STRESS & MEDITATION

As we enter the holiday season, stress can get the best of all of us - I am sharing a link (below) to an article on mindfulness and a great website, Calm.com  for 2, 5, and 10 minute meditations. It is powerful. I challenge you to try it for yourself and suggest your kids try it at the end of the night as a way to de-stress and unwind for bed! 

For the Calm.com link, click here

Mindfulness Meditation Benefits: 20 Reasons Why It's Good For Your Mental And Physical Health

Here are 10    
 (to read the full article click here )

·       It lowers stress -- literally.

·       It can make your grades better

·       It changes the brain in a protective way.

·       It works as the brain's "volume knob."

·       It makes music sound better

·       It has four elements that help us in different ways.

·       It could help the elderly feel less lonely.

·       It comes in handy during cold season.

·       It also lowers depression risk among teens.

·       It supports your weight-loss goals.

·       It helps you sleep better.

LEAVING FOR COLLEGE

While it is certainly a time for mixed emotions for our kids and ourselves, it is important to encourage kids to make the most of this experience.

"It’s that time of year – college students are making their way back to campus. Soon picturesque quads across the nation will be filled with backpack-toting collegians walking under perfectly azure skies crunching fallen leaves underfoot"  By Jeff Beals

Click Here 

CREATE CONFIDENCE

More on the significance of self resiliency, confidence and self esteem!


 Read the article:
Click Here

MASTER YOUR FEELINGS, MASTER YOUR LIFE

In December I launch a pod cast series Master Your Feelings Master Your Life on iTunes to help folks get off of the emotional roller coaster. It quickly rose to the top of iTunes New & Noteworthy categories: Health, Self Help and Kids & Family.
Registering more than 7,000 downloads in under six weeks.

Have a listen, I'd love to hear feedback, and if your are so inclined, ratings and reviews are encouraged!

Check out the pod casts on iTunes  click here

30 MINUTES

30 minutes a day. This seemed to be a fitting (no pun) way to kick off 2015!  The physical activity part of raising and supporting our kids is so important.



click here to watch Dr Evans' white board message

Resiliency, Competency & Self Esteem!

Life coping skills are essential for our teens. It is so important for us to help our kids become more self resilient.  The resiliency creates competency which grows self esteem!

This is a good list to aim for. Many of the tools in The Tool Box can help us help our kids Chap 3: Nuts & Bolts, Communication; Chap 4: The Level, Emotional literacy, Chap 6: 3-in-1 Oil, The Art of Compromise and Chap 9: The Glue, Self Esteem and confidence.

Even during the best of times, parents wonder whether their teens are developing all the skills they need to be successful in life. A problem in this “appraisal” process is that parents see their teens in some of their most regressed and infantile states—when they are at home with their families! Furthermore, new neuroscience research indicates that the human brain does not reach maturity until a person reaches their early twenties. So, how do parents of teens know what to look for in the development of life skills?


 For full article click here

HOW LONG TO NAP FOR THE BIGGIEST BENEFIT

Back in the saddle- workshops were great with wonderful feedback! 

Here is an article that is pertinent for all - sleep (and napping) are important and it is good to understand how to get the most benefit.  

Taking a nap, we’ve seen time and again, is like rebooting your brain.  Everyone likes to get a quick nap in every now and then, but napping may be as much of an art as it is a science. The Wall Street Journal offers recommendations for planning your perfect nap, including how long to nap and when.
The sleep experts in the article say a 10-to-20-minute power nap gives you the best “bang for your buck,” but depending on what you want the nap to do for you, other durations might be ideal.  For a quick boost of alertness, experts say a 10-to-20-minute power nap is adequate for getting back to work in a pinch. 

For the full article click here (and take 2 minutes to watch the embedded video)

 

How Long To Nap For The Biggest Brain Benefits

Taking a nap, we’ve seen time and again, is like rebooting your brain.  Everyone likes to get a quick nap in every now and then, but napping may be as much of an art as it is a science. The Wall Street Journal offers recommendations for planning your perfect nap, including how long to nap and when.
The sleep experts in the article say a 10-to-20-minute power nap gives you the best “bang for your buck,” but depending on what you want the nap to do for you, other durations might be ideal.  For a quick boost of alertness, experts say a 10-to-20-minute power nap is adequate for getting back to work in a pinch.

- See more at: http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/how-long-to-nap-for-the-biggest-brain-benefits/#sthash.uCFRppG7.dpuf

How Long To Nap For The Biggest Brain Benefits

Taking a nap, we’ve seen time and again, is like rebooting your brain.  Everyone likes to get a quick nap in every now and then, but napping may be as much of an art as it is a science. The Wall Street Journal offers recommendations for planning your perfect nap, including how long to nap and when.
The sleep experts in the article say a 10-to-20-minute power nap gives you the best “bang for your buck,” but depending on what you want the nap to do for you, other durations might be ideal.  For a quick boost of alertness, experts say a 10-to-20-minute power nap is adequate for getting back to work in a pinch.

- See more at: http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/how-long-to-nap-for-the-biggest-brain-benefits/#sthash.uCFRppG7.dpuf

Taking a nap, we’ve seen time and again, is like rebooting your brain.  Everyone likes to get a quick nap in every now and then, but napping may be as much of an art as it is a science. The Wall Street Journal offers recommendations for planning your perfect nap, including how long to nap and when. - See more at: http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/how-long-to-nap-for-the-biggest-brain-benefits/#sthash.uCFRppG7.dpuf

Taking a nap, we’ve seen time and again, is like rebooting your brain.  Everyone likes to get a quick nap in every now and then, but napping may be as much of an art as it is a science. The Wall Street Journal offers recommendations for planning your perfect nap, including how long to nap and when. - See more at: http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/how-long-to-nap-for-the-biggest-brain-benefits/#sthash.uCFRppG7.dpuf

Taking a nap, we’ve seen time and again, is like rebooting your brain.  Everyone likes to get a quick nap in every now and then, but napping may be as much of an art as it is a science. The Wall Street Journal offers recommendations for planning your perfect nap, including how long to nap and when. - See more at: http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/how-long-to-nap-for-the-biggest-brain-benefits/#sthash.uCFRppG7.dpuf

Disordered Eating vs Eating Disorder

What to watch for, when to worry

Eating disorders can be a challenge to recognize and even harder to treat. Awareness is one of the best weapons.

Do you have a teen who’s on a new health kick? Is she watching what she’s eating, cutting calories, limiting carbs? Or maybe you have a tween who has suddenly become a vegan, has started a “cleanse” or lately, peruses the Web by Googling “How do I lose weight?”

Is it time to worry? Maybe.

To read full article   Click here

Accidental Teaching

 Accidental Teaching: A new way to think about 'Teaching Moments'


Writer Cindy Terebush highlights the power of teaching by example.



When I was preparing a presentation about being an intentional teacher, my husband said, “As opposed to accidentally teaching?  Are people accidentally teaching?” and laughed.  Yes, actually.  In fact, we accidentally teach far more often than intentionally.  Everything we do and say is a lesson for children.  They watch and listen.  It is from those moments when we are being observed that children learn so much about priorities, interpersonal relationships, coping, self-control, reacting to events and even their own self-worth.  There is a reason why “the apple never falls far from the tree.”  Children figure out how to walk through this world based upon their observations.  Have you considered what your children learn from these accidental teaching moments?

Click Here to read the entire post

4 Tips for Healthy Boundaires

As we venture back into the routine of the school year, here are some helpful suggestions about creating boundaries for our teens.

Setting healthy boundaries for teenagers need not be a difficult feat for parents to achieve. Many teenagers go to the way side because parents give up on parenting once their kids have reached the age of 14 or so.

Did your parents also set healthy boundaries for you when you were a teen? I wonder if they had a tough time, or whether you were an easy teen to handle without any set boundaries?
Practical Parenting is about extending your parenting skills further and for longer.

To read more,  Click Here

New Program!

The Tool Box Program: Building Better RelationshipsThe Tool Box is now available as web based program to help guide you through the parenting process.  If you would like to be one of our 'testers' we would welcome your comments and thoughts!  The program will be officially launched in September - but for now, during this trial period it is free.

Click Here

The Tool Box Program: Building Better Relationships
 

10,000 Steps- It Starts With One Foot

Maren writes primarily about younger children, but often the advise is applicable to our teens and tweens.  In this article she talks about the significance of 10,000 steps a day. Exercise is such an important part of our lives and building it into our kids lives is crucial.



'"The idea of 10,000 steps began as a marketing slogan in the 1960’s for cardio-vascular fitness using a pedometer.  10,000 steps is a catchy phrase to help us remember that we need a minimum amount of daily activity in order to maintain a basic level of health." Maren Schmidt

click here for article