13 Tips to Increase Your Family’s Happiness and Health

Tolstoy was right—happy families are all alike. At least they share certain basic characteristics. Here are a few of the foundations experts say are key to a loving, cheerful home:

1. Create cuddle time. You can’t overdose on hugs. It’s important for families to spend time snuggling in bed together, reading, or talking or playing games. This kind of positive touch helps kids feel loved and secure, plus it’s fun for parents!

2. Sing together, stay together. The Von Trapp family had it right—singing together is a terrific way to bond as a family. Make up your own words to your favorite tunes; dance around the living room with your children; and use music to motivate room cleaning.

3. Make room for fun. While it’s good to encourage your children’s schoolwork and extracurricular activities, too much emphasis on them can create tension and anxiety. Make time for activities that have no purpose other than to allow family members to enjoy spending time together. Play games, plot surprise parties, take long walks, explore a cave, plant a garden, or cook.

4. Exercise together. Take a run or a bike ride to a local park with your child. At the park, you can take time to relax while your child plays in the sandbox or on the seesaw. This kind of outing allows parents to model healthy behavior, get exercise, and spend time with their kids.

5. Create healthy habits. Junk food high in salt and sugar may taste appealing, but it will play havoc with your family’s health and moods. Create healthy snacking habits by leaving out bowls of fruit, cut-up vegetables, nuts, or dried fruit.

6. Cook together. This is another way to get kids interested in healthy foods. While you’re whipping up dinner with your children you are encouraging healthy eating habits as well as teaching cooking, measurement, teamwork, and improvisational skills. Also, kids who help makes meals are more likely to eat them.

7. Reward good behavior. It’s important to reinforce your child’s good behavior. But there’s no need to be extravagant. A trip to the humane shelter, a visit to the zoo, a movie and popcorn, or a slightly later bedtime can be good motivators.

8. Read and write together. Make time every day for reading. Read aloud to the kids, or have the whole family spend time with their own books, or listen to an audiobook. Cuddling up on the couch can make it even cozier. It’s also important for children to spend some time writing each day.

9. Go one-on-one. Parents with more than one child should try to spend a little time interacting just with one child each day, even if it’s just for ten minutes. That special time with a parent helps the child feel special and to bond with you.

10. Have routines. Kids thrive when they know what to expect. So bedtime routines that involve bath, stories, and songs before sleep can minimize nighttime misbehavior. A morning routine can also help you get out the door faster with little fuss.

11. Appreciate each other. Find little ways to show how much you value each other. One idea is to do a little happy dance every time a child returns from school or a parent from work.

12. Remember sorry isn’t enough. When one of your children hurts the feelings of a sibling, it’s not enough to apologize. That child must also find a way to help heal the hurt she has caused, by helping with a chore or sharing a toy.

13. Prioritize your marriage The most important thing you can do for your child is to love your spouse and to demonstrate that love. This models a good relationship for your child and helps to keep your marriage intact.

Source : http://www.rd.com

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Secrets of Happy Second Marriages

You may have heard about the gloomy report from the National Center for Health Statistics that says second marriages are more likely to fail than first ones are. So much for learning from experience, right? But wait! Buried in all that data, there’s good news for Boomers.
A close look at the numbers reveals that when older couples take another trip down the aisle, they have a better chance than younger ones of staying the course. One reason may be that both nests are likely to be empty. After all, while “The Brady Bunch” was a lot of fun as a sitcom, making a real life blended family work is no clambake. Also, post-midlifers may have gained a measure of emotional stability that lets them create a solid relationship more easily.

Even so, tying the knot at a certain age has its own share of challenges. Here are expert tips for getting past the roadblocks so you can make a go of it the second time around.

Examine What Went Wrong the First Time
Writing in The New York Times, marriage guru Stephanie Coontz stressed that “you have to admit that your first marriage’s failure wasn’t all your ex-spouse’s fault.” Coontz, the author of Marriage, A History and A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s, has interviewed many couples in second marriages that have lasted longer than their first marriages. She found that one reason for their success was their willingness to take some of the blame for what went wrong the first time.

Similarly, Scott (“Dr. Scott”) Haltzman, M.D., founder and editor of DrScott.com and author of The Secrets of Happily Married Men, The Secrets of Happily Married Women, and The Secrets of Happy Families, says that second timers may feel they simply married the wrong person when in fact they didn’t develop good marriage skills. His advice is to “have the attitude that this is the person you are going to spend the rest of your life with, so you must find a way to make it work.”

Tina B. Tessina, PhD, (aka “Dr. Romance”) a psychotherapist and the author of Money, Sex and Kids: Stop Fighting about the Three Things That Can Ruin Your Marriage, agrees and adds that you both have “leftovers from earlier relationships.” “If you understand your own history, and seek to learn about your partner’s, you’ll stop repeating past mistakes,” she says. “Don’t keep secrets. Talking about your past will help you understand each other and resolve guilt, fear, and jealousy about earlier loves. Familiarity with what went wrong will help you recognize problems before you repeat them.”

Confront the Ghosts of Relationships Past
Especially if you have been widowed, you may feel guilty about committing to a new love or you may find yourself comparing your first spouse with your current one. The solution is to give yourself time to grieve before you move on. That can also be true if your first marriage ended in divorce. “Even if your marriage had problems, or you were the one who wanted out, you still will have grief over the dreams and hopes which have died with the relationship,” says Dr. Tessina. “The overwhelming feeling of loss can be confusing and difficult to understand. Let yourself work through all of that so you can begin anew.”

Put Some Effort Into Making Your Partner Happy
Dr. Scott emphasizes that many people abandon their courtship behavior the minute they get married. “That’s a mistake,” he warns. “Continue doing all the nice little things that made you fall for one another – sending flowers and cards, giving massages, cooking favorite dishes. Don’t let the romance die.”

Dr. Tessina, who has been in a happy second marriage for 30 years herself, offers this take on the issue: “Good will counts.” “Remember to say the nice things, the compliments, the thank you’s,” she says. “Every couple has what I call a ‘relationship reservoir.’ If you fill it with good feelings and memories, you can draw on that when times get tough. But if your reservoir has lots of negatives and resentments, your marriage will not have staying power.”

Share Your Dreams and Goals
“If you discuss your hopes and dreams about the wedding, sex, and money in advance, you’ll get a chance to see how well you work things out together,” says Dr. Tessina. For his part, Dr. Scott says that you can’t just assume you know what the other person wants. “Why not come right out and ask?” he suggests. “That way you won’t be in for any surprises.”

Make Your Sex Life a Priority
“Don’t downgrade the importance of sex,” Dr. Tessina says. “Be sure your communication about sexual issues is open.” She also recommends being prepared to learn long-term sexual skills, which are different from pre-marital or newlywed sex. “Sex is a great way to comfort each other, to reassure each other, and to heal emotional rifts,” she contends. “A satisfying sexual life will do more to cement the security of your relationship than anything else.”

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CAUTION! DIABETES ALSO YOUTH ATTACK

Diabetes mellitus or diabetes is often considered a disease or illness of parents who only arise due to hereditary factors. This assumption is wrong, because all ages can develop this disease, including young people. According to WHO data, Indonesia ranks fourth largest in the number of people with diabetes mellitus (DM) in the world. The main problem, early symptoms of diabetes sufferers can not very typical that a person unaware of DM disease.

Initial symptoms on young people with more typical, marked by much eating, much drinking, a lot of urine, but the weight has dropped dramatically. DM occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to maintain normal blood sugar levels or if the cell does not provide an appropriate response to insulin. There are two types of diabetes mellitus type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Patients with type 1 diabetes insulin is produced, generally occurs before age 30 are children and adolescents.
DM type 1 is supported lifestyles and consumption of unhealthy foods, environmental factors in the form of a virus infection or nutritional factors in childhood or early adulthood that causes the immune system destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

The cause of diabetes such as high levels of corticosteroids, pregnancy diabetes during pregnancy will disappear after childbirth, drugs that can damage the pancreas, and toxins that affect the formation or the effects of insulin.
The difficulty of early detection of diabetes symptoms can only be overcome by medical check-up examination as early as possible. Prevention in the management of DM are 3 ways, namely primary prevention, secondary and tertiary. Primary prevention is the effort devoted to people who fall into this category at high risk of DM, but has not appeared and endeavored not appear. Necessary steps to reduce any factors that influence the occurrence of DM, as well as efforts made to eliminate these factors.

Secondary prevention or early detection can be regarded as that is by screening. Treatment of early disease should be done immediately to prevent the possible occurrence of chronic complications. Moderate tertiary prevention, if the chronic complications of DM has occurred, attempted to prevent further disability and improve the patient as early as possible before the patient experienced permanent disability so that the quality of life remains good. For all that, the major management step is to organize the food intake of a healthy and balanced and olaraga an orderly and disciplined life.

Perhaps we have come to realize that in everyday life has done some things that actually triggered diabetes mellitus. In this life force of law "savings", what we eat today will feel the results many years later. Similarly, diseases, ranging from favorite beverage likes to stay up watching TV until late at night.

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5 Ways To Live Happier

Happiness is one concept that everyone wants to learn and achieve. But sometimes many are not willing to make great strides to be able to reach it.

Some experts say happiness can be achieved through herbal potions and certain dietary patterns. But there is also mention you will not get it through health pills but with keeping the peace of mind. Then the rest is governed by genetic factors, situations and environments.


1. Rest of the things that smell 'material'
Psychological research reveals that money is not everything in life and money can not buy happiness. When has a lot of money, you can membayat all the bills, buying a home, vehicles and other luxury goods.

It was actually you have two choices: donate your property or improve social status. Actually, people who have high social life has a better level of happiness compared to just using his wealth for yourself.

2. Establish a good relationship for happiness
With being single, it will not help you much happiness fatherly. But when you have a family, a relationship with a partner is the key to happiness is better. Research shows a strong social ties will affect a person's happiness level. Meanwhile, when your marriage strong and healthy, it can be menwuudkan happiness itself.

3. Satisfied with oneself
As you strive to be happy the less happiness you achieve. Happiness that comes naturally, and sometimes obtained from an unconscious effort. Kebahagiann is the effect of a more balanced life. Focus on reaching life goals tend mneingkatkan self satisfaction level of life.

4. Be generous and always be grateful
A person who is not selfish tend to feel happier. This is related to point 1, where the current focus to help others, then you do not have much time to complain. Research shows by having an attitude of gratitude for all the blessings in life, such as health, friendship, family, work, and other things, makes you a happier person.

5. Focus on experiences rather than possessions.
When someone spends money and time to do activities together will feel happier than those spending money on expensive things. Actually luxurious objects that will not leave significant memories in your mind.

When it is done is simply to buy luxury goods, a happiness that is temporary. For example happier if your child is rewarded with leisure travel as compared with luxury goods.

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