Tag Archives: guest post

Going Healthy, Guest Post, Parenting

6 Fun Ways to Get Healthy as a Family

2 Comments

Today’s post is from a guest who shares the same passion with anyone who wants to get healthy and stay healthy for life. I’m one of those people, and I’m happy to have Jennifer McGregor share her well-written post on getting healthy as a family.

Whether a family or just one person, Jennifer offers solid advice for all. Enjoy the read and hopefully we’ll see another article from her on here again. Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing!

If you’ve tried to start practicing healthier habits in the past, you may have realized that it’s hard to eat clean when your kids refuse to consume anything other than pizza and chicken nuggets (or ice cream and chocolate, of course), and it’s challenging to get regular exercise when you’re barely home for five minutes in between rushing to meetings, practices, and play dates. Good news: Getting healthy is much easier when done as a family. Here’s how to get healthy as a family and have fun while you’re doing it.

Create a Family Scoreboard or Goals Chart

Kids love games, but gamifying your health journey can be just as fun for adults. With a bright, colorful family scoreboard and a points system for rewarding various activities (such as choosing a healthy snack over chips or cookies) and reaching goals, your family’s new
healthy lifestyle can become a fun competition. If your children have specific health goals, such as brushing their teeth three times each day or reducing TV time, these goal-oriented printables can make any healthy change fun.Jennifer McGregor_Get Healthy as Family_Stock Photo

Plan Fun Fitness Games to Keep Your Family Active

Getting more physically active doesn’t have to mean regimented, choreographed exercise routines. Swimming is a great option for all children, but it is especially great if your child has ADHD. Regardless of the season, there are great options for diving in. Plan a surprise trip to the indoor pool at your local recreation center in the fall or winter, or book a night at a local hotel to take advantage of the indoor pool for the evening. Plan an outing to a local river or lake for some swimming fun in the summer. Exercise isn’t always a miserable sweat session.

The idea of a daily family trip to the gym might not be appealing, but how about a game of balloon volleyball in the living room? You can also use fun fitness games to get your kids – and your spouse – off the couch. Plan these activities ahead and your whole family will have something to look forward to.

Get Everyone Involved in Meal Planning

One reason kids tend to resist healthy diet changes is because they feel as though the choice is being forced upon them. Take your kids to the store or the farmer’s market and let them choose some of their own fruits and vegetables. Then, let them participate in preparing meals. Make it a contest to see who can come up with the best (or worst) recipe. They might think of some scary combinations, but they’re more likely to try new things when they have a sense of ownership. Plus, you’ll get to spend quality time in the kitchen – mess or no mess, it’s sure to be a fun time.

Adopt a Dog

Did you know that dogs have been proven to reduce stress, heighten mood, and even improve cardiovascular health? A fun-loving canine can be the perfect motivation to get your family on their feet! The best part is, you can exercise her together and it won’t even feel like work. A spirited game of fetch, an evening walk around the block, or even a family hike are all great workouts that everyone can look forward to. Plus, your kids are a lot more likely to stay active with a constant play companion at their disposal!

Run a Household Chores Race

A healthy lifestyle isn’t just about exercising and eating right. Your environment plays a role in your health and well-being, too. If your living room is cluttered and your kitchen a mess, everyone is likely to be more stressed. Stressed family members lead to arguments, and it becomes a vicious cycle of endless bickering that ultimately helps no one.

Not to mention, a home that’s not clean is a home that is more likely to harbor germs, bacteria, and dust that can make your family sick. Do your family a favor and get everyone involved in keeping the house clean and tidy. Divvy up chores and offer a prize to the family member who finishes the race by getting their chores done first.

Conversation Starters and Feel-Good Jars Boost Emotional Health

It’s important to have dinner together as a family, but what makes that time so important is that it provides together-time for discussing your day and supporting each other. When a family member has a tough day at work, dinner time is often when the day’s hassles are discussed. Likewise, achievements at school or work are proudly boasted at the dinner table.

Make this special family time even more fun with conversation starters or feel-good jars – jars filled with slips of paper with vague statements that you must build a conversation around or a jar that each family member helps to fill by writing something positive about another family member each day. Use the time to invent silly stories or help a child or spouse cope with an especially difficult day. All of these discussions contribute to your family’s emotional health in a positive way.

Getting healthy can be a tough journey all alone. But getting healthy with your whole family can be tons of fun when you embrace the joys of family and togetherness and get everyone in your home on board with your journey to health. By making healthy habits fun and exciting, you’ll turn getting healthy into an enjoyable adventure.

Jennifer McGregor has wanted to be a doctor since she was little. Now, as a pre-med student, she’s well on her way to achieving that dream. She helped create PublicHealthLibrary.org with a friend as part of a class project. With it, she hopes to provide access to trustworthy health and medical resources. When Jennifer isn’t working on the site, you can usually find her hitting the books in the campus library or spending some downtime with her dog at the local park.

(Photo from Pixabay by Rudy Anderson)

Going Green, Guest Post

Going Green: Going Mom’s DIY Cloth Wipe Solution

2 Comments

Hey, it’s Earth Day! While I don’t think we should have only one day set aside for such an important aspect to everyone on this planet, hopefully it helps get it in our heads to treat our Earth right! Just like our bodies, the better you treat (i.e. nourish) it, the better we all feel.

My wonderful and beautiful wife, Going Mom (Kelley), agrees, and today I’m proud to hand the reigns over to her fora guest post on the cloth wipe solution she’s been making since Avery was born. We do our best to reduce our impact on the Earth, and Going Mom is going to share with you her easy DIY cloth wipe solution recipe.

We’ve been using her solution for a couple years now with no issue. It’s easy, highly customizable, and way more cost effective, so why wouldn’t you do this for your baby/toddler? Without further ado, I’ll hand the floor over to Going Mom.

————————————————————————————

 

Earth Day, DIY Cloth Wipe Spray, natural parenting, green living

Hi there! Going Dad has asked me write a post on Going Green and I happily agreed.

We weren’t always the most earth friendly people but over time we made small changes to lessen our impact on the earth and keep harmful chemicals out of our home. We are constantly learning about ways to improve and most recently have switched to using cloth wipes with our own homemade solution.

What? You stopped by the blog today only to see cute baby pictures of Avery? Well here- maybe this will help.

DSC_0703

We always knew we would use cloth diapers because of the obvious benefits but didn’t really think much about cloth wipes. I mean, how bad can the store bought ones be? They’re just wipes! Well, like everything else in this world, the package can be deceiving.

I had purchased some flannel wipes when I was building my cloth diaper stash thinking I would use them eventually. But then Babyganics wipes went on sale at Babies R Us for $10 a case. So we bought two cases- big mistake. A product named Babyganics must be good and wholesome, right? Wrong!

We couldn’t keep Avery diaper rash free for more than a day. After further research I found that Babyganics are the least chemical free “organic” brand out there. Sure, they have a few less chemicals than some of the bigger brands, but that’s where the baby safeness ends.

So, enter the flannel wipes. I had been looking into solution for a while and decided to finally make some. I perused a few different blogs to get recipe ideas. There are a lot of recipes out there that include essential oils and even tea bags (seriously, way too complicated for a working mom). I decided to try out the basic recipe first and then adjust from there.

Here is the recipe I followed, found on the Zany Zebra blog. http://www.zany-zebra.com/cloth-wipe-solution.shtml

I didn’t want to make that much in the beginning since I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. So I only made a quarter of this. I also added a few drops of lavender oil (only pure essential oil). I love the smell of lavender and I think the solution turned out great. I found after using it a few times that it was soapier than I liked and it left a residue on her bum, so I added another cup and a half of water to further dilute it. This is much better! I still get all the goodness without the soapy feeling.

There are several ways you can use the solution, but we find it’s easiest to keep it in a spray bottle and squirt her little bum (carefully so it doesn’t get into her eyes) and then wipe with the flannel cloth. I didn’t want to have to deal with a musty wipe container so this method works best for us.

It’s been almost two weeks and her rash is gone. Why didn’t I do this sooner?

Like I said earlier, we are always looking for ways to improve. RC takes care of the healthy food research and I focus more on the cleaning and skin products. There are so many products that I still use that aren’t up to par with my (new) standards. I can’t stand to waste the product I have left so I will slowly switch to better products as I finish my old stuff. 

We have been so focused on making sure Avery gets the best but never really looked into the things we use. Just this week I have been doing lots of research on the harmful chemicals in cosmetic products. It reminds me so much of the food world- products that are packaged with labels to make it seem “all natural” and good for you, when in fact it’s crap. Well, more to come on that subject later.

Anyways, if you are considering cloth diapers and wipes- don’t make the same mistake I did. Do both! It’s way better to know exactly what is going on your babies precious skin than to chance it with “natural” products. Don’t be a fool to labeling!

Thanks for reading!

Guest Post, Promo

Aer Industries: The Largest Selection of Wholesale Air Movers

Leave a comment

Where to Purchase Wholesale Air Movers

AER_AIR MOVERS 1-1024x420

Air movers are great for several types of businesses. They keep workshops and factories cool and free of debris. They can also be used to blow harmful fumes out of work areas. They are very effective at drying rooms during water damage restoration. No matter what you need it for, there are several places you can go in order to purchase one.

Hardware Stores

During water damage restoration, you don’t have the time to wait for an air blower and other necessary equipment to be shipped to your home. Every moment that water sits in your home, your risk of severe damage increases. For this reason, hardware stores are very convenient to get what you need. Most will carry at least a few different types of air movers and dehumidifiers that will allow you to dry out waterlogged rooms. Another advantage to purchasing at a hardware store is that you can see the different models up close. However, hardware stores may only have a limited selection and employees may have only a limited knowledge of the available products.

Department Stores

Most major department stores have some kind of home improvement or hardware section. You can find air blowers and dehumidifiers here as well. Like hardware stores, they are rather convenient if you need something quickly and you will be able to personally view the different models. However, also like hardware stores, your selection is limited, possibly even more so, and the knowledge of staff members is most likely very limited.

Online

For the largest selection of commercial dehumidifiers, look on line. You can find them available on a myriad of different websites, but for the best quality, look for websites that specialize in water damage restoration, like Aer Industries. With Aer Industries not only are you able to choose from a wide variety of commercial air movers, dehumidifiers and air scrubbers, you can be assured that you will be receiving the highest quality equipment. The members of the Aer Industries team are highly knowledgeable of all of their products and can help you find exactly what you need. If you need assistance with parts or technical support, they can immediately connect you with a qualified individual. They also offer great deals on shipping and wholesale ordering that most other places may not.

Aer Industries Wholesale Air Movers

If you need an air mover, there are several places you can look. Hardware and department stores are convenient if you are need something fast, but your selection is often limited. Websites that specialize in water damage restoration, such as Aer Industries, offer you a much larger selection and is staffed with highly qualified individuals who are very knowledgeable of their products. You can rest easy knowing that you are getting the best equipment and should you need help, there is always someone available.