Keeping Kids Safe Online

Here are some tips to help keep your children safe when using the Internet.

• It's not a legal requirement (2014) for broadband providers to offer parental controls, but the big four do. If your provider does not do this, switch to one that does.
• When you buy a mobile phone or tablet witha SIM, adult content is automatically blocked. Over 18s can ask for the filter to be removed. So, if handling down a device to a child, it's crucial to check with the network provider that the filter is on.

What about hidden identities? Pretending to be someone else online is not illegal, and there's nothing that covers bullying. The stranger/danger message applies as much on the Internet as in real life. Talk to your children about never sharing personal information with people they don't know in the real world.

Logos on Foodstuffs

There are a number of logos you might find on foodstuffs these days - so what are they?

Fairtrade: The product meets the Fairtrade Foundation's minimum fairtrade price. This will be higher than market price and acts as a safety net for farmers to ensure their trade is sustainable. (A third of all bananas and 40% of sugar old in the UK are now Fairtrade.) Note: other retailers may promote similar practices without using the logo (e.g. Traidcraft's handicrafts cannot be certified because of the small scale of the community projects, and Hotel Chocolat products do not carry it becasue the company owns its own plantations and runs its own programme guaranteeing farmers a fixed, fair price for their cocoa).

Rainforest Alliance: Found on chocolate, tea, coffe, bananas, pineapples plus some plants and household items. Has an environmental slant, promoting wildlife preservation and efforts to curb climate change and deforestation.

Soil Association: Certified products (from fruit and veg to dairy and beauty) are organic and  produced with animal welfare in mind.

Good Housekeeping, February 2014

Never Eat Shredded Wheat

Never eat shredded wheat: the geography we've lost and how to find it by Christopher Somerville
Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 2011

Are there towns and cities you know the names of but can't place them on a map? What kind of countryside would you find in the different regions of the UK? This book presents the basics of what belongs where, which counties border one another, where the watery bits, lumpy bits and flat bits are, and facst about the smaller islands surrounding Britain.

Greek Cress

Sow: March through to May, then October for a late crop. Broadcast seed and cover very lightly with soil or compost. Germination in 2 to 7 days. Quick to bolt (flower) so frequent successional sowings needed. [Usual seed life: 5 years.]

Aspect: Full sun in moist, well-drained soil.

Care: Provide shade when weather warms.

Water: Keep well watered.

Co-planting: Intercrop with carrots or radishes, or mix with other salad greens.

Harvest: A small patch provides plenty of cress. Typically harvested 1 to 2 weeks after sowing when they are 2" to 5" tall.

Willpower

It's not always easy to stick to our good intentions - going to yoga class, resisting a cake or making the effort to catch up with friends. It turns out we all have a finite amount of mental energy, which is drained as the day wears on. Your mental reserves are topped up during sleep, so you are more likely to get your most difficult tasks done in the morning. But working with the ebb and flow of your mental energy and using your natural ability to make new habits will help you reduce stress, make better decisions and make habits you aspire to (such as exercising after work) become second nature.

6 Step Plan

• Have a clear, specific goal in mind.
• Think about when, where and how you will perform your habit. To make something automatic, create an association between the situation and the habit by doing it in exactly the same context each time.
• Start small - ambitious failure is not a good strategy. 
• Be specific about what your ritual will be and write it down. If you plan to go to the gym, write down exactly which exercises you'll do, how long for, and in what order. That way you won't arrive, walk around wondering what to do and only stay for as long as it takes to avoid embarrassment before leaving.
• Monitor your progress by keeping a chart or diary and marking each day you preform a habit. People who give themselves a tick each day they were successful lost more weight, and were more likely to resume their weight loss programme after slipping.
• Repitition is key but don't worry if you miss a day. People who are inconsistent generally don't manage to form habits, but missing just one day has no real impact.

How to keep going

• Argue with yourself in advance. Think of any excuses you might come up with and write down a counter argument.
• Be wary of using a time as a cue for a habit. Use something you do at a regular time, such as a meal, so you won't need to clock watch.
• To break a bad habit turn it into a good one. Banish the unhealthy 11am snack and replace it with a healthy one.
• The best time to start new habits and break old ones is when your circumstances change. For example, just after you've moved home or changed jobs, all your old habits will be in flux, so it's a great time to change your lifestyle for the better.

Good Housekeeping magazine, September 2013