How can I make mornings go more smoothly?

1 Follow the same consistent routine each day so your children know what to expect.
2 Get up before your kids do to exercise or have a quiet cup of coffee.
3 Get showered and dressed before your kids wake up.
4 Set out your kids' clothes the night before so there's no arguing about what to wear.
5 Pack your children's lunches and backpacks the night before.
6 Let children do as much as they can by themselves -- get dressed, brush their hair or pour themselves cereal. This can help them feel independent while also freeing you up to do other things.
7 Keep breakfast simple and portable.

"One of the most common obstacles many home-based working moms face is trying to start or run a new business on a limited budget. The first few years of a business are usually the hardest financially. Some moms leave full-time careers and substantial salaries to start a new business. Others start a home business as stay at home moms wanting additional income to support their family. I suggest finding a part time Internet business that can create an immediate income.

"Global Mentors International, a global training and mentoring company, is releasing a new, totally training system, GMI World Wide , in the beginning of January 2007.Global Mentors International Training System is much more than just a web site. The content of the Global Mentors International training system is crucial to any home business owner.

The logic is very simple; when starting a home business, the first business you should invest in is a business that takes care of the cash flow. Enter Jaguar Marketing System can do that. The ultimate goal of a home business, however, is to build residual income with multiple income streams. When the cash flow problem is solved, you can then focus on the residual income without worries of the immediate income. And that is what we teach in our course."

What kinds of resources should women look for from their employer?Lactation programs and spaces. Companies should be able to provide mothers with a comfortable place to nurse and can even keep breast pumps on hand. Women may need to push for these amenities, though. "A lot of big companies just have 'broom closets' and really no way to breast pump."Another option for working mothers is job sharing. This allows two women to share a single job, working two or three days each week and dividing the responsibilities. "We showed an example at GE, the way two women did it. ...

They actually have different strengths so they really balance each other out very well."What's the climate for working mothers nowadays?With the new options out there, "they really don't have to settle for lower level jobs." Women can decide to ramp up their careers for awhile, then they may step back for a couple years when their children are young and then ramp up again later. "More employers are recognizing if they

Busy Mornings On the mornings that I have to be to work very early, it is a challenge getting all the kids up, dressed, groomed etc. What I have done on those early morning occassions, is bath the kids the night before, and dress them in comfy sweat outfits that double as PJs and an outfit. Then in the morning I roll them out of bed, brush teeth and wash faces and since they are already dressed I am out the door!

Dinner tips for Working Moms Instead of coming home after work and jumping into the kitchen to prepare a meal, why not start a "crock pot" dinner BEFORE you leave for work. It will be done and ready to eat when you come in the door. As far as morning goes, it takes about 5 minutes to put in potatoes, carrots, onions, and chicken pieces - turn the crockpot on LOW and off you go. Worked for me and there are a zillion easy crockpot recipes. Good luck......spend quality time with your kids after working all day......

EASY DISPOSAL When having to clean the whole house quickly, get a small tub from the dollar store and place all your cleaning supplies, a roll of paper towels and a package of small trash bags (a package of large ones is a good idea, too) in the tub. This way while cleaning you have everything in arms reach. While cleaning, place everything that doesn't belong in that room in to the tub and redistribute the items as you go.

The Working Mom's Survival Network promotes pride in work while recognizing the many contributions of working moms beyond work: at home, in our schools, in churches, and in the community. We’re building a partnership of working moms to share resources and parenting information and to promote concepts of health, well being, and quality of family life.
MISSIONTo acknowledge the growing number of working moms in today’s complex economy who share a common need to provide personal growth, financial stability and economic self sufficiency for their families.

THINK ABOUT IT!!!Businesses and organizations have services and products to promote to working moms, whether it’s through concepts of health, safety, financial planning, education, fitness, fashion, or something for the kids. Whatever the appeal of the particular product or service line, businesses want to grab the attention of this rapidly growing, very busy segment of the population. Join the Working Moms and reap the benefits provided by a network of resources!

CHILDREN OF DIVORCE HAVE PROBLEMS: Statistics show that children of divorce have many more problems than those children who do not suffer the divorce trauma. Therefore, it seems that as a society we ought to be taking steps to reduce divorce and the effects of divorce, required steps such as: increased waiting periods for marriage, increased barriers to marriage, increased waiting periods for divorce, couple's mediation before divorce, couple's therapy before divorce, individual therapy for the parents before divorce, parenting classes on the effects of divorce, therapy for children of divorce, etc.
There are those who might like to make divorce nigh impossible, as it was earlier in this century. But I disagree. That led to much parental staying together that was more harmful to many of those children than divorce would have been.

eat well and stay fit until summer

8 Ways to Eat Well and Stay Fit Until Summer

The average person packs on one to five pounds each winter, according to some studies—and usually doesn't take it off when the mercury rises. With soaring rates of obesity among American kids and adults, eating well and exercising through the cooler months—when fresh ingredients and activity opportunities may be limited—are more important than ever. But fear not! You can serve your family's favorite comfort foods without making anyone fat, and you can all get exercise without booking hours at the gym. Here's how.

Look for whole grains, in pastas, breads, rice and so on. For the same amount of calories as their simple carb cousins, whole grains fill you up faster, pack a denser nutritional punch, and give you a longer, more even energy boost. If your kids won't swallow whole grains alone, try a mixture: half white pasta, half whole wheat; a high-fiber whole grain cereal mixed with a more sugary one; white rice mixed with brown or wild.
Use fat-free half-and-half rather than milk in casseroles like macaroni and cheese for a creamier consistency, fewer calories and no fat.
Opt for fat-free or low-fat cheese and sour cream in casseroles if you're going to eat them right away. (The cheese shrinks when refrigerated.)
Add jicama, chayote or apples to muffins, brownies, soups, salads and other foods for a Caribbean crunch.
When baking, use a fat-substitute (like Smucker's), replace the fat with equal amounts of applesauce or prune puree, or look for fat-free mixes (like No-Pudge brownies). Cut the fat further by replacing the eggs in the recipe with liquid egg substitute.
Think very hot and very cold when choosing snacks and drinks. They're harder to overconsume than room-temperature foods. Stock up on sugar-free cocoa or flavored coffee or tea, hot vegetable or chicken soup and frozen fruit pops or bananas.
Rethink the old advice to get at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. It's still true, but you don't have to do it all at once. New research finds that several five- or ten-minute blocks of vigorous activity per day work just as well to burn calories, lift mood and keep you and your family fit. Race your kids to the mailbox, take quick family walks, go sledding—any way to squeeze more action into your day.
Go outside every day, even if only for a few minutes. It will make you feel like exercising, and a few minutes of sunlight each day can improve mood, preventing you and your family from reaching for sugary foods. Plus, shivering burns calories.Source: Lisa Dorfman, RD, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

awesome news!!

Listen up, working moms: A new study shows that mixing work and motherhood may be good for your health. Researchers assessed women at age 26 and again at 54, checking health and body mass index (a measure of body fat based on height and weight). In addition, the women were asked roughly every ten years about their employment and relationship status and whether they had kids. The results: Working mothers in a steady relationship reported having fewer health problems and being in better shape than other women. "Our findings suggest that good health is more often the result of combining work and family roles," says lead study author Anne McMunn, PhD, MPH, a senior research fellow at University College London

Healthy family!

By: Laura Flynn McCarthy
The weather outside is still frightful, and, alas, your family's skin is vulnerable. If everyone seems to be itchy, have dandruff and/or suffer chapped lips and hands, try these ideas to get your family through winter's end with rosy cheeks and healthy skin all over.

Problem: Dry skin, winter itch, eczema

Why Now: Drier air inside and out during cold weather pulls moisture from your skin.

Best Solutions: Take only short baths or showers, using soap (choose a superfatted one like Dove, Oil of Olay or Basis) only where necessary and minimally on arms and legs. Pat skin dry and apply moisturizer while skin is damp. Look for cream and lotion ingredients that trap moisture in the skin, such as urea, and those that attract moisture to the skin, such as hyaluronic acid and lactic acid. If eczema runs in your family and worsens in winter, you may need prescription cortisone creams. Choose a mild laundry detergent (like Dreft or Ivory Snow) and use the smallest recommended amount. Avoid wool and other itchy fabrics. Use cool-mist humidifiers in your bedrooms.

Problem: Chapped, cracked hands and nails

Why Now: Drier air, use of harsh soaps and frequent paper handling strip moisture from skin and nails.

Best Solutions: To heal skin cracks and fissures, apply antibiotic ointment or 1 percent hydrocortisone cream and cover with a bandage. At night, massage a heavier hand cream or petroleum jelly into hands and nails and cover with lightweight cotton gloves for sleeping. Trim nails short in winter to minimize breakage. Moms and daughters, wear nail polish in winter months to seal in moisture; remove it no more than once a week with a nonacetone polish remover.

Problem: Chapped lips

Why Now: Dry air and cold winds.

Best Solutions: Avoid licking lips; salt in saliva dries them. Give your kids their favorite flavored lip balm and suggest they apply it whenever they're tempted to lick. Petroleum jelly (like Vaseline) also works well.

Problem: Dandruff (seborrheic dermatitis)—greasy flakes on the scalp and sometimes the eyebrows, ears and nose area

Why Now: Less sunlight (sunlight is thought to minimize this condition), drier air, increased growth of yeast on skin.

Best Solutions: Switch to a dandruff shampoo at least twice a week. Ingredients including tar, zinc pyrithione, selenium sulfide and the prescription ketaconazole all work well. Work the shampoo into the scalp and let it sit while you finish your bath or shower, then rinse. For nonscalp dandruff, apply 1 percent hydrocortisone cream to reduce inflammation.

Problem: Sunburn, windburn

Why Now: Time spent on ski slopes (high altitudes mean closer sun exposure and winds) or outside play.

Best Solutions: Apply a sunscreen with SPF 15 for everyday use and one with a higher SPF if you're hitting the slopes.

Problem: Frostbite, which causes skin to turn red, then white, and produces tingling and stinging in the skin

Why Now: Exposure to cold temperatures

Best Solutions: Keep circulation strong by moving arms and legs when outdoors. Wear layers of clothing. Get inside at the first sign of redness, tingling or stinging; warm the skin slowly, running the affected area under warm, water, not hot.

Source: D'anne Kleinsmith, MD, dermatologist, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oaks, MI

Whenever possible, buy non-stop tickets. Every transfer adds peril. And don't be fooled by the phrase "direct flight" — it only means a route on which you don't change planes, NOT a non-stop.
Never go first class. Never. First class is full of over-tired business people with $4,000 laptops and non-plastic glasses with red wine in them. Enough said?

Try to buy tickets for the least popular times and routes:
Saturday is usually a light travel day.
The last flight before a red-eye tends to fill up.
Try to go on new routes for established airlines — it takes a while for travel agents and businessmen to discover these routes.
If you buy a seat for your child, ask for the aisle and window seat on planes that have three-seat rows.

This will leave an empty seat between you; if you and the child have the same last name, most of the time ticket agents will keep that middle seat open for you as long as possible. On the rare occasion a businessman is inadvertently placed between you, he will generally be more than happy to move to another row, leaving you with that most precious of commodities — an extra seat.

Fly so that your child's normal naptime coincides with the middle of the flight. Try to avoid flights where naptimes overlap with boarding or de-planing — times which are too full of stimulation, tension and harsh intercom voices.
Consider, also, time changes and jet lag. Try to arrive at the destination an hour or two before bedtime in the new time zone. This gives everyone time to visit, eat and decompress, so that the over-tired child can then fall into bed and begin sleeping — that very first night — according to the new time zone. Another strategy (particularly good when going westbound) is to arrive a couple of hours past their usual bedtime. Again, this helps increase the chances that they will go to sleep and stay asleep until the new time zone's usual awakening hour.
Be upfront with your fellow seatmates.

I used to hold my wiggly pre-toddler above the surrounding rows as we boarded, and say loudly, "Your worst nightmare has just come true: a toddler is sitting near you." Right away, I learned what kind of seatmates I had: people who loved kids, people who wished there were child-free airlines, people who were clearly going to be a lot of help. Nowadays I lean over the row in front of us and say, "My 4-year old is sitting right behind you. He's an active boy but we try to be very well behaved on planes.

Please let me know if he does anything that bothers you." Again, everybody's on notice that you are a responsible parent in a difficult situation, and you find out, right away, who your friends are. Because you definitely need friends on long airplane flights. If there ever was a place where "It takes a village to mold a child," it's at 36,000 feet!

Stats on working moms

Working moms are happy:78% of working moms call themselves fulfilled
Most working mothers have NOT sidelined their ambitions:62% describe themselves as "very ambitious"
75% of working moms feel their bosses ARE supportive of their family needs
69% had asked for changes at work: among those, 74% got the changes they asked for (most of those requests were for more flexibility¦flextime, shorter or modified hours, etc.)Flextime and telecommuting are the two benefits that working moms most valueMore than 70% of mothers made changes in their work after having their child: the most common were shifting their hours or working from home (25% arranged to work from home)
About 28% of these working moms left the workforce for a period, but 58% were back to work within a year
About a third found it easier than they expected to find a new job after leaving the workforce: About a third found it harder

Moms are managing to squeeze a little time for themselves:27% exercise 1-2 times a week
31% exercise 3 or more times a week
98% of moms have some sort of hobby (if you include socializing)
46% spend 1-5 hours a month on their hobby; 27% spend 6; 19% spend more than 10 hours

Communities, schools, could offer more support:Most working mothers would like to volunteer at their school more, but 66% say their school's volunteer schedule makes it difficult for working mothers to pitch in48% of working mothers said they feel isolated from their community, but only 35% said they feel isolated at workDads could offer more support, too: 68% of fathers did NOT take any child-related leave at all, paid or unpaid. However, dads are definitely pitching in with childcare: While only 6% of dads are the primary childcare providers, 21% of moms say their husband is their top backup solution

A few interesting facts on childcare:

For moms whose kids are not in school:45% use a daycare center as their primary childcare solution
17% use a small family-home based daycare
12% use their own family
12% use nannies or babysitters
6% say their husband is their primary childcare solution

For moms whose kids are not in school, for their SECONDARY/BACKUP solution:
44% rely on relatives
21% on their husband
19% can work from home and watch their child
12% use a childcare center
10% use a nanny or babysitte

rFor moms whose kids are in school:
20% use an aftercare program at school
20% use an aftercare program through a childcare center
12% rely on their husbands
10% rely on a babysitter or nanny
7% say their kids watch themselves
7% arrive home from work before their child arrives home from school

Most children of working mothers spend an average of 23 hours a week in childcare:
37% spend fewer than 10 hours a week in childcare
27% spend 40 hours or more in childcareOn average, working mothers spent $700 a month on childcare
89% of working mothers are somewhat or very satisfied with their childcare solution

Making takout Helathier

Many families, especially numerous ones, like to order out a lot. But, as I recently learned, it is possible to make takeout healthier!

Make takeout lighter and leaner by adding quick things from home like a bag of prewashed salad greens or microwavable frozen or canned vegetables, suggests Linda Spangle, RN, a weight-loss coach in Broomfield, CO, and author of 100 Days of Weight Loss. Many restaurants serve up huge portions, so order one entree to split between two or three people. Another trick: Call in your order midafternoon instead of after work, when you're tired, stressed, starving and more likely to make unhealthy choices. Some other tips to keep in mind the next time you order from your favorite restaurant:

Chinese

Pick Steamed or stir-fried dishes cooked with little to no oil (many places will do this if you ask). Serve with a slotted spoon to drain sauce. Best bets: chicken, tofu or shrimp, steamed with the sauce on the side; hot-and-sour or wonton soup (often low-fat); fiber-rich steamed brown rice. Skip Deep-fried and/or sauce-coated items like egg rolls, General Tsao's chicken, sesame chicken or sweet-and-sour beef.

Japanese

Pick Sushi, which is low in fat and calories (if you want to avoid raw fish, choose California or veggie rolls instead); chicken or salmon teriyaki; steamed (not fried) dumplings; edamame; broth-based soups like miso; salads with vinegar dressing. Skip Sushi made with mayo, such as Boston rolls; deep-fried tempura dishes, which are high in fat.

Italian

Pick Pasta with a tomato-based sauce; grilled (not fried) eggplant or chicken Parmesan; pizza topped with vegetables or barbecued chicken.Skip Cream-based sauces like Alfredo; fried zucchini or calamari; pepperoni or meatball pizza.

Mexican

Pick Soft-shell tacos; salsa; fajitas and burritos with no more than one or two toppings like sour cream, cheese and guacamole—or sub low-fat sour cream and shredded cheese at home. Skip Refried beans; fried taco shells.Supermarket ready-made mealsPick Rotisserie or grilled chicken with skin removed; grilled or steamed salmon and veggies; salad (minus croutons, cheese and bacon); fruit. Skip Fried chicken; barbecued spareribs; side dishes like fries or onion rings.