3 Unusual Mother's Day Gifts

The National Retail Federation says the expenditure on Mother's Day celebrations could touch USD 21.4 billion! That's a lot of money and when combined with facts about Mother's Day, it would astound quite a few. In fact Anna Jarvis the founder was actually lobbying for a stopping the celebration as it had ended up as a commercial celebration rather than a sentimental one. 

By Sam Pullara (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Mothers appreciate the simpler things in life and really enjoy those gifts which have some personal effort going into it. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Bed in breakfast
2. Lots of sleep
3. Boring chores all taken care off

Most mothers would love these especially the second one if there are younger kids involved. Here are 3 unusual mother's day gifts:

1. Get a gift subscription:
After reading this article it seems to be a great idea to buy a subscription for a virtual pet game, as a mother's day gift. Easy to buy, a game that can be enjoyed at leisure by both mother and child, simple to play and most importantly a gift subscription that can be enjoyed long after Mother's Day celebrations are over. 

2. Buy a set of pots with organic vegetables
Caring for plants which are already grown is fairly simple and something a busy mother can do. Alternatively you could get her a desert terrarium which actually requires minimal care. Beautiful to look, alive and something that will last a long time. 

3. Doing an activity together
Mothers like spending time with their kids when they are not in charge. Then they can enjoy them without the responsibility of caring for their needs which can get tiring on an everyday basis. When kids are young mothers like to spend time by themselves. That's a treat, but as they grow older they enjoy spending time with the kids! So kids can pick an activity which their mother might enjoy with them. 

On a simpler scale kids could surprise their mum with breakfast in bed and more importantly with a cleaned up room - without her asking them to! Now that would definitely be a memorable Mother's Day gift!

Happy Mother's Day. 

Three Important Traits Kids Develop With Play

Play is an important part in the nurturing of kids. It helps all round development in kids. Even if families are different the parenting values they believe in are more or less the same. Most of us want to bring up responsible kids. We were brought up to be responsible, and we want successive generations to be responsible. In a society, people have to be cohesive for a forward movement collectively.

Baby plays in the garden by simpleinsomnia

As family sizes shrink and family types morph, we are marching towards a society where digital devices are replacing many of the functions which involved family members. In earlier times, babies were always in the care of a family member be it a close relative or a far one. Nowadays with rapidly changing families and mores, babies could be looked after within nuclear families, in day care systems, in single parent plus grand parent homes and even single grand-parent homes. Kids did not grow up playing video games and bonding with friends over virtual pet games. They played on porches, in kitchens, back yards, quiet streets, inside parks and even the woods. But play they did. In all kinds of weather. That taught kids and shaped their character.

Here are three important traits kids develop with play:

1. Patience
Play gets kids to be patient. They learn this while building things or playing board games or putting together something. Delayed gratification is good for kids. It teaches them to stay the course even if it takes time. Research has proved they become more successful at a later age. This trait always helps them in their relationships too.

2. Waiting for your turn
This is a super important trait in large groups. If this does not happen, groups are hard to handle. If kids learn to wait for their turn, they also learn not to try and get things out of turn. Board games are a great example of simple play which teaches kids to wait for their turn. However much they itch to roll the dice again, they know they have to wait.

3. Cooperation
What's any group be it a family, friends circle, team, colleagues without cooperation? A group which co-operates survives well and flourishes. Ants are the best examples in nature. They can carry away a bigger creature with team work. The entire process of kids gathering to play, builds cooperation. They play together, build together, dismantle together and even clear up together. When groups are cooperative, in fighting is less and things move efficiently. In fact even eating together is a good way to build cooperation!

Whatever the unit that a child grows up and participates in, these three traits will always help the child stay the course. It reduces the angst children face as they grow up, because these traits help them cope with all kinds of situations through their lives. We must never forget that it all started with play.

3 Tips to Keep Your Kids Safe

One of the primary responsibilities for parents is to ensure that a child has a safe and secure environment to grow up in. In caveman times parents perhaps had to keep the kids from being eaten up or being squashed under the feet of migrating animals. Yes, my imagination is on the wild side today, but it is a fact. What parents have to keep their kids safe from today is very different. We live in an urban area and our kids spend a lot of time indoors. The little time they spend outside, is under the care of teachers, babysitters or perhaps an older sibling or a family member.

Leo and GCompris again by Jaro Larnos

Whatever the fears, its the onus of the parents to prepare their kids to be safe. We need to help our kids understand what to look out for and how to keep safe. Here are three things kids must be cautioned about:

1. Playing with Electricity and Appliances
Our homes run on electricity. Shut down electricity and everything comes to a standstill. Almost. In spite of baby-proofing homes when the kids are young, we forget that tweens can get into trouble too. We do not caution our kids enough. Many a time, kids might try things without adult supervision, which might be very unsafe. There have been many mishaps with kids trying to use the food processor, just to give an example. So it's better to teach kids to handle these things safely rather than stop them from doing so, only to have them go ahead and experiment without knowing how to.

2. Being safe online
Kids might take an eggciting break from virtual pet games, but they do love spending time online. School work sometimes requires kids spending time on the Internet. Other than installing software to protect children or using Commonsense Media to decide suitability of shows and games, it's good for parents to talk to their children about the very real problems of spending time online and sharing information with strangers. It's also a good time to explain to them that long hours on the Net might not be the best thing for them(this is harder than it sounds!).

3. Being watchful when outside 
From a young age a child must know where to find a parent and the parents must be there as promised. If it's a park and your child is playing with other young children in the sandpit, it's okay to walk around the play area from where you can keep an eye on your child. At the same time it's very important to tell the child how she can find you, by walking in the opposite direction, so you can run into her. When and if she comes, you must be exactly there so that there is complete trust built into the relationship from childhood. As kids grow, ask them to be careful about walking home after dark or running across streets carelessly even in the suburbs.

Habits built in childhood last a lifetime. Let's help build them into the lives of our kids. It will serve them well as they grow and take decision on their own. They may crib and complain, but then humor can and should be used effectively to counter them. Sometimes i just say - I'm the parent and hence the Boss! You should try it.

Cool Virtual Pet Games

If your child has been spending a lot of time in the virtual world and hankering for a pet at home, then in most probability it’s a virtual pet she’s adopted online! Virtual pet games have taken the world by storm and boast of a wide age range of players – 6 to 60! Here are a few of the most popular virtual pet games that you should be playing.

Magsafe by Travis Isaacs

Neopets

A sensation in the online world was born in 1999 – it was called Neopets. With millions of members clambering for the latest and the most exclusive pets, Neopets soon became a way of life. Besides offering virtual pets, the world of Neopets offered users a number of mini flash games too that made sure ‘once a Neopian, always a Neopian’. As Neopets continues to enjoy the same amount of popularity if not twofold, game developers have taken a cue and released a plethora of similar virtual pet games that are almost as much fun! Look out for lores in Neopets which make quite a cheerful read on a dull day and otherwise too!

Dragon Cave

Dragon Cave is an online game that allows users to adopt virtual pets – collect eggs, raise them to adulthood, and then breed them to cre­ate interesting lineages. Founded back in 2006, the game runs on the concept of stealing dragon eggs from a nest and keeping them as one’s own and later hatching them for a baby dragon. Players will have to click a certain number of times on the eggs to hatch them else they’ll expire leaving behind quite morbid message about how they died from lack of care! More the number of clicks, the sooner will the eggs hatch and dragons grow up. The interactive and very supportive community of Dragon Cave makes it easy for newbies to understand the game promptly and play it with expertise.

Flight Rising

Flight Rising is another online dragon game that is based on lore, just like Neopets. Every player has to choose a Flight at the beginning of the registration process. Picking a particular Flight determines the sort of Lair the player will eventually have and the eye color of the dragon. Once players get a dragon, the site automatically assigns another dragon to the player of the opposite gender to be its mate. Other than breeding dragons, there are a number of things to do with them – feed them, dress them up, gather items which can be sold, play mini games, fight in the coliseum, look for tiny pets for your dragons, or just interact with the community.

From the plethora of virtual pet games that are available online, it looks like they are here to stay for quite some time more. Either get your kids to adopt a virtual pet or you sneak into the virtual world to breed a pet – after all, it’s worth feeling like a kid again! 

5 Essentials in a Virtual Pet Game for Kids

Your child is interested in owning a virtual pet, and you’re wondering which game to introduce him to. Out of the hundreds of virtual pet games out there, it isn’t easy to predict which ones he is more likely to enjoy. However, you can certainly make an educated guess based on the popularity of the pet games available online.

“Healthy Foods” by Kevin Jarrett is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Of course preferences vary from one child to the next, but there are certain features that most kids seem to enjoy in an online pet game. Here they are, listed in no particular order.

A virtual world

It’s all very well to feed your virtual pet and play a couple of games with it for an hour or two, but after that things get repetitive. On the other hand, kids find great pleasure in exploring a whole new virtual world with their online pets. In some games, the virtual world mirrors the real world. Pets run around in parks and visit restaurants or splash in water. In other games, the virtual world is an imaginative one with places that you would never be able to visit in real life. You may be able to explore arctic islands, visit lands from the past or journey to the center of the earth with your virtual pets. Either way, these virtual worlds add a great deal of fun and adventure to the pet games. While most popular pet games have 3D virtual worlds that you can walk through, Neopets was one virtual pet game that did extremely well in spite of only having a 2D version of their virtual world.

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      Exotic pets

If your child could choose between a pet dog and a pet dragon, which do you think he would choose? For many kids, part of the excitement in owning a virtual pet comes from the range of options available to choose from. Without worrying about the amount of space available at home, the kind of food the pet would require or the kind of care the pet needs, kids can opt to adopt dolphins, tigers, griffins, dragons and even monsters. Some games take the action one step further by allowing players to ride on the backs of their winged pets.

      A creative outlet

Everyone has an innate desire to create something of their own. Many times, all one needs is the right opportunity. Virtual pet games that offer such an outlet are a big hit with kids. Kids delight in customizing their virtual homes, adding rooms and furniture as they deem fit. By allowing players to visit each other’s homes and putting well-designed homes in the spotlight, many virtual pet games encourage kids to think big and get creative with their virtual homes. However, not everyone is good at interior decoration. For kids who would rather write a story, create cartoons or design webpages, there are pet games that encourage these creations as well. Typically, the creations revolve around the theme and characters of the pet game, and are viewed by fellow players.

“A neopets faerie” by L. Whittaker is licensed under CC BY 2.0

            

      Mini games and quests

No matter how extensive the virtual worlds are, there’s bound to come a time when you’ve explored it all. You’ve visited every nook and corner and you know the lands inside out. What do you do next? Kids love it when there are mini games inside the virtual pet game. Rather than offering generic mini games that kids can just as well play on a gaming website, the good virtual pet games have mini games that tie in with the theme and characters of the larger world. The points earned in these games contribute to the in-game currency and allow kids to buy more items for their pets. The greater the number and variety of mini-games available, the happier your child is likely to be. Kids also love solving quests, and greatly appreciate it when they are available in a pet game.

      A strong community of fellow players

When you have a virtual pet game that you are really excited about, you would naturally want someone to share that excitement with. Many pet games allow players to do this by letting them socialize with each other on the website. Through multiplayer games, chat options, user profiles and forums, players can get to know each other and form good friends online. (If you are considering a pet game with social networking options, make sure the website has safety controls in place and that your child is aware of the best practices in socializing on the internet.) Such a community, bound by common interests, is often close-knit and contributes to the players’ love for the game.

Talk to your child and discuss which of these features are important to him. You can also find out what he expects from each feature. Based on his responses, you can find a virtual pet game that is most suited to his unique tastes and preferences.

Neopets – Your go-to Place for Virtual Pet Games

Every Christmas, my kids would ask Santa for a puppy or, failing that, a kitty. Or a feathered pal at the very least. Only an exceptionally hard-hearted Santa would fail to be moved by their pleas for a pet but a small apartment isn’t exactly the best place to house a menagerie.

But things changed when they discovered Neopets – a website devoted to virtual pet games - and the joys of caring for a host of furry friends online. My kids’ digital pets require feeding, grooming, playtime, walks and all the things that real animals need in order to thrive. But they don’t poop in the kitchen or chew the carpet ragged, nor do they require expensive vaccinations and we can take a vacation without worrying about finding a pet sitter. If that sounds like bliss, perhaps you’d like to check out this awesome virtual pet games site for your little gamers.

Courtesy - http://www.neopets.com/

About Neopets

Neopets has been around since 1997 and is one of the most popular virtual pet sites on the internet. It has everything a pet lover could ask for – cool games, pet stores, a fun Neopets community where you can hang out with other pet lovers and an entire virtual world where you can indulge your love for cute and cuddly creatures.

Neopets is a virtual world where all kinds of strange-looking creatures (a.k.a. Neopets) are up for adoption. Neopets resemble unicorns, dogs, cats, snakes and other familiar and not-so-familiar creatures. Registered users can foster up to 3 different pets, care for them, play games and build a home for them, fight with other pets, run a shop, solve puzzles, play the stock market, join a guild, get a job and do loads of other fun things.

There are absolutely no expectations about what you should do on Neopets and that’s what’s so appealing about the website. My five year old loves to decorate her cat’s pretty home while my entrepreneurial ten year old would rather spend time running a pet store and making Neopoints. Occasionally, both love to shop for clothes, books and furniture when they’ve racked up enough NPs. Neopets looks like it was designed for kids but you’ll find people of all ages, from college students to grandparents playing on it.

Neopets has a variety of games and most of them are suitable for kids of all ages. Some of the virtual pet games, however, have betting, gambling, lottery and virtual stock trading, so you might want to monitor your child’s screen time. Another thing you should be aware of is that the Neopets community attracts hackers and scammers so make sure your child is careful when talking to strangers.

Other than that, Neopets is really a wonderful place if you love pets but can’t have one for any reason.