Fourth of July Driving Advisory
by Susan Dunn

Folks, the evidence is pouring in and piling up, like cars approaching a cloverleaf intersection in a metropolitan area. The latest research shows that driving while using your cell phone is more dangerous than drunk driving.

I’ve written about this before, and reported some of the research that the insurance companies are actuaries are started to compile. In fact the evidence is so incontrovertible, your cell phone records may be the first thing subpoenaed if you are involved in a driving accident. They can be subpoenaed and they can be retrieved, just like other forms of electronic evidence.

Using the cell phone messes up your brain, whether you’re talking, listening, dialing, or taking a call. It interferes with thinking, with motor reflexes, with the use of your hands, your reaction time, and the things you need to be doing while you’re driving.

If the misuse of the privilege continues, there will surely be legislation, so it may become a mute point.

There are many reasons to put the thing down this holiday weekend. It is unlikely you will be traveling alone, and time your spend on the cell phone is time away from the loved ones with you you are attempting to have a vacation with, to spend time with.

If you’re taking calls from work, where’s the vacation? It’s poor time and priority management to chase rabbits. Batch your calls yourself; take and return them on road breaks when you stop. If you must take a phone call, pull off to the side of the road until you have completed the call.

Think of the example you are setting for your children. I watched a mother and son the other day at McDonalds. From what I overheard, it was the boy’s “treat” and his mother had picked him up from school; however, instead of spending time with him and talking with him, she spent at least half her time on the cell phone arguing with a repairman, making weekend plans with her mother, and discussing her sister’s divorce with her sister. It wouldn’t be my idea of quality time spend with Mom. Would it be yours?

You could listen to learning tapes instead, or music and feel better when you arrive.

Cell phones are great for business during normal business hours on land, and great for emergencies, but it appears in that respect they are the sword and the shield. Their possible use in emergencies may be overshadowed by their proven ability to cause emergencies.

Give us all a break this holiday weekend, and disable your cell phone while you’re driving. It’s the right thing to do.

Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc , mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc. Coaching, Internet courses and ebooks around emotional intelligence for your personal and professional success. Coach Certification Program - fast, affordable, no-residency, training coaches worldwide. Email for free ezine.

Susan Dunn may be contacted at http://www.susandunn.cc or sdunn@susandunn.cc

 

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Flag Flying 101
by Kimberly Lainson

FLAG FLYING 101
A quick overview of rules for
displaying the USA flag properly

Which Way to Display
The flag can be displayed vertically or horizontally as long as the stars are on 'your' left side as you look at it.

Display Times
In the past, tradition indicated that flags should only be displayed after sunrise and taken down before sunset. In recent years, however, flags are flown at night around the country in respect for the men and women that protect our country... the rule is that a light must shine on the flag as long as it is in darkness.

Flag Poles
When raising the flag on a flag pole, it should be run up quickly. When lowering the flag, it should descend the flag pole slowly.

Handling
The flag must never touch the ground and tradition has it that a flag must be destroyed (with respect) if it falls, drops or touches the ground.

Retirement
When it is time to retire the flag, burning is the tradition; however, I strongly suggest bringing the flag to a local Veterans organization so that they may retire the flag in ceremony and with dignity.

There are written and unwritten rules...

This is just my view.

Treat your flag with respect, dignity and love for it represents the glory of the United States, its founders and all of its past and present citizens!

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Mary Ann & Kimberly are a mother and daughter team dedicated to providing a treasure trove of free kids birthday party, baby shower, cake decorating, baby and bridal shower and holiday party ideas to help parents and grandparents create lasting celebration memories. They also have all the party and cake decorating supplies you need to make your celebrations stand out. They are here to help and want to make www.thePartyWorks.com your celebration destination!

Kimberly Lainson may be contacted at http://www.thepartyworks.com or kimberly@thepartyworks.com

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Be Prepared for Disasters
by: Joyce Moseley Pierce

Disasters are like accidents. They can happen any time, anywhere. You don't often have much time to respond. In the event of a hurricane, the authorities will tell you to evacuate, but if you have to leave your home in a hurry, what will you do? Where will you go?

If you're thinking that this doesn't apply to you, think again. A disaster can be anything from an
earthquake, flood, tornado, or even an tanker spill on the freeway. Any of these things may cause you to lose your gas, water, electricity or ability to communicate with others.

In 2000, we had flooding in Houston. I ventured across town to attend a friend's wedding, confident that if I got into trouble I could use my cell phone. What  I didn't realize, until much later, was that the storm had knocked out all of the cell phone towers and there was no service.

Everyone should have an emergency kit. If there are five of you in the house, then you need five kits. Each kit should have the basics. Don't rely on dad to carry the bulk of the load. You never know when you might be separated from one another.

Here are a few things to think about:

1. Have a plan. If you were to have to evacuate, where would you go? You may not all be at home when you get word. Spend some time with your family  discussing where you would meet.

2. You may not have to actually leave your home. Maybe you just have loss of power. It's still important to have enough to survive. What will you eat? If you don't have power, how will you prepare it? Good idea to have food you can eat right out of the bag or can.

3. Remember that if you have lost power, it's likely that your entire area is out. Don't depend on the grocery stores to have enough to supply all of you. Be sure to always have water, food, first aid supplies, clothing and bedding, tools and emergency supplies in your home. Make sure you have the medication you need. Get in the habit of refilling things before you're completely out.

3. Anticipate having to leave your home. Prepare an emergency kit. Place the items you need in something that's easy to carry. You might use a backpack or duffle  bag. You might use a rolling carry-on suitcase for little children, but remember that you may not even have the option of rolling it. Better to have something you can carry.

4. Keep some cash at home. I save my change, and when I turn it in for dollars, I put that money in my emergency kit. This week, during the aftermath of Katrina, Wal-Mart is allowing those who have cash to buy off the shelf. With no electricity or phone lines, they can't process credit cards.

5. Store your kit in a convenient place that is known by all family members so you can grab it and run. Keep a smaller version of supplies in your car.

6. Remember to review your kit once a year. Update water, food, and batteries.

7. Keep your cars full of gas for emergency evacuations.

8. Consider scanning old photos to your computer and putting them on a disk. If you're faced with flooding, the original may be destroyed, but you've got a better chance of the disk surviving, and it will also take up less space. Better yet, use a program  that allows you to upload your photos to the internet. That way you can access them from any computer.

9. Have a change of clothes and put the items in Ziploc bags or seal them with a Food Saver. I
have a pair of knit workout pants, a clean shirt, socks, and a change of underwear in my kit.

10. Include scriptures, paper and pen. Put them in bags to keep them dry (Ziploc or Food Saver)

11. Be sure to have a first aid kit with the basics.

12. Carry three bottles of water. One for each day.

13. Include MREs (meal replacement bars) or packable food. Think about what you'd take if you were going hiking. Include foods for energy. You're going to need it.

14. Include toiletries. Tooth brush, tooth paste,soap, toilet paper.

15. Small radio with batteries. Check often to make sure batteries are still good. It will be important to know what's going on if you have no way of communicating with others.

16. Flashlight. There are some available that you can wind up and use. No batteries needed.

If you've got a lot of money you can buy a pre-packaged emergency kit, but I prefer to pack my
own and put those things that I know I will use.  This kit works on the same principle as insurance. You hope you never need it, but just in case you do, you have it.

Make it a fun family night project. Talk to the family about the importance of putting the kits together, and set a budget, if necessary, for purchasing the things you need. Add a few things each time you go to the grocery store, and in no time you'll have your kit ready to go!

Copyright 2005 by Joyce Moseley Pierce. Visit www.emersonpublications.com to read more of Joyce's stories, to subscribe to the Family First newsletter, or to request information about working at home. This site is dedicated to helping others create family unity.

Joyce Moseley Pierce may be contacted at http://www.emersonpublications.com or joyce@emersonpublications.com

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It's Hurricane Season once again.  Do memories of watching the Hurricane Katrina disaster make you want to be prepared for natural disasters this year?  Emerson Publications has a new eBook to help you not only record information but preserve documents, photos, and other important papers that you'll need if you have to evacuate.    Be Prepared  and feel secure that your valuables will be protected without having to carry photo albums and other important paperwork with you.

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Family Down Time
by:  Mark Brandenburg, MA, CPCC


There is an old zen koan that says, “don’t just do something, sit there.” It has wonderful
application to family life today. We’ve created the most overscheduled and busiest society in
history. Our kids are moving from one activity to another, and they seem to have more schoolwork,
more choices, and more pressure than they ever have before.

My work with kids in the last decade has shown me a snapshot of the life of many of today’s kids:  Being involved in a number of different activities outside of school, a huge increase in the intensity of many of these activities, having many hours of homework each night, and getting far less sleep than they should for someone their age.

While having a busier life with more responsibility isn’t always harmful for kids, what is harmful is the lack of “down time” that kids have. Kids need to recharge their batteries just as adults do. In fact, they need to do it more. And when stress builds up in kids and they aren’t  allowed to “do nothing” with enough regularity, problems start to occur.

Effective parents take a long look at their kids’ lives and see what the big picture is. Kids may often take on too much in their lives if you let them. It may be because their friends are doing it, or because they enjoy a number of different activities in their life.

But it may not be serving them well, and this is where parents need to step in and limit the busyness
in their kids' life. In cases where a child absolutely thrives on a busy schedule and is happy and healthy, this needs to be recognized as well.

More often the child wants to do more than is healthy for them.

How does a parent help their children have some “down time” in an incredibly busy world? Here are
some ideas:

• Show your kids from an early age that you know how to have down time yourself. Lounge around the house at times, or have a regular “kick back and relax” time at your house when your kids are young.

• Explain the benefits of down time to your kids and let them know that it’s a very important part
of having a healthy life.

• Take a good, hard look at your child’s schedule and make sure that it will be manageable. Make sure that a difficult school schedule doesn’t happen at the same time you decide to put your child in three new after-school activities. Review the schedule of teams: how much travel is there, how many practices a week, what else is involved in being on the team?

• Make family time sacred and make it a big part of your “down time.” A family dinner is a wonderful time for the family to relax, recharge, and reconnect. Unplug the phone if you have to, and try not to compromise in having the whole family present.

• Don’t criticize your kids for hanging around and “doing nothing.” If they do nothing consistently,
a discussion is warranted, but in most cases, kids are just doing what they need to do.

• Try to avoid having TV as the source of much of your down time. TV doesn’t recharge a child’s
batteries as well as things like reading or drawing. When kids watch a lot of TV, they’ll become more
restless and less active at the same time. Encourage activities at home that will keep them engaged but away from the TV.

Providing “down time” is one of the best things parents can do for their kids. Teach your kids that most of their best ideas will come to them during “down time.” Teach them that being busy all the time takes a big toll on your enjoyment and your health. And know that you’ll be more successful at providing it if you educate them about it early in their lives.

Do your kids a favor by “living” down time and teaching it. Remember that there are times when it helps all of us to “just sit there.”

Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC, coaches men to be better fathers and husbands. He is the author of “25 Secrets of Emotionally Intelligent Fathers” http://www.markbrandenburg.com/father.htm

Sign up for his FREE bi-weekly newsletter, “Dads, Don’t Fix Your Kids,” at http://www.markbrandenburg.com

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