1.  Romantic Anniversary Flowers – An item that has always been a symbol of love and affection, anniversary flowers are the perfect way to celebrate your ever growing bond. Many different outlets around the web offer romantic anniversary flowers as attractive arrangements that your significant other is sure to love.  Flowers are perhaps the classic gesture of romantic love known to man and woman.

2.  Vacation – Just you and your special someone far away from the stresses of everyday life is a great way to rediscover and reinforce why you fell in love in the first place. Second honeymoons or simple vacations to get away from it all are one of the best ways to rekindle your love or celebrate a love that grows stronger with each passing day.

3.  Relive your Dating Days – Remember the days where you were just two people who happened to find each other. Have dinner at the places you used to frequent while dating and relive some of the events that made you fall for each other in the first place. These memories allow you to remember why you fell in love in the first place and how your love has grown over time.

4.  Leave Notes Around for your Spouse – This is a simple and interesting way to show them how much you love them. Scatter notes around the house that outline their unique qualities and why they are the one you’ve chosen to spend the rest of your life with. White intimate things as well and create a celebration gift that will catch your spouse off guard and warm their heart.

5.  Relive your Wedding – By simply having dinner at the place of your wedding reception and staying in the same hotel, it becomes possible to bring back numerous memories about your special night. The event also gives you time to reflect on how your love has grown and how your feelings for each other have evolved further beyond what you could possibly imagine.

6.  Have a Romantic Night in – Celebrating your anniversary doesn’t necessarily have to cost a lot of money. By simply renting a movie and spending the night with your spouse, the two of you can have a stress-free night in together with just the two of you. If you have kids make sure to get a sitter and clear up any other prior engagements in order to have the night clear for the two of you.

7.  Relive your First Dance – One of the biggest symbols of weddings is the first dance that the newlyweds share as one. Go out to your favorite place and relive the first dance.

8.  Renew your Vows – Renewing your vows can be a great way to symbolize the ongoing relationship and further reinforcing the feeling that you want to spend the rest of your life with your spouse. Update your vows and express to them once again how much they mean to you.

9.  Cook Together – A great way to accompany romantic anniversary flowers is by adding some delicious food to the table. Many couples who have loved each other for long periods of time find that the most intimate moments they share is when they are in the kitchen. Spend your anniversary doing something you love with the person that you love.

10.  Sleep in – Simple yet incredibly meaningful, sleeping in with your spouse shows them that no matter what events have transpired over time, they are always the most important person in your life. Clear your schedule and spend the morning with the person you love.

A number of sites have adopted the idea of paying it forward with status updates and acts of kindness neatly documented on the Internet. Yahoo has launched the You In? campaign in order to share acts of kindness online.

Here’s how Yahoo describes the campaign:

“Help us create a ripple of good around the world with purple acts of kindness. Update your status to share what you’re doing to spread holiday joy, then inspire others to join you by asking, “You in?”Yahoo! will also be doing our own purple acts of kindness inspired by your updates. So whether you pay for someone’s groceries or drop off a coat for the homeless, you’ll be encouraging people around the world to join in acts of kindness.”

Like many sites of this nature, the idea hinges around sharing in detail your random acts of kindness and plots them on a global map. The site revolves around briefly describing your good deed in a Yahoo status message, which is then plotted on a global map. Right now messages include things like “Connie is buying coffee for everyone at work today. You in?” and “Dropped off supplies to the local Humane Society and to the local women’s shelter”. And then there are gems like this one: “I just returned a case of wine that was mistakenly delivered to our house. Husband had to be dragged along w/this decision.”

The program also allows Flickr uploads to visually represent good deeds and acts of kindness. With only 161 updates so far, the campaign is not exploding, but it’s difficult to knock a campaign based around kindness. Flickr only has a few submissions, but the program is expected to pick up in the next month or so.

Yahoo should also think about incorporating Facebook or Twitter into the event in order to increase the exposure of a great campaign that anybody can participate in.

Aside from ‘You In?’, Yahoo also runs regular monthly campaigns though its Yahoo For Good program.

A Vancouver non-profit group by the name of Big Give decided to see how difficult it would be to hand out 100 acts of free kindness in 100 minutes. At first, most individuals were unreceptive to their offers and simply ignored their offerings of free hugs and free flowers. Vigilant in their quest, the volunteers held their ground and continued to offer free acts of kindness to all of those passing by.

Eventually, and for whatever reason, the people on the cold streets of Vancouver became more receptive to the idea of free kindness. Soon every passer by was accepting hugs from the volunteers and posing for pictures with them. The response was so overwhelming that they soon were offered free coffee and other items from Vancouver residents.

Think about how long you work on a daily basis and think about how small 100 minutes of that time is. Furthermore, think about how easy it would be to take five or even one minute out of your day to perform an act of kindness toward another. Most individuals can be unreceptive to kindness at first as the video showed, but deep down acts of kindness will brighten everyone’s day.

Check out more of the Be kind 2 Others movement at their website http://www.bekind2movement.org/

The new column in the USA today titled the Kindness Community picked the first winner of their  Kindness Community Hero yesterday. Mike Ball of Whitmore Lake, Michigan was the first to receive this honor with his work in founding Lost Voices – Creative Journeys for Youth at Risk.

Ball started the foundation by realizing how much impact that artistic expression can have on youngsters. The Lost Voices program, which was founded in 2007 offers workshops for youth that has been incarcerated and those who run the risk. Many of these incarcerated youth come from families with histories of incarceration, abuse, and neglect, and have few, if any, positive relationships with adults. Programs such as Lost Voices has been proven by studies to greatly reduce the risk of children in these situations to become involved in criminal activity or be incarcerated as an adult.

Each summer, Ball, a nationally syndicated columnist and humorist,  along with folk and blues musicians like Josh White, Jr., Kitty Donohoe, and “blues master” Robert Jones  help the kids compose their own folks or blues music and then gives them the opportunity to perform their compositions in front of a crowd at a professionally-staged concert. Ball hopes to expand his foundation and expand his effort across the United States. The USA today award will hopefully give his foundation enough attention for some major funding sources to jump on board.

For more information on Lost Voices, visit their website or see a video of their work.

Mike Ball and his Lost Voices Organization

New assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder Maurice cheeks has been a member of the NBA for quite some time. The former member of the 1983 championship winning Philadelphia 76ers and the former coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. He became an icon of kindness during a 2003 playoff game between the Trail Blazers and the Dallas Mavericks. It is now remembered as the ‘Maurice Cheeks Moment’.

The setting is Rose Garden, home of the Trail Blazers who were in a must win situation against a Dallas team that already had a two game lead in the best of seven series. Natalie Gilbert, a 13-year-old eighth-grade winner of a promotion walked out to center court to perform the National Anthem. She woke up with the flu that day, though, and felt awful as she stood before 20,000 amped fans.

There are certain parts of the world that just seem to emanate kindness. While on a recent trip to New Hampshire, I found myself in what seemed to be a paralell universe. I’m from New York and accustomed to rudeness, selfishness, and all around disdain for other human beings. Years of having doors slammed in my face, taxis stolen from me, and endless counts of people honking their horn when I move too slow have made me quite jaded. This mentality was not the same in New Hampshire. People were nice and it blew me away.

At one point during the trip my wife and I stopped to look at a map on the side of the road  and a complete stranger actually came up to us and ask if we were lost and needed help. We were so dumbfounded that it took us a few seconds to reply. It seems as the stories of kindness keep getting more and more rare. We all have the tales of when a complete stranger stopped to help change a tire or jump our car, but that was a long time ago. Perhaps its the declining economy or other global issues that have made people more selfish, but its during times like these where a ripple of kindness can turn into a tidal wave. Kindness does not have to be native to a certain part of the country/world.

Even though it’s not cool to be kind, part of us wants to be kind. We just need someone to show us how, someone to break the pattern our culture has trapped us in. Considerate acts have a ripple effect, and we remember them long afterward. Kindness is contagious and now is the best time to spread the condition. In the face of trying economic times and social strife, it is absolutely necessary that we begin behaving like caring individuals. The next time yous see someone in need, simply take the time to help them out. The old saying ‘what goes around comes around’ is absolutely true. Starting shaping your karmic fate for the better right now by participating in random acts of kindness.

Raining Kindness

The anniversary of the Summer of love which took place in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco was recently celebrated with the West Fest concert in Golden Gate Park. A celebration of counterculture, West Fest offered visitors a free concert complete with music, art, beat generation speakers, and advocates from such movements as the Anti-war Movement and the Green Movement. What happened in the summer of 1967 has become known as the height of bohemian culture and an embodiment of the Woodstock generation.

West Fest Summer of Love Celebration

The Summer of Love

The term Summer of Love refers to the summer of 1967 when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco creating a society of cultural and political rebellion. Hippies had gathered in many other locations including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, Washington D.C., Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and all across Europe, but San Francisco was the center of the counterculture.

Music, drug use, free love, creative expression, and politics fueled this society and the Summer of Love became one of the defining moments of the 1960s. The world had not expected such a large gathering of youth and the Summer of Love in Haight-Ashbury was seen as somewhat of a social experiment. Everything was shared, often among total strangers including food, love, and even health care.

The Summer of Love also saw some of the worst violence in some U.S. cities as Detroit and Newark. While the Summer of Love was happening in various cities around the world, some cities were facing racial discrimination against African-Americans leading to anger and rioting.

Many of the inhabitants of Haight-Ashbury were college and high school students on spring break as well as teenage runaways. The increasing population alarmed the San Francisco authorities whose primary directive was to keep the hippies away. The national media was alerted to the growing numbers and helped popularize the movement. The mainstream media coverage of the hippie life in Haight-Ashbury was covered by such writers as Hunter S. Thompson in the New York Times; its activities were reported on almost daily. The community also hate its own media publication titled the San Francisco Oracle whose readership topped a half-million at its peak.

Music also played a large part in the popularization of the counterculture movement. Such artists living in the community as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and Janis Joplin had become national stars. Around thee same time the Mamas & the Papas recorded the hit song San Francisco (Flowers in Your Hair).

Free food, free drugs, free love, and a free clinic drew as man as 100,000 young people to the Haight-Ashbury community to join a popularized hippie experience. Unfortunately for the movement, the community could not support the high influx of middle-class vacationers, college students, and other individuals itching for the experience. Overcrowding, homelessness, hunger, drug problems, and crime eventually caused many people to leave in the fall to resume their college studies.

On October 6, 1967 the remaining Haight-Ashbury inhabitants held a mock funeral signifying the “Death of the Hippie” signifying that the collective gathering of the counterculture had ended.

The legacy of the Summer of Love had a profound effect on the country and the entire world. Those who had gone to the Haight-Ashbury district brought new ideals, behaviors, and styles of fashion to the major cities around the globe. The Summer of Love is still celebrated as one of the major events in the counterculture of the 1960s and an event that changed the entire world.

Summer of Love Gathering

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<h3>Many Americans are Wondering Why</h3>

U.S. President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize, gaining him praise and scrutiny from all around the world. The first year leader of the United States has been awarded more for vision than achievement so far in his term, which is drawing the eyes of the world. Media coverage has been highly split on whether or not President Obama has achieved the necessary peace goals to deserve such a high honor. His plans for the future do involve pulling out of Iraq, but many of the policies that Bush started are still in effect. Many people are still wondering why he won, and whether or not the pre-empive prize will be worth it.

Polls have shown that many Americans don’t think that Obama deserves the award, but the defense has been given that his visions have inspired audiences worldwide. The question remains, is that enough to deserve the prestigious award, or was it given entirely too prematurely? Despite the mixed feelings on whether or not his vision of kindness and peace will be realized, Obama now has an obligation to enact his policies and show people that the award was well deserved. Regardless of whether or not he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize at the moment is hardly as important as how the remainder of his term will shape the world. Many see the award as an endorsement more than a recognition of achievement, and this may be the case. However, those who are truly dedicated to kindness and a better society overall will be keeping a close watch on President Obama and how he plans to earn his award.

No Kill Animal Shelter Hopes to House More Animals

Homeless dogs and cats are an epidemic in the United States, and many individuals are not happy with the way some institutions are handling the overpopulation of their facilities. Many animals are euthanized if there isn’t room to take them and they are not adopted by a certain date. Operation Kindness is the largest and oldest animal shelter in North Texas with a strict no kill policy. Operation Kindness won’t take animals if they don’t have room for them, and its policy has connected deeply with people.
Operation Kindness was a perfect fit for the start of ActionCOACH’s global initiative Coaching for a Cause, a program that gives charities and non-profits pro bono coaching. The institution is hoping to expand through this program and have the ability to house more animals. Their efforts to increase their fund raising capabilities will result in expansion of the program and hopefully more safe homes for stray animals until they are adopted. More programs like Operation Kindness are beginning to spring up around the country as animal shelters face the difficult task of putting animals down to make room for more. It seems as though the epidemic of animal population will never be completely solved, but at least with programs such as Operation Kindness, there are some organizations who are taking steps in the right direction.

A True Story of Love and Inspiration

When I was seventeen I met an incredible person who was to become my mentor and my best friend. His name was Frank and he was the most Christian person I had ever met. Ironically, he had little personal knowledge of Christianity, yet was profoundly giving. His detachment from material objects and concern for others caused him to exude an air of peace and love.

I grew up poor in the most affluent county in America, the eldest of eight siblings. There were times when government surplus milk, processed cheese and cereal was about all we had to eat. I was shy and reserved, sitting precariously somewhere on the autistic spectrum. I wore old clothes that didn’t fit (high-water pants) white socks and pointed black laced-up shoes. Frank was athletic and worldly in the sense that he fully understood what was wrong with the society we lived in,  and had a plan to fix it.

I met Frank a college freshman while a junior in high school. I was writing a report on the feudal system for a history class. I was an aspiring seminarian and Frank was a Hippie before it became fashionable. A conversation ensued and we exchanged some philosophical insights on the report, and life in general. A friendship was born. We began to spend our free time together and would run his dogs for hours through the Rockefeller estate in Tarrytown, NY. Often we would converse about the domestic and foreign socio-political events of the sixties as we went on these long walks in the woods. Together we sought to work out our own particular reality, and our respective places in the world.

Once when I was at his home, Frank noticed me admiring the new long leather jacket he was wearing. He immediately took it off and handed it to me.

“Its yours, please take it.” Was all he said.

After repeated attempts to return it, I knew by the tone of his voice that there was no refusing this precious gift. To this day I remember the sweet smell of the supple Italian leather and the contrast of the bright red lining of a jacket, which became a coat for me, due to my shorter stature.

I felt his love and friendship wrap around me, as I put the coat on. I was as close to tears, as I am right now forty years later. I had just learned a powerful lesson about giving. I feel blest to have been on the receiving end this time so I could fully appreciate the spiritual impact of a precious gift freely given. Once felt, one can truly understand the tremendous joy and appreciation those who are in need feel toward their benefactors. To give is a precious gift, for both.

When I got home I found a silk white scarf and topped off my attire. These were to become my new vestments. From that day forward, I wore my new black leather jacket day and night, spring through winter, for many years thereafter. It was one of my most cherished possessions. I only took it off  when I went to bed. It became the icon of friendship and selflessness, which I vowed to carry forward into the world. You can get a glimpse at it in the pictures with the article.

Though you are no longer with us, I can never say enough – Francis, son of St. Martin, Thank you from the bottom of my heart! May I never forget that there are those in the world who’s needs are much greater than my own.

Christopher Cole

Cooking With your Children a Great way to Spend Quality Time

One of the first places that families can look for engagement and quality time with their children is in the kitchen. Studies have shown that children who spend time with their parents in the kitchen eat healthier foods, are more confident and learn valuable life and academic skills when they cook with their families. Some kitchen time with your kids is a great way to spend quality time and help their development even with a busy schedule.

When engaging your children in the kitchen it is always important to remember that they are children. A tray may get dropped here and there, but consistency and patience is the key. Choose recipes that are easy to make and within their age limit. Give them directions, but let them exercise freedom while cooking so that the full experience is realized. Children at age 2 can scrub and clean food, at 3 they can decorate cookies or put toppings on pizza, and 5-year-olds can measure ingredients, knead dough, or stir with a spoon. Also make your children part of the decision making process in what to prepare. Give them something to engage in while the food is cooking as well, so that they don’t associate the experience with any form of boredom.

Experts on the subject advise setting a day aside to prepare food with your children, and recommend preparing multiple dishes that can be used as leftovers for the rest of the week. It is also possible to use utensils at hand to enhance their cooking experience instead of spending money on cooking sets. Smaller utensils that are more suited to their needs means that they will have their own set of tools. Children can also help with cleanup. Get in the habit of buying them their own cleanup device and setting aside a separate bowl to toss vegetable peels and other scraps to help eliminate messes.

During busy times it is often difficult to spend time with your children in a meaningful manner. Cooking with your children can teach them valuable lessons and aid them in their development.

A Time When Love was Truly Free

1967 marked the gathering of over 100,000 individuals committed to changing society for the better and living in harmony with their fellow man. Converging in the neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, hippies from all around the state gathered for a political and cultural rebellion. The melting pot of sexual freedom, psychoactive drugs, music, politics, and creative expression became a defining moment of the 1960s and the counterculture revolution.

The unexpected gathering of individuals created a society that reflected values unlike any other. The alternative lifestyles of inhabitants of Haight-Ashbury included communal living, free and often shared resources between total strangers, and free love. The experiment also had the ironic effect of inducing riots in such areas as Detroit and Newark as a result of race riots and insurrections.

Inspired by beats of the 1950s who declared themselves free of the grip of authoritarian order, the Haight-Ashbury community was built on rejection of American commercialism. The society largely hinged on the use of drugs in order to find and establish a new sense of reality. Preceded by the Human Be-In held in Golden Gate Park on January 14, 1967, the Summer of Love was announced by Haight-Ashbury’s own paper titled the San Francisco Oracle.

Authorities in the area were instructed to keep the hippies away as high school and college students funneled into Haight-Ashbury during spring break of 1967. The event was covered daily by media, including Hunter S. Thompson of the New York Times and the music of the era that was originally designed to promote the Monterey Pop Festival.

The result of the Summer of Love marked a huge event in how people viewed living together in society. Free love, free drugs, a store that gave away basic necessities to anyone who needed them, and a free clinic that is still in operation today was just some of the impact that the Summer of Love had on 1960s society.

Many of the college students left the Haight-Ashbury community to resume their studies after spring break, and brought back ideas and experiences which would forever change the history of the country.

It can be argued that without the Summer of Love, that there would be no Woodstock 1969. Celebrations of the event have taken place all over the world, specifically in the San Francisco area. The second Summer of Love is celebrated particularly in the UK and represents the rise of Acid House music and the rave culture. The most current anniversary of the Summer of Love is Boots Hughston’s West Fest, which will be held on October 25th in Golden Gate Park; the same location as the first Human Be-In.

The Summer of Love has left behind a rich legacy of celebrating alternative lifestyle and showing that individuals can live free of societal norms and the idea that love really can be free.

Inventing New Ways to Spread Kindness

Ever want to put a program into action to help others and make a positive impact, but don’t think you have enough resources? The Pass it Forward program is a nonprofit organization dedicated to putting together programs composed of individuals with similar ideas on how to make a positive impact on their community. Pass it Forward allows individuals to use their passion to use and develop programs to help others and make the world a better place.

Everyone has a gift, and PIF encourages all individuals to use their gift to help others. All programs must abide by the six pillars of character: trustworthiness, character, citizenship,  respect, responsibility, fairness, and caring. The program must also be acceptable to 100% of people in order for it to become an official Pass it Forward program. The idea is to create community programs that everyone can embrace, so that we can move ahead together as a society.

A part of the We are the World nonprofit organization, Pass it Forward has a group of mentors that will help individuals put their project together, as well as find others that they can contact with similar ideas. Mentors can supply proteges with all the tools necessary to put their unique talents to use in the fashion on nonprofit organization.

For more information on how you can combine efforts with caring inividuals around the world to make a difference, check out the Pass it Forward website at http://www.aunitedworld.org.

A Love Story Completed 40 Years Later

A Woodstock love has come full circle for past sweethearts Alan and Mary. Originally posted on Woodstock Story, the two were reunited 40 years after the legendary festival. Read The Wonderment that was my Woodstock 1969, or hear the coverage of the story on National Public Radio.

After being apart for 40 years, two free spirits who ran off to Woodstock 1969 together have been reunited. Allen and Mary experienced what it means to be truly free by attending the legendary festival during the summer of love and sharing an unbreakable bond. Thanks to a story submitted on www.WoodstockStory.com, the teenage lovers’ paths have crossed once again.

It was the day of Mary’s 40th high school reunion. She had returned from a wonderful night of conversations with people whom she hadn’t seen in forever. The great time and wonderful connections made with past faces made her think of her teenage love, Allen. She had made a few attempts to see what her teenage love was up to, but her attempts were met with little success. Still floating from the wonderful reunion, she decided to try again and conduct a Google search for Allen’s name. The results returned a story on Woodstock Story.com titled The Wonderment That Was…My Woodstock 1969.

As Mary began reading the story, an eerie feeling came over her. It was as though her Woodstock 1969 experience was being told with voracious detail right in front of her eyes. As she neared the bottom of the page, her heart sunk. The author of the story was Allen Rowe, her Woodstock love. The revelation that this was her story as well simply blew her away. She sat reeling for what had to have been close to an hour with memories flooding her mind. She was taken back to that fateful time in her life and the person with whom she shared the experience.

Allen Rowe had submitted the story of love and liberation on WoodstockStory.com a few months earlier. While searching for information on the Woodstock 40h anniversary, he came across the site and decided to share his Woodstock experience under the newly constructed story page. The genuine tale of peace and love was praised for its passion and believability, and The Wonderment That Was…My Woodstock 1969 had won a contest for a pair of tickets for the Heroes of Woodstock tour in Bethel, NY.

Rowe had also been frequently and unsuccessfully trying to contact Mary for 40 years and had all but given up hope. By winning the contest the story was distributed all across the web and placed on the front page of wwww.WoodstockStory.com. As fate would have it, Mary stumbled upon the story. She had found him. After years of lost connections, desperate searching, and agonizing separation, Mary had found Allen. Their Woodstock was only just beginning.

Overwhelmed, Mary contemplated whether or not to make contact with Allen. It had been 40 years since they last spoke. Not knowing how to handle the situation, Mary underwent a long inner dialogue on whether or not she would reply to the story or leave the memories buried in the past. Part of her wanted to be found, part of her did not. She made the decision to break the 40 years of seperation and post a short reply to the story, which read “I certainly can relate to this beautifully written story, I did not know you had such talent. Though it has been 40 years, I remember it too, I am the Mary written about in this story”.

Not long after she decided to make contact with Allen, Mary’s phone rang. On the other end was her long lost Woodstock 1969 love. Decades of absence from each other’s lives was quickly filled with blissful memories as they spent hours catching up on the phone. Recalling when they first fell in love; when they walked on the shores of Lake Ontario, hand in hand, wading barefoot through waves crashing on white sand; becoming soul-mates. They spoke of moments they shared while in love at Woodstock. Freedom, music which seemed to reach the heavens and the peace of Yasgur’s farm before the crowd arrived filled their conversation.

Right on cue, after 40 years, they once again were at Woodstock – together. They have since decided to maintain a friendship and meet again one day soon. For Allen and Mary, their Woodstock circle of love has come full zenith; they share an unbreakable bond forged when two teenage lovers ran away to Woodstock together, their spirits forever fused. They shared words and tears 40 years later, discussing the long list of ” what might have beens”.

Who could have foreseen a simple story reuniting two individuals separated for 40 years? These teenage lovers’ paths may have never crossed again, despite their attempts to find each other. Their love has come full circle, they’ve found one another; the impossible has become a reality.

Submit your story today, share your Woodstock 1969 experience, and connect with Woodstock enthusiasts from around the world. Like Allen and Mary, your Woodstock story may be just beginning.

Alan Rowe

Simple Ways to Improve Home Relationships

It is not at all uncommon for the home life to intensify the stress brought upon by daily life. Many individuals have the unfortunate plight of returning from a hard day at school or work only to clash with family members. It can be easily stated that a bad day at the office can follow a person home creating a negative situation for everyone. However, using a few guidelines and setting aside extra time to build relationships can circumvent these problems all together. Here are 7 ways to help make your household the haven that everyone sometimes needs.

Choose your words carefully – This may sound like a threat, but the fact is that everything you say plays a part in your child’s development and the relationship with your significant other. The household should be a conduit where individuals can freely express their feelings without fear of judgment, so be careful of what you say and how you say it.

Something as simple as how your phrases are chosen can have drastically different psychological effects. Say things that encourage your children to better themselves rather than suggesting that they have a character flaw. Psychologists will all tell you that children take parent’s criticisms to heart and how your words are chosen will inevitably shape who they will become.

Supply your kids with structure and order – An organized home structure offers something familiar to children and is a wonderful point of reference to resolve conflicts. Clear and concise rules create a more laid back home environment. When conflicts arise, there is no contention about whose right or wrong; develop a set of standards and stick to them.

A calm bedtime routine can do wonders for getting children to sleep, ensuring that they wake up well rested and in a good mood before they face the day. Inversely, this works for parents as well as it alleviates stress caused by household debates. Stick to your guns, but don’t be so inflexible that your child’s own individuality is stifled, it’s alright to deviate from the structure on some occasions.

The power of the family meeting – Family meetings are the perfect solution to any underlying problems that may be begging for a future blowup. Holding a weekly family meeting is a great way to alleviate concerns as well as share good things that happened. Making time during the busy week to get together and discuss important family issues ensures that everyone is on the same page and agrees with the rules. Take this time to clear the air of any problems, share positive experiences, and plan for important future events.

Time is Love – On any given day, there is a chance to connect with your loved ones and promote loving feelings. Studies have shown that children with parents who spend time hanging out with them tend to be more friendly and outgoing. The best way to convince children that we love them than spending time with them? Being a friend as well as a parent means that children are more likely to open up and express their true feelings rather than keeping them bottled up inside.

Encourage your children to treat others, including siblings and family members with kindness and respect. Sibling rivalries are unavoidable for sure, but teach children to make an effort to treat their brothers or sisters with kindness and fairness at least some of the time. A great way to strengthen bonds between your children is to encourage random acts of kindness and have them write down when they are shown kindness. This may relieve some of the stress involved next time an argument arises.

Traditions – Think back to your childhood; you would be hard pressed to remember most of it other than some of the rituals your family had. Setting aside time to participate in events as a family will create a positive memory that children will keep with them for a lifetime. Any positive family experience no matter the size will give children something to look forward to, and that they can rely on.

Handle challenges with compassion – There is no such thing as a perfect household. Everyone has internal struggle, arguments with loved ones, high and low points. Families sometimes fracture and other relationships are forged, which put pressure on even the strongest individuals. It is best to confront the problems and explain the score to family members. After a conflict, explain to children who may have overheard the fight that everything has been resolved. Leaving children unaware of the status of their parents can terrify them; don’t dodge problems and keep loved ones in the dark, but handle them immediately with a logical approach.

Couples only – Aside from making time to consider the needs of your children, it is important to set aside time to spend with your significant other. As wonderful as children are, they will inevitably put added pressure on a relationship. With the divorce rate already over 50%, people are finding it difficult to stay together already. Couples only time is apex in maintaining a strong bond between parents.

It can be as simple as dinner out or a walk, but time without the kids allows parents to remember why they fell in love with the other in the first place. Getting away from the kids on occasion is better for everyone, as problems can be discussed in an atmosphere that children who are present won’t find threatening.

Help Build a Better World

In the fast paced and technologically rich environment we live in today, time has become a commodity in limited supply. Sure, we’d all like to spend more time with our friends, family, and help others, but life simply gets in the way for most people. Time is Love is about reallocating the time we normally spend obsessing over technology or our personal success to love others. Think back to the last time you had ‘quality time’ with someone. How much time did individuals spend check their phones, computers, or personal lives?

Time is Love is about forgetting the factors that dominate our lives and set aside time to love others. Whether it is spending more time with loved ones, doing something massive to benefit others, or simply holding a door for someone, it’s been proven throughout history that the smallest act of kindness can go a long way.

We all know the effects of healthy living. Exercising on a daily basis and eating healthy will make a person feel better throughout the day as well as overall. This is the same with performing acts of love and kindness to others. Displaying more acts of love and kindness is not only a concept, but it is part of an overall well being.

Here you will find stories big and small of examples of the best in human kindness as well as local and national events where you can get involved. Read, comment, get involved, or simply feel the warmth that a story of kindness can bring. Time is Love hopes to change how people look at the time they have, and make the world a happier place for everyone.