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Whether it's a day camp, a weeklong sleep-away camp or a month-long camp abroad, sending your child to soccer camp for the first time can be a nerve-wracking experience for the both of you. Here are a few ways to ease the transition and help them enjoy the experience.

Involve them in the planning and the prep work.

Likely there are many soccer camps to choose from, so narrow it down by your child's needs and your budget, and let your child make the final decision on where to go. If that's not possible, then perhaps he or she can pick some of the activities or classes to take at camp.

Also, let your kids pick out some of the things they'll need for camp. Whether it's practice clothes and new shin guards or a toothbrush holder and face soap, letting them help with the planning and preparation will give them some control over the situation, and hopefully stave off the worst of homesickness.

Practice getting ready for new experiences.

One of the scariest things about any first time at camp is that it's an unknown. Find out what will be new to your kids and help them practice doing it. If your kids are going abroad, buy a language dictionary and practice saying simple things like "please" and "thank you" and asking for directions. If they're just going out of town, spend a day over in the town if it's within driving distance. If you happen to know or learn some of the drills they'll be doing, practice those with your kids in the backyard or the local soccer fields.

New experiences are an exciting and sometimes terrifying part of soccer camp, but practicing a little before your kids go will make the adjustment a lot easier.

Talk to them.

Are your kids worried about camp, that they won't be as good as the other players? Are they excited? Both? Sit down and talk with them about it. Let them know that it's OK to have mixed feelings about going. Talk about homesickness, but be positive and encouraging about all the new things they'll learn and experiences they'll have.

If they're worried about keeping in touch with friends and family, give them some stationery and an address book, or a phone card so they can call. Or, try giving them a journal so they can write down their soccer camp adventures, and they can share it with their friends when they return.

And don't forget to have fun!

Scary as it may be, the first time away at soccer camp can also be a fun and rewarding experience that will have your kids begging to go back year after year. By taking a few steps to make the transition as smooth as possible, you can make sure they get the most out of their time at camp.

EduKicks mission is to provide intensive soccer development training programs that also teach youngsters about cultural diversity and foreign languages. For more information about soccer camps, or to register for a soccer camp abroad, visit EduKick.com.

Have you ever noticed that the second that you introduce sex into a relationship, it begins to slide into a bottomless pit and die? At least we wish that it would die. We should only be so lucky. Our society has created a group of high paid buzzards known as family law lawyers who circle waiting for the partners to part, at which time they move in for the kill, using a host of false promises and lies to suck the money and the spirit and the children and the lives out of the entire family. Gay men and women are fighting like cats and dogs for the right, the privilege to marry one another. There has to be some bar association behind this insanity.

A Platonic friendship between a man and a woman, or a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, or a sheep and a goat, is where there is no sex involved. These types of relationships are named after a Greek Philosopher, Plato, (that was his wrestling nickname), who lived 2,500 years ago, 500 years before Jesus. Mary and Joseph had a platonic relationship, if you dont count Jesus brothers. This sibling jealousy over Jesus having been born immaculately is the root of why the Jewish people do not believe in Jesus Christ, the God of 2 billion people today.

It is well known that Plato, his teacher Socrates, and his student Aristotle, were old pedophiles who lived to have sex with beautiful young boys. What isnt as well known is why sexless relationships are called Platonic. Their philosophy was that the longing and desire for the beauty of the boy was the root of the relationship and that their sexual desire for the boy is what set the relationship on fire. Socrates was executed for corrupting the youth of Athens, not by his sexual shenanigans, but for questioning everything and everyone, including the Goddess Athene, the protector of Athens.

Blasphemy aside, it is a known fact that platonic friendships between men and women last, and sexual relationships between men and women do not. Why is that? Is it because I think therefore I am? Wouldnt it make more sense to say I think and this is evidence that I am?

Actually Socrates hated his wife. He had three children with her, and said that learning to live with her enabled him to be able to cope with any other human being no matter how malevolent. How did she feel being married to a man moonwalking backwards on the top of his car at his internationally televised trial for pedophilia and dangling his newborn son upside down off the top balcony of the Paris Hilton? People who live in glass houses shouldnt throw stones, if they have any.

Enough about Mick Jagger, who openly admits to sympathizing with the Devil. At the time when Plato was prancing around with young boys, sleeping in bed naked with them but not touching them, the Jewish and the non Jewish residents of the Holy Land were sacrificing their first born sons alive on fire altars south of Jerusalem to the God Baal. The Jewish Priests lured the people into the Holy Temple built by King Solomon with Temple Prostitutes. Jesus Christs best friend was a prostitute and her girlfriends were prostitutes. So lets recap: 2 billion people on Earth today believe that the Universe and its trillion stars, the other planes of existence, and everything on Earth was created by a Jewish Rabbi named Jesus Christ who was born to a Jewish couple having a platonic relationship, and that soon Jesus will return flying down from Heaven on a flying white horse to defeat the armies of Satan, a part goat, part lion, part snake on his flying horse accompanied by his army of flying jockeys, a dead on plagiarism of the Greek Myth of Prince Bellerophon, and his flying horse Pegasus defeating the Chimera. When the level of violence and gullibility on Earth has reached such epic proportions it is amazing that that any couple can stay together without killing each other for over 5 minutes, sex or no sex.

The reason that sex kills a relationship is because its dirty. Its expensive. Were talking prenups. Ask Kanye, a modern philosopher who penned the tome Gold Digger. The 6 billion people on Earth today are cutting down every tree, our only source of Oxygen, to make Kleenex, because its cheaper than fine dining. This is the root of global warming. High priced lawyers. Did you know that Jesus never once mentioned the word Hell in his life? If you pick up a New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible, every time that Jesus says Hell, there is an asterisk beside the word Hell. If you look in the fine print, next to the vibrator battery section, the footnote says that in the original Greek versions of the Gospels, every time Jesus said Hell, he really said Gehenna, or Sheol, the place underground where both good and evil spirits lived after death. Did they mate there? How did they get along? So, the question is, why do your modern Bible Writers put their own word Hell into your Holy Bibles, and remove Jesus words Gehenna or Sheol, 1,435 times? Who cares about Plato? Were all about to go up in nuclear flames while we heat up the sheets, whether its with our mates or our lovers or young boys, its all a diversion to make the lawyers rich.

Once upon a time there was a man named Lot, after whom the Lotka was named. God spared him and his 2 daughters because Lot was the only righteous man in the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot had two young virgin daughters. Since there were no longer any other people on Earth, in order to keep humanity going, they gave their dad some wine, and slept with him, and had children. He didnt know that it was them, even though they were the only 3 people on Earth, he didnt recognize his own daughters in his bed, because he had 2 glasses of wine. We are all their direct descendants. And you want to know why sex destroys relationships? Its because were all insane. And the irony of all ironies is that our map to creating paradise on Earth forever is hidden right in our Holy Bibles underneath tons of rubble, said Jesus Christ, and God of Mount Sinai through every single Biblical Prophet. This is why they were stoned. For delivering Gods message. You still refuse to hear it. And soon you will all burn alive in the nuclear inferno you create, Slaves Of Satan. Rudolph is a hundred to one at Churchill Downs. Merry Christmas, and remember to think positively, as if that will help. Youre far better off pleasuring yourself, said Plato to Euripides, in the Dialogues. Your relationships and your genitalia will last longer. Euripides: You can say that again. Plato: Once is enough. I redundate, therefore I am. Continue to probe the great mysteries of life. Its all just a dream. Sleep. Sleep.

Karen Fish is a writer currently living in Los Angeles California. http://www.thetempleoflove.com/

Its summer, glorious summer and the heat in the air cranks up the heat in your groin. It seems that everywhere you look theres bared flesh luscious flesh, firm flesh, tanned flesh. Flesh peeks out tantalizingly from the bottoms of buttock hugging short-shorts and spills provocatively over the top of breast caressing halter dresses. It calls to you from between tiny scraps of bikini Touch me, kiss me, lick me, squeeze me.

Dont berate yourself as a lust-filled sex addict for continually wanting to reach out and touch someone. You can blame part of that desire on your hormones, particularly oxytocin, a peptide that causes you to want touching and makes you feel really good when you get it so that you keep wanting more. Women, because of their high estrogen levels, are especially affected by oxytocin. Thats one of the reasons they like to cuddle a lot. And generally the more a woman is stroked and cuddled the more easily shell make the shift from sensual to sexual. If you want her to happily open her legs for you, be certain to give them some tender caresses first.

Satisfy your lady loves skin hunger by taking every opportunity you can to apply sunscreen, tanning lotion, after tan lotion and moisturizing cream to her sweet body. When you do, pay very close attention to the feel of her skin beneath your hands. Stroke with long, gentle movements letting her know with your touch that you adore her. Her skin will become satin smooth with all that creamy attention and youll both reap the intimate benefits oxytocin brings. She can of course give your body the same loving care, whether youre aware of it or not youve got skin hunger too!

On those steamy sultry days when you only have to open your eyes to begin sweating take the sticky heat one step further with a truly erotic massage. Liberally oil both your bodies. Lie down you may want to use a large plastic sheet, a tarp, or an old shower curtain for this and slip slide all over each other using your entire bodies to massage and stimulate every succulent spot.

Or, for a sexy cool down nothing beats a masterfully wielded ice cube. With your darlings eyes closed, or better yet blindfolded, you can tease and please her through shivery strokes to her neck, nipples, and belly. Move at random over her body, or follow a slow set trail down to her honey pot. Keep her guessing by varying the time between those glacial touches and mix in kisses and sucks from your hot lips. Let icy drops fall haphazardly on different parts of her body. If youre not sure how to proceed rent 9 Weeks and watch Mickey Rourke drive Kim Basinger wild. Their ice cube scene will give you both plenty of inspiration.

More Fun and Games
Great sex is much more than bodies rubbing delightfully together. Its also about trust, intimacy and communication. Here is more summer fun you can have to deepen your loving connection. Find out how well you know each other.

Locate all of the identifying marks on each others bodies. Naturally you have to have your clothes off to do this! For example find birthmarks, scars, wounds, moles, dimples, and colored patches of skin. Note how each one looks, its size, shape, color, texture, etc. Where is it exactly located on the body? How does it feel when you touch it with your hands and your tongue? Can you find marks your lover did not even know they had? Love those marks.

Dont just take your clothes off, notice exactly how each of you takes your own clothes off. Which item do you remove first? Is there an order to how your remove the rest of your clothing? When you undress each other, notice how this is different than when you undress yourself. Is there a particular item that you remove first, or is it much more reckless and wild when you are undressing each other? Do you undress each other the same way every time?

What colour are your lovers eyes? Dont be too quick to answer even if you think you know. Take the time to look into each others eyes very carefully. Are both eyes the same colour? Is each eye all the same colour? Are the eyes always the same colour every time you look at them? If they change can you identify any conditions that cause them to change? For example when they are excited, turned on, happy, sad, afraid, surprised, etc. To answer this you will have to look into each others eyes frequently.

What colour is your lovers hair? Of course your lover has hair all over his/her body! Is the hair on your lovers body all the same colour? Compare the hair on head, face, arms, legs, chest, pubis, etc. Sniff about like an animal as you do the inspection! What is the name of the perfume or after-shave or scent your partner usually wears? Could you pick out your partner if you were blindfolded, going on scent alone? This could be an interesting party variation! Blindfold all the men, then have them find their partners by how they smell. Switch and blindfold all the women.

Here is a list of favorite things. Go through the list and remember, or guess, what is your partners favorite food, colour, etc. Your partner does the same for you. Whoever gets the most correct, gets rewarded with the sexual fantasy of their choice. Food, colour, animal, movie, perfume, essential oil, actress, actor, TV show, style of music, soft drink, alcoholic drink, game, sport, flower, writer, book, poet, poem, painter, painting, dancer, singer, song, band, fruit, quote, car, dessert, ice cream, secret place.

Write out the answers to the following questions and then share your answers with your partner.

Where and how do you like to be touched? Touch them!

What do you want sexually that you are reluctant to ask for? Ask for it.

What does your partner want sexually that you are reluctant to give? Try giving it.

How long did you make love, from start to finish, the last three times? Make the longest time be the amount of time just for foreplay the next time you make love.

Who usually wants sex more frequently? Talk about that.

Who usually wants sex to last longer? Talk about that.

List three things your partner likes the most during sex. List three things your partner does not like during sex. Invent a fun, safe non-verbal way to communicate with each other what you do and dont like in lovemaking.

Fresh Air Frolics
We all like to spend as much time as possible outside in the summer and you can move some of your romantic activities outdoors too. There is definitely something about fresh air and intercourse that makes it feel more natural. We become Adam and Eve in the garden of earthly delights. But pick your spots for outdoor liaisons with care. Were talking discretion here, not putting on an exhibition in the citys central park. If you can get away from the city for a time youre liable to find lots of secluded spots for loving.

Start with a romantic picnic. Food and drink definitely open us up to more intimate sensual pleasures. Dont just throw a peanut butter sandwich, a bag of chips and a six pack of Bud in a plastic bag. Go to a little more culinary effort: a few take out treats from the local deli, beverages you both enjoy (for example a bottle of wine, coolers, beer, club soda, a thermos of margueritas), and perhaps a dessert sweet you can do wicked things with chocolate thats melted in the sun! Good strong paper plates are okay, but bring real knives and forks, glasses or cups, and cloth napkins and tablecloth. She will be thoroughly impressed by your savoir faire. Be sure to have a couple of good-sized blankets, one for underneath, one for over top, just in case you are alone enough for intimate play.

Making love in the water is an adventure we all have to try at least once. Being embraced by your beloved as you float in the arms of the life-giving waters is a sensation not to be missed. Even if there are others not far away you can touch each other in all sorts of exciting ways beneath the curtain of the waves. A word of caution about intercourse in the water: dont go in for a lot of heavy thrusting. Intense pressure can build up inside a woman with the combination of water and your piston action, causing internal damage. Make your underwater connection a slow, gentle one, almost motionless, and save the rapid rhythm for drier locales.

Safety First!
Summer seems to bring more opportunity for short, sweet love affairs or quick and randy one-night sizzlers. No matter how knocked out you are by your new bedmate it is absolutely essential to take proper precautions against pregnancy and STDs. Always, always use a condom for intercourse and a condom and dental dam for oral sex. This does not have to be the drag it may sound. You can actually have some delicious fun with tasty combinations of flavoured condoms, dental dams and lubricants.

Here are a few recipes for you to experiment with:

Banana Split: One (or more!) banana condoms, one part vanilla lube, one part chocolate lube, topped off with a squirt of cherry lube.

Passion Punch: Mix a strawberry dental dam with one part fresh peach lube and one part passion fruit lube. Add a dash of pina colada lube and feed the fire!

Fruit Salad: One grape condom creatively decorated with lubes of strawberry-kiwi, mango-orange, and guava-pineapple.

Mint Cooler: Vanilla dental dam with a touch of succulent watermelon lube and cool mint lube. Ice cream is an optional but tasty addition!

Use a lubricant with your condoms, even if the package says theyre already lubricated. Insufficient lubrication causes friction thats uncomfortable for your partner and puts stress on the condom itself, perhaps causing it to break. Latex condoms need water-based or silicone-based lubricants, oil based lubes will eat through them.

No matter what your sexual play preference, summer is the time to explore and experiment and above all to revel in the heat, both yours and the weathers!

Al Link and Pala Copeland own and operate 4 Freedoms Relationship Tantra. They regularly host Tantra Sacred Loving weekends near Ottawa Canada, and weeklong retreats in exotic locations around the planet. For more information call toll free from Canada or USA: 1-800-684-5308 International long distance: 1-819-689-5308. Visit their website http://www.tantra-sex.com/ or send email: 4freedoms@tantraloving.com Their book, Soul Sex: Tantra for Two, is published by New Page Books, 2003.