BE YOU Parenting - Be You Parenting tips-tools-strategies for parents with kids of all ages.

Help Your Child Focus

9/3/2018

Depending on your child's true dominant nature, you have many options as to how to approach helping a child who struggles with staying focused and on task.

What does your child need? The following tips will assist you as you observe your child and learn how your child moves, spends time, and responds to life challenges.

8 Self-Care Tips for New Moms

8/30/2018

8 Self-Care Tips for New Moms

Guest Article by Jenny Wise

Congratulations on your new bundle of joy!

The journey ahead is full of heartwarming moments, but there will also be some challenges too. One of them is that taking care of your child will take a lot of your energy and time and it may leave you feeling overwhelmed. Self-care helps you to put your mind, body, and spirit at an excellent state to take care of your baby.

Here are eight ways you can incorporate self-care into your life

Back-to-School Season: Creating a Better Routine for Better Sleep

8/24/2018

Photo via Pixabay by Ebpilgri

Back-to-School Season: Creating a Better Routine for
Better Sleep
submitted by Ashley Taylor

As millions of American households prepare for the back-to-school season, it’s important to remember that finding a routine for better sleep and overall well-being is imperative for kids of all ages, and it’s beneficial for parents, too. Getting good rest can have a positive effect on a child’s ability to perform in class, his mood, and his physical health, helping him stay energized and ready to tackle the day. It’s not just about the quantity of sleep, but the quality as well. That’s why it’s so important to ensure your child starts preparing for school at least a week ahead of time, as summer schedules often differ from the ones we keep when school is in session.

It will also help if you ease your child into it all. Attempting to have him change his activities and bedtime the night before school starts will likely only lead to disaster. However, by starting the changes a little ahead of time, you’ll be helping him adjust slowly, which will reduce stress at the same time -- for everyone.

Keep reading for some tips on how to create a better routine for your child when school starts.

Parenting Your Inner Child

8/10/2018

Raising children often brings up memories of our own childhoods. There are experiences that are both negative as well positive memories from childhood. For many people, remembering the positive can be difficult if they were exposed to neglect, abandonment, abuse and disregard for their very existence. If a child is forced to abandon that very nature that nurtures them so that they can “fit” into the norm and not be celebrated as a unique and amazing person of difference- which I believe is true of each one of us- it leaves the child feeling worthless, alone and unfulfilled.

And as we are confronted with these memories that have been programmed into automatic responses from which we have survived, is it time to bring a new perspective to the memory as well as to the response we created to sustain us?
At times when I feel nervous about a new situation, I can immediately go into having a full-blown stomach ache that almost disables me. It takes me back to being 5 or 6 years old and how I often felt about going to school. At the time, the stomach ache worked for me as it allowed me to stay home from school and feel more secure. One would question how well that truly worked, but in the mind of a 6-year-old, it truly worked! As my life progressed into adulthood, these stomach aches would occur with much intensity and yet upon medical testing, nothing appeared to support a cause. Then came the day that I awakened and began to ask some different questions about this.

10 Alternatives to Punishment, Discipline that Empowers!

7/29/2018

10 Alternatives to Punishment, Discipline that Empowers!

Imagine that you are confused, scared, hurt and angry and you don’t know how to communicate that or that you can even put words to it. Then imagine that because you feel that way you are put in a corner to think about it or told that it is wrong to feel that way. As a child you internalize that there must be something wrong with how you are feeling and yet you don’t know what is behind that feeling or how to move through it. You begin to feel stuck and the feelings may even intensify.
Here are some strategies that parents can use that will empower their child to work through their emotions and behavior.

Want Your Kids to Eat More Vegetables? Try This

7/23/2018

Want Your Kids to Eat More Vegetables, Try this...

by guest writer- Jenny Wise

Every parent wants their kids to eat their vegetables, but sometimes it feels impossible. Kids flat-out refusing foods they've never tried, insisting on the same processed foods over and over, or throwing full-blown tantrums at dinnertime. If this sounds familiar to you, it's time to change your approach. Here are some ways you can do to inspire your kids to eat their vegetables.

Using Boredom to Empower Your Kids

7/6/2018

Image from pixabay

Every parent hears their child complain about boredom at some time. What do kids really need when they are possessed by boredom? What if you as a parent could empower your child through the boredom blues?

What if boredom is the key to more creativity and unlocks imagination? This can't happen if parents and adults are always looking for ways to keep their kids from being bored. I appreciate the honesty of one father who found out that his constant entertaining of his child was not only dis-empowering his child, it was affecting his relationship with his wife. He discovered that there are many benefits to letting your child be with their own boredom- improves creativity and motivation, better sense of self worth and improved relationships. So how can adults empower kids using boredom?

Fun, Educational Activities For Kids Who Are Stuck Indoors

6/27/2018

Submitted by Jenny Wise

Photo via Pixabay by Free-Photo

For many stay-at-home parents, inclement weather often means a headache. Whether it’s too cold for the kids to play outside or it’s been raining for several days in a row, it challenging to keep stress and anxiety at bay when you have to find ways to entertain and educate your little ones indoors. This is especially true for parents who work from home; how can you be expected to get your work done when there’s chaos at every turn?

Fortunately, there are some simple ways you can help your child find fun and learn a little something at the same time. From picking up a musical instrument to doing a science experiment with common household items, there are tons of things for kids to do when the weather won’t cooperate.

Believe in Happy Endings

6/21/2018

I heard this song by Neil Diamond the other day and while I have heard it before, it gave me cause to stop and reflect on the words and on my life. As I look around, I wonder how many embrace the choice to have happy endings, happy beginnings and happy everything in between. There was a time in my life when I wasn’t sure that happy endings could be real for me.

Maybe you have gone through an event, a situation or an experience that you couldn’t imagine there being any happy endings? Maybe it was a health issue for you or a loved one, a change in your career, or a change with a relationship that left you wondering how you would find your way back to happiness.

BE You and Parent Too

6/16/2018

I was interviewed to talk about self care and how it relates to parenting. I see a lot of parents, myself included who consistently put everything and everyone else before taking care of themselves. I have learned through my own trials that this doesn't really work out the best for me or those I love and care about.

In this interview we touched on what is self care. It isn't just that you eat right, get exercise and occasionally take some me time, although those things are part of self care. There is also the self care we do when we stop judging ourselves. Do you know of any higher form of abuse than Self-Judgment?

I want to share with you how my judgments affected my parenting. I wanted so much to be the perfect parent and to do right by my kids.

Mary Dravis-Parrish, CBF, CFMW

Mary shares her desire to create different possibilities for families and individuals who are looking to live a more conscious and aware lifestyle. BE YOU Parenting is for parents who want to BE all that they truly BE and to allow their kids the same privilege.

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