After the age of 25， the number of friendships we maintain begins to fall. 【小题1】

Learn to identify opportunities.

“We let chances to make friends pass us by every day，” says Kate Leaver in her book The Friendship Cure.  【小题2】“Instead of forcing a little small talk with your kind neighbours，” she says， “ask them in for a cuppa and get to know them. ” 

 【小题3】

Joining a group， club or class is an effective way to meet people. “Teaming up for a shared activity，project or goal is an experience that can promote bonding and closer connections，” says therapist Miriam Kirmayer. Pursue a challenge or skill you are interested in， because then you will have a good time and feel more at ease in starting a conversation.

Allow yourself to be vulnerable（脆弱的）.

 【小题4】 What if your offers are rejected? Leaver and Kirmayer say that a degree of vulnerability is needed in trying to start friendships. Keeping to yourself isn’t going to help you. Sharing recommendations or letting others in on plans， says Kirmayer， is a simple way to share， which will help build closeness and trust.

Don't put too much pressure on it.

As we age， our friendships change. According to a 2016 study， we hit our peak number of friendships at the age of 25. 【小题5】 clinical psychologist Linda Blair advises not putting too much pressure on any new connections and not expecting too much from one person.

   Do teenagers know how to sleep? If you’re the parent of teens, you might be laughing to yourself. That’s all they know how to do. In truth, teens might not know enough about how to sleep, when to sleep and why.【小题1】 .

Just as we focus on our diets and exercise for health, we need to consider sleep necessary to our mental, physical and psychological health. “Good” sleep is sleep that is long enough to allow your brain to remove the side effects of daytime brain activity. Consistent bed times and wakeup times are the key to keeping our sleep cycles.【小题2】.

Teens are social creatures, and the most attractive social “gathering” place these days is on their digital devices.【小题3】. Ideally, we should avoid blue light for at least half an hour before bed. But social media and homework that requires screen time mean too many kids are powering up their devices when their bodies should be powering down for the night.

【小题4】. Equally contributing to sleep issues are eating too late, taking naps, and failing to get enough exercise. In other words, these people never learned how to sleep.

Over time, poor sleep leads to a decline in mood.【小题5】. Significantly, when I speak to my adult patients who are struggling with sleep issues, nearly all of them say their sleep problems started in high school.

Therefore, I recommend sleep education. Otherwise, we won’t necessarily solve the health, safety and economic issues of sleepy teens.

Planning is good as it decides in details how we do what we want to do it. However, a plan bears no fruit without being actual carried out. My experience in the English speech contest last month was a case in point. A month before the event, I spent hours work out a schedule with my goals and practical steps. After that, I set out read widely for an inspired topic , wrote a speech, and practised my pronunciation with good public speech skills. I finally stood out as a first prize winner. I know why I achieved my success. It came from good planning but better practice.

   November is the month when many people offer thanks. 【小题1】 Use these tips to help develop a sense of gratitude (感激) in each of your children, no matter what their age.

【小题2】 While sitting at the dinner table, ask each member of the family to think about their day and share something that they are thankful for. Meanwhile, use this same time to ask everyone if there is something that they could improve upon or do better tomorrow.

Make yourself be the model. Children learn what they see, not what you say. Keep a gratitude journal. 【小题3】 Let their first entry (日记的一则) be the ABC’s of gratitude, naming one thing for each letter that they are grateful for.

Write thank-you notes. We live in a time when we communicate through text messages, Twitter, and Facebook. Show children the value of writing a thank- you note by hand. 【小题4】

Put together a “care package” of donations (捐赠物) for an orphanage nearby. In the season of giving, teaching your child to share his blessings with those less fortunate can be a valuable lesson in gratitude. Use the activity as a jump-off point.

Gratitude isn’t “taught” overnight, and it is certainly not something that children of a young age can grasp at the start. 【小题5】 Being grateful is something our kids begin to understand when we act as the model. Grateful kids come from grateful parents.

Advantages of School Uniforms

Many public school systems across the country are instituting school uniforms in an effort to improve overall school performance and to reduce negative behavior. Standardized school clothing has become a heated national debate. 【小题1】.

Cost

In some cases, the use of school uniforms is more affordable to families because there is not as much pressure as to buy expensive, trendy clothing. 【小题2】. After the initial cost of buying uniforms, there is no need to spend more money on clothing.

Behavioral Outcomes

【小题3】. They believe that uniforms form a stricter atmosphere and that students who wear uniforms are more likely to follow school rules. The US Department of Education maintains that the mandatory（强制的）use of standardized dress reduces violence within the school.

【小题4】

Many educators believe that students who wear school uniforms perform better academically in school. Students are often so focused on their clothes that they distract themselves from learning. Many parents find that their children spend a great deal of time planning and choosing their daily clothing and that uniforms allow students to use this period of time to study.

Social Outcomes

【小题5】. Some experts believe that school uniforms improve the social outcomes in a school environment as well. People sometimes judge others by their clothing. Children are often laughed at by other children because of the way they dress. Many children use clothing to express and define themselves. School uniforms relieve students from the pressure to fit in.