Anyone can write a baby poem, and everyone enjoys reading them, young and old. Baby shower(婴儿洗礼) poems can have rhythm and rhyme, but they certainly don't have to. Poems can be either long or short, but short is probably best for your typical baby shower needs. You can add a little humor as well!

    The people who are most often touched by baby shower poems are those who have had children themselves. Sweet poems can remind them of the time when their little ones were still young. No one will appreciate them more than the family members themselves. If you are a creative writer or  have a special talent for putting words together in a special way, then you should try writing your own baby shower poems. This would make a great gift idea as well.

    If you decide to write your own baby poems, even common things can inspire you. Inspiration can be found anywhere. Look to your own memories from the past. What was special about your childhood? What special object have you treasured over the years? What words of wisdom(智慧) of advice could you pass on to the next generation? Look around the house and imagine a baby being there. What do you see, hear, or feel? Let those thoughts be the source of your best baby poems.

    When writing a baby poem, you do not have to write like Shakespeare, you just have to be sincere. Years later when the baby has grown，think of how special they will feel knowing the words were just for them.

    If you are not the creative type — don't worry! There are lots of places online where you can look for poems saying just the things you want to say. Poems have been written on all subjects throughout the ages, and baby poems and baby shower poems are no exception. A quick search online doesn't have to take any time at all.

    Movies are a great means of entertainment for many. There are some advantages of watching movies. Comedies, for example, help reduce your blood pressure. Laughter for 15 minutes during a film makes your blood vessels (血管) wider. Besides, when you watch a sad movie, you're more likely to come away from it thinking about loved ones and feeling happy about what you have.

    Watching movies can make you creative. A study shows that young children, who watched the use of magic in Harry Potter, score significantly higher in a creative thinking test than children who watched something else. Moreover, movies are very useful for strengthening people's mental health. They enable people to take time to really relax and temporarily forget about their daily concerns and problems.

    However, watching movies aren't always beneficial. Studies have shown that some people get real pleasure out of being scared by horror movies, but in various ways they may be risking their physical and mental health without even knowing it. When you watch a tense scene in a movie, your heart rate and blood pressure increase. Meanwhile this change in your brain chemistry reminds you of times when you were in a similar state, even if you have no idea you even had those memories. So if something horrible happens to you, being scared again by a movie can unintentionally make you experience it once more.

    Scientists, politicians and parents have debated for decades if being exposed to movie violence leads to actual real-life violence. Overall the answer to that is probably still up in the air, but a new study seems to prove that watching aggression on screen can contribute to being a bully (土霸) in real life, even if it is just in the short term.

    In conclusion, certain movies play a positive role, but not all movies do. It depends completely on the subject of the movie. So it's always advisable to choose the movies concerning something positive.

    “We haven't found anything that we can't recycle!”

    Cigarette ends are everywhere—littering our streets and beaches—and for decades they've been thought of as “unrecyclable”. But a New Jersey based company, called TerraCycle, has taken on the challenge, and has come up with a way to recycle millions of cigarette ends and turn them into industrial plastic products. Its aim is to recycle things that people normally consider impossible to reuse.

    Obviously it would be even better for the environment if everyone just stopped smoking, but the statistics show that although there has been an increase in anti-smoking ads and messaging, between 2000 and 2014, global sales of cigarettes increased by 8 percent, and a whole lot of those cigarette ends are ending up as trash. Since most of our litter eventually ends up in waterways, cigarette ends can surely pollute the surrounding environment. “It only takes a single cigarette end to pollute a liter of water,” TerraCycle founder, Tom Szaky, said. “Animals can also mistake littered cigarette ends for food.”

    So how do you go about turning all those poisonous ends into something useful? TerraCycle does this by first breaking them down into separate parts. They mix the remaining materials, such as the tobacco and the paper, with other kinds of rubbish, and use it on non-agricultural land, such as golf courses. The filters (过滤嘴) are a little harder. To recycle these, TerraCycle first makes them clean and cuts them into small pieces, and then combines them with other recycled materials, making them into liquid for industrial plastic products.

    They're now also expanding their recycling offerings to the rest of the 80 percent of household waste that currently can't be recycled, such as chocolate packaging, pens, and mobile phones. The goal is to use the latest research to find a way to stop so much waste ending up in landfill (垃圾填埋), and then get companies to provide money for the process. And so far, it's working.

    “We haven't found anything that we can't recycle,” communications director of TerraCycle, Albe Zakes, said. “But with the amount and variety of packaging and litter in the world, we are always looking for new waste streams to address.”

    Knowing the “right” thing to say and do as parents is not easy. But what if I told you there's ONE word you can add to your vocabulary that will help set your kids up for success for the rest of their lives? You'd let it flow effortlessly from your parenting lips, right?

    Well, that word is “practice”. It generates confidence and a “can do” attitude in kids when you use the word “practice” in place of the more commonly used word “try”. And here's why.

    “Try” means failure, or at the very least, doubt. From a very young age, we are always told to “try this”, “try that” and “try, try again”… “just try”. But “try” suggests the act of wondering what will happen instead of a clear intention of success.

    How many times have you heard someone say they tried something over and over, and it didn't work? Or that they will try to call you or come over and never show? Our subconscious(潜意识的) programming tells us that “try” is a way out for many. It's a word we use when we don't expect success or don't want to do something. We usually think, “Oh well, at least I tried.”

    The word “practice”, however, is different. Practice always makes you better. everyone who is good at something has practiced－doctors, musicians, athletes, students, speakers, singers and the list goes on and on. Did they try it the first time to see if they wanted to pursue it? Yes, but when it came to improving, they practiced. Even toddlers learning to walk are practicing. They have every intention of working successfully, and they keep at it until they do… and that in itself is a great lesson for us adults.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park Volunteer Program

Building a Community of Park Stewards

    Position Title: Wildlife Volunteer — Butterfly Monitors (2 positions)

    Dates: Mid May to September, 2020

    Hours: 8-16 hours/ week

    Location: Cuyahoga Valley National Park

    Duties: Park staff will train volunteers in butterfly identification and data recording for one week before volunteers work in team of two to help track butterfly monitoring areas. The three butterfly monitoring areas in the park are I to 2 miles in length and are walked one time per week. Butterflies are identified by using binoculars (望远镜) or by netting and releasing. Data is recorded on data sheets.

    Skills required: Applicants must have self motivation and desire to work with others. Volunteers will work during days when temperature is 70 degrees or more, between 10:30 am and 5 pm. Ability to walk a long distance in hot and humid conditions is needed. Skills with basic butterfly identification are not a must but helpful.

    Requirements: Applicants must be current Kent Stale University (KSU) students and a National Park Service Agreement must be completed. U. S citizenship is also required.

    How to Apply: Please request an application from Mike Johnson at gkovach@ kent.edu and send it back to Mike Johnson at gkovach@ kent.edu, by February 15, 2020. If offered an interview, please come to Cuyahoga Valley National Park with your personal resume introducing your education and previous work experience.

    For further information, please call Jamie Walters at (330) 657-2142 or email jwalters@ forcvng.org.

    Do you have a talented young artist, photographer, or designer in your life? It's never too early to start helping them get their work out there! We've rounded up the top art competitions for kids and teens that can help these young creators share their first masterpiece with the world. Most of them are totally free to enter!

Global Canvas Children's Art Competition

    Ages: 16 and under Mediums: drawing, painting

    Organized by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, this art competition wants to inspire the next generation to be more mindful of how we take care of the earth. The judges are looking for artists to discover the wonderful places that wildlife calls home.

    Toyota Dream Car Art Contest

    Ages: 15 and under Mediums: drawing, painting

    Time to design a dream car! Toyota wants to get junior artists thinking about what the future of transportation might look like. Prizes include a chance to tour one of the Toyota car plants and experience various aspects of Japanese culture.

    Advena World Children's Art Competition

    Ages: 15 and under Mediums: drawing, painting, photos and other original artworks

    The competition aims to promote creativity and self-expression. Instead of a theme, it asks the participating artists to simply express their feelings—anything from sadness or joy to anger or excitement—through their chosen medium.

    Progressive Young Artists Awards

    Open to: high school and college students Mediums: drawing, painting, photograph, mixed media, sculpture

    PYAA is all about expressing and celebrating progressive values. So, if there is a creative teen in your life who wants to do good in the world, sign him or her up for this art competition. The prize is a scholarship that winners can put forwards their post-secondary schooling.