3 Things to Look for in a Babysitter

Sometimes when you are busy, when you are short on help, when there just aren't any other options available to you there is a temptation to just let anyone who is available babysit your kids.

Unfortunately this is not the greatest idea. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency in the United States 4 percent of the reported crimes committed against children in the form of neglect, assault or sexual abuse are committed by babysitter. This is why it is so important to really be able to assess the character and then predict the behavior of anyone that you hire to look after your child!

Lots of the time we assume that a friend or relative is the best choice to look after our kids. This is not always true unless the candidate has demonstrated to you that he or she is –
1. Mature
2. Responsible
3. Capable

As you know 'liking the person', familiarity with the person and even age may have nothing to do with this. Some of the most likeable people in the world don't like kids or may do you 'the favor' of looking after your kids because he or she feels obligated.

Furthermore familiarity with a person does not always mean that they are familiar with how to look kids or the basics of First Aid. In fact, if you really think about it, some of the people we are most familiar with in our lives, especially family members, tend to lean towards the dysfunctional side (but we love them anyway!)

Also, 'being responsible' does not necessarily come with age. There are lots of sixty year old out there that are much more thoughtless and reckless than the sixteen year old down the street.

Then there is the issue of capability. If you have a toddler going through the 'terrible twos' you do not want to have someone frail or nervous looking after your kid. You want someone who knows how to dry tears, bribe a kid out of it or give him or her Time-Out. You want someone skilled with children and someone who is able to 'make the call' about whether or not to take a trip to emergency if your child is hurt.
In a nutshell, you want an individual who is mature, responsible and capable because anyone who fulfills those three criteria is going to be someone that you can trust when you are not at home!

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Women and Shoulder Pain

Women tend to have more shoulder pain then men. That is because we are always slinging a purse over one shoulder that digs into our muscles. Some of us also get shoulder pain from slinging a heavy child around all day along with diaper bags, umbrellas and whatever else we need.

Few of us even notice our shoulders until they start to develop aches and pains. It is then that we realize how we subtly rely on the shoulders to accomplish movement in every kind of activity including golfing, swimming, driving, walking and eating. Shoulder motion is absolutely essential to all kinds of activities – everything from a push up, to carrying a purse to typing.
Anatomically shoulders can be described as a joint that connects the upper arm, collarbone and shoulder blade and it is this complexity of anatomy that makes them so important in order for us to stay fluid and functional in our movements. The joint actually interlocks with different types of sinews, bones, nerves, blood vessels, ligaments, burses and soft tissues that define an entire muscular area that is known as the shoulder girdle.

Movement in the shoulder becomes painful or restricted when it is injured or a nerve is pinched in the neck. Muscle spasms, whiplash injuries, poor posture, reticulitis, bursitis, arthritis and referred pain from internal diseases also cause these problems.

You can also get shoulder pain from playing golf, tennis, cycling, washing the dishes – you name it!

Yet another reason this type of problem is so common for mothers is because we often sit at home offices made of a kitchen counter or table and a kitchen chair. Our home offices hardly ever come with a proper chair or other needed things.

People also often injure themselves by using their indoor exercise equipment incorrectly. This of course does not mean that you should avoid doing sports in order to avoid injury. It is quite simply a fact of life that it is difficult to get through life without sustaining some kind of sports or recreational injury.

Shoulder pain can be constant or it can come and go away. The pain can be dull or sharp and many people who have it suffer numbness in the area and restricted motion. With proper chiropractic treatment many cases of shoulder dysfunction can be treated without having you rely on painkillers or having to resort to surgery. Chiropractic treatment is probably your best bet because it will not make you so dopey you can't look after your children properly.

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