As an academic, I have cheered for and welcomed the open access (OA) mandates that, slowly but steadily, have been accepted in one way or another throughout academia. It is now often accepted that public funds means public

Q: As soon as our daughter hit the “terrible twos”, she became difficult to deal with. I have heard this is fairly common. We know it is “just a stage” and we will get through it. However, for now, it is exhausting and discouraging. What advice can you give for keeping the right perspective during this challenging time?

Focus on the Family Malaysia: We will share an example that is in a book, The Best Advice I Ever Got On Parenting. The author heard it from singer Phil Joel and his wife, Heather. When their first son arrived, he slept through the night, loved to be held and routinely wore a big smile. Then he became a toddler, and his pleasant disposition vanished.

That is when the Joels realised parenting is a lot like gardening. The analogy illustrates that we plant seeds of love in our children so their lives will grow and flourish. But as anyone who tends the soil can tell you, positive results do not happen overnight.

Success requires consistent attention and labour, rain or shine. And it is not just the seeds you plant that sprout – there are weeds to be dealt with as well.

As they discovered, weeds can take many forms in our children’s lives, from negative cultural influences to selfishness that screams “it’s all about me!” These things often choke out the positive seeds of love and encouragement we are trying to spur towards growth.

That is why we need to dig beneath the surface of an issue to see lasting change. If we ignore the weeds, they will only grow deeper and become harder to uproot.

Raising children is not always easy, but with your loving care and your willingness to confront the negative influences that threaten their well-being, your child can develop into an adult of maturity and character.

Q: My wife and I have enjoyed being part of a close-knit circle of friends for a few years, but lately, we feel like something is missing – as if life has become a bit stagnant. We would like to branch out somehow and build new friendships, but we are not sure where to start. What would you suggest?

Focus on the Family Malaysia: We have heard that if couples are married long enough, they start to look like one another. We are not sure if that is true but couples do often look like the other couples they hang out with. It may feel more comfortable to be friends with someone who is just like you, but you are depriving your marriage of a great chance to grow.

Relating to someone in the same place in life as you or who has common interests is easy. You can empathise with each other about career challenges, share the highs and lows of parenting or compare favourite music, movies and hobbies.

But we would suggest another perspective. There is tremendous value in spending time with one or more couples who are different from you.

An older couple can share their years of wisdom with a younger couple and help them develop some long-term stability in their marriage. Younger couples have a lot to offer too. They can bring a sense of energy to the friendship or help an older couple feel younger and more revived in their relationship.

To add a deeper layer of richness to your marriage, try to build a friendship with another couple who does not see life the same way as you. Their different perspective can challenge you to grow. It just may create the spark you need to strengthen your marriage for years to come. And hopefully, you will do the same for them.

This article is contributed by Focus on the Family Malaysia, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting and strengthening the family unit.
It provides a myriad of programmes and resources, including professional counselling services, to the community.
For more information, visit family.org.my. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

Opinion piece: submitted by SAP Concur For the past few months, most companies have focused their energy on how to adapt to a remote work environment and keep the business moving forward. But, what happens when shelter-in-place restrictions are eased...

Can't really say, Justin, without knowing how the Independent manages its content and social media presence. I have had two very interesting private conversations with a web content manager and a PR/social media consultant neither of whom, I hasten to add, work for The Independent. Both said that pressure is put on them to get as many "shares" and click throughs as possible. One confirmed that some of their clients clearly state in the commissioning briefs that titles are changed for social media to increase the click rate and that their performance is assessed and payments adjusted accordingly.

I don't think we can blame Facebook for the misuse of the tags. They provide the technology and alternative social media titles usually do describe at least part of the original content, and the target audience maybe different compared with that for a website audience. In this case it has to be the Independent that is ultimately responsible, even if the title was written by a freelancer or contractor who, I presume, are paid by the Independent. It is clearly in the source code of the page on the Independent website, therefore they are responsible for it.

Yes, David, I really should have included that in the possible strategies. Thanks for reminding me. It works well for this particular example (Norway) and gives good but slightly different results and will, of course, miss Norwegian sites that are registered as .com or other international domains. The amount of overlap (or lack of it) will vary depending on the country.

Doesn't work here, Eric :-(

I do recall some colleagues and friends saying that one of the mobile apps that did exactly that by default. Thankfully I have never used any of automatic uploaders. All photos are added manually one by one. Not exactly high tech but a lot safer.

The state weather bureau has placed several areas under Signal No. 2 as Typhoon Ofel makes its way to Northern Luzon.

Random Photo: R Daycare

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Move over, Dr. Evil; Russia has just hit Google with a fine that would make even him laugh maniacally. That’s right: a whopping $20 decillion! For context, that’s $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. It’s the kind of number so absurd that it stops being math and starts becoming pure science fiction. ...

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With more than 67 million beneficiaries, around one in five Americans is enrolled in Medicare. The federal health insurance program has helped ensure adults over 65 and individuals with disabilities have access to health insurance since 1965. But with regular changes to the program — and our health system at large — it’s no wonder […]

The post Medicare: 10 Things To Know appeared first on Clark Howard.

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