Garden Games To Play With Your Kids

05/04/2020 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

With the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, families with children have been looking for more and more ideas of things to do with them outdoors. If you’re lucky to have an outdoor space, then it really can be a blessing, and be transformed into a playground, to create lots of fun for the kids. Garden games are not only just for kids, though. All members of the family can get involved, and throughout all times of the year, not just during this lockdown period. Here are a list of things that you could try out:

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Water Balloon Dodgeball – this can be a lot of fun, and is perfect for a warm summer day. All you need is water balloons, filled with water. If you can get two colors, and two teams, then you just play a normal round of dodgeball, but you’ll get wet if you get hit! You could introduce no firing zones and other rules; whatever will suit your family.

Cornhole: this is a fun game for the family to play, that can improve accuracy and throwing skills. A homage to a classic fairground game, you could even play for cotton candy! You can make your own cornhole game with cardboard and beanbags, or you could look at a site like Cornhole Worldwide to get things of your own. It works well for children of a variety of ages, and is the kind of game that will grow with them.

Natural Art: this is all about collecting a variety of things that you can find in your yard, such as leaves, grass, sticks, and flowers. Then you can use what has been collected to make small things like nests and bug hotels. Of course, you could use some things like crayons, string, and tape that you already have, to help their works of art to last longer.

Cup Races: for this game, you will need some empty cups, string, and something to make a hole with (like scissors). Water guns are also a must, but water balloons could work well too. What you need to do is to build some parallel tracks using the string. Then make a hole in the empty cup, and thread the cup onto the string. Then you have to make the cup move by using the water gun (or popping the balloons). The cup that gets to the end the fastest wins. If you’ve got some competitive kids with lots of energy, this can be a great idea.

Tug Of War: all that you need for tug of war is some players and rope. Make two teams that are fairly equal, and put a marker or flag in the middle of the rope. Once all players are ready to go and have the rope ready, the games can begin. Once a team succeeds at pulling across most of the other team, the rope will slide towards them, and then they will win the game. This can be fun for big kids and teens especially.

Going Healthy, Parenting

How To Help Your Aging Parents Stay Socially Active

05/01/2020 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

As you get older, you will notice that your parent’s age really starts to show and they may struggle with a lot of simple things that they used to take for granted. It’s important that you’re there for them and you help them to maintain their independence for as long as possible. There are a lot of things that you can do to help your aging parents, but one of the most important things to consider is their social life.

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Even with Home Care Assistance, helping your parents to stay socially active is so important because it slows cognitive decline and prevents loneliness. With the simple tips on this list, you can make sure that they have an active social life.

Learn To Communicate With Them

Older people that are experiencing problems with their hearing often struggle to communicate. This means that, even when you are spending time with them, they may not engage socially that much. That’s why it is important that you learn how to communicate with them properly in a way that they can understand, so you can engage them in conversation. These hearing loss communication tips will help you to make yourself understood, and understand your parents better. If they are not already using them, you need to make sure that they are fitted with hearing aids as well. By improving communication, you will find it a lot easier to help your parents stay socially active.

Find Senior Exercise Programs

Exercise is so important for older people as well, so you should look for some senior exercise programs in the area. It’s a great way to make sure that their physical health is taken care of, and it’s a brilliant place to meet people as well. Attending one of these senior exercise programs will give them a regular opportunity to socialize and they can meet other elderly people that they can spend time with outside the exercise classes as well. One of the key factors that you must take care of when taking your elderly to a senior exercise program is their catheter supplies. In old age, it is common to lose control of bladder motion, while there could be other reasons for it as well. One of the many solutions to this problem are catheter supplies from Byram Healthcare that are readily available at home. You can also consult with the experts for more information on their urology and catheter programs.

Engage Their Hobbies

If your parents have hobbies, you should see whether there are any local clubs that they could get involved with. Things like book clubs, for example, are a great place to meet like minded people and exercise their brains at the same time. There are groups and clubs for so many different hobbies these days, and you can easily find them online, so make sure to engage your parent’s hobbies and use them as an opportunity for socializing.

In some cases, they may not be able to do their hobbies in the same way that they used to. However, you should try to think of ways to adapt those activities so they can still get involved in them.

Offer Them Lifts

Often, elderly people are isolated because they do not have access to the right transport. They are unable to drive themselves, and they may not feel confident enough to take public transport if their mobility is not good. That’s why you should offer them a lift whenever they need it. Let them know that if they want to visit friends then you are always willing to drive them over there or take them both out somewhere else, like the park or a coffee shop.

Get Them Online

While there are a lot of negatives to things like social media, it is also a good way to bring people together. If you can teach your parents about technology and get them online, it helps them to stay socially active. You can set up family group chats so they can always message you and you can send them pictures. It’s a good idea to teach them how to video chat as well because, even if you can’t see them in person, it’s a good way for them to catch up with you. If they are able to use social media and search online, they will find it a lot easier to find local groups and activities that they can get involved with.

Teaching your parents to get online might be tough, but there are often local computer courses for elderly people. Attending these classes is yet another great opportunity for socializing, and it will help them get to grips with new technology that helps them to stay connected.

Helping your parents to stay socially active is so important because it slows cognitive decline and prevents loneliness. With the simple tips on this list, you can make sure that they have an active social life.

Going Healthy, Health, Life

Tips On Improving Your Health As You Get Older

04/30/2020 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

When it comes to your health, it doesn’t get any better as you age. It’s important that you are doing all you can to help improve your health so that you can simply say that age is a number. In order to feel good in yourself and to feel young, there are certainly some things that you can do to help yourself. Here are some tips on improving your health as you get older.

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Live An Active Life

When it comes to living your life, it’s important to keep yourself active. That’s something that gets harder as you get older because you have commitments, other responsibilities and such that can distract you or allow you to put aside exercise from your daily life. However, it is important that you’re doing things that keep you moving and that most importantly, keep the blood pumping around your body. When it comes to living actively, try to incorporate some fitness where you can. It could be a quick run after work, around your local area at home or going to the gym to do a fitness class. It’s all about finding something you love, which ends up giving you the motivation you need in order to do the exercise needed. Don’t allow yourself to become lazy because it makes it even harder for you then to get fit. By living actively, you will likely keep your body in better shape because of it.

Protect Your Ears

Your ears are an important part of your body, and it’s one area that you don’t appreciate enough until you start to lose it. Having hearing loss can be debilitating to your lifestyle, and it can often be hard to hear properly without hearing aids. With that being said, it’s definitely worth you looking at how to take precautions when it comes to your ears. Try to avoid using cotton swabs when cleaning out your ears as this can end up pushing any wax further down the ear canal and towards your eardrum. Keep your ears covered when working in a loud environment or when you’re attending a concert or event with extremely loud noise. You can also be cautious of how loud you have your music playing or how loud your television volume is.

Focus On Moderation In Your Diet

Diet is an important part of your health because it can certainly impact the way you feel in your body. We all need food as fuel and energy for our body, but the wrong type of food can certainly hinder our efforts to feel fit and healthy. Try to think about moderation and the type of food you are consuming on a daily basis. Look at your plates and see whether there needs to be any change in what you’re eating or the types of food you are eating. Snacking is a big contribution to over-eating so it’s essential you do what you can to make those snacks as healthy as possible.

Get Plenty Of Sleep

Plenty of sleep is the golden rule to keeping yourself healthy, and it can also help to improve the way your body feels every time you wake up in the morning. If you’re not getting the best sleep at night or you’re severely lacking in hours that you’ve slept, it’s going to take its toll on your body, and that’s something you don’t want to happen as you get older. Try to encourage your body to get as much sleep as possible when you can and make the changes to make your sleeping environment more comfortable. Using blackout blinds or curtains to darken the room and think about upgrading to a Nolah mattress for cool sleeping to maintain the right body temperature while sleeping.

Get Regular Checkups

You do need to make sure that you are getting regular checkups with a doctor and exploring symptoms that you are unsure of. For instance, you might be having problems with joint pain. This can be one of the signs of Lupus. The good news is that there are various ways to treat this condition these days including with a regular Lupus injection. As such, it shouldn’t be a cause for panic.

Reduce Stress Levels

Stress can be brought on in a number of ways, and there is only a negative effect that stress can have on the body. Try to reduce this where you can by pinpointing where this stress comes from and how you can tackle it. If it’s work, speak to your superiors on how you can help tackle those areas of stress in your working day. If it’s within the home environment, figure out ways to combat it and ease it where you can.

Don’t ignore your dental health

Your teeth and gums are very important and poor dental care can lead to a number of problems. If teeth aren’t thoroughly cleaned and checked regularly you could run the risk of infection, inflammation, and painful toothache. Your dental health can deteriorate as you get older and ignoring it could also affect your Oral Systemic Health. This means poor oral health can increase your risk of infection and disease in the rest of your body. Ensure you regularly visit a dentist and follow their recommended oral hygiene routine.

Improving your health is always good to do, no matter what age you are. Use these tips to help give yourself the best chance at a long and healthy life. Reduce stress levels, get plenty of sleep where you can and eat healthily.