Life shouldn’t happen to you; you should happen to life and these days you can make the most of life by using a variety of apps for your smart devices. The problem is there’s so many out there how do you know which ones are the best?
Here’s a list of apps that can help you get in control of any situation, from weight gain and sleep loss to missing appointments and shaking off bad moods.
Track Your Fitness
There is a wide variety of fitness trackers on the market right now, but if you’re specifically looking to lose weight, perhaps the best one for you is Lose It. This free weight loss app can help you lose weight and maintain a healthy weight. It will help you devise a personal weight loss plan with achievable goals which include target weight as well as lifestyle changes for a total wellness plan. You can track your meals and calorie intake and share healthy recipes.
Regulate Your Sleep
Getting into a regular sleep schedule is important for your overall health and this alarm clock will help you do just that. You don’t have to wake up to a screaming alarm anymore, now you can wake up gently, feeling refreshed and relaxed to the sound of your favorite tunes. This app can also help you get to sleep. All you have to do it preset a timer and your phone will play soothing white noise, or the tunes of your choice until you drift off to sleep.
Have you ever found yourself sitting on the living room sofa, dying to talk to your kids but couldn’t because they were too busy with their smartphones and iPads? Well, I have found myself in this situation more than once. It gets frustrating, doesn’t it? You talking and your kids sitting there, half present, occasionally granting you an “hmm”.
When it continued, I knew I had to do something. I made some rules in the house regarding device use in the living room, dining room or whenever the whole family was sitting together. They agreed to it, thankfully. It worked for a while and then the things were the same again. Because the devices were forever present with the continuous distraction of beeps and dings which are too difficult to resist.
School and Health Concerns
Apart from the fact that I was afraid my son will become incapable of human interaction, I was also concerned about his health. Although the signs have yet to show, I do not want to wait until my little one gets tired all the time, or experiences difficulty in sleeping, or worse, starts losing interest in physical activity. I do not want to stall and wait until I get a complaint from my son’s school about a drop in his performance. I knew I had to do something before it gets serious.
Raising children in this digital age can be rather tricky and can also take its toll on us parents. Children are easily drawn to them, and as parents, who almost always want to keep our children happy, we tend to give in more often than we intend to. Read on for a few tips and tricks on how we can get these devices and technology to work to our advantage and to benefit our children more.
Digital devices have become major tools that we utilize in everyday life. You and your family likely have many devices within your home that are reflective of our current tech boom. As you raise your digital natives, you must be prepared to introduce and orient them with various forms of technology. It’s important that you guide and monitor your child’s interaction with devices like the television, computers, tablets and smartphones. Each device is classified with varying degrees of age-appropriateness, educational benefits and potential negative effects. Here is a list of digital devices your kids will encounter and an exploration of their pros and cons:
Television
Television is commonly thought of as an entertainment device that merely provides an escape. However, there are many benefits of television, as it can engage the viewer and transmit information quickly. Educational videos are wonderful resources for kids ages 3-17 years old. However, pediatricians say that television shouldn’t be watched before age two. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) found, from a study in 2011, that children under 2 years old can’t cognitively comprehend what’s being projected on the screen and retain that information. Recently though, the AAP has begun to change its tune on knowledge retention from television use. They acknowledge that kids can learn and benefit from television if it requires interaction ~ which many new generations allow for. Interactive responses transmitted through touch or speech response can induce learning and create solid connections in your baby or toddler’s brain.
Computer
A computer is one of our best resources for exploration of information. Your child will be required in many educational settings to use a computer and the internet. Create solid boundaries and rules around computer use so the device doesn’t become harmful or used for the wrong reasons. Make sure your kids are old enough, around the age of five or so, to understand that food and beverages can’t be around the computers. Have special security settings on the internet, so they have limited access to the world wide web. There is unlimited content on the internet, a good portion of which is explicit and inappropriate for kids. To help, PCMag has compiled a list of the best parental control software which monitor and filter internet content.
