education - Parenting Healthy

As a nurse, you have dedicated your life to helping and supporting others. This direct impact on the lives of others can be fulfilling and meaningful in a truly life-changing way; however, after years on the floor addressing the critical care and support of your patients, you may be looking to invigorate your nursing career by taking on new challenges. While directly overseeing the care of your patients can be incredibly rewarding, if you are looking for a change, here are a few ways that you can invigorate your career.

Advanced Degrees and Education

If you find that your brain could use a jumpstart, you may need an outlet for mental stimulation. Consider going back to school for additional education where you can stimulate your mind and love for learning. You can explore an advanced degree option that best suits you to take you to the next step of your nursing career. Whether you want to go back to school to refresh your brain or you want to use your degree to take your next step, education can be a great option.

Getting a higher level of education means that you expand your knowledge, learn additional techniques which help you to provide a higher quality of patient care. It can not only help you to make better healthcare decisions and optimize operational efficiency, but also advance your career at any level. You may want to explore a range of nursing job career options and find out the requirements that the position can offer.

Teaching and Learning

If you value education but don’t see yourself going back to school, you have other ways to infuse knowledge and education into your life. Instead of being the recipient of the knowledge, if you prefer to share what you have learned, educating others may be the right step for you. Exploring a professorship role and career profile can help you understand the responsibilities of the role, salary and expectations.

Leadership and Supervising

If you have a lot of guidance, expertise and experience to offer, you may be well suited to manage others. Providing overarching vision, supporting staff and offering your leadership to a team can be an exciting next step. If you are interested in exploring a supervisory role in nursing, talk with your manager and the leadership team to see what would be necessary to explore that path of your nursing career.

Mentorship and Coaching

Mentorship in nursing is a critical component of success in this sector of healthcare. While many skills are learned and experiences had during nursing school, nothing truly prepares you for the daily grind. Having a support system that can offer mentorship, coaching and sponsorship can prove critical and necessary for new staff. This may be a good outlet for you to embrace new challenges and energize your professional life without a formal step.

Future Paths and Possibilities for your Nursing Career

If you are a nurse who has significantly more experience, you may want to explore your executive career options. Whether you are ready to take on significantly more of a leadership role within your organization or you want to be a part of the strategic vision, you can take on more of a leadership role after pursuing executive career options. If you are someone who is a natural-born leader, this may be the perfect fit for you. You may also consider learning kore about traveling Nurse careers.

Nursing can be one of the most rewarding and enriching professions; however, that does not mean that you will want to stay in the same role forever. If you are someone who is searching for your next chapter, consider how these options can shake up your life and leave you with the results and next steps that you are searching for.

How we became debt free with tools like Pigly budget calculators

July 23, 2020July 25, 2020 Erin Sluka

Comment: Proud to partner with Pigly. Story and opinions are 100% my own

How to plan finances, manage budgets, and plan for retirement with Pigly

14 years ago my husband and I had started a family together. He has 2 boys and they were young then and we had his mortgage and both of us had debt for cars, student loans, credit cards. We would often talk about starting to consolidate as we tackle our debt with grand images of a debt free future. Then we added a third boy as we had our son together.

Then notices we didn’t recognize began arriving in the mail. Someone opened a checking account up in my husbands name and had written very large checks to several retailers. We felt so defeated.

As we began to repair the fraud (this was 2006 so it was done mainly by mail as the internet wasn’t as inclusive back then for banking), we learned a lot. We had been on the phone with claims and the bank and had been in to our branch enough that we started asking questions and they were noticing our debt. We realized that there is a way to get out of our debt and with time it looked promising. We did it all by ourselves. We did not hire anyone or pay for a service, we just busted out budget calculators (a lot) and bought a notebook and spent nights communicating and keeping on the same financial page as a couple.

How we became debt free with tools like Pigly budget calculators

Budget Calculators are the best tool

Today we have a mortgage and have been able to pay our middle son’s college expenses without loans and have begun saving for the youngest’s college. We own all of our cars and only keep 1 credit card for airline miles that we pay to a $0 balance each month to avoid interest. Credit companies actually hate us-lol. I have had friends approach asking advice and I can now send them to the websites hat did not exist for us but would have made things so much easier. Pigly is one of the best I have seen lately as a fantastic budgeting and savings tool. Pigly is a calculator portal where you can use their calculators for any planning or saving.

Whether you are starting a home buying or selling process or need to save for a child’s college you will find the budget calculators to help you plan. Best of all the site is free and ad free!

Pigly has a wide range of tools from budgeting, home loans, mortgages, savings, retirement planning and so on, so there is budget calculators relevant for just about everyone.

I can tell you for certain that if you are committed and patient you will also be debt free in time and when that time comes there will be no greater feeling. If someone would have told me 15 years ago we’d own 3 cars, an RV, a home with only 11 years left on the mortgage and enough savings to retire (not ready yet) and put 2 children through college loan-free. If you were to tell me we’d have all that without credit card or loan debt, I would have chocked on laughter. But, here we are!

Start by gathering information and low interest, no balance transfer fee cards to consolidate onto. Pay off the lowest debts first to knock the amount of debt items down (I started in 2006 with my 8% student loan at 6K by taking our tax return to pay it off rather than a fancy trip with that money). Then meet weekly if you are a couple or take time by yourself if single with tools like a notebook and budget calculators and log into Pigly as you change/update your plan if anything new has hit or to discuss and plan for holidays and big events. Good luck!

Apps, Children's Books, Education, Kids, Parenting, Reviews, School, Tips and Tricks

2020 Back to School Guide – School Supplies, Apps, Children Books and More

July 23, 2020August 19, 2020 Erin Sluka

2020 Back to School Guide

Welcome back to another guide full of seasonal topics. Our 2020 Back to School Guide is here! This is all about school from getting your supplies ready, finding the best educational apps or books and more. If it fits the education topic, we will feature it.

Keep checking back throughout these school months and see what new topics and brands I have added! In August we will have a fun giveaway for visitors so stay tuned on the blog!

Make sure to also visit our Summer Guide and stay tuned for the Fall-ing for Baby Series and Love Your Pet Guide coming soon!

Pick Up Sports – Virtual Sports Classes for Kids ages 3-6

5 Tips to Help Kids Overcome the COVID Learning Slump this Summer

Learning a Musical Instrument Has Lifelong Benefits for Children

Swiss Digital Women’s Smart Massaging Backpack – Review

DEAL!! Learn any Language online from anywhere with LearnLanguages24

They keep bringing the lunchbox back with veggies uneaten! You need ENOF!

Face Masks for Kids and Adults that filter particles and droplets

Paleo Pro – Primal Protein Bars to get your student through their long study nights

Wear your sunscreen and hand sanitizers for easy access! – Send your student to school with HandiGURU

College Care Packages: Succulents Subscription Boxes

Add some baked cheddar straws to their lunches – made with aged Wisconsin cheese from Mama Geraldine’s

Wander Puzzle Co is making connections with women through their designs – great for College roommates to connect!

Send the kids back to school with their personal collapsible water bottle from Nomader

Mary’s Gone Crackers – a plant-based snack for lunch

Parents of tween girls – resources as you shop for her firsts! Bleuet Girls

Calm Strips are sensory adhesives you can stick to just about anything to provide stress and fidgeting relief

Election Night, a family game that teaches math, geography and about the electoral college for ages 8+.

The New Art of Raising Happy Kids: Today’s Guide to a Strong, Confident & Caring Child – new book

Trust me! Your child will love to be rewarded for their hard school work this year from Cuddle Clones

More coming to this link up above…keep checking back!

2020 Back to School Giveaway coming soon…..

Education, Kids, Summer, Toy Reviews

Pickup Sports starter kits + live virtual coaching for young kids age 3-6

July 10, 2020July 10, 2020 Erin Sluka

This COVID-19 can’t stop our kids but closing group classes will. This is why Pickup Sports is a great way to teach your child a sport, at home with all the gear they need. You buy the box and the access to virtual coaching classes are free.

My neighbor is busy with 3 boys and I gave her my Pickup Sports Soccer Box. It comes with all your child needs to attend the virtual class with his/her coach and more. There are basic branded balls, markers, cones, a scarf, stickers, whistle (if you dare), playbooks, pump and more. Once your box arrives head to the website, choose your sport and fill out a short form to get your child connected to virtual coaching classes.

Foe soccer, the classes are Mondays. Each session is 4 weeks long at one 15-25 minute class a week. The lessons are short enough to keep your child’s attention. Then they spend the week practicing what they learned before next class.

You can even choose sessions best for your child’s age: Starters (ages 3-4), Explorers (ages 4-5) and Ballers (ages 5-7). The bracket you choose depends on the time you will sign in to class.

More than just soccer, you can choose to have virtual coaching from the following sports for your child:

Intro to Tennis
Intro to Basketball
Intro to Soccer
Intro to Baseball/Softball
Intro to Flag Football
Intro to Volleyball
Motor Control, Ball Control Skills for Kids
Adaptive Fitness FUNdamentals (for kids with physical limitations)

This unique product is a great way for parents to teach kids how to play, improve their physical literacy, and just get outdoors and have fun! My neighbor said it was easy enough for the 3 year old to follow along too with big brother. The entire family will have fun exploring the box and playing outdoors. Buy your Pickup Sports box today to get started with virtual coaching of your favorite sport!

Tag: education

How to Invigorate Your Nursing Career