Ask an adult book store owner and he will tell you that he sells books on healthy sex for normal persons and not just for “sexual delinquents” or “dirty old men”. Besides books on sex, these adult bookstores also sell gifts, novelties, toys, videos, DVDs, used and new magazines and other sex related material for fun and entertainment. These bookstores also cater to the needs of gays, lesbians and homosexuals, and so on. Most of these adult bookstores remain open 24 hours, while some take two hours’ break for the necessary “clean-ups”. To further whet the appetite of their customers some of these stores also have small “theaters” to preview the books that the customer may intend to buy.

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Entry to adult bookstores is often restricted to persons who are at least 19 years old. In some states it is obligatory to show valid ID as proof of age before entering these adult book stores.

While providing legitimate fun and entertainment should not be discouraged, some adult bookstores degenerate into promoting illegal forms of sex, which just scares the healthy fun seekers. These places are sometimes creepy and utterly revolting and tend to become dens of obscenity, prostitution and crime. Unfortunately, it is difficult to draw a line between healthy sexual entertainment and “perverted” sex. Yet, going by the number of people who visit these stores, it can only be concluded that their popularity is on the rise.

Adult Book Stores

If you are teaching your students Christmas songs consider combining a performance with announcements about preschool fundraising programs. Po

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What Message Do Your Christmas Songs Send?

More kids are familiar with Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer than Away in a Manger. Kids get more excited about Santa than Jesus. Year after year we show our children that Christmas is about presents rather than the birth of Jesus.

Most of the Christmas songs we sing are about Santa and the North Pole, rather than Mary, Joseph and Jesus. Preschool Christmas songs are mostly about being good for Santa, rather than being good for Jesus. They teach you about elves, stockings, chimneys, snow, and candy canes. Shouldn’t CHRISTmas songs sing about Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the three kings, the manger, and angels? We have become a society that is focused on how much “stuff” we have, rather than how much heart we have. Don’t you want your child to grow up and become a Christian that lives a Christian life, and believes in Christian things? We are teaching our children that focusing on things other than Christ is OK. There is nothing wrong with singing songs about Santa or reindeers. But shouldn’t most of the songs that the kids learn be about Jesus? After all, it is his birthday, and not Santa’s.

Preschool Christmas songs are a great way to get kids excited about Christmas. Christmas used to be about giving and loving, and now it is all about receiving and taking. Maybe we need to help with the homeless and food banks, rather than go to the mall and buy a new pair of jeans. Let’s focus on what is important during CHRISTMAS: The birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

It is not bad to sing about Santa, candy, and little elves. But this Christmas, let’s make sure that Santa is not our focus, but Jesus is. Teach your child preschool Christmas songs like Away in a Manger, or Holy Night. Isn’t that what Jesus would do?

Preschool Christmas Songs

Not all speeches require the speaker to persuade the listener. For example, a budget speeches, project report presentations and technical presentations simply rely on facts and only require the speaker convey information.

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An example of a persuasive speech would be a sales presentation, where closing the sale through proper persuasion would be the main motive. Another example is a speech at a fundraiser, where the motivation is the collection of funds or securing of grants. Each of these speeches requires that the speaker connect with, convince and motivate their listeners.

Elements of Persuasion

A persuasive speech will always:

Appeal to the moral beliefs and values of your listeners. There isn’t much chance of persuading your listeners until you can reach their core values and connect with them.
Convince them that the facts that you lay out in the speech are the truth.
Convince them that the solutions that you present are the ones that will work for the problems that you outline.

Body Language and Voice Tone

Body language and voice modulation are key when you want to make an impression that convinces. A strong, but not arrogant or stiff posture is important. Your audience is hardly likely to be energized about your cause or sales product, if you deliver the speech with sagging shoulders and a glum face. Your face must be filled with the power of what you are telling them. Your delivery should include the right inflections and proper variations of pitch and tone.

Using a monotone voice is a sure way to lose your audience during a persuasive speech. You’re trying to persuade and your voice should convey this with the correct emotional tone. A persuasive speech should be delivered in a loud, clear voice, although this doesn’t mean that you need to yell at your audience to convince them about your ideas.

Delivery

Another delivery tip to keep in mind is to space your words correctly. This might not seem important, but it can make a huge difference in the pace and understandability of the speech. Don’t deliver your speech so slowly that you sound like a boring drone. On the other hand, don’t rush though your speech in your excitement to persuade. The audience must be given time to absorb facts, and let them sink in. An example would be pausing for a few moments before and after you deliver an important fact – For instance, a brief, but profound pause before and after a sentence like “One million children in Bangladesh face the prospect of starving over the next five years,” will give your facts the sense of significance they deserve. Rush through your lines, and you risk sounding like you don’t care enough about your subject to spend the necessary time, or worse, like a smooth talker who considers his audience putty.

Gestures

Use the right hand movements and body gestures to illustrate key points in your speech, but don’t use so many of them that you look like a comical figure on the podium. Your gestures should not distract from the content of the speech. Use your movements to accentuate important points and to gain your audiences attention if they begin to drift.

Emotions

Emotions are a big part of conveying your message. Sterile, cold mannerisms will not help listeners connect with you. Be real. Insincerity can be spotted from a mile away. Avoid ingratiating smiles, fake laughter and silly jokes that do nothing to build your credibility. Speak in your normal voice, without fake accents, exaggerated inflections or any other nervous tics that will put the audience off.

Developing Credibility

A big part of connecting with an audience and helping them believe them what is convincing them that you are an authority in your field. It could be as simple as mentioning your past experience on a specific project. For instance, a line that begins with “In my 15 years of working as a project coordinator for Feed the Children…” helps the audience build an image of you as someone who knows what he or she is talking about, and therefore, can be trusted. You may or may not have written the speech yourself, but even if you didn’t write it, the speech must always sound sincere and convincing.

Positive Speech

Cut down the use of words like “maybe”, “might”, “possibly”, etc. Instead, use powerful positive phrases like “we will” and “we must” that convey purposeful action, and not merely unsolidified plans. Use active phrases. For instance, instead of saying, “We have been told of a solution,” say “We have a solution.” Make your audience believe that you have the answers they are looking for.

Effective Persuasion

Your language should be designed to evoke an emotional reaction in the listener.

For instance, your audience will be unlikely to dip into their pocketbooks to write out hefty checks for a charity aimed at feeding children in Bangladesh if you say “These poor children abroad need food.”

Instead, a sentence like, “Everyday, in many parts of Asia, thousands of children below the age of five pick rubbish from dumps in search of scraps of food to eat,” creates a powerful mental picture in listener’s minds that’s hard to ignore.

Proper Closing

An effective closing that appeals to your listeners can make or break the deal. Don’t let your speech start off well, have great content, and then grind to a halt without making an impression.

The concluding paragraphs of the speech should always have a certain specific action that you would like the audience to perform. For instance, “Now, that you know how dire the situation is, and how little time we have, what are you going to do to help us make a difference in these childrens’ lives?” The closing para must have a clear cut call to action that prods listeners to do what you want. You’re not trying to get them to go home and think over what you just spent an hour telling them; you want them to begin taking action immediately after the speech has ended.

Delivering an Effective Persuasive Speech – The Essential Elements

Why do we need trees and their wood? Here are a few facts about it that you may not know about. Did you know wood is used for sleepers on railway lines because it helps towards dampening noise? Did you know cedar is used for making pencils? Did you know that telegraph poles are made of wood because of its aesthetic appearance, functional efficiency and long life (did you know some poles have been up for over one hundred years)? Did you know that bark on different trees protects them for different reasons? The white Birch for example has white bark to protect it from over heating from the sun and ultimately death, this is done by the white of the bark reflecting the suns rays. The bark of the eucalyptus is very oily, so if there is a fire the oil burns rather than the tree itself? Did you know wood is recycled to make wood chippings, used for making paths in woodland areas and also for keeping weeds down?

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We will never be without wood, we can’t be, trees are our life source. They take Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere and produce Oxygen and they also prevent flooding by holding onto soil. We can see why we are getting good at managing sustainable forests for future use in manufacture. We have to be, otherwise, the tree population will diminish, therefore there will not be enough Oxygen produced. Less Oxygen, more pollution doesn’t bode well for society. But don’t get too worried, we plant six trees to every one tree felled at this present time which means less impact on the environment and so we can enjoy everything made from wood knowing it is being replaced fully.

The Facts Of Wood

Before dealing with the safe ways to treat panic attacks in children, let us briefly discuss the term ‘Panic Attack’.

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The AACAP (an American research department of children) defines Panic Attack as “recurring periods of discomfort or/and intense fear, besides an amplified heartbeat and longer interval of breath. This period of time is called ‘panic attacks’ and can survive somewhere between a couple of minutes to quite a few hours.”

In order to prevent panic attacks in children you should observe the reasons and influences under which panic actually effects the child. First of all try to work out his/her past happenings and observe their daily behavior. Panic attacks in children can be easily treated by knowing and identifying the root cause. So following, are 3 safe ways you can follow to treat panic attacks in children:

1. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in children – The child who feels too much anxiety about upcoming events, family, friends, conversations, or any other event, are commonly influenced by generalized anxiety disorder. Therapy and relaxation techniques are most effective ways to treat children influenced by GAD.

2. Separation anxiety disorder (SAD) in children – At the time of separation from parents or loved ones, commonly a child can experience panic. The cause of separation may be studies, i.e. boarding school. Try to make your child understand the reality of life, as well as train them to cope with emotional stresses. This simple and natural method is very effective when panic attacks children.

3. The fear factor of attending school after a long academic holiday – Commonly, a child can panic when school resumes after long school holidays. Cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) are useful in treating such panics:

- Positive reinforcement like a reward system for attending school

- Systematic desensitization- A technique used in behavior therapy to treat phobias and other behavior problems involving anxiety can both help to treat panic attacks occurring in this situation.

4. Anxiety and panic usually arises through something happening within the child’s life. Sometimes it may be school and other times it may be a life experience such as a death in the family or parents separation. There are self help guides available online that can help to treat Anxiety and Panic, however severe! This may be an avenue that is worth taking!

If you feel your child is suffering from panic attacks, you should refrain from getting worried; such symptoms are not abnormal and are easily curable. Just follow the above mentioned safeguards and in most of the cases you may find it effective. There are also self-help methods available to treat anxiety and panic attacks in both adults and children and they may also be worth looking into if you feel your child suffers severely.

Panic Attacks in Children – 3 Safe Ways You Can Treat Panic Attacks in Children

There are many websites offering standard verses and thank you messages but to save you some time I have searched around and found some of my favourite thank you messages to write in cards.

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o Thank you just isn’t enough! You’re the best!

o Thank you for all you do – you are a true friend.

o Thank you much more

Than a greeting can say,

Because you were thoughtful

In such a nice way!

o This brings sincere thanks

for the lovely gift you sent.

We hope it helps to tell you

just how much it meant.

o Heartfelt Thanks…for all that you have done.

o The world’s a better place

Because of folk like you

Who take the time to do nice things

The way you always do.

o Even if every flower in the world had a voice I couldn’t send as many as it would take to say thanks enough!

If you are a keen crafter and make handmade cards it is a good idea to make up a selection of thank you cards. Once you have found a few different thank you messages to write in cards you can then add them to your handmade cards so that you have them ready in your supplies for when you need to send one.

Thank you messages to write in cards do not have to be overly sentimental and sometimes a few lines with a more humorous feel may suit the occasion better.

It important to think about what you are thanking the person for so that you can find suitable thank you messages to write. If you are sending the card to a loved one or relative something more heartfelt may be more appreciated. If it is for a colleague or a company expressing gratitude for a service they have provided then consider something more factual and detail why you are happy with the service they have provided.

Trying to come up with your own thank you messages to write in cards may be a hard task, especially if you want a verse that rhymes or are pushed for time. It is possible to have poems written for you however this can prove costly. If you really are stuck for ideas or need some inspiration then the best solution is to visit online sites that provide free thank you messages to write in cards. Finding the right words when sending a card can make all the difference. If the words fit the occasion then it really shows you have put time and effort into finding the right message.

Thank You Messages To Write In Cards – Finding The Perfect Words

To answer this, we went and did the unthinkable. We asked guys what they’d always wished their girlfriends or lady friends had given them. Now, all identities have been changed to preserve the guilty…and unlike similar things you’ll find in Cosmo, these aren’t “filtered by what we expect a dream guy to be”. Nor are they the gift guides from Maxim or FHM – though they’re closer to that than anything else.

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In particular, don’t be expecting your guy to get this as some sort of subtle relationship signal. Guys don’t think like that. Guys are direct, think that pickup lines like “That dress should be in a pile on my bedroom floor” is subtle, and think playing Halo 3 together on the couch is at least as good as a movie date. And you know what? We really, honestly, wouldn’t them any other way.

So, the next question to ask:

Is your guy a geek? If so, he’s probably made your life a lot easier. You don’t have to be a geekette to figure out what he wants. Go rifling through his video game collection some night when he’s in the bathroom, listen to what some of his friends are geeking out over, and keep mental notes – is there a game that’s getting good word of mouth buzz that he doesn’t have yet? Your shopping list just got a lot easier. If you’re worried about him getting that game from someone else, get him a GameTap subscription. Now, be warned – if you get him the Uber Game Of The Year, you don’t get “whining privileges”. Guys will obsess about these things until they finish them; really, it’s the outlet for the same kind of thinking that brought food back to the cave when it was mastodon season.

Does your guy like sports? Either as a watcher or as a participant? If he’s a watcher, and he’s got a cable package or DirecTV, see if there’s a network package or satellite package to let him get the games he wants to see. If there’s a professional team he follows, assorted fan gear is usually safe…and admit it. Sprawling on his couch wearing a sports jersey for him to keep and your intimate underthings would certainly spice things up. (Feel free to tie a ribbon around yourself in strategic places to get the hint that he should be unwrapping you, too…) If he likes to play sports, you’re going to have to do a bit more research on what sports he likes, and here, as with the computer game examples, talking to his buddies and doing a bit of Google searching are your friends.

Is your guy good with his hands? This one takes a bit of research as well. Nothing is as much of a disaster as being the only chick checking out power tools at Lowe’s. You’ll get patronized – not deliberately insulting, but patronized. Here’s where you recruit one of his buddies to be your “shopping escort” – preferably one who works on guy projects with him. Remember, it doesn’t have to be the spiffiest tool on the rack, it has to be one he’ll actually use, and appreciate using. Same applies to buying car parts, or car accessories, or most electronics gadgets.

Lastly, one thing that nearly every guy likes is looking at half naked to naked girls. Yeah, yeah. We know, he’s with you, and he doesn’t need to look any more. Get real. He’ll look – the trick is to remind him that looking is OK so long as he never wanders, and a good way to do that is a subscription to a pinup site. And trust us, he’ll remember that you bought him that subscription for a very long time. Two tasteful ones are MET-ART and DOMAI – you can Google for exact URLs.

Get Your Guy the Perfect Christmas Gift

I’ve checked out the ready-made playhouses that the big toy companies sell, and boy do I really hate them. Aside from being pricey, they just look trashy. Last thing I want is a big piece of plastic sitting in the middle of the yard. Looking at some of the larger wood swing set kits, this is more along the lines of what I had in mind, but these are just too expensive to buy.

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That leaves me to build a something myself. So now I’m looking at playhouse plans on the Web. I can’t say I’m very happy with what I’ve found. Of course I’ve checked out all the free playhouse plans first, hoping to at least get an idea of what’s involved with this kind of project. It’s looking a little scary so far. Most plans seem to be written by carpenters, who toss around construction terminology as if I were right there beside them on a job site. So I’m off to do a little research in how playhouses are built so I can figure it out for myself. Keep in mind that I’m not looking to build one of those giant-sized playhouses – the ones that are so big you could rent them out as an apartment.

Making a Playhouse Safe

Let’s talk safety first. Of course I don’t want something that will fall over with the first gust of wind. Not that I let my kids play outside during a storm, but whatever I build has to be pretty darn solid for me to feel comfortable letting them play there without me. From the plans I’ve seen so far, looks like the weight of the materials alone will be heavy enough to keep the playhouse standing upright, without me having to mount it to anything. That’s good news.

Getting Started – Make a Level Spot in the Yard

Most playhouse plans start with choosing a good spot in the yard. That makes sense. This step seems to help set the stage for everything else that follows, so it pays off to be careful and get this part of the project right first time out. Of course, to avoid building a crooked playhouse, I’ll need to find a fairly level spot in the yard. This could be trickier than it seems. Even if I think a spot looks level, chances are it’s not. I probably spend a good amount of time and energy just clearing and leveling a spot for the playhouse to sit.

Building the Playhouse Floor

After clearing and leveling a spot in the yard, most playhouse plans have me dive into building the floor. 2×6 treated lumber arranged in a grid-like pattern (joists) seems to be the favored choice of materials for this part of the construction, the same way it’s used in building floors for real houses. I can build the floor right on top of the spot I cleared in the yard, but I’ll probably put down a tarp first to keep the boards dry while I work on them. Building a floor that’s square at each corner will take some careful measuring and maybe a carpenter’s square to make sure everything is lined up. After that, it’s a matter of simply attaching the 2x6s together with galvanized nails. I’ll want a smooth surface on the playhouse floor for my kids to walk on, so that means laying down some plywood on the 2×6 floor joists. A couple 4×8 sheets of outdoor plywood should do the trick.

Building the Playhouse Walls

Building walls for a playhouse is pretty much the same method carpenters use to build a house. Using simple 2×4 studs, I’ll lay the boards out on the ground and create each wall as a separate unit. Then with some help from a friend I’ll raise the completed walls vertically and nail the corners together…just like people used to do when building barns.

Building the Playhouse Roof

While the playhouse floor and wall construction seems fairly straight forward, I think that the roof framing is going to be a little more complicated. Depending in which climate you live, a playhouse roof will get hit with rain, snow, and the sun, not to mention a few kids climbing on top of it, even though they were told not to. So I’m going to try my hand at a little construction carpentry and make a gabled roof. That’s what most of the playhouse plans call for anyway, so I’ll take on the challenge.

The good news about making a gabled roof is that you can buy some pretty inexpensive hardware that will essentially line up the roof rafters where you need them to go. Galvanized joist hangers will solve a lot of my problems here when it comes to hanging the rafters. There are plenty of instructions around for learning how to build a roof – for any kind of house, not just playhouses. So with the pre-made joist hangers and a few instructions, I think I’ll be able to figure out this part of the project without too much trouble.

Decking and Sheathing

Next comes the most rewarding part of the project: adding plywood panels to the roof (decking) and the walls (sheathing). For roof decking, most playhouse plans call for 1/2″ plywood panels that I’ll simply nail down on to the rafters. Getting at the panels to nail them down might be a little tricky, though. Some people suggest you go at them from inside the playhouse – with a step ladder poking up between the rafters. Then, after each panel goes down, I’ll come down, move my ladder and go back up for the next section.

For the walls, a lot of playhouse plans call for 4′ x 8′ sheets of T-111 tongue-and-groove plywood, which should do a nice job of making the walls solid and weatherproof. I might also look into buying outdoor paneling with a decorative side – something to make the walls look more finished.

Finishing the Roof

I guess I haven’t decided yet exactly what I’ll put down on the roof decking. Most playhouse plans call for the same thing that’s on the roof of my house: roofing felt and asphalt shingles. That seems like a lot of work to me right now, so I might shop around a little for some easier alternatives. Maybe a tin roof or some type of vinyl. I’ll have to wait see about that.

Final Playhouse Touches

Well there’s really no limit to what I can add for final touches – everything from window shutters to picket fences to really dress up the project. Most playhouse plans I’ve seen have plenty of extras to make a simple playhouse pretty extraordinary. I have a feeling once I get the basic construction finished, the extra touches might have to wait till next year.

Playhouse Plans – The Easy Way to Build a Playhouse

In conducting a counseling program for adolescents, I hear an unfortunate number of them talk about their lives as if they are over. This girl feels like a failure because she doesn’t have a boyfriend. That boy is drinking and using heavily. Those over there are running with a tagging crew or a gang. Some cannot imagine living to age 25.

Children

Because so many kids are stronger in visual and kinesthetic intelligences than in verbal or mathematical, I find it is much easier to connect with them and to get an idea across if they can see it and experience it, than if they just hear it. In group or individually, I ask them, “Who is the oldest person in your family?” or “How old was your grandpa when he died?” The answer usually is around 75.

I get out two yardsticks and lay them end to end, saying, “Let’s imagine each inch represents one year. How many years do we have here? Right – 72 – so if your grandpa was 75, he lived longer than the length of these two yardsticks. Let’s see – you are 14 (or whatever their age is). So that’s right here on the measure. Hmm, just over one foot, and there are six feet here, so you are only about 1/6 the age of your grandpa. You know that longevity tends to run in the family, so it looks like you have a long way to go … unless you get hit by a car or a bullet or get really sick or something. Did you ever ask grandpa what his life was like at 14, whether he had any idea how long he’d be around or what kinds of things might happen in his life?”

Just going this far with the activity can have a big impact. I have seen that proverbial light go on, when they actually see the length of their lives laid out on that simple yardstick.

From there, we often go to another activity, a timeline. First, I draw a sample on the board or a sheet of paper, to give them the general idea of the project. Working independently, they draw a horizontal line across the middle of a sheet of paper, at least 8.5×14 or larger. The left end is their birth and the right end is the present. Then they add perpendicular lines above and below the timeline. Lines going up are for positive experiences, and down are for negative ones. A shorter line indicates a small good or bad event, while a longer line means something much more extreme in either direction. Each of these lines is labeled to show what it represents: starting kindergarten, getting a pet, sister’s birth, going to the hospital, moving to a different school, etc. If desired, kids can use drawings in addition to or instead of words to identify each event. These timelines are then shared with the group, with each person describing as much (or as little) as is comfortable. They discover commonalities, as well as differences in perspective. For example, “dad left” could be a huge negative for one person, but a positive for another.

The following session, I return their papers. Now they are instructed either to work on the back or on a new sheet, and draw another timeline, this one starting with the present and projecting into the future, to the age of the oldest person in their family. (NOTE: This is an important instruction, because otherwise, some will show their life ending at age 21 or so. Another extension of this activity is to discuss what choices or chances could lead them to live a longer or shorter time.) Again, they fill in the markers of what they anticipate will be the high and low points, if they were to live to that age. This, of course, is more difficult for some than for others, and leads to discussions about having dreams, goals, and anticipations.

A natural follow up is a series of activities on goal setting and steps to achieve goals. Another follow-up is a series I created called “I Have a Dream, Too.” This pamphlet of activities helps them identify dreams, goals, and how to get there.

Adolescents are generally eager learners when the subject is “Me.” The yardstick, timeline and other such activities actively engage even the most reluctant kid into some self-exploration.

Adolescent Counseling Activity – Measuring Your Future

Hopefully this list of Toys for Girls 9 to 10 has given you some great ideas on what to buy for a special girl in this age range!

Toys

Toys For Girls 9 to 10 – 2009 Hot Selling Toys For Girls 9 to 10 Years of Age