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Where social media meets online learning for kids and adults.
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Learn how to maintain a healthy body, mind, and social well-being to be happy and healthy in life.
Learn how to earn, save, share, spend, invest, and loan money responsibly to be a financial success.
Learn how to use project management guidelines to help make sure your school and home projects are successful.
Learn how to get along well with others to increase the number of positive relationships in your life.
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ADULTS – Health and Health Management Description
Definition of Health
The subject of health focuses on the physical, mental, and social well-being of an individual. Good health is usually associated with the absence of serious injury or illness, disease and pain.
Definition of Health Management
Health Management is the proactive management of an individual’s health at an early age as it relates to the human body, mind, and social well-being. The goal is to try and lead a healthy lifestyle while minimizing the risk of serious injury or illness, disease, and pain whenever possible.
Importance of Health Management
A healthy body, mind, and social well-being is critical for success and happiness at home, at school, and at work. If an individual is healthy, there is more time and energy that can be focused on maintaining positive relationships at home. At school, a healthy individual will tend to be more alert and have the energy and drive to focus on performing well in academic subjects. Also, feeling good may translate into a better mood and ultimately, better behavior at school. If an individual is sick, then the focus is on getting better, not on external relationships, academic performance, or individual behavior. As a child gets older and involved at work, a healthy body, mind, and social well-being is important to have the positive energy and stamina to work hard and the positive mental health and attitude to collaborate well with others for professional success.
Health Management Scope
The scope of this topic at Cognitra includes the following main areas:
- Eating healthy foods such as grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables.
- Trying to maintain a healthy weight appropriate for the height, age, sex, and body size of the individual.
- Losing weight to ensure body weight is within professional recommended weight ranges.
- Maintaining a healthy mental state including the proactive management of stress.
- Avoiding negative impacts on health such as addictions to food, nicotine, drugs and alcohol.
- Avoiding risky behaviors such as unprotected sex, lack of seatbelt use, and more.
- Ensuring body muscles are exercised and strengthened in a safe and consistent manner.
- Ensuring daily body maintenance and hygiene.
- Having many positive relationships in life, while minimizing negative relationships if possible.
- Making regular doctor and dentist appointments based on professional recommendations.
Health Management Learning Goal
The goal is to start out with very simple health management concepts when children are young and get more sophisticated as the age of the student progresses. Each lesson should build on the one before it. If we teach kids how to manage their own health when they are young, over time they should get much better at managing their health, which in turn, should ultimately lead to more personal and professional success and happiness.
ADULTS – Relationship and Relationship Management Description
Definition of a Relationship
A particular type of connection existing between people related to or having dealings with each other. These relationships can have a positive, negative or indifferent impact on the individual depending on the situation.
Types of Relationships
There can be a number of different types of relationships including family relationships, relationships between friends, romantic or intimate relationships, relationships between members on a common team, networking relationships to seek out ways to satisfy needs or opportunities, relationships between children and adults such as a teacher in school or a boss at work, and so on.
Definition of Relationship Management
Relationship management is the proactive management of these relationships to increase the number of positive relationships in life and conversely, minimize the negative relationships.
Importance of Relationship Management
On the professional side, enhanced relationship management skills are becoming ever more important as work gets done through collaborative teams across multiple cultures and time zones. Since work is all about getting things done through people, relationship management skills are critical. On the personal side, it is imperative that students have the relationship management skills to have healthy, long-term relationships with a partner or spouse. In other ways, relationship management skills may be necessary for self-preservation and perhaps even survival when it comes to bullying or domestic violence.
Relationship Management Scope
The scope of this topic at Cognitra includes the following main areas:
- The personality style continuum of Submissive, Assertive, Aggressive
- Introvert versus extrovert
- How to manage conflict, including bullying
- Anger management and self-control
- Diversity of relationships
- Cultural impact on relationships
- Time allocation and focus to maintain positive relationships
- Using technology to manage relationships
- Minimizing negative relationships
Relationship Management Learning Goal
The goal is to start out with very simple relationship management concepts when children are young and get more sophisticated as the age of the student progresses. Each lesson should build on the one before it. If we teach kids how to manage relationships when they are young, over time they should get much better at managing relationships in their personal and professional lifetimes, which in turn, should lead to more success and happiness.
ADULTS – Money Management – Top Ten Money Mistakes Passed to Kids
There is a great article by Jenna Goudreau on the Forbes.com website about the top ten money mistakes parents pass on to their children. You can read the full article at Top Ten Money Mistakes Passed to Kids or a summary of the top ten mistakes as follows:
1. Money Silence
Parents do not talk about their family finances or how money works with their children.
2. Credit Card Magic
Parents buy things with a magic card and kids don’t understand how credit cards work and why good credit is important.
3. Not Saying No
Parents need to teach their children that there are money limits in life and everyone must live within their means – sometimes this means saying no.
4. Lying about Money
Parents can mistakingly teach their children that it is okay to lie about money even though a family budget with spending rules has been established.
5. Actions Betraying Words
Parents often make the mistake of saying one thing and doing another sending mixed money management messages to kids.
6. Overspending On Entertainment
Parents may unconsciously pass on the mindset that it is necessary to spend a great deal of money to have fun and be happy.
7. Not Saving Enough
Parents should be a positive role model for saving money regularly – including having enough money for emergencies.
8. Unexplained Money Tension
Parents may inadvertently teach their children that arguing about money can lead to conflict so it is best to avoid the topic all together.
9. Allowance Without Enforced Rules
Parents can teach their children a lot about money with an allowance program, as long as rules are set upfront and followed.
10. Gendered Money Divisions
Parents need to explain how they have divided up family money management responsibilities so there is no gender bias based on strengths and weaknesses.
ADULTS – (Introduction Ages 2-4) – Money Management – Preschooler Guidelines
With preschool kids ages 2-4, you really have to start slow and simple. But the experts say if kids are old enough to want things and ask for them, then they are old enough to start learning about money. It won’t take kids long to learn that money can get them what they want.
For many kids, they learn about money by sitting in a shopping cart and observing adults. Don’t overlook the everyday learning opportunities to talk to them about what you are doing as you are shopping and checking out.
The easiest thing for kids to understand at this age is to actually see the money, especially as it is exchanged between an adult and cashier. So, for smaller purchases, you should use cash instead of a check, credit, or debit card.
This age range is also a great time to read to kids. Money books with lots of pictures (interaction is even better!) and simple stories work best.
There are some really good preschool money apps for the Apple iPhone, IPod Touch, and IPad Tablet that can be purchased at iTunes. Alternatively, good applications that can help preschool children learn about money that run on hardware devices using the Android operating software can be purchased at Google.
Once kids can count they can start learning about the value of money. Ex. A nickel is counting from 1 to 5.
As kids feel more comfortable with money, you can help them “earn” money by participating in learning activities while saving up.
Preschoolers usually can only wait a few days to save up and buy something. Obviously, start with something very small and work your way up as the child ages and understands more about money and simple money management.
If the child can’t wait for an item, and as a result, doesn’t have enough money saved yet, make sure you don’t give in and make up the difference so the child can buy the item now. It is critical that kids this age learn how to delay instant or short-term gratification, especially when it comes to money.
Bottom line: Make sure learning about money is fun!
References
1. Clark Smart Parents, Clark Smart Kids (Howard, 2005)
2. Kids and Money (Searls, 1996)
3. Money for Teens (Shelly, 2001)
4. Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees (Godfrey, 2006)
5. Raising Money Smart Kids (Bodnar, 2005)
BLOG – Learning for Success and Happiness – Life, School, and Work
I have been waiting for the roar to die down over the “tiger mom” or “extreme parenting” discussion as of late. If you are not up on the controversy, you can learn more at
Tiger Mom Parenting Style on Time Website
Tiger Mom Parenting Style on MSNBC Website
Cognitra Goals
At Cognitra, our mission is to help children learn about important topics that are typically not covered in an academic environment, such as Conflict Management, Money Management, Project Management, and Relationship Management.
Cognitra has three main goals for this type of self-improvement and self-enrichment social learning:
So kids…
- Don’t have to always learn the hard way about life like we did
- Can better compete in a global world for good jobs when they grow up
- Can be happy and successful – in life, at school, and eventually at work
High Expectations
I think it is good to have high expectations for our kids. One of our most important roles as a parent is to help our children be the best that they can be. Sometimes we forget about this critical parental role when we are so busy in our daily lives and long to relax when we have a moment to spare. Ultimately, we should try to raise a child who is successful, from a personal and professional perspective, and someone who will make positive contributions to society if possible.
Play and Have Some Fun
On the other hand, kids need to have a chance to be….well….kids. Children should be allowed to play and have some fun – even downtime to recharge and reengerize just like adults. Perhaps even be bored for a change! Like most parents, I want my children to have happy memories of their childhood. It can’t be all work and no play. Seriously, who would choose that kind of dreary life willingly?
Different Parenting Needs
And kids from the same family can be so different. What parenting style worked well for one sibling may not work so well for the others. And some kids have developmental delays so parenting styles must be flexible to address these special needs. In addition, if there is too much stress on a child or if the pressure to be perfect is taken to heart, some kids will become severely depressed – even to the point of suicide. This is a serious risk that all parents should strongly consider when deciding on a parenting style.
Everything in Moderation
Which brings me to my final point. Remember what we have learned numerous times over the course of our lives – everything in moderation. This includes a good balance to parenting. We want to have high expectations for good behavior and academic performance for our kids but not to the point that we eliminate all opportunities for them to play and have fun. We should strive to raise successful children who are also very happy and well-adjusted. After all, isn’t that what parenting is all about?
What do you think?