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Learning

The Most Eco-Concious Clothing Materials

February 22, 2023 By Fatherhood Factor Team Leave a Comment

Fast fashion is a double-edged sword. While purchasing essential garments for the whole family has never been more accessible, these items are notoriously brittle and unreliable. Plus, many fast-fashion products negatively impact the environment. Read on to learn more about the most eco-conscious clothing materials available to ensure you make responsible purchases next time you’re at the store.

Organic Fabrics

As their name suggests, organic fabrics consist of all-natural materials. For example, organic cotton, hemp, or linen clothing only contains specific, raw textiles without lab-made additives like plastics. Often, organic materials cost more than synthetic-blend products. However, the higher price is worth the investment, especially when it comes to benefiting the environment. These fabrics are typically eco-conscious certified, ethically sourced, and, as a nice bonus, extremely durable. Consider shopping for raw materials instead of cheaper synthetic products.

The One Synthetic Exception: Fleece

While most lab-made materials are harmful to the environment, there is one exception—fleece! This fabric is typically made from synthetic polyesters known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). You can easily and affordably produce large quantities of PET made from recycled plastics, motivating many clothing manufacturers to implement this green, vegan alternative fabric. Products from eco-conscious brands typically include 100 percent recycled fleece materials in order to reduce their carbon footprint. As a bonus, this special fleece fabric is perfect for any season!

Certified Materials

Different brands will sometimes feature certifications on their product tags that indicate eco-conscious manufacturing and business practices. This information allows you to easily find sustainable items. These certifications are entirely optional for brands to strive toward and are awarded by various associations upon submission of the products by the brand.

Organizations such as Cradle to Cradle, Made in Green, and International Oeko-Tex Association (Oeko-Tex) distinguish businesses based on labor treatment and practices, sustainability, the inclusion of toxic materials, and more. The Fairtrade Mark indicates that a brand goes above and beyond in all areas—including eco-conscious practices—and provides Fairtrade certified-level products. Look for these certifications the next time you shop for new clothing.

Understanding which clothing materials are the most eco-conscious ensures you purchase sustainable, long-lasting garments. To further simplify this shopping process, consider researching small clothing businesses near you that only carry environmentally-friendly brands!

Important Car Maintenance Tips for Young Drivers To Know

March 15, 2022 By Fatherhood Factor Team Leave a Comment

So, your teen just got their license and is eager to get on the road. But the worries are endless once they’re out of your sight and on their own. These important car maintenance tips for young drivers to know set them up for success should anything go wrong with their vehicle.

Learn Emergency Kit Essentials

You typically want to stay on top of ensuring your car is reliable enough for every drive. But accidents happen and can often be unpredictable. All it takes is one random nail to leave someone stranded on the side of the road. Teaching your kid how to change a tire with a jack and lug wrench prepares them for such unexpected circumstances and instills independence by letting them take care of themselves.

Emergency kits ease this process with additional tools like jumper cables, flashlights, gloves, and other valuable items needed for general car repairs. Adding in non-perishable food, blankets, and water is also a bonus, depending on where you live or travel.

Know the Dashboard

Hopefully, your new driver knows that the lights popping up on the dash don’t indicate a new achievement in their driving journey. Some important warning lights to keep in mind are:

  • Check Engine
  • Brake Warning
  • Tire Pressure
  • Air Bag
  • Battery Low

These are but a few of several warning signs to look out for on your car’s dash, and understanding what all of them mean prevents issues from getting worse in the future. If they have a suitable garage available to them, they may be able to fix certain parts on their own someday. These lights also help in pinpointing where specific problems lie in a car. For example, symptoms of a bad U-joint could link to a transmission light going off. Either way, being familiar with the problems and solutions only benefits them in the future.

Pedal Slightly To the Metal

Driving fast for the sake of it is already an unsafe habit that hopefully does not develop when on the road. Despite its dangers to the driver, the car also suffers if it is not in top condition. Accelerating too quickly in a vehicle forces the engine to run more rotations per minute. This results in wearing out the engine much faster and uses more fuel in the process than a gradual acceleration. Keeping this in mind prolongs the vehicle’s lifespan and ensures that it operates within its intended means.

It is scary letting your kid on the road for the first time. But watching them grow up and letting them go is just another part of the process. These important car maintenance tips for young drivers to know keep them safe while enjoying their newfound freedom, without putting too much stress on their shoulders from here on.

Helping Your Kids with Their Homework; How Much Help is too Much?

July 12, 2012 By Barbara Jolie Leave a Comment

Parents all over the country have been lambasted for helping their children so much and so often, that they’ve become overly-dependent, unable to accomplish anything on their own. Dubbed “helicopter parenting,” critics argue that parents raising the Millenial generation are doing them a great disservice, especially since the real world of today is much more economically bleak than the economy of previous generations. We should be preparing our children for self-reliance, not dependence. Of course, as parents, we want to help our children excel in school. But how much help is too much help? Here are a few things to consider:

1. Resist the temptation to essentially do the homework for them.

It takes significantly longer to explain different academic concepts to your child than it does to give them the answers. If your child does not understand a concept, it can be especially frustrating for you, since it’s likely to be a concept that you completely and easily understand. This frustration can mount so much so that you’re dying to just give them the answers. But be aware that an answer without understanding will only lead to future problems. Your child will do poorly at tests or in-class work, and that’ll just mean more help from you later down the road. Explain until they understand.

2. Explain a difficult concept using an example that isn’t part of your child’s homework.

The best way to stop yourself from practically giving out answers to your kid is to help them using an example that’s either in the textbook or an example that you made up. If you use a problem, from, say, a math homework sheet that you’re helping them with, then you’ll be tempted to give in to the habit of revealing answers.

3. For essays, read their work and make suggestions. Don’t correct errors outright.

Just like almost all skills, writing is a skill that requires practice. If your child is a mediocre writer, be aware that this means she needs to read more and write more. This is really the only secret to mastering an ability to write. Many parents will read their children’s research papers and essays and will make corrections regarding grammar, mechanics, and style. I think it’s certainly okay for parents to make verbal suggestions, but when you write in your corrections on your child’s essay, she’ll just make these corrections without ever thinking why.

4. Understand that failure is one of the most important parts of the learning process.

Kids and parents alike are simply terrified of failure. What they don’t realize is that never failing at anything means never learning anything. Kids especially need to become comfortable with failure in order to develop the thick skin necessary in an uncertain adult world.

What do you think? How much and to what extent do you help your children with their homework? What kind of help is okay, and what kind of help crosses the ethical line?

Want to be a Smarter Dad? Start Teaching

October 2, 2011 By Keagan Pearson 8 Comments

There’s a strong possibility that at some point in your fatherly journey, you’ve felt entirely helpless and inadequate as a dad.

Just getting through the day without a major catastrophe can seem like a miracle.

Couple that with the overwhelming responsibility that we have to provide, protect, equip, and encourage our kids, and you could find yourself paralyzed with fear.

Aside from being indifferent towards the task that lies ahead, there is really only one option available to us as fathers…to become diligent students.

It Takes a Catalyst

Take a minute and think about the circumstances that drove you to want to learn more about being a dad.

Was it the first ultrasound or the first time you held your child?

Maybe it was the first time that you realized that your upbringing had some major flaws.

For some, it was the harsh reality of losing a child and the consequent shortcomings that plagued you afterwards.

In fact, the loss of a child was recently played out in the new Courageous film that just opened in theaters.

Without giving up too many details, the film centered on a group of police officers (who were also fathers and friends) that were impacted by the loss of one of their daughters.

The loss had several consequences, but for one in particular, there was a profound call of attention to his inadequacies as a dad. Consequently, he was compelled to dig deep in to what it truly meant to be a father.

While the movie’s circumstances may have been drastic in comparison to most, the result was pretty common:

  1. He was first driven to contemplate his effectiveness as a dad.
  2. He began to study (both biblical and secular) what effective fatherhood looked like.
  3. He began to teach those close to him.

Although all the steps are important, it was the decision to teach that was particularly interesting to me.

Teach in Order to Learn

There is one universal truth in the process of teaching. The one doing the teaching will often learn more than those being taught.

Without fail, this has been the consistent outcome for me as well.

Whether I’m writing an academic article or teaching a parenting class, the task of being accountable to others pushes me to learn and communicate effectively.

As one author stated:

“When learning, we can fool ourselves into believing we have a complete grasp of an idea before we really understand it. If we can do a couple problems, we think we’re set; however, we might have only seen such easy problems that we didn’t hit the boundary of our understanding. Teaching removes this possibility of self-deceit. More accurately, your would-be students will remove it. They’ll ask the questions above, along with all sorts of ‘What ifs’ you won’t be able to handle without mastery of what you’re teaching. It’s being forced to grapple with these challenging questions, and figuring the answers out for yourself so you can explain them to others, that make teaching such a powerful tool for cementing your understanding of a subject” (Richard Rusczyk, The Art of Problem Solving).

Although you will never reach complete mastery of fatherhood, trying to relay an idea or a concept to another dad will definitely require you to hone your “dad skills”.

Even if it takes looking foolish once in a while, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you adapt to the challenge of extending your knowledge to another.

Just Be Purposeful

You may not be thinking about writing a parenting book or entering the lecture circuit, but your dedication to learning is unbelievably important.

And, as you begin to teach others what you know, something revolutionary begins to take place. You become very aware of your shortcomings and your areas of strength.

More importantly, you become better at teaching the audience that really matters…your kids.

Does this resonate with you?

Maybe you have some first-hand knowledge of how you’ve grown through teaching?

Teach us what you know in the comments section below…you’ll be better for it!

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