Wrestling workout equipment

If you are training for professional or amateur wrestling it is very important to have the right equipment that helps you to gain wrestling strength. The following can be helpful for getting started: Brief Workouts The workouts should never exceed 35 minutes in duration, as If they do, you aren’t working hard enough to complete your workout. The ability to recuperate from the workouts, and therefore develop more strength, is increased when you complete your workout within the stipulated time. Long and strenuous workouts will eventually cut into your body’s ability to recuperate, and lead to over-training. Using Machines and Free Weights There is a common misconception amongst athletes and coaches that you must use free weights when strength training. Free weights are great! So are machines! Your muscles don’t know the difference. The intensity is the most important thing when trying to improve your strength for wrestling. The tool that you use to get there is not. I like certain exercises for certain muscles. It also depends on injuries that a wrestler might already have. You can work around and injury and still give the body a thorough strength workout. If you have access to Hammer Strength machines, I highly recommend that you include them in your wrestling strength workout. Using thick bar The thick bar is usually a hollow metal tube that you put free weights on the end of. A thick bar forces you to hold on tightly when performing exercises. It develops fantastic forearm and hand strength. It should be part of every serious strength-training program for wrestlers. You can do curls, reverse curls, rows, and presses with it. The Trap Bar The trap bar another piece of equipment that helps to gain wrestling strength. The trap bar is a hexagonally shaped bar that allows you to perform dead lifts with maximal stimulation of almost every muscle vital to improved wrestling performance. An exercise that will make your entire body stronger.

Mudras hand symbolism hand mysteries part 3

[Note: This paper contains images which may be seen as originally published at our website] In ceremonial magick of the Western Tradition, the hands and fingers are used for various purposes among which is to trace symbols, sigils, and signs in a consecrated space or object. They are also utilized to banish, invoke and direct forces to certain targets. In contrast to the adepts of ceremonial magic, stage magicians apply the hands to entertain audiences with their many illusory tricks. They call this, "prestidigitation," or "sleight of hand." In prestidigitation, the hands are used in various ways to deceive and mislead the eyes, and also in guiding the mental focus of the audience. The saying that "the hands are quicker than the eye," is a well-known clichй used by stage magicians. While still on the topic of entertainment, we have to consider the applause. The clapping of hands in modern usage is an expression of delight, agreement, an accompaniment to music, or appreciation for someone's stage performance. Metaphysically, it is said that ovation dispels the presence of angelic beings. These creatures of light dislike the vibrations produced by the applause. From the occult point of view, therefore, clapping is regarded as a negative practice. In dance, gestures of the hands are essential in conveying or expressing symbolic messages and metaphorical meanings. They possess a rich vocabulary and tell non-verbal stories that evoke our primordial emotions as well as divine sensations. This can easily be seen and experienced in the hula-dance of the Polynesians. These dances and hand movements narrate various myths of the land that transports us to another world. In Hindu classical texts regarding dance, hundreds of hand gestures are mentioned, together with descriptions of the thirteen positions of the head, thirty-six of the eyes, and nine of the neck. In the Hindu dances based on the Carnatic music composition, the following mudras are used among many others: Raaga mudra, Tata mudra, Aachaarya mudra, Naayaka mudra, Vamsa mudra, Biruda mudra, Lakshana Grantha mudra, Prabandha mudra, Sthala mudra, etc. Although the many poses of the hands in traditional dance may portray symbolical meanings, they are also functional in the sense that they modify the morphogenic or auric field of the human organism, and likewise meant to regulate the energy flow within the etheric body. There are numerous forms of dance or dancing style prompted by the various levels of the psyche. Basically, we can classify three types of dance originating from the subconsciousness, consciousness and the superconsciousness. The instinctive or primitive dance originating from the subconsciousness is well known and is displayed by both man and beast. Most of these movements and their awkward gestures usually are mating courtship dances and the release of pent-up energies. Cultural dances evolved from these unrefined movements. They are a projection of what the psyche understands of beauty, grace, form, rhythm, etc. The third category may be called mystical dances. They originate from higher levels of consciousness beyond the reach of the conscious mind, but whose energies may be channeled through the physical body producing divine movements. Some forms of dancing are the amalgamation of all three classifications. The traditional dancing styles of Eastern countries such as India, Thailand, and Indonesia are typical of these. In these dances mudras are often formed to alter the consciousness of the dancer and indirectly affect the consciousness of the spectators. About 16 years ago the writer personally witnessed one of the traditional Javanese dances performed by a very talented young man. The dance was called "Kesadaran," or "Consciousness." We were spellbound from start to finish. Music often make us move and sway our hands, feet, and body unconsciously. Why does it do this? For the simply reason that musical energies have the power to possess our beings and cause an altered state of awareness making us lose a certain degree of control over our physical motor system. All beings are susceptible to the influence of music. Animals and plants are especially vulnerable. In Greek myth we often hear tales of Pan, the personification of Nature, dancing to the mystical tunes of his pan-pipes, and all those who heard him play would also join in the fun, the mirth, and the merry-making. Similarly, when the Greek sage Orpheus played on his lyre, all became entranced, even the rocks listened attentively. In the Hindu tales of the gods, as found in the Bhagavata-Purana and the Gita-Govinda, Krishna is said to have enchanted the gopis, or shepherdesses of Vrindavana with his lila dance and magical flute-playing. Each gopi was so mesmerized and distracted by Krishna that they would forget everything else around them. They would become so one-pointed that they would believe that they were the only one present before their Lord. Evidently, music has the power to cause ecstatic feelings. The god Shiva is often portrayed in iconography in a dancing pose as Nataraja, or "Lord of Dance." Representing the Consciousness aspect of Nature, why does Shiva engage in a Cosmic dance? It is because Shakti or divine energy, flows through his being and causes spasms and convulsions at first, and then rhythmic movements in attunement with the beat of the Cosmos. Amidst spiritual flames, Shiva dances rapturously, burning and transmuting all of the old outworn forms of life hindering cosmic progress. In a microcosmic scale, a Shiva-dance likewise occurs to a practitioner of mudras. Spontaneous dancing may transpire as a result of the awakening of the life-force in the lowest psychospiritual center of the etheric body. While conducting the mudras the practitioner's whole being would often move involuntarily. The physical body might sway forward and backward, left and right or rotate on its axis. His or her hands would move on their own accord in circles, in arches, in figure-eights, in a chopping upward-downward movement, or oscillate in a left-right or forward-backward direction; sometimes the hands are mysteriously placed at various layers of the aura, or even at certain focus points--at the chakras or energy centers of the body. While Shakti is active, she may also induce the practitioner to assume unlearnt mudras. The energies invoked through mudras have an intelligence all of their own and they do their work through movements. They know what to do to balance, purify, transform, or integrate celestial energies into the microcosmic system. In the martial-arts field, hands are used as weapons of defense or destruction. The "Tiger's Claw," the "Iron Fist," "the Drunken-style Fist," etc, all indicate the manifold lethal forms that the hands may assume to strike an opponent or to ward off blows. In contrast to this, the finer arts make use of the hands constructively and creatively to produce wondrous objects of art, and to compose and produce heavenly music. Like the Cosmic dance of Shiva, the movements of Tai Chi, Pencak Silat, and other forms of self-defense have part of their origin in an awakened source of energy moving through the limbs producing involuntary movements. These movements were later noted down and turned into the various steps of martial-art discipline and training. Some systems of metaphysical development teach us to move the body in a certain way. Though this has an effect in stimulating energies in the body it is not quite as effective in producing the desired results as when compared to the assuming of mudras that cause the energies to produce natural movements all of their own accord. When we clasp our hands by interlacing our fingers, the thumb at the uppermost, whether right or left indicates which hemisphere of our brain predominates. Psychology tells us that if the right thumb is uppermost it is logic or reason that is predominant within us, or if the left thumb, intuition. The hands play an important role in empowering the mind to function optimally. Since energy radiates from the palms and fingertips, they are often unconsciously utilized as stimulators re-connecting lost or poor links between synapses of brain neurons. In the book Body Magic, an important work on esoteric man, Benjamin Walker describes how the operations of the hands often attempt to improve the mental processes by certain placements: "When the fingertips of the two hands are placed together, a circuit is set up with the brain that is believed to assist thought. People in deep thought will often talk with their fingertips pressed together, as if unconsciously aware of the need to establish such a current to assist their concentration. If a man wishes to recall something he has forgotten, his hand will instinctively touch his forehead to contact with his fingers the source of his thinking." From what has been written thus far, it is evident that hands play a prominent role in everyday life. This can also be seen in the way we have invented all sorts of idioms regarding them. For instance, "lend me a hand," "hands-off," "hand-in-hand," "old-hand," "hands-on," etc. The Application of Hands in the Spiritual Path In the Spiritual Path hands are used for the following purposes: As an instrument of healing. As an instrument of blessing and consecration. As an instrument of general service. As an instrument of teaching. As an instrument of purification, invocation, prayer, and communion. ********** As an instrument of healing Chakras, or energy-centers are to be found all over the body. There is a chakra to be found in each palm of the hand. There is likewise a minor chakra at every fingertip. The size, activity, and power of these chakras are dependent upon various factors. One of these is the purity of the subtle channels terminating at those chakra points. These subtle channels or etheric nadis convey the life-force all over the body and may be projected outside of the body through the hand chakras. Healers of various metaphysical traditions make use of the hands to convey healing energy or to break up toxic crystals imbedded in the tissues. Since ancient times Chinese doctors have been diagnosing a person's state of vitality through sensing the strength of the energy radiating from the hands, from the phalanges of the fingers, and the pulse at the wrist. Among the many systems of alternative therapeutics that make use of the hands are acupressure, Shiatsu, Chakra healing, Reiki, Rosicrucian Contact healing, Body Electronics, various forms of massage work, etc. Like Jesus the Christ, every Initiate on the Spiritual Path is essentially a healer, though he may not blatantly proclaim or advertise himself to be one. When circumstances and necessity calls for it he would gladly offer his services to the suffering one, always stressing, however, that it is not he that works, but the "Father " within him. As an instrument of blessing and consecration Metaphysics teaches and proves through various experiments which may be personally verified by skeptics that energy radiates from the hands. This energy may be used to magnetize objects, places, spaces or people for various purposes. The religious term for magnetization is consecration. Blessing is a form of consecration. It refers to the magnetization of a human being rather than an object with a spiritual force. Generally, in the act of consecration or blessing we seek to raise the vibrations or frequency of a person or an object, or to empower it with certain energies that would turn it into a psycho-spiritual generator that would influence its immediate surroundings in a certain way. Thought-forms imbued with mental suggestions and emotional power are often attached to these blessings. Curses operate much in the same way as blessings, they however, bring about negative effects. The curse on Tutankhamen's tomb is a classic example of this. Where people are concern in the act of blessing, the metaphysical practitioner would also seek to clear obstructive or congested energies preventing the person from being aware of or communing with his or her Higher Self. Once this purification is achieved the person would possess a clearer line of communication with his hidden god or genius and acquire a stronger sense of protection, faith, and a constant guidance from the Most High. In the act of blessing or consecration, the hands work in harmony with the power of the spoken word to modify the magnetic-field structure of people and objects. As an instrument of general service The hands are tools of service and humanitarian aid. Spiritually and socially, it is applied in extending a helping hand to our fellow beings, to those in need of bare necessities, comfort and solace. In spiritual teachings, karma yoga is often associated with the hands in active giving without any thought of remuneration or recognition. This is a vital principle. The desire to serve humanity must come from the heart without any thought of self or ego. Selflessness, self-sacrifice, and active service are important virtues that the spiritual aspirant has to embody and express at every breathing moment. When self-comfort, self-importance, and self-aggrandizement are the sole motives of help to others then the hands are misapplied and any act carried-out is unmeritorious. Spiritual disciples should not attract attention to the fact that they are serving. The best service is done quietly in the shadows without any fanfare or advertisements. The Master Jesus explained it concisely in this manner: "Do not let the left hand know what the right hand is doing." Occultly, the left hand is used for receiving energies, while the right hand is employed for giving them. As an instrument of teaching Spiritual Gurus teach in various ways. They give teachings orally, in writing, telepathically, through example, symbols, drama, and by the use of gestures. The hands can convey lots of information when knowledgeably used. Symbolic movements of the hands may portray the workings of Cosmic laws and spiritual principles. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes the hands may tell what the mouth cannot. A loving touch tells something that words are often unequipped to. In Zen Buddhism, the Guru often gives shock treatments to his students with the use of the hands. A rap on the head or a slap on the face at the appropriate moment and psychological condition after intense meditation is supposed to cause a student to suddenly apperceive the natural state of his mind and thereby become enlighten. As an instrument of purification, invocation, prayer and communion Perhaps the most common use of hands in religious and in metaphysical spiritual work is its application in prayer. Basically, this does not require any specialized knowledge. The hands are instinctively used when appealing to God, to higher intelligences for intercession or when used simply as gestures of adoration or reverence, just as we instinctively scratch our foreheads or pull our beards when we seek to arouse our mental powers. The hands may be clasped, outstretched or assumed in any other way that the heart dictates while in silent prayer. Esoteric teachings, however, teaches various mudras, or hand gestures that have specific purposes for the invocation of cosmic forces and spiritual beings. The liturgical formula "The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Amen" in the Christian Tradition accompanied with the touching of the appropriate points of the head and body at the conclusion of a prayer conveys a certain power to the etheric body when correctly done. However, the perfunctory manner in which it is performed provides very little of worth. In Hinduism, such placing of the hands upon certain parts of the body with magical intent is called Nyasa. To commune with the divinity within us we may apply various mudras that facilitates mystical communion. Mudras establishes a psychic condition in the mind and body that temporary elevates our consciousness, and disperses the etheric webs that protects the psyche from being prematurely bombarded by psychic/celestial energies. It aligns and unites our objective consciousness with the superconscious mind. An altered state of consciousness is easily achieved through the use of the hands in the performing of mudras. Through mudras our communion with the so-called supernatural is controlled. We open and close the portals to higher worlds through the application of our will. In ceremonial magick the hands are extensively used to direct and build up forces in one's sacred place of worship and practice. Symbols are drawn on the ground or in the air with the power radiating from the hands and chakras to invoke and evoke cosmic metaphysical forces. The avatar Sai Baba is often seen making gestures in the air. He does this for the purpose of dispersing and cleansing the ambient surroundings and atmosphere from negative energies. The metaphysical practitioner or ceremonial magician makes use of the hands in manifesting certain things and conditions. To conclude this article we would like to praise the hands for what they offer us--the opportunity to grow and serve. The fingers and thumbs of the hands should not quarrel among themselves as to who is the greatest, as related in some ancient fables, for they all have their place in supporting the need in us to further pursue our dreams, in fulfilling our earthly tasks and cosmic mission. The harmonious conjoined functioning of the fingers and thumbs of the hands is a metaphor for the right relationship and cooperation between the sons of men to manifest the Will of God, just as the fingers and hands manifests the will of its possessor. The noblest use of our hands is to extend it in friendship, in kindness and in unconditional love. Copyright © 2006 Luxamore

How to play texas holdem

Texas Holdem has become such a popular Game that most tournaments now days are Texas Holdem games, and there are even 2 or 3 television shows dedicated to the game. Texas Holdem is a 5 card poker game, but instead of each layer being dealt 7 cards, the dealer deals 5 cards in the center of the table, these cards are used by all the players to make the best hand possible. To make your hand each player is also dealt 2 cards and the object is to use the cards in your hand and the ones on the table to make the best hand you can. There are 5 rounds of Texas Hold’em Poker and they are: The Pre-Flop The Flop The turn The River The Showdown During a Texas Holdem game between each round there is a round of betting, and is when players with bad hands may fold. In the game of Texas Holdem the first round is the pre flop. During this round the big and the small blinds place their bets, the big and small blinds are the first two players to the dealers left. Before the players are allowed to look at their cards the small blind must place a bet of half the table minimum and the next player who is the big blind must place a bet of the table minimum and then the dealer gives each player their hole cards. The hold cards is the name of the 2 cards each player has that are exclusively theirs, these cards guarantee that each player has a chance to make a better hand then the other players, without them all you would have is the 5 communal cards. In Texas Holdem the next round is the flop. This is when the dealer deals out the first 3 of the 5 communal cards. It is during this round that most players will fold; betting in this round is usually very conservative because 2 more cards are still needed and betting big on the chances that the cards you need are the ones that will appear is taking a big chance with your money, one that can coast you to bust out of the game early. The third round is called the turn. The turn is when the dealer puts out the 4th communal card. At this point you can get a good idea of your chances of getting a winning hand and now is when the betting starts to heat up, and more people will drop out of the game. The river is the last of the 5 cards to be turned over by the dealer. At this point all the cards available to make the hands have been put out, this is also the last time to bet before turning over the cards. The last round of Texas Holdem is the showdown, this is when all players turn over their cards and a winner is declared. You now have all the information you need to start playing Texas Holdem.

Website or no website thats the question

Website Or No Website…That's The Question Do you want to make money through the Internet but you don't have enough experience or capital to start your own online business? You don't have to worry, for a lot of online marketing options exist for you to start with. One of these options, and shall I say the best, is affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing provides first time online marketers like you the chance to market something online even without having your own product to sell. All you have to do is to sign up with an affiliate marketing program, which is usually owned by an online merchant or retailer, and start picking the products you want to promote. As an affiliate, you are paid by the merchant for your services on a commission basis, that is whenever you have directed a visitor to the merchant's site and the visitor actually buys something. Becoming an affiliate in an affiliate marketing program is often quick and easy, and for most affiliate programs, signing up is also free. But despite these and all the benefits being promised by affiliate programs, many people are still hesitant to get into affiliate marketing. One of the reasons why a lot of people remain hesitant is the lack of a website to start marketing his affiliate products with. This now leads us to the question of whether a website is required or necessary in affiliate marketing or not. Many people say that one can do affiliate marketing even without a website to start with. Actually, one can really start promoting and marketing his affiliate products even without a website; and there exist a lot of ways on how this can be done. In fact, many affiliate marketing strategies that leads to success can exist without actually needing a website. Among these strategies are email marketing, offline promotions, writing e-books, writing ezines and engaging in online discussions like forums, chats, message boards and others. *Email Marketing Email marketing, or maintaining email lists, is actually the most popular affiliate marketing strategy that doesn't require the affiliate to maintain a website. In this affiliate marketing strategy, what you basically do is maintain a list of the email ads of your prospective customers and provide them with articles that are relevant with the affiliate products and programs you are promoting. Articles that you provide your contacts with need not always be promotional, for many individuals find such types of email annoying. Rather, it would be better if you provide them with something informative and just add small text ads that link to your merchant's site. *Offline Promotion There are many ways on how you can promote your affiliate products offline. Among the common medium used for such promotions are classified ads, brochures and flyers. Classified ads would generally work better compared to the other two because classified ads in periodicals often get a wider audience. *Writing Free e-books If you have a knack in writing, writing an e-book can be the best way for you to promote your affiliate products in the absence of an actual website. Just like in emails and newsletters, your readers would better appreciate your e-book if it is not too promotional but rather informative. Be sure, however, to make the contents of your e-books relative to the actual affiliate products you are promoting. And just like in email marketing, you can just place text ads or banners somewhere near the end of your e-book that links to the merchant's site. *Writing Free Ezines Ezines are publications or articles that aim to inform individuals about a particular topic. If you don't have a website and yet want to be an affiliate, you can well use ezines to promote your affiliate products or to insert links to your merchant's site. If you have a website, your ezine article may actually work well as content for your site. But since you have no website, you can just submit your free ezine articles to various websites that hosts ezines, like goarticles, ezinearticles and others. *Online discussions (Forums, Chats, Message Boards, etc.) With or without a website, you just can't ignore online discussions because they are great venues for marketing your affiliate products. In chats, forums, message boards and discussion boards with topics related to your products, you can easily find people who may be interested with the products you are promoting. With all these strategies, it may appear that one really doesn't need to have a website to start marketing his affiliate products and promoting his affiliate programs. Well, starting in an affiliate program without a website may be easy, but getting successful in affiliate marketing without a website is another thing. While one can actually gain enormous success in affiliate marketing even without a website, it is a rare instance that "newbies" like you can reach the same levels of success. Having a website is not really a pre-requisite in entering into an affiliate program, unless otherwise the program owner would require you to have one. But while this is so, I would still recommend that you have for yourself a website, if not now, then maybe at a later time. Having a website creates a lot of advantages in affiliate marketing. For one, it provides you a place where you can creatively promote not only one of your affiliate products but all of your affiliate products. With a website, you can also advertise your affiliate products to a wider market. Again, having a website is not a requirement in affiliate marketing. But with the advantages that a website can provide, I'd rather have one for myself and make affiliate marketing a lot easier for me.

Summer crafts for kids

Hot Weather Fun: Summer Crafts for Kids When boredom looms and the weather's hot, get everyone involved in summer crafts for kids. Kids are always excited to be free from the school routine when they are let out for summer break, but it isn't long until they start wondering what to do. Summer crafts for kids will keep them occupied and maybe even teach them a thing or two. In summer, crafts for kids can involve found objects, like seed pods, grasses, and similar objects. Let kids create nature collection collages by gluing these items to a stiff piece of cardboard. Help them spray paint some of the findings with silver or gold paint. Alternatively, they might like to glue glitter to some of the findings. Perhaps they would also enjoy collecting wild flower seed heads and creating dried flower arrangements. Arrange the bouquet in a homemade vase. A vase for summer bouquets, fresh or dried, is another craft that naturally fits into the summer crafts for kids category. A simple vase can be made from a tin can. Soup cans work particularly well because they are smooth on the outside and rather narrow. Be sure to file off any sharp spurs on the inside opening. Start the work of art by cutting a piece of construction paper or other colored paper to fit around the sides of the can. This will be glued to the outside of the can, but first it needs to be decorated. The vase cover can be decorated in many ways. The child can draw a summer scene on the paper and then decorate it with glued on glitter or small stickers of summer things. Another idea is for the child to write their name in large letters, and glue beans, seeds, or glitter to the letters. Let all glue dry before attaching the paper to the outside of the can. Add water and fresh flowers or leave dry for dry flowers. You can also use the can for a trinket container or a place to put pens, pencils, and markers. To make them real summer crafts for kids, glue grass seed heads and found seed pods to the paper in a decorative way. Jar vases make good summer crafts for kids, too. Canning jars make particularly cute vases, but any cast off mayonnaise, pickle, or other jar, even plastic ones, can work, too. To make a jar into a vase it first needs to be sparkling clean. Kids love getting wet in the summer, so let them roll up their sleeves (or put on a bathing suit!) and have fun splashing at the sink while "washing dishes." When the jar is clean and dry, tie an attractive ribbon around the opening. If desired, decorate the outside of the jar with glued on beads and buttons. Summer crafts for kids will provide some cute decorations around the home and keep the kids from being bored. This summer, crafts for kids should be at the top of every parent's To Do list!

Building your home business network

Building your network of customers and/or clients will be the most important job of all, once you have a home business going. After all, you will not have any reason to have a business, if you don't have a network of contacts. There is a need for customers/clients in every business. Whether you focus on products or services, it doesn't matter what kind of business you have chosen. Without benefit of networking, there is no business, online or off, that can survive. You will need to network in order to assure that you constantly have those who are interested in buying what you create, even if you are a service provider of a creative nature. The idea of networking is not making phone calls to people you don't know or going door to door. That is not the idea at all. In fact, providing good service is the best networking tool. When you provide good service, your customers will refer others to your business. The best type of networking that you can do is word of mouth. It is always the best sales tool. However, that doesn't mean that it is, or should be, your only tool. You need to do some networking if you expect your business to be successful, even with referrals. That doesn't mean that you have to constantly surf the Internet to find others who are interested in what you have to offer, or that you have to get on the phone every day and contact people. To continue to maintain success, you need to take time on a regular basis to performing networking activities. That may vary from simply promoting your website to contacting referrals. Many new businesses are doomed to fail. That's because before they are even out of the planning stages, they have underemphasized the value of networking. If you expect your business to succeed, you have to promote it. How you choose to network your business is not the issue. You will not be in business very long if you think that once you have your client base, you no longer have to promote it. Do not be fooled into thinking that! Customers may not always buy goods or services from you because they can be so fickle. For those times when "regular" customers decide to utilize the services of another provider, you need to have a backup plan. Unless you are an inventor, or unless your product or service is quite unique, people will go elsewhere to find the products or services that they want at the price they want to pay. By continually networking for new customers, you will always be prepared for these slow times.

Connect with your child but don't overdo it

Connect with Your Child but Don't Overdo it We all want to connect and be involved with our child. Children of involved parents generally feel more confident, assured and have a higher level of self esteem. They excel in school and do well in extracurricular activities and with their hobbies. But is there such a thing as too much involvement? It's imperative when you're becoming involved with your school-aged child's activities and academics that you recognize the line of what being too involved can be. Remember, you're becoming involved in your child's life. It's important that you don't intrude too much upon it. Children need their space and privacy and they need to be able to develop their own skills, talents and abilities. In our eagerness to help our child succeed, it's tempting to want to step in and start doing things for them because you feel they are doing it incorrectly or inadequately. But remember, you had to learn too, and this is their chance to learn on their own. Be there to encourage and support your child, and offer praise at a job well done. But also remember to step back and allow your child to learn from their own mistakes, and to develop their own way of doing things. We all know from our own life experiences that there's always more than just one way to do something, and just because your child is doing it differently than you would doesn't make it wrong. Who knows, it could present a terrific opportunity for you to learn from your child as well. In addition, try not to become too overbearing or nosy when it comes to their social life. Be available for them should they need to talk and encourage them to share their troubles with you so you can help them sort through a problem. But if they say they don't want to talk about it or they just need some time to figure things out for themselves, respect that need by letting them know you're available whenever they need you. This is an important part of growing up and allowing a child to figure his own way through things is an integral part of that process.