Fess Up! Do You Have Bad Manners?

Bad manners are wearing us down!




Well, I blame…











You Have the Power to Destroy a Child’s Future










Follow Your Passion and Live the Life You Love

If we take a good, hard look at ourselves, it is clear that we all have a strong passion for something. Innovative go-getters identify that passion, take hold of it, and run towards a bright and exciting future. Martha Stewart created an art form out of daily living, and built a multi-billion dollar empire around her flair for home economics. The late, great Julia Child mastered the fine art of French cooking and became a household name and culinary heroine. Debbie Fields took her childhood love of baking chocolate chip cookies and created a sensationally successful Fortune 500 company. Sadly, many people fail to follow their passion, and get stuck in the same dead end job for years and years.

Years in a dead end job take their toll. Boredom, depression, illness, loss of direction and drive are a few of the symptoms resultant in not following one’s passion. Goals that were once set for exciting and satisfied lives tend to go by the wayside when people fail to take the leap into a career that electrifies. Monday mornings feel like torture and the week ahead stretches on interminably.

How frustrating it must be for the “closet entrepreneur” to follow someone else’s lead when she wishes she were making all of the decisions. It is not uncommon for the average person to stay in a career rut because of risk aversion and fear of taking a leap into the unknown. Concerns about health insurance, a steady paycheck, and even failure, can paralyze some individuals and keep them tethered to a job that they hate. Although rational, these fears are not worth throwing away happiness, personal growth and development, and career fulfillment.

7 Tips to escape your dead end job and follow your passion!

1. Identify your passion.
What is it that you love to do? Are you passionate about teaching or training children?  Do you spend all of your off hours doing a hobby like arts and crafts? Do you want to make a change in the world like training kids to use good manners and teaching etiquette or teaching women to be financially secure? What business idea would make you jump out of bed in the morning before the alarm rings?

2. Discover a business that incorporates your passion.
If arts and crafts, for example, ends up being the passion you wish to pursue, what kind of a business could you set up? Could you be a wonderful arts and crafts trainer who could start a small business teaching students in local schools, community centers or retirement homes? Do you create beautiful crafts that would sell in local gift shops or online? Would you enjoy teaching evening classes for an adult education program?

3. Interview experts doing what you love.
It is really inspiring to speak with people who have made a career out of your same passion. They have taken the risk that you wish to take and made a success of it. What did they do to create a career that they love? What hurdles did they have to overcome? How hard did they have to work? Did their businesses fall into their laps or did it take some effort to make that dream come true? Was the effort worth it?

4. Work nights and weekends developing and growing your business before quitting your job.
Although it would be a dream to walk into your boss’ office and quit on the spot, this is usually not a good idea. Use your spare time to prepare for the jump. If you need training, study evenings and weekends. Write your business plan, your marketing plan and advertising strategy and begin networking after work or on weekends. For example, if you feel passionate about teaching etiquette to children, schedule weekend classes, build your clientele and get your name out there. It will take a little hard work to jump into your new life but it will be worth it.

5. Find a mentor or supporter.
Who do you know that can give you the business support that you need as you start your own business? Someone to bounce ideas off helps to keep up momentum and buoy spirits. It is great to find a knowledgeable entrepreneur willing to look over your proposed business plan and budgets and who understands firsthand what it is like to follow one’s passion. There will be plenty of not so ambitious people who will cast doubt on your decision to start your own endeavor. Your mentor should be someone who believes in you and can give you the support that you need to conquer your fears and go for your dream.

6. Save up an emergency fund of cash.
Scrimp and save while still in your dead end job. Pay off outstanding bills and put every drop of extra cash into a savings account. You will want to be as financially at ease as possible when starting your own business. When you do start your business, guerilla market! Spend as little money as possible to make your dream a reality.

7. Take action!
What action step can you take today to make your dream a reality? Starting a business can seem insurmountable if looking at all of the steps needed to become a success. Entrepreneurs chip away one task at a time, like becoming certified to do something, thinking up a business name, or writing copy for an advertisement. Once you get the momentum going it will become easier and easier to proceed toward your goal!

Failing to discover your true passion and ending up in a career rut is depressing and can lead to a very unhappy and unfulfilled life. Nobody wants to get up day after day and go to a job that is uninspiring and dull. Identifying what you truly love to do, coming up with an exciting business idea, and taking a leap of faith can lead to a rewarding life filled with hope and promise. If you are the creative type who wishes to take control of your own destiny, follow your passion and live a life that you love!

If you are interested in following your passion and living a life that you love visit http://www.etiquettemoms.com and http://www.artsandcraftsmoms.com Become certified to train children etiquette and arts and crafts. Moms on Edge distance learning “train the trainer” programs are filled with excellent content and ongoing support!

Are You Killing Your Child’s Creativity by Allowing Excessive Texting?

As adults we are very concerned with the psychological well being of Our children. As much as it is a cliché to say it, they certainly do represent the future. Looking back over the past decade, there is no denying that the landscape in which we raise kids has changed drastically. Perhaps things started to change in the 80’s when we first played Atari’s “Pong” and started watching MTV. Those “advances” in technology glued us a little more to our sets. The 80’s of course was just a harbinger of what was to come.  

Today’s kids stare at one screen or another on average of 4+ hours per day and they send an average of 1750 text messages per month with many children pushing the number way above 5,000.  One 13 year old featured in the news was proud (and not admonished by her parents) for sending 14,528 text messages in one month which converts to 484 text messages a day, or one every two minutes of every waking hour.

I recently took my 4 year old to a popular café in my town. We sat at the end of a long table with 8 teenagers at the other end. I was fascinated to observe the teens sitting absolutely silent, the only indication that anyone was sitting within close proximity to us was that the table top was vibrating from their cell phones. Not only were the kids not speaking to one another, they seemed oblivious of one another’s presence.  It was as if each teen were in a cocoon just staring down at a phone and texting.

I have tried to find something positive about their behavior and try as I might I can’t. I even read about a small obscure British survey that claimed that kids who text, read better than those who don’t, but the eighty eight child study failed to give me hope. For these teens the promise and rush of the incoming message far outweighed the value of their face to face interactions.

The time that kids are staring at screens is passive and non-productive time and in the case of the teens described above, ill mannered and detrimental to relationship building.  I am supportive of downtime, television time and computer time; I am also supportive of using the cell phone and text messaging to relay information, but not as a hobby. For proper cognitive development children must stay occupied with activities that grow their brains. A child’s brain is not fully formed until between the ages of 18 and 21.

Instead of sending multitudes of little messages or updating their social networking sites with photos of themselves, children’s time could be better spent doing a variety of activities. Working on critical thinking skills, playing sports, building meaningful face to face relationships, relating to others, and developing creativity and imagination are all behaviors that kids must pursue to become well rounded adults. It is important that they have uninterrupted blocks of time to focus on the task at hand. A cell phone that vibrates every 2 minutes of the day disrupts a child’s focus and never allows her to become fully absorbed in the activity.

Doing arts and crafts is a terrific way for kids to occupy themselves constructively. Arts and crafts projects are wildly popular with people of all ages and stages and can be done alone or in groups. From painting and jewelry making, to cake decorating, there are activities for every personality and skill set.

Arts and crafts challenges kids to plan, tackle, and complete something. Children must learn to focus on the task at hand and pay attention to detail, traits they will need to complete college and be successful in their careers. Arts and crafts aid children in developing whole brain thinking for better cognitive processing. Arts and crafts teach children to use intuition and perception. And arts and crafts help kids acquire knowledge by the use of reasoning.

Arts and crafts train children in patience. In a society where our kids are being bombarded with instant images, messages and information, craft projects train kids to wait. Fortunately crafts projects do not provide instant gratification because kids have to wait for paint and glue to dry, clay to be fired and mediums to setup. Although life comes at kids fast, arts and crafts can teach them that not everything they desire is delivered to them immediately.  Impulsive behavior can be dangerous, costly and self defeating. Learning that some things are worth waiting for is an essential lesson. When kids believe that their needs must be met immediately they risk great disappointment and lives filled with impatience, anxiety, stress and anger.  Arts and crafts are an excellent vehicle for teaching kids to enjoy the wait and anticipate the outcome.

As adults it is important that we assess the impact of the behaviors our children choose. Just because it is cool, hip and everybody is doing it, doesn’t make it healthy. Because children’s brains are not fully formed they are often unable to distinguish between those behaviors that have a negative impact and those that have a positive impact. Activities such as arts and crafts are positive and should be encouraged and embraced.

Moms on Edge has just launched Arts and Crafts Moms a distance learning program that trains and certifies people to teach arts and crafts to children while helping to boost self esteem. To learn more about this exciting opportunity to start a business in the arts visit http://www.artsandcraftsmoms.com