Busy-ness

We have been very busy the past few weeks, moving the household, arranging our furniture, and getting back on track with our schedules.

Routines are very important, not just for the children but for yourselves. With a “fluid” routine, you know what’s coming up for the day – what to expect – and what you need to prepare for those activities. You know that you’ll eat 3 large, or 5-6 small meals a day. You know there’s after school activities, or what time you’ll be home from work. You know what time you’ll most likely sleep and what time you awaken each day.
You know the stressors you’ll face, and you know how to overcome them (if you don’t, give us a call. We’ll help you find answers).

Being fluid is also important. Not flexible – as someone once explained to me, flexible = a breaking point. Fluid bends, flows, wraps around and pushes through whatever it faces. Water – liquid/fluid – can cut through stone. It can carry so much weight – imagine being in a pool, or at the beach, and floating on your back. Fluid. Being fluid means that you realize there will be unexpected events, things you have to face that you may not be fully prepared for – and face them anyway.

Sure, there’s some change. Some growth. This is a good thing. It can be scary, at times, and we hesitate to face these new things, these slight interruptions to our routines. But we can learn to welcome them, to embrace the good ones and learn from the irritating interruptions. We learn to be fluid. We learn to let go of these stressors and to embrace all that life brings. We stand in the midst of the storm – the confusion, the doubt, the fear – and we are the peace. We teach our children, our families, even our friends to be fluid. Be fluid. Be at peace.

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Daily Cleaning Schedule

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How do we get through each day, maintaining our lives and balance?
How do you, our clients, our readers, our support, make it through each day?
One of the ways we can strengthen our own well-being is by keeping a maintained home. For some of us, that will mean we first must do what is commonly referred to as a “deep-clean”. We won’t discuss that at this time, but we will talk about maintenance. Continue Reading →

Parenting Class: Basics for Parenting

Parenting Skills Class
***DISCLAIMER***
The following information is free for use and compiled from many sources. Some of these sites and videos link to youtube. While we will do our utmost to ensure the links are active and non-offensive, please be advised to click on links or embedded objects with caution. Ms. Shows is a certified facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich Program, one of the resources utilized. Anyone interested in the P/E program may send an email requesting more information to Ms. Shows at eshows@summitintl.org.

There are many stressors involved with parenting: work and school conflicts, unexpected and/or chronic illnesses, finances, changing family dynamics… even the daily grind can affect the entire family, wearing away little-by-little at each individual. We’re going to address these stressors, behaviors that need addressing from both the parent and the child, and we’re going to discuss the parent’s responsibility to look at child-raising as more than just another job. Our hope is to help you, the parent, engage and connect with your child(ren). So grab a piece of paper (a notebook or a printer and a ream of paper) and a pen, curl up with a good cup of tea or coffee and your computer, and let’s get to work.

Continue Reading →

Life Skills: A Clean Home

I have to be honest. I am not a skilled nor strong housekeeper. In fact, I’m looking for help in the house because of medical reasons, so there’s that. I did ask for advice, tips and tricks on facebook (there’s that social media again!), so I hope to be able to share some helpful words with you here.

Pinterest is full of advice and I even found this board on Cleaning 101: https://www.pinterest.com/triciachu/cleaning-tips-101/. There are numerous websites dedicated to cleaning tips and tricks (like flylady), and we’ll list some of the sites we found here: Continue Reading →

Life Skills: Basic Hygiene

The first area to address in life skills is basic hygiene – it’s not on our list, since the previous author listed that as a skill learned earlier, but that does not minimize its importance. When meeting new people for the first time you get to make only one first impression. You may make a second impression if your first is memorable enough. Take advantage of those opportunities!
Basic hygiene includes bathing, brushing one’s teeth and hair, applying deodorant, nail care, wearing the right amount of scented product, and wearing clean underclothes.

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Life Skills

Life Skills Activities and Guidelines Picture

Social Media. Thanks to social media, we are able to share goodies such as blogs, articles, vlogs, videos, how-tos and various resources. A goody shared today via facebook is about “guidelines for practical life skills for kids” and is seen here: http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/2015/03/guidelines-for-practical-life-skills-for-kids/

Life skills are very important, so we’ll look at these and add to them, starting from 13 years to adulthood.

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What is a Life Coach?

There are many differing opinions on what a life coach is; but as a whole, society can agree on one specific “not”. A life coach is not a counselor, nor is s/he licensed to counsel. (Though to clarify, some licensed counselors DO become coaches. Richard Nongard stresses the importance of keeping the counseling and coaching relationships separate.)

Doctor Catherine Weber (licensed clinical psychologist), said that a coach’s role is Continue Reading →