Family & Relationships

Nurturing Your Child in Today’s Busy World

With so many things competing for our attention these days, it is more important than ever to be intentional about nurturing your child’s wellbeing. Wellbeing consists of healthy physical, mental, cognitive, and social-emotional health and there are many ways to support it. 1. Limit …

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Recognizing Depression and Anxiety in Kids

As a parent or caregiver, you anticipate and meet your child’s physical needs, such as hunger or tiredness, and are attuned to their mental and emotional needs. You can guess when your child feels sad, angry, anxious, or depressed. You can help identify why they are feeling this way. But how do you …

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Reminder: Healing Isn’t Linear

A friend recently left me a desperate 10-minute voice message. She is a foster mom from another state whom I met in a Facebook support group. She is just a few steps away from signing adoption papers for her 13-year-old foster daughter. When I saw that the message was 10 minutes long, I knew it …

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Fixed or Growth Mindset – Which Type of Family Are You?

Let’s try a quick exercise… Your child gets an ‘A’ on their most recent test in school. As the parent, how do you respond? A) “Good job! You’re so smart!” B) “Good job! You studied, …

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Goal Setting as a Family

Have you ever set a goal for yourself or a new intention, and quickly found that it was unsustainable? Maybe you work on it for a week or two and it just feels like too much – you don’t have time for it, you have too much going on, you keep forgetting to work on it – and now you feel like you’ve …

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Take Them for a Drive

“I don’t understand why this happened to me. Why me, in particular? Everyone says I have a purpose or I’m chosen for something great, but I didn’t choose it. So, why me?” Those words poured out from my 15-year-old adopted son as I was driving. It was dark, and he was in the passenger seat. I …

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Loving Up Close

Yesterday morning, I was sipping some water and looked outside – a brief moment of silence and solitude, a rare exhale in the life of a mother. Bathing in the sunshine, curled up in a vibrant orange ball on the outdoor furniture, was my cat. I watched his ears twitch and turn at each bird call and …

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5 Tips to Tackle the Back-to-School Season

Back-to-school season is always a time of nerves, adjustment, and — let’s be honest — straight chaos. It is a time of getting back into routine and preparing for the year ahead. Now, we find ourselves also trying to navigate what a (somewhat) post-pandemic world looks like in our …

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Navigating Power Struggles

I recently heard the term “power struggle” described as an emotional tug-of-war. I like to refer to it as a lose/lose situation. Power struggles are not enjoyable – when two people or parties are competing for control or influence, it makes for a very uncomfortable and frustrating experience. …

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Why Keep a Joy Journal

Family Resources for Mental Health Month Many of us are familiar with the concept of gratitude and thankfulness. Science says that feelings of gratefulness have many positive effects – from physical to psychological – making it the most popular topic for daily journals. While these gratitude …

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Transitioning to Adulthood

Supporting Youth as They Prepare for Independence The transition to adulthood and independence can be challenging for youth and stressful for caregivers, parents, and foster parents, who hope to provide the skills and knowledge needed for a youth to succeed on their own. The Child Welfare …

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Caution: Being Charitable May Cause Side Effects

I was watching a popular game show recently where the question posed to contestants was “Name the average dollar amount donated to charity on an annual basis.” I was shocked to learn the #1 answer was zero! It’s that time of year where there is a great push for charitable donations. This year, …

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