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Road trips can be great fun for the whole family, but only if done right, meaning that you have to be well prepared. Your trip will definitely be less enjoyable if you leave home without some of the essential things for you and, even worse, your kids. So, here are some things you should pack and prepare for your road trip in order to make the best of it.

Your car

OK, your car isn’t really something you pack inside a suitcase or a box, but it’s definitely the first thing you have to prepare before even thinking of going anywhere. Your family’s safety always comes first, so you have to make sure your car is in perfect condition and comfortable enough to drive you to wherever you’re going and back. Take it to a garage to have it checked by a mechanic, clean it properly before your trip, make sure you have the best tow bar installed for your camper if you are traveling with it, and don’t forget to get good car insurance. In case you own an older or a smaller car or if something is malfunctioning in it, renting a car could be the best option for you. In most cases, rental cars are newer, well maintained and very comfortable, meaning that your trip could go much more smoothly than if you took the trip with your own car. 

Proper clothes

Before packing your clothes, check the weather forecast for the area you’re visiting and pack accordingly. However, be ready for unexpected weather changes, since those are known to happen and can ruin your trip if you’re unprepared. No matter how hot they say it will be, bring some warm socks, a sweater or a jacket for each of you and don’t forget umbrellas or raincoats in case of rain. If you know you’ll do some walking, bring two pairs of shoes each. One should be comfortable women’s sneakers and the other a quality pair of waterproof shoes for longer periods of hiking. Finally, have a change of clothes for your kids at hand, in case something gets spilled while on the road.

Technology and useful gadgets

Photo by Cynthia del Río on Unsplash

If you know you’ll spend a significant amount of time in your car, you should make sure your kids have something to do.

Some old-fashioned travel games will probably be enough for a while, but you should also have the option of a fully charged tablet computer for them to watch their favorite cartoon or two. Bring some board games that you will enjoy and maximize the travel hedonism! A good DnD game can spark your imagination and, let’s all admit it – it’s more than fun. If you are a DnD lover, D20 Collective is the site to keep an eye on! 

As for the adults, the driver will probably need a good GPS system and maps for navigation, which you can all download on your phone. You should also bring a car charger or several of them, along with a power bank and a few other smart gadgets, such as a foldable hairdryer, or things like kids’ travel pillows and earplugs for when the driver wants to rest for a while and the children refuse to be quiet. 

Snacks and drinks

Depending on how long your trip will last, you should start with finding an appropriate cooler for storing your food and drinks adequately. A smaller, soft one will do for one or two days, while for longer trips you should invest in a hard-shell one. Packing enough provisions is essential to avoid your kids becoming hungry and nervous. Slice or chop some fruit and vegetables into bite-sized pieces and pack them in plastic containers or bags. Similarly, prepare enough nuts, pretzels, crackers and granola bars to last at least a few days, so that you don’t have to turn to unhealthy food from gas stations and diners along the road. You can even pack some sandwiches for the first day, but don’t forget that they’re highly perishable. Finally, as far as drinks are concerned, nothing beats water, so bring a reusable bottle for each of you and a gallon of water to refill them. 

Emergency items

If you’ve traveled with your family before, you know that you never go on a trip without bringing some of the basic medicines and toiletries. Start with some ibuprofen, cortisone in case of bug bites, some bandages and plenty of hand sanitizer, and in case any member of your family suffers from motion sickness, get something for that, too. Furthermore, a first-aid kit you have in your car should be brand new, so that you have everything you need in case something happens, while you can also expect that each of you will require some paper products such as napkins, toilet paper, tissues, and even wet wipes at some point during your trip, so load up on those as well. To top it off, bring a thermometer, just to stay on the safe side. 

So, once you pack wisely and get your family in that car, you can fully relax and the fun can start. 

Dignity holds a special place in human nature – people would rather part with anything but dignity. If you have elderly parents, you know that engaging with them and trying to improve their lifestyle is like walking a tightrope with their self-esteem in your hands.

There’s only so much you can do, and you have to meet them half-way. If you have a hard time finding ways to improve your elderly parents’ lifestyle, here are three major tips on how to keep it graceful.

Clean out the household together

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A majority of retired individuals prefer to age in a familiar environment – namely, their home. One of the hallmarks of a functional home, especially if elderly people live there, is orderliness.

While the luxury of chaos could have been allowed up until a point, this is a time when it would be wise to help your parents clear out their stuff. This might be one of the foundational factors in improving their lifestyle, but it will probably take a lot of time.

The key aspect of the endeavor is to involve your parents as much as you can and negotiate with them about what to keep and what to donate or recycle. We know how the baby boomer generation was enamored with collectibles, but they represent nothing but hazardous clutter.

By cleaning out all of this stuff, you will create a pleasing home full of breathing room. Since you’ve involved your parents in the cleaning, they’ll pretty much remember where everything is now and, let’s be honest, the entire household, including the yard, simply looks better.

Just remember – to keep it graceful, discuss every group of items with your parents so they’ll know that their decision counts. This is important even if you’ve pretty much decided about certain things.

Encourage their walks with friends

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Physical activity and socialization are the cornerstones of health and longevity. They are also major contributors to the cognitive performance of elderly people. This is why you should encourage your parents to venture out into the neighborhood and visit their friends.

You can suggest that they go on walks with their friends and enjoy a breezy afternoon in a local park that offers ample seating opportunities. By doing this, you will kill two birds with one stone: your parents will spend more time with their peers as well as get some quality exercise.

The walks are particularly important. If they have not ventured out of the house or the backyard for the day, and they generally dislike physical exercise, it might be a good strategy to invite them for a walk with you, and use this opportunity for a heart-to-heart.

The more they are engaged in a conversation, the more likely they are to forget that they are walking before the tiredness settles in. Naturally, you have to familiarize yourself with their limits first and avoid pushing them beyond that.

Even if the constant, everyday nagging that they should walk more and socialize might become tiring for you, just remember that you are investing in the future. It is a long-term strategy to keep your parents as healthy and happy as possible for as long as possible.

Keep the family together

Image source:https://www.pexels.com/photo/adult-affection-baby-child-302083/

At the end of the day, carefully cultivated family relationships are our most valuable testament. The most cherished contribution to your parents’ dignified lifestyle is an effort to surround them with as many family members as possible.

However, you’ll notice that this turns out to be a balancing act as well since your parents might require some relaxing alone time now and then. Make sure to discuss the family visits with them before coordinating anything. They’ll likely hope to spend more time with their grandchildren than anyone else.

In addition to family gatherings, by organizing a reliable in-home caregiver, you’re practically guaranteeing that your parents never feel abandoned, or consider themselves a burden on the family.

Conclusion

Thankfully, we live in an age when eldercare is developing rapidly, and new methods of aiding our parents with dignity are cropping up all around. Still, one motif never changes no matter the time and place – and that is the aspiration of the retirees to age with dignity, grace, and surrounded by the love of their family.

This is why, no matter what technology, medicine, and eldercare devise, it will always come down to what you can bring to the table as a responsible adult.

The basement is usually the space most people don’t use on a daily basis, except for storing their junk. But, if you want to make this space functional and give it a purpose, you can convert it into a home office. This is something all working moms need, especially when they’re chasing deadlines. Most of us prefer working from home and feeling comfortable while trying to solve complex work-related issues. But, working from home also means you’ll have to deal with so many distractions – from your kids to the TV, and everything in between. This is one of the biggest advantages of the basement because it’s secluded and your family won’t be able to interrupt you while you’re working. So, how can you turn your basement into every mom’s perfect home office?

Inspect the space

Many homeowners have serious problems in their basements so it’s important to deal with potential repairs in the beginning. Check the insulation and waterproofing because these two issues can cause serious damage, especially if you redo the space before moving into it. In addition to that, flooring and ceiling are also a major risk if you haven’t been taking care of your basement properly. 

Mold spreads quite easily in the basement, so keep that in mind as well. Since you’ll be spending lots of time here, you need to think about your health and take care of any potential leaks that can cause mold. Even if you get everything fixed, invest in an air purifier just to make sure the air quality is at the highest level.

Insist on comfort and practicality

No matter how big your home office is, you need to remember that comfort is the key to productivity. That means you won’t be able to work unless you invest in some comfortable and ergonomic furniture. Think of it as a necessity for your health because all working moms are exhausted all the time, so sitting for hours in improper furniture might not be good for them.

For starters, think about adding a spacious desk that’s practical and functional. In addition to that, you’ll want to pair it with a suitable chair which will turn into the center of your workspace. If you want, you can even add another cozy chair where you can take a break, read something, or meet your business associates.

Basement entrance

If you don’t have doors on your basement, you need to think about investing in one. There are two possible problems if you opt for an open concept. First, your family will always be interrupting you, thinking you’re free to hang out and spend time with them. Secondly, you’ll be surrounded by so much noise that you won’t be able to focus on your work.

By adding doors, though, you’ll create a designated space which you’ll use only for your work and nothing else. You can always use practical barn doors that will add a stylish note but also serve as a practical room divider. If you have a big basement, it will also allow your family members to use the space without getting in your way.

Think about the lighting

The main problem when it comes to the basement is the lighting, especially if you want to give this space a new purpose. You can try sectioning the space and adding different types of lighting which will allow you to have plenty of light wherever you need it. Create one big source of lighting on the ceiling and use that as a primary source that will cover the entire space. 

In addition to that, think about all the parts of the basement where you’ll need light – your desk, the storage area, the reading space, etc. – so don’t be afraid to maximize the lighting when you need it. in the end, be sure to create multiple lighting sources, just to ensure your office is properly illuminated.

Projects like this one will help you utilize the free space you have in your home and make it functional. Having a home office in your basement will give you all the privacy you need in order to get all of your jobs done without interruptions, so it’s definitely an idea worth looking into.

Cyber security is a real threat nowadays. While you might think cyber crime only affects businesses and billionaires, that’s not the case. All types of individuals are targeted online, and that’s why you need to be extra careful.

One of the ways criminals gain access to your information is through video chat. While there are a number of free or affordable video chat tools online nowadays, how do you know which one is safe? Here’s how to choose a safe video chat to talk to your family with confidence.

1. Protect Your Computer

The first thing you should do is make sure your computer is protected. The good news is that most video chats are unlikely to be monitored or recorded by outsiders. Most data transmitted through any trusted video chat platform is encrypted within the browser, and that means it can’t be intercepted by a third-party.

However, you should take action to make sure your computer is safe from harmful viruses or malware. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, there are 2,645 records stolen from data breaches every minute. TYu need to make sure your computer is clean and safe, whether that means recruiting the help of a professional or installing anti-virus software.

2. Set Safety Rules

Next, before you can choose a safe video chat platform, it’s important to set clear safety rules. Many kids don’t have experience online or talking to family over the internet, so you want to set clear rules from the start. Make sure kids know how to verify the identity of family members and to always come to you if they experience any problems.

Image via Pexels

3. Check Security Features

Before choosing a video chat service, check safety features. Look for key things like encryption and privacy protection. Is it possible to have a private account that isn’t easy to find? How does this company keep your data safe from strangers?

These are important questions, and they might not always be clear upfront. If your kids will be using the chat tool to talk to family, are their child protection options to keep them from being contacted by strangers? Say Family Video Chat is an example of a platform built with family security in mind. It’s always a good practice to ensure safe internet usage, a big problem online can be identity theft and protecting your information is really important

4. How Easy Is It to Use?

Last but not least, make sure whatever video chat you use is easy for the whole family. If it’ll be used by grandparents and kids alike, everyone needs to know how to use it to their advantage. If it’s too complicated or confusing, this is when security mistakes are made.

In addition, ensure everyone in the family follows online safety rules like making a secure password and keeping your personal information private. As long as everyone’s on the same page about safety, odds are you’re ready to start video chatting right away.

Keep the Family Connected Safely

Video chat has come a long way, but it still poses a safety risk for families. Many families use video chat tools to keep in touch when separated long distances, but that doesn’t mean you should let your guard down. Like all tech tools, you need to be educated and safe.

These tips above will not only help you choose the best platform for your family, but they’ll make sure you’re using them safely. It’s time to get calling!

Reading is great for your kids, and inspiring them to do that as often as possible is vital. This is great for their mental and physical development, especially if you start doing it early on. However, it’s the parents who need to play a key role in this process. First, you need to read to your kids, and then encourage them to continue doing it on their own. So, if you too want to push your children towards books, here are some of the things you should do.

Read to them

Most parents are tired, exhausted, and agitated all the time, especially when they get their first child. That’s why they try to get as much rest as possible, and reading is the last thing on their mind. But, no matter how tired you are, you still to find the energy for your kids and talk to them. Even when they’re babies, they can hear your voice, recognize it, and find it soothing.

Once you establish this routine, moving on and starting reading to them will be easier. Studies show that you need to do that as soon as possible – even at the earliest age. Reading will encourage their language development, boost their intelligence, and create a new bond between you and them. Therefore, start reading to your kids straight away, and do that every single day.

Give them space

Once your kids grow up a bit, they’ll start reading on their own, and that’s great. Still, it’s important to give them space to do that on their own. Teach them how to read and show them what sort of books they can explore, and then leave them alone. Reading is an individual activity, and that’s something kids understand, so they’ll feel better doing that on their own.

Giving them space can be hard for parents, but try not to interfere. Of course, stay nearby and be involved, but be discreet. Give them new books and feed their curiosity, but also give them some food and drinks they love the most. Be there, but be invisible, and let your children feel important and all grown-up just because they’re reading alone.

Set up a reading nook

After your child falls in love with reading, you need to make the next step. Setting up their own reading nook is the best way to show them how much you encourage their passion. This space doesn’t have to be too extravagant, but it should be special and belong only to them. That’s why parents all over the world, from Australia to Canada, are designing reading spots for their kids.

These reading nooks should be cozy, so start by arranging some comfortable seating options. Also, add lots of cushions and pillows that will provide your kids comfort and support. Moreover, pay attention to the lighting and make sure it’s just perfect. This is something the aforementioned Australian parents are particularly careful about, for instance. That’s why they leave these things to the professionals instead of doing that on their own. So, they might want to look into an experienced electrician from Camden who knows everything about electricity. These people can provide their kids with amazing lighting for their reading nook, and inspire them to read more.

Build them a bookcase

After your child stops being a child, it’s time to upgrade their reading habit. Being a young adult is great because of all those books that are written for that age. So, keep encouraging you’re loved to read even more and discover new writers, new books, and new topics. Also, think about building them a proper bookcase that will fit all their books.

Doing this is easy, and it depends on the size of their room and the number of books they own. Just find some inspiration online and try to be creative. Get your kids involved as well and ask them to come up with a design of their own. This way, their bookcase will be even better and they’ll like it even more.

Getting your kids to fall in love with reading is a long process, but it’s worth your time and energy. It’s a good thing for their mental health, personal development, and imagination, so start reading to them right away!

Hiring a nanny, for many, is a logical step for a family. Some families are looking for someone to come in and take care of their children when they’re at work. Others are looking for just a little extra bit of household help during the day. Or, a family could be looking for a nanny to be with the family full-time, even accompanying them on vacations and trips. It could be all of the above as well!

Many more families are hiring nannies each year, looking for a bit of extra help around the household, so there’s no shame in searching the field for yourself.

It’s a big step for many, deciding whether or not to bring someone else into the picture. For better or for worse, this person can become an extension of your family depending on how much they are around.

Before taking the plunge, it’s important to avoid these mistakes so you don’t end up regretting your decisions later.

Rushing Through the Early Stages

When finding someone to look after your child, potentially live in your home and perform a whole other myriad of activities like preparing meals and running errands, you’d obviously like to find the perfect individual. Sometimes, though that can just take too long.

Whether you’ve gone nanny hunting on your own or are using an agency, it’s important to find someone who you know will match up with your, your home and your children. You don’t want to end up with a nanny who prefers to be indoors all the time if your child is always looking to run around outside.

Make sure and go through the interview process with due diligence and even consider a trial period. Rome wasn’t built in a day and chances are the perfect nanny isn’t going to descend from the heavens at a moment’s notice.

Additionally, you’ll want to be able to manage expectations about the nanny before coming in. If you rush about it, you may end up assigning the nanny to do too many jobs, way over the required amount. The last thing you want is for a nanny to walk out on you in the middle of the year and you’re left scrambling, trying to not repeat the process of before.

Saving the Finances for Later

Chances are, you’ve gone over your finances and budget for the nanny and have an idea of what you could be paying. You’ll want to set up required hours, frequency of pay and find out how much you can afford. It also helps to do a bit of research to see what the expected pay is, so you’re not undercutting your nanny or throwing the bank at them.

You also want to make sure you’re paying your nanny legally instead of under the table payments. This guarantees a bit more respect from both parties and keeps everyone honest.

While these are important steps, it’s equally as important to have your taxes figured out. You’ll need to find out if you have to pay the nanny tax, what that entails and how to go about reporting it on your taxes. Don’t wait till the end of the year to try and get everything in order, keep track of payments and be putting it together as the year goes by. If it gets confusing, search out someone who can help you.

Be smart and get ahead of it all so you’re not scrambling at the very end. Your nanny could be there only a short time and you’d hate to try and track them down to verify payments at a later date. It always helps to have a paper trail!

Not Making a Contract

This mistake kind of rolls the last two mistakes into one, but it’s vital you make a nanny contract. Not only can you lay out the financial rules for the nanny, but you’ll be able to also lay out expectations, job responsibilities, hours and so much more. That way, everything is out in the open and easy to read.

It will also make any disputes easier down the road. If you feel the nanny isn’t holding up their end of the contract, you can review the contract together and see what needs to be changed for the future.

At the end of the day, this person will have a big hand in taking care of your most prized possession, your children, and you need to place the highest value possible on a potential caretaker.

Big data is the most trending topic in the technology world, but it is a complicated thing also to consider. We have seen the rise and fall of many big data startups, and in light of this, we are trying to put forth some guidelines for big data startups to succeed. These guidelines are given by keeping the new-generation entrepreneurs in mind who want to get into emerging technology fields to succeed.

This is a long story; however, jotted down here in short. As a startup entrepreneur, you need to choose your business battles very wisely and try to build a community around what you offer. However, if it is big data, then it doesn’t require an additional cheerleader. Without further, ado let’s get into the point.

Guidelines to big data startup business aspirants

1. The infrastructure need is challenging

Building infrastructural tools for big data is difficult on the one hand, and selling them too is difficult on the other hand. This gets your troubles doubled, while you think of the big data tools like Hadoop, MapReduce, NoSQL DB, and real-time data streaming/processing systems, etc. The users need to have a lot of education and insights. This makes it mandatory for the providers to offer significant support to the users by addressing all their concerns timely and satisfactorily.

When it comes to big data applications, whether they are focused on specific workloads of various industries or applications to handle broader tasks like data visualization etc. are made easier. However, these sophisticated applications are harder to build, but the prospective customers can oversee how it can be made useful or this compared to what already exists. You will be able to sell big data applications directly into the lines of business without the need to invoke the central IT systems at all, which means that there is only less friction ultimately. Once if you start to talk about removing, replacing, or adding systems or putting sensitive data, things can be more complicated.

2. Friendliness of cloud computing

People have known that the cloud is a very efficient solution for businesses. Nowadays, even if you sell infrastructure or software applications, the cloud can be an efficient option to leverage. This doesn’t mean simply hosting on the cloud, but it can also be beneficial in delivery services to clients in a cloud environment. You can gain better control over your product or service and a deeper understanding of its potential as it can run optimally on a set of resources.

There is no entering into the customer accounts or setting up on the servers and OS they are running. However, there could be some customized work to connect services with the data sources of the customers, but all get more or less the same thing. In this, most of the provider energy may be spared for product development.

After all, cloud computing will make it easier for users to play around with their products. For startups, this makes things much easier to get started, play around with the product, and prove the value of their tools. However, this is not so in all the cases, especially when you are considering larger-scale enterprise software applications which have to handle a huge volume of data. Big data startups may feel such pressure from the larger businesses in the same platform to offer cloud services too as traditional software applications.

3. Developers as your friends

Cater to them if you are a big data solutions providers. On the other hand, if you are providing big data analytics services too as a part of your big data database services like RemoteDBA.com, then analysts are your best friends. Whatever your solutions are, ranging from database to development or analytics solutions, aiming your development efforts to marketing on your target audience is the key to success.

In this case, CIOs may not be the ideal target audience. On target the CIOs, the major problem is that you won’t catch them speaking the buzzwords or answering the specific questions about the overblown concerns as compared to contact the actual users. Instead of this, targeting the actual developers or analysts may be the ideal tactic to work well for cloud startups.

4. Deploy data scientists at the front and the center

This is as much as a strategic marketing approach as well as sales too. This is important as data scientists are the professional who will show the users what is possible for them with the use of data and your big data platform. Expert data analysts are those whom people will be listening to at conferences and presentations.

You can see that almost everyone in the technology sector is already sold on Hadoop as well as NoSQL DBMS technologies already. So, for the marketers, there is little need to explain the merits of these further, and there is also no need to reinforce in terms of variety, volume, and velocity, etc. Discussing integrations and configurations seems to be important, but it is more interesting in a smaller audience who closely follow it unless you are talking about things at a massive scale.

While presenting your big data startup solutions, don’t simply talk about data and the kind of infrastructure you can offer for storing data or processing it, but you need to show them what kind of products you can build with the help of it. You need to point out how such products will help their business to grow further and make use of the real data to fuel their operations. Show then what type of analysis they can run or at the minimum, put it across in such way that you are considering data in a broader context than conventional.

5. Open source really matters if you consider it

Many of the big data startups now tend to rely on open-source applications. Some of the technology they have borrowed like Hadoop and Storm etc. Some others which they create by their own also come into the picture. In many other cases, it could be a fine combination of both with added functionality as to things like HBase. These type of projects are so popular because of community support.

The goal of technology in the open source arena is to create a solid community of experts working on the same set of codes to improve and streamline it. In such a scenario, you need to really get out and try to promote the technology inquest and explain every turn of it as to why it is so important to get more people willing to hack on the technology.

However, you may not be able to always count on any random startup that opens sourced the code, but only those companies which are pushing their projects to win a bigger community around their technology only stand out.