placement campaign,

combining elements of each, can improve results and deliver an impressive return

on investment.

Jonathan Holiff is president and CEO of The Hollywood-Madison Group – the leading recruiter of celebrities for endorsements, appearances and press campaigns. Visit the website at http://www.Hollywood-Madison.com

Childcare training is needed before working as a childcare expert. Whether it will be an educator or an actual care provider for children, being trained with these programs are helpful for these future experts in carrying out procedures needed by kids.

The good thing about these programs is it is possible for people to take three types of programs to meet the school’s requirements. There are different types of programs available for everyone who would like to know more about these procedures.

Online training programs
These training programs are the most chosen by people today especially for those who would like to shift career. Online childcare training programs will be suitable for people who think of taking this course at their own pace. Aside from pace, doing this will also help students take the programs based on their schedules. Some of these individuals are now working and just like to study even if they maintain their current job and in preparation for their childcare career.

Classroom program
People can take this typical training program especially if they want to do laboratory work or practical examinations before working as one of these experts. An instructor will help them train in learning all the needed skills. The good thing about this type for childcare training is it can give students a hands-on experience in doing the job. More options are available for people since it’s a common program that schools offer.

Other types of programs available in the field
Typically, training programs given by schools or other facilities for people who would like to be childcare experts. However, there are also some programs that can be used by parents even while at home. These will help them prepare on various things including emergencies and medical problems. Childcare training programs that focus on these activities will help parents to be more focused even on cases of emergencies while doing needed procedures. These will also be helpful in childproofing a home to prevent accidents resulting to different problems. Usually, these programs can be found from government offices offering childcare.

In conclusion, there are different types of programs that will suit the needs of everyone. Whether they are parents or who want to be a childcare expert, there would always be the right program that will suit their needs. Make sure to search online for different schools and government offices that extend childcare services to the community.

Childcare Training Info Center has everything you need to make your life easier as you begin your career as a childcare professional. The site features state specific training requirements for early childhood education and a step-by-step overview of a typical hiring process, potential employers and interviews to help you get hired. And it also provide a complete range of accredited childcare courses and childcare workers.

Cooking games for girls used to be cliche but now with the rise of cooking video games and handy mobile games for cooking that act as self guided cooking classes they are rising in popularity. When you say cooking games for girls and for boys its not just the plastic Fisher Price games that bring the world of make believe to life. Nintendo DS is a popular platform for cooking video games for kids and also adults as it walks you through cooking different types of meals. This article will walk you through the different types of games for girls, boys and adults. The article will follow up with the benefits of using the different games in your childs play time as well as benefits of adults using the cooking video games. Its fun for the whole family.

The first niche of cooking games is the classic make believe games. Generally these games are stereotype as cooking games for girls but as the culture grows games involving cooking should be included in any genders toy collection. Cooking games made by Fisher Price or Smart Gear were top on the list years back when you searched online. Now you have to scroll a few pages to find quality cooking games for girls and boys made from high quality plastics meant to last a childhood or two. The benefits of these types games are the same as you get from sending your child to soccer or youth football. They allow for the creative part of the brain to develop and help with social skills. A few of the children using cooking games will turn out to be the next Chef Ramsey. So be sure that you include cooking games for girls and boys of the make believe variety in your home.

As of recent the top searches for just “cooking games” returns Cooking Mama, Cooking Dash, even Cooking Mama 2 and Cooking Mama 3. What are these titles you ask? Video Games of course. The days of playing outside or playing house and make believe are dwindling sadly taken over by the hand-held graphical games. Nintendo seems to have cornered the market on games about cooking and even pulls in the adult crown with “Personal Trainer: Cooking”. This is not all bad although make believe toys mentioned above such as “Smart Gear Cooking Center” provide imagination through play the video game version can bring the reality of flour plus water and sugar equals dough without destroying your kitchen.

Better yet adults can learn how to cook in the comfort of their home while using their kids Nintendo DS. Personal Trainer: Cooking will have you delivering mouth watering food to your families table in no time. So although cooking games for girls and boys deliver hours of stimulating play for them; these video games can be just as entertaining for adults. Girls cooking games usually come in pink, but recently you will see blue as a popular color for these toys noting the shift in gender role association.

If your child shows interest in these games encourage them to take cooking classes for children. Your local community center often will have cooking classes that you can take with your children. If not be sure to include them in baking activities you partake in. Even if you are not a particularly great cook your children will appreciate the time you give them. Be prepared and don’t get mad there will be a mess made. Make the cleanup just as fun as the cooking. It is important to raise your children with an appreciation for cooking and baking especially as families lose the sit down family dinner and restaurants are more often the default over home cooking.

If you are looking for classic a game about cooking there is a website that has done the searching for you and separated them into cooking games for girls, for boys and for all. The products are all sold from Amazon.com which is a quality online retailer with reasonable shipping especially if you have Amazon Prime. I’ve used this site before just a note though – even though you add items to the cart on the site checkout actually happens in amazon.com so you can be assured of a safe secure shopping experience while shopping. The site is http://www.cookinggamesforgirls.biz a invaluable resource while shopping for any type of game about cooking.

Cut through all the noise and find the toys and games you need. [http://www.cookinggamesforgirls.biz] delivers top quality products on Amazon in an organized fashion. You are actually buying from Amazon when you checkout the site is just a collection of amazon products targeted at helping you find quality cooking games for girls, boys and adults.

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Longevity - It is said, give a cat three years for every human year and you have an idea of how old he is compared to us. Not so. A cat at one year old is capable of reproduction and fully able to take care of himself. A three year old human is helpless. Such mathematical formulas for understanding the ‘real’ age of an animal don’t work because their internal, and external developments vary and do not correspond to human development.

But did you know that the life span of cats seems to be increasing, from around twelve years or so several decades ago to eighteen or more and it seems now not uncommon for cats to live into their twenties? Not only advances in cat medicine but apparently in genetic changes as well are contributing to longer life and some cats live to be much older indeed. Several cats in Southern California have been reported to live as long as thirty and thirty four years.

Independent & Loners – Cats are thought to be solitary creatures by many, but anyone who has visited a farm where there are cats will find they congregate in colonies, sometimes nearing twenty in number and seem even to hunt together. There is little fighting because there is always one dominant cat which the others all accept, the rest being equal. At least until a new cat arrives and dominance must be re-established.

If you have an indoor/outdoor cat, as do I, you no doubt find him asking to be let out, even though he has his cat doors. Mine does daily, usually at night. I go to the door, open it and he eagerly runs into he mudroom, awaiting the opening of the next door, though both are equipped with cat doors. If I actually go out into the back patio with him he seems delighted, rolling around on the stones, watching me. I suspect he would love a hunting companion. (Preferably, I expect, one a bit quieter and more stealthy than myself.)

Cats can’t be trained – Training is entirely possible and we have probably all seen on television performance cats trained to walk a rope, roll a ball and even swim underwater. We attribute this to some sort of showmanship business and think our own cats are not trainable. Depending on the breed and the particular cat, they are probably all trainable to some degree and they are certainly able to train us!

Particia Moyes, in her book How To Talk To Your Cat, relates how one of her cats and she have a game, the object of which is to remove from some precarious perch – the top of a chair, say, an object, without disturbing anything around and without knocking the item to the floor. The one cat does this with care and great attention, and success. Her other cat, she tells us, takes the game simply to mean, ‘get the thing regardless’ and will also retrieve the item but in the clumsiest fashion, knocking it to the floor.

Ms. Moyes speaks of two other game she and her cats have; fetch and carry and hide and seek. In the first, the person throws a ball of tinfoil (or what-have-you) and the cat returns it, dropping it at the person’s feet. The second she says her cat invented. She (the cat) will bring the ball of tinfoil, drop it, then leave the room. Ms. Moyes will hide it, then call her cat who will begin excitedly exploring all the hiding places, find it, drop it and leave the room again. Keep in mind that Ms. Moyes creates and maintains an unusual and unusually close and respectful attitude towards her cats. Very likely, and many pet owners, indeed, parents, have discovered that, the more you anticipate your pet (or child) to be capable, the more capable your pet or child becomes.

My own cat offers a less dramatic, but useful example. A stray taken in at about 8 months he at first caused some alarm with his tendency to ‘do his nails’ on the furniture. I would bang my foot on the floor and tell him no and he’d stop. Now I just tell him, in no uncertain terms, to stop and he does. He only does this when he wants something and I’m not paying attention.

In fact, this is one way a cat has to get your attention and let you know he needs something – he does what he knows he is not supposed to do. My cat knows he’s not allowed on the kitchen table, for example, but if his food bowl stays empty too long, onto the table he leaps and I know right away he wants feeding.

There is an ancient Egyptian papyrus of the twentieth dynasty showing a dog walking on his hind legs, carrying a staff, herding goats. In the same picture there is a cat, walking on his hind legs, carrying a staff, herding ducks. The picture depicts the dog and cat on their hind legs carrying staffs, no doubt, to indicate that they are in control. Were they shown on their fours, one, they could not be shown carrying a staff and two, they would seem to be on the same level as the goats and ducks, not in charge of them. My guess is that one time, before the dark days of cat extermination, cats were trained and used and I expect they themselves were very responsive to this arrangement.

Aloof – When one considers the terrible history the family of cats has endured at the hands of man, repeatedly throughout Europe and even in America, it is no wonder the cat keeps himself aloof. Associated with witches, Satan and evil, as a race, cats have been betrayed, condemned, tortured and exterminated, many times, by the thousands and tens of thousands. Those which survived the pogroms passed on their genes to progeny, along with the survival sense to be wary of man. Yet every cat owner knows how truly attached a cat can become and how genuinely grateful they are for the affection and care given them.

Cats & Music Start playing an instrument, even something gentle, such as folk music on a guitar, and a dog is likely to leave the room. A cat, on the other hand is likely to come near, lay by you, roll around, purr and seem to enjoy the sounds immensely. My previous cat used to be my biggest fan, particularly of my fairly elaborate finger picking.

My current cat loves to hear the guitar but the obvious deep pleasure he gets from that doesn’t even compare to when I pick up the Celtic Harp and play on its strings. I can only describe his state as ecstatic, as if each tiny individual sound washes him with almost unendurable pleasure. Many composers throughout history relate the same story.

The famous harpist, Mlle Dubuy, noticed that her cat purred pleasantly when she played a piece on her harp well but cried when she played less so. She used this phenomena to improve her skill. Recognizing how much she owed her success as a harpist to her discerning cat she left him her substantial inheritance and endowed loyal friends likewise to ensure her cat was well cared for.

There is a video on YouTube of a cat playing the piano. She is quite intentionally sounding the notes, utterly absorbed in the phenomena. When his mistress plays Bach on another piano the cat stops and listens with obvious appreciation. It is quite as if this cat, and in fact, all cats, truly do appreciate beautiful music and the one in this particular YouTube video, aspires to musicianship.

Movement – We all know how agile and flexible cats are – owing to a variety of factors. Unlike man, in whom the vertebrae of the spinal column are held together by ligaments, in cat they are bound by muscle, giving the cat great range of movement. Because of the construction of his shoulder joint he can turn his foreleg in almost any direction.

But have you noticed, probably without thinking about it, that there is something funny, something odd in the way a cat runs?

Unlike almost all other mammals who advance by moving the front leg of one side of the body and the back of the opposite, the cat moves front and back legs of the same side. So it’s, front, left, let’s say, slight pause, back left, right front, pause, right back. The only other mammals said to do this are the camel and the giraffe – and they both have funny gaits too.

Food, water and health – Cats can live just fine on dry food. This is a dubious statement many authorities state as being downright false. Cats need meat. They have not the biological capability of taking various elements from a variety of non-meat foods and constructing the needed proteins, which man and dogs can do. And much of the content of dry food, i.e. Carbohydrates, not only are not natural foods for cats, they are said to be wholly unnecessary and can be harmful. Meat in some form, usually canned food, is a necessity for cats, not only for the proteins but as well for the water.

Cats do not have, as every cat owner has probably verified, a strong drive to drink. Their normal prey is their primary source of water. Deprived of that and not given sufficient wet food a cat can easily, and all too often does develop kidney disease from dehydration.

Regardless of whether your cat eats wet or dry food or both, fresh water should always be available to her. Many cat owners have observed that cats are more likely to drink if their water bowl is not located next to their food bowl, which makes sense, as in nature, animals go in search of water independently of their search for food. Also, being clean animals, it may not ‘feel’ as hygienic to have food and food smells next to their water source.

It is also advised to avoid plastic dishes for both food and water. Plastic tends to getting scratched and in those nicks and scratches harmful bacteria can grow. Also, some cats are allergic to plastic and develop skin conditions on their chins when fed and watered from plastic bowls.

Still water may run deep – but it still doesn’t suit a cat. Almost every cat owner has noticed that their cats love to put their tongues under the tap or even raise their mouths to falling rain. My cat used to put his head under a drip in the bathtub and let the water run to his tongue until we had it fixed – the tub, that is. Many cats will drink from any form of water other than still water.

Some people, including some vets think there is some molecular difference in moving water. Some think it is the sight of the movement of the water, or the sound. Whatever the reason, (and considering what a big subject this is if posts on the internet are any measure it is a bit surprising that the motivations for this are not better known), cats prefer moving water.

This fact has spawned an entire industry of cat fountains, almost all plastic, though there are several sources for ceramic cat fountains and cat bowls. Whether it is one of the plastic fountains or a ceramic cat fountain or cat bowl, all need the same care, which is simply to keep it filled and give it a thorough cleaning regularly. Some sources for pet fountains are listed at the end of this article and if you go to http://www.etsy.com and type in ceramic cat fountains you can find others.

Recommended reading: How to Talk To Your Cat by Particia Moyes The Life History and Magic of THE CAT by Fernand Mery

Web sources -

http://www.ceramiccatbowls.com/

http://www.artfire.com/users/indoorfountains