Grandpa Richard's Thoughts
Where are the cops when you need them?
Do people in grocery stores know how to drive?
I went grocery shopping today and I was appalled at how careless people are with their carts. (I usually go in off hours when I know the traffic will be light)
But I was a nice polite guy and merely said excuse me, except to that gal that was too far away, so I moved her cart out of the way myself.
Do we have to spoil them to make them happy?
Look at today's kids. Cells phones, designer clothes, hand-held games, mom or dad based taxi service, and more. How are children being raised today? Since the boomers did not have any of this, something must be missing in order to fit in all the new. What?
Then there are the role models. Celebrities, celebrities, and celebrities. One has to wonder what our youth think when they read all the "gossip" in the papers and magazines. That is followed by the nightly TV newscasts showing the mess their "hero" in in.
We all want to raise happy, well adjusted, children. If you really want this result, then there will be times when you must say "No". If too much comes on a silver platter, then how will they learn to deal with life when they move out? Will you continue to spoil them after they get married? One parent wrote in to a well known columnist saying that they finally learned to say no, and now their married daughter has not answered their calls for 3 months!
If you give your child everything they desire (which in some cases is just based on what they saw a friend get) you will deprive them of experiencing the ups and down of life; which could prevent them from reaching their goals later in life. We will all be disappointed at some point. Better to learn to deal with that early in life rather than later.
"If you don’t expect it, you’ll never be disappointed."
Things are not were it's at. Values, morals, and the unconditional love that abounds within the family. That is where it's at. Keep these principles in mind and raising happy children without giving them the world will be easy.
Smoothies are Very Nutritious, and yet Kids Love Them
My granddaughter Jasmine told me the other day that she really likes the milkshakes that her mom makes. I was curious and decided to see what these milkshakes are all about. It turns out that what we are really talking about are fruit smoothies.
That brought up a really important question. Do you know how nutritious a fruit smoothie can be?
If you are an average parent, you have discovered that if a particular food item is very healthy and great for us, our children quickly learn to dislike it. The challenge then becomes, “How can I get my kids to eat more healthy stuff?”
Smoothies can be the answer. Most children love these drinks. And for the real die-hard kids, we can add just a bit of “bad” food and the children will surely come over to the good side! If you have never made a smoothie, it is easy. Just prepare the food as if you were going to eat it raw, put it in a blender, add some extra liquid, and blend away.
One big advantage to smoothies is that it is easy to pick ingredients that give the result an appropriate colour. Young boys are often fascinated by gross looking objects, and some of the smoothies that I make myself sure do look the part. Girls, on the other hand, might like pastel shades, and you can do that as well.
Another advantage to fruit smoothies is that they travel well. Make sure their consistency is right (add more water or milk if necessary) and put them in travel safe drinking containers. Then either just take as is or add them to your picnic cooler so they are still cool when you bring them out. They may be just right for you as well while watching the kid’s soccer game.
Advantage number three is the ability to sneak in some powdered supplements that your doctor may have recommended.
For more on smoothies, including some sample recipes to get your creative juices flowing, and info about a boy's smoothie called Swamp Slime, visit the Smoothie Page at Grandpa Richard's Kid's site.
Lauhter is the best medicine, and so watch videos
I don't know if it started with the TV show, America's Funniest Videos, or not, but funny videos are definitely popular. Most of us do not really have lots of time to go looking for the cream of the crop, but others will do the work for you. Google it.
As a sample, check out my favourite videos. Specifically the comedy section. Here is one that is actually 5 separate videos, about 30 seconds each. Which is your favourite? http://www.richardkilleyphotography.ca/rwkvideos/article/5-ameriquest-commercials
Fun With Grandchildren
I have never actually tried this activity, but if you can find the right size combination this would be hilarious to do with a younger child.
Take an appropriate sized slinky to the mall and set it going down an up escalator.
(the original of this note, along with dozens of other children related articles can be accessed starting at http://www.grandparichardskids.com/gr-blog/humour/are-you-bored-today/ )
Problem Pregnancies
My eldest daughter is expecting her 2nd child in late June. Unfortunately, there have been some problems with this pregnancy and she is now at home (off work) on doctor's orders. She has a very high risk of premature birth.
What is interesting is that when this first started, her and her mom searched the internet and found very little info about her particular issues. I have discussed with her the possibility of starting a blog and sharing, so that others like her will find some better advice and encouragements during a very stressful time. I'll let you know if we do start something.
In the meantime, I do have some info on fertility issues at http://fertility.come-and-read.com.
Pi Day
Mathematicians had a special celebration yesterday. March 14th is Pi Day, named after that special circle related number, 3.14. If you remember your high school math, the circumference of a circle is 2 x pi x r, where pi is the constant 3.14 and r is the radius of the circle.
If you take 3.14 and make it month 3 and day 14 you get March 14th.
I personally held a Pi Day celebration at my desk at work, and invited co-workers to come and share an apple pie with me.
Are You a Numbers Person?
Have you seen the trailers for that new movie where the young man is a numbers whiz. He is working in retail and a customer asks him to work up some numbers on a group of purchases and the kid does it standing there, without a calculator. The couple look stunned when he is done, and he explains that he has this way with math. I forget what the movie is named!
Anyhow, while not as good as the character in the movie, I am quite good with basic arithmetic, even challenging cashiers at grocery stores. (Once they examine the tape output, I have won every time!!)
A cell phone salesman called me tonight to discuss renewal of my contract. I asked for some options over my current plan, and he read off some data. I concluded by suggesting that my current plan was $3 cheaper, and he suggested one of the new plans was cheaper. It then took me about 5 minutes to convince him of his error. I could hear his calculator being typed on, and all I used was my head. He barely acknowledged that I was correct, and he did not apologize for his insistence that he was correct.
Why am I telling you this crazy little story? Customer Service.
If you are an IM (internet marketer) then you are trying to sell something. If you sell something, then you will have customers. If you have customers, you need good customer service.
Don't be like the cell phone salesman.
YouTube Scripts
An interesting twist on RSS technology has come via Youtube Scripts. I have one in use at http://www.comeandview.com involving 6 topics - Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Gimp, Irfanview, Snowboarding, and Kayaking. It took me only minutes to set these up, once the main part of the site was designed. New videos on YouTube appear automatically.
The primary advantage is the time savings. Modify a configuration file, upload files, done!
The primary disadvantage (for me) is no control over what shows up. For example, under Photoshop you could get a video about editing nude photos. Since my sites are meant to be family-friendly, that is a problem.
I probably will not use the script on any new sites. I would prefer to hand code them so that I know exactly what videos are showing. An example of this style is at http://www.richardkilleyphotography.ca/videos/ where I add the videos by hand. I also use this manual technique at the http://www.watchfishing.com/ site. The next step in this evolution (for me) will be to have the manual video selection but use the look and feel of the script version.
(p.s. what is interesting about the fishing site is that it is driven from a custom MySQL database, whereas the site with my favourite videos is a WordPress blog.)
Homemade Murals
You have probably noticed that children learn very early in life that crayons are fun. Not just the many colours possible, and the satisfaction of seeing your finished art, but the absolute thrill of hearing mommy and daddy gush over your creations.
You have probably also noticed that children have a sense of logic that sometimes does not match an adult's.
“If mommy and daddy are so thrilled over this little tiny piece of paper”, so the child thinks, “they will go absolutely bonkers when I do my first mural.”
And where is this huge mural? Why, the hallway or livingroom wall, of course!
Introduction
Hi. This is just a quick intro, and so I can see what my blog looks like with some content.
My name is Richard, aka Grandpa Richard, and I have been posting hobby sites on the net for a decade or so. Recently I decided to try and start making a little cash, both to pay for my "hobby" and to have some extra for a trip or other bonus. My thrust right now is article marketing, and I have both an article directory of my own (come post some articles at http://www.come-and-read.com ) and I am learning to write quick, yet informative articles to promote some other sites I have.
At the same time, I am enjoying becoming a grandfather!
Richard
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Recent Entries
Where are the cops when you need them?Do we have to spoil them to make them happy?
Smoothies are Very Nutritious, and yet Kids Love Them
Lauhter is the best medicine, and so watch videos
Fun With Grandchildren