That's Fit

The way you communicate with people has very little to do with the words you say -- it's mostly about body language. How you carry yourself can contribute as much as 90% of your meaning, so it's obviously pretty important that you are not only aware of what your body language is saying but also that you know how to control it.

If your young child is a "hands-on" type of kids who loves his or her blocks and building materials, those language skills may be under development along with motor skills, according to a study released this week.

The study revealed that language scores were about 15 percent higher in the group of kids aged 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 who were sent blocks to play with out of a group of 175 kids.

Parents of each block-supplied child were given instructions on how to help their kids play with the blocks, then each kept copious notes during a four-day study period. After studying the responses from all involved parents, the researchers concluded that 'block play ' stimulates thinking, memory and physical mastery -- all of which are precursors to language construction and expression.

A group of Canadian audiologists and speech pathologists are concerned that noisy classrooms are making it tougher for kids to properly hear lessons and therefore learn material. A study comissioned by the Canadian Language and Literacy Reseach Network showed that first grade students tend to miss at least 1 of every 6 words spoken by their teachers because of the amount of ambient noise, including other classes and audio equipment, in classrooms.

As this article points out, while adults have the language skills to determine words that they've missed in sentences, children aren't able to put the pieces of a sentence together and end up experiencing a number of detrimental effects including poor understanding, reading problems and decreased attention. Apparently the problem is worse in Canada than in the United States, where there is a national standard that keeps classrooms less noisy.

Are you worried about the amount of noise in your child's classroom?

When I first saw the title of this article -- Sign Language for Dogs -- I was a bit incredulous. Dogs can learn sign language? Seriously? I've never really considered what it would be like to train a deaf dog, but I suppose it's more common than I would have imagined.

And if dogs can learn a myriad of other commands, why wouldn't they be able to learn sign language? As the piece mentions, both deaf and hearing dogs can learn specific signs. It just take a bit more patience on their human's part, and has a lot more to do with body language than the sound of a happy or stern voice. The article mentions that when training a dog, you can use actual American Sign Language signs, or just stick with specific hand and finger gestures.

Your pet can be taught 'fetch', 'look', 'get up' or 'get down', 'sit', 'stay', 'drop it', along with a huge variety of other commands, just by using specific hand or finger motions. Anyone who has ever had a puppy knows that it can be pretty stressful to get them properly trained but sign language sounds like a pretty good way to go. Whether it's a necessity because you've got a deaf dog, or you are hearing-or speech-impaired and need to train your dog with signs, or whether you think it would just be a great tool for training your pet, you can learn a lot more about it here.

Arguments aren't necessarily bad. Conflict is often how we sort out what we really want from what we're willing to compromise on. Even in good arguments, the terms may not exactly be kind and gentle, the language not always respectful and there may not be closure, but the argument has a beginning and an end. Learning when to end is the most important step in maintaining a healthy relationship. When you start to feel that you just have to no matter what, get the other person to agree with you, at that point you must stop arguing. That feeling comes from a deep fear of being alone or being misunderstood or abandoned by people we count on the most. When an argument reaches that point, it is useless anymore to continue.

Know when to step away and just end the argument is important. Repeating yourself will only make it worse. Most arguments are never won. And most often nothing is resolved in that heat of the moment. It is hours, days, even weeks sometimes before a point might seek in. But many arguments never do get settled and that is very normal. Everyone has points of views and some are more passionate about them than others. That does not make them a bad person or a person that is hard to get along with or someone that you should end a relationship with.

Try not to respond to digs or jabs that are designed to set you off. Ignoring them and recognizing them for what they are, an attempt to edge you into an argument, will save you a lot of wasted energy into what is more than likely going to end up in another pointless argument. When giving and receiving advice, don't require the other person to recognize it as the most brilliant suggestion ever. Just say it and move on. Let the other person process it for what they feel it is worth.

Learning how to argue and learning how to let the argument end, will prevent these disagreements from damaging your relationship. In the book Why Can't You Shut Up?: How We Ruin Relationships-And How Not To, psychologist Anthony Wolf, Ph.D. states, "In the best relationships, there remain serious pockets of unresolved bitterness. It's an outgrowth of the basic need that we all have to be close to and understood by the people we love the most, and during arguments, that feeling can get out of control."

Most of the time the more passionate the love, the more passionate the arguments.