Fatherhood Factor

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Mianna Korben

How to Celebrate Milestones as A Family

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A family which celebrates success together and appreciates each other stays together. We all reach milestones we’re proud of in life and having someone to share them with makes the whole experience better. Your family is the one that sees all the hard work you put into achieving success, the one that follows your journey, and the one that supports you the whole way. Celebrating milestones brings you closer together and reminds you that these people are the best friends you can have in the entire world.

1. Make use of technology

Technology is there to make our lives easier, and it’s high time you took advantage of that. Everyone today has a smartphone which makes it very easy to take photos and videos. If you see any cute moments, you can spontaneously capture them and add them without a problem. As well as that, you can record people having fun and bonding. This way, you’ll never forget the awesome time you had together and how much you love your family.

A bonus is that you can print out the photographs later and make a new family album or scrapbook. Even though this is the digital age, it doesn’t mean everyone gets it or knows how to use technology to their advantage. Creating a family scrapbook or album allows older members of the family to reminisce on the celebration, too.

2. Dance!

The lyrics to the popular song go: “A little party never killed nobody” for a reason. It’s time to put them to the test. There’s nothing that brings a family closer and celebrates a milestone adequately like dancing together. There must be family-favourite songs that’ll make everyone move to the beat. Make a playlist, and when everyone’s there and settled, start dancing! It doesn’t matter how good of a dancer anyone is, what’s important is that you do it together.

Break out the silly moves, the internet trends, and the old reliables. Let’s see who’s better on the dance floor- the youngsters or the oldies? Laughing together and dancing your heart outs will make this milestone more memorable than anything else.

3. Cook together

There’s nothing better than a family meal. Well, there is one thing: a family meal that’s been prepared together. Your family can have a lot of fun in the kitchen making food together. Of course, for this to work, you’ll need to organize everything well. To avoid commotion in the kitchen and ensure everything’s getting done while keeping a friendly atmosphere, delegate tasks.

Certain family members can work on the side dishes, while others work on the main meal, and the rest make the salad. Include kids in the cooking, too, as it will make everything more special.

4. Create something together

To commemorate this milestone, you can create something unique together. You don’t have to be especially artistic for this; a positive attitude and a little effort will suffice. One idea is to make up a special family song or poem that only you will know. This way, you can sing it at all your family gatherings and milestone celebrations to remind yourselves that you belong together.

You may also want to create a piece of art together. A family mosaic or painting can be a lovely contribution. One simple yet charming idea is to dip your palms or fingers in non-toxic paint and leave your trace on a blank canvas.

5. Let there be cake

There’s nothing that says “celebration” louder than cake. From birthdays to weddings, cakes are present at all family gatherings and events. There’s no reason why the cake shouldn’t be the prestige guest of your upcoming celebration. Food has always been something everyone in the family has in common, and sugar is the perfect thing to bridge the gap between the generations and various personalities present at the celebration. After all, have you ever seen someone not smiling while eating cake?

When it comes to making the cake, you have two options. You may be tempted to opt for the first one and bake the cake together, but that can prove to be more hassle than reward. The way our friends Down Under see it, celebrating milestones is about bonding and spending time together, not slaying over a cake all day. This could explain why cake deliveres in Sydney are so popular. By having a cake delivered to your home, you have more time to bond with your family, while still having a tasty dessert. In a way, your celebration will be the cake, and the dessert is just a cherry on top.

6. Give Presents

If you want to honour each other and remember this day for a long time, you should mark the milestone with presents. Each member can give another one something special that they know they’ll like. To make things more interesting, you can do a secret Santa sort of thing. Take a hat and place papers with the names of family members written on them. Then, each member should take one paper out of the hat. They have to give a gift to the person whose name they picked from the hat.

It’s always a good idea to set a budget before the game starts so that everyone gets gifts of equal value. As well as that, you can decide on the theme of the gifts to represent the milestone you’re celebrating better. Also, don’t be afraid to go homemade if you want to enhance the gift-giving experience. Whatever you decide, the whole family will have something to remember the milestone by for ages to come.

Conclusion

Though the world may be full of different races and ethnicities, the family is something that connects us all. Regardless of where you’re from, the hands of your family lift you up and bring you to the stars. You’re as much of support to them as they are to you. When you celebrate milestones, you celebrate the love and friendship you have with each member and the family as a whole. Choose a way to show them how much they mean to you, and enjoy this special day with the most important people in your life.

Nutrition 101: Putting a Stop to Unhealthy Habits

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Eating doesn’t seem that hard, right? You just have to find something edible that tastes nice, chew, and let your stomach digest. Yet, the whole world has gone mad over maintaining a proper diet. This is because the food we eat greatly affects the way we function and look. Certain foods have more nutritional value than others, thus making us happier, healthier, and visually stunning.

As well as the food we eat, though, it’s also important to pay attention to how we eat. Your eating habits will determine the way your body operates and your mind thinks. Cognitive function is the first thing affected by unhealthy habits. You’ll notice this if you’re sluggish, have mood swings often, and can’t really focus on a task at hand. It’s time to start living your best life by finally putting a stop to the unhealthy habits which make your life harder.

1. Eat 5 times a day

Though it may sound like a lot, having five meals a day is actually the right way to eat. It’s all about eating small consistent portions that keep your tummy full throughout the day. Thus, you should have breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks in-between.

Remember to measure your portions and only eat as much as can fit in your palm. This way, you’ll be sure you’re not overeating, and you’ll have a much easier time eating five meals a day.

2. Find out your dietary preference

Believe it or not, there are more diets that you can choose from. Whether you decide to go on Paleo, Ketogenic, Vegan, or Mediterranean, you’ll suddenly feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. This is because you’ll feel much lighter and more comfortable in your own body.

Before starting a diet, you should do thorough research on each one. Up to now, you’ve probably familiarized yourself with your dietary preferences, so it should be easy choosing the right diet according to how your body responds to food and what kind of person you are. If not, don’t be afraid to experiment first.

3. Cut out certain things

Even though you may not be glad to hear it, you’ll need to cut out certain things like sugar. It is by far the favourite thing on the food pyramid, but also the unhealthiest. Most of the sugar you eat today just makes you sluggish and progressively makes you unhealthier. Thus, you’ll need to cut sugar out entirely.

That means no more junk food, snacks, candy, and soda. The most common mistake people make when cutting sugar out is that they quit cold turkey. Not being able to have something just makes you want it more, and soon you’ll cave and start with your old habits again.

Instead of quitting cold turkey, you can always find alternatives to the things you like. Chocolate can be replaced with the equally delicious dark chocolate, but you also need to add granola bars, and fruits and veggies as refreshing snacks. As far as soda is concerned, you’ll need to switch to water entirely.

If you’re having a hard time drinking plain water after making your switch, don’t be afraid to infuse it with lemon or mint to give it an extra kick.

4. Work around your schedule

Living in modern society often means that your nutrition takes a backseat to your schedule. Running from meeting to meeting, running errands, and meeting all other challenges of having a personal and work life, it’s not uncommon for people to forget to eat. This is an extremely unhealthy habit because your schedule exhausts your body and you don’t give it enough fuel. Soon enough, you simply collapse.

Of course, you’ll need to think of a good way to eat while you work. Eating out and ingesting empty carbs does nothing good for your body, which is why it should be avoided at all costs. You can’t really cook either, so what other option do you have?

Luckily, eating healthy while checking items off your to-do list doesn’t have to give you a headache anymore. More and more companies like My Muscle Chef today strive to provide fresh and healthy food to their clients because of the situation they’re in. By talking to them, you’d be getting the nutrition that you need while staying on track with your life. You no longer have to choose between the two, and nutrition really does become a priority.

5. Don’t skip meals

As we saw from the previous example, working around your schedule is a must. This also means that you can’t skip the five meals listed at the beginning of the article. This piece of advice sounds like a logical conclusion to what you’ve read so far, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t abide by it. It’s mostly because they think they’re eating healthy and skipping one or two meals won’t hinder their progress.

That number suddenly becomes more frequent, and before you know it you don’t have breakfast or dinner almost ever anymore. Skipping meals is damaging for your physical health but also your motivation to keep eating healthy. You’ll be starving your body until it’s craving something like sugar and empty carbs; because these things are easily digestible.

Your tummy needs to work all the time, so give it something to work with. It’s going to be very hard resisting the call of starvation, so don’t let yourself get to this stage.

Conclusion

Though these pieces of advice sound sensible enough, it’s not always easy sticking to them. You’ll find it that it’s much easier to abide by them in theory than in real life. There are a lot of challenges coming your way, and you’ll need to meet them all if you plan on making a real change in your life. Proper nutrition may seem scary and overwhelming in the beginning, but soon enough it becomes a fact of life. After all, you easily get addicted to good things.