As a parent, we all want to do what we can to help our kids. Here are a few tips for keeping your kids mentally healthy from the Calgary Herald series.
What can parents do to help keep their children and youth mentally healthy? Jodie Cossette, a recreation therapist with the Eating Disorders Clinic at Alberta Children’s Hospital offers these tips:
• Find the balance between work and play. Work, school, being productive and goal-oriented are important, but so is making time to rest, rejuvenate and recharge.
• Play together as a family — and not just at sports. It can be board games, goofing around in a park, hanging out with friends and family. Have fun, keep it lighthearted.
• Aim for a healthy, balanced lifestyle on a budget. “It doesn’t have to be Hawaii for three weeks. Entertainment can be very simple, like a game of charades. Finances don’t have to be a barrier. Get back to the basics”
• Find a passion. “Life can be very difficult, demanding and stressful, whether you’re working or going to school, whether you’re a child, adolescent or adult. Having an outlet, an activity, a hobby can help restore, help heal and distract us from the difficulties — not to avoid them but to take a break from them.”
• Humour is vital. Laughter helps us breathe, let go of tension and look at life from a different perspective. “We need to be able to laugh at ourselves, knowing that we as human beings are not perfect; we are incredibly flawed. Look at the lighter side of life. Be playful.
“We cannot laugh and play all day because that’s not healthy either. Again, it’s finding the balance.”
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/mental+health+toolkit+parents/5523751/story.html#ixzz1aQLk5Cs4
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