All posts by R.C. Liley

I'm an ex-mutual fund accountant who left the cubicle world to be a stay-at-home dad to my beautiful little girl, Avery, who entered our life on 11/15/13 and handsome little boy, Wes, who joined our family on 11/19/17. Also happily married to my wife, Kelley, as of 8/17/07. Sorry ladies... :) Fitness and nutrition is of the utmost importance in our family and we strive to reflect this in our daily life. I always prepare our meals at home and only go out if it's a special occasion, and even then I tend to not get much. Food should be fun and a joy to eat, not something quickly consumed from a fast food chain or scarf down before the next meeting. I have come from strictly logging high miles to train for the next marathon to keeping exercise varied and focusing more on strength. I still enjoy going for a run when I can, but nothing crazy, and I prefer hill sprints while pushing my daughter, Avery in the stroller. She loves it and I get a great workout! I want to show the world how to appreciate their body and feed it real, wholesome food while moving more throughout the day. In doing so, everyone would be healthier, happier, and we'd all live in a better place as a result. I blog mainly about my life as a stay-at-home dad and frequently include reviews, participate in campaigns, and share my thoughts on fitness and nutrition. If you ever have any questions or thoughts to share, please reach out as I'm always open to listening or helping others however possible. That is, when I have free time since Avery is and my wife are the number one priorities!

Going Healthy, Health

How To Look After Your Back

08/17/2020 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

back, health, pain, posture, fitness — Photo by Jesper Aggergaard on Unsplash

Each year, over 250 million workdays are lost to back pain (Source: ACTA). They also estimate that a massive 80% of people will experience back pain at some point in their lives.

For those with a diagnosed condition, it’s often a never-ending circle of doctor’s appointments, pain killers, and reduced mobility. For those of us lucky enough to be pain-free, it’s essential that we look after our backs every day, so that we can stay pain-free in the future too.

Don’t underestimate back pain

If you do start experiencing back pain, it’s important not to ignore it. See your primary care provider of a specialist at a company such as Advance Physical Therapy. They will be able to provide advice and treatment early, which often results in a better outcome.

Exercise

Getting regular exercise is a great way to keep fit and healthy. Being active and eating a balanced diet can reduce the risk of a host of conditions including Type 2 Diabetes, obesity, heart attack, stroke, and insomnia.

Exercising and keeping your weight in check, keeping your muscles supplied with blood and oxygen, and is great for keeping the pressure of the extra pounds off your joints. But in order to keep your back in tip-top shape, you need to be doing specific exercises to strengthen it too.

The key to a strong back is a strong core. Exercises such as yoga, pilates, and exercise ball workouts are all good for keeping your core strong.

Learn how to lift

Lifting too much weight, with a bad technique, can lead to serious back injuries. These can be prevented by learning some of the basis of lifting. Here are some of the basics for safer lifting.

Don’t lift more than you can handle – no correct technique is going to help you if you’re lifting something that’s far too heavy for you.
Stack your shoulders over your feet – you should be aiming for a straight line between the two. By doing this, you will find it easier to maintain your balance and not twist as you lift.
Hold the object close to you – the closer the object is to your body, the less strength you will need to hold it.
Bend at the knees – everyone knows this but few do it consistently. Use your leg muscles to lift, not your back or core.

Correct Your Posture

Bad posture can cause a lot of health problems including back pain, muscle aches, headaches, and insomnia. It’s something that most of us are guilty of, as we slouch at our desks or lounge on the sofa.

When sitting, try to use the following techniques:

Sit up straight with your shoulders back.
Keep your knees level with, or slightly higher than your hips, feet flat on the floor.
Don’t sit still for too long, try and get up every 30 minutes.

Conclusion

Though it’s a very common health problem, back pain can really affect your quality of life. We should be looking after our backs as much as any other part of our body. Your spine will thank you for it.

Life, Lifestyle, Parenting

The Best Father-Child Bonding Activities

08/17/2020 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Forming a good relationship with their father is so important for children, but unfortunately, many dads don’t spend enough alone time with their kids when they are young. If you are a dad, it’s vital that you spend time alone with your kids, but many new parents don’t know what kind of activities they should do with their children. If you feel the same, take a look at this list of great activities for father-child bonding.

Fishing

Fishing is a very common bonding activity for fathers and sons, but there is no reason why daughters can’t get involved as well. Fishing is such a great activity to do with kids for a number of reasons. Firstly, it gives you a chance to get out into nature, which is great for their health as well as yours. There are a lot of great learning opportunities too because you can teach them all of the different fishing knots and how to bait their hook etc. Fishing is also a brilliant way to teach your child about patience because it involves a lot of waiting around before there is any payoff, and in some cases, you might not catch anything at all. Regular fishing trips will teach your child the value of hard work and patience. It’s a great bonding activity because there is plenty of time for talking and learning more about one another while you are waiting for the fish to bite.

Coaching Sports

Joining a sports team is very beneficial for children because it gets them active and teaches them valuable skills, like teamwork. If you want to turn this into another opportunity for bonding, coaching their sports team is a great idea. You get to spend some quality time with them and show them that you are invested in their hobbies. You also teach them some valuable lessons about leadership and fairness at the same time, so it’s the perfect activity to do together.

Celebrating Traditions

Traditions are an important part of family life and even though it’s good to start new traditions with your old kids, you should celebrate some of the old ones that you had with your own parents. You can also visit https://www.genealogybank.com/explore/census/all with your kids to learn about your ancestors and any traditions they had. Maybe it’s a father-son breakfast on a Saturday morning or a family game night. Whatever the traditions are, it’s a great way to involve your child in your family history and bond with them at the same time.

Let The Kids Decide

If you are stuck for ideas, you should just let the kids decide. It’s important for your child to develop their own hobbies and interests so why not ask them what they would like to do and then get involved. It shows that you support them and you are taking an interest and it will make the bonding time feel more natural. Even if the activities are completely alien to you, your child will still appreciate you giving it a go.

Father-child bonding is so important but many dads are unsure what activities they should do with their kids. These are all great options and if all else fails, ask your child what they want to do together.

Life, Lifestyle, Parenting, Tips

How to Become a Financially Savvy Parent

08/13/2020 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Being a parent is a full time job in itself, and can also bring about other expenses that you once never had to think about. As a parent, it’s important to develop financial savvy habits as soon as possible. That way when you’re raising your child and learning how to manage your money, tasks will become simpler overtime, and only involve minor tweaks to your budget here and there..

The following tips can help you and your family stay on the right path to being financially healthy and responsible:

Know Your Cost Of Living

An initial adjustment that you may need to make to ensure your handling your finances correctly, is gaining information about your cost of living. This includes the expenses for your needs, such as keeping a roof over your head, clothes on your back, food in the cupboards and the lights on. In an average household these costs usually add up to 50% of your monthly income. If you find that you are spending far over the 50% mark on housing and other basic expenses, it may be time to look at what you can do to help cut down costs.

Luckily, there are plenty of options to do so. This task can be as small as limiting your utility usage to save on bills, while others can be as extreme as downsizing your home. Whichever route you take should be determined by your lifestyle and financial situation. Once you have gotten your cost of living to be centralized to around 50% of your monthly income the next step is to know what to do with the remaining money.

Create Your Spending Strategy

A spending strategy keeps your finances organized and allows you to spend money on certain things for fun, while also saving for those “just in case” moments. As a parent, it is important to follow this initiative, so you can maintain a successful budget, while also splurging on entertainment and family fun for creating memories with your children.

One of the easiest ways to ensure that you don’t overspend on non-essential items each month is by taking the residual income that is left from covering your monthly living costs and dividing it in half. Half of this income can be spent on doing fun things with your family, while the other half should be allocated towards financial goals you want to follow.

Craft a Savings Plan

Developing a savings plan is just as vital as organizing your spending strategy. This is essential in making sure you are not over spending on living costs and non-essential purchases. Creating the perfect savings plan isn’t always a simple process, but if you plan accordingly and complete the groundwork that is associated with your budget, your family can have more success moving forward into determining how much you want to save throughout the year.

To start, finalize a list of family-related expenses with a financial goal that you want to accomplish and determine an average for how much money each of those will cost. After concluding the costs for those total amounts, take the remaining money from your spending strategy and allocate 20% of that toward your savings and the remaining 70% towards the other financial goals you have. These goals may be saving for your child’s future education, paying off debts or even just paying bills on time. Having a set saving plan for each spending category makes this step easier to complete, which is to open a separate savings account only for family costs and that don’t include your personal ones. In doing so, seek options that are easy to use, mobile compatible for on the go organization and that have no hidden fees associated with account maintenance or overdraft. This will allow you to build up your savings without the fear of losing money due to these unnecessary monthly fees.

Share Your Plans With Your Family

To make sure you’re in good financial health, ensure that your spouse and children are on the same page with your spending and saving strategies. Having the communication surrounding your financial situation will help make this process go smoothly. As this could be a tough conversation, never avoid financial discussions with your partner. This will give you a clear understanding of your financial goals and how they will equate to more success in the future. Coming to an agreement on money matters will make both parties feel equally involved with decision making, and strengthen your role as parents.

As your child becomes older, take time to start teaching your children about the importance of money management. Your kids may have purchases they want to make as well, such as toys and games, so discussing this with them will help them understand when they can and cannot have these things bought for them. While it may be frustrating for them to be told no at first, it teaches great finance skills and also allows them to start learning to save for things on their own.

Being a parent can be stressful, especially when it comes down to your family finances. Becoming financially savvy as a parent will not only help you in the short term but can also help instill good financial habits in your children in the long run.