For the past few months, I’ve been standing in front of a red light therapy lamp for about 5 minutes a day. We ordered the red light therapy system when my husband was recovering from surgery since it helps speed wound healing. Now, I’m loving it for its collagen boosting (*wrinkle reducing*), stretch mark reducing, and...
Continue Reading...The Benefits of Red Light Therapy (Photobiomodulation)
Click here to read Puzzle Learning Tricks for Preschoolers on Hands On As We Grow
Do your kids struggle with putting puzzles together on their own? This super simple self-guided puzzle trick will encourage your child’s puzzle building skills while sneaking in some great learning reinforcement as well.
The variations of this activity are endless, so you can tailor the trick to meet the skill levels, age, attention, and interest of your child.
It’s a great activity to add to your arsenal of quiet time activities, too!
All you need to do is grab one of your kids’ frame tray puzzles (affiliate link) and a marker (or possibly some crayons or colored pencils depending on the skill you want to reinforce). The puzzle must have a puzzle tray (a backing to put the pieces in).
Then take the pieces out of the puzzle (if it is a larger puzzle with more pieces, you may want to take out one piece at a time) and flip the pieces over.
The basic idea is that you are going to write something on the puzzle board and it’s corresponding part on the back of the puzzle pieces.
In order to best explain this self-guided learning trick, I focused on counting and number recognition for this first puzzle. (More learning variation ideas will be explained below.)
First, I removed the puzzle pieces so I could customize the frame tray itself. (I just flipped it over carefully and let the pieces fall out as one big chuck, for ease of matching them up later.)
I drew one dot in the first puzzle piece spot, two dots in the next spot, three dots in the third spot, all the way until the puzzle board was full.
This puzzle had twenty-five pieces, so I put one dot all the way to twenty-five dots. I added dots to reinforce counting, but you could simply write the numbers 1 to 25 if you only wanted to work on number recognition.
Then you need to write on the back of the puzzle pieces. I chose to write the corresponding number to reinforce number recognition with counting.
So, I wrote a number “1” on the puzzle piece that fits in the spot with one dot. Then a number “2” in the spot with two dots, all the way to number twenty-five. If your puzzle pieces came out in one big piece like mine, then your numbers will be written as a mirror image to your frame tray.
Then I invited my preschooler over and the best method for him was to count the dots on the puzzle tray first and then find the corresponding number piece.
You could also have your child pick up a numbered puzzle piece first and then have them count the dots to find the correct amount on the board.
In addition, I put the dots in order from one to twenty-five, but for more of a challenge, you could put the dots in a mixed up order as well.
I was amazed to watch my preschooler complete the puzzle all on his own using this self-guided learning trick.
There are many skills that you can choose to reinforce with this puzzle trick; for example, counting, number recognition, color matching, letter recognition, upper and lower case matching, addition, subtraction, shapes, sight words, etc.
We had a smaller puzzle with only sixteen pieces so I decided to focus on color matching.
Once I had the puzzle I found sixteen different colors of crayons (some of the colors were close, but they were different).
Then I took the pieces of out of the puzzle and flipped them over.
I drew a color with crayon on each puzzle piece spot on the board.
Then I drew the same color on the piece that would fit into that spot.
You could add more challenge to the color matching by putting two of the same color or even making a pattern of colors.
Another learning skill could be letter recognition and matching upper case and lower case letters.
On the puzzle board you would write the lower case letters and then on the puzzle pieces you could write the upper case letters.
To make it more simple, you could write upper case letters on both the board and puzzle pieces.
For older kids, you could also reinforce addition or subtraction by writing the solution on the puzzle board and the problem on the pieces.
For example, 17 on the puzzle board and then 10 + 7 on the matching puzzle piece.
The variations are endless and can be tailored to your individual child and their learning levels.
This self-guided trick will help them to be able to complete the puzzle on their own, while reinforcing their learning and building their confidence.
As an added bonus, this is also a great puzzle method to keep track of which pieces go with which puzzle board! Mom win!
It seems like more and more people these days have a tough time managing anxiety. In fact, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America defines anxiety disorders as the most common mental illness in the U.S. Something, somewhere, is off. The pressures of life today are so different from those just a generation or two...
Continue Reading...105: How to Beat Anxiety and Resolve Panic Attacks with Targeted Amino Acids
The rhetoric is entirely tired, but it doesn't change the reality that slow play is still the single largest problem in golf, and no one has a good answer...yet. There are ideas, studies, and plenty of pontification – but is it possible our focus is misguided?
Can we speed up the game, by literally speeding up the game?
A few weeks ago, we shared a video (above) of a Lacern Golf Cart capable of traveling at 50 MPH. Much to our surprise, it became our most viewed Facebook post ever. While some of you loathed the idea, and no doubt, amateur NASCAR, and golf likely don’t mix well, golfers are hungry for this conversation to go somewhere other than where it's been, which is nowhere.
What's at risk is nothing less than the next generation of golfers, and perhaps we've already lost our chance to capture the oft-discussed generation of millennials, but the point remains; there is nothing is in place that guarantees golf’s long-term survival. Look at professional football. Conversations around CTE and the real, quantifiable health risks associated with the sport are having an impact on participation. See John Urschel
What do you think Pop Warner and JAA fields will look like in twenty years if the game doesn't adapt? Is there any reason why golf should be more immune to change?
We often cite generational differences and over-scheduled calendars, but today’s kids don't do much other than sleep, socialize (in virtual environments) and attend school for 5 hours at a time. The nature of golf dictates it will always be more marathon than a sprint, and I’m not suggesting it needs to morph into a 30-minute activity, but in its current form, the list of reasons to choose golf is over-shadowed by myriad barriers.
The bottom line: Golf must become more inviting to younger players, and there's nothing about a 5-hour round that’s attractive to anyone.
What we must avoid is giving attention to factors which are either unlikely to change (tee time intervals, course design) or not root causes of slow play (ineffective marshals or the failure to practice ready golf). Cash strapped courses are always going to pack tee sheets, and ready golf is helpful, in as much as a teaspoon is helpful for shoveling your way out of a blizzard.
Critics love to finger point at the Kevin Na's and Jason "All" Day's of the PGA Tour, and while the it’s what the pros do mindset sometimes translates to the amateur level, isn’t it possible the blame is misplaced?
We’re talking about professional golfers, playing the most difficult courses under extremely challenging conditions as a means to earn a paycheck. What they do is nothing like the calamity of Joe Public and the 5+ hour Saturday round at the course down the street. The latter is our problem to solve, while the former continues to be largely ignored by the ruling bodies, which, ironically take years to study topics before rendering a decision that seldom accomplishes anything while often running contrary to the best interests of its majority constituent – the amateur golfer.
Is it possible solutions lie in paper clips and staples, not combustion engines and fancy algorithms? Simple, functional and easy to implement, not complex and cost aversive; these are the criteria which can lead to viable and actionable solutions. That's the good news.
Bad news? I have no answers, but I do have some ideas. My hope is to alter the direction of this conversation, and in that process maybe we strike gold. After all, unintended consequences gave us champagne, Coca-Cola, and the potato chip.
If the game is going to take less time, shouldn’t each cog in the wheel seek to become more efficient? The physical speed at which players move around a course is as good a starting point as any.
Let’s go back to that golf cart.
What if golf carts were made for a single rider instead of two and weren't so damn slow? 50 MPH is probably excessive, but what about 20 MPH? It might be slightly less social, but there's nothing efficient about strapping two people into the same cart and watching them zig-zag around the course like drunken lightning bolts. There’s still plenty of time to razz your buddies as they line up that 4-footer for double. Four players, four carts and 9-holes in 60-90 minutes. Why can't that become the norm – or at least an option?
Footgolf introduced the concept of different (yet loosely related) activities sharing the course. Let's keep the basic structure, but instead inlay a series of shorter 9-hole courses with larger cups into the existing course. We’re not exactly pro-HackGolf here, but is there anything wrong with giving players of varying skill and experience choices which are more congruent with their actual playing ability?
This is why ski hills offer everything from the magic carpet to double-diamond black chutes – all at the same location. Golf courses have 4-5 sets of tees which only change a single factor – distance. Does this go far enough to authentically serve beginning (or lesser skilled) golfers? Without better options, novice players are going to struggle mightily, and that often means the groups behind them struggle mightily too. 2.5-3 hours to maybe break 80 over 9-holes, does that math work for anyone?
This may not directly impact how quickly players move around a course, but what if courses sold tee times rather than memberships? Like season tickets, individuals would own a time and cost would be a function of the specific time you want to purchase. The concept of fractional ownership already exists overseas where courses operate based on this premise and pace of play isn't nearly the issue it is here. At a minimum, it's a step in a different direction, and the openness to different structures is exactly the thinking we sorely need to embrace.
If the past is prologue, private courses are going play faster than public ones. The average length of a round increases throughout the day and pretty much everyone is reticent to admit or label themselves a slow player - even when confronted with overwhelming evidence to the contrary. None of that is going to change anytime soon.
Some feel a laissez-faire approach is best. Golf, as an industry and game, will grow and shrink over time and this cyclical reality should be expected and even embraced.
I disagree. This isn't cyclical. It's a fundamental point of transition where we engender the very real possibility that we've already lost a generation of golfers and without some creative thinking, the very fabric of the game could start to unravel.
This won't happen overnight or even in the next several decades. But as with the example of football, people will alter behavior when provided different information. Generations of golfers are going to reap the decisions we sew now, and if easier, uncomplicated solutions are to be found and put into place, my hunch is it's going to take something better than the collective wisdom of another USGA study or rehashing of how to play ready golf. It's going to come from an organic conversation where the only rule regarding the pace of play is there are no rules.
Golf has a history, which should be honored and upheld. But part of that history is change and adaptation, and while golf drags its heels more than pretty much every other sport, change is inevitable.
The physical act of a four-ball playing 18 holes and shooting around 100 takes about an hour. The way in which we create structures to manage the other 2-3 hours will have everything to do with who is playing this game when those currently making the rules are no longer around.
I’ve shared before how I wash my face with oil and how that has been the best skin care routine I’ve ever used. Some readers commented that they still hadn’t found the right combination of oils for their skin type, so I wanted to share another natural face wash I recently found… Honey… Sound strange?...
Continue Reading...Homemade Honey Face Mask & Cleanser Recipe
The length of a hybrid and the accuracy of an iron?
Tour Edge has a rich history of producing top performing fairway woods and hybrids and once upon a time; it could be argued it put out a product which was a little bit better than anything else on the market.
Now the market is replete with quality products, and Tour Edge is trying to regain the competitive advantage it once enjoyed. To that end, the new CBX Iron-Wood is designed to be a one-arrow quiver for better players looking for something different in the often-confusing transitional space between fairway woods and mid-irons.
On the continuum of wood-like hybrids to chunky driving irons, the CBX is stated to offer the most important benefits of a hybrid (distance, forgiveness, performance from varied lie) while maintaining the workability and feel of a premium forged iron.
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Increased distanced is achieved via a hollow body and “L-Cup” face technology. The thin face includes a flange which wraps around the leading edge and acts as a hinge allowing the face to reach the maximum CT. Characteristic Time is a measure of the amount of spring-like effect the face can generate and remain conforming. Interestingly enough, TaylorMade uses a similar “wrapped face” technology on the recently announced TaylorMade’s P790 irons. Don’t be surprised if this tweak on face technology is the start of a trend within the forged distance category of clubs.
Tour Edge is confident the CBX Iron-Wood has all the benefits of a traditional hybrid, with the feel and performance of a premium forged iron. I’ll reserve final judgment, should I have the opportunity to test it in person, but a jack of all trades is rarely a master of any.
The potential trouble spot is the hollow cavity. Thus far in my experience, the hollow cavity simply doesn’t feel the same as a one-piece forged iron, even when supported by engineered plastic elastomers or a product which sounds like it was picked up off aisle six at the local grocery store.
That said, players generally expect some trade-offs and if the CBX has hybrid length and iron accuracy, as long as its feel isn’t decidedly harsh, this could be quite popular amongst the Tour Edge faithful and players who haven’t already bagged a Srixon U65, PXG 0311X, Fourteen HI 877 or Mizuno MP-18 MMC Fli-Hi.
For More information, visit TourEdge.com.
What do you think? Is this a club you’d bag? Is it one you’d like to see us test? Is this further evidence of a new category?
