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.
The Forgotten Senses
We all know about the 5 senses, touch, taste, smell, sound, sight, but did you know there are actually 2 more very important forgotten senses? These are the vestibular and proprioception senses. Those are some big words, but what do they mean? Let’s find out! Think...
3 Reasons Why Children Combine Languages When They Speak
Have you ever spoken with someone and just couldn’t find the right words to express yourself? You searched and searched your brain for the right word, but just couldn’t think of anything? If you’re multilingual, you probably know what I’m talking about.
Language Learning: Expanding Vocabulary With Games
Continuing on the Language Learning series, here are four games that can help your older children expand their vocabulary in their target language!
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.
How to Teach Your Child a Language You Don’t Speak
As we all know, one of the best ways for a child to learn a language is if they are surrounded by people who speak the desired language. However, as we are meeting people less often and aren’t currently travelling, being in an environment where your child can be exposed to various languages isn’t easy. It would be great if the child’s home could be the centre for language learning. But what do you do if you’re monolingual and want your child to be bilingual?
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.
5 Reasons Why You Should Teach Your Child a New Language
Contrary to popular belief, learning multiple languages simultaneously doesn’t cause a language delay and is shown to have many benefits. In fact, children’s brains are able to absorb a second language effortlessly from the ages of 0-3 since their brains are more...
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.
Games for Virtual Learning: For Teachers and Caregivers of Children (3-12yrs)
As a camp counsellor turned Kindergarten teacher, I use “back pocket games” to build a variety of skills and maximize engagement for my students. Staying active and connected is one of the best ways to focus on ours and our children’s mental health, but has been harder to do while staying home.
Screen Time: Scary or Necessary?
If you’re like me, you have likely spent your child’s early years making extraordinary efforts to limit screen time and avoid the 80’s “TV Babysitter”. Yet, here we are in 2021 faced with the necessity of doing almost everything in our days on a screen. No longer do...
Promoting Community Involvement & Volunteering from Home
One of the most consistent messages we’ve heard throughout this pandemic is to stay at home, but what can we do when “home” starts to feel like a lonely place? One solution is to encourage children and youth to get involved with community service and volunteering...
5 Tips to help make Virtual Learning a more positive experience
Having the whole family at home and trying to engage with virtual learning and work activities can be beyond frustrating. Keep in mind the following tips to help make the most of your at-home learning experience and help encourage more independent learning skills from your child.
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...