Author: Clay Cook

The Battle Over Snow Removal Equipment Continues

After the first winter storm hits, you may be trying to decide if you want to keep using your old snow shovel or invest in a snowblower for winter snow removal. Whether you’re jealous of your neighbor across the street who cleared their driveway in half the time it took you, or you’re a recent empty-nester with no teens to help you clear the driveway, now might be the time to purchase a snowblower.

Learn more about the benefits of using a snowblower over a snow shovel as well as snowblower maintenance, to decide if power snow removal equipment is what you want for your driveway.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Snow Shovel

If you’re looking for a good workout at 5 AM on a wintery morning, a snow shovel is the right tool for you. You just may not want to have that workout every day, especially if you have an unexpectedly heavy snowfall that makes you late for a meeting.

Plus, if you have health concerns or don’t use proper technique and stretch before and after you shovel, you could risk injury or heart problems.

Snow shovels are great snow removal equipment for short driveways, decks, or pathways around your yard, but using a snow shovel on a long driveway or to clear heavy snow keeps you outside for an hour or more after each snowfall. It’s definitely a chore.

This often means getting up early to get it removed before work and sometimes removing it again between work and dinner. If you are using a snow shovel, you’ll also need to stay hydrated, rest frequently and wear layers so you can stay warm without overheating.

But, if you live in an area with light and infrequent snowfall, a snow shovel maybe your best option based on ease of storage and affordability.

Benefits of a Snow Blower

Snowblowers do have two disadvantages when compared to snow shovels. They’re more expensive, and they require annual maintenance to keep them up and running.

However, snow blowers are better for your back, better for your heart, and they reduce the time you’re out in the cold. The speed and efficiency of a snowblower mean you can get out and get the driveway cleared quickly before work or holiday visits (even if you wake up to a few unexpected inches).

Plus, they require much less physical exertion than snow shovels, and you can order snowblower accessories like snow cabs, tire chains, work lights, skid shoes, and drift cutters to make your job even easier.

So, if you often receive a heavy, wet snowfall over four inches, have a long driveway, are older, have health concerns, or just want to spend more time with family and less on chores, a two-stage snow blower is a better choice than a snow shovel.

Despite the higher price point and necessary snowblower maintenance, properly cared-for power snow removal equipment lasts for years and cuts down the time and energy it takes to clear your driveway.

The ease of clearing snow with power snow removal equipment might even prompt you to clear your sidewalk or neighbor’s driveway. Who knows, you might get some cookies in return!

Snow Blower Maintenance Tips

To keep your machine in pristine condition, make sure you do routine snowblower maintenance each fall. Change the oil, check the oil and air filters, change spark plugs, inspect belts, tighten bolts and lubricate parts to ensure your power snow removal equipment is ready for old man winter.

Do this early enough in the fall to order replacement snowblower parts for the upcoming season if necessary.

Before each use, makes sure your snowblower has a full gas tank. Since the machine needs to be cool before refueling, you don’t want to be in the middle of the driveway when you have to stop and wait.

Snow Removal Tips When Using a Snow Blower

Before your first major storm with a new snowblower, do a test start to make sure everything is running smoothly. Spray the chute with a non-stick spray to reduce the chance that thick snow will clog it up, and never use your hand to unclog the chute, or try to unclog it while it’s running.

When removing snow with a snowblower, be sure to clear the path of any objects that could damage the machine or your property if they are picked up by the snowblower. Finally, when using the snowblower, clear snow up and down the driveway rather than across it, and avoid using it on steep slopes. Stay warm!

Do you have snowy winters where you live?

January 17, 2020
Help Ensure Online Child Safety with the kidSAFE Seal Program
Parents want to keep their kids safe online, protecting them from inappropriate content, dangerous predators, or unsafe online interactions. Monitoring your child’s online activity is essential, but how do you ensure that your child’s activity is safe? The kidSAFE Seal Program makes protecting your children as they surf the web easier than ever.

Simply by looking for the kidSAFE Seal on kid-friendly websites, parents can know their children are visiting sites that follow practices to keep their kids safe and secure.

Supplementing your current online safety procedures with the kidSAFE Seal Program allows you to protect your kids when they’re on the web. Together, kidSAFE, open lines of communication, and parental controls can make the Internet a kid-friendly environment.

How the Program Works

The kidSAFE Seal Program reviews the safety practices of child-friendly websites. Sites that comply with five core safety rules can earn a kidSAFE Certified Seal.

To acquire a kidSAFE Certified Seal, websites must comply with five safety rules:
1. Chat and community features must be safely designed.
2. The site must feature rules and education on online safety.
3. Must have procedures to handle safety issues
4. Offer parental controls
5. Must feature age-appropriate content, advertising, and marketing
Websites and their products can boast their kidSAFE certification if they meet these important standards.

Websites can secure the kidSAFE+ Seal by further complying with additional privacy rules modeled after the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule. These additional standards include asking neutral age questions, establishing parental notice and consent procedures, and having a COPPA-compliant privacy policy.

Websites that meet these additional standards will have the kidSAFE+ Seal on their websites and products.

What the kidSAFE Seal Program Means for You

Websites that display the kidSAFE or kidSAFE+ Seal have gone through a rigorous, independent review of their safety practices. When you and your child log onto a kidSAFE website, you know that you are using a website that meets a high standard of online safety.

While kidSAFE does not conduct a review of the site’s content, such as its age-appropriateness, you can rest easy knowing that websites displaying the kidSAFE Seal were designed with child-friendly safety features in mind. When your child logs onto an approved website, you know that the chat and community features are secure, and the site has established procedures in place should a threat to safety or security occur.

Even more, you know that the website has parental controls in place, and moderators are accessible to handle any problems or complaints.

How to Find kidSAFE Websites and Products

Tap into a searchable directory of products by visiting the kidSAFE website. Here, you can scroll through the always growing list of websites and products that have earned the kidSAFE Seal.

By clicking on any site in the directory, you can learn specifics about what features the website offers. Within the kidSAFE directory is a certification page for each site that has earned a kidSAFE Seal.

If you do not see your child’s favorite website on the list, you can submit it. Afterward, kidSAFE will add your suggestion to its list of products to review. The kidSAFE Seal Program directory will continue to grow, so check back regularly for updates as more products are reviewed.

Advantages of the kidSAFE Seal Program

The Internet can be a fantastic resource for your children. It can enhance their technological skills, create bonds with family and friends, and supplement their education. However, the Internet also poses dangers, and, as a parent, it is up to you to protect your children.

Make sure the Internet remains a helpful resource for your children by trusting the kidSAFE Seal Program. The searchable directory allows you to assess a website’s safety practices quickly. Paired with your assessment of the website’s age-appropriateness, the program keeps your children on sites that make their safety and security a priority.

The program is an additional way to protect your children when they’re surfing the web. Maintaining open lines of communication with your children and closely monitoring their online activity are the first steps in ensuring online safety. The kidSAFE Seal Program serves as another measure of protection for your children when they are online.
January 17, 2020
Home Security Tips for On-the-Go Dads

As a dad, you probably worry about a whole lot of things at home, especially if you are working away for most of the day. Setting up security cameras around your house can provide you a set of virtual eyes. This way, when you are gone, you can still see what’s going on in and around your house.

You know how paranoid you can get leaving your kids home alone or with someone, say a babysitter, with whom you haven’t yet established that certain level of trust.

And with all the reports about home break-ins in some areas, setting up better home security is something that you should consider.

But setting up security cameras at home isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of securing your home. There are other more practical things you can do to make your home a safer place for your kids when you have to leave them alone or with other people, or when you are leaving your home empty when you need to go somewhere.

Below are some home security tips for dads on the go:

Invest in outdoor lighting

Sufficient outdoor lighting is an effective intruder deterrent. Your home’s doors, windows, and dark corners outdoors should be installed with lighting equipment so there’s no place for burglars to hide.

If you want this lighting to be truly effective, it needs to be bright and have the correct motion control on it. That way, you can be sure that it will be trustworthy and keep your home secure.

Keep the doors locked

This one is a no-brainer, but something some dads tend to take for granted or forget, especially when they are in a hurry. If you’ve got someone to double-check the doors for you, say your wife, that’s fine.

But what if she leaves for work earlier than you? And don’t just lock the doors.

If possible, invest in double locks for all your doors. This will make your home less inviting for intruders.

Also, when you leave, make sure your garage door fully shuts. It’s very common for something to accidentally block it from closing, and it opens right back up.

So, watch it actually close, which will only add a few seconds to your leave time.

Remember to lock all the windows

Some suggest that you should keep ground-floor windows locked, but what about the windows upstairs? Skilled intruders can easily climb up and sneak in through the windows upstairs.

It’s fairly easy to slide a window open, even for a small child. For added protection, you can set up special window bars so you can leave the window open to let fresh air in without you having to worry about anyone trying to slip in.

Use social media responsibly

It’s quite a common pitfall among active social media users, but posting your work schedule or the times when you’re not at home on Facebook is so tempting for intruders.

For all you know, someone could already be monitoring each of your Facebook or Twitter status updates for information that could give away your whereabouts.

Hide your keys in places only you should know

Hiding keys under the flower pot, beneath the doormat, or on top of the door frame is pretty obvious. Everyone does that, and that’s a dead giveaway.

Instead, hide your keys somewhere only you should know, like inside your bag, so you can bring them along with you.

Trim the bushes and trees around your home

Bushes and trees are lovely. Burglars think so, too. They are perfect hiding places for intruders.

Trim the bushes or replace them with plants that don’t grow too thick.

January 17, 2020
Simple Steps to Set Up an EBay Store

Dads–are you looking for a hobby or a way to consistently make some extra income? Maybe there’s a new video game your kid has to have or a much-needed vacation that just doesn’t align with your current budget? Although anyone can sell items on eBay via auctions and the “Buy it Now” process, there are several perks to opening an actual eBay store. For example, this will allow you to become more visible to consumers, and it will also let you customize your storefront.

Due to this, creating an eBay store can help you turn the clutter in your home into a viable source of income. In fact, this is the perfect way for dads to create an easily managed home-based business.

Once you’ve had a few sales, you might catch the bug and start shopping for low priced finds at flea markets, thrift shops, yard sales (and friends) which can be converted to larger cash sums in your store.

Guide to Setting Up an eBay Store

1. Create an Account

If you do not already have an account with eBay, you will need to create one.

This will require you to provide eBay with payment information so that they can bill you for your store subscription, listing fees and their percentage of each sale, and you will also need to have a verified PayPal account.

2. Pick a Package

There are several perks associated with having an eBay store, including reduced listing fees. Additionally, your monthly subscription comes with a predetermined amount of free listings for you t0 sell your goods. For example, if you opt for the basic package, you will receive 150 free listings each month, and you can also save $48 by paying for the entire year upfront.

Most people who are selling items out of their homes will have their needs met with the basic or premium package, but power sellers will receive the best value by subscribing to the anchor package.

3. Build Your eBay Store

You will have the option of using a basic template and creating your own look with HTML. If you do not have any experience with HTML or creating templates, it will be best to stick with the basic layout.

Fortunately, you will still have the opportunity to customize your storefront by uploading a logo, writing a description that makes it easy for people to determine the type of items you sell and selecting an eye-catching color scheme.

4. Post Your Listings

Posting listings with a store account is easier than using the standard auction approach because you can upload multiple things at once. Additionally, you will be able to save basic templates for items that you plan to sell often.

Keep in mind that the store format also enables you to set a specific price for your items instead of operating your listings in the typical auction format.

5. Promote Your Store

Anyone who has an eBay store can take advantage of the site’s many promotional tools to increase their sales. For example, your buyers can sign up for your newsletter so that they can be the first people to hear about your latest listings.

You can also highlight some of your listings so they become more visible. If you have social media accounts, it’s smart to promote your links there too.

Setting up an eBay store does not need to take a lot of time. In fact, most people who choose the basic layout can have everything in place in less than an hour.

Once you have taken care of the necessary set up, you will be well-positioned to begin making money out of your home. This will allow you to get rid of unnecessary items, and you will have enough extra cash to splurge on something that you really want (I’m looking at the new consoles that are coming out later this year).

January 17, 2020
Determining If Your Child Needs Glasses
Do you suspect your child needs glasses? When children are going through vital developmental in their early childhood, they get about 80% of their learning through visual stimuli. Therefore assessing and testing their eyes during these early years is vital to ensure that they reach social and intellectual milestones.

Plus, it gives them the self-confidence to go out into the yard or playground and explore.

As parents, there are tell-tale signs that can be picked up during infancy and early childhood that point toward vision problems. Generally, the more serious the problem, the earlier it’s picked up.

During the first few months, a baby has very poor vision, with little visual acuity, and seeing mostly in black and white. After six months, their sight should naturally sharpen, and they should have better hand-eye coordination.

At this point, you should take your child for their first eye exam. After this, an eye exam should happen from the age of three onwards every year.

A simple, well-proven surgery can restore sight to millions, and something even simpler, a pair of glasses, can make millions more see.

Thulasiraj Ravilla

Signs of Poor EyeSight
- Constantly sitting too close to the television or holding a book close to their face
- Squinting to see clearly
- High sensitivity to light and shielding the eyes
- Avoiding certain things like close activities (reading, coloring), or distant activities (playing with a ball or tag).
- Frequent rubbing of the eyes
- Complaining of a headache or tiredness in the eyes
- Watery eyes
It never gets old watching someone receive their first pair of glasses and regain their vision and their life.

Neil Blumenthal

What’s Wrong?

The typical problems that young children experience are:

Farsightedness

Common with kids and can lead to crossed eyes. This can easily be corrected in the early years by wearing glasses or contact lenses.

In very rare cases, surgery is needed. However, left untreated, crossed-eyedness or strabismus can lead to permanent and irreversible vision loss.

Nearsightedness

It is also called myopia and means that children can’t see the blackboard and other faraway objects.

Astigmatism

This is when your child has blurred or distorted vision at all distances. In most cases, these common conditions can be treated with correctly prescribed glasses or contact lenses.

The Immovable Mountain

Your child may be as stubborn as a mule and refuse to wear glasses (let alone contact lenses). If you run into opposition, try some of these methods:
- Let them select their own glasses.
- Explain the advantages of wearing glasses. Like you will be able to play sports now, or you will be able to see the computer better to play video games.
- Some children are worried they will be teased or feel different with glasses. Calm their worries by giving them an example of a superhero, cartoon character, or famous person with glasses who they can look up to.
- Don’t visit the optometrist to select glasses when they are grumpy, sick, or hungry.
- Make sure that the glasses fit correctly and are comfortable for them.
12% of people with glasses wear them as an attempt to see better. 88% of people with glasses wear them as an attempt to appear smarter.

Mokokoma Mokhonoana
January 17, 2020
Balancing Your Time: Household Chores and Time with the Kids

I suspect most parents feel guilty about not spending enough time with their kids. There are just so many other demands like household chores.

Time is a precious commodity, but it may be possible to free up some of it by looking closely at your schedule. Here are a few suggestions for how you can improve the balance between household chores and spending time with your kids.

Choose the Right Cleaning Supplies

Purchasing the right cleaning supplies can mean you waste less time on household chores.

For example, things like a carpet cleaner can be an essential cleaning tool. It is much easier to use something designed for the task than trying to use something that falls short.

It doesn’t cost a lot of money to have a well-stocked cabinet of cleaning supplies and gadgets, and it can be worth it if it saves you time.

We personally could not live without our robot vacuums.

It is amazing how quickly the kids learn the operation of the DVD, yet are unable to understand the vacuum cleaner.

Etienne Marchal

Encourage Your Children to Help You with Household Chores

You can spend time with your kids and do household chores at the same time by allowing them to join in.

Even young children can participate if you turn it into a bit of a game. The secret to making this work is to choose the right tasks for your child – otherwise, you could end up making more work for yourself.

It can also be a good idea to give children some regular household chores (i.e. cleaning their room) because it can be beneficial for their development. It will provide them with some responsibility and prepare them for when daddy and mommy aren’t there picking up after them.

The cruel irony of housework: people only notice when you don’t do it.

Danielle Raine

Create a Schedule for Household Chores

The advantage of a schedule is that it allows you to stay on top of what needs to be done. It makes it possible for you to think more carefully about when you do these tasks, so you are more in control of your time.

Maybe do certain chores on certain days. Or, when you are waiting for something to cook, do some speed cleaning. Doing a little bit here and there really does add up.

Don’t cook. Don’t clean. No man will ever make love to a woman because she waxed the linoleum – “My God, the floor’s immaculate. Lie down, you hot bitch.”

Joan Rivers

Understand That Quality is Just as Important Quantity

The quality of the time you spend with your kids is just as important as the quantity of time. There are only so many hours in the day, and all you can do is your best.

It is always nice to spend more time with your kids, but it is better to make the most of the time you have.

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. —Phyllis Diller

January 17, 2020