Students Of Success

It’s been raining for a week and the kids and bored and restless. How do you cure those rainy day blahs? Try some of these parent tested and kid approved ideas and your children will be hoping for another rainy day when the sun finally peaks through.

1. Share a book. Pick an action packed, funny book and take turns reading aloud. Some great choices are My Brother Louis Measures Worms by Barbara Robinson, The Great Brain by John Fitzgerald or Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parrish. For more great reads, check with your local library. Your librarian should have reading lists available.

2. Put on a play. Your children can write their own play and act it out or make paper bag puppets for additional fun. A great book for quick and easy skit ideas is The Skit Book by Margaret Read MacDonald.

3. Go on an indoor picnic. Put out a blanket and pack a basket full of goodies. For a quick but special picnic lunch, jazz up ordinary sandwiches with cookie cutters in animal shapes.

4. Hold rainy day Olympics. Make the events things that can be done in the house, such as standing on one leg or seeing who can make his bed the fastest. Give the winners chocolate coins instead of medals.
5. Learn a new craft or hobby. Check your local library for instructional videos that will tell you how to knit, crochet or paint and buy enough supplies for everyone to give it a try. If you decide to learn to knit or crochet, your children can make scarves or blankets to donate to a local shelter.

6. Hold a fancy dress party. Put together a trunk of old cocktail dresses, suits, fancy hats, and costume jewelry. Have everyone dress up and give prizes for the most creative and fancy costumes.

7. Go on safari. Make an indoor tent by draping a blanket over a table or several chairs. Serve trail mix as a snack and provide binoculars for hunting wild animals. Then pull up a cushion and read Maurice Sendek’s Where the Wild Things Are or play a video or DVD about wild baby animals.

8. Get ready for a yard sale. Work with your children to clean out the attic, garage and bedrooms. Clean and price all the items and box them up by category so that you can quickly set up your sale on the next sunny weekend.

9. Have an indoor market. Buy snacks, activities, and other inexpensive items and set up a store table for each child. Provide market baskets and spare change so they can buy from each other and make sure you stop by the shops, too. For additional fun, let them keep their profits to restock their shops for the next rainy day.

10. Make portrait cookies. Buy a sugar cookie mix, a gingerbread cookie cutter, colored icing and sprinkles. Roll out the sugar cookies and help the kids cut out their people and then let them decorate the gingerbread men to look like themselves, friends and family. For additional fun, find dog or cat cookie cutters so your children can include the family pet.

Katelyn Thomas is the editor for Cecil Child, a free online parenting magazine for Cecil County residents at http://www.cecilchild.com

What is car insurance? Car insurance is essentially
insurance that covers you, your passengers, and your car in case
of an accident. Most states require that car owners carry
liability coverage in their car insurance policy. Liability
insurance covers expenses incurred for damaging another
vehicle with your own when you are at fault. This means that if
you are in a vehicular accident and your car caused the damage,
then the liability piece of your car insurance will cover the
damages according to the terms of your policy.

Your car insurance premium (cost) is made up of several
different factors. Those include your age, driving record,
gender, vehicle type, vehicle age, geographic location, number
of miles you put on your vehicle yearly, the deductibles
(collision and comprehensive), etc.

What is collision coverage? Collision coverage is the
portion of your car insurance that will pay you to repair or
replace your vehicle in the case of a covered accident. What is
comprehensive coverage? Comprehensive coverage is the
portion of your car insurance that helps pay for damages to your
vehicle that are incurred as a result of situations such as
weather, theft, and vandalism.

As with all insurance, car insurance policies carry a
deductible. The deductible amount is the portion of the
claim that you as the policy holder are responsible for paying.
For example, if you carry a $250 collision deductible and you
cause a wreck that requires $1000 worth of repairs to your
vehicle, then you will pay the first $250 and the car insurance
company will cover the remaining $750. Car insurance costs go up
as you lower your deductible. If you are willing to carry a
higher deductible, then your car insurance will be less
expensive.

Another item to keep in mind is that as your car ages and its
value declines your car insurance premium will decrease
in price. This assumes that you keep a good driving record and
do not get any tickets or get in to any accidents. Also, as you
car gets older you can reduce the amount of coverage that you
have in your car insurance policy. Many people believe there is
no need to carry anything more than liability coverage on a car
that is old and not worth much anyway. It is always up to you,
but it is definitely something to consider.

Car insurance is typically charged at a six month rate. This
allows you and the car insurance company to make adjustments a
couple times a year. You can pay the premium of your car
insurance once every six months or you can break the payments up
in to a schedule that is more suitable to you. Many people make
payments once a month. Keep in mind that car insurance companies
are willing to let you do monthly payments, but they charge a
higher rate on a month-to-month payment than they do for the six
month total. For example, your six month rate may be $600, but
if you make monthly payments, then you are charged $120 per
month.

There are several companies that offer car insurance so you have
plenty of choices. Please visit ChildInsure.com today for more
information on car insurance as well as health,
life, and home insurance. You can get a free online quote from
providers in your area with just a few clicks.

Author: Jason Barrett