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Cruise vacations are great for family getaways. Aside from all members being in one place, cruise ships offer activities for every age group. There are events tailored for toddlers, children, teenagers, adults, and senior citizens that allow for personal development accompanied with enjoyment. A cruise trip is a great reward that you can give your kids.

Special Options

Upon selecting the cruise ship vacation option, you should decide the type of package your family needs. While there are several cruise deals, there is only one right plan for your family. It is best to first decide with which activities you would like to reward your children. If your kids love art and entertainment, then you may consider a package that has theater activities as a reward. Children who love the outdoors will enjoy packages that include scavenger hunts and rock climbing adventures. Regardless of the selected plan, make sure that your package is one that will reward and not punish your children for their hard work.

The Royal Treatment

Aside from special activities, children can also be rewarded on cruise vacations through elegant pampering. Princess Cruises is the perfect vacation option for girls wanting to enjoy a lavish lifestyle. Ship staff are available twenty-four seven to fulfill food orders, provide spa treatment, and serve as company to guests. The royal treatment is the perfect gift to teenage girls who enjoy relaxation. Such pampering is a great way to show your appreciation for efforts made during the school and work year.

How To Pamper Them

Some of the most basic necessities such as school clothes, shoes, and supplies are great opportunities to pamper your teen. It’s important that kids understand where to buy nice things at a good price. Sites such as Offers.com have great deals on many items that teenagers desire. Teaching children how to manage their money and what things cost are basic money management skills they will need when they break out on their own; shopping together online for a high quality back-to-school wardrobe is the perfect opportunity to teach those lessons.

When To Teach Them To Be Independent

Many parents struggle with knowing when to teach kids how to pay for things on their own. Essentially, this is a personal choice for families. Many parents decide that at a young age, their kids will receive an allowance and must use it to buy any extras they desire. The kids pay the cashier with their own money and go through the buying process to learn that they must earn and spend money for life’s little luxuries. Others may feel that kids shouldn’t have to pay for things until they have a job and are saving money to buy a car or concert tickets.

Whatever a parent may decide, it’s important that at some point, teens learn to value their possessions and appreciate how much they cost.

Choosing Chores for Your Kids

You always want to choose chores that your kids can accomplish. Asking a three-year-old to mop the floor will only cause you more trouble.

If you have a young child, then ask her to put away her toys, put dirty clothes in the hamper and dust shelves that she can reach.

Slightly older kids can help around the house by making beds, helping in the garden and taking out the trash.

Once your children reach their teens, they can accept much more responsibility. Have them wash dishes, do their own laundry, wash the car or cut the grass. They might complain, but they can handle it.

Assigning Chores

You have to provide clear directions to children and teens. When you assign chores, make a chart showing exactly what each person needs to do this week. Be as specific as possible. If the chart says “rake the leaves,” then your son might leave piles all over the yard. Instead, write “rake and compost leaves.”

Make sure that you assign chores fairly. Kids need downtime and social lives as well as responsibility, so give them chores that will push them without making them feel miserable. After all, you need to help them develop more than just a work ethic.

 

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What Your Mom Doesn’t Know

Your mom has more smarts than you could ever guess, but she probably doesn’t have much experience with meeting men online or flirting via text messages. Heaven forbid that you have to deal with issues related to homosexuality, fetishes or sex toys. Most moms would thank you gladly for taking such questions to your counselor instead of trying to talk about them over the dinner table.

Ambiguity Comes in all Lifestyles

If you have a question that falls outside of the “normal” dating realm, then you can find your answer somewhere in the annals of Dan Savage’s column Savage Love. No matter how confused you feel, you cannot shock the man. He has met someone with way kinkier kinks than you.

Dan Savage does more than just tell couples that monogamy has its own shades of gray and that the line between heterosexuality and homosexuality is more than blurred… for some people, it doesn’t exist at all. Savage also co-created the It Gets Better Project with his husband Terry. It Gets Better focuses on preventing LGBT teens from committing suicide by reminding them that life will get better for them.

If you had a chance to talk one-on-one with Savage, what question would you ask him?

 

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If you believe arguments set forth by religious conservatives, then you probably also agree that households led by homosexual couples don’t offer good environments for children. In fact, you might have even heard that recent research has provided ample evidence supporting this claim.

Senator Al Franken wants to set the record straight by pointing to the actual study that representatives from Focus on the Family refer to when looking for objective evidence that there claims have merit.

Focus on the Family Can’t Get its Facts Straight

In a congressional hearing about the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Senator Franken confronted a representative from Focus on the Family about findings in a study used to support the Defense of Marriage Act. Franken points out that the study claims children living in “their own married biological or adoptive mothers and fathers were generally healthier and happier” than children living in other family types.

When Franken asked the Focus on the Family representative if he believed the study excluded homosexual couples, the rep claimed that he believed the study focused on the benefits offered by heterosexual couples.

What the Study Really Says

Unfortunately for the representative, Franken had actually read the story and knew that the definition of “nuclear family” used in the study did not exclude those led by homosexual couples. The study claimed that children benefitted from any type of nuclear family, including those led by same-sex parents.

As more people in the U.S. become convinced that homosexual couples deserve the same rights as heterosexual couples, the argument used by Focus on the Family continues to lose credence. Now the American people find that the evidence used to support DOMA doesn’t even say what they said it said.

Do you think DOMA has any relevance to protecting the rights of people in America, or does it only limit rights by discriminating against certain families?