It’s vital we find balance between work and life so that we can take care of ourselves. You also need a backup plan for those unexpected sick days. Here are some tips for Balancing Work and Life.

Breakfast in bed prepared by the kids, hand-drawn cards, and bouquets of flowers are all wonderful ways to celebrate Mother’s Day. But this year, as you revel in those cherished gifts, think about giving yourself something special: a home-based business.

In researching and writing their books, Mompreneurs: A Mother’s Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Work-at-Home Success and Mompreneurs Online: Using the Internet to Build Work@Home Success, co-authors Patricia Cobe and Ellen Parlapiano talked with countless mothers who achieved professional and personal happiness by combining work and family under the same roof. These are just a few successful Mompreneurs who gave themselves the gift of a home business—and discovered a way to balance the best of both worlds.

Diana Ennen
VirtualWordPublishing.com
“I love to be home for my daughters when they come home from school. That’s when you really get their day’s events. Being able to share a snack together and bond is just priceless. Also, my kids get to see what I do working at home. It has instilled in them passion and the knowledge that dreams do come true when you work for them. Working from home for 23 years, I wouldn’t want to do anything else.

Renee Wood
The Comfort Company
“One of the best ‘presents’ I have given myself and my four daughters is my ‘presence’. Despite the challenges of running a home business, having the flexibility to work around the kids’ schedules is certainly a plus. But more importantly, it allows me to be present for those stolen moments…the unscheduled times when one of the girls will share a story, need a hug or decide to invite me inside their world if only for a little while.”

Debra Cohen
Home Remedies of NY, Inc.
“Working from home for the past ten years has afforded me an ideal balance between career and family. It has also shown my two young daughters that women can be successful at their careers and still put their families first.”

Sue Kirchner
ChocolateCakeClub.com
“Owning my own business, I can set a flexible schedule and participate in my kids’ lives. I spoke to my son’s first grade class the other day about my career. Just seeing how proud he was of my business and my accomplishments was so rewarding. I want my children to know that there are alternatives to the corporate career path and they can look to their mom as a successful role model.”

Tammy Gibson
InStyleMoms.com
“Having my kids see me on a daily basis at ‘work,’ they learn to respect my work time and celebrate my little and big successes. It’s so gratifying to see my 5-year-old jump around and chant ‘Mommy made a sale.’ Sharing these moments with my children wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t have a home business.”

Melody Spier
EssentialOfficeSupport.com
“Owning a home business has given my family balance and extra time to enjoy one another. Long gone are the days of rushed schedules, late appointments and drive-thru dinners. We truly have become what a family should be because we’ve had time to listen, learn and grow together. As I watch my children become young adults, I think about how lucky I am to have this opportunity.”

And here’s a mom who is so happy with her work-from-home choice, she is gifting her own mother with the same business: “I am having such success with my YTB Travel Business that I wanted to give my mom exactly what I had. She retires this year so I bought her a travel booking website business. Now she can ‘earn more and travel for less’ too.” - Tina Hicks, Hickstravelweb.com

Ready for your Mother’s Day gift? Find more information and tools for starting and running a home business—plus valuable resources and an incredibly supportive community of work-from-home moms—at http://www.mompreneursonline.com

Readers Digest recently did a piece on amazing ways to earn extra money, called Best Quick Cash. Our suggestion of lending assistance was published…

Lend Assistance

If you’ve got word processing, transcription, bookkeeping, public relations or website design skills, you may want to try life as a virtual assistant. That broad title refers to people with expertise in a range of services, including administrative support and legal and medical transcription, says Diana Ennen, co-author of Virtual Assistant — The Series. “There is so much work for VAs,” Ennen says. “The field is thriving, absolutely booming.”

Though some work might require daytime hours, much of it can be done at night or on the weekend. Hourly rates range from $35 for basic transcribing to up to $100 for Web design.

Online forums and websites can be good places to gather how-to information from experienced assistants. Try the Virtual Assistant Networking Association (vanetworking.com), the International Association of Virtual Office Assistants (iavoa.com) or the International Virtual Assistants Association (ivaa.org).

You can read the entire piece here, http://www.rd.com/content/best-quick-cash/1/

Have you been searching for a wholesome children’s book and coloring book that sparks the imagination, is fun to read, and works to develop reading and coloring skills? Well look no further. Kids of all ages will enjoy the newly published, Zip, Burp, and Hula. This book is a delightful 32-page educational tale that helps children understand that it is sometimes hard to be yourself; but with the help of a few wonderful friends, it can be done. This beautifully illustrated book is perfect for beginner readers at the 2nd grade level. The colorful pictures also make it the perfect bedtime story book.

But the magic doesn’t stop there, Zip, Burp and Hula comes with an accompanying Coloring Book and Paint by Number book that allows your children to get to know the characters even more by coloring along with the characters in the book.

The story takes place when the main character, a Chameleon, tries to discover who he truly is. He knows he’s a Chameleon, and Chameleons are supposed to change colors, but he doesn’t have a clue how to do it. That’s when he befriends a zippy dragonfly, a burping bullfrog, three dancing wasps, and a wise moth. The Chameleon looks to his loving friends and the adventures begin as together they search for the answers.

Author, Cindy Johnston, has written several children’s books. Johnston had two books selected in the top four finalists in the Heartland Writer’s Conference in 2000, with Zip, Burp, and Hula awarded second place.

Zip Burp and Hula, published by Virtual Word Publishing, http://www.virtualwordpublishing. Virtual Word Publishing also offers an excellent selection of children’s musical CDs by Grammy Winners Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, who among their many accomplishments were part of the White House Easter Egg Roll.

Kids today need more books with good inspirational messages and Christian values. Zip, Burp and Hula is just that book. Discounts are available for schools, churches, etc.

Our book is available at Amazon and Kids Books and More, www.kidsbooksandmore.com and the publishers website at Virtual Word Publishing, http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com. Also, look to our other selection of best selling books on our site.

After years of psychiatrists reporting that ADHD stimulants are safe and effective, in February of this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced that all ADHD drug manufacturers must warn the public that the drugs can cause serious psychiatric and cardiovascular problems. These problems include heart attack, stroke, mania and even sudden death. Parents of children with ADHD were left with the agonizing decision of what to do. Is it safe to keep their children on these potentially harmful medications? What would happen to their children when they take them off these medications? Is there a safe alternative?

Dr. Paul E Dennison believes there is a healthy and safe alternative. A solution that is already being used in classrooms, workshops and homes throughout the world for not only helping with ADHD, but also helping with other learning and reading challenges, stress reduction, and overall better health and well being. The profoundly simple Brain Gym activities offer tremendously positive results and often eliminate the need for dangerous prescription drugs completely. For parents looking for an alternative to starting or continuing a medicine regime, this can be the answer they longed for.

Dr. Dennison recommends that you consult your family physician before commencing an exercise program. Dennison has found that most doctors will welcome the Brain Gym movement program as an alternative, as no one really knows the true harm done to those who do take the prescription drugs. Dennison believes that ADHD is an insufficiency in the ability to focus attention and to tune out distractions, one that can be illuminated by processes that integrate the functioning of the brain and the body, which is exactly what the Brain Gym Program does.

As a professional educator and a pioneer in the field of applied neuroscience and a world authority on cognitive skills and reading achievement, Dennison has done extensive field studies in this area. During the last twenty-five years, Dr. Dennison has taught workshops in movement-based learning in more than fifteen countries, being presented with numerous honors, including the Reading Excellence through the Arts (RETA) Award from the International Reading Association. He has also written eight books, including his latest, Brain Gym and Me: Reclaiming the Pleasure of Learning. His books have been distributed through eighty countries’ bookstores, with a total sold of over 415,000 copies. These books have also been translated into more than forty languages.

What makes the Brain Gym special?

• It reactivates whole brain function via the intimate connection with body movement.
• It achieves the necessary focus of attention with activities that relax the tendon-guard survival reflex and help children feel safe in their body.
• Sometimes one Brain Gym session can help a person do linear and recognition tasks simultaneously, thus overcoming the reading impediment labeled as dyslexia.
• Children will naturally enjoy reading, as good stories activate the imagination.
• Children learn to read words other writers have put together to express their thoughts, emotions, and observations, starting with the writing of their peers.

Methods to create fundamental structures for learning include:
• Music and dance.
• Tapping things out.
• Developing active listening.
• Receiving visual, kinesthetic, and tactile input simultaneously.

If you or your child has been diagnosed with ADHD, look for an alternative to the medications that are being too readily prescribed. Parents need to carefully reassess the situation on a case-by-case basis to see what is the best for their family. Stop by www.braingym.com for additional information on the Brain Gym Program. Also, Dennison’s latest Book, Brain Gym and Me: Reclaiming the Pleasure of Learning is also available at his site and Amazon and provides useful exercises and information on Brain Gym basics and how it can benefit you and your family. Your kids deserve the best; let our program help them achieve that

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Educational Kinesiology, enhanced learning through movement, was created by Dr. Paul E. Dennison and his wife Gail E. Dennison through their visionary insight into the learning process. Today these techniques, which are the foundation for the Brain Gym Program, http://www.braingym.com
are taught in a variety of settings, including schools, corporations, and athletic training programs, with even athletes in the World Cup singing its praises. The Dennisons have coauthored a series of books and manuals including their latest, Brain Gym and Me: Reclaiming the Pleasure of Learning. For additional information please contact publicist, Diana Ennen, diana@virtualwordpublishing.com or stop by their site at http://www.braingym.com. Article is free to be reprinted as long as the author’s bio remains intact.