Relationships | Just Beginning

Halloween Made Easy

For almost every child, Halloween ranks as one of the best holidays of the year. Kids get permission to act like hooligans and to treat each other like animals, all for the result of hanging out with each other and scoring as much candy as they can carry.

Halloween is just as much fun for the parents. Buying kids costumes can be the most nostalgic part about Halloween. Whether your kids dress as bumblebees or Harry Potter, it can be fun to see them dressing up in costumes.

It’s easy to buy your child’s outfit online. Many stores offer their products on the web, and some are exclusive to the Internet. If you’re looking for an eco-friendly and potentially less expensive way to buy kids costumes, try a consignment shop or resale store — many have outfits that look brand new.

Regardless of where you purchase your costumes, be sure to give yourself plenty of time before the holiday. The popular outfits often become out of stock early. Remember that shipping may take longer than you expect. Still, be weary of shopping too early; your child may change his or her mind. Additionally, some of the most popular costumes don’t hit production until right before Halloween.

The candy may drive your children’s motivation, but remember to schedule in time for your social activities. Halloween is a great time for your community to come together for events, such as hay rides, neighborhood haunted houses and block parties.

With the proper planning, your Halloween will be a success. Your kids will have all the candy they can eat, and you will have a camera full of memories.

Filed Under: General, Relationships Tagged With: Costume, Halloween, Harry Potter

How to Have a Great First Date

You have just met someone through online dating. Emails and phone calls have taken place—the next step is to meet for a first date. What are some ideas to ensure a great first date?

Ensuring safety: For your first date through an online dating site, you should make sure that you choose a spot where you both feel comfortable. You really don’t know each other yet, so select public, well-populated sites to meet; less discomfort may allow both of you to really connect.

Location is key: Since your goal is to learn more about the other person, you need to include an activity that will allow you to sit and talk. A nice dinner at a quiet restaurant or meeting for drinks at a local bar allows you to spend time chatting.

Encourage conversation: Now that you have picked a spot that allows for conversation, you need to make sure that you ask questions. Interests, hobbies, and travels tend to be safe topics. These areas also can lead to more organic conversation without making anyone uncomfortable.

Plan for an escape route: Every first date does not work out and you—or your date—may be looking for a way to escape. If you plan a low-key first portion, like meeting at a bar or for coffee, you can easily pull the plug or continue on with a movie, dinner, or a concert in the park.

You know that you have had a successful first date when you don’t realize that it’s time to go home—and when you can’t wait to see this person again. Online dating is a great way for people to get to know each other.

Filed Under: Advice, Relationships Tagged With: Conversation, Dating, Online dating service

Relationships Between the Classes in Society

In the early twentieth century, there was a great divide between those who held the great majority of the wealth in the United States and those who did not. As immigrants streamed into the country and populate the western United States, a rising middle class emerged that now focused on building their own version of the American dream. They opened their own businesses, live better and to break into areas that had once been only for the higher class. Today, the middle class holds a powerful position in the United States in most fields and rules in the suburbs.

This has shifted to create a new divide between the upper and middle classes with those in the lower socio-economic level of income. More students in schools are becoming eligible for free and reduced lunches, government support and programs such as Head Start. The poverty has now become a cycle for some at this level as children end up in the same level of struggle as their parents due to poor nutrition, chaotic environment and indifference by many.

There is a greater part of society that has compassion and works to bring those who struggle into a more stable frame of living. This movement can be seen best in churches, non-profit organizations and government legislation to create new programs in the past. The question now remains as to how the middle class will look in the future and if a greater portion of the wealth will be available to all.

Filed Under: Relationships Tagged With: Middle class, United States, Upper class

How to Deliver the Perfect Marriage Proposal to Your Girlfriend

If you want to propose to your girlfriend, there are a lot of things to think about. How you’ll be able to afford that engagement ring is one thing, and whether there’s enough dough in your bank account for it, even if you find a good deal at engagement.jrdunn.com, for example. Even before that, it is wise to make sure this girl would ever consider marrying you, so try bringing up the possibility of it happening in the future. The surprise factor is important, in that she won’t suspect the marriage proposal at any given moment. However, if you two have never talked about marriage before, she may not even know how to react.

Finding that special ring can be a collaborative decision. It can be tough to bring up engagement rings in a conversation and not give away the secret, but some girls do like to have the chance to pick out a ring. When you finally do pop the question, there aren’t many rules for how to give her the ring, but one thing you don’t want to do is hide it in some type of food. Even if by some chance your leading lady swallows it by mistake, she might be turned off by this unoriginal, uncreative idea.

The perfect set up can make the proposal experience something neither of you will ever forget. Make it personal and be creative, while expressing what she means to you, but don’t make it too complicated. Complicated plans just make it more likely things won’t go right, but most of all, it should be personal. The proposal can and should include favorite things you both enjoy, including foods (without the engagement.jrdunn.com ring in them, of course), and most of all your individual personality, as this is likely why she fell in love with you in the first place.

Filed Under: Advice, Relationships Tagged With: Engagement ring, Marriage, Proposal of relationship

Social Class and Success Orientation

A person’s social class may affect how he views the world. An upper class person often sees the world as a place of limitless possibility. Generations of increasing family wealth teach the individual that money, like his blue eyes, is a fact of his life.

The son or daughter of an upper class family understands the relationships of economics to materialistic acquisitions. For example, the upper class family teaches the child about capital and investment from an early age. He understands technology used in monitoring the family’s assets from an early age.

The child may associate happiness and materialism, or forms an opposite opinion early in life according to author David Brooks in “Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There.”

A lower class or middle class person may aspire to greater materialistic success. Positive mental attitude and a belief in positive results may help the individual to succeed, according to “International Perspectives on Household Wealth” by Edward N. Wolff. An upwardly mobile individual or family may lack an understanding of what more money can—and cannot—accomplish. A quest to purchase more material goods without investing capital for future returns may result in dissatisfaction for the newly wealthy.

New wealth may require the establishment of new traditions. For example, the self-made millionaire determines the importance of financial and tax planning. He may not like focusing attention on these matters.

The newly wealthy are sometimes referred to as “new money” by the established upper class. The “social register” implies a desire of the upper class to know others of the upper class. Self-made persons who desire acceptance by upper class society focus attention on the performance of good works, fundraisers and sound financial management, according to authors of “The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy.”

A comparison of social standards hasn’t changed much since Jules Sandeau and Leonard Meyers wrote “Money-Bags and Titles: A Hit at the Follies of the Age” in 1850!

Filed Under: Relationships, Technology Tagged With: David Brooks, Social class, Upper class

Money Won’t Buy You Love

Generations of people hear song lyrics that declare money can’t buy love. In a seemingly materialistic society, money contributes to a variety of relationship issues. According to author David Niven in “100 Simple Secrets of Great Relationships,” concerns and arguments about money contributes to stress in daily life.

Lack of money is naturally a concern for a lower class person or family in need of shelter, food and the necessities of life. Having money and managing money concerns the upper class. Middle class families want more money to fund retirement or buy a better home.

Teaching children about money helps to prepare them for the future. Authors Jamie Kyle McGillian and Ian Phillips offer a great list of ways money is cool, and ways it’s not. Having money is naturally preferred to not having it. Earning money yourself and spending money on someone other than yourself is cool! Spending all your money—even your bus fare—definitely isn’t.

How much money is enough? That’s different for everyone. John D. Rockefeller’s answer—“Just a little bit more” may differ from your answer. Your perception of how much money is enough may depend upon your social class perspectives, according to “How Much Is Enough?” Teaching children about the meaning of “enough” is an apparent problem for some upper class families, according to the authors. Lifelong traditions of excessive spending and lifestyles that boast excess may create personal problems for children of the upper class. Fortunes are made and lost faster than ever in today’s technology-reliant world.

Author Tim Kasser reflects on “The High Price of Materialism.” Pursuing wealth for its own sake doesn’t seem to make people happier in the long run.

Filed Under: Advice, Relationships Tagged With: Family, Tim Kasser, Working class

Social Class and Health Outcomes

Lifestyle and social class directly impact how long people live, according to The New York Times. A person’s social status—loosely defined as upper class, middle class or lower class—can affect the quality of health care and the likelihood of recovery. Relationships of financially secure people to doctors and health care providers create better health outcomes. The ability to pay for health care, and to seek out technology necessary to diagnose and treat illness, is the privilege of the upper class.

Health benefits. A middle class person may lose health insurance when she loses a job. COBRA coverage, offered by most employers, enables the displaced worker to shoulder the employer’s cost of health benefits for up to 18 months or more. However, loss of insurance occurs when the former worker doesn’t pay for continued health benefits.

Lower class workers may not have health insurance with a job. Employers offering low-paid jobs sometimes advertise “no benefits.” A worker without benefits may also forfeit the hourly wage paid for his services.

Employer perspective. Offering workers less benefits saves money for the employer. The average employee holds a job for about four years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Pensions and long-term employer relationships disappeared along with lower employee tenure. Traditions of working for one or two employers during a middle class career have been replaced by a “seize the day” mindset.

Outsourcing jobs to less expensive job markets gives employers more compensation flexibility. Workers in other countries have less materialistic concerns, according to employers’ perceptions. Technology helps employers perform tasks without as many human hours.

Discrimination. Lifestyle choices of employees continue to concern employers in 2011. Serious illnesses, such as AIDS, destroy financial and physical health. The downward economic spiral from middle class to lower class occurs rapidly when medical costs outstrip the ability to pay for health care.

Filed Under: Relationships Tagged With: Health

Social Class and Economic Relationships

Social class comparisons make most people think about economic relationships, lifestyle and differences between people. Upward mobility often requires education and unified family support, according to authors Annette Lareau and Dalton Conley of “Social Class: How Does It Work?”

Employment and cultural traditions tend to reflect a person’s social class identity. Upper class people and families tend to have more money than middle class or lower class persons. Upper class families have accumulated wealth, sometimes over many generations, while middle class people sometimes struggle to make ends meet. Individuals or families of the lower class may rely on government programs and subsidies to maintain life’s basic needs. Poverty may plague the lower class family for generations.

Upper class individuals and families use less of financial resources to purchase the necessities of life. They possess the ability to buy a preferred home, or homes. Obtaining a mortgage isn’t a factor for the upper class person.

The upper class person or family may appear materialistic to middle class or lower class persons. Wealthy people spend more money and focus more attention on managing their assets. Technology helps the upper class family to manage their money.

Middle class people take advantage of employer-offered programs to save money, while lower class people have little money to save. Lower class people save the least amount for retirement. A focus on the necessities of the present keeps lower class families from investing in the future.

According to the Reverend Dr. Bob Edgar of the National Council of Churches in December 2005, “A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it. Full-time minimum wage workers earn $10,700 a year, which is about $5,000 below the poverty line for a family of three. This is a moral outrage.”

Filed Under: General, Relationships Tagged With: Middle class, Social class, Working class

Social Class and the Importance of Technology

Access to technology in daily life affects personal productivity, according to “Digital Age Literacy for Teachers” by Susan Brooks-Young. Lower class job seekers may have less interaction with technology. An individual without a home computer or internet access has fewer opportunities to search for work. The ability to use email or a simple webinar program may limit his development of current skills.

Students now learn to use technology as an essential skill in school. Children begin using simple technology in elementary school. Access to technology at home may stymie the student’s ability to compete with other students. For example, a teacher gives her sixth grade class an assignment. The assignment must be formatted as a Microsoft Word document and submitted by computer. If his family doesn’t have a home computer, he must stay after school to complete the assignment.

Lower class parents may not know of their student’s struggle to compete in a level playing field in school. The lifestyle associated with upper and middle class technology use may seem nice-to-have rather than essential to these parents. Generations of working poor families rely on libraries or friends for occasional access to technology. Students of lower class families must sometimes ask for extensions on their assignments because they don’t have home computer access.

Middle class families understand the need to introduce technology to children at an early age. Middle class parents use technology in the work place and throughout daily life. Costs of Internet access, computers, software, mobile phones and devices factor into the middle class lifestyle, according to “Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society” by Margaret L. Anderson and Howard Francis Taylor.

Upper class parents assume the use of technology in daily life. Acquiring better technology for the upper class family’s home isn’t materialistic. Communicating with family relationships, business associates and contacts requires the use of technology.

Filed Under: Relationships, Technology Tagged With: Middle class, Technology, Upper class

Las Vegas: More Than Just a Gamble

What you happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. You remember that tagline, don’t you? Well, for sure if you ‘happen’ to be in Vegas, the question then remains: will you ‘stay’ in Vegas? Here’s the gamble on that, and then know that thankfully and fortunately, staying in Vegas is not simply a gamble, it’s a wonderful journey of discovery. Keep this in mind: there’s more to Vegas than just casinos and cards.

If you’re looking for Las Vegas apartments, rest assured that there’s a plethora of them in the city. Don’t limit yourself to a high-priced house for sure. While Las Vegas is the pinnacle of luxury, obviously, living can benefit your wallet, especially a lot better than a casino can if you’re not terribly good with the gambling. Moreover, jobs are pretty plentiful: Timet hires here and there, such as for “industrial mechanic,” or you can be a restaurant manager at Shanghai Lilly a the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino. If you’re more into the bar/nightclub scene, bartenders are pretty big there–such as openings in New York New York Hotel Casino and the MGM Grand’s “The Signature” bar.

As said before: casinos and cards?–they’re not the be-all and end-all of Las Vegas. So if you’re interesting in something more than slots and poker, try the Valley of Fire, Death Valley, or Boulder City for a taste of the tourist life. Museums are of a unique quality, too, with the Pinball Museum and Liberace Museum. Hiking is a big attraction in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the Bonnie Springs Ranch and Mt. Charleston. If you like animals, especially when feeding them, take your enjoyment to the Lamb Park and breeze through nature as if you’re the last person on Earth.

You see? There’s more to Las Vegas than you think. It is truly a great place to live. Come and see how it ‘happens’; hopefully you’ll ‘stay’!

Filed Under: General, Relationships Tagged With: Casino, Gambling, Las Vegas Nevada