Dec28
As we continue to enjoy our family and friends, please know that we wish you all the best for the end of 2009 and a FANTABULOUS 2010! Amazing things are happening with us, and we’re SO glad you’re along for the ride!
Stacey Kannenberg, Get Ready to Learn Mom!
No Comments »Education, Life Balance, Passion for Life, Relationships, Work at Home
Dec21
No Comments »Education, Life Balance, Passion for Life, Relationships, Work at Home
Dec14
What to consider when making new year resolutions about relationships and how to keep your resolutions.
New Year Resolutions to improve your relationships suggest that there aspects of your marriage or partnership you might not be happy about. The desire to change a marriage for the better will of course involve your partner and unless your partner’s in complete agreement with your thoughts, this makes it doubly difficult to keep these kind of resolutions. If for instance you feel trapped in a relationship and you feel your marriage would be better if you had more freedom, suggesting to your partner that you want to go out more and spend more time with your friends might make them feel defensive. They may wonder whether you still care for them. Be careful, therefore, about how you approach your resolutions and think about the possible consequences. As they could cause more harm than good if tackled in the wrong way.
Dec07
Stress and depression can ruin your holidays and hurt your health. Being realistic, planning ahead and seeking support can help ward off stress and depression.
The holiday season, which begins for most Americans with Thanksgiving and continues through New Year’s Day, often brings unwelcome guests — stress and depression. And it’s no wonder. In an effort to pull off a perfect holiday, you might find yourself facing a dizzying array of demands — parties, shopping, baking, cleaning and entertaining, to name a few. So much for peace and joy, right?
Actually, with some practical tips, you can minimize the stress and depression that often accompany the holidays. You may even end up enjoying the holidays more than you thought you would.
Nov30
Personal empowerment often plays a big role in the quality of your relationships because of the beliefs and behaviors you express in your interactions with others.
If you’ve ever expected a relationship to somehow “complete” you or make you feel strong or whole, you probably experienced disappointment and frustration as it seemed to cause bigger problems in your life.
There are several reasons why personal empowerment is important in relationships:
1) Other people sense the way you feel about yourself and treat you accordingly.
Have you ever noticed that other people seem to pick up on subtle cues and reflect your own beliefs back to you? For example, if you lack confidence, you’ll often find yourself encountering aggressive or intimidating people who seem to exacerbate those feelings. If you don’t have a healthy level of respect for yourself, you’ll probably encounter plenty of people who don’t respect you either.
This is no accident! People tend to sense your inner beliefs based on your demeanor and body language, and gear their behavior to match.
When you’re empowered and strong, you communicate that essence to others, and others will treat you as such, resulting in healthier relationships.
Nov16
The holidays offer plenty of reasons to be stressed out and anxious — the gifts you haven’t wrapped, the pile of cookie exchange invites, the office parties. But for many, the biggest source of holiday stress is family — the family dinner, the obligations, and the burden of family tradition. And if you’re fighting clinical depression, or have had depression in the past, the holiday stress can be a trigger for more serious problems.
“There’s this idea that holiday gatherings with family are supposed to be joyful and stress-free,” says Ken Duckworth, MD, medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “That’s not the case. Family relationships are complicated. But that’s doesn’t mean that the solution is to skip the holidays entirely.”
With holiday family reunions looming in your calendar, what are some ways that you can prepare yourself and cope better this season? We turned to the experts for some tips on beating holiday stress and anxiety.
Nov02
What’s the key to successful relationships? Here, Susan Quilliam reveals the simple things you need to know to deepen your partnership and make your relationship work:
1. Without quality time, your relationship will not survive. Carve out at least half an hour a night, and at least one day a month when you the two of you spend time exclusively together.
2. You will both need security, comfort. A good relationship is built on compromise and a great deal of give and take on both sides.
3. Keep your dependence and independence in balance. Tell and show your partner how much you need him, but don’t cling, as that can make your partner feel trapped.
Oct26
Tips for Avoiding Problems and Advice for Healthy Bonding
Stepfamilies, also known as blended families, are more of a norm now than ever. At least one-third of all children in the U.S. will be part of a stepfamily before they reach age 18. Children in blended families may at first resist the many changes they face. Fortunately, most blended families are able to work out their growing pains and live together successfully. Open communication, positive attitudes, mutual respect and plenty of love and patience all have an important place in creating a healthy blended family.
Oct05
Communication is the sending of information from one person to another. Communication can be verbal, for example, one person talking to another, or it can be non-verbal, for example, a scowl on a person’s face that will probably let other people know he is angry. Communication can be positive or negative, effective or ineffective.
It is very important for parents to be able to communicate openly and effectively with their children. Open, effective communication benefits not only the children, but every member of the family. Relationships between parents and their children are greatly improved when there is effective communication taking place. In general, if communication between parents and their children is good, then their relationships are good as well.
Children learn how to communicate by watching their parents. If parents communicate openly and effectively, chances are that their children will, too. Good communication skills will benefit children for their entire lives. Children begin to form ideas and beliefs about themselves based on how their parents communicate with them. When parents communicate effectively with their children, they are showing them respect. Children then begin to feel that they are heard and understood by their parents, which is a boost to self-esteem. On the other hand, communication between parents and children that is ineffective or negative can lead children to believe that they are unimportant, unheard, or misunderstood. Such children may also come to see their parents as unhelpful and untrustworthy.
Sep28
A child who has a strong relationship with Mom during preschool years tends to form closer friendships in grade school, finds a new study that also indicates why.
“In a secure, emotionally open mother-child relationship, children develop a more positive, less biased understanding of others, which then promotes more positive friendships during the early school years,” said researcher Nancy McElwain of the University of Illinois.
Scientists have known about the link between attachment with the mother and a child’s resulting friendship quality, but they haven’t fully understood why.
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