Family

Women WorkFamily

Navigating Loss: A Guide to Understanding Funerals and their Importance

Losing a loved one is an experience that profoundly touches us all. It can be an overwhelming journey, filled with grief and countless decisions. This guide aims to provide understanding and comfort during these difficult times, highlighting the critical role of funeral services in honoring and remembering those we’ve lost.

The Significance of a Personalized Funeral

Funerals are not just ceremonies; they are deeply personal tributes that reflect the departed’s life, values, and essence. Personalized funeral services provided by respectable funeral homes, serve several essential purposes:

  • A Celebration of Life: Each life is unique, and a funeral offers an opportunity to celebrate this individuality. Whether through music, readings, or specific rituals, funerals allow us to remember and honor the unique qualities of our loved ones.
    A Step Towards Healing: For many, funerals provide a structured space to begin the healing process. Being surrounded by friends and family who share your grief can be a powerful source of support and comfort.
    A Ritual of Farewell: Saying goodbye is essential in the grieving process. Funerals provide a formal way to acknowledge the loss and begin to let go.

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Women WorkFamily

Scripting And How It Can Help You Support Your Child’s Speech And Language Development

Scripting And How It Can Help You Support Your Child's Speech And Language Development

Those who work within the field of speech therapy at Speech Pathology Perth are fully aware of the huge role that parents play in the activities required for children whose speech and language development has not reached the level it should have. Further, they are conscious of the huge time constraints that parents have trying to balance their work, their home, and their children.

This is why a great deal of thought goes into planning speech therapy and in particular the speech therapy homework which is set for the children that speech pathologists are treating. Bear in mind that children are also likely to have homework from their normal schooling so the effort from parents to ensure there is sufficient time for it all is significant.

One aspect of speech therapy which can help the time-homework conundrum is scripting. This is not scripting in the same sense that a script is created for a movie or TV drama, but is a quick and simple speech therapy tool that helps both children and parents alike. The basic premise behind scripting is that it is fundamental verbal communication directed by adults towards children who are having speech and language difficulties.

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Women WorkFamily

How It Benefits Dogs To Start Grooming Them When They Are A Puppy

When you have a puppy you might think that the main things they need are cuddles, toys, puppy school, food, and water, but not dog grooming. However, it will be in the best interests of both that cute little puppy and you, if you introduce them to dog grooming in their formative months.

The question often gets asked by puppy owners, “When should I start grooming them?” and the simple answer is as soon as possible. Just as it is never too early to start teaching your puppy how to behave, and that it should do its business outside, not indoors, it is also never too early to start caring for its coat. So let us take a closer look at why grooming your puppy as soon as possible benefits them.

They Get Used To Close Contact With Important ‘Strangers’

Throughout its early life, your puppy is going to have to meet and be close up to so-called strangers i.e. people it has never met before. This includes their vet, veterinary nurses, and the dog groomer to name but three. The sooner they experience this and understand these people mean them no harm, the sooner visits to these places will seem routine to them.

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Women WorkFamily

How To Prepare For Your Dog’s First Day Of Dog Day Care

How To Prepare For Your Dog's First Day Of Dog Day Care

We all know that a child’s first day at school is one filled with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, both for the child and their parents,  so is it the case that there is any correlation between this and your dog attending dog daycare for the first time? For our money, there is. You are as likely to see a dog cry when their owner leaves them behind as you are a child when their parent does. And you are entrusting the welfare of a beloved family member to someone else.

Now, we are not suggesting that the welfare of a dog is in the same league as a child’s education. However, we are sure that in neither situation does anyone want the child/parent or the dog/dog owner to be any more stressed or worried than they need to be. For this reason, plenty of advice is available for making a child’s first day at school. Or a dog’s first time at a dog daycare to go as smoothly as possible.

Given the title of this post, it is a dog/dog daycare scenario that we are going to focus on, and in doing so, we have provided you with several ways you can make your dog’s first day at a dog daycare as incident-free and enjoyable for both of you.

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Women WorkFamily, Legal

What You Need To Know About Applying For A Visa For Your Overseas Parents

What You Need To Know About Applying For A Visa For Your Overseas Parents

For anyone living in Australia who wishes to bring their parent from overseas to live with them permanently, you are going to have questions relating to immigration policies and processes which may allow it to happen. The first point is that you can indeed bring parents from overseas to live with you in Australia, but as you would expect there are certain requirements. Read on, and you will find the requirements as advised by www.successmigration.com.au that would allow your parents from overseas to live with you in Australia.

Parent Visa Requirements

It should come as no surprise to you that as with any other kind of visa which applies to someone wishing to have permanent residency in Australia, there are requirements that have to be met. In the case of a parent visa, these requirements can be split into two types. The first group of requirements are the primary ones, and it is these which have no leeway. In other words, if these requirements are not met, then any parent visa application is likely to be refused.

Primary (Mandatory) Requirements

The first primary requirement is that in order for your overseas parents to apply for a parent visa to allow them to live with you, you must be either be [A] An Australian citizen or [B] Have permanent residency in Australia and have lived here for at least 2 years.

Whilst that first primary requirement is fairly straightforward, the second primary requirement does cause some confusion, but it is not as complicated as it might seem at first. It is called the ‘Family Balance Test’, and its criteria apply to those who have more than one child living in Australia, so if you are your parent’s only child as long as the first requirement applies you can ignore this one.

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Women WorkFamily, Property

Landscaping Design Ideas That Are Pet-Friendly

When it comes to designing a landscaping project with landscapers, there are many factors that need to be taken into account. There is the size of the property, the budget which is available for the project, and the preferences of the person for whom the landscape design is being created, so communicating these to your landscape arcitect is of the foremost importance. There is another factor, which might not apply in all designs, but for those that it does applies to it is crucial, and that is when the design needs to take into account that the garden is going to be used by a pet.

In most cases, this is going to be either a dog or cat, although many gardens also have rabbits, guinea pigs, and even pet lizards who might share them with their owners. Regardless of which type of pet you have, whether you are designing the landscaped garden yourself, or are employing someone else to do so, that design needs to be pet-friendly. Thankfully, there are  ways that can be achieved, and here are some of the simplest to follow when designing your landscaped garden.

Speak You Your Vet First

Before you so much as start measuring your garden with regards to designing it, the first port of call should be to speak to your vet. They may not be a gardener in their spare time, but in their professional capacity they will have experience of what dangers can occur within gardens for pets.

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Women WorkBusiness, Family

7 Tips To Ensure You Hire The Best Carpet Cleaning Company

There is little argument that the best way to ensure that any carpet cleaning is effective, is to employ the services of a professional carpet cleaning company. Apart from the fact that they will have all the experience needed to get the job done properly, they will also have equipment which provides enhanced results.

We are sure there are some of you who might choose to employ a carpet cleaning company simply to avoid doing it yourself, and to be honest, that is as valid a reason for using them as any.

When you have to choose which commercial cleaning company to use, an issue arises as in most towns and cities there are often a number of them to choose from. The risk of not choosing carefully is that you get a botched job, carpets which are only part cleaned, and you will end up spending even more to get it done correctly.

To ensure that you choose a carpet cleaning company that is going to get the job done properly, here are some easy tips to make sure that choice is the right one.

Decide What Needs to Be Cleaned

One of your first tasks should be to sit down and decide exactly what needs cleaned. This will obviously depend on how many rooms, the areas, what types of carpets, and whether there are other floor surfaces that need to be cleaned. Write it all out so you can refer to it during your research.

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Women WorkFamily, Health & Nutrition

Is My Child a Late Talker?

Late Talker

It’s not uncommon for parents to panic about their children’s milestones. They may not think their child is developing fast enough, and thoughts about GP and kids’ speech therapy expert visits can flood parents’ minds.

Being mindful of your child’s development is all part of being a parent, but in the realm of speech, there are signs to look out for to see whether your child is on the right track or not. Read on to learn what steps to take if you suspect that your child is a late talker.

How Do You Define a Late Talker?

In the kids’ speech therapy world, a late talker is a child that, between the age of 18 and 30 months, can understand language but does not say many words or talk as much as other children around the same age. Their thinking skills, play skills, and motor skills may all be in check, but speech may seem like it’s lagging.

By age one, a child should know between two and six words and up to 50 by the time they are 18 months old. A two-year-old’s vocabulary can include between 200 and 300 words, while a three-year-old should ideally know at least 1,000 words. By the time your child is four, it’s common for them to know around 1,600 words.

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Women WorkFamily

How to Choose an Engagement Ring for Her

Engagement Ring for Her

According to Perth based jeweller Diamonds and Pearls, shopping for engagement rings is not an easy task, especially if you have never even discussed the prospect of marriage with your significant other. If you are planning on a romantic evening and popping the question unexpectedly, then the likelihood of struggling to find the perfect engagement is exceptionally high. While you know you can always rely on your local jewellers to provide you with their expertise, we’ve included some helpful tips for choosing an engagement ring for her below.

Look at Her Other Rings

One of the best ways to know your loved one’s jewellery preference is by checking out what she usually wears. Pay attention to the style, colors, design, and metal type. Is she a big fan of silver? Or does her jewellery tend to lean towards golds such as yellow, white, and rose? Is the jewellery chunky or refined? Floral or geometric? If she doesn’t wear a lot of accessories, then you may find you need to ask some ominous yet unobvious questions in the months leading up to your proposal.

Know Her Ring Size

If you want that magical moment of being able to slip the engagement ring onto her finger and have it fit perfectly, then you need to do some research. Before you go shopping for engagement rings, try to find out her ring size. There are a few ways you can go about it.

If she wears rings, it’s going to be as effortless and “borrowing” one of them and measuring it with a string. The size to the nearest millimetre will be what her size is on the ring sizing chart at your local jeweller’s. If she doesn’t wear rings, or you can’t seem to find where she keeps them, you can enlist the help of other people. Talk to her friends and family, even if it means having to tell them why. Alternatively, you can guess and hope that she has the average women ring size of six.

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Women WorkEducation & Employment, Family

Tips for Parenting Your Primary School Child

Parenting Your Primary School Child

Good parenting and child care encompasses many elements, from communicating to teaching and from showing love to keeping the child safe. The trouble is that few parents are actually taught how to be good parents; they simply have to wing it. And their own upbringing is usually a major factor in how they raise their child, whether they want it to be or not.

When all seems to go well, most parents cope and with the resilience that children have, they turn out okay in the end. That is not to say many adults could not have benefited in some way from their parents doing something different when they were young. However, if love is shown to a child, that is one of the main things to ensure they become steady and reliable adults, with much to give to society.

The trouble comes when something goes wrong and the parent does not really think that they need to address the issue. They believe that it is a temporary problem that will resolve itself. Or they may think this is the way their child is and nothing can be done. This is especially true when it comes to education, particularly if their own parents had a laid-back attitude to education.

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Women WorkFamily, Legal

What to do About Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence

It is all too common today for women to become victims of domestic violence. The trouble is that they are often reluctant to seek help because that would mean revealing what they consider to be their own weakness and fault. This is because the very nature of such violence is directed at dominating them and making them feel that it is all their fault.

They feel ashamed to think they are the kind of person who has made their spouse abuse them. This is entirely wrong of course. None of it is their fault. And the only way to be safe is to get out of the relationship and stay out. To avoid the need for criminal lawyers, once you make the break, never go back because that just makes it more difficult to escape the second time. Your life could be in danger, not to mention the lives of your children.

So what’s the first thing to do if you are a victim of domestic violence in the form of physical abuse?

  • Seek support from family and friends. This can be difficult because part of such abuse lies in alienating you from them.
  • Call 000 and report the abuse the next time it happens. Get medical attention and have photos taken of your injuries.

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Women WorkFamily, Health & Nutrition

Symptoms of Teenage Depression

Teen Depression

Teenage depression seems to be much more common these days than it was years ago. Today’s teenager is under a great deal more pressure. Not only are they expected by their parents and teachers to perform well academically, they are also expected to be good at sports, drama and many other things. Added to that, they want to be accepted by their peers and often, acceptance is not about getting good grades but actually often the very opposite.

Add their raging hormones to the mix and it is no wonder that many teens start to feel depressed. However, a person can feel depressed without actually having clinical depression or needing treatment. It is when depression starts to interfere with their everyday life that treatment should be sought. What are the symptoms of teenage depression?

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Women WorkFamily

Different Types of Abuse in Relationships

Emotional abuse

When we think of abuse, many people only think of physical violence. Every time we watch the news there seems to be threats to kill and physical abuse being perpetrated against women, often by someone they thought they could trust. While it is horrifying to hear the story and see the kinds of injuries and even death that has been suffered, there are other types of abuse that never make the headlines.

Verbal abuse

We have all had a good row with our partners or other loved ones that has served to clear the air about whatever was bothering us. That’s not to say there isn’t a better way to deal with it, but this is not what verbal abuse is. Verbal abuse is the constant putting down of someone by telling them how stupid or ugly they are. This can be done without even raising the voice but it is no less devastating for that.

Verbal abuse includes calling someone names because of who they are, or the beliefs they hold.

While it may not harm the body, it certainly causes damage to a person’s self esteem, to the point where she may not even be able to function normally. Losing your self confidence means that you will never try to do any of the things that make life normal and even happy. Losing your self esteem is even worse, because you think everything is all your fault.

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Women WorkFamily

How to Enjoy Your Wedding Day More

Wedding-Day

Being in love and getting engaged is an amazing time of life that should be enjoyed to the full. The culmination is the wedding day, but unfortunately many brides are so tired and stressed on the day they can’t really enjoy it. To avoid this, wedding DJ’s advise to make sure you put someone you can trust in charge of the wedding event hire details and DJ so you don’t feel as if everything is your responsibility.

Here are some more ways to ensure you actually enjoy your wedding day to the max.

  • If you’ve been dieting to fit into that wedding dress, forget about it on the day of the wedding. Not having enough calories can make you feel tired irritable and even dizzy. You don’t have to eat gobs of food, but do eat throughout the day. Little and often is good. Designate someone to remind you to eat.
  • Have a lot of photos taken before the wedding. Doing it all after you are married often takes hours and can eat into those reception hours.
  • Get enough sleep on the night before, even if you feel strung up with nerves. Staying out late partying will ensure you feel wilted by the time the reception is on.
  • Don’t try to DIY. If you want handmade paper flower, let someone else do it. You’ll have enough to do.
  • You should bring along some adult toys, but we think that might be a bit confronting for some partners on your big day!

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Women WorkFamily

Importance of Respect in a Relationship

Respect in a Relationship

Very often women consider love to be the most important part of relationships. While love is certainly important, respect is even more so. In fact, without respect from your partner there can be no real love. Respect is what will cause him to give you the space to make important decisions and support you in them, instead of putting you down or ignoring your wishes in areas that are important to you, but may not be as important to him.

Some people consider love to be respect but the two are not the same. You can have respect for someone you don’t even like all that much if they do something that you can see is difficult for them. That said, you can love someone but not respect them. You may love your father who is a drunkard, but you cannot respect him because of his behaviour.

Some people – especially men – consider love to be what happens in the bedroom. That is only a small part of real love. Real love will care for a person even if they cannot have sex with them. Real love will remain steadfast through difficult times – and old age. But if there is no respect, the road will be a rocky one. The relationship may not even survive.

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Women WorkFamily

When is Family Counselling Necessary?

Family Counselling

These days there are many issues that can affect the family detrimentally, issues that our grandparents most likely never thought of, let alone had to cope with. Situations can get out of control and cause a wide and permanent rift in the family if not dealt with in a way that teaches each family member not only how to cope, but where other members may be coming from.

What are some of these issues?

  • Blended families trying to get used to each other’s personalities, or where one or more children resent the new ‘parent’. Counselling can help both children and parents to make the transition into new living arrangements easier to adjust to.
  • Drug addiction or other behaviours that are dangerous to family members. Counselling can help parents learn how to identify the problem and deal with it in the most appropriate way.
  • Divorce or separation can be totally stressful to the children, who grieve at the loss of a parent and the lifestyle they had. The parent who has custody may want to take the children for counselling if they show behavioural problems or seem depressed.
  • In cases of certain mental health problems, parent and children need to learn ways to control behaviour. This can stem from the child being mentally disabled or having a disease that affects them mentally, such as autism.
  • Poor parenting skills that makes children angry or feel neglected. Counselling can help parents improve their skills and help children control their anger or show it in less destructive ways.

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Women WorkFamily

8 Signs that Indicate Couple Counselling is Needed

Couple Counselling

Sometimes problems in relationships sneak up slowly and we become so used to them that we don’t even recognise them as a problem that needs dealing with. Other times we may be so busy with parenting or work responsibilities that we just don’t have the energy to deal with a problem. Or it may be that one partner or spouse is a very giving person who always makes excuses for her partner’s behaviour, whatever it may be.

Then one day you realise that the problem has escalated out of control, or that you simply are not interested in living with your spouse anymore. The trouble is that divorce can cause as many problems as it solves, especially when there are children. If you stop for a few moments and assess your relationship, you may realise that it is time for couple counselling. Here are 8 pointers to help you make that decision.

  • When you are not talking, talk is always negative or you are afraid to talk. Communications is often an issue in relationships and if it continues the relationship cannot help but break down. A counsellor can help you find ways of communicating that don’t lead to arguments or one spouse feeling let down.
  • When you begin to think of your partner as an adversary. Marriage should be a partnership, not a continual struggle to get what you want as against what he wants. If your spouse becomes an antagonist you cannot have a good relationship.

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Women WorkFamily, Legal

How to Help Your Child Cope with the Divorce

Help Your Child Cope with the Divorce

Divorce is often full of bitter recriminations and finding fault. While this is difficult for both parents to go through, it is even harder for children, especially if they hear you fighting over them. They think they have done something wrong and are the cause of the divorce. Then they have to cope with feelings of guilt as well as the anxiety and despair of their parents divorcing.

It is essential to help your child cope with divorce if they are to come out of it relatively unscathed. Sometimes it takes years for a child to get over their parent’s divorce and if they are young at the time they will suffer a great deal throughout their life unless you take charge of the situation to help them. Here are some tips to help your help your child cope.

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