Search Results for: blog protecting our families

Protecting Preschoolers from Choking

Dealing with a picky preschooler at the dinner table may be the least of your concerns, according to a new study.  Instead of stressing about your child’s refusal to eat his veggies, researchers warn parents that they should be carefully monitoring four year olds while they chow down on classic kid favorites, like hot dogs, as the number of choking incidents among preschool-aged children is dangerously high. Researchers say a staggering 34 children a day are admitted to hospital emergency rooms due to choking.  That translates to more than 12,000 emergency room visits a year, though the study’s author notes … Continue reading →

Getting More Bang for Your Hotel Buck

Is there anything more irritating to a frugal traveler than having to pay hundreds of dollars for a single hotel room that you only have access to for less than 24 hours? In many cases, hotels are cutting corners even more by pushing back check-in time to 4 p.m. and moving up check-out time to 11 a.m. What a rip-off. Fortunately, some hotels are offering budget-conscious guests a reprieve by allowing for later check-out times on Sunday morning.  For example, Westin Hotels & Resorts recently debuted a “Make Monday Better” deal for travelers looking to extend their weekend stay.  The program … Continue reading →

Hotels: Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck

Hotel rooms aren’t cheap.  Adding insult to injury is the fact that many properties are now moving back check-in times, so by the time you are forced to check-out you’ve barely been in the place for 18 hours. How do you justify forking over $200 for a room you aren’t given the opportunity to be in for 24 hours?  Or worse, consider having to park yourself in the hotel’s lobby after a long flight simply because you arrived prior to the set check-in time. What a waste of time; precious time that you can’t put a price tag on. To … Continue reading →

Protecting Your Children from Online Scammers

We live in an age driven by technology. Children are more technologically advanced than ever before. My four year old is no exception. He can work an Ipad much better than I can. He knows how to get into all his favorite games, how to get to the Dinsey Channel, and just about anything else he sets his mind to. I think kids these days are just born that way. While technology can be an amazing educational tool for our children, it can also be a very dangerous place, as we all know. More and more predators are out there … Continue reading →

Protecting Yourself

There are a lot of creeps out there. I know this because I’m pretty sure I’ve dated almost all of them. As a single mom, the stakes are a little higher than someone who hasn’t had children before. You’re not just dating for you; you’re dating for them as well. This means you have a lot of weight on your shoulders. It is your responsibility to protect both you and your children as you venture out into the dating world. Always meet in a public place and whether you trust them or not don’t give them your personal information. Be … Continue reading →

Protecting Your Children from Identity Thieves

Identity theft doesn’t just hit adults. Children are especially vulnerable to it, since they have clean credit and financial histories and no background information or signature on file. This makes it easy for thieves to take out credit and loans in a child’s name. In most cases, the victims and their families never even realize that there is an issue until the child becomes an adult and pursues his or her own credit and financial footprint. Then it becomes obvious: years of bad debt, defaulted loans and possibly a criminal background. The web of identity-related issues can be ponderous and … Continue reading →

Protecting Yourself from a Debt Relief Company

If you are seriously in debt, you may need the help of a debt relief company. These companies promise to get the creditors off of your back, negotiate for you, act as a shield of protection, and guide you to the right way to pay off that debt. Unfortunately, for a majority of these companies, the real goal is to scam you out of any remaining assets that you might have. Here is what you need to know and need to look for in a debt relief company, in order to protect yourself. First of all, why would these companies … Continue reading →

Protecting Your Eyes

One of my favorite journalists – heck, who am I kidding? – my favorite journalist, Anderson Cooper, suffered temporary blindness this past week. Did he have some genetic condition that caused this blindness?  Did he splash something in his eye?  No, Cooper sunburned his eyes while in Portugal. Sunburned his eyes?  Just the mere thought of that makes my eyes squint in horror! Awakened by pain, Cooper originally dismissed it as sand in his eyes.  But, he realized when he was blind that it was something more serious.  Cooper lost his eyesight for 36 hours. That must have been pretty … Continue reading →

Will Your Health Insurance Cover a Flu Shot?

Now wouldn’t be a good time to catch the flu. All of us are so busy in December, and no one enjoys being sick. The CDC recommends that most people get a flu shot in order to prevent them from catching the current strain of flu. Will your health insurance cover the cost of a flu shot? This year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that everyone 6 months and older get a flu vaccine. They point out that the flu shot is the most important step in protecting against the flu, which can be a very … Continue reading →