Top 10 Family Fun Ideas For Summer 2020

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Some parts of the country are already done with school for the year. Others will follow suit in short order. Memorial Day marks the start of the summer in much of the country – especially in the Midwest – so families are now working on the changeover from a Covid-19 interrupted school year into a Covid-19 interrupted summer vacation.

This is a summer that is going to require a lot of vital guidance and help both from parents to kids and kids to parents. Many summer vacations – especially those that would have taken families out of the country – have had to be postponed or cancelled because there are no flights. This summer is going to be one where it is what you make of it.

To help with the boredom – and the problems of finding things to do – here are 10 ideas that could be the start (or the entirety) of a Summer 2020 bucket list to give you the vital help you need in finding things to do (mostly) at home:

  1. Backyard Camping:  A classic for a reason. This is a great way to bond with your children outdoors, yet in the comfort of your own backyard. Modify to an indoor tent if you don’t have any yard space.
  1. Cook Together:  Teaching kids how to cook is an essential life skill. This summer, show them how to cook fresh ingredients and have them pick out recipes they want to try to get them eating new things.
  1. A Sidewalk Chalk Gallery:  Have kids on the same street or in a neighborhood draw their very best pieces of sidewalk chalk art. Then – while distancing – walk with the kids around the neighborhood and find out what they like about each piece of art.
  1. Fly a kite:  There is a reason that it feels a little bit like the 1950s right now. Jump into that nostalgia run and teach your kid the simple joys of flying a kite. The bonus here is that there are huge kite festivals in the US every year, so in 2021 aim to visit one of those if you both develop a passion for catching the wind.
  1. Backyard Movie Night:  Drive-in theatres are always fun, so recreate that magic in your own backyard. All you really need is a projector, a white sheet/wall, and a DVD player/speakers. Add in popcorn and some old fashioned sodas for a throwback evening of entertainment.
  1. Make S’mores:  S’mores are an American classic, but you would be shocked how many kids don’t even know what they are. Get a fire pit going in the backyard and show them with vital guidance what they have been missing out on with the gooey marshmallow treats.
  1. Create a nature garden:  This can be as simple as planting a few flowers that are known to attract butterflies or as technical as buying (or even making) a birdbath or squirrel feeders. Make sure to go to the nature garden at various times of day – and look under the rocks – to see what the kids can find.
  1. A Virtual Summer Camp:  Sure. It is not the same as going to an actual camp, but there are many programs out there setting up virtual camps to entertain and educate kids this summer. DIY Summer Camp and Camp Wonderopolis are just two examples of this trend.
  1. Water Games:  Be it a Slip ‘N Slide, an above ground pool, a water balloon fight, or running through the sprinklers, the summer demands water. As having friends over might not be an option, dial back the years and become a kid again by joining in with the fun.
  1. Bike Ride and Picnic:  This is going to be the best summer yet to spend time doing nothing while exploring the outdoors. Pack up a picnic lunch and burn the energy for your meal by biking to and from a park or other socially distant space to eat.

 

Article by Vital Guidance

Four Things To Know About Your Insurance & Covid 19

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Life insurance has never seems as important as it does in 2020. A pandemic taking over the world and altering the very fabric of what people once considered normal life will do that. It is now more important than ever to know what your insurance product options are, what your current policy covers, and what you can do to increase your coverage if you are not happy with what you learn about your policy or the company that holds it.

This Covid-19 pandemic is going to reshape our culture for the foreseeable future. This may be a season virus with peaks and troughs, it may slow down for periods before resurfacing, and it will certainly impact communities around the globe at different times and with different levels of severity. Knowing where you stand is vital since it’s now to the point in some areas that those looking for insurance policies are being turned away at numbers never seen before.  So here are four important things to know about life insurance options with where the world currently stands:

Am I covered if I die from the Coronavirus?
The short answer here is most likely yes. As long as your initial policy application was complete and without error – and assuming you have been paying your premiums on time – then the likelihood is that your policy will pay out for a pandemic death. The major exception here is that anyone who bought and maintained an accidental death only policy would not be covered. This type of insurance product option covers you for car accidents and other such unexpected events and does not cover deaths from disease or illness.

Can I still apply for life insurance?
Yes you can. The key here is to be honest on your application, especially regarding questions surrounding your overall health and your travel history. Insurers aren’t looking to deny claims for people who it benefits them to cover, so people under the age of 45 with a clean medical history are far less likely to be turned away – or have a jacked up policy rate – than people who are older with preexisting medical conditions. If you are looking to pick up a life insurance policy then you are advised to do so sooner rather than later by experts in the field.

Are my rates going to spike?
No.  One of the benefits of life insurance as compared to other insurance policies that we carry – such as car or home auto – is that the rates are locked in place for the entirety of the policy. That means that this global pandemic can be taking over the world – or theoretically the zombie apocalypse could be upon us – and your rate would maintain the same level as before. Any company trying to push your rate higher should be reported.

Where are the best deals?
Compare insurance product options and shop around to make sure you are getting the best deal. There are plenty of websites out there that will show you options after completing a short questionnaire and the process has been refined online to the point that it is very simple and effective. Be aware that some insurers may want you to complete a standard medical while others will not. If this is a problem during this period where the doctor’s office can seem like a scary place then count that in as part of your personal decision making process.

Be aware that this is an ever-changing situation. Some states have implemented grace periods into their insurance policies while others are carrying on with business as usual.

Article by Vital Guidance

Help Pets Prepare For Another New Normal Before You Return To Work

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The vital relationship nurtured between you and your pet during the COVID-19 crisis is likely one that neither of you ever expected to happen. With the number of people working from home, or suddenly not working at all, there has been so much more time than ever before for an owner and a pet to form a bond of reliance. This is just natural and is something that should have been pursued, especially if you were in any state of serious lockdown.

As more businesses are starting to reopen, and as more employees are finding their way back to work, a change will soon be occurring in your life and daily routine. Lockdown was hard. Staying home was difficult and you had to completely change your mind set in order to make the most out of a tough situation. While things aren’t going to be normal any time soon, the return to work and to aspects of a normal life will also require an adjustment, both for you and for the pet that has come to rely on your company for the last two months.

Separation anxiety is a problem for both humans and pets. If what was there for more 60 days in some cases suddenly goes away five days a week, then your pet is going to be sad, bored, and lonely. This is obviously not a good situation, and it’s vital to start putting in some time to get your pet’s expectations in the right place for when this happens.

Allow Kim Steffes, owner of a dog training center in Indianapolis to explain:

“Just before school starts, parents start a couple weeks beforehand, putting the kids to bed a little bit earlier. They kind of get back into that routine, so it’s not a shock when school actually starts and they have to get up early and go to bed early; That’s what people should be doing for their dogs,” Steffes explains.

Dr. Roger Mugford , a well-respected animal psychologist who has been used by the British royal family to work with the corgis of Queen Elizabeth II, agrees with this statement. “With such an overload of quality time with their families, dogs are building up a huge reservoir of over-dependency which could see them suffer when moms and dads suddenly return to work and the children go back to school,” he says.

He further adds that “When left alone, dogs can chew the house, annoy the neighbors by constantly barking, urinate and defecate inside, and sometimes even self-harm. Put a webcam on your dog and you’ll see howling and pacing and other distress signs.”

This is obviously a nightmare scenario for any dog lover to think about. Just the concept that it has been possible to love your dog too much during quarantine that it would then affect the dog’s state of wellbeing over the next few months is something that is difficult to wrap your head around, and painful to think about. Adequately preparing for this moment is vital to make any pain be minimal.

Preparation could include something as simple as crating your dog for a few hours each day while you are home working to get your pet used to the routine. It could mean taking your dog for walks only at times when you would usually be home to do so. Doing this now and stretching it out over a period of a couple of weeks, will help avoid the cold-turkey affect and maintain that vital relationship that you have forged during the crisis.

 

Article by Vital Guidance