When my kids were younger, they thought there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do and that I never made mistakes. Not because it was true, but because I told them so.

Eventually they realized it wasn’t true and it was all a joke. They learned I did have limitations and I did make mistakes.

Some mistakes we make as dads are easy to let our kids see. But there are other mistakes you and I probably wish they never knew about. But I’ve come to learn that our kids need to see our mistakes, and not just the little ones with little consequences. They should also see the big mistakes with big consequences.

When we let our kids see our mistakes, it shows them mistakes can have good results in the end. It gives them opportunities to learn from our mistakes, which may prevent them from making the same mistakes in the future. If you want to give your kids these opportunities, then here are seven mistakes you should let them see you make:

1. Mistakes in your finances. Maybe you have bounced a check, have paid a bill late or have mismanaged money that prevented you from taking care of a financial obligation or opportunity. Use this opportunity to teach your kids about financial responsibility.

2. Mistakes in your marriage. Your kids may see you and your wife not on the best terms in a disagreement. Don’t let them see you in a heated argument, but don’t hide the fact that you disagree either. Let them see it based on their level of maturity and understanding. And let them see the resolution.

3. Mistakes in your word. Have you ever said you’d do something and didn’t do it? Then had negative consequences? Allow your kids to see that so they know the importance of keeping your word.

4. Mistakes in your work. Have you made a mistake that made you and your company look bad? Or have you been fired from a job? As hard as it may be to tell your wife, letting your kids know why you are home during the day is even tougher. But you should let them see it. It’ll help them see not only the consequences, but also the hard work it takes to recover.

5. Mistakes in your relationship with them. When you make mistakes with your kids when they are young, not too much will be made of it. But when your kids get older, your mistakes will not be glanced over. They’ll be the first to tell you. These are great opportunities to show humility by apologizing.

6. Mistakes in your punctuality. This is our family’s Achilles’ heel. Our kids can learn a lot of what not to do in this area. Maybe you aren’t as bad, but on occasion you do run late. Let them see it so they can appreciate when a person is timely.

7. Mistakes in your health. Perhaps you’ve not taken care of your body like you desire. Let your kids see the mistakes. This just might encourage you to do better with your eating, exercise and even sleep. There would be nothing greater than them seeing you complete a personal makeover to improve your health and quality of living in front of their eyes.

For the original article, visit allprodad.com.

The decision by the 5,000-member American Studies Association (ASA) to boycott Israeli universities has drawn widespread condemnation. At a time when the humanities discipline as a whole is facing declining funding and student participation, some American Studies scholars say narrow pursuits such as boycotting Israel may distract from efforts to revamp the field and from values such as the free exchange of ideas that form the core of a liberal arts education.

“As a scholar, I deeply value the free exchange of ideas,” former American Studies Association president and Stanford University professor of English Dr. Shelley Fisher Fishkin told JNS.org. “Academic boycotts make the free exchange of ideas impossible. For that reason, I think the ASA’s endorsement of the boycott was a big mistake.”

Fishkin, who served as ASA president from 2004-2005, was part of a group of eight former ASA presidents who sent an open letter to ASA members—66 percent of whom endorsed the boycott of Israel in a Dec. 15 vote—opposing the move on the grounds that it is “antithetical to the mission of free and open inquiry for which a scholarly organization stands.”

While Fishkin is personally opposed to many of the policies of the Israeli government, she draws the line at boycotts.

“I understand the impulse to do something to register a protest [against Israel’s policies], but I do not believe that boycotting Israeli universities is a sensible response,” she told JNS.org.

Fishkin says the ASA’s boycott is counterproductive because it targets some of Israel’s most progressive institutions.

“Israeli universities are often at the forefront of fostering dialogue between Arabs and Jews, of educating the future leaders of Arab universities and of providing the next generation with the tools of critical thinking that can allow them to construct a society more equitable and just than that of their parents,” she says.

Dr. Stephen J. Whitfield, an American Studies professor at Brandeis University who has taught in the field for more than 40 years, shares Fishkin’s sentiments on the ASA’s move.

“I’m outraged by this, and my sense is that the organization has become utterly foolish,” Whitfield told JNS.org.

Whitfield explains that he is not surprised by the ASA’s actions against Israel. The professor says he quit the organization nearly 20 years ago because it had become highly politicized and that the recent boycott proves he was right.

The boycott is the result of the type of groupthink mentality that has permeated the ASA, he says. 

“This is driven by a kind of groupthink and hostility to not only Israel, but to a broader assumption that conscience is inevitably on the side of those who claim to be oppressed,” he says.

Whitfield adds that he believes the growth of ethnic studies within the American studies discipline may have also played a role in the ASA’s hostility to Israel.

“What seems to be the case is the emergence of ethnic studies may have tilted the organization heavily in favor of people of color, in this case the Palestinians,” he says.

Ethnic studies, which emerged from the civil rights movement of the 1960s and early ’70s, places an emphasis on the study non-European culture in the U.S, such as African-American studies or Native American studies.

But ethnic studies has also garnered considerable criticism, with some accusing it of “anti-Americanism”—former University of Colorado at Boulder ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill in 2005 blamed the 9/11 attacks on U.S. foreign policy.

The ASA’s focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, meanwhile, comes against the backdrop of a growing decline of interest in the humanities, as students and administrators are becoming less interested in the type of scholarship that is produced across that discipline today.

“In 2010, just 7 percent of college graduates nationally majored in the humanities, down from 14 percent in 1966,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Much of this decline has been attributed to budget issues, rising tuition and student loan debt, and an overall lack of enthusiasm for the humanities by students, who flock to degrees in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields instead.

These problems are compounded by the fact that humanities majors are less likely to find jobs after they graduate. According to a report by the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, graduates who majored in English faced a 9.8 percent unemployment rate, and for history, religion and philosophy, majors it was 9.5 percent. By comparison, chemistry graduates only faced 5.6 percent unemployment.

For the original article, visit jns.org.

Humility, dictionary definitions say, is marked by modesty, meekness, diffidence and an unassuming attitude. Dictionaries also contrast humility with arrogance and pride.

Yet we live in a culture where pride is celebrated and arrogance is almost a prerequisite to be taken seriously in business, politics and sports. Ideas such as “Nice guys finish last” are touted as “No duh!” truth.

Well, listen up! If we think humility is only for wimps and losers, then we really don’t know what the word means. Humility can only come from those who actually have something about which to be humble. The humble are those who could crow but choose to keep their beaks shut.

Humility is also a close associate of gratitude, and it’s an attribute that simply oozes class. Here are 10 ways to teach humility to your kids and (maybe) ramp it up a bit in your own life:

1. Modeling. Never underestimate the power of teaching through example. Humility must be consistently modeled as a lifestyle, not an on-again, off-again example.

2. Build them up. This may sound counterintuitive, but it’s important to understand that humility always comes from a position of belief, strength and self-assurance.

3. Encourage and help them to be the very best they can be—no matter what they do. Humility works best when your child has actually achieved something. Help your child achieve with confidence.

4. Make sure they understand where their real value comes from. It’s easier to sidestep pride or arrogance when children understand they are valued simply because they are your child, not because they win the race, have a prettier mom (and a smarter dad!), earn a higher income or score the most points.

5. Never humiliate your kids. Humility cannot be imposed. It’s important not to confuse humiliation, bullying and beating down with an education in humility.

6. Expose your child to the great teachers and their stories. Jesus, Mother Teresa and Eric Liddell are all wonderful role models.  or Jesus, there are lots of great children’s books about Him, as well as about Mother Teresa. Eric Liddell is the man who inspired the movie Chariots of Fire, a great film for your whole family. 

7. Teach them to serve.

• Serve the homeless.
• Serve the poor.
• Serve their family.
• Serve one another.

8. Coach them on how to respond. Kids need to be taught to say “Please” and “Thank you” as much as they need to be taught to brush their teeth and to stay out of the street. So why expect them to know humility without guidance? Here’s an example: “Look, Jr., that’s a great job you did on your science fair project. You deserved to win the prize. Now, this is how you handle it in class tomorrow … let’s practice saying:

• ‘Thanks!’
• ‘I like the way my friend, Matt, did his project, too.’
• ‘I don’t think I could have won without the help of my teacher.'”

You get the idea.

9. Teach them how to apologize. The well-timed and sincere apology is a key component of humility. Sometimes they’re wrong; they need to acknowledge that. Sometimes they over-reach and it’s time to back up. Sometimes they receive unintentional consequences they need to smooth over.

10. Teach them to give thanks. A genuinely grateful heart is a key building block for humility. Gratitude, practiced and eventually owned, enhances humility at every turn. The person saying “Thank you” affects a posture that is unassuming and modest. Try this: Every time someone offers a compliment, simply say, “Thank you.” It’s the kind of response that eventually soaks in, grows roots and blooms humility.

All Pro Dad is Family First’s innovative and unique program for every father. Their aim is to interlock the hearts of the fathers with their children and, as a byproduct, the hearts of the children with their dads. At AllProDad.com, dads in any stage of fatherhood can find helpful resources to aid in their parenting. Resources include daily emails, blogs, Top 10 lists, articles, printable tools, videos and eBooks. From AllProDad.com, fathers can join the highly engaged All Pro Dad social media communities on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

Older men with low levels of vitamin B-12 are at increased risk for bone fractures, a new study suggests.

Researchers measured the levels of vitamin B-12 in 1,000 Swedish men with an average age of 75. They found that participants with low levels of the vitamin were more likely than those with normal levels to have suffered a fracture.

Men in the group with the lowest B-12 levels were about 70 percent more likely to have suffered a fracture than others in the study. This increased risk was primarily due to fractures in the lumbar spine, where there was an up to 120 percent greater chance of fractures. 

“The higher risk also remains when we take other risk factors for fractures into consideration, such as age, smoking, [weight], bone-mineral density, previous fractures, physical activity, the vitamin D content in the blood and calcium intake,” study author Catharina Lewerin, a researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, in Sweden, said in a university news release.

It is not known, however, if consuming more vitamin B-12—which is found in eggs, fish, poultry and other meats—can reduce the risk of fractures in older men.

“Right now, there is no reason to eat more vitamin B-12, but rather treatment shall only be applied in confirmed cases of deficiencies and in some cases to prevent deficiencies,” Lewerin says. “For anyone who wants to strengthen their bones and prevent fractures, physical activity 30 minutes a day and quitting smoking is good self-care.”

Although the study tied lower vitamin B-12 levels to a higher risk of fracture in older men, it did not establish a cause-and-effect relationship.

This study—published online in the journal Osteoporosis International—is a part of an international research project initiated by the U.S. National Institutes of Health that includes 11,000 men.

For the original article, visit newsmaxhealth.com.

The drug Arimidex reduces the risk of developing breast cancer by more than 50 percent among postmenopausal women at high risk for the disease, according to a new study.

The finding, scheduled for presentation Thursday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in Texas, adds hope that Arimidex (anastrozole) might be a valuable new preventive option for some women. The research will also be published in the journal The Lancet.

“Two other antihormone therapies, tamoxifen and raloxifene, are used by some women to prevent breast cancer, but these drugs are not as effective and can have adverse side effects, which limit their use,” study lead author Jack Cuzick said in a new release from the American Association for Cancer Research. 

“Hopefully, our findings will lead to an alternative prevention therapy with fewer side effects for postmenopausal women at high risk for developing breast cancer,” said Cuzick, head of the Cancer Research U.K. Centre for Cancer Prevention and director of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine at Queen Mary University of London.

About 80 percent of U.S. breast cancer patients have tumors with high levels of hormone receptors, and these tumors are fueled by the hormone estrogen. Arimidex prevents the body from making estrogen and is therefore used to treat postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

The study included more than 3,800 postmenopausal women at increased risk for breast cancer due to having two or more blood relatives with breast cancer, having a mother or sister who developed breast cancer before age 50, or having a mother or sister who had breast cancer in both breasts.

About half the women took Arimidex for five years while the others took a placebo, or dummy drug. Those who took the drug were 53 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than those who took the placebo. Side effects among the women taking the drug included hot flashes and small increases in muscle aches and pains.

The study received funding from the drug companies AstraZeneca and Sanofi-Aventis, and Cuzick is on the speaker’s bureau for AstraZeneca.

Two breast cancer experts in the United States expressed optimism about the new findings.

“This is very exciting information,” said Dr. Amy Tiersten, associate professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City. She said that although tamoxifen and raloxifene can also cut a woman’s odds for breast cancer, “these medications can slightly increase the risk of blood clots and uterine cancer.”

“It is great to have a less toxic option to offer patients in the preventative arena,” she said of Arimidex.

Dr. Stephanie Bernik, chief of surgical oncology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, agreed. “It is with open arms that we can add [Arimidex] to the medications that can be offered to postmenopausal women that are at high risk of developing breast cancer,” she said.

“Because [Arimidex] has less side effects, more women are likely to undergo preventive treatment,” Bernik said. “This will eventually help decrease the incidence of breast cancer in women in this category.”

“We are planning to continue following the study participants for at least 10 years, and hopefully much longer,” study author Cuzick said. “We want to determine if [Arimidex] has a continued impact on cancer incidence even after stopping treatment, if it reduces deaths from breast cancer, and to ensure that there are no long-term adverse side effects.”

You finally get to use that vacation time and have some time away from work to spend over the holidays. What will you do?

Before you go planning a thousand things and overwhelming yourself, make sure some quality, fun and relaxing family time is included. You should make the most of your family time during this time. Here’s how.

1. Be flexible. You may work from a rigid schedule at work, but now is not the time for that. Throw that out the window. During this time, be flexible and even spontaneous. Be prepared to go with the (family) flow.

2. Be intentional. No matter what you do, try to include your family as much as possible. They are going to be so excited and looking forward to a lot of uninterrupted time with you. But if you are not engaged with them, they’ll be very disappointed. Even without planning everything, you can be intentional and focused on making family time a priority.

3. Be relaxed. Your main goal is to love on your family well. And let them love on you too.  So take it easy, relax and don’t pressure yourself to do a whole lot.

4. Be creative. If you live where it snows, you have some great opportunities for winter fun. You can go sledding, ice skating or even skiing. Date nights can get more creative in the winter. Think outside the box and do some fun, creative things with your family.

5. Be fun. Above all else, have fun and be fun for your family. Making this time full of family and fun will have you ready to go back to work and take on the world when your time off ends. Just be sure not to overschedule your family.

What will you do to make the most of your time off over the holidays?

For the original article, visit allprodad.com.

‘Tis the season to wrap gifts, build snowmen (snow people?) and Food Network-worthy gingerbread houses, sip egg nog and, if you’re really in a Christmas mood, roast chestnuts by an open fire. For some, it’s even the season to daily locate that enchanting Elf on the Shelf who seems to get a little creepier by the year.

But no matter what your family’s holiday traditions are, ‘tis the season to view a plethora of festive photos and read many a yuletide update as we plug into the various social media we use to record, journal and share the merriment of our Christmas season.

And ‘tis almost the season to make a 2014 resolution or two. For me personally, I’m resolving to show a little more self-control when it comes to the beeping and buzzing notifications that constantly beckon from my stupid smartphone. (That’s an oxymoron, I know, but you know what I mean.) I’m resolving to spend more time looking up at the sky, around at God’s beautiful creation or into the eyes of complete strangers instead of peering down at my mobile device whenever a precious kernel of unfilled time slides through the hourglass of my day.

Beyond my desire to engage more with the real world and less with the virtual ones, I want to protect and improve my emotional and physical health. In this article, I’m going to share two of the primary dangers social media pose and let you decide whether your involvement on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., could be dialed back a bit.

1. It can cause you to feel bad about yourself. Those photos of your friends ice skating at Rockefeller Center or celebrating a Secret Santa party can make you feel like the Grinch. Researchers from two German universities studied 600 people who logged time on Facebook and discovered that 1 in 3 felt worse after visiting the site, especially if they viewed vacation photos. Facebook frequenters who spent time on the site without posting their own content were also more likely to feel dissatisfied.

“We were surprised by how many people have a negative experience from Facebook, with envy leaving them feeling lonely, frustrated or angry,” says study author Hanna Krasnova, from the Institute of Information Systems at Berlin’s Humboldt University. “From our observations, some of these people will then leave Facebook or at least reduce their use of the site.”

Why, in a social network that is supposed to provide warm, fuzzy feelings of connectedness and interaction, are we sometimes stricken with sensations of jealousy, loneliness and even depression? In the German studies, the most common cause of Facebook frustration stemmed from users comparing themselves socially to their peers, while the second most common source of dissatisfaction was “lack of attention” from having fewer comments, likes and general feedback compared to friends.

A U.K. study found that 50 percent of social media users evaluated their participation in social networking as having an overall negative effect on their lives. Specifically, they cited the blow to their self-esteem that comes as a byproduct of comparing themselves to peers as the biggest downfall.

Reducing your time spent on social media will provide more time for you to focus on making your own memories, pursuing your own passions and spending time with your own family. You’ll be too busy being who the God of the universe made you to be—a unique and magnificent one in billions of people created throughout time—to worry about how you compare to your friends and role models you follow in silly cyberspace.

2. It can distract you from real life. Almost a quarter of Americans say they’ve missed out on important life moments as they’ve sought to share them with their eagerly awaiting friends and followers. (Slight sarcasm there. But if you think about it, your Facebook friends and fans can surely wait until after your birthday party or son’s football game is over to hear and see all about it.)

In a society that constantly bombards us with technology and the message that more of it is better, we start believing that the digital world is where we must be in order to keep up with everything, from news, weather and politics to what kind of cookies our neighbor is baking for next Friday’s neighborhood Christmas pot luck. And what time does it start again?

I like this quote from the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Eighteen years before Facebook and 21 years before the iPhone was released, folks like Ferris thought life was fast even without an information superhighway. Today, with dozens of social media platforms vying for our attention, it’s never been more important for us to fight to remain devoted to those who need our attention most.

Diana Anderson-Tyler is the author of Creation House’s Fit for Faith: A Christian Woman’s Guide to Total Fitness. Her popular website can be found at dianafit.com, and she is the owner and a coach at CrossFit 925. Diana can be reached on Twitter. 

For the original article, visit dianafit.com.

A while back, I wrote “10 Things Wives Want to Hear from their Husbands.” I was surprised at the incredible reaction to the post as thousands shared, tweeted, pinned, posted and “liked” it.

So I thought I’d go to the well again and share these 10 more things wives want to hear from their husbands.

1. “I’m your biggest fan.” Everyone wants someone to celebrate their wins and encourage them in their struggles. Be sure your wife knows that you will always be there to cheer her on.

2. “I’m thankful for the little things you do.” If your wife makes you coffee every morning, appreciate this small act of kindness with thankfulness. Don’t fail to notice the small ways she shows her love to you each day.

3. “Let’s take a walk together.” Show your wife that she’s important by prioritizing your day to set aside time to be with her.

4. “I miss you when we’re apart.” Remind your wife that she is constantly on your mind whether you are at work, in the car or anywhere else. Never take her presence for granted.

5. “I’m here for you.” You won’t always understand everything that your wife is going through. But you can listen and sympathize with her by letting her cry on your shoulder when life gets tough.

6. “You’ll always have me by your side.” No matter what life throws at you— parenting challenges, hard financial decisions or family tragedies—let your wife know that you’re walking with her and will carry her if you need to.

7. “I want to be the man you deserve.” Realize that there will be times when you fail your wife. When you do, apologize, learn from those mistakes, and let her know that you want to be a better husband.

8. “You love others so well.” Be sure she knows that you see the way she interacts with her friends and family. Then be a voice of encouragement to her in these relationships.

9. “I love you more every day.” Never let your wife forget that she is lovely, beautiful and breathtaking. Show her that you will continue to romance her for the rest of your life.

10. “How can I serve you today?” Your wife needs to know that you want to support and serve her in everything she does. Just asking this question will convey to her how much you care.

What are some other things wives want to hear from their husbands? Please share with me below.

Mark Merrill is the president of Family First. For the original article, visit markmerill.com.

The Bible says, “Pleasant words are like honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones” (Prov. 16:24). Mother Teresa had a saying: “Let no one come to you without leaving happier and better.”

There are words and phrases we can use that soothe and calm not only the person who hears them, but also the person who speaks them.

Two of my patients—a husband and wife—were having marital problems. They had seen a marriage counselor a few times, and I noticed a change in the way they related to each other. They were no longer critical of each other but were kind, loving and respectful toward one another.

I was rather amazed at this fairly sudden turnaround, and I asked them about it. They told me that the marriage counselor had told them to change their speech. The counselor had asked them a simple question that had jarred each one of them to their core: “If you were on one phone call you could make, whom would you call, and what would you say?” The couple had been stunned at this question. The counselor quickly went on, “And why are you waiting?”

The couple turned to each other, and each one apologized for saying hateful, critical things to the other. They reaffirmed their love for each other and agreed to begin speaking encouraging, kind and gentle words from that day on.

The change in their relationship was tremendous. The stress they had produced in their relationship as a result of their contentious, angry and quarrelsome speech began to evaporate. The environment of their relationship became of peace and harmony.

Proverbs 21:23 says, “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.” Colossians 4:6 tells us, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

We need to think before we speak and weigh what we say so that we truly do know the most beneficial thing to say to each person in each situation.

Look for ways in which to reinforce the good behaviors of other people. Look for attributes and behaviors about which you can give sincere compliments—phony compliments are perceived as manipulative. Only compliment what you can compliment with a genuine heartfelt sincerity.

Don Colbert, M.D., is board certified in family practice and in anti-aging medicine. He also has received extensive training in nutritional and preventive medicine, and he has helped millions of people discover the joy of living in divine health.

For the original article, visit drcolbert.com.

As I’ve shared in several blog posts, the tongue is powerful and words can hurt or heal, tear down or build up.  People crave words that help, heal, affirm, build up, and breathe life.

Because so many shared, tweeted, pinned, posted, and liked a previous post, 10 Things Husbands Want to Hear from their Wives, I thought I’d share a few more. Here they are: 

1. “I’m always on your team.”  When you and your spouse face a difficult choice, be sure your husband knows that you are his teammate, not his enemy.
2. “I wouldn’t want to be on this journey with anyone else.” Life is a journey. Along the way, you’ll witness things that are breath-taking, but you’ll also experience things that are hurtful and sad. Let your husband know that you’re with him no matter what.
3. “I don’t’ say it enough, but you are a good man and a good husband.”  Don’t be slow to tell your husband that you admire him for the man he is.
4. “I don’t understand, but I know you’ll make the right decision.”  Life is full of tough decisions.  So when you aren’t sure how to handle something, tell your husband you trust him to make the right choice for your family.
5. “I hope our daughter marries a man just like you.”  Let your husband know that you admire his character. Tell him how you desire for your daughter to find a man with similar integrity.
6. “I really appreciate you planning our date.”  It’s not always a man’s natural tendency to be creative and romantic.  So when your husband plans something special, appreciate him and his effort to be a gentleman.
7. “I’m thankful that you always have my best interests at heart.” Recognize how you know your husband wants the best for you.
8. “You make life more fun.” Be sure to point out the moments when your husband makes you laugh.
9. “I can depend on you to take care of our family.”  Let your husband know that you appreciate being able to depend on him to take care of you and your children.
10. “You are really courageous.”  Your husband faces fears every day—fear of rejection, fear of loss, fear of failure. Be sure to praise him for standing up to these fears with immense courage.

What are some other things husbands want to hear from their wives? Please share in the comments below. 

Mark Merrill is the president of Family First. For the original article, visit markmerrill.com.