God gave us all that we have because He wants us to be happy and give happiness to all around us. So, remembering God essentially means we do our role responsibility passionately and love our people, making them happy. One most important thing that we all need to do on Easter Day is to spend time with family and friends and create a time of happiness around us.

Easter is here once again. But you do not have to celebrate it the same way yet again. You can be just a little more thoughtful and make this Easter a real memorable affair; something that your family will not forget for very many years to come. So, how do you do that?

First thing is for you to avoid last minute waking up with ideas. Start brewing your thoughts well in advance – a couple of months before Easter. You will find that your thoughts would take clear shape long before the festival time arrives. You will have time to implement your ideas. Here are a few things suggested which are nice if you are only two at home and may be you are an expectant mother. These ideas will help make your Easter better than in the past.

You can plan some activities for your beloved spouse. Chocolates will be flying all over at Easter time. Think of some fun games with this most commonly loved treat.

Organize an Easter egg hunt with your partner.

One: Get an Easter basket. Embellish its handle with a lovely ribbon. Fill it with Easter grass. This is for your partner to collect his Easter eggs.

Two:  Get some plastic eggs use them as containers for little notes carrying your love messages that will thrill, scintillate and stimulate him. Write on some pieces of paper your romantic messages – something like ‘this is an invitation to hug me tight’, ‘Do your lips want to befriend my lips?’ and whatever you feel like. Include in some slips a few hints for him to find the chocolate bunny. May be, if you hide the bunny in the bedroom, lot of sharing can happen eventually.

Three:  Make it a candle light evening. Place candles in vantage points creating a romantic, titillating atmosphere. Ask your partner to hunt the Easter eggs in this dimly lit ambience. It adds to romance.

Plan an intimate Easter Dinner

One:  Plan a special bought out dinner from your partner’s most preferred restaurant. Double up your bedroom into a dining room as well. Arrange a cozy dinner set up. Have your best china on the table

Two:  Create seductive lighting around. Make the best choice of some wine. Fill the background atmosphere with some titillating music in a very low volume. Give your best care about the way you dress.

Three: Leave some cards on the table with lovely words from you about how you love and how you feel happy about the way he loves you.

Whether the scale of celebration is plain or pompous, quite and intimate family affair or a frenzied party with friends, there are a few tips that you may find useful in making the event memorable.

First, think of your Easter itself as a highly inspiring festival bundled with crafty ideas, artistic egg decorations, mouth-watering recipes, flurry of shopping, relaxed interaction with family, relatives and friends – just a time to forget the routine issues and enjoy the occasion to your heart’s content.

Now, how do you do this? There are a few things that you can do.

First, start planning for the celebration well in advance – may be a couple of months before. This will help you avoid accumulating everything for the last minute execution. Once you plan things out, you will complete the preparations one by one without even noticing the time and effort. Be sure to involve the little ones at home in all these preparatory activities. This will help them learn things and feel responsible.

One of the exciting things to do is decorating the plastic eggs. You can clasp the eggs to a cord or a shiny decorative satin ribbon and you have the egg garland ready to embellish the windows and entrances inside the house or the trees and bushes in the garden. You can create many more artistic ornaments and use them as hangings all around. Use glitter and markers to make the whole thing look glittery.

Prepare hard boiled eggs. You can color them and mark each one of them with the names of your family members. Decorate them using glitter, stickers etc.

You know how indispensable Easter Baskets are on the occasion. Stuff plastic eggs with candy, coins and tiny toys. Make sure at every step your kids take part in that euphoria. Buy a few simple toys that your kids may love, things like swimmer’s goggles, and some little toys for the toddlers.

Join the kids and play the Easter egg hunt. It is fun for you as much as it is for the children. Hide the plastic eggs, filled with goodies. Keep a count and allow your kids to run around and extract them from wherever they are hidden.

Now, leave some colored, decorated eggs and a few carrots for the lovely Easter bunny to eat. Do all these with the heart of a child – lots of things to believe, very few questions challenging these beliefs, and a hearty involvement with the kids sprinkling laughter and lighting smiles all around. You can make this Easter one of the most memorable even for you and your kids.

Your Cleavage: During the neo-natal period and lactating months, it is only natural that you will have an expanded tummy and bigger than normal breasts. In fact, that is a nice time that without going for any artificial additions, you will have naturally big boobs. Take pride in them; enjoy the change. Do not hesitate to show them off in a mild, admirable way. There are several types of bras for women of different breast sizes. Buy some good bras that can effectively support and hold your breasts up. Choose an outfit which will show off your cleavage. It will draw lots of admiring looks. A secondary benefit of displaying your cleavage is that it arrests the attention of the beholder from straying towards your larger than usual stomach.

Fabric Choice: Most commonly, maternity clothes are made of Jersey. This fabric basically feels good and looks grand. The jersey fabric can stretch to hug your contours. Of course, the biggest thing about this material is the extraordinary comfort it gives you. This is a very important factor at this time.

Have a simple wardrobe: As you fill your maternity wardrobe do not go overboard. It is better to collect the usual essential types of clothing.  Typically, you will need jeans, wrap dresses, long and short sleeve shirts etc. The advantage is, auxiliary items like pashminas, cardigans, scarves and shawls go very well with the outfits listed.

Complementing items: Select a wide range of colors for the collection of auxiliary items in your wardrobe. Collect a lot of fun material such as bold jewelry, bags, shoes etc. With an intelligently crafted wardrobe collection, you will always look like the owner of a five-star wardrobe. The dress-monotony will not bother you.

Go for curvaceous outfits: Work well in selecting your maternity that should very well, highlighting your curves. Avoid baggy clothes that will hide your curves. After all you can look attractive if people can see your curves.

Be the Black Dress Belle:  Black is the color that will always be liked, loved and will stay in demand. No other color accentuates a style as effectively as black. Black dress adds attractive looks to a woman. In fact, independent of the physical features, every woman looks great in black.It is easy to find black color items such as regular clothing, shoes, and various other accessories. For the reasons explained, it is good for you to go for black color. One other advantage is you are likely to have many clothing items in black – both inner and outer wear. So you can spend that much less. In fact, there is no better color to wear during the days when your boobs and bum float up to attractive proportions. With these naturally endowed assets, a black dress on you will ensure that there will be more heads-turning than you expect.

You may like to consider some of these suggestions while readying your child for his next big step in life.

Accustom your child to following directions. Ready your child psychologically to follow instructions and directions. You can do this by giving simple, single-step directions yourself – something you typically do when asking your child to brush his teeth. This makes it natural for your child to follow directions at preschool too, where he will need to carefully listen, understand and follow what his teachers tell him.

Encourage your child to socialize. Socializing and social skills development is one of the most important reasons for preschool. Your preschooler will need to take turns with his peers, share things and closely interact with the other children. He equips himself with the necessary skills when you let him socialize with children his age well before preschool. This makes it easier for him to feel at home in his new environment.

Do not push him too much, academically. Remember that your child is still in his earliest stages of his academic journey, and that it is not healthy to rush him towards academic excellence right away. As long as the child is not a laggard and does not have too much trouble learning what other children quickly grasp, things are fine. Lack of attention or focus is a common trait, and should be no reason for alarm. Understand the development of knowledge and the level of grasp in other children only to ascertain that your child does not suffer from learning difficulties.

Talk to your child and point out the fact that he is growing up, comparing him with older kids he knows. Impress upon him that preschool is a big-kid thing, and make him proud about graduating to preschool.

Buy special stationery or other stuff that he should use only for preschool. This makes going to preschool a special event and helps foster excitement and pride. Buy him a new backpack, pencils, crayons or a lunchbox and make going to preschool a happy, grand event. Make sure the preparation has obvious positive overtones.

A regular schedule at home helps him adapt to the new schedule at preschool. Have regular playtimes, naptimes and video time so he falls into the habit of a routine.

It is important to convey the right kind of attitude and communicate to your child that he is getting ready for bigger things. After all, this is an important and necessary step to a bright future.

Bedtime Music: If you are one of those people who play music to help your child relax and sleep well, you need to choose bedtime music with care. Music genres such as jazz or classical music might be too stimulating to encourage sleep for your baby. For soothing music that can lull the child into sleep, you can pick predictable, repetitive music such as traditional lullabies. It is important that you choose something that you can enjoy listening to every night too.

White-noise Sources: Natural sound recordings work great for soothing your baby, or even your own frayed nerves. There are a number of white-noise devices, or sound-generating options and clocks in the market. The pitter-patter of raindrops or the bubbling of a brook represents a genre of ‘music’ similar to the sounds a baby has heard in the womb. A ticking clock or a fish tank too makes for great white-noise sources.

With a number of sound recordings meant to soothe. Listen to each one of them yourself. If it relaxes you and lull you into sleep, it should work for babies too.

Midnight Sleep Intervals: Once your baby is accustomed to his regular lullaby music, the piece can be used to lull your baby back to sleep when he wakes up disturbed in the middle. Simply play the music in a very low volume to calm him down while patting or rocking him back to sleep.

On-the-move Sounds: If you know that sleep-time music works very well for your baby, you need not worry about how your baby will respond to a different, unfamiliar environment at night. This helps when you are traveling, and you need to spend the night at a different place, since you can play his favorite bed-time music to bring about a sense of familiarity, helping him fall asleep.

Of course, your baby will eventually be weaned out of dependency on music in a matter of time. Till then, the practice of playing soothing sounds can help both you as well as your little one drift to sleep without much fuss.

Teach them with Books – Books are one of the best ways of teaching kids about colors. They rank as one of the best ways of teaching, since they can teach several other things besides colors. Choose a fun book with a lot of pictures and splashed with colors, but it might do good to focus on just a color or two at a time.

Use Flash Cards – Using flash cards is another effective way of teaching kids about colors. These are simple cards carrying pictures of objects and their associated color. For instance, if it has a picture of a banana, a patch of yellow is shown on the other side of the card. Since they contain little else, it is easy to grasp the idea.

Colorful Food – Food items come in myriad, vibrant colors. So the next time the child starts eating something he likes, try associating it with a certain color. The association between visual stimulus and taste is strong, and easily remembered. Also, teach him that the same object can come in different colors too. For instance, there can be green apples or red ones.

The Painting Way – You can even use paints to introduce the concept of colors. Use a large piece of poster board, and put it over a drop cloth on the ground. Let the kids dip their hands in paint and stamp their handprints on the paper. Just make sure you’re taking the name of the color frequently, each time a handprint is made. Wash their hands and then start over. Kids love it when things get messy. Naturally, activity is as fun as it is educational. In fact, art is one of the best ways to teach children things, besides developing their creativity and imagination.

Take the child out – Identifying colors is simply an activity of mental association. Fortunately, kids are extremely quick in their uptake of concepts. When you and your child are out of the house, make sure you call out the colors of the grass, trees, flowers etc around you. In a while, you can also point to something and quiz your child. This could take a little while initially, since natural colors as they appear in the real world come in different hues from the flash cards and paint sets your child is used to.

Point Out to Colors – Keep pointing out colors of anything you see and encourage your child to take a guess by himself. This ensures that you’re constantly reinforcing the concept of colors.

While children are extremely quick learners, some prefer books, while others like playing games. Keep feeding them with inputs and reinforce the idea of colors and you will be amazed at the progress they make.

Once initiated into it, reading becomes a highly enjoyable pursuit for your child. But, you need to develop the skill of imparting this habit to the child. It is important to do this in a very natural environment in a matter-of-factly fashion. There are many ways in which you can inculcate the reading habit in your kid. Discussed here are about eight ways by which you can make your home a ‘reading home’.

1.         Right from your child’s infancy, invest money on children’s books. As the child grows up ensure a lot of books stacked all over your home. This will trigger an interest in books in the subconscious mind of the child.

2.         One of the most effective ways to develop early reading habit in your child is for you to make it a practice to do some reading yourself as the child watches. The next thing is that the child too wants a book to ‘read’. This happens every time you pick up a book to read.

3.         Even when your child is an infant, develop a routine of sitting before the baby and reading stories aloud from the baby books. Soon you will see that the child starts developing a strong liking for this activity.

4.         When the child shows inclination to handle the books, do not discourage. Give the child colorful picture books. It is perfectly all right for the little baby to drop, throw, tear and mutilate the book. Soon, all this will stop and the kid will start imitating the way you hold and use the book.

5.         As you read the stories to your child, freely enact the characters and situations in an interesting way. The child will think that the fun that you are producing is part of the book. Your child will want to hold the book and read.

6.         When the child grows up enough to understand your conversation, talk at home about reading and how kids become good by reading. How people like children who are good at reading. This gradually impacts the child’s mind and spark off a strong desire to read books.

7.         When your child grows up into a toddler, visit the local library as a matter of routine. Take the child with you. Develop some literary games that can be played at home involving the whole family.

8.         Finally, be sure to be very discreet in TV watching. It is a good idea not to switch on the TV in your child is awake. You need to remove this major distraction because this can foil all your efforts in order to inculcate the habit in your child.

As you keep implementing a few of these actions, your imagination sharpens to give you many more effective ideas to impart early reading skills to your child.

If you want to train him in good eating habits, you need to give him the freedom to touch, feel and smell the food. As you allow this, you know of the mess that he is going to create for you to clean up. But that happens a few times and soon and what your little fellow learns in the process is going to save you a lot of time, effort, and bother.

When he enjoys his meal time freedom he is likely to more easily accept the foods in his plate. Over time he develops it as a habit to openly try what is put before him for his meals. He quickly learns the meal time tidiness and happier eating. He becomes less picky about his choice of food.

It is also important for you to know when he is hungry. You will find him to be less fussy and more meal-focused when he is hungry or happy. These are the best times for you to include in his meal a food item that he generally does not like and resists.

There is yet another trick that you need to recognize and use. Most often small children like to eat what their parents eat. Make the best out of this psychological factor. It is time for you to lead by example. Have your meal with your child, setting up his own plate. You show him on your meal plate what is good food and what is not. This way you can manage your kid’s food fuss with much less effort.

Remember, it will take quite some tact and diplomacy on your part if your kid resents because you did not give him exactly what he expected. Do not counter his fuss. Do not mind his insistence. Give him what he wants. His desire is very temporary. Soon it will pass. Even when he does not eat anything, do not worry. That again is temporary.

You will also need to understand that children change their food preferences very quickly and quite frequently. Fixed menus are an aversion to them. You cannot force a set pattern on them in this phase. This will bring a very constructive result. He will recognize that you are accommodative of his demands. Subconsciously, he will be prepared to accommodate you next time around. This is how children learn positive attitudes.

Do not express your disappointment or displeasure when your child gets fussy about the meal. Keep your cool. He is smart enough to understand your reasoning. This approach will work almost all the time. Soon you will start seeing the desired changes in him.

From the time you plan to have a baby your anticipation sprouts and keeps growing. When your gynecologist confirms your pregnancy, it becomes a moment of inexplicable joy to you, your husband and everyone else who have care and concern for you. That moment you will transcend into an entirely new phase in your life. It is not just about your becoming a mother. It is something that changes almost everything in your life for ever.

So, your pregnancy being such huge, impacting and blissful news, how can you just call up your husband and “read out” the news that you are pregnant? You can imagine how the news of your pregnancy can light up your husband’s face when you break it for him! It is an occasion that is beyond the ability of words to express.

It is a moment when your husband will lovingly share with you every one of your anxious, stressful and strenuous moments that you feel and experience. The only limitation he will experience is that he cannot share your physical tribulation. It will be the moment of a lifetime for him to hear that he is becoming a father soon. It is a big reason for celebration. So, think of a very inspired way to break the news to him about your pregnancy.

Go crazy with your ideas

Think crazy; think of several different ways to announce your pregnancy to your husband. Consider some of these ideas; add your own. Decide for yourself on which idea will please your husband.

– Get a T-shirt for your husband and have it printed with some fun quote on fatherhood.

– Get a poster with a baby’s picture and write a welcome message and post it on the wardrobe when he comes home from work.

– Just sound him with a question if his employer can grant him a few weeks off in the next about nine months.

– Ask him if he can visualize you moving around with a big mummy tummy and how he will feel about your strange desires for specific foods, or wild swinging mood.

–  Ask him when he will give you a baby and indulge in a discussion for a little time teasing him, taunting him, asking him questions about your baby and then give him a pleasant surprise about your pregnancy.

– Both of you can even plan an evening out for a romantic dinner and take the opportunity to give him the big news.

You can think of similar ideas to announce the news of your pregnancy to your other family members too. Do not make this news sound like a routine happening. It is very special news and you need to announce it in a very special way. It will be nice to just gather all the family members and make a loud announcement and you will see those big laughs and shouts lighting up the place.

After all, maternity is an extremely exciting thing to happen to you. It is something that you need to share with all your near and dear ones. Telling them of this new status of yours must be made more exciting than the news itself.

Another recent study effort has brought out an uncomfortable fact that about 80% of the teenagers are habituated to consuming more snacks and junk food at the time of preparing for examinations. Yet another study done by the UK School Food Trust gathered that one in every four youth in the age group of 13 to 17 years consumes caffeine-rich energy drinks; and 11 per cent admit to be taking caffeine in the form of pills. These two categories add up to an alarming 36% of young people consuming caffeine in order to stay awake for their exams.

The chairperson of the Trust is said to have opined, purportedly on certain evidential parameters that “smart eating” enhanced brain power. She has also observes that one of the case studies in this regard has brought to light the fact that students who regularly take a healthy school lunch perform better academically than those who eat junk food. These young people are well aware that a healthy and timely breakfast, healthy school lunch will greatly energize them facilitating efficient focus and effective performance.

There are other survey statistics revealing different subsets of these young students. A good 42% of the respondents said they skipped their meals to gain some extra time for their revision work, about 90% students felt that their school work was very sapping. Because of such varied thoughts on the part of these young people, only about 50% of the young population who participated in the survey expressed that they could study only for about 30 minutes after which they lose their concentration. However, quite contrary to what has foregone, nearly 50% concur that healthy eating practice can significantly increase their focus while they study.

The survey has also made it known that about 40% students engaged in examination preparations prefer chocolate to trigger serious and effective study. A close 33% favor carbonated drinks and a nearly equal number seek cookies to help them in their studies. Interestingly, most of them have the knowledge of the fact that healthy food items like fish, fruits and vegetables do them a lot of good and heighten their brain power.

The UK School Food Trust recently has brought out a hand out that lists the various foods that will enhance the ability of the young brains. One greatly beneficial recommendation of the Trust to the young students is for them to have wholegrain cereal for breakfast; and they are also advised to drink lots of water and herbal tea totally avoiding aerated drinks and caffeine contents.

The young people are also given another advice against sweets, cookies and biscuits as they are believed to be good energy boosters. It is always safe to stick to known and proven healthy snacks many times in a day at regular intervals during their study preparations. This will make a highly noteworthy positive impact on their health as well as academic learning activities.