When it comes to getting pregnant, timing is everything. However, there are plenty of options available to help conception occur as quickly as possible. The first thing, of course, is to arrange a consultation with a medical professional to ensure you and your partner are both in good condition to conceive.

Once you have completed a preliminary check-up you need to put together an ovulation calendar. This will help you pinpoint when you are ovulating and the optimal time conceive.

A typical menstrual cycle is twenty-eight days. However, this varies from woman to woman. The first step in creating an accurate ovulation calendar is to count fourteen days forward from the first day of your menstrual cycle. This will give you a general starting point for when you begin ovulating. Generally a woman’s prime fertility period lasts from four to ten days.

The average menstrual period is twenty-eight days. The average ovulation period is two to four days. To get a general idea of when you begin ovulating, and assuming you have a twenty-eight day cycle, simply count forward fourteen days from the first day of your period. If your cycle is twenty-nine days, count fifteen days forward, and so and so forth. Remember to adjust accordingly to your individual cycle.

Simply taking your temperature every day is another way to chart ovulation. Your temperature will elevate slightly, a few tenths of a degree to be exact, while you are ovulating and remain elevating throughout your period. Using both a thermometer and an ovulation calendar will help you to pinpoint when your body is most fertile.

Some women actually feel abdominal cramps when ovulating; this gives them an additional indicator as to when they are ovulating. When you are ovulating then it is time to get with your partner and enjoy some intimacy. When it comes to sexual intercourse it is imperative that both of you really enjoy it, spice it up so that both of you can orgasm, this in actual fact aids in the process of getting pregnant.

Post-coital activity is also an important part of getting pregnant. After intercourse it is important for the woman to prop her hips up to help the sperm get to the fertile egg. Since an egg stays fertile for about two days, frequent intercourse will help to increase the chances of getting pregnant.

Once you have made the decision to conceive there are a number of things that you need to think about and prepare for. To conclude you need to take care of your body and plan for the pregnancy so that you do all that you can to make that wonderful baby. Eat right, take your vitamins, exercise, enjoy one another passionately and let life takes its course.

Everyone can define a bad parent: short tempered, always criticizing, and more concerned with their affairs (in both senses of the word) than in those of their children. What makes a good parent though? How can you give your children the very best parts of yourself and help them create a good life?

In the 1960’s John Bowlby did a lot of work looking into the effects of parenting on children. In those days he coined the term “good-enough parenting”. His thesis was that provided you avoided the sins of “bad” parenting, you were doing okay, and your children, with their own natural resilience, would also do okay. So is that all there is to it? Or are there things that you, as a parent, can do to be more than just a “good enough” parent. Can you, indeed, be a “super parent”, even the “ultimate” parent? Or is that just a myth of the feminist movement?

Well, let’s get one thing straight once and for all: No one is perfect. Try as you might, you will never be a “perfect” parent. You will never get it right every moment of every day for every year of your children’s growing lives. Nor do you need to. In that sense, Bowlby’s concept of “good enough” is very true. You do not need to be perfect. Your kids WILL survive. “Good enough” is good enough

But, I suspect that you probably want more for your kids than just average. I strongly believe that there are things you can do, and attitudes you can adopt, that will give your children the very best start to life they could possibly have. And, at the same time, will actually make life easier and more fulfilling for yourself too. It is not a long list, but if you can manage the following, then I believe you have every right to call yourself the “ultimate” parent:

1) Recognize you are human. You cannot do everything, you cannot be everywhere, you cannot know everything. You will make mistakes. You also have your own issues, problems and hang-ups from your own past. That is all okay. The key to this game is not being perfect, but having the right attitude.

So what does this attitude include? First be humble and know that you will always have something to learn. Be ready to have others teach you and be open to learning from the mistakes you make. You are grown up when you can look at your life and know the things you’ve learned about yourself as well as the things that you still need to change.

But there is a flip side to this. Constantly putting yourself down with an “I’m no good” attitude is just as bad as the “I have nothing to learn” attitude. Forgive yourself for your mistakes. Celebrate your successes. Look back to the past only long enough to learn from it, then set your sights forward, and press on in the directions YOU want to go. If you have any serious issues from the past, be brave enough to seek help and get over them.

2) Recognize you are playing a percentage game. We have all heard of them: the kids from the most abusive, deprived backgrounds who somehow manage to make huge successes of themselves. And the kids from the very best of families (as demonstrated by their siblings) who somehow go off the rails into drugs and crime.

Unfortunately, the truth is that parents are just one factor in a child’s upbringing. Children are also under the influence of peers, other relatives, teachers, media figures, and anyone else they encounter on a daily basis, not to mention there own genetic predisposition. There’s nothing you can do to control all of the influences. Even if you are the best, ultimate parent, you kids may still have problems. And you could be the worst parent and have the most successful children. Nothing in life is a sure thing.

This is why you play the percentages. Society has shown us that if you beat your children the odds are greater that they won’t turn out to be good adults. So you probably don’t want to beat them (even if you sometimes feel like it). The odds are much more in their favor if you are fair and consistent with your discipline.

The most important thing to your success in not how your children turn out, it’s more a result of you doing everything you can with all the tools you have available. You may make some mistakes, but ultimately you haven’t failed as long as you did your best. If, however, you don’t make an attempt to get more information or help when you need it, you have failed - you haven’t done everything you could for your child, even if your decisions weren’t the right ones.

3) Be aware that there are other things in your life besides your children. It’s easy nowadays to get so focused on our children that we put them before everything else. not the only things in your life.

As an example, say that you are offered a great new job in another city and that it will greatly benefit your family. It will disrupt your child’s life, but you have to keep the whole picture in mind.

There has to be a balance in our children’s lives. By putting them first exclusively you run the danger of teaching your children that their needs and interests matter above anyone else. You are creating a selfish “me first” child. Of course we should consider our families needs when making decisions, but ultimately you have to do what’s in the best interest of the entire family.

4) Look to the long term. Raising children is a long drawn- out process. Have your long-term goals in mind. How do you want them to turn out as adults? What qualities and skills do they need to learn? What experiences do they need, along the way, to learn those skills and character traits?

Parents are often faced with a choice between a short-term, easy fix for something or taking a more difficult path that will be more beneficial in the long-run. A classic example is how we use the TV. The easy way to entertain your children is to turn on the TV and let it take over for you. It’s a great way to keep them quiet and in one place. When you really think about it, isn’t it a better idea to do something constructive and fun with them? You can build models, make a soft toy, or assemble a puzzle. These are all a little more time consuming for you, but so much better for the kids. It’s also a terrific bonding experience for all of you.

5) Focus on the positives. Of course your children will make mistakes - just like you do. The most important thing to do (and to teach them) is to learn to forgive and move on. Correct your children gently and then encourage them to go on. Children desperately need there parent’s attention. If you focus your attention on what’s wrong, that’s where they’ll focus as well. Spend your time on the positive things and your children will do it just to get your positive attention.

6) Stick to your guns. Believe in yourself. If you are doing all the above, then you are well on the right track. There will be times when you make decisions and you get challenged on them, either by your children, or by others (such as interfering relatives). Unless there genuinely are new facts that you weren’t aware of before, don’t be swayed. And don’t be afraid to say no - to your children and your relatives - if that is the right thing to say.

Your decisions won’t always be perfect. Sometimes you’ll make mistakes and wish you could change the results, but it’s far better to stick with your decisions than constantly be wishy-washy. Your children watch you and learn from your decision making and how you handle pressure. If you are consistent, your children will learn by your example.

Everywhere you look, you’ll see the signs of an obesity epidemic in the United States. Adults struggling with their weight, levering themselves into and out of cars. Many so morbidly obese that they’ll circle a parking lot four or five times before parking rather than be forced to walk an extra hundred feet.

In reality we can all agree that having excess body fat would work to your advantage if you lived in Siberia. Why? Because there, you have to work for your food, brave the cold and brutal weather conditions just to survive. Today in America you almost don’t have to work to do anything. With the advent of remote control entertainment systems, pizza delivery and wireless telephones, the average American never has to leave the sofa.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in looking at childhood obesity and nutrition. Nutritionists estimate that for every point of body mass index a child is overweight by before puberty, the adult that child will grow into will be three points overweight by the time they’re thirty. Type II diabetes, where body stress from overeating builds up resistance to insulin, is becoming more prevalent in teenagers.

This is troubling because young people are most impressionable during their teenage years. Think about it, going through puberty was hard enough when you were approaching puberty at a normal weight. Just imagine how difficult it must be for kids these days that now carry an additional 45 to 70 pounds around. What is really startling is the enormous growth taking place within the dieting industry. Teens are quickly become the best potential customer bases before they are able to vote.

Fortunately, this can be prevented. And it can be prevented easily and early on, and the solution is surprisingly retro:

Think back to when you were a kid. If there were video game consoles, they were things like the Atari 2600. Your friends came over in person, and you ran around outside and played in the park, running around with the excess energy that all children have.

After a long day of playing, you were met with a cool glass of milk, water or juice. A sugary cake or pie were a nice end to a full day of activity and not what’s now become the new breakfast of champions.

Contrary to the popular belief, it is possible to training children to eat healthy foods. Caffeine laced drinks are a prime example. Researchers have uncovered an alarming link between drinking diet sodas and consuming high fat luncheon meets with cases of certain brain cancers. If you gain nothing else from this article, at least follow this one tip, please, do not allow your kids to drink soft drinks. Remember, water first before any juices or milks.

Another simple trick is to schedule snack times along with family style meals. As an example, rather than Johnny eating a snack whenever he is bored, you establish certain times during the day when he will have a snack and what his choices are. By doing this early, it minimizes the impulse eating and helps children make proper choices.

Also, make it a habit to make your time after meals an active one. Rather than eating a big meal and head up stairs to sleep, why not take the family for a nice walk in the park or around the block. You’ll have time to connect, the children will release a lot of their built up energy and they will learn that an active lifestyle is part of a healthy routine. Not only will you feel better, you’ll also connect with your kids.

Have you ever heard the acronym “WYSIWYG”? It stands for “What You See Is What You Get”. Well, that is the reality your children are faced with on a daily basis. They will never raise their standards of healthy living beyond that of your own. If you are serious about having an impact on their lives, ask yourself this question, what can I do today that will demonstrate to my family that I am committed to living a long and fruitful life.

Listed below are concerns from parents of special needs children:

1. Do children with special needs have the same understanding of cause and effect, reward and punishment, as other children?

The fact is that this is not an issue. No matter what type of living being you are we akk have an interest in reward versus punishment to some level. Think about the bottom of the food chain such as a cockroach. Cockroaches despise the light and live to move around in the dark hours of the night. They associate good feelings with dark and bad feelings with light. They might not think about it, but rather just feel it based on experience and instinct.

If you flip on the lights you will see roaches hurrying towards darkness under a couch or a crack in the wall. They sense the light and know that a feeling of punishment is headed their way. They know that if they head towards darkness they are heading towards a reward. This repeat reward makes them always want to scramble to the darkness.

But roaches are not trainable. To be trainable, you also need a memory. Dogs have a memory. They can remember that if they hear the word “sit” and they do so, they normally get a reward (a treat or praise).

The higher you go up on the food chain, the better their memory can be. Interest in time and the improvement of analytical skills appears. When these attributes increase, you need to vary the intensity of the rewards and punishments to have any effect.

What reward and punishments should you dole out? Simple. Try first by experimenting with different rewards and punishments based on your own experience. Have a plan of rewards and punishments that will affect your child’s behavior. Make sure that you are consistent. If their behavior changes then you have accomplished your goal. If it does not then take these two things into consideration:

a) either the rewards/punishments were not sufficiently motivating (again, see the book for details) or

b) they were unable to make a connection between the behavior and the consequent reward or punishment. For example, if the time interval between behavior and consequence is too long, then the younger or less able child may not be able to connect the two.

If your plan doesn’t seem to work at all then you need to stop and look at what you are doing. Make improvements and modifications. Try the system another time. Keep changing the system until you find one that works. If you are unable to find a system that works then think about the following:

You have tried all of the things you can think of and your child’s behavior hasn’t budged. What do you do? For example, let’s say your child had PDD. You are required to complete a few hours of physical therapy with your child eacy day. However, your child doesn’t want to do the physical therapy.

Richard has read the book. He has experimented with just about every reward, punishment, incentive scheme he can think of. He has tried to make the therapy more exciting and fun. But despite all of these efforts, half the time the therapy just does not get done.

So what is one to do? Well you have two options here:

a. You could become all upset and flustered about it. You get mad at yourself for your apparent failure. You feel like you are no service to your child. You want to find the magic trick that will make your child want to do his physical therapy session.

b. You stop and evaluate your situation. You take a deep breath and look at things practically and logically. You are okay with the fact that half the time the physical therapy session may not happen, but this is still an improvement from how much physical therapy your child was accomplishing last year.

Which is better?

The problem with (a) is that it produces STRESS. And stress is unhealthy and unproductive. It means you are less effective, more irritable, and less fun. But it doesn’t produce any better results!

Sometimes you just have to understand the fact that your child may never be fully motivated to complete the physical therapy. It’s sad, but true. It is better to work with what you have then cry about not achieving perfection.

Is it not better to dial back the expectations and the striving, and aim to achieve the best that you can GIVEN THE LIMITATIONS YOU FIND YOURSELF UNDER? And, surprisingly, often when the stress is relieved, and the fun returns, then performance improves. But even if it doesn’t, which would you rather have: a) 50% performance and everyone is miserable or, b) 50% performance and everyone is happy?

The key point is to not try to compete to an ideal level when it might not be a realistic goal.