How Parents can Promote Patience at Home

Do you get easily frustrated with your family? Maybe it’s the way your kids chew with their mouths open or the way your partner stacks the dishes in the sink that gets on your nerves. These minor bothers can get exacerbated during a pandemic. Your emotions are only heightened with the added stress of health, financial, and social concerns. With so many things to worry about, it’s understandable that the little things might put your emotional state over the edge. One of the best ways to keep your cool during a pandemic is to practice patience. Patience is more than being able to wait for something or someone. It’s also the ability to tolerate unpleasant situations without getting angry or upset (without getting into Emotion Mind, as it’s called in DBT). Parents who are patient are better able to handle daily challenges within the family without losing their cool. Like playing the piano or riding a bike, patience is a learned skill that you can strengthen over time. Here are some ways to cultivate patience…

Resolving Family Conflicts with VALIDATE

Are you often at odds with your kids, partner, or other people in your quarantine bubble? Disagreements during already stressful times can make everyday life difficult for everyone. With continuous conflict caused by being around each other all of the time, your family may feel out of touch, tense, or distant. How can you strengthen your family relationships, reduce conflict, and feel happier? Next time you encounter conflict, give the VALIDATE skill a try! VALIDATE helps you validate others; you verbally recognize how they are feeling in order to reach a mutual understanding and find a solution. It’s perfect for families because it encourages open, honest communication, allowing family members to connect on a deeper level. Let’s explore how VALIDATE can help your family…

Upgrade Your Family Time, When Family Time is All You Have

Under normal circumstances, the usual progression of the day usually goes something like this: Wake up, eat breakfast, drop the kids off at school, go to work, kids travel home from school, get off work, cook dinner, eat, sleep, repeat. This routine means that everyone is busy, and it also makes family time precious. Now what happens when that family time became so frequent that work, school, eating, and alone time merge together? Many families may be finding this time tricky to navigate. Your home may be feeling very close now that everyone is in the same space for extended periods of time. For some, your boundaries may be blurring and your schedule may be more lax. Parents: let’s take a look at the ways you can help your entire family upgrade your family time, when family time is all you have…

Your Family Plan for Managing COVID-19

We are ALL navigating uncharted territory together and it is important that you create a plan for YOUR FAMILY that effectively manages anxieties, scheduling and completing of tasks while staying both physically AND mentally healthy. There is hype. There is hearsay. There are opinions and beliefs. And then there is WHAT IS BEST FOR YOUR FAMILY? Here are some tips for helping your family effectively navigate Coronavirus…

Tips for a Better Morning Routine

No one likes starting his or her family’s day on the wrong foot. After a morning gone terribly wrong, all parents will feel a pang of guilt over leaving their child upset at school or day care. It’s understandably difficult when nobody in your house is a morning person and there’s never enough time to prepare ahead the night before. Are you tired of your stress level going through the roof? There are ways to make the morning routine more manageable—and maybe even stress-free. Here are some tips to make mornings smoother for the entire family…

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