Mum or dad-who is the best?

Mum or dad: who is the best?

Traditionally, it was believed that women could become better parents than men. However, taking into account the drastic changes of women’s role in society, are they still better parents than men? Or is that that equality between the sexes has also been achieved in parenting?

Without doubt, women’s role is society has undergone radical changes. Nowadays, for example, most women no longer stay at home looking after the children; they also work long hours as men do. In fact, in some families traditional roles have been changed: women are the breadwinners while men stay in the house taking care of the children.
This means that after a long working day women return home with little energy to prepare dinner for the children, telling them stories until they drop off, changing nappies and the like. So, 21st century families resort to a new way of organizing household chores. It is no longer women who have to do everything that concerns children’s care; this duty is carried out by both mothers and fathers to the same degree.

It comes as no surprise then to see fathers waiting for their children at the school gates, helping their offspring to do the homework or bathing them. These present situations seem to show that men have adjusted themselves to their new parental role very well. To my mind, these new roles of mothers and fathers are really beneficial to the children, since they can now forge stronger bonds with their fathers, too. In the past, children used to have a closer and warmer relationship with their mothers rather than with their fathers. Today, both fathers and mothers are present figures in the families. The proof of this is that, when in trouble, children shout “help mum!”, or “help dad!” alike.

In conclusion, it seems that the equality between men and women achieved in the world of work, politics and society has also extended to their roles in the family. Today’s women are not able to be full-time mothers, which means that men have a more significant role at parenting than they used to have in the past.

Loads of work pending at your desk. Endless hours of college subjects which cannot be dropped. Timetables crammed with exams and deadlines. There’s no doubt today’s students lead a hectic life. And of course, this characteristic doesn’t go unnoticed. The result is high levels of stress. This suffering has become so common among students that it is has come to be taken as an unimportant and irrelevant condition. However, if you are one of those who suffer from sleep disturbances, muscle tension, headache, gastrointestinal disturbances, and fatigue, then it’s time you acknowledged you are suffering stress and started fighting it.

Those who are ready to beat high levels of stress visit their doctors’ consulting rooms asking the same question: how can I relieve stress? Gloss magazines and TV programmes are keen on spreading advice on how to manage stress, and there is a huge amount of information flying about. As a result, most people end up feeling at a lost with so many ways to combat stress available.

In this article, I’ll focus on six golden steps which, I can assure, will help you win this battle. In the first place, devote a few minutes a day to sitting quietly with closed eyes. This technique should be accompanied by meditation and deep breathing practice. Both actions will help you calm down and start releasing tension. Secondly, exercise regularly, which will allow your body to enhance the production of endorphins. These brain chemicals are known for lifting people’s mood. After the first weeks of training, you will feel a world of difference in your spirit. Furthermore, try not to bottle up inside. It’s a good solution to share your problems with any person you trust and feel comfortable with.

The three resting steps are related to sleep hours, nutrition and personal attitude. Getting enough rest is crucial to keep stress at bay. If you are finding difficulties to sleep, then try reading something soothing or listening to soft pleasant music. As for nutrition, it’s important to eat a healthy and balanced diet and to avoid frozen meals. Finally, having a positive attitude towards your life will undoubtedly accelerate the process of fighting high stress levels. It’s a proper strategy to look on the bright side of things. Whenever your life presents you with any challenge, try not to think of what may wrong. Instead, feel confident that you will do as much as you can to meet your goals.

All in all, if you are determined to combat stress, a combination of these techniques will bring about successful results. Life is so much enjoyable once you become ‘stress-free’. Therefore, each of the steps outlines before is worth trying.

You’re kucky you have passed your exam. You’re lucky you have such a job. You’re lucky you can go on holiday. You’re lucky you have a car and a house of your own. All too often people attribute life’s fortunes to goood luck, and its misfortunes are simply reduced to a question of bad luck. But, how much of succees is good luck? And how much of failure is the consequence of bad luck? These are interestung questions, which at first glance may seem to have no answer.

However, at a closer look at ‘lucky’ people’s lives, one can realize there are always hard work, perseverance and convincement behind each successful event. This means that if you want yoursef to become a succesful person, you can’t depend on good luck at all. First, you need to set goals in your life. And success will only come when these goals are achieved. In pursuit of that, there are many paths to follow, which are not precisely related to good luck. At a first stage, you will need to find the correct ways to boost your self-confidence. You need to believe in yourself, in your capabilities and strenghts. Then, you will need to make all-out efforts to obtain what you desire. You can see there’s no room for luck up to here. This is so because it is after working arduously hard, facing up obstacles and challenges that, once a desirable goal has been achieved, one gets the feeling of satisfaction for being successful in life.

However, luck in itself, either good or bad can have a role to play in the pursuit of pesonal and professional dreams. Good luck can accelerate the process people go thorugh to reach success, in the same way as bad luck can intervene within this process by making things complex, slower and sometimes demotivated. But, without doubt, in the battle between luck and hard work together with perseverance and convincement, fluke has no chances of notching up victory.

All in all, I believe that luck won’t determine how succesful a person is. This implies that it’s vital to equip chidlren and teens with the concept that if they are willing to achieve objectives in life, they need to be ready to devote huge efforts, energy, and adopt a positive attitude towards themselves.

Indigo children

Have you ever heard of Indigo children? I have heard about it on several occasions but I had no idea of what this term means. So, I decided to look for information about these Indigo children and I’d like to share what I’ve found with you. Hope you find it interesting!

‘Indigo children’ is the label given to the boys and girls who are supposed to have special abilities and traits. These unique powers will allow them to accomplish their mission: to break with old social structures and put an end to unhappiness in the world. These three lines are enough to open the door to heated controversy. On the one hand, some will feel delighted at the mere possibility of having such beings on Earth. With the all too often tragedies that affect the world and the miseries that humans are ready to show, feeling a kind of relief at the possible existence of such powerful beings is only natural and logical. On the other hand, several of you may be splitting your sides at the idea of indigo children. Admittedly, at first glance it seems a bit weird and crazy. However, it’s still interesting to go deeply into the subject.

The concept has gained popularity throughout the 1990 when several books have been published about these special beings. In these sources, Indigo children are depicted as supreme beings that are extraordinarily intelligent and have the capacities of seeing beyond light and hearing any kind of sound including blood flow. They are also very intuitive people and they are able to exercise telepathy. Some ‘indigos’ may even have the power of healing others.

The name Indigo makes reference to the children’s aura colour. The indigo aura colour ‘relates to the third eye, visual and pituitary gland and to intuitive, sensitive, deep feeling’. Their aura results in the possession of unseen qualities.

It’s not clear whether scientific studies have confirmed the existence of these children. Some sources claim that there is no scientific proof to account for indigo children, while others explain that science has proved that indigo children are the result of some kind of alteration in their ADN. Anyway, I believe it’s up to you whether you believe in it or not. What’s your view on the topic? Do you think indigo children are here among us? Or do you disbelieve this theory?

A student and a worker- is it compatible?

A student and a worker- is it compatible?
A student
Nowadays, seeing teens queuing up to find a job is no longer unusual. For some this phenomenon can have great effects on teens’ development, but for others adolescence isn’t the right moment to get involved in the world of work. But what are the cons and pros of combining work and study? It would be wise to have a closer look at the issue before coming down on one side of the fence or the other.

Let’s consider the positive side of having a job while studying. Working is a highly enriching experience for any individual, regardless of their age. First, it is a golden opportunity to grow and mature. It’s the moment when people start learning how to cope with responsibilities. This gain is particularly important for adolescents, given that today’s teens naturally tend to look down on responsibilities and obligations. And, coming to terms with them is essential for life.

Moreover, entering the world of work can open the door to getting to know different people. It’s common knowledge that teens start up friendships with people of their age and that they generally deprive themselves of profiting from relationships with older, more experienced people. Thus, being in contact with adult work mates becomes a valuable source of expertise and life experiences. Finally, working can allow youth to gain more independence from their parents. Earning a salary allows teens to enjoy a greater freedom of action.

However, all that glitters is not gold. When students start off working and studying at the same time, time management becomes a real issue. Limiting your study time-usually crammed with deadlines, assignments and exams – to a much tighter daily schedule can be very difficult. And let alone enjoying leisure time, which often shrinks to no more than a couple of weekly hours. But take heart! If you are already caught by the many benefits working can offer, you should know that the majority of teen workers manage to organize their time.

To my mind, the young who are willing to start working should go ahead. The great benefits of working make it an experience worth trying. I firmly believe it’s a question of getting used to a new routine and learning to juggle studying pressures with work responsibilities. In the pursuit of that, efficient time management becomes the key.

Pecha Kucha

As you already know, my presentation was about significant events. The very words significant events may bring to your minds different thoughts. Some unique life experience, a break point in history, or any other event, that for some personal reason you consider it significant. When I read significant events in the list of possible topics, what came to my mind were such holidays as father’s day, mother’s day, friendship’s day and St Valentine’s Day. As I said before, this has to do with personal experiences. What has led me to consider these events significant are mainly three reasons:
• First, Despite the fact that the holidays have been commercialized to a great extent, the motives that push different people in history to set this special dates were based on love, affection and respect. And however much the ways of celebration have changed, the basic ideas behind the occasions remain the same: to acknowledge these people’s contribution in our lives, to express love for them and pay them a tribute.
• Secondly, our hectic lives often leave us with almost no time to gather with our family and our friends. It’s like we always have other priorities and we keep on putting off meeting our beloved ones. But, special occasions as mother’s day turn everything round. The people we are honoring that day become top priority and we are ready to leave aside anything to be together with them.
• And last, what actually makes these occasions SIGNIFICANT is the significant roles mothers, fathers, friends and partners play in our lives. Is It necessary for me to say that Mother’s love is the first unbroken bond we will ever know. That she will never be able to bear when we are suffering; she will prefer to stand in our place and take the pain instead? That father’s are the real super heroes who are ready to do anything to bring a smile to our face? That friends are part of us? That they are a shoulder to cry on and they are the ones who have the right recipe to share joy so that it becomes a double joy and to share sorrows so that it becomes a half sorrow? That partners provide us with a different kind of love which has proved to have the power of cheering us up when we feel everything is gloom and doom; that they are the ones with whom we share dreams and with whom we plan to spend a life together?

All of them occupy a place in our heart. They are worthy of adoration and thanks for all the demonstrations of love they have had since the very first minute we start walking together along this mysterious way that life is.

Going back to the celebrations themselves, of course they didn’t emerge out of the blue. When I was planning the presentation I thought that there must be interesting stories behind each of them. And I feel tempted to know everything about it.

If you want to go through the origins of each of the holidays again, here they go:

The first of these holidays that we celebrate is St Valentine’s Day. As we all know, every year, the fourteenth day of February millions all around the world present their beloved ones with cards, chocolates, flower or any other gift to celebrate love and affection between intimate companions.
The reason behind this holiday is a cleric named Valentine. As the legend goes, in those days, Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men. He considered that it made men weak. So, St Valentine started holding secret marriage ceremonies. Of course, it was only a matter of time before Claudius II came to know about st valentine’s secret and gave the order of execution of the bishop. Valentine is believed to have been executed on February 14th. Thus, this date became the day for all lovers and Valentine became its Patron Saint.

The second holiday we celebrate is father’s day. The first observance of father’s day dates back to 1900. Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton organized this special day to celebrate the lives of hundreds of fathers who had been lost in the Mononghan Mining disaster. Other sources believe Sonora Smart of Dodd was the one who came up with the idea of celebrating father’s day. Sonora wanted a celebration to honor fathers like hers who had to raise his family alone. When the first celebration was held, young Christians went to church wearing roses: red roses to honour living fathers and black ones to honour deceased ones. Sonora travelled through Washington carrying gifts to shut-in ill fathers. It took many years to make the holiday official. In our country it was first celebrated on august 24th 1958 to honor Jose de san martin.

One of the most enthusiastically expected holidays is friendship’s day. This tradition began in 1935 when the US congress decided to dedicate a day in the honor of friends. It is believed that the decision was moved by the devastating effects of the WWI. With time several other countries followed suit in adopting this tradition.
In Argentina friendship’s day was encouraged by Enrique Febbraro who, after Apollo XII’S landing on the moon, saw that the whole world became united. Therefore, he launched a campaign to officially declare July 20th friendship's day.
In October we have a special day to honor mothers. This special date can be traced back to ancient Greece celebrations in honor of Rhea, the mother of the gods. During the 1600 the early Christians in England celebrated a day to honor Mary. By a religious order the holiday was later expanded in its scope to include all mothers and it was named the Mothering Sunday. Mothering Sunday became a day when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mothers and other family members.
In later times mothering Sunday lapsed in Europe and it was afterwards revived through the influence of American women.

Hope you enjoy my presentation! I'd like to say that yours were great!

The above painting is entitled ‘an experiment on a bird in the air pump’. It was done by Joseph Wright of Derby during the Enlightment Age. Nowadays, it can be seen at London’s National Gallery.

I chose this painting because I think it perfectly illustrates the central role science has always played throughout the years. Thus, the scientist appears at the centre and the rest is paying attention to him as a sign of admiration. It also shows the controversy that scientific research tends to stir up. In this particular case, there’s a clear controversial issue: vivisection.
All too often we hear passionate defenders of animals’ rights against particular scientific practice on the grounds that living creatures are undergoing extreme suffering. But, it seems this unethical practice is not going to restrain science’s abuse of vivisection.
I have a strong opinion about this issue which I’d like to share with you all. Without doubt, scientific research focused on animals has brought great benefits to the field of medicine. A good example of this fact is the enormous number of vaccines that scientists have been able to discover. If the studies that have given rise to the several vaccines hadn’t undergone rigorous tests on animals, we wouldn’t have had the chance to prevent illnesses such as hepatitis or meningitis. To my mind, the use of animals in scientific research is acceptable and justified if it can contribute to discovering the cures of life-threatening illnesses or if it can provide insights into obscure diseases.
The trouble is that vivisection is being abused. Just consider the number of cosmetic companies that invest millions of dollars on scientific research to test the quality of new products. I firmly believe that the use of animals in such circumstances is absolutely irrational. Indeed, it’s just not fair to cause animals’ suffering so that we can look a bit more beautiful.
To sum up, I do think that the use of animals for scientific research is agreeable if it’s the way to open the door to medical advances. But, this practice should be regulated so that the suffering of animals for unjustified reasons is avoided altogether.