Your baby’s first year is a developmentally crucial time. Your little one will begin to explore new flavors beyond mother’s milk, master basic locomotion, and maybe even say their first word. Their tiny brains and bodies need all the help they can get to meet milestones.
You can do quite a bit as a parent to support and nurture your child’s development. They look to you to meet their every need. What should you do? Here are five healthy habits to master in your baby’s first year.
Many of us take our families for granted even though it is the biggest source of happiness and peace in our lives. If you feel like you should boost the time you spend with your kids, spouse or parents, there are many ideas on how you can spend that time productively. Here are a few best ideas that will make your family time unforgettable:
The habit of having at least one meal together a day will change your family dynamic for the better. This meal can be either breakfast or dinner if you can’t have lunch together because of work or school. Use this time to share your feelings and thoughts, offer encouraging words, discuss your day and share a lot of laughs. If you have time, you can prepare weekend meals together. Gather interesting new recipes, buy groceries and do your best to recreate meals around the world. This is a great opportunity to learn about different cultures and foods and expand your menu.
I've Been Thinking...
I hope you had a Happy Mother’s Day, my friends!I cannot help but think of my own mother. In fact, I’ve been thinking about her all week. I’ve even been talking to her all week. Yes, I have. Even though she has been gone more than a decade, I still turn to her for guidance.
Your pet is more than a mere companion. They’re family. As such, they deserve the most nourishing meals you can provide. The right food can go far in giving your best friend a long and active life.
Every beginning is difficult, and entering parenthood – especially for the first time – is no different. Parents-to-be struggle for a multitude of reasons, and even the most confident parents can find themselves feeling like they have no idea what they are doing once their bundle of joy arrives.
While caring for a newborn can make first-time parents anxious and nervous, there are some tips that can help ease this transition and make parenthood feel much less overwhelming and far more enjoyable. Below, five things parents-to-be need to consider when expecting.
What comes to mind when you think about the holidays?
Do you groan, feeling burdened by all you have to do? Do you dread going shopping for gifts or cleaning up after Christmas or Chanukah or Kwanzaa or other holiday celebrations?
Or, do you feel a sense of fun, delight, and joy in the celebrating and in the giving and receiving?
Which part of you is in charge of the holidays - your judgmental, ego wounded self or your spiritually connected loving adult?
Think for a moment about the little child in you - the child who may have loved the holidays. What delighted you about Christmas or Chanukah or Kwanzaa or other holiday celebrations? Most kids are really excited about receiving gifts, but many children also feel equally excited about giving gifts. Did you enjoy decorating your house?
Or, were the holidays a sad time, a time of heartbreak due to not having enough money? Or a time of loneliness due to the loss of a loved one? Were they a time of stress in your family? Was there abuse around holiday times?
I love Thanksgiving. I also love the week that leads up to it. This has always been my favorite holiday and favorite time of year.
I love Thanksgiving not just because it focuses on food, family, faith, and football, but also because it is steeped in gratitude. Gratitude is always in the air at this time of year. I can feel it, I can sense it, and I love expressing it to the people in my life. I also love being on the receiving end of it.
If your child has been participating in school through online learning for some or all of the past school year, the change back to in-person learning this year may be a big shift. Emotions ranging from excitement to nervousness and stress can all arise, and may even be amplified in this unusual time we are living through.
Despite the worries kids and their parents have about staying healthy in the pandemic, there is still excitement about students being back in the classroom, interacting with their teachers and peers. For many kids, this will be a welcome change from solitary learning. For others, the bustle of the classroom poses a big adjustment after logging in to school from the quiet of home for much of the past year. All this is on top of the anxiousness kids normally may feel when starting a new school year with new classmates, classes, teachers, and in some cases, new schools.
The older we get, most of us have suffered the loss of a loved one. This can be hard even if you do believe in life after death. Keep reading and discover how our loved ones communicate with us after their death, and how you can communicate with them.
My schedule was packed full. I was taking off for a long weekend trip to Alaska for a wedding. My very talented hair stylist reached out and needed to change our appointment. The new schedule was perfect; but then she had to change it again because of an unexpected event.
In order for the new schedule to work we met on Sunday. The studio was empty except for the two of us. I can’t remember how the subject came up, but we began talking about death and life after death.
Our conversation was very candid and would not have been so deep, if other people were around. There was a little magic that happened to create a private setting. My hair stylist, Lisa, was just exploring the possibilities of life after death.
I began picking up on an older gentleman around her, like a grandfather. I saw light colored denim. He was also showing me flowers, lots of flowers. He also showed me he was very persistent.
Her grandfather had passed, and had worn light denim overalls. His wife, still living, has lots of flowers. We talked a little more about him and his wife. I mentioned again the flowers and how persistent he is!
Something happened recently that I find super hilarious, while also incredibly encouraging and hopeful. The other day, I was running around doing my crazy morning errands. The kids wanted sushi in their lunches so I ended up going to WholeFoods to grab some for them. We ended up getting Dunkin Donuts too, which I know sounds obnoxious together, but it made my kids giggle!
And that reminded me of something: by making other people happy, causing them to giggle, and helping them do things they thoroughly enjoy, it makes me happy. Through this pattern, I can create a wave of happiness.
It may not
Look like it
But the children
are in charge
Their world
is not
collapsing
This is
The only world
They know
They are bringing
The infinite of their being
Now
Their love is mature
Fully grown
I fall in love
With your essence
And then unwrap
The story
That reveals
All your beauty
I love who you are
But I also appreciate
The life that made you
The spirit of hope and expectancy is very much alive during this season; which is often called the most wonderful time of the year. This season is a time when many faith traditions and religions are celebrating the magic of high holy days. There is Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, just to name a few and so many more celebrations. Most, if not all have stories that are about the miracle of life and hope. These stories have unexplained or miraculous phenomenal occurrences articulated to help inspire people and give them a sense of hope.
Many of these stories are based on mystical or magical journeys. I personally believe these stories are not just for the time period beginning with Thanksgiving at the end of November through January 1st each year. If we are willing to commit ourselves to carrying the stories’ spirit of hope and expectancy, we can experience their meaning through every day of our lives. We can experience wonder, possibility, and hope as our new normal.
I drove around my neighborhood the other day and noticed several houses already decorated for the holidays. Seeing the colorful twinkling lights around the windows and giant inflatable Santa Clauses waving from front lawns puts me in the holiday spirit.
But this year, as we all know ... things are different. A nasty Grinch called Covid-19 is trying to steal Christmas from us. With more lockdowns in place and more cases prohibiting us to cross borders and visiting our loved ones, the classic holiday song, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is literally coming true for 2020.
I wanted to share some interesting parallels I learned about this popular song and our challenging year fighting the pandemic.
People were singing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” when we were involved in another tough battle—World War II. The lyrics were written in the voice of a soldier serving overseas who is reminiscing about the holidays—surrounded by family and friends. This soldier looks forward to coming home and asks specifically for things that represent the holidays: Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents by the tree. The song, however, ends on a melancholy note with the soldier saying: “I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.”
Across America, people are wondering what the holidays will be like as pandemic-related restrictions on traveling and gathering drag on. Mental health experts worry about how adults and children will cope when normal ways of celebrating are curtailed.
About two-thirds of American parents are worried about the pandemic impacting the mental health of their children, according to a recent survey from Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
The holidays are already a time when many people struggle to feel happy and joyful amid the festivities going on around them. This year many families and individuals are coping with feelings of grief after losing a loved one to the pandemic or other causes.
It’s always hard to face the first holiday without a beloved family member or friend. It will be even more challenging this year as many people choose to stay home and gather only with those in their households, especially for those who live alone.
Even during the best of times, the holidays can be stressful and disruptive to your body, your emotions, and your routines. So how can we manage feelings of stress, isolation, and loneliness this year during holidays marred by a global crisis?
This year, it’s more important than ever to take steps to guard your emotional, mental, and physical health. Here are a few ideas to help make your holidays joyful in spite of the pandemic:
After two and a half years in Florida, my partner Anne and I are moving back to Massachusetts. It is a decision of the heart. We are choosing to be closer to family and old friends and to remembered places that fill us with great love and appreciation. We are returning home. A few weeks ago, as I was on hold while buying our airline tickets to Boston, Simon and Garfunkel’s song “Homeward Bound” began playing in my ear. The synchronicity was unmistakable. I burst into tears.
I have great joy in being with thousands of kids every year. Some might define me as a children’s musician but I prefer the job description of, Greatness Amplifier, Engagement Specialist, Experience Generator. I like this description for how perfect it is for what I do performing music with kids, while at the same time it’s not limited to any specific skills or career.
Is there proof love exists?
Children can prove
Love is not based on commitment
It is captured in a moment
As a full-time kid’s musician since 1990, I have the blessing of being with thousands of kids every year.
Kids have never said to me directly
“Teach me something”
But they ALWAYS
Have something urgent
To tell me
Maybe one of the best methods of teaching
Is listening
Acknowledging
What kids have to say.
Seeing them
and their ideas as valuable
Interesting
and inspired
I have been daydreaming about a lovely family vacation in Hawaii with my children and husband. I have also been wanting some easy travel in a hippy van with my husband and dogs. I imagine us sitting outside under the stars. Both sound really good right now! In the past, if I found myself needing a break from daily life, I would plan a trip. Maybe I would go, or I would not, but it was always an option. Currently, the thing I would like to get away from the most will join me wherever I am. The pandemic has created a shadow over the state of mind for many people and places. This is not all bad.
One of the blessings of our global health concern is a reminder of wherever you go, there you are. The only way to escape the feeling of crisis is to get comfortable with who you are and your relationship with everything. You can’t escape you or the Universe!
This outbreak could be the catalyst for us becoming a mindful and evolved species.
Animals are miraculous gifts to us. The power of an animal’s love, intuition and wisdom is greatly underestimated—whether it’s an ape that not only understands but also responds to sign language or a special cat that made the news by instinctively knowing when its nursing-home residents were about to leave this world. Then there’s the dog that helps its therapist owner detect abnormalities in her patients’ bodies and the story of the amazingly brave elephants that impulsively knew they had to save themselves by moving to higher ground when a devastating tsunami hit the west coast of Sumatra.
Animals have been our spiritual companions since the dawn of time. Humans have honored them throughout history, as can be seen in those early drawings on the walls of caves—man and dog hunting side by side. Egyptians have treated cats like gods, American Indians have honored many different animals on totem poles, and the elders in the tribe would teach the children about the importance of each living thing.
Join Panache Desai each weekday morning for support in reconnecting to the wellspring of calm and peace that lives within you and that has the power to counterbalance all of the fear, panic, and uncertainty that currently engulfs the world.
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