Healthy development Wellbeing Tips
Wellbeing Tip: Health
- Parents find it easy to identify their child’s physical needs however a child’s mental and emotional needs may not be as obvious. It is important to remember that children need good friends and encouraging words from adult caregivers. In turn, children develop self-confidence, higher self-esteem, and a healthy emotional outlook on life.
- Build healthy eating habits for your child. Remember to have your child start each day with a healthy breakfast as this refuels their body and gives them energy for the day.
- To be more active, have family time at the park, shoot some hoops, go bike riding or take a hiking trip.
- Offer your children snacks that are colorful, such as fruits and vegetables. You can even chop vegetables into interesting shapes to make them more fun and exciting. All of the vibrant colors in fruit and vegetables come from natural plant chemicals that have positive health effects on your bodies.
- We know that it's winter once the snow begins to fall. When there is a chill in the air our bodies tend to want to conserve energy to use it as heat. We then tend to become less active and even eat a little more. Being cooped up inside may leave you and your kids feeling more tired and lethargic. Kick that lazy feeling and get active by getting outside for some family time playing in the snow! Skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, and snowshoeing are just a few sports that everyone in your family can try.
- Emotional resiliency refers to one’s ability to adapt to stressful situations and crises. Some people are able to “roll with punches”, yet others tend to crumble during times of adversity. The good news is that you can learn to become more emotionally resilient. All research points back to the importance of practicing good self-care as a basic fundamental skill, as this allows you to be healthy, well, and ready for whatever comes your way. - By Mechele Pitt
- Surround yourself with positive scents and sounds. Our surroundings can affect our well-being. You can create a positive feeling at home with lavender, lemon, peppermint, or other essential oils. Play different kinds of music that make you feel good.
- When you are home, your brain can relax with familiar sights, sounds, smells, rituals, and routines. We all need these comforts to thrive.
Wellbeing Tip: Security
- Children need to know that your love does not depend on his or her accomplishments. Mistakes/defeats should be expected and accepted. Unconditional love and acceptance create an environment of safety and connection.
- Be sure to set limits for your child. Within the limits, the world is safe and predictable. It’s easier to venture out into the world when there is a safe zone you have created.
- When your child is young, boundaries usually center only safety but when your child enters adolescence you will need to set limits with your child that fit with your child’s expanding world.
- The experience of consistency makes your child feel more comfortable and less threatened which results in a stronger sense of security that will hopefully generalize to all aspects of their lives. So be sure to let your children see you as consistent in your emotions, behavior, and reactions today.
- When children feel safe and secure, they learn to trust other people. Children who don't feel safe can be anxious and unhappy. This can affect their health and learning. But when they learn that they can trust the adults around them, it helps them grow up happy, healthy and to enjoy the world around them.
- When adults have wellbeing, they have the ability to laugh easily; for children, they express affection effusively and openly.
Wellbeing Tip: Community
- Encourage your child to be connected to and to help others in as many ways as possible. One way to do this is by holding a neighborhood food or clothing drive. It's a good way to connect with neighbors to and the larger community.
Role model to your children how they can take accountability for their actions and ownership in their community is by going to a local park to pick up trash as a family, or to take part in a community recycling program.- You will discover many opportunities to enrich your own life and appreciate your differences from the members of a community as you improve your ability to communicate. You, your family, and your friends can become good citizens and lead better lives with strong communication skills.
- Show your child how to become a responsible citizen. Find ways to help others all year. Kids gain a sense of self-worth by volunteering in the community.
Wellbeing Tip: Environment
- Want to teach your children about the environment? Send them to camp! Their days will be spent outdoors and they will learn some good skills like navigating a canoe, or how to ride a horse or sail a boat. You never know it may be a spark for them to learn to love the outdoors!
- Today’s kids are often electronics-addicted. Start early by taking your kids on a hike at 2 years old, get them acclimated to experiencing nature and the outdoors. Be consistent in your efforts. The more you do this, the more likely your child is gaining an appreciation for it.
- So how do you teach your kids to love fishing and the outdoors? It’s very simple: Expose them to it. Take them on a hike and let them observe all that can be found in the nature around them.
- Explore the outdoors with your child. Show them how to identify different types of trees. Use a dip net in a pond and help them identify the different tadpoles and damselfly larvae. The more enthusiasm you have about it, the more they will learn.
- Studies show outdoor time helps children grow lean and strong, enhances imaginations and attention spans, decreases aggression, and boosts classroom performances. In addition, children who spend time in nature are shown to become better stewards to the environment.
- Pay attention to your child’s environment. As parents, it is important to be aware of what your children are hearing and seeing. Limiting what your child sees on TV is important. Even very young children can be affected by news images of disasters and destruction.
Wellbeing Tip: Relationships
- It is important as a parent to slow down, find some time to talk with, and “actively listen” to your child no matter their age. Although they might sound old-fashioned, shared mealtimes, watching a T.V. program together, or outdoor family activities are perfect ways to connect.
- Your child’s trust in you is based on you creating a consistent and predictable world around them. So interact with your children in ways that are consistent with those unique attributes and messages.
- Provide opportunities for your children to develop relationships with peers. Children need practice in order to learn to share, take turns, resolve conflict, and feel the joy of friendship. Plus it gives parents a chance to connect with other parents too!
- It is important for parents to demonstrate trust and respect for children’s abilities to make sensible decisions and to keep challenges within their current capacities. We can then acknowledge our children’s achievements and support them to move forward when they experience difficulties.
- Forming positive healthy relationships in part depends on the ability to express feelings appropriately and to recognize the feelings of others. Teach your child acceptable to ways to express anger when they are not “at the moment”. You can do this by role-playing scenarios with your child.
- Nurture your relationship with your partner. Date nights are a great way for you and your partner to connect and recharge as a couple. Pick a night to spend time together once a month and be consistent. It is so important as a couple to enjoy life together!
- There will always be things to be done. Resist the urge to take on extra obligations at the office. You will never regret spending more time with your children.
- It’s not the “Whats” that matter, it’s the “Whos”. We all need someone that sees us, hears us and bears witness to our experience.
- To know for sure that you are loved. This is the greatest gift a parent can give a child. It pays dividends for a lifetime and even generations to come.
- When we feel grateful, we notice more abundance in our lives. Its always there, its just a matter of the setting of your lens to see good.
- Our lives are made up of small moments of connections with others that work as a safety blanket to protect us from negative things in the world.
- Feeling a solid connection to those you trust allows for creativity to bloom. We are our true selves when we are not living in fear.
Wellbeing Tip: Purpose
- “Owning our story and loving ourselves through the process is one of the bravest things that we will ever have to do.” Quote from Brene Brown
- “Courage is contagious. Every time we choose courage, we make everyone around us a little better, and the world a little braver.” Quote from Brene Brown
- “Our sense of worthiness, that critically important piece that gives us access to love and belonging lives inside our story.” Quote from Brene Brown
- “One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon, instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.” By Dale Carnegie
- “Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement” -Foster C. McClellan
- In what way will you create health this year or next? Physically? Mentally? Spiritually? Financially? Claim the year, make it your own and create good!
- Pressing forward to your goals, one arduous step is part of the making of our strength. Important things never come easy.
- Prioritize your energy and time on the pursuit of that which brings love to you and your love to others. Our journey is learning to do this.
- Trying new things, even when we are afraid, welcoming change, and loving with our whole vulnerable hearts. These things make us feel fully alive.
- Living in alignment in your personal and professional relationships creates not only authenticity and trust but a sense of wellbeing.