Tag Archives: tips

Looking After Your Pandemic Mental Health To Support Your Family

10/26/2020 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

pandemic, health, life, family, covid, corona virus — Image via Pexels – CC0 Licence

To say it’s been a challenging year is a complete understatement. With unprecedented changes in the way we live, work and socialize and threats to our health, families and livelihoods, it would be a rare person who hasn’t felt the strain during 2020. We all deal with pressures in different ways, and some coping mechanisms are more healthy than others. Being mindful of our mental wellbeing is something that we all need to be aware of. Not just for our own sakes, but for the sake of the families we look after. But in the face of so many shifting circumstances, how do you retain a balance that will protect your health?

Limit Your News Consumption

It’s always good to be informed, but the always-on nature of modern life and the relentless pace of online news and round-the-clock channels can lead to a deafening amount of speculation. It’s very easy to get drawn in and experience panic and anxiety. For your own sake, make sure you limit your exposure to news. Decide how you will catch up – be it watching the news on television, or looking at one website, and stick to it. Make sure that you source any information from credible sites such as the World Health Organization to ensure it is accurate and free from hyperbole or speculation.

Prioritize Your Wellbeing

If you don’t care for yourself, you’ll eventually be hard pressed to care for anyone else, so make sure that your own wellbeing is a priority for you. Simple actions such as ensuring you get good quality sleep, get a nutritious diet, stay hydrated and keep to a certain amount of exercise will go a long way towards your mental and physical wellbeing. Make sure you are getting outside for fresh air and try out a few techniques such as controlled breathing exercises or mindfulness to keep anxiety levels stable.

Reach Out For Further Support

No one can operate and deal with all the stresses of the current times without some form of support. Bottling it up is about the worst thing you can do. Sometimes it’s just a case of finding a friend that can provide a listening ear and give some perspective. On the other hand, if you are aware of some problematic behavior surfacing – perhaps relying on alcohol or other unhealthy coping mechanisms – then you might need professional guidance to access counselling or Outpatient Drug Treatment In Kentucky. The sooner you can access the right guidance, the swifter the recovery.

Start With Gratitude

One of the quickest ways to stop anxiety in its tracks is to focus on what you feel grateful for. This sort of thinking turns a situation on its head and makes you appreciate all that you do have. Some people find that keeping a gratitude journal helps them, while others just spent some time each morning over coffee thinking through their blessings. Start as small as you have to – the more you stop and appreciate the pleasures of the little things, the better your mental health will be.

Life, Lifestyle, Parenting

4 Ways To Be More Involved In Your Kids’ Lives Without Being Overbearing

10/22/2020 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

As a parent, it can be a struggle to be a “cool” mom or dad without losing your disciplinary role over your children. A survey discovered that about a quarter of children below 18 live in one-parent households. This makes it even more tricky to draw the line between being involved in your child’s life without being overbearing. Are you confused about how to strike a healthy balance in this regard? Here are some helpful tips.

Show interest in things your children like

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When you take an interest in the activities your children enjoy, they feel more comfortable confiding in you when faced with challenging situations since it helps strengthen the bond you share. Watch their favourite shows with them, or flip through their preferred style magazine to pick fashion ideas. Encourage them to use their talents and praise them. This boosts their confidence in themselves and creates a special bond in which they can trust you.

Think ahead

Being a parent means being able to think ahead. Although you want to support your child and wish the best for them, how would it benefit them if you are always helping them? By thinking ahead, you can analyze how your actions now may affect them in their future. Give them space to make their own mistakes and learn from them or allow them to make some decisions independently. For example, instead of placing a lot more focus on your children making straight A’s, concentrate on helping them with their homework throughout the school term. By setting up a comfortable study system, you have already thought ahead on inculcating the habit of constant learning in them.

Attempt being generous with boundaries

The more you hover over your child and intrude on their personal space, the more likely they are to hide things from you. Children who feel overly guarded tend to find solace in holding on to the tiniest bit of privacy and inadvertently shut you out as they grow. It is good to set some boundaries for them to gain privacy. Avoid snooping around their personal belongings; instead, adopt a trusting attitude to generate respect for them and you. Do you perhaps have some spare time due to an injury? Use your time to gain expert and focused representation for your case, then give your children the space and privacy they require.

Relax with the rules

Rules are good and should be enforced, but do not be too hard on your kids when they go wrong. Kids would always leave a mess, especially after playtime. Rather than harshly reprimanding them, teach them the right way to clean up their mess. Once in a while, set out little punishments for disobedience towards teaching them about the consequences but again, try not to be too harsh.

It does not take a long time for your clingy little toddler to become a teenager who likes to keep their bedroom door shut. It helps to maintain a level head while balancing the disciplinary role and the easy-going attitude. Make the most of your time as a dad or mom and build a lasting relationship with your children.

Going Green, Going Healthy, Health, Life, Parenting

How to Turn Your Kids into Environmental Ambassadors

09/29/2020 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Later, hotter summers and colder winters prove that global warming is a real issue. The impact of this will affect those we care about most- our children.

In 2020, working toward protecting our environment and global warming has never been more important. We should, every day, be doing our bit to help to protect, sustain and care for our natural world before these irreversible issues take hold too quickly.

As adults with children, it is our job to teach them about the damage being made to the planet- a vast topic to understand, but a valuable, lifelong lesson to learn.

Here are some of the things to teach our kids about the environment, and how they can care for the world around them.

What areas Should You Cover When Talking to Young Children About the Environment?

Children are very receptive to life lessons. They will be highly influenced by the people around them- friends and family, and will want to start doing some of the same things as them. If they see you recycling, then they’ll want to know how and why they should do that and want to get involved.

Some topics of conversation to help to engage your children with environmental issues should be: deforestation, global warming, recycling, and endangered animals. Talk to them about how some of the smaller changes and habits they engage in now will help them to make an essential impact for the future generations.

Help them to understand the ways in which they can help to save electricity and water around the home such as, turning the tap off when it’s time to brush their teeth, and to unplug items when they are not being used, as well as turning off the lights when they leave a room.

Here are Some Fun Activities to Help Children to Understand the Importance of Caring for the Environment

Invent craft projects using items that would usually be thrown away- for example a jar for pasta sauce can be used again to hold trail mix snacks, or painted brightly and turned into a pencil pot.
Get outside in nature. Visit a nature reserve, a farm or a national park and help them to point out all the wildlife they see. Why not create a finder mission activity where they can tick off each animal or bug that they see. You can laminate an activity sheet and have them circle pictures with a dry wipe marker so they can be used again.
Read articles and listen to talks about the environment. Stephen Troese has a wide range of these that are accessible for most audiences. You can read some before speaking to your children to get a better understanding of this area yourself.
Create a small compost box to keep outside. Teach children the items that can and cannot be collected in the food waste tubs, and have them watch these items decompose to turn into compost.
Use the compost to plant their own vegetables. It’s exciting to watch a seed begin to sprout and then turn into something recognizable as something to eat!