Earnest Parenting » Guest Post

5 Biggest Motorcyclist Myths and the Truth Behind Them – Let’s Clear the Air

Melissa Cameron — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:19:58 +0000

If you are a motorcycle enthusiast, or know of someone who is, then you are probably well aware of the stereotyping that goes along with the bike. However, if you are just looking into riding, or your loved one is, then you might want to know the truth behind it all.

Motorcycle riders have had to fight stereotyping for years, unfairly actually. I know several people who ride, and I would like to clear the air about a few of them.

Perhaps you know of someone who is thinking about buying a motorcycle, and you want to learn more about what you have been hearing. Read on, to ease your mind about some of these myths.

Myth #1 – Bad to the Bone

The old George Thoroughgood song comes to mind when I think of the most prominent misconception about bikers. There seems to be a feeling among a few that because you ride a motorcycle, especially in large groups, that you must belong to a seedy motorcycle gang.

While there are a scattered few who might fall into that category, the majority of riders are everyday people, like you and I. They come from all walks of life ranging from the assembly line worker to the CEO of a large corporation. I even knew a pastor of a church who loves to ride his motorcycle.

Myth #2 – They Wear Black Leather to Look Cool

Black leather in the motorcycle community is rampant, yes. But, there is a reason for it, other than it looks amazing.

The main reason riders wear leather motorcycle jackets, gloves, boots, and pants, is for protection. It’s the best material available to protect a rider from the pavement, if they happen to meet it unexpectedly.

Also, black is the most common color for leather. Sure they make other colors, but black is universal and common even for non-riders.

So, the next time you see a rider in all black leather, know that it’s mainly for protection, which is why you will notice it even on warm days.

Myth #3 – Bikers are Destructive

For some reason, bikers get a bad reputation of being destructive with property. Perhaps it’s what people see in the movies, or have seen reports on the news about a scattered few who have been in scrapes with the law.

However, I remember overhearing a conversation with someone who owns a hotel in a popular spring break area. Someone asked them if they dread biker week, and the response was enlightening. They had said they would much rather have bikers stay with them, then any other spring break group that comes down.

Their reasoning is because they realize that if they have a nice motorcycle, they usually know how to take care of valued property. They added that they have never had any issues with bikers in the years they have owned their hotel.

As I stated earlier, I know several bikers, and tend to agree with this hotel owner.

Myth #4 – Bikers are Anti-Social

This one can be true, and can be false at the same time. Just like any group of people, you will find various personalities among them. Some might be a loner, while others are very social.

In fact, there are several bikers who rally together for good causes, and go on ‘runs’ for benefits. They do this in packs, not alone. The next time you see a large group of bikes going down the road, it just might be to help cure a disease, or to raise money for a family who is struggling.

So, while they may ride alone at times, they are just like any other group, with many differences between them.

Myth #5 – Bikers are Broke

This is not true, on the whole that is. Sure, some bikers might be struggling financially, but it’s certainly not a given. Quite often a motorcycle is a biker’s second vehicle.

It may be an inexpensive form of transportation, but that doesn’t mean it’s the reason they are riding. Most bikers ride because they love to, and no other reason. In all actuality, if it’s a second vehicle, that probably means another insurance bill, loan payment, and the cost of maintenance as well.

In addition to the cost of the bike, there’s the equipment, such as:

Helmet
Gloves
Saddle bags
Boots
Leather jacket
Heated motorbike jackets

These are all costly items to have and maintain. So, as a hobby, or second vehicle, I wouldn’t consider a motorcycle as a poor man’s ride.

In Closing

I hope I have been able to shake some of these common myths about motorcyclists. What it comes down to, is that they are no different than any other group of people. In most every group, you will see a wide variety of personalities and lifestyles.

About the Author:

Melissa Cameron has written numerous articles offering money saving tips and valuable advice on various topics. She loves surfing the Internet, looking for deals and learning new things. Melissa currently resides in Texas with her husband and 2 children and she has just discovered Twitter.

Earnest Parenting: help for parents of motorcycle riders.

Image courtesy of ocadotony via Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Get your bonus copy of my book Fun & Free Activities for Families on a Budget. Download here

Online Printable Interactive Learning Resources for Children

Amy LeForge — Mon, 30 May 2011 05:34:36 +0000

(Editor’s note: ever spent an hour or more looking for decent printables online, only to get overwhelmed and quit? Rest easy, heroes! James has a handy list of resources for us in his guest post today. Thanks, James!)

If you are looking for printable learning resources for your children online, you have come to the right spot. There are hundreds and hundreds of websites that offer printable for your children, but not all of them are created equal. You must carefully discern and look through the materials to make sure that it is age appropriate, educational, and relevant to your child’s needs. Below you find a unique list of ten websites that have been proven to provide top material to children of all ages and skill levels. With all that the internet has available, you will never have to purchase a workbook again! Vast arrays of printable learning resources are available to you and your child within the comfort of your own home.

1. Free Printables for Teachers

A wonderful resource not only for educators, but also for parents. You are able to print off flashcards, worksheets tailored to your child’s unique and fun games to play. This site offers everything from short vowel sounds to digraphs. With the focus on phonics, you will find an abundance of material geared for those children having difficulty reading.

2. Webbing into Literacy

This link will provide you with printable alphabet books and many other Kindergarten readiness resources.

3. Activity Village

This helpful resource has everything available from crafts to award certificates to printable pictures to color. You will be able to find a ton of creative ideas on this site.

4. Starfall

This has long been a favorite site for many children because of the fun online games that they offer, but they have recently added several printables. Parents are able to generate their own personalized worksheets to target specific areas that their child is struggling in.

5. The Preschool Mama

The Preschool Mama offers a variety of easy to do activities and printable for preschool age children. She offers printable rhymes and stories, as well as some wonderful advice on manners and how to conduct yourself in social situations.

6. Twiggle Magazine

Twiggle Magazine offers printables to go along with a theme from each month of the year. Have fun creating crafts while learning all your shapes and colors. This website offers some exceptional ideas on how to celebrate holidays throughout the year with printable learning activities.

7. Kearny Public Schools

This is a link that was intended for the use of parents and teachers in this school system, but is more than a wonderful resource to many sites available on the internet for children and printable resources.

8. Reading A-Z

This is one of the best websites available for printable books that children can easily decode and have success in reading. They also offer other materials and worksheets for students to practice building sight word recognition and phonics skills.

9. Totally Tots

Totally Tots has tons and tons of ideas, recipes, projects, and alphabet recognition activities that are easy to print off and use with your young child. This website will help guide you in some very creative ways to get your child learning.

10. Math Fact Cafe

Math Fact Cafe is one of the best math printable websites you can find. You will be able to print off flashcards, premade worksheets or to make your own. This is an ideal site for a student who is struggling in math.

As said before, there are so many sites on the internet available to you for printing interactive and educational resources for your children. Many places will charge a fee, but you can certainly find several sites that will offer this to you for no cost. It is important that we supplement our children’s education with additional materials at home. By taking advantage of all that is offered to us free of charge, we can ensure that our children will retain the information that they have been taught. These resources are also wonderful to use in preparing your child for Kindergarten. As a parent, you can give your child the gift of a lifetime by investing into their future and providing them with the help that they need to succeed.

Today’s guest post has been contributed by James Adams who is a full time writer and a reviewer at Cartridge Save.co.uk, suppliers of HP laser toner cartridges in Britain.

Photo provided courtesy of reway2007 via Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Earnest Parenting: tips for parents who want good printables.

Get your bonus copy of my book Fun & Free Activities for Families on a Budget. Download here

When Technology Fails: 5 Life Skills Every Child Should Know

Amy LeForge — Thu, 26 May 2011 04:35:16 +0000

(Editor’s note: please welcome Renee with her guest post outlining life skills that need to be preserved. Thanks Renee!)

Kids these days are so enamored with technology that they have a pretty difficult time imagining life without it. With the convenience that machines and gadgets afford, our children are almost always tempted to rely on gadgets, even for simple tasks.

But what happens when technology fails? Below are 5 essential skills to develop in your child so that he grows prepared and self-reliant:

Critical Thinking Skills

Research shows our skills in critical thinking and analysis decline as technology plays a bigger role in our lives. Nowadays, any question or concern that a student may have can easily be answered by an Internet search. Our kids are finding technology as a means of short cuts: Getting things done as quickly as possible with as little effort as possible. This process means that critical thinking skills may be diminishing.

Parents can demonstrate critical thinking in very simple, everyday methods: pondering aloud the most efficient way to do household chores; considering the most economical purchase to make at the grocery store; monitoring your progress toward your personal goals; or approaching social issues in your community. Describing how you think and solve problems is the best way for you to instill similar thinking patterns in your children.

Studies also show that reading develops imagination, induction, reflection and critical thinking, as well as vocabulary. Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent years, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not. As responsible parents, we should encourage our children to read good books instead of watching movies to develop these skills.

Social Skills

Recent studies highlight our children are becoming super skilled when it comes to finding their way around a computer, but less proficient at social skills such as making new friends or knowing what to say in certain social situations. With the popularity of cell phones, text messaging and social networking sites, our children may be losing an essential part of communication.

As a parent, I am personally worried that future generations will have amazing intellectual potential but do not know how to express it. As such, we should take the responsibility to teach our children how to properly socialize before “short cutting” face-to-face interaction.

To prepare children for adult sociability, teach them to communicate politely and correctly. Tell them how to address someone formally as well as informally. It cannot harm them to know these things and one day they might value their own ability to be comfortable at any social level.

Sports Skills

Sports skills are skills for life. Setting goals, working hard, learning from others, and staying positive in the face of adversity are just some of the skills developed each day on the running tracks, playing fields, ice rinks, and gymnasiums. The lessons our children learn through sport will enable them to make healthy lifestyle choices, meet challenges head-on and work with others to achieve goals later in life. Motivate your child to join organized sports instead of playing Wii sports games. As with other computer games, even if played against a real person, Wii cannot beat the interaction and socializing that takes place in a gym or a court. Real sports also offer an easy way to meet new people and get involved.

Wii also falls short in terms of physical benefits. Compared to golfing at a driving range (3.9 calories per minute), playing Wii Golf burned 0.8 calories less per minute. Actual bowling burns nearly twice as much (7.2 calories per minute) as Wii Bowling, while baseball burns 7.3 calories per minute and Wii Baseball burns 2.8 calories per minute less. Similarly, Wii Tennis burns 2.8 calories per minute less than the actual game (8.1 calories per minute). Finally, Wii Boxing burns about 3.0 calories per minute less than conventional sparring at 10.2 calories per minute.

Household (cooking) Skills

With all the fast food restaurants and frozen pizzas, families don’t cook like they used to. But if you don’t want to raise another child who only eats pre-packaged food, you need to go back to cooking real food at home (instead of eating all the unhealthy preservatives and chemicals in prepackaged meals) while involving your kids in the process.

Teaching kids to be kitchen savvy has so many benefits. It is one of the rare opportunities you can spend quality time with them while instilling knowledge, good habits, and responsibility -because you have to be responsible while cooking. This will benefit your kids later in life, say during their college days, when they’d have to create healthy meals by themselves, or when the time comes that they would need to cook for a family of their own.

Navigation Skills

Global positioning systems, or GPS technology, have recently become popular for many consumers and, like any other form of technology, evolved to include features that replace some other skills we once relied upon. But emergency situations happen; the battery in the GPS can die or the GPS itself could malfunction. Therefore, it is always handy to have a navigation strategy that includes a backup to GPS whenever possible.

Navigation and map-reading are essential life skills. Teaching children how to use a map to locate their current position and find their destination provides them with confidence and gives them a powerful tool that can prevent them from becoming disoriented or lost. Most often, children associate maps with treasure hunts and grand storybook adventures. Teaching this skill in a similar game format will instill a lifelong love of map reading in children of all ages.

Technology is here to stay and we, as a society, need to guide our children towards the future because after all, whatever impact technology has on them now is what will shape society’s forthcoming generations. Instill in your child these essential skills and he should grow up prepared for the challenges that lie ahead with or without the aid of technology.

Renee Bedford is a mom and wife who believes in teaching her children to be self-reliant and prepared. She knows that not only will these skills keep them safer, but they will also make them smarter! Besides being a committed mother, she also works for the Christmas Tree Market, where they sell an array of classic and unique artificial Christmas trees.

Photo provided courtesy of Joe Shlabotnik via Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Earnest Parenting: tips for parents who want to raise self-reliant children.

Get your bonus copy of my book Fun & Free Activities for Families on a Budget. Download here

Brain Nutrition: How to Get It

Amy LeForge — Mon, 23 May 2011 04:07:04 +0000

(Editor’s note: please welcome Jessica with a post that all of us should keep in mind as we consider nutrition for ourselves and our children. Thanks Jessica!)

People always concentrate on the nourishment of body. It is true that human body requires proper nourishment so that it can accomplish the daily tasks. But it is equally true for the brain. Human brain also needs proper nutrition to think, store information, remember, concentrate and focus. But people often overlook this important issue.

If you are wondering how to get nutrition for the brain just go through the following points.

Brain Nutrition through Foods: Just as your body gets necessary nutrition through food, your brain also gets all the required nutrition through foods. Brain and nutrition go hand in hand. Foods such as rice, fruits, vegetables that contain carbohydrates promote relaxation and sleep. But if you want to speed mental performance and improve alertness you need to have foods that contain amino acids. Food items like meat, fish, milk, cheese are good brain nutrition as they help to produce neurotransmitters which improve the performance of human brain.

Food rich in Omega 3 fats are also good for the brain as “myelin sheath” the cover protecting our brain is made of these fats. In the absence of Omega 3 the brain can not send signals to the body. It may hamper things like blood circulation, inflammation along with memory and mood and immune system. Food items such as salmon, tuna, sardines, trout and mackerel and herring are rich in Omega 3.

Brain Supplements: If you think that the food items you have on a regular basis are not sufficient for brain nutrition, you can opt for supplements for brain. You can take minerals and multivitamins. Vitamin B, C and E are good for brain nutrition. These vitamins contain antioxidants that promote and preserve memory.

Water to Hydrate Brain: Do you know 75% of the brain is made of water? The brain needs to be hydrated in order to work well to its fullest capacity and potential. You should drink at least two liters of water a day so that your brain can function properly.

Image provided courtesy of Blatantnews.com via Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Earnest Parenting: tips for keeping brains healthy.

Get your bonus copy of my book Fun & Free Activities for Families on a Budget. Download here

Earnest Cooking

Amy LeForge — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:31:52 +0000

(Editor’s note: please welcome Benjamin, with a guest post on cooking strategies that are quite useful. Thanks, Benjamin!)

As a parent, you want to feed your kids wholesome, healthy meals as often as possible. Yet it is likely you’re juggling work, school, chores, shopping and extracurricular activities as well. Getting food on the table in the midst of all this may be hard, but there are steps you can take (that don’t require taking a class at one of the many cooking schools found online) to make preparing delicious food easy, fast and even fun.

Plan Your Meals

Planning the week’s meals in advance helps save both time and money. When you know beforehand what you will be cooking each night, you need only make one trip to the grocery store for the entire week. One large, planned trip as opposed to several hurried stops made after work saves money by allowing you to make more careful decisions when purchasing ingredients. Instead of grabbing what’s most convenient, you can pick and choose the best items for the meals you have in mind.

Do Some Prep

Despite the long cooking times of grains like brown rice, you can still incorporate them into quick meals by preparing servings ahead of time. Simply cook the rice when you are able, then allow it to cool to room temperature. Portion the cooled rice out into airtight containers and freeze until you’re ready to use it. Cooked rice may also be kept in the refrigerator for one or two days.

Prepping vegetables is also a big time-saver! Use this restaurant trick at home to reduce the time it takes to put a dish together. Chop the veggies you know you’ll need for the week, toss them in airtight containers and pop them in the fridge. When it’s time to cook, all you have to do is pull out the appropriate container and you’re ready to go.

Mix it Up

Making food fun can be as simple as trying a new dish. It doesn’t have to be complicated to be healthy and delicious. There are many cookbooks available full of great-tasting meals that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. Add one or two of these to your collection and pick a recipe to try each week. You may discover new favorites that are even quicker and easier to make than some of your “old standards!”

Learn to Love Leftovers

The word “leftovers” no doubt conjures the image of limp vegetables and dry meat. However with a little planning, leftovers can be just as delicious as fresh dishes. Things like stew, chili and curry are easy to make in large batches and store well in the freezer. Other good dishes to make and freeze include lasagna and other baked pasta, casseroles and shepherd’s pie. Having these homemade “convenience foods” on hand when you’re in a hurry takes the stress out of dinner by allowing you to simply defrost and reheat enough for the family. It’s also much healthier than relying on commercial boxed meals or frozen dinners.

Get the Kids Involved

Whether shopping for food, prepping ingredients or putting together a meal, getting the kids involved is a great way to make cooking enjoyable for the whole family. Helping with all aspects of dinner preparation gives kids real-world experience and allows them to learn the ins and outs of cooking. This is an invaluable skill that they can make use of for the rest of their lives.

Making a homemade meal every night doesn’t have to be a daunting task. With planning and preparation, cooking can become an enjoyable part of your everyday life. Sharing the results of your work in the kitchen with your family is a rewarding experience that is well worth the time.

Photo provided courtesy of THEMACGIRL* via Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Earnest Parenting: tips for keeping cooking manageable.

Get your bonus copy of my book Fun & Free Activities for Families on a Budget. Download here