Life Through the Eyes of a Child - Living Life to the Fullest

Life Through the Eyes of a Child - Living Life to the Fullest Lessons on Living I learned from my Niece & Nephews - ages 11 months through 11 years © 2003 Cheryl Marks-Young

Have you ever spent time with young children? Have you ever really paid attention to them and watched them in their process of discovering the world? It is a truly amazing experience, watching them move through their emotions throughout the course of any given day. We can learn some pretty amazing things from watching children. I believe they can bestow upon adults a veritable PhD in the science of Living Life to the Fullest. Here are some amazing life lessons I have gained from observing my niece and nephews:

1) There is nothing cooler than a handful of Cheerios. Pay attention to the wonders around us and find joy in the simple everyday things - for life is truly a miracle.

2) The world is one big jungle gym play set. Use your imagination and your creativity on a daily basis.

3) If it is within my grasp it's either mine or worth striving for. If you can see your goal just ahead, don't stop now, don't get discouraged, don't listen to those who will try to tell you otherwise - follow your own inner calling and go for it. Grab the brass ring on the merry go-round of life and aim as high as you want to.

4) Don't worry; be Happy - after all playtime is forever. Remember nobody ever left this earth saying I should have spent more time at the office - and if they did, they were smart enough to keep it to themselves.

5) One genuine smile from a child is worth a thousand bucks in therapy sessions.

6) Girls just wanna have fun and boys just wanna be themselves and sometimes it's just the opposite. Let kids be kids and allow them to discover their own world - the one they live in - the one that is called childhood.

7) If you don't like it the way it is, don't worry - my attention will shift in 5 minutes - life is so full of things to do and experience; if you don't like one thing, go try another. Sometimes we make mistakes in choosing jobs or paint colors or clothing or social activities - don't suffer because you were told to when you were a child - you are in control. It's okay to change your mind or admit you made a mistake and move on. As my Boss once said, "Misery is Optional".

8) Adults are just weird big kids. Hey, we like to play too!

9) Eat, Sleep, Poop - Life ain't too bad. If the core needs of everyday survival are met, the rest is a walk in the park.

10) Milk is good but Chocolate Milk really rocks my world. Amazing how just a small shift can change your outlook on life.

What does all this mean exactly?

Life is a wondrous, colorful place to live and experience. We have all the colors of the crayon box to play with. Enjoy it; watch little kids faces and learn the wisdom of the ages of love, unconditional love, enthusiasm, lack of fear, wonder and amazement at simple things - butterflies, smelling the roses, picking tomatoes in the garden, chocolate milk, etc.

Sometimes as we grow hardened by life experiences we lose touch with our own sense of wonder and amazement. We can sometimes get caught up in the daily routine of working to pay the bills and support our families and forget there is more to life than "work". Just slip a child's hand into mine or put a toddler or baby in my arms and all the troubles of the day and the world slip away. Funny that sometimes, the most serious of adults lose their outer shell of "perfectness" and become truly "PERFECT" in the presence of a child.

Try something new today - look at life through the eyes of a child. Look around you for just a moment as if you have never seen the world before. You may just find that by enjoying the everyday miracles of life unfolding one at a time, you begin to experience the world as a wondrous place and a really huge playground.

In the words of Heraclitus, "Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play."

Cheryl Marks-Young is the Founder and CEO of Creative Blueprints, LLC. and Creator of The Perfectionist Guide E-zine. For hundreds more tips on personal & professional relationships and creating a Perfect Life for YOU, sign up for your FREE monthly subscription to The Perfectionist Guide E-zine at www.creativeblueprints.com .

8 Ways To Grow Healthy Children

Parenting can have it's highs and lows throughout childhood development. Keep in mind that as the parent, you are the single most important factor in determining how your children grow up. This article will help show you a couple ways to grow healthier children.

1) Be a positive role model. If you are practicing healthy habits, it tends to be a lot easier to convince your children to do the same. Keep in mind that children tend to repeat actions that they see their role models engaging in.

2) Get the entire family in an active lifestyle. Try to plan times for everyone to be active together. A couple examples include family walks, bike rides, swimming, and gardening. Each family member will benefit from the exercise social family time.

3) Try to limit television, video game and computer times. These habits will tend to lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. Children who sit around on the computer and watch television all day are at a much higher risk of gaining weight and anti social.

4) Encourage physical activities that children will really enjoy. Let children experiment with different activities until they find something they really love. They will stick with this activity and stay healthy longer. Do not let them sit around all day doing whatever they want. There needs to be some sort of structure.

5) Be as supportive as possible. Focus on the positives instead of the negatives. Children will benefit from hearing more positive things than negative. If you celebrate the little things with them as they are young, they will grow up to be more positive individuals.

6) Set specific goals and limits with almost everything. A couple great examples are television and exercise time, and eating limitations. However, if you are too strict, it can have a negative affect on the child. It is possible that the child will look upon adult figures as too strict and even scary.

7) Try not to ever reward children with fatty snacks. This has been seen in the past as highly disadvantageous to children. Each time they do good things they think candy will be coming their way. This easily leads to childhood obesity. Instead you can reward them with healthy fruits and vegetables, even a play date with their friends. A few good suggestions include apples, bananas, oranges, peaches, cereal, and toys.

8) Try to eat breakfast and dinner as a family as much as possible. This is one of the important factors to help children develop their social skills. Try to think of what would happen if the child ate dinner and breakfast by themselves in their room each day. There is no doubt that the child would develop antisocial behavioral factors and possibly become depressed.

Now that you have more parenting tools to grow healthier children, it is time to put them to good use. Always remember that children as like mini sponges, they tend to soak up all the information around them and use it later on in life. Good luck growing healthy!

Donald Mckenzie Jr has been a successful affiliate marketer for more than 2 years. For access to his home business articles and programs, visit his website. http://full-time-income-from-home.blogspot.com