Positive Parenting

Save Time To Play, Even After Returning To School. It’s Essential For Health At Any Age

Play is not only a relief and a respite from the seriousness that stress, illness and trauma bring to our lives, it is actually therapy.   Play time is therapeutic time, point blank.  Child psychologists use this healing tool often, because play is a child’s way to express and release any inner turmoil or fears that the child doesn’t even consciously know they have.   But it isn’t only therapeutic for children, it’s therapeutic for adults too. In fact, I would argue that engaging in some form of play daily is one of the best things you can do to safeguard your physical health.   From physical …

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5 Crucial Ways To Support Your Child As They Head Back To School

    It’s mid-august, and that means back-to-school season, so the next three blog posts are here to help support your transition to that this time brings. There can be a lot of stress associated with back-to-school season.   For some, back-to-school means an increased risk of in person bullying (as well as social media bullying) and scary headlines that include school shootings, piled on top of the normal stressors of navigating growing up and figuring out a career goal and growing from a child’s body into an adult body and all the growing pains in between, as well as …

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A Mother’s Love Capable of Helping to Protect Your Health As An Adult

      In honor of Mother’s Day this weekend, I want to share with you one of my all time favorite medical studies. It shows how a little TLC from your mom may actually help protect your health, well into adulthood. Published in 2005 in Dialoges in Clinical Neuroscience, researchers found that the how much affection a mommy rat showed to her babies in their first week of life protected them from future stress later on in life — decreasing their stress response and even lowering stress hormone production. Researchers compared two different types of mom rats, separating them …

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Why Your Pet Loves Your Grounding Mat (+ The Health Benefits Of Having A Pet)

    Does your pet fear thunderstorms or fireworks or other loud noises? Does your pet ever feel anxious or show signs of nervous energy?  You know, excessive licking, panting, barking, pacing, trembling? You might want to get them grounded.  A huge thank you to Scott Nixon, in Oldsmar, Florida, who noticed that his dog is fearful during thunderstorms, and found this article: Why Are Dogs Afraid Of Thunderstorms? In the article, chief scientific officer at the Center for Canine Behavior Studies Nick Dodman suggests that static build up that occurs in your pet’s coat of hair, and the resultant shocks …

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How To Discover Your Play Style, And Use It To Improve Your Health

          Play is not only a relief and a respite from the seriousness that stress, illness and trauma bring to our lives, it is actually therapy.   Play time is therapeutic time, point blank.  Child psychologists use this healing tool often, because play is a child’s way to express and release any inner turmoil or fears that the child doesn’t even consciously know they have.   But it isn’t only therapeutic for children, it’s therapeutic for adults too. In fact, I would argue that engaging in some form of play daily is one of the best things you can do to safeguard …

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Childhood Trauma Is Scary, Here Are 3 Things That Can Help Your Child Be Resilient

      There is so much hurting our children.  Bullying and isolation and social media pressure and scary headlines that include school shootings, piled on top of the normal stressors of navigating growing up and figuring out a career goal and growing from a child’s body into an adult body and all the growing pains in between, as well as getting adequate nutrition and adequate sleep and it’s just all so stressful. So today I wanted to offer something positive that we can do to protect the physical and mental well being of our children for the rest of …

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All The Health Benefits Of Nature, But In An Urban Setting? Yep, Here’s How

      I’m so excited to tell you about an amazing medical study today that is super relevant to my favorite holistic healing modality of all time — grounding. This fabulous study suggests that adding even a very small greenspace to an urban setting boosts immune function in a measurable and meaningful way. Published in Science Advances in October 2020, researchers found that by adding a small green play area to urban playgrounds, they boosted the immunity of the children using the play area. Researchers in Finland added a very small, low cost green area in the corner of …

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