Child Care Tips

In Time and Attendance systems time clocks can be equipped with a variety of card readers. If we go back more than 5 years ago bar-code cards were not unusual but in today's market the Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) has become the preferred technology . Most of  these RFID devices are the passive type consisting of a chip containing a small integrated circuit used for storing and processing information and and a tuned antenna fro receiving and transmitting data. When an external transmitter is near the RFID tag it become active more or less powered by the external antenna  

RFID devices are fitted to an increasing number of products particularly in the security industry. They are used to protect goods in retail outlets, they are fitted to consumables in printers to ensure that genuine ink cartridges are used, the are used in access control applications to open doors. They are extensively used in the time and attendance industry where employees carry an RFID card or tag to clock in and out each day. The common name for these devices is a proximity time clock or RFID time clock.

Most end users would agree that RFID cards are simple to use, almost indestructible, safe, relatively inexpensive reliable and very convenient. They do however, come in a range of formats which generally do not impact performance but they do impact cost, cross application compatibility, ease of use and availability. Formats include proprietary offerings which are only available form certain manufacturers such has HID and Indala  and some which use an international standard such as the Mifare Smart-card.

When you are considering a time and attendance system for you business the product you use may be impacted by your current or intended use of security and access control systems . Your new time and attendance system should use RFID cards that are either compatible with your existing security system or it should use one of the more easily accessible RFID card systems.

It is almost certain that you will be able to find a time and attendance supplier using the same RFID Technology but you are more likely to find it an easier task if you are using an HID (who also make a mifare product) or Indala system. Because there are multiple options within the same technology provider  you will need to provide the time and attendance provider with a sample of your card to make sure their equipment can read the card. Once they have established suitability you can be confident that the systems will be able to use existing cards or tags which is both a convenience and a cost saving

If your security provider uses Mifare cards this will make the choice of time and attendance provider more complex due to the programmable nature of Mifare cards. Mifare cards are formatted with a number of programmable sectors depending on the memory capacity of the card. These sectors require a special secure electronic key to open and encode the sector and also to read that sector again. This is where the compatibility issues start. Your supplier of time and attendance will have to be able to specify the sector to which it writes and you current cards must be of sufficient capacity to take the encoded information for both the security and time and attendance systems . Unless your both applications are from the same provider they will not be able to access any sector encoded by the others hardware. If your applications are form different suppliers it is almost certain that they will not be able to access each others hardware.

Mifare cards are the new standard and their flexibility is certainly an advantage. You can encode quite a lot of information on a Mifare Card. In a recent application my colleagues facilitated the process of including staff time and attendance, security access control, car parking station access, canteen credit and employees medical records data on the same card in a large metropolitan hospital.

If you intend using and RFID solution for your time and attendance and this is the only current business system using this this technology, you canlt go too far wrong with HID or Indala . You will certainly be able to add access control later and not get caught out with odd standard. You may also use Mifare Card but you would be wise to opt for one of the larger memory sizes such as 4K to allow for expansion to other products.

The last factor to discuss is the cost of these technologies. While none of the  RFID technologies is expensive to produce there can be quite a significant variation in cost. HID  and Indala tend to be more expensive and it is rare to see much variation in price from your solution provider because their cost is fixed. Mifare cards by comparison are generally purchased unencoded at a very low price and then encoded by the solution provider and this provides a greater degree of flexibility.

One final tip...the price of the cards you buy will almost certainly go up once you have purchased the system. The salesman will almost certainly give some away to secure the sale so  negotiate for additional cards of tags when you purchase and you will save yourself hundreds of dollars in a very short time.

James Bell

Time and Attendance Consultant

Some youngsters have a great amount  of difficulty with putting words on the page . There are diagnosable learning difficulties  , such as dysgraphia, that can present barriers to  the ability to put words on the page  . These  strategies might prove of benefit in alleviating some of the distress faced by parents, teachers and students  alike when writing is a challenging procedure  for the student :

1. Separate the tasks  of 'planner', 'author' and 'editor': People who experience difficulties with writing  often find it particularly hard to recall  the mechanics of writing. The basics of spelling, punctuation and grammar are inclined  to get ignored somewhere along the way when these students are attending to the actual  process of writing. To begin , put on the 'planner' hat to give birth to  and organize ideas. Secondly    put on the 'author' hat to get it down on the page. Finally , don  the 'editor' hat to get the technical aspects of writing right.

2. Do not jump straight in: Although a majority of  students  think that head down, pen down is what makes up the total  procedure  of writing, this really  doesn't  work for most of us. If you skip the planning stage , the initial  draft becomes so much more challenging to create . For some students it becomes impossible . I know that if I was going to climb Everest I would want a really detailed  plan developed . Remember that writing is just like tackling Everest for reluctant writers. Actually , some of them would no doubt rather try climbing Everest.

3. Begin the creative process: Any well-tuned machineneeds some time to get going . For a less  well-honed   machine this is even more essential . Start any writing session with a pre-writing activity . Use whiteboard brainstorming, index cards, sticky notes or mind maps to compose ideas. Mind maps are particularly recommended for hesitant writers as they are a graphic mode of taking notes . Creative and calming visualization may also be useful for relieving anxiety before a writing assignment .

4. Outline  the structure of the written piece : This need notbe a totally  intellectual process . Use index cards or sticky notes and physically move the ideas around. Join them together to hear how the paragraphs should be sorted within the overall structure of the essay . Each distinct idea or group of ideas becomes a paragraph or  series of paragraphs. Try and give each group a 'topic sentence', an introductory sentence that links the ideas within the paragraph into one unit  and gives the reader a brief introduction to the primary  idea behind the paragraph.

5. Wear the 'author' hat: The next stage is to prepare the initial draft. This is where the student puts all the organized paragraphs into a sequence. In this stage the student can't be thinking about spelling, punctuation or other 'editor' tasks. Instead,the student is in 'author' mode and should be concentrating only about the structure  of the piece and the coherence of the writing. Just getting it on the page in the organized structure is enough during this phase.

6. Read it to another person: When the first draft is finished the writer should read the narrative out loud, preferably to somebody else , in order to hear if it flows properly and if anything needs to be extended or clarified -- teachers like to see the use of examples and clear , sharp writing with appropriate and relevant detail. The students should ask themselves "Does it sound right?", "Does it make sense?", and "Do I need to add anything more?"

7. Wear the 'editor' hat: In the last stage , the role of the 'editor' comes in to play . The writer should edit for run-on sentences, incomplete sentences, correct spelling, punctuation, grammar and the correct use of capital letters. A simple checklist may be a useful resource to remind the student the points they need to  concentrate on when they edit their piece of writing.

8. Use technology : Making use of a computer can be helpful in the process of writing , particularly for reluctant writers. There is a characteristic that is  intrinsically motivating about a computer screen and the simple fact that there is no pen and paper around is something of a gift for reluctant writers. There are several software applications that help writers to enhance their typing efficiency . Also, software developers are always coming up with new and improved solutions for students with reading and writing difficulties . For example , applications with speech recognition and text prediction are far more common and more reliable than they were even just a few years ago.

9. Choose your arguments wisely: The school day and  study programs shouldn't be a constantbattle of wills. This is emotionally painful for parents, teachers and students. Set reachable and realistic targets for the amount of writing required or for the amount of time spent on an assignment . Remember that the task of writing is an onerous job for some students and that they may  need  frequent breaks to organize themselves for the next attempt or extra time periods to finish a piece of writing.

10. Praise the effort : Praise is probably more important than a tangible reward (although most kids and adults like the tangible ones as well). In celebrating achievement , always focus on the effort involved and how much it was appreciated by everyone . Be positive in pointing out areas that have improved and be constructive in describing aspects that require greater attention . For the latter, keep the quantity of constructive criticisms to a minimum. It is best to concentrate on one thing at a time.

The evidence shows that writing can be a daunting chore for some people. Despite this , there are strategies that teachers and parents can utilize so that the fear of tacklinga writing assignment can be addressed . With time, resilience and patience , these individuals may get to feel  the  satisfaction that results from finishing a well-developedpiece of writing.

Current, the most popular biometric technology used in  time and attendance is the fingerprint time clock. Essentially, the technology uses a reader which measures a number of points on the user's finger and constructs a algorithm ( a mathematical representation) and then stores this as a user template. It is true that biometric time clocks do not store actual fingerprint images so, from a user privacy perspective, there is no need for concern regarding any possibility of reverse engineering a user template into a complete fingerprint .

There are basically three types of readers used in fingerprint time clocks. Currently, the most popular is the optical , although from time to time the ultrasonic and capacitance readers have enjoyed greater popularity. There are also two recognition methods used. Verification method requires the employee to enter their ID number first and then place their finger on the reader . The reader then "verifies" that the finger belongs to the user . This method is easiest and the most common. The second method is identification in which the user simply puts a finger on the reader and the device "identifies" the user from the template database.

The most important specifications and benchmarks used with biometric time clocks including the False Acceptance Rate (FAR), the False Rejection Rate and the (FRR) the Equal Error Rate (ERR). Technical specifications aside the most important factor when considering a fingerprint time clock is how often will it stop any of your employees from clocking in or out. This is in fact where fingerprint time clocks can let you down.

In most case, implementation of fingerprint time and attendance the motivation behind the introduction of a more secure technology is some mistrust of the employees. Biometric time clocks should completely remove any employee misrepresenting their working hours of clocking on for their (buddy punchimg) . In this environment employees will not always be as cooperative as might hope and may take any chance to buck the system. So, if your fingerprint reader does not work very reliably for all you staff you may end up having to allocate a number and password option for one or two employees. Almost immediately you will find other employees will start having problems as they realize the system is flawed. This is why your chosen biometric system must work for all employees.

Equally important to your business is how quickly employees will be able to clock. Imagine For example: If you have 100 employees using the same clock and the workday ends at 4:00pm. Employees are lined up at the time clock and each employee takes a total of 5 seconds to clock out. That's a total of 8 minutes until the last employee can clock out. It wont take long before your employees are complaining about the waiting time and either stopping early or hitting you up for overtime.

There are some great resources on the web if you want a greater understanding of the technical and operational considerations for fingerprint bundy clocks but essentially there a few guarantees that you want to obtain from your supplier: It will work virtually first time every time for all employees and all employees will be able to clock in and out in a reasonable time.

After all, you want the system to save you money and difficult to administer systems will do just the opposite

James Bell

Time and Attendance Consultant

It seems like every year, moms struggle with the dilemma of just what to do for their kids’ birthdays.  Every year, birthday parties get bigger, more complicated, and unfortunately more expensive .  Combine that with the fact that many birthday parties, especially those at “kid-themed” places allow a limited number of kids and can be really expensive, and you have a large potential for disaster .

Here are some ideas you can use to create memorable themed birthday parties for your kids, year after year.   First of all, consider a theme that will tie the whole party together – this will make shopping for supplies, food and a venue that much easier.

Secondly, decide how much you want to spend .  Your budget should cover tableware, like plates, napkins, cups, utensils, and tablecloths, decorations, drinks, food, invitations, games, prizes and of course the cake.  Decide how much you want to spend for every item and stick to it.  You don't need to spend a ton of money to create a memorable birthday party.

Next, take some of the themes you’ve thought of and sit down with your child and ask what he or she wants .  There are the typical themes like princesses or pirates, but maybe they will want to have a character-themed party based on their favorite cartoon or movie.  

Now that you have a theme, you can go shopping and see if there are decorations and tableware in your theme.  Generally, items with a recognizable character on them will cost more than a non-character item, so you may want o mix and match – go for the princess plates, but pair with the plain pink cups.  

When it comes to decorations, it’s tempting to just start buying the pre-made ones, but this can be a great time to get creative and save money.  Can you find templates or crafts on the Internet that feature the theme character?  If so, use those to make your own decorations.   This will free up your budget to spend money on other things.

You should also buy or make the invitations with plenty of time to get them addresses or passed out.  Consider making your own by using your color printer and some postcard paper.  Download images off the internet and add them to your own design.   Also remember that a lot of schools frown on passing out invitations in the classroom, unless everyone is invited.  You may want to invest in some stamps and mail invitations out to prevent any hurt feelings.  Giving families two to three week’s time to respond is a good idea.    And don't forget the power of the Internet.  It's perfectly acceptable to use an online invitation service like Evite to send out the invitations.

So what should you plan on doing during the birthday party?  If it’s warm outside , obviously you can plan lots of outdoor activities, from tag, to water play, to organized games.  For winter birtday parties , you should plan on a few games and crafts in keeping with the theme.  And depending on your child’s age, don’t make the party too long.  A craft project will take some kids five minutes, others twenty, so don’t plan on an hour of crafts.  

And don’t worry about goodie bags.   Most of the time, they are filled with disposable junk that just gets thrown out.  Save the money and spend it elsewhere or if you feel you must, sometimes a simple picture book – perhaps about the character can make a simple and affordable parting present.  

Next up – food.   The birthday cake will be the centerpiece of the whole party. Depending on your baking skills, you may want to budget the money for a store bought cake, or you could make it yourself.  In addition you will want to have some snacks and “real food” – like pizza.  Be sure to mix in some healthy snacks like veggie sticks and dip.   And make sure you have juice and water.  Skip the soda is possible.  If parents are sticking around with the kids during the party, make sure you have some grown-up food - like extra pizza or a platter of sandwiches.

Some parents worry about having a birthday party and all the gifts that come with it – most kids don’t need more toys.  Are you tired of the glut of toys and presents that comes with a party?  You can always specify no gifts on the invite and instead suggest that guests bring a can of food to donate to a local charity.   In this way, you won’t have to deal with a lot of new gifts or thank you notes and your child will get a great lesson in charity.

A themed birthday party can be a lot of fun for your kids, but they can also be a lot of money and work for the parents.  But don’t feel pressured to purchase everything related to the theme.  At the end of the party, your children will be most interested in having their friends over, being the center of attention and enjoying themselves.

About age six months your baby will be ready to eat solid food.  This is when your baby's mouth has changes and it will now be able to manage swallowing the food.  Another good way to tell if your baby is ready is when your baby has reached double its birth weight.  If however, you feed your baby solid food prior to this then your baby may have a hard time to digest the food.

You will need a few things before you start feeding your baby solid food like bibs, a bowl and spoon that is not breakable, and a food processor will come in handy.

The initial solid food to try is baby rice, it is low in protein and it is not likely to cause any allergic reaction.  Mix the rice with breast milk or formula and mix it thin so it will be easy for your baby to swallow.  When you baby has gotten used to the rice cereal there are other cereals that you can try, then try mixing it with some vegetables.  Vegetables before the fruit because your baby may not like the vegetables after trying the fruit.

Any dairy made from cows milk needs to be avoided until your baby is one year old.  When your baby has had cows milk for more then a month you could try other dairy products.  It is best to put your baby on solid food gradually do not be in a hurry wait at least twenty four hours before you introduce a new food, this is to be sure that your baby is not having any reaction.

Remember that you should let your baby be in charge.  You'll be informed by your baby whether or not it needs a top up or if they are still hungry.

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