How to Use Custom Domains and Catch-All Emails

Yes, it’s true! At long last, the surveillance state is here! The government is watching you. Marketers are watching you. Google is profiling your email, while Amazon uses your buying profile and overheard Alexa conversations to determine exactly what kind of underwear you most like to wear. We’ll never win. Their resources are too great. So your My Little Pony underwear will soon be auto-shared with your entire Facebook wall. YAY! Your friends will know what to buy you for your birthday.

But other than the biggies, who probably have decent security and only sometimes give your name to the NSA, everyone seems to be asking for your email address. But giving your address away so freely can lead to inbox overload. And what if the vendor gets hacked? Now the hackers have your email address! Welcome, security risks! Wouldn’t it be great to sign up for sites that require an email address, without giving up convenience or security? I knew you’d agree. Alex told me.

You can do this by getting your own domain and using a “catch-all email address.” Catch-all email addresses act exactly as they sound. They are designed to catch all of the e-mails that are sent to a particular domain. Say you go to Namecheap.com and register your own domain. For example, GrandmaCuddles.com. You can then configure a catch-all email address so any email sent to any address at GrandmaCuddles.com forwards to a single Gmail account (the one you really use). Then chris@grandmacuddles.com, les@grandmacuddles.com, ash@grandmacuddles.com, and more would all forward to that Gmail account. Okay, neat. But why bother?

Disable Spammers

For one, catch-all emails help you detect and disable spammers. Thomas, cybernetic wunderkind, is a 16-year-old male (mostly). He may have an IQ of 420, but he has the hormonal system of … well, a 16-year-old male. He’s at a prime age for signing up for, er, “shopping” websites as a means of, er, corporatized self-exploration. Yes, that’s what kids are calling it these days.

But every time Thomas shops at a website, he must give them an email address at checkout. And every time he gives a site his email address, five new sites start sending mail to his inbox. Thomas likes some of these promotions, but definitely not all of them. So he can use a catch-all email address to filter out the spammers.

Instead of using his main address, Thomas gives a unique email based at thomasisthebest.com to each site he shops at. He may have an IQ of 420, but he has the sensibilities of a 16-year-old male. So email receipts from Fad Magazine go to FadMag@thomasisthebest.com. And digital newsletters from his favorite band, The Circuits, go to TheCircuitsFanMail@thomasisthegreatest.com. His custom domain’s catch-all email forwards all these messages to his main inbox — just like normal. But unlike normal, each site now gets its own, easy to recognize “to” address. So if one address gets spammed, Thomas can disable it — by unsubscribing, or by redirecting mail to that address straight to the trash — and leave the others running.

Know when an account is compromised

When Thomas starts getting really strange emails from an unidentifiable address asking him to join the professional tickling community, he’s not quite sure what to do. You really don’t want to tickle a cybernetic teenager. Their reflexes are not to be trifled with. Every time he blocks the sender, the same email shows up from a different address. But with catch-all email, Thomas has the upper hand. He can see which “to” address the emails were sent to. So he knows exactly how those odd people got his email address to begin with.

Thomas sees that the “to” address for all the tickling emails was DecentBuy@thomasisthebest.com. So he knows there’s a good chance his account at DecentBuy.com was compromised. Equipped with this information, he can could cancel his account, warn his friends, or even encourage Decent Buy to take steps against the spammers. If nothing happens, he can stop the spam on his own by filtering out email to the compromised address — instead of having to make a whole new email address for everything.

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Stop behind-the-scenes data sharing

Many websites care a lot about protecting you from government surveillance, so they can watch you instead. Sites agree to share data, and behind the scenes, they match up your accounts on different sites to build a master profile of you. They match using email, name, IP address, and stuff like that. This usually just results in a targeted ad or two on social media. But beneath the surface, it does mean that if you use the same email address for DecentBuy.com and FriendlyHappyStore.com they may share data and each site gets your whole profile. You may not want that. Thomas certainly doesn’t. Using different email addresses at each site makes it harder for companies to profile you, making sure that what happens at DecentBuy.com stays at Decentbuy.com. Let’s just say that using a catch-all helps iron out all the kinks.

Setting up a custom domain and catch-all email

Since Thomas is literally half-machine, he’s owned his own domain with a catch-all email since his manufacture date. But you’re not too far behind the curve, since you can set up your own in less than an hour on the cheap. First, go to a domain registrar, like NameCheap, which is my favorite. Next, choose a domain name. It’s okay if it’s relatively cheap or silly. This isn’t going to be for sharing with business colleagues. It’s for giving to social media, shopping sites, and anything else that sends you newsletters or promotions, like fitness trackers or event planners.

Once your domain is registered, the registrar will let you create a catch-all email address. Set this up to forward to your main email address. You’ll now receive, in your main inbox, all emails that are sent to an address ending in @yourdomain.com. And you’ll be able to tell where each email came from by sorting through “to” addresses in your email client. 

Finally, set up any forwarding rules you want from your inbox. If one of your email addresses is compromised, which means your email has been stolen or sold, you can write a rule to send anything with that “to” address to the trash. You can also establish priority rules that reroute emails with a certain “to” address to a high-priority or specific-priority inbox. So you could direct emails to my@yourdomain.com to your finance inbox, and Thomas could make sure anything from The Circuits goes straight to high priority. Because Thomas is looking for some self-discovery, and The Circuits are looking for a new drummer.

Grab a custom domain, and use a catch-all email address and filters to take some tiny bit of control back from the surveillance economy.

Help stem the tide of email overload! Grab a custom domain, and use a catch-all email address and filters to take some tiny bit of control back from the surveillance economy. 

This is Stever Robbins. Follow GetItDoneGuy on Twitter and Facebook. I run programs to help people have Extraordinary Lives and extraordinary careers. If you want to know more, visit http://ift.tt/1l2uWN6 .

Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!

Little-Known Ways to Enhance Your Immune System

You frequently wash your hands, take regular doses of vitamin C,  and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. But somehow you find yourself sniffling, coughing, and sneezing more frequently...and it’s not even flu season.  For hard-charging, high-achievers, this issue often strikes in the middle of an important work project, a family vacation, a bout of travel, or a crucial block of workouts or training sessions.

Think of just a few of the ho-hum, standard, old-school pieces of advice you’ve traditionally been given told to kick the cold, some ancient and some modern, including:

·         Take oodles of vitamin C and zinc

·         Get plenty of bed rest, don’t exercise or get exposed to cold you’ll weaken the immune system

·         Use antibiotics or a handy Z-pac to fight off viruses

The problem is that most of these strategies simply don’t work and may end up weakening the immune system even further. In fact, supplements will help, but need to be in a high-enough dose and a form that you can actually absorb when you’re sick, exercise will actually facilitate the detox process while bed rest will keep lymph fluid stagnant, and antibiotics will wipe out the good bacteria in the gut that supports the healthy environment our body needs to heal.

The immune system just isn’t as simple as it sounds, and in this episode, you will discover the inner workings of human immunity, and underground, little-known methods to strengthen the immune system and bounce back from sickness fast.  

In reality, the immune system is made up of six different immune system components that help fight off invading pathogens, and this chapter will dive into each, including the lymph system that helps transport compounds out of the body and to specific organs, the respiratory system that moves mucus and contaminants upwards and outwards from the digestive tract, the skin that provides a thin but effective layer against pathogens, the white blood cells that, if the pathogens get in through the skin, attack them in your blood and in other tissues of the body, the spleen that provides support against bacterial infections, the stomach that harbors good bacteria (which help fight pathogens and absorb nutrients and secretes acid that will kill off the harmful ones) and finally, intestinal cells that secrete antibodies to fight off foreign invaders.

Creating a bulletproof immune system begins with moving lymph fluid throughout the body, keeping the respiratory system ready, limiting pathogens passing through the skin, keeping white blood cells elevated, strengthening the spleen, and repairing and maintaining proper gut health. You can fortify your defenses every day with various strategies, but to maximize this effect, you must also limit the amount of invaders we come in contact with.  If your body is too busy dealing with physical or emotional stress, then the immune system won’t be able to efficiently fight off infections. For example, carcinogens from the environment, food, and hygiene products can compromise the immune system’s defense mechanisms and possibly give birth to new pathogens that will later harm the body, and inflammation caused by ingestion of unhealthy fats, stress, and lack of recovery can also weaken the gut, leading to more toxins spilling into our bloodstream.

From echinacea to elderberry to oregano and beyond, it is completely possible to equip the medicine cabinet with every natural compound that exists to create a bulletproof immune system, without breaking the bank. So now that you understand why things are far more complex than simply popping pills and getting some rest, let’s delve into research proven strategies to help each leg of the immune system table to hold up to the debilitating hacksaw of illness and disease, including:

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·         Improve circulation of the lymph system with physical movement. One of the easiest ways to do this is by shaking the body in an up-and-down motion for a couple of minutes. Whole body shaking is an excellent way to exercise and detoxify every cell in the body.  Similar effects are seen with the use of a rebounder trampoline, vibration plate, and other forms of exercise like swimming and yoga.  These activities can make bone marrow strong, strengthen the spine, and support the kidneys and adrenal glands. When lymph flow improves, more toxins are cleared out of the system and the immune boosting supplements that are consumed will get where they need to go.

·         Use thieves blend, a unique and little-known essential oil blend that has been shown to fight off infections and support not just the immune system, but also the digestive system and respiratory system.  Diffusing this blend during sleep can help to keep the immune system strong during these critical hours of repair and regeneration. Here’s an article I wrote on how to use Thieves to enhance the strength of the immune system.

·         Echinacea has been shown in research to relieve upper respiratory symptoms such as inflammation, whooping cough, and the common cold. Check out the fascinating results of this meta-analysis study from the University of Connecticut that shows one form of echinacea can cut the likelihood of getting a common cold by over half and also reduce the duration of the common cold by almost one-and-a-half days in the trial.

·         A very effective form of zinc that can be used to fight a cold is zinc acetate and the exact zinc protocol that can used to kick the common cold fast - in as little as a single day rather than an entire week, can all be checked out here.. Also check out the details on a meta analysis of zinc supplementation that shows why traditional zinc supplements are ineffective.

·         Provide fast cold and flu relief with elderberry teas, elderberry tinctures, and elderberry supplements. The anthocyanins in elderberry have been shown known to have potent immunostimulant effects. In fact, a 2016 study showed that elderberry supplementation can vastly reduce the duration and symptoms of the cold in air travelers). Another study in the Journal of International Medical Research found that when the elderberry extract is used within the first 48 hours of the onset of flu symptoms, it shortens the duration of symptoms by an average of four days.

·         Colostrum acts as a form of passive immunity while providing a substantial dose of antibodies such as IgA, IgG and IgM, all of which help to fight pathogens in the intestinal tract. The growth factors in colostrum stimulate the gut to patch up holes created by excess inflammation and damage by toxin exposure, research shows that colostrum can restore a leaky gut lining to normal permeability levels, and athletes who pop colostrum prior to exercising in hot weather can completely banish the gastric distress that so notoriously accompanies exercise in the heat.

·         The important components in glycine and bone broth that can enhance digestion and fight inflammation. Bone broth is considered a powerful detoxification agent since it helps the digestive system expel waste, improve the body’s use of antioxidants, and facilitate the sealing of openings in the gut lining.  Incorporating this super soup into the diet provides a substantial boost to the immune system.

·         Use potent “superfoods” such as coconut products, garlic, medicinal mushrooms, and chia seeds to provide antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal compounds that support the immune system. Plant foods rich in fiber will provide pre-biotics for the immune supporting probiotic bacteria in the gut to feed from. Many vegetables, when consumed with the dirt still on them, will then add soil based probiotics that diversify the gut  and support the immune system.  You can also get an additional gut boost by adding in fermented foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut, and natto for a concentrated and diverse source of probiotics.          

·         Create a decoction tea from chopped slippery elm bark, marshmallow root, and licorice root. The combination of these herbs soften and soothe mucous membranes all the way from the throat to the stomach to the small and large intestines, creating an environment that flushes the lymph system and allows good bacteria to multiply while providing adaptogen like effects that protect the bacteria from stress and environmental irritants. Check out this interview on how to address food intolenrances using scientific and clinically-proven approach.

·         Be careful with Vitamin C. Taking the wrong vitamin C in the form of ascorbic acid could be a waste of your time, and better forms of vitamin C that actually work, including new studies that confirm the right type of vitamin C supplementation at 1,000 mg per day shortens the duration and mitigates the severity of colds, while also preventing colds from developing, especially in those with low vitamin C levels.  

·         Oregano oil’s phenols can act as steroid-like compounds for the immune system, including thymol (a natural fungicide that works as a shield against toxins) and carvacrol (which has been found to be extremely effective against various bacterial infections). The reader will learn the best sources for potent herbs such as Origanum vulgare and Thymus capitatus. A dd a few drops of oils made from these compounds to pot of boiling water to inhale the steam for sinus relief.

The fact is, the modern day immunity marketplace is flooded with supplements and herbal formulas claiming to cure the common cold overnight or to make the human body bulletproofed to illness, but it is quite difficult to sift through the bold marketing and fake supplements. But you can indeed defy all odds of getting sick and create an unstoppable immune system via the use of movement strategies that can be employed immediately, stacked with research-proven but little-known supplement, food and lifestyle strategies.

Want to start simple? Start here: your lymphatic system responds quite well to the G-forces generated during exercise and more notably, when bouncing on a trampoline.  But another technique for enhancing the movement of lymph fluid is even easier: just plant both legs into the ground and let yourself bounce up and down while wiggling the hands and the fingers.  Do this for five minutes tomorrow morning when you wake up and notice how your entire body feels more energized and awake. This whole-body shaking technique is actually an ancient Qi Gong practice!

For more tips, and to join the conversation about how to figure out which diet is perfect for your unique body type, then head over to http://ift.tt/1xq4tPg. And don't forget to subscribe to the Get-Fit Guy podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you listen. If you have questions, comments or feedback, join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter. 

How Old Is the Oldest Human Skeleton?

A few days ago my three-year-old asked me, “How do humans get on our planet?” Preschool grammar aside, I was impressed by her question, and so, being an astronomer, I launched into an excited explanation of nucleosynthesis in the cores of stars and the creation of the heavier elements. As Carl Sagan reminds us, “We are made of star stuff.” This was not the answer she was looking for.

Luckily, before I had to attempt an explanation of the primordial soup fit for a three-year-old, she interrupted me to ask instead, “Can we learn about people from their bones like the dinosaurs?” I told her that not only is that the case, but we continue to learn about our origins as more bones are discovered and as our dating techniques improve. In fact, a study published just last month in the journal Nature challenges what we thought we knew about human origins and migration.

How do we date human bones?

The challenge in identifying the oldest human remains is two-fold: first, the bones need to be dated correctly. Scientists use several methods for determining the ages of human remains and those methods can often be checked against one another for consistency.

Age-dating via electron spin resonance, for example, measures how many electrons have been absorbed by the bone over time. Radioactive elements decay over time on a precisely-timed schedule, and so other methods like potassium-argon dating or Carbon-14 dating, measure the extent to which these elements have decayed to assess how long the bone has been waiting to be unearthed. A technique called paleomagnetism examines the direction of the magnetized particles in nearby rock and links it to known global shifts in our planet’s magnetic field.

Scientists also use context to help place age constraints – were any artifacts or tools found nearby? Where were the bones found? While context can be extremely helpful, particularly in cases where only a few bones are found, it also must be used with caution so as not to preclude new ways of thinking about our origins.   

Another challenge in identifying the oldest human skeleton is determining whether or not new bone discoveries are in fact, human. Neanderthals, for example, who we once thought were our ancestors but now believe were a kind of distant cousin with a shared ancestor, have longer and flatter skulls. It is hypothesized that our facial features shortened as our brain organization and connectivity improved. So while there are key markers that distinguish a member of the homo sapien species from other hominin relatives, incomplete fossils and evolutionary changes that have led to what we recognize now as modern day humans can make the identification of these markers challenging.

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The Oldest Fossil Bones

The skeleton known as Lucy is often credited as being the oldest known human relative at an estimated age of 3.2 million years. She is thought to be of the hominin species Australopithecus, an ancestor to modern humans. Another fossil found in Ethiopia two years ago, only a dozen miles from Lucy’s resting place, is believed to be more directly linked to modern humans, and would thus push our lineage back another half a million years to 2.8 million years ago. 90,000 year old bones believed to be human have been found in Saudi Arabia. Some of the oldest human bones found in the Americas, a complete 13,000-year-old skeleton, was discovered in a 140-foot deep cave buried underwater near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

New Discoveries in Human Migration

We have known from fossils for some time that we, homo sapiens, originated in Africa. There have been so many fossil remains discovered in East Africa that the area has been dubbed the cradle of humankind and the Garden of Eden.

A map published in Nature just last year draws out the route for homo sapiens migrating from East Africa 150,000 to 200,000 years ago and being found in the Arabian peninsula as long as 120,000 years ago. The histories of homo sapiens in Europe and Australia are much younger (dating back as far as 45,000 years ago and 50,000 years ago, respectively) but still longer than in the Americas and North Asia (15,000 to 20,000 years in the past). 

A new discovery published last month in the journal Nature suggests, however, that we may have to expand what we know about humanity’s cradle. The labrynth of caves in Jebel Irhoud, not far from Marrakesh in Morocco, has been of interest to anthropologists since miners found bones, including a hominid skull in the 1960s. The skull was thought to be a Neanderthal and only dated at 40,000 years old. After additional bones were found, including a child’s jawbone, with questionable dates, the authors of the new study, led by Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, began a more thorough excavation of the area in 2004.

Their thorough exploration, together with improved age-dating techniques, revealed that the bones discovered there now, thought to be early humans, date back as long as 300,000 years ago. Finding these old bones so far outside of East Africa suggests that all of Africa may in fact be the figurative Garden of Eden.

Answering the question of “how did we get here?” is a question so fundamental that even three-year-olds ask it.

Scientists believed East Africa to be the cradle of humanity because so many fossilized skeletons were found there. But we also found so many fossilized skeletons there because that is where we were looking. Astronomers run into similar observational biases when trying to track down our origins. For example, the first extrasolar planets found, planets outside of our solar system, were more Jupiter-like than Earth-like, but that was only because our techniques for finding them were better at picking out Jupiters.

Reassessing and reshaping our understanding of the world around us, and even learning that we may have been on the right track but didn’t have it quite right are all my favorite part of studying science. Answering the question of “how did we get here?” is a question so fundamental that even three-year-olds ask it. There is much that we already know about our origins, but we clearly have a lot more to learn.

Until next time, this is Sabrina Stierwalt with Everyday Einstein’s Quick and Dirty Tips for helping you make sense of science. You can become a fan of Everyday Einstein on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, where I’m @QDTeinstein. If you have a question that you’d like to see on a future episode, send me an email at everydayeinstein@quickanddirtytips.com. 

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

How to Treat a Bee Sting

Pull Out the Stinger

When you’re stung by a bee, carefully grasp the stinger and pull it out as fast as you can. The less venom that enters your body, the smaller and less painful the resulting welt will be. Ice the area immediately to reduce the swelling. If it still hurts, try cutting an onion in half and applying the fleshy side to the sting. It should help ease the pain.

Curry Powder

To reduce the pain from insect bites, make a paste of curry powder and water. Apply it to the bite and let dry, then wash off. The spices in the curry powder will relieve discomfort and swelling.

Onion

Nobody likes a bee sting, but sometimes they’re inevitable. Bring down the pain and swelling by rubbing some raw onion on the sting. The sulfur in the onion will detoxify the area and give you relief.

VapoRub

Ouch! Suffering from a bee or wasp sting? Soothe the pain with Vicks VapoRub. It contains menthol, which will provide a natural, cooling anesthetic effect.

Lavender Oil

Been stung by an insect? It’s lavender oil to the rescue! Rub a bit directly onto the sting to alleviate the pain. Or, mix a paste of baking soda and water and apply.

Lemon

If you’re stung by a wasp, hornet, or bee, reach for a lemon. Make sure the stinger is gone, and quickly rub the area with some lemon juice. It will neutralize the venom.

Find more helpful tips on our Bug and Pest Natural Remedies board on Pinterest. And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook for our Tip of the Day!

Image courtesy of Shutterstock. 

How to Treat Laryngitis

Cut the Coughing

When you’ve got laryngitis, do your best to avoid clearing your throat and coughing, which can inflame your vocal chords even further. Instead, drinking water and even swallowing can help soothe the irritation and satisfy your urge to cough.

Herbal Steam Treatment

Rehydrate and calm your inflamed pipes with a chamomile steam bath. Chamomile offers anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic powers in this warm, moisturizing steam that will soften the mucus clogging up your dry throat. Fill a bowl with boiling water and add a few chamomile tea bags. Cover your head with a towel as you lean over the bowl and take deep breaths for about 10 minutes—the towel traps the humidity so it goes directly into your airways.

Don’t Buy That!

If you’ve got laryngitis, stay away from menthol cough drops, since the minty stuff can dry out your throat and cause even more irritation. Instead, keep your throat moist by drinking lots of warm water—six to eight glasses per day will not only lubricate and soothe the rawness in your larynx, it’ll encourage healing. Ditch dehydrating beverages like coffee and alcohol. Money saved: $2-6.

Break Out the Onion!

One age-old trick calls for a mixture of onion juice and a little honey. With a blender, food processor, grater, or juicer, grate or process an onion and then strain out its juice into a small glass or bowl. Combine one tablespoon of onion juice with one and a half teaspoons of honey, and take this mixture several times a day.

Lemon-Cayenne Cocktail

When your throat’s raspy and sore, head for the kitchen! Combine fresh-squeezed lemon juice with one tablespoon of honey and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Lemon juice will break up mucus and stimulate the release of saliva; honey will soothe irritation and inflammation; and cayenne will help relieve the pain. Drink up as needed.

Myth Buster

When you’ve lost your voice, you might be tempted to whisper to be heard—but don’t!

Whispering strains your vocal chords just as yelling does, so it can do more damage and lengthen your recovery time. Even clearing your throat makes things worse: Any unusual stress on your already-irritated pipes will inhibit the healing process. If you need to speak, do so softly in exhaled, sighing breaths.

Salt-Water Gargle

Lukewarm salt water can help fight infection and heal irritation in your throat and vocal chords. Mix a half teaspoon of salt in one cup of warm water, let it dissolve, then gargle with it a few times per day.

Tea

Warm or hot teas can do wonders for a scratchy sore throat caused by laryngitis. Go for peppermint or even sage varieties, which help improve breathing, calm your voice box and respiratory muscles, and soothe dry coughs.

Ginger

Ginger is an all-around medicinal powerhouse: It’s a natural anti-inflammatory and pain reducer that will relax the mucus membranes in the larynx, fight bacteria, loosen chest congestion, and boost production of saliva. Munch on pieces of fresh or candied ginger, or sip ginger tea for throat relief.

For more great tips, make sure to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook!

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

How to Deal with Bees and Wasps

Turn Out the Light

Swatting at bees is unnecessary (and never leads to anything good). Just turn out the light and open a window. The light from outside will attract them even more than your nice, juicy arm.

Free a Bee; Don’t Smack It

If a bee or other stinging insect gets trapped in the car with you, do not swat at it! Instead, pull your car off to the side of the road, open all the windows or doors, and let the critter fly out.

Mint

Include some sprigs of fresh mint in your picnic basket when eating al fresco. Bees and wasps don’t like mint, so add some to your plate to keep it stinger-free.

Straws

No one likes having to worry about a bee hijacking his soda while having a drink outside. So cover the top of the cup or can with foil, then poke a straw through. Now you can sip in peace!

Wasp Trap

To keep wasps far from your outdoor party, distract and trap them with this tip. In a small saucepan, heat one cup of water and one cup of sugar until the sugar is fully dissolved. Then pour a little of the mixture in paper cups, cover with foil, and secure with a rubber band. Punch a few holes in the foil of each cup. Set the cups in different locations around your yard, so that the wasps are drawn to them. They’ll find their way into the cup, but will get trapped inside.

Nest Removal

Unlike bees, wasps can sting again and again. If you spot wasps flying to one spot, look for a nest, which can produce up to 30,000 wasps! Contact your local health authority to remove it without delay.

For more all-natural ways to deal with insects, check out our Bug and Pest Natural Remedies board on Pinterest. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook for our Tip of the Day!

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

6 Ideas to Help Your Child Have the Best Summer Ever

Families everywhere are eagerly anticipating the long, lazy days of summer especially if the school year has been hectic and most likely overscheduled.  Summer vacation is indeed a special stretch of time when everyone can unwind, and stray a bit from the rigid schedules that are followed throughout the school year.

Now that backpacks and lunchboxes have been neatly tucked away for the next couple of months here are Mighty Mommy’s 6 fun ideas to help your child have his/her best summer ever

Tip #1: Create a Summer “To Do” List

During the last week of school, my family creates our Summer “To Do” List. I design a page on the computer with seashells, beach umbrellas, and anything else that means summer.

Then everyone in the family (including Mom and Dad) list at least two fun things that they’d like to do. Items this year include deep sea fishing, white-water rafting, attending our local country fair, making homemade truffles, and creating a home movie theater in our family room.  The object of the list is to make sure each family member gets to do a couple of things that they really want besides the usual going to the beach or pool, seeing movies, etc. 

Tip #2:  Establish Regular Down Time

For many years I had 8 young kids under the age of 12 home for the 10 weeks of summer vacation.  I remember the painstaking hours I would spend planning hours and hours of activities that would keep them entertained and happy while they were out of school.  If you think you have to entertain your kids all day long during summer vacation, I hope you’ll pay close attention to this tip—instead of trying to occupy the majority of their free time, instead,  establish regular quiet time for every member of the family, every day of the week.

I used to set the kitchen timer when they were younger to cue them in that it was down time.  Many afternoons we only took about 30 minutes to sneak off to our bedrooms with a book to read, or to just take a quick powernap.  The idea is to teach your kids to settle down and learn to spend some quality time alone. This way, you can all finish out the day a bit more refreshed, and more importantly, the kids will learn to rely on themselves to stay occupied once in a while so you don’t have to be their constant source of entertainment.

Tip #3:  Try Something New This Summer

Summer is the perfect time to get creative and try something new.  There’s no pressure with school activities or organized sports so with a bit more free time in your schedule encourage your kids to give a new hobby a try.   Pottery, snorkeling, kayaking, pastry making, horseback riding or perhaps learning CPR.  Trying new activities are a great way to expand your child’s horizons and let them discover some new talents.  What a fun way to enjoy summer break and then return to the new school year with some new experiences to share with classmates and teachers.

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Tip #4:  Set Aside Daily Fun Time

One of my favorite summer memories with my kids was the year we built our own waterpark in our backyard.  Between our gigantic blow-up pool, the 10 different sprinklers, the slip and slide plastic runway and the blow-up mattress we placed in the backyard with a makeshift fountain, my kids and I spent hours throughout the week (even on a rainy day!) staying cool and having a blast playing in our own waterpark.  Whether it’s collecting fire flies on a hot summer night or going to a drive-in movie theater, do at least one thing a day to connect and have fun.

To this day, my kids who have graduated from college and are living on their own still talk about memories like our waterpark summer or the year we visited nearly every ice cream shop in our state.  It doesn’t have to be expensive or extravagant—it’s spending quality time with your kids that make a difference and make them remember these special summer weeks.

Tip #5.  Start New Traditions

One way to get kids away from their electronics this summer and engaged is to introduce them to new traditions.

Traditions do not have to be elaborate and fussy. There are many things you do daily that, if done consistently, can become cherished rituals that your kids will lovingly pass onto their own children. 

Take bedtime for instance. Bedtime rituals are now in decline because of the stress so many families face at the end of their busy days. Without regular bedtime structure, it’s difficult to establish rituals. Instead, children are staying up late – watching television, exchanging instant messages, playing video games, or doing homework – until they decide they are ready for bed. A lot of young children fall asleep somewhere in the house and are carried to bed by a parent. At that point, a bedtime ritual involving talking about the day, storytelling, or reading is not possible. If this sounds like your family, take steps to slowly re-establish calm bedtime routines.

See also: How Routines Will Simplify Your Life

Sharing dinner together as a family on a regular basis is also becoming more difficult for many households. If dinner isn’t possible, how about breakfast? A bowl of cereal and hot chocolate is a great way to start your day off on a positive note and connect with one another before all going your separate ways. If you have a pet, you can create a ritual around their care as well. 

For instance, every day one of our kids takes our two dogs for a walk in the neighborhood before dinner. As my colleague The Dog Trainer would certainly agree, the two dogs have come to expect this ritual every day, and it’s a great way for both the pets and kids to get some exercise. 

Tip # 6: Create Summer Surprises

Summer is the perfect time to surprise your kids.  After a long year of structured school regimens, pull out all the stops and treat your kids to a summer full of surprises.  When my kids were younger we planned weekly mystery rides for them.  We picked a location within driving distance and gave them a few clues on the morning of our departure.  Occasionally they’d figure out where we were headed, but the majority of the time they were totally surprised.

Maybe there’s a place they’ve been longing to visit during the school year, or a weekend getaway that won’t break the bank but will leave a lasting impression on them.  Or perhaps your child worked extra hard this past school year and has earned himself a new iPod.  She may have a close friend who has moved away and you can arrange for the two pals to meet up at your house for a week.  Getting her ears pierced may be on her “to do” list or your son has been really wanting a new pet chameleon.  Even if it’s making sure her favorite ice cream is stocked each week or you leave a fun surprise under his pillow once a week, unexpected surprises will create excitement and lots of wonderful memories for your child this summer.

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