Article: Building a positive home for your child depends on consistency and predictability. Children require set times to wake, sleep, eat, and do other activities to feel safe and secure. Having erratic schedules can lead to cranky, confused children that act out. Research shows that even though kids may hate bedtime, it's good for helping them regulate emotion, fight impulses, and manage time. Help your child learn self-discipline by creating a predictable schedule for activities like waking up, eating breakfast, eating snack after school, attending extracurricular practice, doing homework, completing chores, and preparing for bed. Limit-setting is another necessary aspect of establishing structure in your home environment. Creating a set of rules to follow in your household lets your children understand the parameters of behavior—what's off-limits and what's acceptable. This builds a foundation for other environments your child may enter, such as daycare, relative's homes, or school.  Sit down with your partner, if you have one, and devise a set of rules that are clear and easy to understand. Post the rules somewhere they can be seen regularly like on a memo board or clipped to a magnet on the fridge. Your rules might include, for instance, "No running through the house," "No jumping on furniture," "No telling lies," and "No hitting or teasing your siblings." Once you have established ground rules and shared them with your children, be sure to follow through with any consequences for rule-breaking. Consequences should also be clear to your children on the outset.  For example, if you have a rule that everyone needs to remove all their belongings from the living room by bedtime, a consequence may be to take anything that's left behind for a period of time or require that they complete a chore in order to retrieve the items. Make sure you follow through on consequences every time as failing to do so presents an opportunity for a power struggle between you and your child.  You may even consider getting your children involved in making the rules and coming up with consequences that they think are fair. This will help them to feel appreciated and increase the chances that they will comply with the rules. It's beneficial that children are allowed to contribute to the household in whatever way they can. This helps them develop a strong work ethic, recognize how they can positively contribute to their environment, and appreciate cleanliness and organization. It can be helpful to create a chore chart to place in your kitchen or other common area that clearly states each child's responsibilities.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Stick to a relatively predictable routine. Set clear household rules. Be consistent with discipline. Assign age-appropriate  chores.
Article: In the morning or evening, head outside and mist the leaves, stems, and soil surrounding the plants that the deer and rabbits like best. Make sure you spray every part of the plant that you want to protect, since the animals can sometimes eat around the unsprayed parts.  If you're not sure how sensitive plants will react to the spray, test a small area of a leaf first. Wait four days and if the plant doesn't react, you should be able to safely use the spray. Avoid plants, like ivy, ferns, succulents, palms, some types of tomatoes, and azaleas, which are known to be sensitive to insecticides and pesticides. Never apply the spray in the middle of the day because the heat from the sun can cause the spray to “bake” the leaves and kill the plant. Squirrels are very sensitive to the active ingredient in peppers, but birds are not. Spray the mixture on your bird feeder and onto the seeds inside of the feeder. When the squirrels eat the seeds, they’ll experience a burning sensation in their mouths and won’t revisit the bird feeder. Don’t worry about the birds eating the spray. They don’t have the same reaction to the spray and will still be able to enjoy the seeds. Most commercial bear sprays are just extremely potent pepper spray. To make your own emergency spray, replace the flakes in the spray recipe with 24 large chopped cayenne peppers, and reduce the amount of water to 2 cups (470 mL). Pour the liquid into a small spray bottle to carry with you while hiking or camping for safety in case of an unexpected bear encounter. If you have bears visiting your yard, spray the areas that they frequent.  You can use a spray with less potency on camping materials, like your tent and the outside of your cooler for an extra layer of safety while you’re camping. Remember to keep pets away from the sprayed areas to avoid injury, especially if you're using a potent spray. Unfortunately, the spray won’t last forever on plants. Plan to go through your garden once per week during the spring, summer, and fall to ensure that your plants are protected from pests. If it rains at any point, try to apply the spray again as soon as possible to deter deer, rabbits, and squirrels. If you notice the animal pests have been avoiding the areas that you’ve sprayed, but have chosen new targets in your garden, try spraying as many plants as you can. Eventually, the animals will learn that your garden is unsafe and will look for food elsewhere.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Spray the liquid on and around plants to deter deer and rabbits. Apply the spray to a bird feeder if you have squirrels. Use an ultra-potent pepper spray to protect against bears. Re-apply the spray every week and after rain for the best results.
Article: . Sometimes we want to fight for a relationship that has ended or is in the process of ending. This is not an uncommon thing. In fact, as many as 50% of younger adults reportedly reconcile at least once after a breakup. Try to read the signals to see if your ex is still interested in you.  Be subtle. Your ex may feel badgered if you overdo things – so it’s best to keep your distance, at least at first. Don’t force contact and avoid having friends investigate on your behalf. Try to glean hints from things like social media, from people like mutual friends, or from your ex-partner if you are still have some contact. Remember: the odds are probably in your favor. If you are still interested and have reason to think your ex is, too, you’ll need to reach out. Try something low-key. Send your ex-partner a short message on Facebook, for example, or a short email. Be brief and do not be overbearing, otherwise you may scare them away.  Have a reason for initiating contact. For example, say something like “I was eating ice cream today and it made me think of how much you love Chunky Monkey. How are you doing?”  Or, “I just saw your name on Facebook and thought I’d say hi. I hope you’re doing well.” Let your ex’s response guide the next move. If the reply is curt, i.e. “Yeah, hope you’re well too,” your prospect of a reconciliation might not be good. A more effusive response can indicate interest. Try to arrange a meeting if the response is positive. Ask to talk over coffee or a drink, for example. Make it clear that you just want a short meeting, with no strings attached. Know what you want to say beforehand and how you want to say it. Choose your words carefully, because your ex probably still harbors strong feelings for you – both good ones and bad. Say what’s on your mind – express regret, apologize if you need to – but be tactful.  Say that you are sorry things didn’t work out and want to talk to put the relationship in perspective, e.g. “I just wanted to see how you’ve been and to talk about what went wrong between us.” Let the discussion guide what you say. Don’t press the issue if your ex is happy and seeing other people, but gradually steer the conversation toward reconciliation if they seem to retain strong feelings for you. Take things slowly if your ex wants to rekindle the relationship. There were probably good reasons why things ended, issues that you’ll need to talk through seriously, maybe in counseling. Be ready to move on if your ex isn’t interested in reconnecting. At the very least, know that you can have final closure on the matter.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Find out if your ex is still interested Make contact. Clear the air.