“The best thing a company can do is to make it easy for the customer to complain, and then respond constructively to the complaint,” Hinchcliff says. Strategically placed customer critique cards at the check-in desk and in locker rooms invite comments, good and bad, from members.

The suggestion box is checked twice daily and if members choose to include their names, they are contacted within the next day. It is the design of the comment cards, however, that sets the stage for showing the staff is serious about seeking feedback, she adds. The two-color cards on heavy stock paper establish a professional approach.

The Member Communication Program gives the customers a voice and, since its inception last year, has provided the staff with invaluable information for designing new programs and facilities. Responses continue to file in, Hinchcliff says, leading her to believe the center’s successful member retention ratio can be at least partially credited to the program. Customers who feel they play a role in improving their fitness facility will stick around. “The Member Communication Program has improved customer relations with our members, emphasizing that we care,” she says.

Imagine how thrilled your child will be to discover this new book is . . “all about ME”.

Share with them their PLEASURE and ENJOYMENT on hearing their name read, or are able to read their own name and they are the main character in their very own story.

A wonderful way of encouraging children to benefit from the joy of reading during their formative years, for children aged between 2 & 9.

These HARD-BACKED, wipe clean books also make a treasured keepsake for a lifetime memory of their childhood.

For example, a person may plan to exercise at a specific time of day. As that time draws near, several factors influence his or her final decision. For most people, this decision-making process involves considering the pros and cons of exercising. A positive (pro) aspect of exercise may be that it will promote weight loss over time.

A negative (con) aspect may be that an individual’s significant other will not approve of taking time out of the day to exercise. Thoughts that occur on a daily basis also influence an individual’s decision to exercise.

These thoughts may include, “Exercise will make me more energetic and relieve stress,” or “I’m too busy or too tired to exercise today.” These daily thoughts are important to examine because they may immediately impact the decision whether to exercise as planned.

Internet companies looking to hire a team on the quick must first face some good news and some bad news. The good news: Money is more available than it ever has been. The bad news: Talent is in short supply and getting shorter. After proof of concept, three factors drive a successful startup today: funding and cash management, flawless execution of the product or service launch, and human-capital management. And the first two completely depend on the third.

Many factors, however, are contributing to the shortage of talent in the global marketplace and especially at the top echelons. These include the demographic dwindling of managers in the 35- to 44-year-old age group, the impending retirement of the baby boom generation of leaders, the explosion of new technology-based businesses, and the aftereffects of the downsizings of the 1980s and ’90s.

Ironically, not many startups aggressively recruit from the start because it is not usually an area in which entrepreneurs are experts. An executive search firm can help you gauge future needs for senior management as well as present ones, and assist you in importing expertise in specific areas. If your hiring needs are extensive, a search firm can help you meet these goals in much less time than if you were to hunt for prospects yourself.

A successful startup should be thinking beyond the founding partner or partners from the get-go, and once the company starts to grow, it should be armed with the management talent needed to take it to the next level. If you’re going to bring in a marketing VP to manage a team of five people, be sure you hire someone capable of running a much larger shop of 50 to 100 people.

Executive search firms can also help with hiring because we keep our eyes on many different markets and industries. Many founders of ebusiness startups have deep expertise in say, the vagaries of online retailing, but lack brand-building knowledge. Since search firms cover so many industries, they can help an ebusiness find someone who might not have an ecommerce background, but who sports a flawless brand record.

Fees for an executive search at a top-drawer firm average one-third of the candidate’s anticipated first year’s compensation (cash and equity), negotiated on a case-by-case basis, which creates a continuing incentive for shared success.

Have you ever tried to walk in the out door of a store? Remember the first thing you did? You looked around to see if anyone saw you. You felt embarrassed — for just a few seconds — about a very minor mistake. Your freshman may be anticipating that same kind of embarrassment when and if he makes mistakes at his new school. Fear of the unknown is a powerful stress maker. To counter this anxiety — and other unknowns — help him become knowledgeable about the high school he will be attending.

Many middle and junior high schools have end-of-the-year trips to the local high school for next year’s incoming freshmen. They visit the school, meet some of the staff and learn about the layout and routines of the school. If your son made such a visit, remind him about what he learned. Ask what else he would like to find out. If he has not made a visit yet, suggest he do so. In fact, help him plan a visit. Encourage him to take a friend along to explore the high school and meet with an advisor or teacher. You may want to drop off your son and pick him up later. This gives you time to immediately talk about the visit.

While he is at the school, ask him to find out some things you are curious about, such as:

Does the school have a map?
What extracurricular activities are available, and how do you check them out?
What kind of homework policies are common?
Where do visitors park? What door do you go in? Is there a security check?
Is there a student handbook?
What are the lunch routines? Are students allowed to leave the campus?
Is the first day of school a complete day of classes?
What happens if you are late to a class?

By asking your son to find out about the school for you, he can learn a lot without appearing uninformed or too interested. He has his parents to blame for asking all these questions.

Advance information will reduce his stress and help him ease into the new high school faster. You may also learn some valuable information about the school, too — especially about how the school staff treated and responded to your son during his visit.

If you don’t wish to assume risk, and you’re wise not to — especially if this $5,000 is a major part of your savings nest egg — then I suggest one of two investments:

1. Buy Treasury notes. They’re backed by the U.S. government, and the interest you earn is not taxed at the state or local level. Generally, Treasury notes that mature (come due) in two to three years are sold in $5,000 denominations, while those that come due in four to 10 years are $1,000 each. Two-year notes have a yield of about 6-1/8% and five-year notes, about 6%. These rates are higher than bank CDs and savings accounts, and if you buy them from your Federal Reserve Bank or branch, you won’t have to pay a commission or fee as you do with a stockbroker.

The number for your particular Federal Reserve Bank, in St. Louis, is 314-444-8703. Call for information on current rates and how to purchase.

2. Buy several bank CDs, and do what’s called “laddering.” That means buying one CD that comes due, say, in one year, another due in two years, and so on. The reason behind laddering is that if interest rates go up then you’ll have some money coming due that you can immediately reinvest at some time at the new, higher rates.

Compare rates at several banks in your area with those currently being offered at the Mark Twain Bank in St. Louis.

There are two reasons most children have difficulty with math. Either they lack understanding of the concept in a real or concrete way, or they have developed a block that causes them to panic and not be able to think clearly. Fortunately, both can be addressed by using manipulatives. Teachers use small objects called manipulatives to introduce new math concepts. In the classroom, manipulatives may be sets of brightly colored stacking blocks, miniature plastic people or a collection of tiny animals. You have manipulatives at home as well. A set of building blocks, cars or game tokens from other toys will work. Or raid your kitchen. Some of the best math lessons use crackers, a bag of pretzels or dried cereal. (And you can both have a snack while you work!)

Here is an example of how to structure a multiplication lesson using manipulatives:

1. Start with a simple problem, like 2 x 2. Give your child two crackers (or the manipulative you choose) and yourself two crackers.
2. Say to her, “If you wanted to know how many crackers we have altogether, what would you do?” She may count them. Accept her answer.
3. Explain that she can also use a quicker way by remembering that two people (point to you and her) and two crackers (point to the crackers) equals four.
4. On paper, write it as a multiplication problem: 2 x 2 = 4
5. Stay with the twos and change the problem. For example, say: “What if we both had three crackers?” Follow the same procedure, using the manipulatives, then write the problem.
6. Review what you worked on before you end the session. Give her some problems and allow her to use the manipulatives to solve them if she needs to.

Work on just one set, for example the twos, during a 15- to 20-minute session. Then stop and let her do what she wants to do. Keep the sessions fun.

If your daughter is having difficulty with multiplication because she doesn’t have a clear idea of how it works, the manipulatives will help her “see” the concept. If she has gotten the idea that she can’t do multiplication, your supportive sessions will help her find a renewed feeling of confidence.

Surround yourselves with beauty
Children who grow up living with beauty — simple things such as silky trim on their blanket, family artifacts — soon learn to recognize art elements such as line and texture if we point them out. Talk with children about the everyday beauty that’s all around, from designs on their plates to the rhythm they create when they bang a spoon on a pan. The habit of seeing and creating beauty starts very early.

Look for the artistic
Every day, watch changes in nature: ice patterns, pussy willows and cloud formations. Take children to art museums as well as to see puppet shows, young people’s concerts, or other cultural events. Encourage children to keep visual journals. As children write and draw (you can write words that toddlers say), they’re learning how what they see and do can be communicated through letters, sounds, words and shapes. This is true learning because it is in the context of their own lives rather than some stranger’s concept.

Imagine and create
Instead of using contrived shape sorters, let your child experiment with real shapes and sizes. Toddlers love to play with plastic containers. Ask “thinking” questions: “What will fit inside here? Which ones are the same shape? What different colors do you see?” When you encourage observation and problem-solving, you convey ideas about art, language and math.

Whether they’re drawing on plain paper, cutting or tearing out shapes, making a floor map of the neighborhood, or creating a collage with ribbon, children up through high-school age learn the most during the course of everyday experiences.

Background:
When preparing food, let the child help and practice thinking skills by helping and observing.

Setting up:
As you prepare food for cooking, set up a safe place from which the child can observe.

What to do:
Let the child see how the different vegetables and fruits look inside when cut. Talk about the kinds of skin or peels they have and how the fleshy part is different. Young children can use plastic knives to cut softer fruits such as bananas. Age five and up can handle knives under close supervision.

One of the most interesting things they discover during cooking is that vegetables (and other foods) change when they are cooked. Take a few minutes to boil a small piece of an apple, potato or carrot.

Then have the child taste the uncooked and cooked version and talk about the differences in taste and texture. Look at the water in the sauce pan and ask the child how it became colored.

I was wondering what the reason might be that a particular kind of swimwear wouldn’t be suitable for the hot tub. It’s made of nylon and Lycra spandex.

I’ve never heard of a warning like that on a bathing suit. Haven’t these guys been to California?

Because the suit is made of nylon and spandex, it won’t shrink in hot water. That combination DOES tend to wear out, though — but not unusually quickly — when exposed to sun, chlorine or heat. It tends to get stressed and the elasticity goes. But you should get at least a few seasons out of any swimsuit. I put in a call, and a spokesperson for Gerard Lans said that the warning refers to possible fading.

Perhaps Mr. Lans and company would prefer it if you wore your suit only on trips to the enclosed biosphere in Arizona. Oh, not going there anytime soon?