Becareful What You Say...

What we say and how we say it truly matters.  We need to think about how we describe ourselves and others, our kids are listening from a very  young age.


Dear Mom,

I was 7 when I discovered that you were fat, ugly, and horrible. Up until that point I had believed that you were beautiful—in every sense of the word. I remember flicking through old photo albums and staring at pictures of you standing on the deck of a boat. Your white strapless bathing suit looked so glamorous, just like a movie star. Whenever I had the chance I’d pull out that wondrous white bathing suit hidden in your bottom drawer and imagine a time when I’d be big enough to wear it; when I’d be like you.
But all of that changed when, one night, we were dressed up for a party and you said to me, ‘‘Look at you, so thin, beautiful, and lovely. And look at me, fat, ugly, and horrible.’’
At first I didn’t understand what you meant.
‘‘You’re not fat,’’ I said earnestly and innocently, and you replied, ‘‘Yes I am, darling. I’ve always been fat; even as a child.’’
In the days that followed I had some painful revelations that have shaped my whole life. I learned that:

1. You must be fat because mothers don’t lie.
2. Fat is ugly and horrible.
3. When I grow up I’ll look like you and therefore I will be fat, ugly, and horrible too.


To read full article click here

Things to consider for our up and coming 20 year olds

Time is Not a Limitless Commodity...You’re Talented, But Talent is Overrated...Social Media is Not a Career .....Pick Up the Phone 

I [Jason Nazar] employ an amazing group of 20-somethings.  Call me a curmudgeon, but at 34, how I came up seems so different from what this millennial generation expects.  I made a lot of mistakes along the way, and I see this generation making their own.  In response, here are my 20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don’t Get. 

To read more click here 





Another interesting read (she also has a tedtalk) is Dr Meg Jay's book The Defining Decade.
The book is featured on our "Resource Spotlight" page - check it out    click here

Drawing from more than ten years of work with hundreds of twentysomething clients and students, Dr. Jay weaves the science of the twentysomething years with compelling, behind-closed-doors stories from twentysomethings themselves. She shares what psychologists, sociologists, neurologists, reproductive specialists, human resources executives, and economists know about the unique power of our twenties and how they change our lives. The result is a provocative and sometimes poignant read that shows us why our twenties do matter. Our twenties are a time when the things we do–and the things we don’t do–will have an enormous effect across years and even generations to come

The Important Thing about Yelling?

Yelling is a guttural response and it rarely helps us achieve our goal of communication and change.  Whether our child is 6 and has spilled her cereal or is 16 and broken her phone - if we can resist the urge to scream we might just find a valuable teaching moment.


 So here's to New Year's resolution:

In the midst of my highly distracted life, I started a new practice that was quite different from the way I behaved up until that point. I became a yeller. It wasn’t often, but it was extreme—like an overloaded balloon that suddenly pops and makes everyone in earshot startle with fear.
So what was it about my then 3-year-old and 6-year-old children that caused me to lose it? Was it how she insisted on running off to get three more beaded necklaces and her favorite pink sunglasses when we were already late? Was it that she tried to pour her own cereal and dumped the entire box on the kitchen counter? Was it that she dropped and shattered my special glass angel on the hardwood floor after being told not to touch it? Was it that she fought sleep like a prizefighter when I needed peace and quiet the most? Was it that the two of them fought over ridiculous things like who would be first out of the car or who got the biggest dip of ice cream?


Read the full article- click here

Happy Holidays to All!

Taking a break till 2014!  Stay tuned for upcoming workshops and many more interesting articles and helpful ideas.

Standard of Beauty? Really?

This is an eye opener, consider sharing with the young women and girls (and boys too for that matter) in your life. Truly this is human animation. We need to make others aware of the false reality that is being created in the media.

To View 1 minute video showing the 'touch ups'
Click Here

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

Powering up your teen's brain!

The sleep problem
“Almost all teenagers in this country are sleep-deprived,” says Maida Chen, M.D., associate director of the Pediatric Sleep Center at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center and a sleep researcher at the University of Washington. Most modern teens get between six and seven hours of sleep on school nights, but their bodies really require closer to nine or 10. Research finds that during the teen years, the body’s circadian rhythm (or internal body clock) is different from that of younger children and adults. It tells teens to fall asleep later at night and wake up later in the morning. “A younger child is happy to go to bed at 8 on school nights, but starting about age 14, teens just can’t fall asleep until closer to 10 or 11,” Chen says. She describes this as the “circadian delayed sleep phase” and says it’s a hormonally driven stage of life lasting into the early twenties.

To read the full article   click here