Healthy Back to School Tips for Families

by Kim Wilson | Sep 15, 2018 | Children, Family, Kim Wilson

Healthy Back to School Tips for Families

It’s Back to School for many families this week. The summer is coming to a close and many people are experiencing more stress and chaos. There is often a challenging transition from the slower summer pace to busy schedules, sports and after school activities. To help with the transition, I am sharing some tips that may help your family. I recommend discovering what works for your own family and schedule.

1. Establish a healthy routine

Creating a healthy schedule and routine will help a great deal. Establishing homework hours, a consistent sleep schedule and supper time will help parents and kids become more organized and less stressed. Organization apps like myHomework and iHomework are a great resource for children and families. Preparing the evening before will help too. Packing lunches and backpacks, reviewing schedules for the next day and setting out clothes will alleviate the additional morning “runaround.”

Whether you use a family app or schedule that can be written out, a family calendar could be a great resource. Especially when it comes to work, homework, after school activities and supper. For a fun DIY family project, check out this homemade Family Calendar. Discovering what system works best for your own family is important for success and less stress.

2. Get organized around the house

As the school year begins, there is often shopping for clothes and supplies. As new items come into your home, it’s a great idea to de-clutter and get rid of old items that aren’t being used. It may be beneficial to set up a homework area or center in your home. A place where you can store additional supplies and offer a space for kids to complete their homework. The fall (and school) season is a great time for “cleaning house.”

3. Schedule family time

With the business of the school year, it’s easy to let the day fly. The next thing you know, it’s bed time and you’re wondering where the hours in the day went. Scheduling a set family time allows for quality time together and communication. This could be at supper time or during an evening walk around the neighborhood. Not only is it beneficial for stress management but it’s a good time to ask your kiddos how their day went. It’s also a good time to discuss things such as bullying, back to school worries, accomplishments, goals and so forth. This is also a good time to disconnect from technology and slow down as you approach bedtime.

Some families use a “technology basket” where they store their most tempting devices.

Creating this habit and incorporating it into your schedule helps with stress management, educating your children, opening communication among the family and aids in healthy family structure.

4. Healthy habits

The start of the school year can bring several unhealthy habits. From grabbing unhealthy meals to lack of sleep, it’s easy to run down your immune system. There are several tips that I recommend for creating healthy habits. When it comes to communicating with and educating your children, it may be beneficial to to discuss nutrition and the difference between buying versus bringing meals to school. Creating a healthy menu and prepping meals on the weekend may benefit your family as well.

Organization and prep can help when the schedules are busy and you’re trying to save money. You can also have more control over what the kiddos are eating during the day. Some schools have cafeteria menus that can be viewed ahead of time. Knowing this schedule can help you prepare what you want your kids to eat at school. For some healthy meal options, I welcome you to check out this link: Healthy Lunch Ideas

When it comes to relationships, cultivating healthy ones is important. It’s a great idea to get to know parents of kids in the neighborhood, parents of your kid’s friends from school and building a relationship with teachers and staff members. Especially if your children are involved with after-school activities and events.

Encourage exercise and movement. With the amount of time children are on technology these days and sitting at school, it’s beneficial to stress the importance of exercise and movement. This can be anything from after school sports, outdoor activities with friends to the evening walks I mentioned before.

School safety and hygiene are a great topic to discuss with children. A lot of germs are spread around in schools. Especially as we move into the colder months. Educating children about washing hands, not sharing hats and brushes and not sharing food and drinks are important.

5. Set goals (other than grades)

With a new school year ahead, it’s a great time to set new goals. Academic excellence can be one but there are other goals that may be considered. These could be sports that your child wants to play throughout different seasons. It could also be household responsibilities and chores. Incorporating your children and working on a new structure will help all involved. If it works for your family, you can implement a reward option or ways to inspire and motive.

Last but not least, make it a great year!

The start of a new year can be overwhelming for not just the kiddos but also the parents. As you begin a new year, find what system and tips work best for your family. Have you discovered some additional tips that work in your home and lifestyle? I welcome you to share below.

Here are some additional resources for your family:

Back to School Printables

Menu Planning- Save Time In The Kitchen

Additional Back to School Tips

Wishing everyone a wonderful and safe year ahead!

Today’s author: Kim Wilson is a Certified Holistic Health Coach (CHC) and owns her own business, Kim Wilson, LLC, which specializes in empowering and educating women to get to the root of what’s going on with their own unique, individual body. She works with women one-on-one and coaches through online groups and programs. Learn more about Kim at her website www.kimwilson.me, from her Facebook page, or find her on Instagram.

Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

by Carol deLaski | Apr 19, 2013 | Children, Family, Laura Hall, Success

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsch

What scares you? Where is fear holding you back in life? Before you read any further, STOP! I want you to really think about those questions.

OK, thanks for playing along! Now we can proceed.

Something you should know about me, is that I LOVE quotes. They motivate me, challenge me and inspire me. Neale Donald Walsch’s above quote is something I believe and try to live on a daily basis. It reminds me to challenge myself and to remeber that it’s OK to feel uncomfortable sometimes. I work on being comfortable being uncomfortable. Does that make sense?

When I see other people stepping outside their comfort zone, it warms my heart. I feel a kindred connection to people who are willing to feel fear and instead of using that as an excuse, they turn and face it and refuse to let it hold them back. Today, I’d like to tell you about two amazing wholistic women who I recently had the privilege of watching step outside their comfort zone. It just so happens that these two amazing women are my teenage daughters, Kayla and Helena.

Let’s start with Helena, for no particular reason other than she’s the 2^nd child and usually gets listed 2^nd so today we are going to let her go 1^st.

Helena is 15 years old and recently bought herself a ukulele. In the span of about 3 weeks she taught herself to play, added 3 songs to her repertoire, and decided she wanted to step outside her comfort zone and challenge herself to perform at an open mike night at one of the local coffee shops. The night of her big debut came quickly and as I sat there with her, waiting for it to be her turn to perform, I noticed she was very quiet. She was nervous, but I also sensed a determination to not let her fear stop her. When they called her name, she walked with confidence up to the performance area, joked with the audience about how if she messed up they should give her a break as she had only had the ukulele 3 weeks and proceeded to play 3 of her songs to an audience of about 40 people. I was so proud of her! Here is a brief video of her performance:

Helena’s Performance

The next story is about Kayla, my 18 year old daughter who is a senior in high school this year and will be attending Towson University in the fall to study nursing. About a week ago I had a little accident at home which resulted in 5 staples in the top of my head. I won’t go into the gory details because they aren’t important. What is important is that because I have a degree in physical therapy and my husband is a dentist, I convinced the doctor at the urgent care facility to give me the staple remover so that I could take them out at home instead of having to make another visit to urgent care. When the night came to remove the staples, I asked Kayla if she wanted to take them out for me. She said yes, but admitted that she was feeling a little sick to her stomach and was nervous about hurting me. I assured her that I have a high pain tolerance, and after my husband demonstrated the technique to her, she then removed the remaining 4 staples, growing in confidence with each one. She is going to make an excellent nurse one day and I am proud to say that I was her 1^st patient.

I’d like to take this opportunity to publicly thank my daughters for being an inspiration to me. Watching them step outside their comfort zones reminds me that it is normal to feel uncomfortable and even to experience fear when we are challenging ourselves in some way. The problems arise when we let the fear stop us. Being fearless isn’t about not being afraid, but rather fearing less. As Mark Twain says, “Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.”

Where in your life are you stepping outside your comfort zone? I encourage you to share your story in our comments. You may just be the inspiration someone else needs to turn and face their fear.

Today’s author: Laura Hall is an iPEC certified life coach who believes every woman deserves a coach. She offers both one on one as well as group coaching services. She can be reached at [email protected] or check out her website at www.hallcoaching.com

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Preview – “Spark a Wholehearted Life”

by Carol deLaski | Sep 6, 2012 | Business, Children, Family, Finances, Fitness, Health, Laura Hall, Nutrition, Success

I am so excited to be giving you a little preview of one of the upcoming workshops being presented by Lisa DiSciullo and myself at the upcoming Wholistic Woman Retreat! We’ve titled it, “Spark a Wholehearted Life” and it’s being based around the work of Brene Brown. I first learned about Brene Brown after watching one of her TED talks http://home/wholisu6/dev.wholisticwomanretreats.com.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html and if you haven’t seen this, I highly recommend it. Her work has given me permission to be perfectly imperfect and as a “recovering perfectionist” this is just the permission I’ve been waiting for.

Wholehearted living is about recognizing your worthiness, that you already are enough, and then living from that place in harmony with your perceived imperfections. It’s about turning inward and acknowledging what is true for you and embracing that. It’s about letting go of allowing other people to dictate who or what you are supposed to be, and choosing your authentic truth, and then being courageous enough to stand up and say this is the real me. I’m done pretending to be something I’m not. I’m done trying to live up to unrealistic expectation. I’m done living by someone else’s rules for me. Here I am world, vulnerabilities and all! It’s not easy, but as someone who has been practicing this, I promise you, it has been well worth it!

Of course, this is life, and life is sometimes messy, so of course there are things that can get in the way of living a wholehearted life. Some days are better than others, but knowing what the potential road blocks are, allows us options, or detours, around these potential pitfalls. And on the positive side, there are also daily habits you can create that will assist you in wholehearted living. We will be looking at both of these aspects.

If this piqued your curiosity, if this leaves you wondering how effectively you are living a wholehearted life, if this has your imagination soaring about what would be possible if you started living life on your own terms, then please join us!

So, what are you doing September 28^th and 29^th? If you’d like to join us at the retreat, sign up TODAY as space is limited. You can do this at wholisticwomanretreats.com

Here’s to changing the world, one wholehearted life at a time!
Laura

Today’s author: Laura Hall is an iPEC certified life coach who believes every woman deserves a coach. She offers both one on one as well as group coaching services. She can be reached at [email protected] or check out her website at http://home/wholisu6/dev.wholisticwomanretreats.com.hallcoaching.com/.

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Soaring! A Wholistic Break from the Everyday

by Carol deLaski | Aug 19, 2012 | Business, Children, Family, Finances, Fitness, Health, Linda Norris, Nutrition, Success

What a way to get out of my own head!!

Wwwhhheeee!!! Flying down a zip line, through the trees, on a 90-degree summer evening and feeling the wind—I could even feel it through my tennis shoes as my feet dangled down in the breeze. Now if that doesn’t clear the cobwebs out of your head from a day of sitting in the office, nothing will.

I loved the chance to do this Zip and Sip (of course we had to celebrate with wine and picnic dinners afterward) with other wholistic women on Tuesday, July 17th. I like hanging out with these ladies–not only the life coaches, who are the glue that holds the Wholistic Community together, but the women they draw to them.

I’m not a coach, even though I spend a lot of time with them. I’m like the rest of you: worried about your kids, your job, your husband, your health, your Mom’s doctors appointment, your son’s new girlfriend….you name it, and you’re taking it on, just like me. Personally, its my kids, my work, my hot fla……..well….we won’t get too personal but you get the drift.

Yet when I get together with this group of women, its like a book club, a baby shower, a business meeting—–all wrapped into one. It gets me away from my worries and allows me to relax, yet at the same time, if one of my worries is on my heart and I feel an affinity with the woman I happen to be laughing with, its ok to share a worry–not only OK, but release. Because the women drawn to our group are non-judgmental, good listeners, and will always share some perspective they’ve experienced that relates to my problem—-and I feel so much less alone!

As you look at this Zip Line video, you know now why I come to these social events put on by Wholistic Woman Retreats–not just the weekend retreats, which are a double- or triple-dose of what I enjoy, but the socials, workshops and other things we’ve done. Its a space to work things out for myself, but supported by other women who have the same worries. Let me know with your comments if you feel the same way!

Linda Norris, NW Communications lind[email protected] 240-315-8876
Check out our new website: www.nwcommsyourstory.com
FB: www.facebook.com/nwcomms

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