All of the benefits that yoga brings adults are amplified for children, which is why it’s important to introduce yoga to children during these impressionable years. Yoga encourages an acceptance of oneself that comforts them during times of self-doubt. It encourages a mindfulness that creates a positive outlook, increases confidence, and builds resilience tools that kids can use their entire lives.
Discussing the Topic of Mental Health
What size is your cup today? What will make your cup overflow? These are questions everyone can ask themselves when considering how they’re feeling on a daily basis. Mental health is an internal resource that helps us balance our feelings, how we cope with daily stresses and how we build resilience and grow from these experiences.
Partner Showcase: A New Take on Outdoor Education with Larchwood Nature OT Programming
At Larchwood Nature OT we are developing courage, confidence, coordination and deep care for our precious environment in all of our clients. Nature offers many opportunities for supporting development of the mind, muscles, senses, and emotions.
Partner Showcase: Make Music Magical with Little Rebels and Oak Learners
If there’s one thing we love, it’s educational spaces that are totally aligned. The Little Rebels mandate and vision line up magically with the Oak Learners vision to inspire creativity, foster technique and encourage confidence.
5 Mindfulness Activities for Kids
Mindfulness is a human ability that allows one to be present and aware of their surroundings and their own being, allowing them to not be overly reactive or overwhelmed by the world that surrounds them. When you bring awareness to what you’re experiencing, through your emotions and thoughts, you are being mindful.
World Mental Health Day 2021 | Making Mental Health a Priority
World Mental Health Day is about raising awareness and educating the young minds of this globe about mental health issues and maintaining mental health.
Encourage Creativity and Self-Expression in Young Children
The benefits of letting your children explore creativity and self-expression are quite clear. Their mental and personal growth will shine day to day the more they’re willing to express themselves. Here are 4 methods to help encourage creativity and self-expression in young children.
The Benefits of Weighted Blankets
Sometimes when a child is feeling stressed or anxious, they just want a big hug, but at the same time they don’t want to be touched. So how can you help them? Have you ever heard of or tried weighted blankets? It feels like a comforting hug and can help a child feel secure.
The Benefits of Yoga
Yoga is an exercise that includes movement of the body into specific poses combined with slow deep breathing. It is a healthy and active way to relax your body and mind, but the list of benefits goes far beyond relaxation.
Coping with Grief and Loss
Grief and loss are a natural part of life, so why do most adults try to hide it from children? I understand it is not an easy subject to discuss with children, but they are more capable of handling it than most adults give them credit for. Children are very resilient and very intuitive, even when we hide the truth, they can usually sense something has happen.
Benefits of Meditation
The world is an unfamiliar place right now causing stress and anxiety to rise in everyone, including our children. Finding time and ways to reduce these is imperative to our children mental health. Meditation has many benefits to improve overall health and well-being.
Incorporating Physical Activity During Online Learning
Have you ever noticed that after a long day at work, staring at a computer all physical activity day you feel cranky, sometimes your body feels stiff, or you have a headache? Well, the same thing happens with our children but it usually doesn’t require a full day of screen time to cause these negative effects.
Effects of Covid-19 on Children’s Social Connections
Covid-19 is wreaking havoc all over the world, this virus is deadly in more ways than one. Being a mother of four, the death I am referring to is the death of my children’s social connections with family and friends.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Mindfulness Made Simple
You may be asking what cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is? Well put simply, cognitive behavioural therapy is a short-term therapy that focuses on one particular problem with set goals in place. You will learn techniques and strategies in order to reach your goals. With mental health on a decline due to Covid19 you may not be able to seek treatment from a professional so here are some tools that you can do with the children at school or in the home. These tools are beneficial for everyone to work on strengthening their mental health and mindfulness.
“Butterfly Hug” Technique
Life events and our daily stressors can have the potential to create a situation in which our emotions become a destructive form of anxiety. These destructive emotions include but are not limited to a racing heart, obsessive thinking and, inability to breathe.
The “Butterfly Hug” method was introduced to help lighten these emotions. This method is a therapeutic intervention to help relax and calm these rapidly destructive emotions.
Helping Children Understand Their Emotions with Mood Cards
Moods and emotions can be big feelings that even some adults have trouble understanding so we cannot expect children to be masters of theirs. There are many ways in which we can help children understand what they are feelings, such as role modeling, through pretend play, and mood cards. In this blog we will be focusing on mood cards, what they are and how to use them.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Children have just as much stress, frustration, and/or anxiety as most adults but are not able to understand or control it in the moment. During moments of stress and anxiety children tend to tense up certain muscle groups unknowingly and have a challenging time relaxing them. This can lead to the children being in a state of high anxiety for longer periods of time.
Support Local, Support Learning
First published in the Etobicoke-Lakeshore Magazine, November Edition The Pandemic has taught us to value many local resources we may previously have taken for granted. We have been forced to shop local, eat local and enjoy the hidden gems in our community. These...