How to Keep Your Kids Healthy This Winter

The winter is a time often filled with stuffy noses, persistent coughs, and more sick days than anyone really wants. However, if you want to avoid having you and your children get ill this year, below are seven tips that can help.

1. Teach Your Kids Proper Handwashing

Proper handwashing technique is key to keeping your kids healthy during the winter. To make sure that your kids are killing all of the germs they may pick up while they are out and about in the world, follow the following steps:

• Wet hands, turn off the tap, and apply soap.
• Lather hands completely, including under fingernails.
• Scrub hands for at least 20 seconds -- tell your kids to sing Happy Birthday or a chorus or verse from their favorite song that is about 20 seconds long.
• Rinse hands under running water.
• Dry hands with a towel or allow them to air dry. (Change towels often)

7 Reasons Why It's Important to Teach Your Kids About Eco-Friendly Living

With the state that our world is currently in, it is important to set our kids up for lifelong habits that will help them and the world as a whole. Eco-friendly and sustainable living practices are important, and teaching that to the next generation could not be more critical to the Earth's health. There are many reasons why it's beneficial to teach your kids about environmentally friendly living, below are 7 of the key benefits to teaching you kids about eco-friendly living.

Gain a Deeper Appreciation For Nature

One of the easiest ways to explain the reasoning behind eco-friendly living to kids is by telling them that making sustainable choices will help the Earth stay healthy and beautiful. Emphasizing the beauty of nature and how the Earth helps us can make the importance of eco-friendly living more clear to kids.

Form Eco-Friendly Habits Through Quality Time

Especially with everyone staying at home right now because of the COVID-19 pandemic, introducing new kinds of quality time to keep your kids entertained and help the environment is a great option. Here are a few hobbies and habits you can do with your kids to bring some eco-friendliness to your new normal:

Conscious Parenting Audio Tip: Observing Anger When An Intuitive Child Lashes Out

Next time your child lashes out, look around and observe the room. Is anyone else angry such as an adult or sibling? Is your child channeling their anger or someone else’s? Intuitive children often do this automatically. 

Carol Lawrence from Intentional Conscious Parenting shares a tip on observing anger when an intuitive child lashes out. Is it his/her anger or is he/she simply channeling that anger for someone else in the room. After listening to the latest tip be sure to sign up for our free parenting guide on Parenting With The Four Claires.

#consciousparenting

Carol Lawrence · Observing Anger When An Intuitive Child Lashes Out

4 Ways To Teach Your Children About Energy And Water Conservation

It may seem to be a cliche to say that children are the future, but it is a cliche with some truth. Climate change is perhaps one of the greatest threats facing society. But for all that it is actively causing problems for the current generation of adults, those who come later will only feel those effects more. Additionally, it's much easier for people to learn how to be environmentally friendly as children. Any habits that people pick up as children become ingrained, whether they're shutting off the lights as soon as they leave a room to save energy or making sure that the recycling is collected. Therefore, it's important to teach children about how to be environmentally friendly, and particularly how to conserve water and energy. The United States is responsible for more than its fair share of pollution, and part of that lies in excessive energy consumption as well as a lack of clean energy sources. Furthermore, while water seems to be readily available to everyone at any time, there is in fact a lack of clean water in many parts of the world, as well as an issue with water being overused and polluted. With the typical American family currently using an average of over 300 gallons of water a day, it's crucial that children are taught to value water and energy and treat it correctly.

Creating a Well-Rounded, Healthy Home for Your Family

Studies show we will spend the majority of our lives indoors. According to House Beautiful, the average household will spend 90% of their lives indoors -- and nearly 67% of that time in their own homes. These percentages are only likely to increase in the midst of global pandemic.

Learn how to put together a home that promotes physical and emotional wellness for all members of your family.

Get Some Rest

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), "Research shows that a chronic lack of sleep, or getting poor quality sleep, increases the risk of disorders including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity." Protect all members of your family by taking steps to ensure they get quality sleep. Here are a few tips and tricks to promote quality, restful sleep in your home.

Teaching children how to connect with how they are feeling is a valuable tool.

Parenting is not an easy job but it's the best job anyone could ever have. The children of today are the future of tomorrow. Today we have so many more tools available and so much more knowledge than when our parents were raising us. Such as the fact that our thoughts and emotions have a huge impact on our bodies.

Author Dr. Bruce Lipton's research shows that genes and DNA do not control our biology; that instead DNA is controlled by signals from outside the cell, including the energetic messages emanating from our positive and negative thoughts. 

The Little Rose Book Review

Sheri Fink's the little Rose is the cutest most adorable children's picture book. 

We fell in love with the expressions on each page. 

A perfect addition to our conscious parenting children's book library!

The illustrations of Mary Erikson Washam are exquisite! 

the little Rose takes your young child on a journey and discovers the gift of self expression!

Fill up your library with more delightful children's books at Whimsical World Books

Review by Stacy and Carol ~ Intentional Conscious Parenting

"An excellent resource for award-winning and quality children's books that encourage actions of tolerance, acceptance, and staying true to the core of one's self." 

~ Jack Canfield, co-creator of Chicken Soul for the Soul

Sheri Fink

Inspirational Speaker, #1 Best-selling, Award-winning Author, and President of Whimsical World 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SheriFinkFan

Instagram & Twitter: @Sheri_Fink 

www.SheriFink.com

Sheri@SheriFink.com    

Going Back to School Stress-Free

It’s nearly August! For some parents, their kids are already thinking about going back to

school. For others, they’re about to be. A new semester of school means new opportunities, but also more stress. Here’s how your kids can have a stress-free return to school.

Therapy for Stress

If you’re suffering from stress, worry, anxiety, depression, or another mental health problem, speaking to a counselor may help. In today’s hectic world, it’s a challenge to commit to seeing a therapist every week. Online therapy makes it easier. Sites such as ReGain can help.

Why Are They Stressing?

The best way to help your children deal with back to school stress is to figure out why they’re stressing. Are they just sad that summer is over, or is it something else? 

How to Promote Safety for Your Athletic Kids Without Discouraging Them

When your kids are athletic, it can be easy to jump right into protective parent mode. You want your children to be safe while they're participating in the sports they love, right? Unfortunately, too much emphasis on safety for your athletic children might have the opposite effect that you want it to. Rather than bolstering their knowledge and passion for playing their sport right, it may discourage them from playing at all.

How do you balance talks about safety with encouragement for your athletic kids? Here are a few tips to help you out.

How to Keep Your Kids Engaged This Summer

With each passing day we get closer to summer. For kids, it means a blissful two-month vacation and time spent in the backyard. For parents, it means spending more time as a family and learning how to keep your kids' education going throughout the summer months. If you're stuck for ideas, here are a few ways you can help keep your kids' minds fully engaged this summer. 

4 Simple Ways To Empower Your Kids

Parenting is tough, and there are always plenty of outside opinions from others on how to be the best possible parent. The fact is that recommended parenting styles have changed a lot over time. Where decades ago people really felt as if being a strict, rigid parent was the best tactic, now we know that there are serious problems that come with this approach.

Children can have permanent emotional issues when their parents raise them in a distant manner, valuing perfection over embracing who the kids really are as people.

How to Keep Your Kids Entertained While You're Working from Home

Parents have to deal with many unexpected things with raising a child. It’s part of the job. Despite that, you probably didn’t expect to deal with schools suddenly closing for the year and a government order to primarily stay inside. In these challenging times, you can try new and interesting ways to not only keep your child entertained but also help them practice some academic skills. Use this list of activities to help keep your child occupied during this time.

1. Play-Doh

Play-Doh is a simple and easy way to get your child doing a hands-on activity where they can use their imagination. You might not usually allow your children to use Play-Doh in the house, but given the need for entertainment options, perhaps this time can be an exception. Set your children up in an area of your home where there’s as little furniture or other items around in your home that you don’t want Play-Doh to get on. You could also place some sheets on the floor to keep it from getting on your carpet. You can enjoy the creations your child puts together, and even show them what you can make with Play-Doh. You and your children can easily stay at a distance from each other while enjoying this activity.