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Does the idea of “marketing” your parenting abilities to birth mothers make you feel ill? Self-promotion makes many people uncomfortable, but promoting yourself in hopes of convincing a birth mother that you’re the best person to adopt her baby can be downright terrifying! A number of prospective families have expressed deep concern and intense fears about falling short of the birth mother’s expectations for the selection of adoptive parents for her child. Do any of the following sound familiar to you?

What if the birth mother doesn’t find us attractive enough?

What if the birth mother doesn’t think our house is big enough, or in the best location?

Will the birth mother think we make enough money to give the child the best possible opportunities in life?

If you have these concerns or others, you’re not alone. It’s common for people looking to adopt to wonder whether or not the birth mother will find them good enough to be the parents of the child they must place with an adoptive family. The good news is most birth mothers simply want a loving home for their baby and are not looking for the “perfect” parent that fits a certain mold.

Sometimes, birth mothers may have a preference for the following situations:

* A specific religion

* State of residence

* A family with a stay at home mom

* Home with or without other children

It is extremely rare for a birth mother to place much importance on the size of a house, or the appearance of the adoptive parents. Money tends to be important only in that there is enough to adequately provide for the needs of the child; and most birth mothers don’t assume that their child will be more loved or more comfortable with an extremely wealthy family! Birth mothers are not expecting or looking for perfection in the family that adopts their baby – they are looking for the family who can provide a loving and safe environment.

When you are hoping to attract a birth mother, it’s important that you simply are yourself. It will not work to try to be someone you aren’t. The right birth mother will like you for who you are, and that will ensure a much better match.

One way to give birth mothers an idea of who you are is to write a winning “birth mother letter”. In this letter, you want to focus on all that you have to offer the baby and the things that make you and your family situation unique. It’s been proven that a well-written letter can reduce your waiting time for adopting a baby by months – or even years.

The letter to birth mothers is one of the most effective methods of reaching out to birth mothers who are looking to place their baby’s into adoptive homes. It’s your chance to make a strong first impression, and to show the birth mothers why they should choose you as the adoptive family.

Cindy Simonson is a respected adoption professional and writes about child adoptionat InfantAdoptionCoach.com. For the past thirteen years she has been helping people successfully adopt the child of their dreams. Cindy also offers a free audio course

Wedding favor is a small gift given as gesture of appreciation to wedding guest from the bride and groom. Giving a wedding favor to wedding guest is a tradition in such country. You need the perfect favors for your perfect wedding, because it is your personal thanks statement to your guest for coming.

Wedding favor can create an experience for your guest long after your wedding is over. Unique favors are more than just a souvenir. This favor is their memory about your wedding. So, it is needed to choose the unique and special wedding favor for you guest.

There are many type of wedding favors, like garden wedding favors, Asian favors, beach favors, and other famous type favors. Some favors include a unique and personalized idea, like pens, boxes, candles, vases, or cameras.

Choosing the right favor sometimes is difficult and sometimes is easy. Before you decide what favor you’ll buy, you can go to some wedding favor online stores. There are many online stores available in internet. You can visit their website and looking around their favors. Order some examples before you decide to bulk buy the favors. Check whether the favor ordered is good enough.

It is better that you choose a functional favor. You must expect that your favor will be useful for guests. Giving unuseful favor can make your favor goes to trash bin. Give the guest with personalized and useful favor, like camera, candle, pen, or other useful things.

Don’t spend too much. Although the favor is your personal statement, but don’t spend too much. Some favors cost less than five dollar, others can cost above ten dollars. Choose a favor that fit with your pocket. Save some money for other wedding expenses. Keep find a low cost and unique wedding favor.

Buy at the right amount. After you decide to bulk buy the favors, buy with right amount. You need to estimate the guest number. Don’t buy too much. Don’t buy too little. Approximate the guest will attend to your wedding and have some extra favors.

Match the season. Yes, match with the season when your wedding ceremony will happen. If your wedding will happen at winter, you can choose winter favor. If your wedding ceremony will happen at summer, you can buy summer theme favors.

Make your own. If you don’t satisfy with available favor, you can make your own favor. You can design your own favor and order it to the wedding favor provider. Or you can make by yourself. Look at your own talent. When designing the favor reflect your personality. By making your own favor, you can make a very unique favor.

If you want a cheap, fast, and personalized favor, you can make your own CD favor. You can record your favorite songs and burn it to CD. Create unique cover and label for the CD. Tie it with beautiful ribbon.

So think what favor is fit for you. Choose the favor that reflect your personality, and buy at online stores, or you can make your own favor.

Jessica is the owner of unique wedding favors website and used guitar website.

Buying gifts for the babies can be fun but at the same time can be very confusing. The most important thing to keep in mind while selecting a gift is that babies are the passive recipients of the gift and it is the parent who will give a thumbs up to you selection of the gift. If you are in relation to the newborn like the grandparents or aunts or uncle, then be careful about the fact that you need to understand the interests of the parents and not the newborn baby while selecting a perfect gift. The parents are ultimately the ones who are going to use that gift for the newborn

The aim while selecting the gift is to try to go that extra mile till you are satisfied this is the unique gift that you are giving and the recipient will feel the same. Also the aim is to provide value to the recipient of the gift, which may not always mean buying expensive gifts. Remember, when needing to give a baby gift it is not about the dollar value, but the thoughtfulness and creativity you display that will be remembered. There is no such thing as too little or too much spent on baby gifts. So never put yourself in thinking too much to buy baby gifts. At the same time, do not put yourself financially with baby gifts

Many of us find ourselves wanting to buy something more thoughtful, and baby gifts are one of the hardest things to shop for, especially when working on a budget. Most of us when think of giving baby gifts can only think of stuffed toys. Be sure that no one else is giving these baby gifts to them so that they do not have only stuffed animals as gifts on their birthday or any other day.

If classic baby gifts are more your style, you can begin by thinking with a nostalgic feel. Other such classic gifts could include a tooth fairy pillow, a first lock keepsake, a picture album or picture frame. All of these gifts are classic and will be greatly appreciated; however, if you are looking for something a little different you may need to be more creative. Make sure that each gift is accompanied by that something extra which will enhance the value of the gift and that can be birthday poems or a photo sequence or a collage.

The best bet to elicit a good response is to try you hand at personalized gifts, gain expertise at selecting that perfect personalized gift for new born. The good part is that there are wide varieties of gifts available that can be personalized and the parents kept happy. Personalized gifts come in handy here with all sorts of items available for personalization ranging from diaper bags, burp clothes, blankets and crib sheets. Other unique gift newborn is personalized jewelry, monogrammed roll neck sweaters for both the genders, baby suits and nap time sets and don’t forget whenever you buy baby gifts make sure they are wrapped in beautiful papers

There are so many ideas that the only task for you is to choose the unique baby gift which will please the child. Unique baby gifts including baby shower favors, personalized baby gift items and jewelry, sibling gifts and baby travel accessories. The unique Baby Gift Sets and Baby Shower Accessories is a great way to welcome your new baby. . Whether you’re looking for a gifts for a single new born, or maybe you’re shopping for personalized baby gifts for twins or even triplets, your custom gift will be sure to please for years to come. A Personalized Baby Gift is a memorable welcome gesture, which will be treasured by mom, dad, and baby alike.

M.Ali shodiqin is professional in field of Industrial management and product development If you are looking for an ideal gift for the arrival of a new baby please visit www.AllofBaby.com, it is the best place to shop with huge selection item you will find.

As parents, you may have purchase your child a cell phone as a means of protection so that your youngster would never be caught somewhere without a ride or could always call home to check in. What you may not have been aware of is the dangers that cell phones can cause. Due to the Internet connection available on most cell phones, your kids can become targets of bullies and sex predators.

Statistics show that that approximately two-thirds of U.S. children between the ages of 10 and 19 have cell phones. In other parts of the world, the rate is even higher. In Japan, for instance, more than 80% of high school students and 25% of junior high school students had cell phones. Great Britain and Scandinavia also have high rates of children with cell phones. These other countries are where many disturbing statistics are coming from.

The Japanese Cabinet Office surveyed teenagers with cell phones and found 37% of teenage males and 30% of teenage females had accessed dating sites. These sites had led to some girls having unwanted sexual relations with men that they met through these sites.

Another danger with the newer cell phones is the ability to share photos and videos taken with a cell phone which can mean that just by pushing the wrong buttons, your child’s picture, phone number, and e-mail address can be sent to the wrong person. You can also download pictures from a cell phone and place them on the World Wide Web for everyone to see. That is why some schools have banned cell phones from restricted areas such as locker rooms to prevent inappropriate pictures being taken. As well as pictures that your child may be sending from their cell phone, they are also able to view inappropriate material away from home and you may know nothing about it.

Another problem with cell phones is that they are phones. As well as sending kids pictures, sexual predators can also contact them through their cell phone number to arrange a meeting when the kids are outside their parent’s control. Most cell phones have caller ID, which means the minute that your child contacts this person, the person has their cell phone number.

As well as sexual predators, bullies are also using cell phones to harass other children. This has become a major problem in Great Britain, where 16% of young people say that they’ve received threatening text messages as well as 7% that say that they have been harassed in chat-rooms. Another 4% claimed to be bullied by e-mail. If your child is the victim of such harassment, check with your wireless provider about getting the phone number changed.

Another problem with cell phones is that these phones are equipped with geo location systems so that dispatchers at 911 can pinpoint the phone’s location in case of an emergency. While this tracking system is supposed to be secure, it is not infallible. If the wrong person has the know-how, he can track your child wherever they are.

There are several measures that you can take to protect your child. First you should discuss the situation with them, explain that they should never text messages to anyone that they do not know personally. If they still persist in texting everyone, trade their present plan for a prepaid one with a limited amount of minutes. With fewer minutes, your child will have to decide to talk on the phone or to text. Since texting is usually more expensive, your child will probably go back to just talking on the cell phone, which is what you had originally planned for them to do in the first place.

You just got a new cell phone or you want to personalize your current cell phone visit this article on cell phone accessories.

There’s a new fad that has been circulating in town like wild fire, it’s called the Polymerclay Jewelry.

Polymer clay is trendy clay where you can do almost anything. One of the things that can be done using Polymer clays is the jewelry. The polymer clay can be used to make a lovely piece of jewelry. Polymer clays are so easy to use that you can even craft it on your own. It can also be used for all types of art pieced items such as wooden boxes, picture frames, mirrors, beads, pendants, pins, earrings, bracelets, neck pieces, necklaces, desk accessories, small sculptures and even buttons. It basically has a never ending usage that is why many people are so fascinated to it. It is a non-toxic modeling material, man made and can work like a ceramic clay. It’s great for kids and adults use.

But what you may wonder what Polymer clay is? Polymer Clays are not water-based or even a mud-type clay that potters normally use; it is composed of an oil based solid and liquid polymer. It doesn’t dry or melt even if exposed to a pro long heat like fire and that’s what makes it so popular. It is very much different from the molding clays (clays that usually used by children and animators) and clays that are used from sculpting. Those clays are air dried which are water-based and can easily dry.

You can purchase polymer clays from art or craft stores. Most common brand names of polymers are Primo, Fimo (Classic and Soft), Sculpey and Kato. They come in various types and colors such as metallic’s & pearls which has a reflective properties that can be used for special effects; translucent clays which is often used for stones, woods and ivory; flesh colors that can be used for dolls and figurines; and flexible clays that can be used for molding.

Polymer Clays can be used at almost anything. You can use it for sculpting figures, faces, flowers, and any other things that can be molded. You can also use it to cover various items with sheets of patterned and decorative clays and can even be used in making canes. It can also be used in impressing it into rubber stamps or texture sheets and other items around your house. Some artists used it as accessories to their jewelries. They even have their own websites with a very comprehensive lessons and tips on how to do the works. The reason why they like to use Polymer Clays is that it is shaped from PVC (a polymer of vinyl acetate) plastics and a certain type plasticizer substance, which keeps the clay moldable.

This kind of clay is also what is usually recommended to be used especially for those people who create their jewels at home. Various kinds of gears are used to carve and make jewels with polymer clay. Most of the crafters used pasta roller mechanism to roll out the clay and to even it out to their preferred thickness. Afterwards, the clay is created into what the jeweler intends it to use. It can now be placed to their chosen designs with a variety of jewelry. At the present time, all kinds of jewelry can be used with polymer clay. Jewelry designers are so fascinated with it that they even tend to use it on almost anything even on earrings. Indeed polymer clays are simple to use and can even be placed to just about anything and everything.

For more information on polymer clay jewelry please visit our website.

If you are planning to visit Norfolk (UK) with your kids for the holidays there are plenty of things to do, no matter the weather. We have complied the top 9 attractions, some are free and some you’ll need to pay for. Enjoy your holidays!

1. Bewilderwood

Norfolk’s newest attraction is being hailed the best in the region. Although it doesnt take a whole day it is fun especially for younger kids. Walk through the trees houses, have a go on the zip wires, use the slides and get involved in the interactive activities such as den building. Watch out for the crocabog on the boat ride! Allow about 2/3 hours to visit Bewilderwood which is more like an unusual adventure play ground rather than a theme park.

2. Banham Zoo

A good day out with lots of different animals to see. Banham claim there is 1000 different animals in 35 acres of parkland. All the animals appear to be well looked after. You can buy a combined ticket for this Zoo and Africa Alive. Highlights include the Tigers, leopards, kangaroos, Lemurs, monkeys, tamarins and don’t miss the large bird show.

3. Norwich Castle Museum

The Medieval castle has been converted into a Museum is a good day out for older kids that are interested in history. Located in the centre of Norwich the closest parking is in the Castle Mall. Special tours include the Battlements Tours and the Dungeons Tours. Also check out the Temporary Exhibitions.

4. Sea Life Centre Great Yarmouth

Takes about an hour to see the sharks, rays, fish, sea horses and more. A good option for a rainy day. Also features a small hands on display for kids. It is located on the sea front in Great Yarmouth.

5. Fossil Hunting East Runton Beach

A free activity, at the near site of one of most important finds, the “West Runton Elephant”. On the beach its easy to find Belemnites, and with some luck you might find some more!

6. Dinosaur Adventure Park

Walk through the Dinosaur woods and see the full scale models. Also includes a petting zoo, interactive activities and adventure playground.

7. Pleasurewood Hills

Ride roller coasters and other thrill rides at East Anglias leading theme park. This is actually just outside Norfolk. The new 120 ft roller coaster wipeout is proving a hit. Opens at 10am.

8. Africa Alive

Located just south of Lowestsoft in Kesingland Africa Alive is an outdoor safari park with a good selection of well kept animals. Highlights include Falconry display; Road train tour; Rhinos; Gira. Max Entry Prices: Adult £12.50, Child £8.50,

9. Inspire Discovery Centre

Based in an old Medieval Church in Norwich the Inpsire centre is a fully hand on Museum offering fun for adults and kids alike. Being indoors the it makes a good option for rainy days. There are thirty interactive activities based on five themes. Each activity is designed to be fun and challenges whilst educational. Open 10-5 Monday to Friday and 11-5 Saturday and Sunday. Entry Prices:

Adults £4.50, Children £4.00, Saver ticket (2 adults, 2 children) £13.00

Need more ideas? Check out our website at www.norfolkcottagesonline.co.uk for 100’s more ideas of things to do whilst on holiday in Norfolk. We cover information on the beaches, attractions, accommodation and more.

Norfolk Cottages provides information on holidays in Norfolk and information on holiday cottages in the region. For more details please visit: Norfolkcottagesonline.co.uk

Imagine if you will the life of Suzy - the busy, married mother of two wonderful children. She works a full time job, both inside and outside of the house; she is busy trying to be a devoted daughter and sister to her parents and siblings. Suzy is somehow managing to keep her head above water. The house stays fairly clean, the kids get their homework done, and she and her husband are doing ok. However she just can’t avoid the feeling that something is missing. Suzy doesn’t remember the last time she did something just for fun with her kids or her husband. Each day feels like the same routine and experiencing bonding or important moments with her loved ones is rare.

All the way across town, Ron is getting ready for his day. He owns his own small business and being the boss cuts down on his free time a lot. His friends and family constantly complain that they never see him or get to talk to him for more than a few minutes at a time. While Ron loves what he does for a living, it is starting to seem as if work is all he does. He wants the opportunity to spend time on his hobbies and relax with his loved ones, but there aren’t enough hours in the day.

These two people have widely different lives. The one thing they do have in common, however, it not having enough time to spend with their loved ones. Many times in our lives we struggle with making all of our obligations and responsibilities fit into our schedules. The result is that our loved ones lose out on valuable and important time with us. At the same time, we, too, are losing out on the affection and rewards of being part of a family larger than ourselves.

The best laid plans often go wrong. For this reason, it would be incredibly helpful for you to consider using Feng Shui to decorate your home and give yourself more time to spend with those you love. The process isn’t difficult and many people who experience Feng Shui for the first time are amazed at how much it improves every aspect of their lives. This ancient Oriental philosophy is centered on the idea of creating a space that enables positive energies to flow around your home. Any obstacle or impediment of this process creates an imbalanced atmosphere. If finding more time to enjoy and bond with your loved ones is important to you, here’s your chance to make a positive step in the right direction.

The first rule in any Feng Shui changes is to eliminate clutter throughout the house. Completely and thoroughly clean and organize every nook and cranny of your home. Get rid of items you don’t use and find a home for everything you are keeping. Don’t forget about cabinet space and closets. Once this is done, you have a clean canvas to work your Feng Shui magic on.

In order to create a relaxed atmosphere that promotes time spent among those you love, look at your lighting. Excessively bright light is often too stimulating. You will feel the need to be at constant work with such bright light in your home. Change all of the light bulbs in the house to a lower wattage. The balance and relaxation allowed by the dimmer lights will help you to focus on the softer side of life and that includes the love and devotion of your family.

Water is an important element in Feng Shui. The sound of gently flowing water is essential in helping you and your family find the relaxed state you need to concentrate on each other and thrive in the family unit. In the living or family room, or whichever room the family spends the most time in, add a small water fountain. The sound of running water alone will encourage relaxation and focus on each other. In Feng Shui, it also helps to relieve the stresses of the day and wash away any nagging worries or concerns you may have related to work.

Things that are beautiful are very helpful in promoting stress relief and focus. In order to lift yourself spiritually to a higher plane, put a shelf up in the corner of your bedroom. Then pick a pretty vase or small piece of artwork on the shelf. Seeing something you enjoy placed higher than eye level will assist you in making the transition from work to home and enable the positive energies to properly flow.

It may not seem like its possible for something like Feng Shui to be able to help you find more time to enjoy your family and friends, but when the good chi is encouraged to flow, it can make a tremendous difference in how the whole family interacts and learns from each other. Just a few small changes make a huge difference.

Candace Czarny, ASID,CFM, LEED AP, “Award Winning” Certified Interior Designer and Feng Shui Expert. http://www.ArtOfPlacement.com is continually ranked “Top 10″ in Google and Yahoo. Clients testify of dramatic results!

Families are made up of complex interpersonal relationship and with so many different personalities, needs, and interactions, problems are going to arise. It’s inevitable!

Whether there is tension between a mother and a father about who does what for the kids or between parents and children because of the rules of the house, conflicts naturally arise. We can choose to deal with our families and the problems we encounter in a positive way or we can deal with them in a negative way. It’s always a choice!

Obviously, no one wants to communicate with the people that they love most in a negative way, but it still happens and we often don’t realize it until the damage is done. If you want to avoid negative interactions with your family members, you can try using positive affirmations to deal with family to remind you of how truly precious these relationships are to you.

Family Relationships Made Better Through Positive Affirmations

Affirmations are something that most people could use to help them deal with everyday family problems in a more positive manner. Positive affirmations should strike a chord with you, meaning that these statements need to mean something to you and you need to believe in them.

These affirmation statements should summarize the way you want to feel or behave when dealing with family problems. A simple but effective example would be, “My family is my heart. No problem is too big for us.” As you can see, this is simple! It snaps you out of your negative attitude and you can use it to strengthen your relationships as well as better manage any problems that arise.

How does this work? Family affirmations, like all affirmations, work through the use of these statements and your belief in them. When you are going through a trying time with your family, instead of screaming and yelling, you can pause for just a moment and recite your positive affirmations and then tackle the problem. It brings you into a calm state of mind, which is necessary when trying to resolve conflict effectively. When you pause for this second or two, you effectively change your thought process from negative to positive. When you change the thought process you change the reaction and therefore change the interaction for the better.

Simple, isn’t it?

I know, I know… some family situations can be tough and sometimes you may feel like you need a miracle to solve them, but when you are able to use affirmations to quiet your mind and take a deep breath, you will find that you can be a calming or reasoning influence instead of just another family member that adds to the hysteria, frustration, sadness, and anger.

If your family is important to you, you should try making positive affirmations a part of your life. You’ll feel better about the way you are able to interact with the people that you love and they will certainly appreciate the more positive approach, too. You might want to share your free positive affirmations with your family members and suggest that they use them, too.

It doesn’t matter if you are a child, a spouse, or a parent your interactions with your family members can be positively changed through the use of positive affirmations for relationships.

Remember, when you incorporate affirmations into your life, you are only responsible for the way you respond. You cannot necessarily guarantee that everyone else will respond in kind. But you just might find that your calmness and patience helps to solve any disagreements a whole lot more effectively! Positive affirmations can help you do this, so give them a try today.

Ronnie Nijmeh is the president and founder of ACQYR.com - a resource that provides free desktop wallpapers, motivational articles, and inspirational affirmations. Read a list of positive affirmations.

On Mother’s Day, the best gift you can give your mom is something with a lot of sentimental value. That’s why flowers with warm, tender cards are so popular.

But who wants to give flowers every year? Certainly, they can have a place amongst all the gifts she’ll get, but wouldn’t it be great to give something really special … something she’ll remember and cherish forever?

Of course it would. That’s the million-dollar question on Mother’s Day! Well, here’s the answer to that question. It’s a gift that’s sure to steal her heart on her special day – give your mom a beautiful photo gift that you create online.

Now, that doesn’t mean you should just have your picture printed on a coffee cup, pillow case or throw blanket. No, those are great items for your home. On Mother’s Day you have to work a bit harder, but if you use the right website, it will be really easy to show your mom how much you really care.

Find the right website. First, search the term “easy photo sharing” or “easy photo printing,” using your favorite online search engine. Some of the best will come up near the top of the page. Select from one of those – but remember, you want this to be quick and easy.

Look for a site that lets you upload up to 300 photos all at once, and features a nice selection of Keepsakes to choose from. If the website feels like you just walked into a card store at the mall, you’re probably in the wrong place and will become frustrated very quickly with all the products they’re pushing and all the membership rules. Also, look for a website that let’s you store as many photos as you like, with no membership requirements. Another tip is to look for a site that features easy one-step scanning, so you can easily scan in your older printed photos.

Once you’ve found the right website, then the fun part starts! Here are a few great gifts you can make mom:

Create a photo album. Your mom would so love to get a lovely photo album of special pictures. It doesn’t really matter what it is – just as long as the photos feature members of her family and people dear to her. So let your imagination run wild. It could be a collection of photos of her growing up with her brothers and sisters … or of you growing up with your brothers and sisters. It could be themed around a special vacation you took with your family, featuring her grandchildren. Or it could be centered around flowers she loves, a place she adores, or season special to her, like Christmas or summertime.

Create a calendar. This is a great way to remind mom how much you love her every single day. Just like photo albums, you can give your calendar a theme she’ll appreciate. Or, you can just put a random selection of pictures if you’re pressed for time. She’ll love it nonetheless, because it will be something a lot more special than an ordinary calendar. And if you’re wondering why you’d give a calendar in the middle of the year, don’t worry. The wonderful thing about custom calendars is you can start in any month of the year! Just think when you hand her a calendar that runs from May to April, and you tell her that as far as you’re concerned the year doesn’t start until Mother’s Day – that’s sure to put a smile on her face.

Create a story book. This takes a little more work than a photo album, but the results are well worth it. A story book includes more written text than a photo album, and as many pictures as you’d like to use. The nice thing about a story book is that you can really tell the story behind each photo. So if you have a mom that likes to read and tell stories about her kids and grandkids (and what mom doesn’t), a story book may be the perfect gift for her.

Give her greeting cards. This would be a truly special gift. You could give her a nice set of custom greeting cards personalized with her favorite photos. The photos could be of her favorite flowers, vacation spots, her kids and grandkids, pets, collectible items from around her home. Really, the kinds of cards you could give her are only limited by your imagination.

This Mother’s Day, don’t just send boring flowers. Instead, give her a gift she’ll truly remember and appreciate for many years to come. Give her a lovely Keepsake photo gift that you create yourself on the Internet from cherished photos.

Sara Charles writes for a variety of clients, including Hoorray, a photo sharing website that offers a free online photo album to new members and is the easiest place to create a digital photo album, calendar, and more.

Though being in public is nothing to fear, there are several steps you can take to avoid being the victim or an attack or robbery. As the old adage states, “It’s always better to err on the side of caution.” Read the following tips to learn how to protect yourself in public and retain a measure of security every time you go out. Keeping safe in public should always be a top priority.

1. Be aware of your surroundings. Be as familiar as possible with the area you are in. Take note and report any suspicious activity taking place around you.

2. Vary your routine. If you walk, jog, or bike daily, change up your route from time to time and alter the times you go. This way, it is less likely that you will be followed or watched.

3. Let someone else know where you will be. If you’re going out alone, tell a trusted friend or relative where you will be and how long you will be gone. This may seem elementary, but if the unthinkable were to happen, this just might save your life.

4. Act like you know where you are going. Even if you are lost, keep an assertive demeanor, especially if you are walking. Look people in the eye without drawing attention to yourself and stay in well-lit, open areas.

5. Keep your cell phone in your front pocket. If someone steals your purse or wallet, you will still have your cell phone ready to make an emergency call. If you are lost, you will be able to call for directions. And remember: Don’t flash it around.

6. Save your headphones for the gym. Walking around city streets with headphones in and music blasting makes it extremely difficult to hear what’s going on around you – sirens, cars, and people behind you. Use your headphones at home or at the gym so you can be alert to your surroundings in public.

7. Have your car keys ready to go. When walking to your car, it’s always best to have your keys in hand. When you get to your car – especially when you have your hands full – scrounging for your keys can make you an easy target. Get your keys out before you even enter the parking lot, and you’ll do yourself a huge favor.

8. Inspect your vehicle before opening it. If your car has been parked in a public parking lot for an extended period of time, make sure to check the outside and inside of it before you get in. Look underneath the car and in the back seat to make sure there is no one hiding.

9. Once inside your car, drive away. There have been many instances of attacks on people sitting inside their cars rifling through personal belongings, balancing the checkbook, etc. Once you get inside your car, immediately lock the doors, then drive home or to your next destination.

10. If attacked, scream and run. If you become the victim of an attack, don’t fight back. Yell “Fire!” instead of “help” as this is usually better at attracting attention. Run as fast as you can away from the assailant, and seek help in a public place.

Ralph Winn. 35 years in the Home Security industry. Home Security Systems and Alarm Monitoring tips.