If your child is in elementary school, then they probably don’t have too many expectations. However, if your child is a tween or teen who has more specific expectations regarding their schooling, then the first week of school will be more important.You can help your child organize their schedule and decide when they need to do things like catch up on their homework, study for tests, and complete extracurricular activities. By doing this, you can make sure that your child has all the time they need to do everything they have to do and have a positive experience when school starts again.

Plan For The First Week Of School

Kids always get excited to see their friends, and one way to get them excited about going back to school is to get them excited to see their friends at school.A week or so before school starts, arrange play dates with your kids' friends so that they re-bond. Kids who have friends at school will actually look forward to going back to school.

Plan Play Dates Before School Starts

Even if your kids still have their old backpack, lunchbox, and water bottles from last year, it is a good idea to buy them new school gear to get them excited about going back to school. Take your kid(s) shopping for back-to-school gears and supplies and let them be a part of the fun.If you can't afford to buy new school gear, let them buy new school supplies like notebooks, pens, pencils, and all the supplies your kids would need at school. You can always shop online if you are short of time.

Buy New School Gears & Supplies

Most schools have a welcome back week a week before schools start, and you will get a chance to go to school and pick up textbooks, PE clothes, and any other school materials they need.And if your school doesn't have a back-to-school week, visit the school with your kid(s), and find out who their new teachers are, if possible, and where their new classes are going to be, so they won't have the anxiety of finding their new classes or teachers the first day of school. If possible, find out who their new classmates are and touch base with them.

Visit the School

Celebrate the start of the new school year with a fun School Year's Eve dance party, or dinner party, and ask your kids to make a list of fun memories from school to share with you.Let them talk about good memories from the years before, and what they most missed about school.

Have A Back-to-School Eve Party 

The kids may still have anxiety about getting sick at school. Taking a trip to your pediatrician might be a great idea to ease their worries.Let your doctor explain to the kids about all health concerns, and what they can do to avoid getting sick. If you can't take a trip to the doctor, research with your kids about all the precautions they can take to avoid getting sick.

Have A Back-To-School Check Up

Most kids hate doing homework, and if your kids are like most kids, they will hate it more if they don't have a comfortable homework station to do their work.Create a neat, cozy, and fun homework nook, and let them know that they can count on you if they need any help with their homework.

Create A Homework Nook

The night before school, when kids go to bed, decorate their rooms or their doors with back-to-school banners and balloons. It will be a great surprise when they wake up in the morning to a decorated room. It will cheer them up and will get their minds off of back-to-school jitters.You can also buy back-to-school signs and t-shirts and take memorable photos of your kids holding their signs in their new back-to-school clothes.

Decorate Your Kids' Rooms

<ul><li>Buy cool snacks that your kids really love and pack for the first day of school with their lunch. Let them choose their favorite snacks to take to school.</li><li>Let your kids choose small but fun rewards or treats for after school, like ice cream or a favorite candy. When you have something to look forward to, your day is always better.</li></ul>

Give Them Some Goodies 

<ul><li>Have a back-to-school theater night. Ask your kids to take turns and play their favorite teacher, and you be the student.</li><li>Or pretend you are a reporter from The Times and interview your kids about their goals, wishes, and fears about the new school year.</li></ul>You would learn so much about your kids, and you would be able to help them with their jitters.

Back-To-School Theater Night 

Create a jar and let your kids write their goals and wishes starting the first day of school and put them in the jar (with their names).At the end of the school year, they will have so much fun reading them.

Create a Wish Jar 

Back to school resources & advice for parents

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Learning & Education

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Food

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Mental Health

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Parenting

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Psychology

Back to School Basics for Parents

How To Prepare Your Kids for Back-To-School For most parents, back-to-school season is the most exciting time of the year. After all, it’s a new school year with brand new possibilities and opportunities for your child. But while you might look forward to the fresh start, your kids may not share your enthusiasm. For many kids, after spending summer playing and having fun with friends, returning to school can feel like a letdown. If you think your children have reservations about going back to sc

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Entertainment

Tips To Get Your Kids Excited About Back-To-School

This is the emotional stress parents impose upon their children and is often related to academic performance, extracurricular activities, social standards, appearance, friendships, and romantic relationships.Certain parenting experiences might prompt you to pressure your kids to make different choices, such as when:<ul><li>your child struggles with something that came easily to you</li><li>your child makes different life decisions than you did</li><li>your child chooses friends who you think are poor influences.</li></ul>You may feel that your own choices could make their lives easier, more successful, or earn you the admira<warningtag>tion of other parents in your circle.</warningtag>

Parental pressure

There are two main forms of parental pressure: direct pressure and indirect pressure.<ul><li>Direct pressure often involves yelling, force, or complaining.</li><li> Indirect pressure may involve guilt-tripping your child or reminding them of rigid expectations.</li></ul>

Types of parental pressure

Excessive or inappropriate parental pressure carries many mental health consequences for kids as they grow up.Studies suggest that children who grow up with parents who yelled, shouted, or verbally humiliated them may have a greater likelihood of experiencing challenges  such as:<ul><li>depression</li><li>negative self-talk</li><li>anger management problems</li><li>physical aggression</li><li>delinquency</li><li>eating disorders and body image</li><li>trouble maintaining relationships.</li></ul>

The mental health effects of parental pressure

Parents might feel the need to pressure their children for many reasons.<ul><li>Research shows that 86% of parents pressure their kids because they grew up with distant or negligent parents and wanted to pay more attention to their own children.</li><li>Guilt — often stemming from big life disruptions like moves or divorces — was another reason cited. Parents fear being neglectful during these upheavals, and they overcompensate with parental pressure.</li></ul>

What causes parents to pressure children? 

Criticism drawing attention to your child’s mistakes or behaviors that bother you can cause your child’s defenses to go up, perpetuating what originally sparked the criticism.Instead, try praising your child for what they do well. Studies recommend working your way up to offering four times more praise than criticism.Parenting with praise may boost your child’s confidence and improve your child’s academic performance, reinforcing their belief that they can do the work and be successful at it.

Use praise more than criticism

<ul><li>Avoid teasing or criticizing your child about their weight or appearance. These types of behaviors are strongly tied to the development of eating disorders in young adults.</li><li>Monitoring or restricting food can backfire, leading your child to adopt unhealthy habits and hide them from you.</li><li>Instead, swap discussing weight or body image in favor of encouraging healthy habits, like eating enough nutritious foods and exercising.</li></ul>

Focus on health, not appearance

You might be tempted to intervene in your child’s life out of a sense of duty or control, such as:<ul><li>asking your child’s teachers for extra credit</li><li>scolding a classmate who hurt your child’s feelings</li><li>hiding or restricting access to food.</li></ul>But if you help make your child feel capable, they’ll be more motivated to solve problems in the future. Consider talking with your child about solutions to their problems without attempting to solve them yourself.

Don’t do your child’s work for them

Authoritative parenting — rather than authoritarian parenting — is tied to high self-esteem in children. When parents are overly controlling, children can lose faith in themselves and their ability to do things or listen to their own feelings.Instead of telling your child that it’s your way or the highway, try setting house rules with their input and enforce them consistently.

Set rules, not ultimatums

It’s easy to assume that your child is a smaller extension of you who feels the same way you do about the same things.But when you give credence to your child’s feelings instead of seeking to control them — even when they’re not the same as yours — you acknowledge that they’re their own person.Validating your child’s feelings and keeping communication about emotions open and honest can help your child learn to trust their gut in life

Validate your child’s feelings

Parental pressure may come from good intentions, but it can hamper a child’s self-esteem.

Parental pressure often comes from a place of good intentions, but too much pressure can have harmful mental health consequences.

The Effects of Parental Pressure on Children’s Mental Health

The pandemic era phenomenon known as “The Great Resignation” has seen millions of employees voluntarily leaving their jobs. 48 million of them abandoned their jobs in 2021, according <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2022/article/expected-pandemic-driven-employment-changes.htm">to data from the Labor Bureau.</a>Millions are rethinking their careers, long-term goals, work environments, and how to achieve a healthier work/life balance. Organizations leveraging that opportunity will be better positioned to address employee satisfaction proactively and also adjust and respond to the constantly shifting marketplace. Otherwise, they’ll struggle to survive.

Everyone Is Resigning

When work shifted to remote settings for many employers in early 2020 due to the pandemic, companies assumed the situation would be temporary. However, as months stretched into years, much of the working population found that they enjoyed working remotely, at least part of the time.
68% of employees preferred working from home, with nearly half declaring they’d either quit or search for new jobs offering remote work if their employers ordered them to return to the office. Many employees expressed they’d take a pay cut or forfeit benefits in exchange for remote work options.

An Experiment That Awakened Millions

A study by the research firm Gartner found that a hybrid work model significantly boosted employee engagement and sense of inclusion.Remote work can also lead to a sense of isolation among certain employees. A Gensler Research Institute survey found respondents missed most about being in an office were meeting and socializing with colleagues. Further, 7 out of every 10 employees felt more isolated after switching to remote work.

Mixed Findings

<ul>
<li>Encouraging remote workers not to work from home exclusively. </li>
<li>Urging remote workers to unplug. </li>
<li>Establish a broad network—and don’t talk about just work. </li>
<li>Leverage the flexibility. Leaders can make certain that remote workers vary their daily downtime. </li>
<li>Remind remote workers they’re important team members. Solicit input and feedback from remote workers. Routinely ask them what they would do differently to strengthen the remote work experience.</li>
</ul>

What Companies Can Do

Employees value greater flexibility, and any sweeping form of transformation that fails to address this is missing an essential target. Leaders often fail to realize just how important genuine flexibility is—so much so that their views of it differ substantially from that of their workforce.The transformation which includes a significant digital role can narrow that chasm, and digitalization can help cement a commitment to flexibility—a cornerstone of employees’ view of an engaging and supportive place to work.

Flexibility Is Now a Worker Must-Have

Big changes across the work landscape should not come at the expense of team connection.


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Remote Work

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Career

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Corporate Culture

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Business

Why a flexible workplace shouldn’t mean we ignore individual employee experiences

It has become increasingly favorable thanks to several macro factors:<ul><li>The proliferation of vaccines has made the return to the office feel safer</li><li>Many workers want to get back to the office, and their companies are looking to fulfill hybrid work environments while still offering flexibility</li><li>Startups facing an uncertain funding environment — the new normal these days — favor short-term leases,</li></ul>

Coworking

<ul><li>A recent Pew Research study found that 59% of workers who can work remotely want to stay remote, meaning coworking spaces won’t be much of an attraction for them.</li><li>Coworking spaces are also at risk for security issues. In 2019, WeWork was found to have weak WiFi security, which exposed sensitive data on its network.</li><li>Even so, some analysts predict there will be ~42k coworking spaces globally in 2024, up 116% from 2020. If that’s the case, “WeCrashed” won’t be the end of WeWork’s story.</li></ul>

But coworking still has its challenges

A combination of macro factors have led to a resurgence in coworking.

Coworking is back

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Anything that's vaguely popular online must be defined or decoded - and ultimately, reduced to a bundle of marketable vibes with a kitschy label.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Trend brain encourages us to simplify everything online into something either buyable, understandable, or moral (and therefore worthy of consumption).</li><li class="ql-align-justify">There is a devout certainty to the speed at which they're cycled through.</li></ul>

Our 'Trend' Brain

<ul><li>Modern consumers are bombarded with a stream of inconsequential trends to take note of - marketing vessels for products that fit into a paradigm devoid of meaning</li><li>Trends, or the illusion of a trend, benefit the fast-fashion companies and direct-to-consumer brands making products that aesthetically align with fleeting fancies</li><li>The effects of trend-induced brain rot have trickled into online discourse</li><li>Topics and figures deemed most important on the internet are based on where they fall along the spectrum of trendiness, depending on the scale of attention they command</li></ul>

Irrelevant and Inconsequential Trends

Recuperation: the process by which subcultural ideas and images become commodified and reincorporated into mainstream societyToday, recuperation is achieved through micro-aesthetics, memes, and online communities they stem fromUnlike the radical subcultures of yore, which had their own visual schema, language, and aesthetics, these digital scenes aren’t exactly subcultural.They often promote a sort of political weakening.

Recuperation

<ul><li>Even a whimsical aesthetic can become a commodified status signal - a way to demonstrate that you're a distinct individual who is in the know.</li><li>With the mass decentralization of culture, even while platforms are becoming increasingly centralized, there's no way for a sane person to keep up, but still we are expected to.</li><li>We're told we must evolve or our digital personas will wither into irrelevance as our style grows stale.</li></ul>

Keeping Up With Trends One After The Other

Coastal grandmother, night luxe, that girl. Anything can be a trend on the internet. Why are we so determined to name them?

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Mindfulness

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Society, Arts & Culture

Trends are dead

Micro-credentials are also known as digital badges collected through apps, websites or data systems. They demonstrate learning in work or community settings rather than inside an academic institution. For example, collecting badges for volunteering in a food bank, completing an online course or taking a workshop on coding.

Micro-credentials

A digital credential carries information about a learning achievement someone has earned. The credential includes the training provider, a description of the learning, when the credential was issued and who received it. These badges can be shared through social media, an e-portfolio or a CV. The benefit of micro-credentials is their potential reach to individuals of all ages, education levels, socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups, and industry backgrounds.

How micro-credentials work

Pros<ul><li>Learners can use micro-credentials to “stack” new modules and skills on top of previous education and training.</li><li>They are more affordable and flexible than traditional higher education courses.</li></ul> Cons<ul><li>A potential obstacle is ensuring governments recognize these digital badges as steps on a learning path that might lead to the equivalent of a degree. </li></ul>

The pros and cons of micro-credentials

The pandemic has accelerated the arrival of the future of work, especially automation and the adoption of new technologies.
Four in 10 workers will need reskilling of six months or less, and over 90% of companies expect employees to pick up new skills on the job.

Future world of work

Micro-credentials – or digital badges – help you boost your skills in less time than a traditional degree. Here’s what you need to know.



Micro-credentials – what they are and how they can help you

Routines are healthy, predictable, and comfortable. Yet, many businesses have found themselves in uncomfortable positions over the past two years. The restaurant industry had to rapidly shift to online ordering and curbside pickup. Airlines and cruise lines had to rethink the entire traveller experience. It resulted in industries forging new paths and making groundbreaking discoveries. Innovation happened.

Adaptability ensure future success

Behaviour patterns have changed and companies must respond in turn. Two-thirds of organizations surveyed in 2021 said their strategy would change significantly in the next three years as they adjust to the pandemic. However, many companies don't believe they are agile enough to support the evolving business needs. Organizations that take an adaptable, flexible approach are far ahead of those who want to do business as usual while the world has moved on.

Keep moving

A business comfortable in its routine is often change-averse. This fear of failure is preventing innovation and one that organizations must overcome to avoid the risk of falling behind. Leaders promoting innovation are taking the bold step to shake up the status quo. But, to earn buy-in and support, they should find a common, relatable ground.

Identify bold leaders to earn buy-in

Continuing to do the same things in the face of change eventually results in irrelevance. Responding to emerging market conditions can position organisations to be more resilient when the trend eventually leads the rest of the market to follow.

The early bird catches the worm

Change is constant, evolution is continuous, and companies need to be adaptable to ensure future success, this Capgemini exec says.


Discover the world of business and economics.

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Economics

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Creativity

Yes, innovation is supposed to be uncomfortable

The traditional layout of meeting rooms is undergoing a radical rethink as companies grapple with ways to create optimal collaboration spaces for<a href="https://qz.com/guide/hybrid-workplace/"> hybrid teams</a>.Instead of giant conference tables, many offices are redesigning the same space into small-sized theatres with large screens.

Changes In Office Design

The upheavals caused by the pandemic present a rare blank slate for architects and companies. The crisis in office space compels organizations to think more broadly and boldly.
Movable partitions, like the “<a href="https://qz.com/essentials/1964996/open-plan-offices/">dancing wall</a>” produced by the Swiss furniture company Vitra, are also proving useful. <a href="https://www.vitra.com/en-us/product/dancing-wall">This mobile fixture</a> that transforms into a bookshelf, coat rack, rolling coffee station, or plant stand allows companies to experiment with new space configurations as employees trickle back to the office.

The End of Cookie-Cutter Offices

Architects are rethinking the standard template for conference rooms. For GSK's new office, the Philadelphia-based firm FCA reconfigured a boardroom to look more like a movie theater.

Has remote work made conference tables obsolete?

In a post-pandemic landscape, the corporate world has begun to evolve significantly. With 66% of 22-56-year-olds now working at home at least once a week, digitalization has taken center stage within the business world as technology continues to transform the WFH potential.In fact, 38% of WFH-based companies are planning to implement at least one new form of smart technology into their workplace in 2022 alone, as a remote future becomes a certain reality.

A Remote Future

Augmented reality, otherwise known as AR is a form of immersive technology that is able to enhance your reality. Unlike virtual reality which is able to create a new 3D dimension with the help of VR hardware, AR simply adds digital layers onto what you already see.Using a series of digital layers, AR and VR users are able to enhance their remote working experience. From attending virtual meetings from the comfort of your couch to displaying large amounts of data in front of your eyes, experts suggest that immersive tools could be the key to company success in the digital age.

Augmented Reality

How can immersive technology boost success? The key here is business efficiency. Not only can AR/VR-based tools speed up onboarding and training processes for newcomers, but they also reduce the workload for the other staff members who would struggle to train new employees in a remote setting.Immersive aids do exactly what they say on the tin. They immerse you within your work. Seeing data in real-time and embracing training sessions in a completely virtual immersive setting enables employees to connect to what they are doing and is proved to increase task focus.

The Future of Virtual Onboarding 

One of the main areas of the corporate sector that is set for reform is staff training. As remote onboarding becomes a challenge of the past, immersive training tools are aiding business leaders to onboard staff with minimal effort and maximum success.Utilizing the immersive benefits of AR and VR-based technology, new employees will experience a realistic training practice, where they will be able to interact with mock virtual activities and gain a hands-on onboarding session, accelerating their learning process.

Benefits of Immersive Training Tools

Immersive aids can also significantly <a href="https://theappsolutions.com/blog/development/ar-benefits-for-business/?ref=hackernoon.com">reduce company costs</a> and provide a hefty ROI. From reducing staff assistance to automating a large portion of the company workload, the business’ production value can still remain high, while staff costs remain low, a perfect story for digital success.

Reducing Costs

The evolution of immersive aids, powered by augmented and virtual reality are set to revolutionize the future of WFH.

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Technology & The Future

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Product & Design

Virtual Onboarding: Will Immersive AR/VR Tools Replace In-person Training?

We’ve long known that diet plays a key role in our overall health. And in recent years the connection between the microbiome — the microorganisms that reside in our gut, the makeup of which is partially dependent on what we eat — and our brain function is becoming increasingly clear.So this all begs the question: Was Einstein’s genius, as some have claimed, aided by his diet? Let’s find out.

The Question About Einstein's Diet

Scientists have long understood that the human body, including the brain, needs food to function optimally. It appears Einstein understood the importance of getting some brain fuel before starting the day.Einstein’s breakfast was actually pretty nutritionally dense. Eggs are high in protein and minerals like iron, selenium, and phosphorus; mushrooms, a favourite of the physicist, are high in B vitamins and antioxidants. It’s unlikely these foods were the source of Einstein’s genius, but a diet high in proteins, vitamins, and minerals may have helped Einstein’s brain function optimally.

What Einstein Had For Breakfast

Being a terrible cook and eating things out of cans is the mark of genius.Compared to breakfast, lunch was much less of a regular occurrence in Einstein’s daily life. In 1915, he wrote a letter to his second son, Hans Albert Einstein, in which he says, “I am often so engrossed in my work that I forget to eat lunch.”

What Einstein Had For Lunch

Some of Einstein’s scientist friends would regularly get together to discuss physics and other academic pursuits. These dinners were frugal repasts of sausage, Gruyère cheese, fruit, and tea.Indeed, even when the food was much fancier, Einstein was more prone to getting wrapped up in conversation paying little attention to what he was eating. His friends, mathematicians Maurice Solovine and Conrad Habicht, brought him caviar for his birthday.

What Einstein Had For Dinner

When Einstein was 38-years-old, one of his friends became so concerned about the scientist’s digestive problems that he sent him to a doctor. The physician diagnosed him with a “chronic stomach malady” and mandated a four-week special bland diet.Despite the tasteless diet, his stomach problems persisted into his later life and seemed to become more serious with time. Doctors told him first to eat a balanced diet of meat and simple carbohydrates. Then, about a year before he died, a doctor suggested he cut meat, fat, and alcohol out of entirely. His vegetarianism lasted only one year.

The Health Of Einstein

In April of 1955, Einstein died from an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Although his diet likely isn’t to blame, his lifestyle habits may have been. According to the Mayo Clinic, tobacco use is the biggest risk factor for developing an abdominal aortic aneurysm.So is a diet of beans, eggs, and mushrooms the secret to cracking science’s toughest questions? Of course not. But eating those kinds of nutrient-dense foods may give you the energy to try.

The Death Of Einstein

From mushrooms to canned beans, Einstein had quite the interesting diet. It remains unclear what, if any, influence his diet had on his ability to understand the deepest levels of physics.

Tips To Get Your Kids Excited About Back-To-School

The Effects of Parental Pressure on Children’s Mental Health

Why a flexible workplace shouldn’t mean we ignore individual employee experiences

Coworking is back

Trends are dead

Brian