Learning Lessons: Teaching Little Hands to Make a Big Difference

By Tanisha Turner

In today’s world, it is important to take purposeful steps to help children grow up to be compassionate and generous human beings. Children who learn the value of giving back at a young age are better able to develop a sense of empathy and citizenship. In addition, research shows that young children who have high prosocial skills – or behaviors meant to benefit another – are also among the most cognitively ready for school.

While teaching young children the joy of giving back can seem overwhelming for parents, helping to instill these attributes in your little ones may be simpler than you think. A study conducted by two Harvard anthropologists, John and Beatrice Whiting, observed the altruistic practices of children of six different cultures. Their findings indicate that, regardless of culture, gender, or socioeconomic status, the most significant differentiating variable is that children assigned more household responsibilities are more helpful and giving.

Encouraging children to contribute to the well-being of the family at a young age – by taking care of the family’s pets, helping parents care for younger siblings, and performing household chores – teaches them the importance of giving back, and, more importantly, the sense of fulfillment derived from helping others. Parents can use the following tips to help nurture selflessness and generosity in children at home:

1. Model kindness to your child and others. Let your child see you offering to help a neighbor or co-worker and express to him or her the happiness you feel when helping others.

2. Remind your child how helping benefits others. Include your child in simple activities by asking for help. For instance, you might say, “Who wants to be my special helper today and help carry laundry to the washer? We won’t have clean clothes without you!” Or, “The dog looks hungry. I bet he’d really appreciate it if you gave him his food and water.”

3. Acknowledge helpful behavior. Show your appreciation and explain why it was helpful to you. For example, rather than just saying “Thank you,” instead say, “Thank you for helping me carry the dishes to the kitchen without being asked. That saved me a lot of time.”

4. Encourage giving. If another child doesn’t have a toy to play with, suggest that your child offer a toy so they can have something fun to play with.

5. Avoid rewarding generosity. Avoid material rewards for helping and giving behaviors. Treats for good deeds may work in the short term, but children may become less generous over time when the rewards stop. You may also consider taking your child with you to volunteer for a nonprofit organization. Choosing age-appropriate volunteer activities is important. Children as young as three years old enjoy participating in group activities and are able to follow directions. Think through the following questions to help select a volunteer opportunity that is right for your family: Does the organization have experience working with children and families? Will the organization staff welcome my child’s

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FASTSIGNS of Snellville

Continued from page 5 the Snellville community and beyond. They are members of the Gwinnett Chamber and the Snellville Tourism and Trade. They also have two dedicated Outside Sales Professionals, Robert and Dianne, who are always out in the community either prospecting or attending ribbon cuttings and networking events. In addition to these connections, FASTSIGNS of Snellville has maintained a ten year relationship with their friends at Special Kneads and Treats in Lawrenceville, and a nine year relationship with the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry, and has provided either donated or discounted signage for these organizations.

For Edward and Kareen and the rest of their team, the number one goal is excellent customer service. They make it a priority to pick up the phone any time a customer calls and to turn a project around as quickly as possible. In fact, FASTSIGNS of Snellville has never missed a deadline in the ten years they have been in operation.

“Customer service is our number one strength, followed by expertise,” said Edward. “We love doing what we do and in our ten years in business we are so happy to have exceeded our customers’ expectations every step on the way.”

If you need a custom visual aid to help your business make itself known, you have come to the right place. Get in touch with FASTSIGNS of Snellville for all of your signage dreams to come true.

More information at www.fastsigns.com/snellville-ga, or (678) 3955559

One Man’s Opinion: BET On Tyler Perry

By Bill Crane

The motion picture and television production industries domestically are temporarily stalled by a Writer’s strike. Though much of the industry now is distributed across many right-to-work states like Georgia, the related artistic and production unions are honoring the strike, refusing to cross picket lines and placing an indefinite pause on millions in shows by major and minor studios alike.

Paramount Global, formerly Viacom and now part of the CBS Entertainment Group, began shopping around B.E.T. Media Group for sale more than a year ago. Despite owning, airing, and streaming a good bit of prestige programming, including the lucrative and always spawning sequels and prequels, Star Trek franchise, Paramount, of late, has also been hemorrhaging red ink. B.E.T. Media includes Black Entertainment Television, BET Plus (streaming version of the network), and VH-1. One of B.E.T.’s most prolific content providers and partners and largest producer for BET Plus is film mogul, producer, actor, writer, and director, Tyler Perry.

Moving to Atlanta in 1990, Perry used his $12,000.00 in life savings (at 22) to stage a musical production, which was admittedly less than a modest success. But Perry persisted, rewriting and retooling that play and launching other shows across what was then referred to as “The Chitlin Theater” circuit, performed live primarily before urban and minority audiences. By 2005, Forbes reported that various Tyler Perry stage shows and productions had generated $100 million in ticket sales, another $30 million in videos of those shows, and an estimated $20 million in merchandising. Perry produced an estimated 300 live shows annually, with an average weekly aggregate attendance of 35,000.

By 2005/2006, Perry was able to use those ticket sales to finance his first motion picture, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which included the introduction to mass audiences of Perry-world staple character, Mabel “Madea” Simmons, a colorful, protective, and memorable aging black woman, as well as coincidentally a lifelong resident of Atlanta, played by Perry. A long list of Madea comedies would follow, and I am admittedly a fan.

Perry could have stopped there and been a very wealthy man, but instead, he branched out into television production, first with Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, which ran for eight seasons on TBS, from 2006-2011.

In 2011, Forbes magazine noted that Perry was the highest-paid man in the entertainment industry, yet he was still aiming higher. In 2015, he acquired 330 acres of the former Fort McPherson U.S. Army Military Base, straddling East Point and the southernmost tip of the City of Atlanta. What has become Tyler Perry Studios now includes twelve sound

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Insurance Matters: Long-Term Care

By H. Darrell Watson

Medicare does not pay for long-term care. Medicaid does. To qualify for Medicaid, you must first meet Medicaid spend-down requirements, which require you to liquidate most of your assets, including your house.

The average annual cost of a nursing home in the state of Georgia is $91,250. The average annual cost of a home health aide is $52,624.

Someone turning 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care services and support in their remaining years. Women need care longer (3.7 years) than men (2.2 years). One-third of today’s 65-year-olds may never need long-term care support, but 20% will need care for longer than five years.

Only 7.5 million Americans have long-term care insurance, or about 3.3% of the population.

Twelve states are considering implementing a Long-Term Care tax to offset the cost of long-term care expenses to the state. One of the ways to opt out of that tax is by owning a long-term care policy.

The earlier you start a long-term care plan, the more affordable the plan will be. One such long-term care policy is a Universal Life policy with a flexible care benefit rider. The flexible care benefit rider allows you to spend down the death benefit of your life insurance policy toward long-term care.

You can use the funds to hire a home health aide to care for you at home or help offset the cost of an assisted nursing home or memory care facility. If you never use the flexible care benefit rider, then your beneficiary will receive the full death benefit of the life policy. Ultimately, the Universal Life Insurance Policy with a flexible care benefit rider has both a life and death benefit. So do not wait! Start your long-term care plan today!

For more information please call (770) 910-3399