Author Archives: Oscar Dyer

5 Things I’d Love My Kids to Buy Me for My Birthday

As any mum will attest, the gifts that our young children give to us are sometimes disappointing. Of course, we appreciate their efforts in attempting to give us the perfect present, but more often than not, we are left with a plethora of tacky photo frames and fridge magnets. While this does sound rather ungrateful, and that is not our intention, there are some things that all mums would love to receive on gift bearing occasions. Here are my top five gifts, that I wish my kids would buy me on my birthday:

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Candles

While this may seem a little odd, I love relaxing while being bathed in candlelight. I have candles in my bathroom, so that when I have those rare moments of ‘alone time’ I can sit back and relax in dimly lit surroundings, while being immersed in hot soapy water. It’s idyllic to say the least. A candle gift is essentially the gift of relaxation. Relaxing is so essential for our emotional well being, but as busy mums with hectic lifestyles, this seems more like a luxury than a necessity.

Music

The gift of music is seriously underrated. There is nothing more wonderful than receiving a new CD, or an iTune’s voucher. Music is the ultimate mood lifter, so if I’m having a particularly rubbish day, I like to dance around to my favourite songs to lift my spirits. Of course, giving the gift of music is very personal. I’d be happy with a mixed CD, or playlist, that my children had compiled themselves. While their favourite songs may not be to my musical taste, I would thoroughly appreciate the effort that they had gone to.

Outdoor Ornaments

I love gardening, so having lovely ornaments in my garden is essential. I love adorning my outdoor furniture with gorgeous centerpieces. Bark lanterns are perfect for the outdoors as they suitably match with their surroundings while Zen gardens are perfect for making your outdoor space a more peaceful place.

Books

Reading is a form of escapism, so delving into a riveting fictional piece allows me to take a break from reality. I don’t think that there is anything more enjoyable than reading a cracking yarn. You can get lost in the pages; you fall in love with the characters and, more importantly, you are exercising your brain. A day of watching children’s cartoons can seriously take its toll, so it is important that I take the time to read.

Perfume

Of course, perfume is a difficult gift to buy, so I don’t expect my kids to know what scents I like. When I’m getting ready for a rare night out, I feel that the perfume completes my outfit. More importantly, smelling good inspires confidence within. You look amazing and you smell amazing. What could be more perfect? That said, nights out are few and far between these days!

Whatever your children buy you for your birthday, you are sure to love it regardless. My advice is to drop hints to your partner, so that you get exactly what you want for your birthday.

Handy Apps To Install on Your Kids iPhones

If your child is lucky enough to have an iPhone, there are a million and one apps they could choose to download. There are educational apps, games, and even apps to do with gardening! But do you just let your child get on with it and download whatever they like, or do you like to make sure they’ve got a good mix of everything, so they aren’t stuck playing games all day? The following apps are extremely handy for kids iPhones:

SurfBalance Safe Browser for Kids

This app allows your child to develop better web usage skills by filtering how they use the internet. You can then look at total usage, usage by category, and get an idea of how they are spending their time with their iPhone. You can choose from 3 different levels, depending on how old your child is. You can also receive a free weekly email report of how your child browses the web! It’s the best way to monitor them and keep them safe.

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Photo taken from the App Store

Hidden

The Hidden app is the kind of app we’ve all been waiting for. It allows you to install it on your Apple devices (however many you like), and you can then recover the iPhone if it ever gets lost or stolen! You can take pictures of the thief with a built in feature, so you know who has the phone, watch their actions, and even track them.

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Photo taken from Hidden

iHomeopathy

This app is one of the best out there for parents, as you don’t need to sort through page after page of symptoms. It’s got plenty of first aid advice and information that you can really use when your child gets injured or feels poorly.

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Photo taken from the App Store

Kindle

Reading is definitely one of the greatest pleasures in life, so it’s important that we get our children into it from an early age. As the saying goes, ‘a reader lives hundreds of lives, while a non reader only lives one’. You can browse and download a plethora of books with this app, making bedtime, daytime, and any time reading for that matter, so simple, fun, and effective! No more books taking up too much space either – hooray! If you’ve got a Kindle, you can even access your current Kindle library by syncing the app to your account.

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Photo taken from the App Store

Not every child is lucky enough to have an iPhone, but if yours does, these apps will help them to use their phone much more productively. Not only will they be able to browse the web safely, they can read to their heart’s content, and find their phone if they ever lose it. Not only that, if your child ever shows signs of illness, you’ll be able to grab their iPhone and work out what’s wrong with them and what you can do about it in an instant!

Have any of these apps helped your child to do the things mentioned above? Let us know in the comments!

How to Transform Your Spare Room into a Nursery: Tips and Inspiration

A nursery is probably one of the most exciting rooms to decorate. You’re going to have a baby in the house soon, and decorating the nursery just makes it all seem that bit more ‘real’. Sometimes you can even make a nursery for a toddler, to help them learn and play in their own exciting space! The smallest room is usually best for nurseries; the spare room. In this post, you’ll get some helpful tips as well as some cool inspiration to get you started!

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Photo Author: Flickr

Planning the Nursery

First of all, you need to plan what you’re going to do. You can’t just make it up as you go along! What’s already in the room you’re going to decorate for your child? Can you reuse them in the nursery, or will you need to move them to another room? You’ll need to consider how much space you have, and the budget you have too. You may need to consider home improvement loans if you have lots of renovations to make.

Selecting a Colour Scheme

What kind of colour scheme do you envision for your child? It doesn’t have to be blue for a boy and pink for a girl; you can think outside of the box and do whatever you like. Green and yellow are popular shades that work well for either sex. A light tone will give a lovely peaceful atmosphere, so whatever colours you choose try to keep them light. Research how colours change moods in order to select the best colours for your child.

The Walls

Now you’ve decided on your colour scheme, you can either choose your paint or buy wallpaper. There are loads of different wallpaper designs that are ideal for nurseries and kids bedrooms, but you can use stencils and wall stickers to customise the walls yourself if you like! Kids love looking at stars, teddy bears, clouds, moons, and flowers. Why not paint a popular cartoon character to make the wall even more unique?

The Furniture

Now you can move on to furniture you’d like in your baby’s room. You’ll need a crib/bed, a nappy changer, small wardrobe, and perhaps a toy box. Shelves might be useful too. You may already have furniture you can use for this; simply brighten it up with a lick of paint if you need to!

Look for carpets, bed linen, cushions, and curtains at this point too. Always keep your colour scheme in mind for the best effect!

Lighting

Shades and dimmers are your best bet for the nursery, as you don’t need anything too big or fussy. The baby needs a relaxing atmosphere in their nursery in order for them to get a good nights rest.

Decorations

Now you can add the finishing touches to a room; teddies, frames, toys, and other things that can help to create a nicer atmosphere.

Decoration Inspiration

There are so many things you can try in order to make your baby’s nursery beautiful and unique:

  • Make your own prints for the nursery using a wooden block, string, and paint. Simply tie the wooden block with the string and secure it in place with tape. Now you can brush paint onto the string, and practice stamping this onto paper. Once you’ve made a pattern you like, you can turn the block different ways to create something cool and intricate looking. By experimenting with different patterns, colours, and block shapes, you’ll come up with a work of art. A toddler could help with this project too!
  • This project works for butterfly shapes, stars, and flowers. All you need is some acrylic paint, a blank canvas, watercolour paper, watercolour paint, butterfly shaped (or whatever shape you like) paper punch, and pop dots or another type of glue. Paint the canvas a colour of your choice, and then paint the paper with patches of different colours. Leave this to dry, and then stamp out the butterflies from the paper. If you bend these slightly in the middle before gluing, you can make them look 3D on the canvas!
  • If the spare room doesn’t have much natural light, then you can always create the feeling of natural light by using a high resolution camera to take a picture of the beautiful blue sky. Blow the photo up, print it on shiny paper, and frame it!
  • You can create a modern looking nursery without it looking too grown up. Try shades of pastel pink and grey, with triangle patterns on the wall. If you’re good at origami, why not create an origami rabbit head or two to back with card and hang on the wall as a cute looking ‘trophy’.
  • A black and white room really lets gorgeous patterns pop and come alive!
  • Go for a classic looking room with shades of cream/white and a few gold accents. Dark wood furniture will give this room a great look.
  • Thick yellow and white horizontal stripes look amazing on a nursery wall, especially when paired with large stuffed animals and furry rug for interest.
  • Instead of coming up with a simple colour scheme for the nursery, why not come up with a theme? An Alice in Wonderland nursery would look simply magical and could even spark an early interest in your child in books and stories. It doesn’t have to be crazy and colourful either; a neutral room with drawings of Alice and the White rabbit on the walls would work.
  • Wall art can look amazing, so why not have your baby’s name on the wall just above their crib? You can use all kinds of things to create this yourself, including colourful tissue paper to make a cool floral affect. They may even be able to write their name before the other kids in their class due to seeing it regularly!
  • Different shaped/coloured photo frames can look amazing when all arranged together on a wall. They can have any pictures you like in them too, from photos of loved ones to hand drawn pictures.

What do you think of these ideas for your baby’s nursery? Be sure to leave a comment!

 

5 Things A Mum Can Do With Her Children During The School Holidays

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Are you starting to get nervous at the prospect of entertaining your children for six weeks during the summer break? You are not alone; parents all over the country are bracing themselves for weeks of endless activities with their children.

Here are some suggestions for things a mum can do with her children to keep them happy on a daily basis. If you are that mum, treat this as your bible for the holidays, it could help you hang on to your sanity.

The park

Parks are underused facilities when you consider what they have to offer. They give wide open spaces for the kids to run around and burn off energy, there is some great play equipment, and most of all they are free. Make a trip to the park part of your daily routine.

The Swimming Baths

Kids love the water, so make a visit to the swimming baths a weekly event. There is one in most big towns, and it does not cost a lot of money. The little ones will be happy to play in there until they can stand the cold no longer, which could take a couple of hours.

Day Trips

Once or twice during the summer, take them on a trip to the seaside or to a theme park. As an island nation, we all live within a couple of hour’s drive of the beach. The will probably be expensive, but cut down on the money you spend there by taking your own pre-prepared food.

Crafts

There will come a time when the weather forces you all to stay in the house. It is a perfect time to dig out all of the crafting materials that you have gathered over the years. Why not try something new this year? Decorate a ceramic plant pot with glass beads. Simply stick them on with some glue gun sticks. The glue cools very quickly so they can cover the container in under an hour. That idea isn’t suitable for very young children, only those who are over ten years old.

Younger children are happy to craft with paper and safety scissors. They can make paper chains, or snowflakes. The snowflake is made by folding a circular piece of paper into four, and then cutting shapes out of the edges. When they open it up, the cut-outs become symmetrical, making intricate patterns.

Go On Holiday

Use one or two weeks up by going on holiday. If you can only afford a caravan by the seaside, the children will love it. They love to get away on adventures, no matter how plain the accommodation may be. What appears as a run down seaside town to us looks magical to them, it is all in the eye of the beholder, as they say.

Even if the holiday seems to pass at a snail’s pace, you will reap rewards from your hard work. Your little darlings will expect the same next year now that you have set a precedent, but that is a long way off. For now, put your feet up and have a well earned rest.

A Comprehensive Guide to Becoming an Emergency Foster Carer

When children have to enter the foster care system, they are often traumatised, scared, and confused. The first foster parents that care for a child in this situation are referred to as short term emergency foster carers, and it’s important that they’re well equipped to deal with the children that could come into their care temporarily. Foster parents are carefully screened by foster agencies, so if you want to become an emergency short term foster parent read this guide for help:

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Image taken from Flickr

Call your department of social services and request information on emergency fostering. You’ll be able to find the information online on DirectGov.co.uk too, so read up on it.

The foster carer’s role is to provide high quality care for a child. You may be required to work with therapists, teachers, and doctors to help children deal with any emotional trauma or disabilities too.

A wide range of people are needed to care for foster children as children have very different needs. You’ll need to be willing to understand a child’s heritage, ethnic origin, culture, and language. You can become a carer from any type of background. You don’t need to be married either; you can be single, divorced, or living with a partner. Gay men and lesbians can become foster carers too. Providing you have a good support network and in good health, you should be fine to become an emergency foster carer no matter your age, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

Preparation and Training

People who want to become any kind of foster carer need to go through preparation and an assessment. Usually, this is what you can expect:

  • Having to attend groups where you’ll learn about the needs of children coming into foster care.
  • Visits from a social worker.
  • A social worker will then prepare a report which will be presented to an independent fostering panel, which recommends whether you can become a foster carer.
  • You should expect an annual review and training to ensure you’re still fit to be a foster carer.

Payment

  • All foster carers are given an allowance which should cover the cost of caring for the child in their home.
  • If working for an agency, this amount will be set by them.
  • Fostering is now being seen as a more ‘professional’ role, and a lot of local authorities are running schemes, which pay carers a fee. This is sometimes linked to the child’s needs, but also a reflection of the skills, experience, and expertise of the foster carer.
  • Foster carers also get tax relief on up to £10,000 of their earnings, plus allowances.

However, if you’re considering doing this for the money then you’d be best off finding another job. You should foster children because you want to help, certainly not for the money.

If you like the sound of becoming a foster carer, then you need to take the first step and contact your local fostering agency. You can also join forums like the Fostering Information Exchange Network to share knowledge with other foster carers. Good luck!

No More Video Games?…A No Nonsense Guide to Finding Books Your Kids Will Love Reading

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With video games being so popular nowadays, it can seem like books and reading are a thing of the past, as they fail to compete with the thrills that come with modern-day gaming. In spite of this, there are still some books out there; that have the capacity to capture the imagination of your children, and leave them spellbound, forgetting that they ever had a gaming console in the first place. Of course, the only challenge that remains is finding these books. So what can be done, in order to find these remarkable reads?

Ask Other Parents

Often at times the best source available, other parents will be able to guide you in the right direction when it comes to finding awesome books. There is a chance that they too have faced the same dilemma you’re facing right now, in terms of finding a good book for their kids. If they’ve successfully dealt with this challenge, you can learn from them, and get the titles of the books that they discovered. Of course, keep in mind that each child is different, and so what entertained their kids might not entertain yours.

Check Out Bestseller Lists

Books on the bestseller lists are there for a reason. They’re often amazing books to read, and have the sales figures to back this up. By picking from the books on these lists, you’ll be able to increase your chances of success. However, keep in mind that though these books for children are entertaining, each of them caters to a certain demographic. Even if books about vampire romance are selling in huge amounts, there is a possibility that this is the last thing a ten year old boy wants to read about.

Review Websites

By using review websites, you’ll be able to get a better understanding of whether or not the book you’re going to purchase is any good. Many review websites will point out whether or not the book was entertaining, and if it kept them wanting to read more. Review websites should  be taken with a pinch of salt, as there is no telling if the person who wrote the review enjoys the same kind of literature as your children. If you find a book with a bad review, but think it is a book that your children would love, it might help just to see what your kids think of it, and get it for them.

A New Favourite Hobby?

Reading can be something fun for your children, once you find the right book for them. Of course, finding the right book can be a quest that has many hurdles along the way, and can prove challenging to those who are doing things for the first time. Nevertheless, by keeping a close eye on the bestseller lists, and asking other parents, you’ll be sure to find an amazing book in record time. In fact, it could be the case that the book you find is so amazing, that you choose to read it before you give it to your kids!

How to Spot Depression in Your Child

If you were going to describe the standard teenager, you might say ‘moody’. Teenagers seem to feel things way more intensely than us adults, and experience exhilarating emotional highs with crashing lows. However, being depressed is a different matter altogether. It isn’t just about being moody – it’s a mood disorder, and a serious mental health condition. People often think that teens can’t get mood disorders like depression and bipolar, but the sad truth is that they can. If you’d like to be able to spot depression in your child, read on:

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Image taken from flickr

The fact of the matter is, the average age of depression is 14 year old. By the end of their teen years, around 20% of teens will have depression. Over 70% of teens with depression will be able to overcome it with therapy and medication, so it’s important that it’s addressed.

The following are some of the symptoms to look out for when looking for depression. If these symptoms last a couple of weeks or more, it could be depression:

  • Writing about death, giving away their belongings, and comments similar to ‘you’re better off without me’.
  • Complaints of physical pain.
  • Poor performance at school or college.
  • Critical comments about themselves and behaviour problems.
  • Loss of energy, social withdrawal, boredom, and withdrawal from their usual activities.
  • Slowness, physical agitation, pacing back and forth or repetitive behaviour.
  • Excessive late night activity, too much/too little sleep, trouble getting up in the morning.
  • Weight gain or weight loss.
  • Withdrawal from friends and family.
  • Irritable, sad, empty moods and the belief that life is meaningless.

Now, try not to worry too much if your child is displaying the above behaviour. Much of the behaviour above can be considered normal for a teen. If you suspect your teen may have depression or bipolar, then you need to take them to see a health or mental health professional to be sure.

This condition commonly runs in families, and may be triggered by a stressful life event. This isn’t something to be ashamed of, it should simply be treated as soon as possible. Take a look at this site for more useful information on depression in teens.

Some of the effects of teen depression include:

  • Problems at school.
  • Running away from home.
  • Drug and alcohol abuse.
  • Low self esteem.
  • Internet addiction.
  • Reckless behaviour.
  • Violence.

Warning Signs to Look Out for:

  • Talking or making jokes about suicide.
  • Saying things like, ‘there’s no way out’ and, ‘I’d be better off dead’.
  • Writing stories or songs about death, dying, or suicide.
  • Saying goodbye to friends and family for the last time.
  • Looking for weapons/pills.

If you suspect your teen may be depressed, you need to speak up right away. Even if you’re unsure, whatever the issue is, it needs to be addressed. Make sure you share your concerns with your teen in a loving, non-judgmental way, and let them know why things are worrying you. Encourage them to share what they’re going through. Always trust your instincts, even if your teen claims that nothing is wrong…denial is a strong emotion.

Thanks for reading!

Do Your Kids Want A New Pet? Here’s 5 Reasons Why You Should Buy Them A Dog

Buying your very first family dog can be an exciting experience, especially for the kids. So, this summer could be the ideal time to put your hand in your pocket and bring a new little friend home for everyone to fuss over. Contrary to popular belief, dogs don’t take that much looking after, and so long as you have time to feed it, take it for walks and keep it entertained, you’ll love having one in your home. Of course, this is also a great way to teach your children about responsibility so perhaps you might delegate the walking duties to them?

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Still not convinced? Well then, give me your attention for the next three or four minutes, and I’ll do my best to highlight some of the main reasons why this is a good idea. If you’ve never owned a dog before, purchasing one might cause a bit of a shock to your system, and could upset your daily routine a little, but I guarantee you won’t regret a thing. Just make sure you use a reputable supplier, like PetFleas, for all your flea and worming treatments as substandard products tend to perform poorly.

1. You’ll put a smile on your children’s faces

Kids love fluffy little animals, and so bringing a puppy home for the first time is guaranteed to make them very excited. While this will likely wear off a bit over time, they’ll always love their new friend. Also, animals have been proven to boost good moods and help people (especially children) avoid mental health issues.

2. Dogs are simple to care for

You don’t need to provide puppies with stimulating conversation, and neither do you have to buy them lots of outfits as they grow, so they’re much less hassle than other animals or a new baby. So long as you have enough food, you take them for enough walks, and you’re willing to spend time stroking them in the evenings, they’re in heaven.

3. They’re cheap to buy

It sounds silly, but you can get dogs for free or very cheap from rescue centres if you so choose, which means they won’t break the bank like a reptile or other animal might. There’s no need to purchase expensive vivariums or anything like that, which means your electricity bills shouldn’t increase significantly either.

4. Dogs are a man’s (or woman’s) best friend

If you’ve never owned a pooch before, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out they are very forgiving animals that never hold a grudge. You’d be hard pushed to find a human being capable of giving love unconditionally, but dogs have got this down to a tee.

5. They live for a long time

Presuming there are no accidents, and you look after the animal properly; a dog could be around for fifteen years or more. That means they have time to become a real member of your family. So, just make sure you’re willing to keep them for that length of time before making your final decision.

You should now understand exactly why buying a dog for your family this year is a good idea. As I just mentioned, if you have a tight budget, that’s not a problem as many shelters are constantly seeking to re-home puppies and canines that have suffered abuse in the past.

Enjoy!

5 Incredible Design Ideas For Your Nursery

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Congratulations. If you are reading this, you are probably an expectant mother or father. Today I would like to offer some advice concerning the design of a new nursery for the little bundle of joy that is on his or her way. Don’t leave it until later to sort out, the next few months will fly by and the last thing you need in the later stages is to worry about decorating a room. If everything else is in place, it is easier to concentrate on the important things instead.

A nursery is unlike other bedrooms in the home. The decor is not an issue for the baby; it is more to give pleasant surroundings for the parents. The room must be a practical place to work as well as a relaxing place to rest. Here are five incredible design ideas for your nursery.

 

Preparation

It is very important to decorate the nursery to a high standard because the chances are that there will be plenty of visitors dropping by who will go in and introduce themselves to the new addition to the family. The quality is compromised by attempting to decorate over bumpy walls. Remove all of the old wallpaper and if you are unable to make the walls perfectly smooth, hire a plasterer to skim them over with a topcoat to give a perfect blank canvas for you to work on. The job takes about a day for a small to medium sized room and the transformation of the walls makes it worthwhile.

 

Decoration

It is best to keep the decor simple in a nursery. Don’t do anything there that will be a shock to the senses in the middle of the night. Have one feature wall with some attractive modern wallpaper as in the image and paint the remaining walls with emulsion paint that is applied with a roller for the best finish. A feature wall is a great place to introduce a wallpaper mural. There are hundreds of designs available online so finding one for suitable for a nursery will be easy.

 

Floor Covering

In the middle of the night, a parent need to be warm and comfortable so there is no better product than carpet for the nursery. Ultra modern room make use of laminate in the magazines but for comfort and practicality it isn’t suitable here.

 

Window Coverings

To go along with a modern theme, consider using blinds at the windows. They help to keep the room light and airy by opening up the space around the windows. The latest thing is panel blinds from Super Blinds Mart and other places online. They are similar to vertical blinds, but they have overlapping panels to keep the light out better. Of course, there are plenty of traditional alternatives such as venetian blinds, wooden shutters, pleated blinds, and roller blinds, that are all suitable for use in the nursery.

 

Furniture

Remember when laying out the room that you will need to access both sides of the cot so do not place it against a wall if possible. A comfy chair is the second most important feature in the room where mom or dad will sit to feed the little monster in the middle of the night. There are storage units made especially for nurseries that comprise a cupboard and plenty of drawers for convenience. A proper wardrobe is not suitable until the little one has grown.

As you can see, the nursery needs to be tackled from a different angle to normal bedrooms. It is one of the most enjoyable projects to complete in the home, and one of the most exciting too.

 

When I Grow Up, I Want To Be A Pilot

“When I grow up I want to be a pilot” – these are certainly famous words echoed by children across the world and why would they not want to embark on this glamorous career? Being an airline pilot is exciting and rewarding. The key to embarking on a career as a pilot involves years of dedication and meeting the very specific and tight requirements that are needed. The cost of this career can be huge, so you need to ensure that you have the money to pay for training. Similarly, you need to be prepared to give up around a decade of your life to dedicate your time to training to be a pilot. You need to be serious, committed and ambitious in order to make it as a pilot. It requires a lot of hard work, but can be a rewarding and exciting career for those that seek to make a career out of being a pilot.

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Photo is courtesy of the UK Ministry of Defence

A University Degree

Once you have spent four years of your life at an accredited university, you will be making the right steps into becoming a professional pilot. Science degrees are usually required. Aviation degrees are less important. Unless, of course, you are enraptured by the world of aviation and want to learn about it at your chosen institution. A university degree is important to airlines as it demonstrates that you are committed and willing to learn their education program.

Flight Schools

Upon successful completion of your university, and academic, studies, you will then need to find a good flight school and instructor. This enables you to start working towards your private pilot certificate. This certificate is critical for any aspiring young pilot. The FAA minimum flight time is 40 hours. What is more, the FAA provides a highly regimented program for those that want a more intensive mode of study. If you want more information from an expert in the field of aviation, or for more advice on how to get into the industry, contact Rafael Munguia.

Further Training

Upon completion of your private pilot license, you will need to start earning your instrument rating and commercial certificate. No one said that a career in aviation would be easy! You will need to dedicate 250 hours to this.

Flight Experience

Of course, a bucket load of qualifications and certifications does not automatically mean that you will get to fly an aircraft. You will need to gain flight experience, which is highly competitive and difficult to achieve. Once you have landed your placement, you will need to undertake at least 1500 hours of air time before you are allowed to fly a commercial jet. It is imperative that you realise that becoming a pilot does not mean meeting the minimum criteria and required hours. In this highly competitive industry, you will be expected to exceed and surpass any required flight hours. You should aim for at least 5000 hours of air time before applying for any job as a pilot.

Becoming a pilot is incredibly difficult; it requires time, money, resources, ambition and dedication. Only the brave and few become pilots. But, if you have what it takes and you are willing to work hard, there is no reason that you cannot become a pilot when you grow up too.