0 items | AUD  0.00
$ - AUD
$ - AUD
$ - NZD
$ - USD
$ - CAD
€ - EUR
£ - GBP

by Sophia Smith

[post-views] VIEWS

The True Value of Healthy Habits We’re Teaching Our Kids

The True Value of Healthy Habits We’re Teaching Our Kids

Raising your kids and teaching them to grow up into responsible and hardworking young people is surely not an easy task, but it has to be done no matter what. You will have to deal with numerous challenges in order to get this done, but trust us – it’ll be worth all the effort. If you are wondering how to do that successfully, stay with us. Here are six healthy habits you need to teach your children.

  1. Emotional Health Comes First

    Emotional health is pretty much underrated these days, when there are medicines and magic pills for every problem we might encounter. Still, it is crucial that your little ones understand its importance. Emotional stability can be seen as a useful trait nowadays, since we lead hectic lives and burn out quickly. Teach your kids to maintain deep relationships with people, especially with you, their siblings, friends, and the rest of the family. This will help them establish other kinds of relationships later in life.

  2. Everything is About Balance

    As an adult, you know that it’s extremely hard to find balance in life. Sometimes it even seems unattainable, since we are often stuck in the grip of our jobs and other grown-up responsibilities. However, you should do your best when teaching your children that having balance is essential. Show them how to manage their tasks from an early age, teach them that fun always comes after hard work, and that they can have it all. Work hard – play hard, right?

  3. Hard Work Always Pays off

    Teaching kids to have a good work ethic will help them manage their responsibilities properly, when it comes to both their school work and job. Even though you may want to make everything as easy as possible for them, that will do them more harm than good when they grow up. Instead, teach them that hard work always pays off and you will see them growing up into responsible, diligent young people who really mean business.

  4. Appreciate Nature

    In the era of immense technological innovations and the rapid development of the Internet, it can be very hard to get your kids outdoor and teach them to love nature. The majority of them would rather stay home playing video games or watching TV for hours, which can be bad for both their physical and mental health. Prove them that they can have fun outside of their comfort zone, and your kids will be grateful for teaching them how to connect with nature in the best way possible.

  5. Managing Moods Is the Key to Success

    A skill of mood management is another true gem your kids need to develop. In case you didn’t know, we have the ability to consciously change our moods, meaning that we are actually in charge of our own emotions. Experts advise that parents should teach their kids to identify, monitor and shift their own moods, so that they can correct negative thoughts all by themselves. That will surely lead to a positive attitude and self-image which are more than rewarding.

  6. Cultivate Fun and Optimism

    Having fun and laughing out loud is certainly the best cure for everything, so make sure that your kids are aware of that. The more we get together and laugh together, the happier we’ll be! Happiness and optimism are real game-changers that can improve not only your mood, but also your life in general. So teach your kids that valuable lesson and watch them grow up happy. It doesn’t get better than that!

Raising kids is definitely a difficult task that requires a lot of work, patience and effort. However, you’ll see that it will pay off. Seeing your kids happy and successful is what counts, so make sure that you have done everything you possibly could in order to achieve that. Help your kids overcome all the obstacles instead of overcoming them by yourself, and you will give them the most valuable thing – the knowledge about the world.

About the Author: Sophia Smith

Sophia is Australian based beauty, lifestyle and health blogger. She is very passionate about organic beauty products, healthy lifestyle and personal development. She is regular contributor at High Style Life.

Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +

2 Comments

Meg Ferrante

Would love to see a post about number 5 alone. Mood management is truly important but to me, the hardest one on the list. My 10-year-old LOVES to run away when he is angry or wronged. I picture a lifetime of him running away from his problems and it scares me. I want to help him and I do try (pull him back in the room, get down on his level, take my voice to a whisper, etc) What else can we do to help him? For 88 percent of the day, he is as happy as a lark but when the worm turns, LOOK OUT!

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Join our newsletter

We would love you to follow us on Social Media to stay up to date with the latest Hey Sigmund news and upcoming events.

Follow Hey Sigmund on Instagram

karenyoung_heysigmund

Anxiety in kids is tough for everyone - kids and the adults who care about them.

It’s awful for them and confusing for us. Do we move them forward? Hold them back? Is this growing them? Hurting them?

As long as they are safe - as long as they feel cared for through it and their bodies feel okay - anxiety doesn’t mean something is wrong.
It also doesn’t mean they aren’t capable.

It means there is a gap: ‘I want to, but I don’t know that I’ll be okay.’

As long as they are safe, they don’t need to avoid the situation. They need to keep going, with support, so they can gather the evidence they need. This might take time and lots of experiences.

The brain will always abandon the ‘I want to,’ in any situation that doesn’t have enough evidence - yet - that they’re safe.

Here’s the problem. If we support avoidance of safe situations, the brain doesn’t get the experience it needs to know the difference between hard, growthful things (like school, exams, driving tests, setting boundaries, job interviews, new friendships) and dangerous things.

It takes time and lots of experience to be able to handle the discomfort of anxiety - and all hard, important, growthful things will come with anxiety.

The work for us isn’t to hold them back from safe situations (even though we’ll want to) but to help them feel supported through the anxiety.

This is part of helping them gather the evidence their brains and bodies need to know they can feel safe and do hard things, even when they are anxious.

Think of the space between comfortable (before the growthful thing) and ‘I’ve done the important, growthful thing,’ as ‘the brave space’.

But it never feels brave. It feels like anxious, nervous, stressed, scared, awkward, clumsy. It’s all brave - because that’s what anxiety is. It’s handling the discomfort of the brave space while they inch toward the important thing.

Any experience in the brave space matters. Even if it’s just little steps at a time. Why? Because this is where they learn that they don’t need to be scared of anxiety when they’re heading towards something important. As long as they are safe, the anxiety of the brave space won’t hurt them. It will grow them.❤️

View Instagram post by karenyoung_heysigmund

Jan 28

Open post by karenyoung_heysigmund with ID 18382936468153868
Anxiety in kids is tough for everyone - kids and the adults who care about them. It’s awful for them and confusing for us. Do we move them forward? Hold them back? Is this growing them? Hurting them? As long as they are safe - as long as they feel cared for through it and their bodies feel okay - anxiety doesn’t mean something is wrong. It also doesn’t mean they aren’t capable. It means there is a gap: ‘I want to, but I don’t know that I’ll be okay.’ As long as they are safe, they don’t need to avoid the situation. They need to keep going, with support, so they can gather the evidence they need. This might take time and lots of experiences. The brain will always abandon the ‘I want to,’ in any situation that doesn’t have enough evidence - yet - that they’re safe. Here’s the problem. If we support avoidance of safe situations, the brain doesn’t get the experience it needs to know the difference between hard, growthful things (like school, exams, driving tests, setting boundaries, job interviews, new friendships) and dangerous things. It takes time and lots of experience to be able to handle the discomfort of anxiety - and all hard, important, growthful things will come with anxiety. The work for us isn’t to hold them back from safe situations (even though we’ll want to) but to help them feel supported through the anxiety. This is part of helping them gather the evidence their brains and bodies need to know they can feel safe and do hard things, even when they are anxious. Think of the space between comfortable (before the growthful thing) and ‘I’ve done the important, growthful thing,’ as ‘the brave space’. But it never feels brave. It feels like anxious, nervous, stressed, scared, awkward, clumsy. It’s all brave - because that’s what anxiety is. It’s handling the discomfort of the brave space while they inch toward the important thing. Any experience in the brave space matters. Even if it’s just little steps at a time. Why? Because this is where they learn that they don’t need to be scared of anxiety when they’re heading towards something important. As long as they are safe, the anxiety of the brave space won’t hurt them. It will grow them.❤️

karenyoung_heysigmund

In the first few days or weeks of school, feelings might get big. This might happen before school (the anticipation) or after school (when their nervous systems reach capacity).

As long as they are safe (relationally, physiologically) their anxiety is normal and understandable and we don’t need to ‘fix’ it or rush them through it.

They’re doing something big, something brave. Their brains and bodies will be searching for the familiar in the unfamiliar. They’re getting to know new routines, spaces, people. It’s a lot! Feeling safe in that might take time. But feeling safe and being safe are different.

We don’t need to stop their anxiety or rush them through it. Our work is to help them move with it. Because when they feel anxious, and get safely through the other side of that anxiety, they learn something so important: they learn they can do hard things - even when they feel like they don’t have what it takes, they can do hard things. We know this about them already, but they’ll need experience in safe, caring environments, little by little, to know this for themselves.

Help them move through it by letting them know that all their feelings are safe with you, that their feelings make sense, and at the end of the day, let those feelings do what they need to. If they need to burst out of them like a little meteor shower, that’s okay. Maybe they’ll need to talk, or not, or cry, or get loud, or play, or be still, or messy for a while. That’s okay. It’s a nervous system at capacity looking for the release valve. It’s not a bad child. It’s never that.

Tomorrow might be tricker, and the next day trickier, until their brains and bodies get enough experience that this is okay.

As long as they are safe, and they get there, it all counts. It’s all brave. It’s all enough.❤️

View Instagram post by karenyoung_heysigmund

Jan 27

Open post by karenyoung_heysigmund with ID 17927849610192008
In the first few days or weeks of school, feelings might get big. This might happen before school (the anticipation) or after school (when their nervous systems reach capacity). As long as they are safe (relationally, physiologically) their anxiety is normal and understandable and we don’t need to ‘fix’ it or rush them through it. They’re doing something big, something brave. Their brains and bodies will be searching for the familiar in the unfamiliar. They’re getting to know new routines, spaces, people. It’s a lot! Feeling safe in that might take time. But feeling safe and being safe are different. We don’t need to stop their anxiety or rush them through it. Our work is to help them move with it. Because when they feel anxious, and get safely through the other side of that anxiety, they learn something so important: they learn they can do hard things - even when they feel like they don’t have what it takes, they can do hard things. We know this about them already, but they’ll need experience in safe, caring environments, little by little, to know this for themselves. Help them move through it by letting them know that all their feelings are safe with you, that their feelings make sense, and at the end of the day, let those feelings do what they need to. If they need to burst out of them like a little meteor shower, that’s okay. Maybe they’ll need to talk, or not, or cry, or get loud, or play, or be still, or messy for a while. That’s okay. It’s a nervous system at capacity looking for the release valve. It’s not a bad child. It’s never that. Tomorrow might be tricker, and the next day trickier, until their brains and bodies get enough experience that this is okay. As long as they are safe, and they get there, it all counts. It’s all brave. It’s all enough.❤️

karenyoung_heysigmund

Anxiety on the first days or weeks of school is so normal. Why? Because all growthful, important, brave things come with anxiety.

Think about how you feel on their first day of school, or before a job interview, or a first date, or a tricky conversation when you’re setting a boundary. They all come with anxiety.

We want our kids to be able to do all of these things, but this won’t happen by itself.

Resilience is built - one anxious little step after another. These anxious moments are necessary to learn that ‘I can feel anxious, and do brave.’ ‘I can feel anxious and still do what I need to do.’

As long as the are safe, the anxiety they feel in the first days or weeks of school aren’t a sign that something is wrong. It’s part of their development and a sign that something so right is happening - they’re learning that they can handle anxiety.

Even if they handle it terribly, that’s okay. We all wobble before we walk. Our job is not to protect them from the wobble. If we do, they won’t get to the walking part.

To support them, remind them that this is scary-safe, not scary-dangerous. Then, ‘Is this a time for you to be safe or brave?’

Then, ask yourself, ‘Is this something dangerous or something growthful?’ ‘Is my job to protect them from the discomfort of that growth, or show them they are so very capable, and that they can handle this discomfort?’

Even if they handle it terribly, as long as they’re not avoiding it, they’re handling it. That matters.

Remember, anxiety is a feeling. It will come and then it will go. It might not go until you leave, but we have to give them the opportunity to feel it go.

Tomorrow and the next day and the next might be worse - that’s how anxiety works. And then it will ease.

This is why we don’t beat anxiety by avoiding it. We beat it by outlasting it. But first, we have to handle our distress at their distress.

We breathe, then we love and lead:

‘I know you feel […] Of course you do. You’re doing something big and this is how big things feel sometimes. It’s okay to feel like this. School is happening but we have five minutes. Do you want me to listen to your sad, or give you a hug, or help you distract from it?’❤️

View Instagram post by karenyoung_heysigmund

Jan 26

Open post by karenyoung_heysigmund with ID 18031532522774725
Anxiety on the first days or weeks of school is so normal. Why? Because all growthful, important, brave things come with anxiety. Think about how you feel on their first day of school, or before a job interview, or a first date, or a tricky conversation when you’re setting a boundary. They all come with anxiety. We want our kids to be able to do all of these things, but this won’t happen by itself. Resilience is built - one anxious little step after another. These anxious moments are necessary to learn that ‘I can feel anxious, and do brave.’ ‘I can feel anxious and still do what I need to do.’ As long as the are safe, the anxiety they feel in the first days or weeks of school aren’t a sign that something is wrong. It’s part of their development and a sign that something so right is happening - they’re learning that they can handle anxiety. Even if they handle it terribly, that’s okay. We all wobble before we walk. Our job is not to protect them from the wobble. If we do, they won’t get to the walking part. To support them, remind them that this is scary-safe, not scary-dangerous. Then, ‘Is this a time for you to be safe or brave?’ Then, ask yourself, ‘Is this something dangerous or something growthful?’ ‘Is my job to protect them from the discomfort of that growth, or show them they are so very capable, and that they can handle this discomfort?’ Even if they handle it terribly, as long as they’re not avoiding it, they’re handling it. That matters. Remember, anxiety is a feeling. It will come and then it will go. It might not go until you leave, but we have to give them the opportunity to feel it go. Tomorrow and the next day and the next might be worse - that’s how anxiety works. And then it will ease. This is why we don’t beat anxiety by avoiding it. We beat it by outlasting it. But first, we have to handle our distress at their distress. We breathe, then we love and lead: ‘I know you feel […] Of course you do. You’re doing something big and this is how big things feel sometimes. It’s okay to feel like this. School is happening but we have five minutes. Do you want me to listen to your sad, or give you a hug, or help you distract from it?’❤️

karenyoung_heysigmund

When terrible things happen, we want to make sense of things for our kids, but we can’t. Not in a way that feels like enough. Some things will never make any sense at all.

But here’s what you need to know: You don’t need to make sense of what’s happened to help them feel safe and held. We only need to make sense of how they feel about it - whatever that might be.

The research tells us so clearly that kids and teens are more likely to struggle after a tr@umatic event if they believe their response isn’t normal.

This is because they’ll be more likely to interpret their response as a deficiency or a sign of breakage.

Normalising their feelings also helps them feel woven into a humanity that is loving and kind and good, and who feels the same things they do when people are hurt.

‘How you feel makes sense to me. I feel that way too. I know we’ll get through this, and right now it’s okay to feel sad/ scared/ angry/ confused/ outraged. Talk to me whenever you want to and as much as you want to. There’s nothing you can feel or say that I can’t handle.’

And when they ask for answers that you don’t have (that none of us have) it’s always okay to say ‘I don’t know.’

When this happens, respond to the anxiety behind the question.

When we can’t give them certainty about the ‘why’, give them certainty that you’ll get them through this.

‘I don’t know why people do awful things. And I don’t need to know that to know we’ll get through this. There are so many people who are working hard to keep us safe so something like this doesn’t happen again, and I trust them.’

Remind them that they are held by many - the helpers at the time, the people working to make things safer.

We want them to know that they are woven in to a humanity that is good and kind and loving. Because however many people are ready to do the hurting, there always be far more who are ready to heal, help, and protect. This is the humanity they are part of, and the humanity they continue to build by being who they are.♥️

View Instagram post by karenyoung_heysigmund

Dec 16

Open post by karenyoung_heysigmund with ID 18073437878348955
When terrible things happen, we want to make sense of things for our kids, but we can’t. Not in a way that feels like enough. Some things will never make any sense at all. But here’s what you need to know: You don’t need to make sense of what’s happened to help them feel safe and held. We only need to make sense of how they feel about it - whatever that might be. The research tells us so clearly that kids and teens are more likely to struggle after a tr@umatic event if they believe their response isn’t normal. This is because they’ll be more likely to interpret their response as a deficiency or a sign of breakage. Normalising their feelings also helps them feel woven into a humanity that is loving and kind and good, and who feels the same things they do when people are hurt. ‘How you feel makes sense to me. I feel that way too. I know we’ll get through this, and right now it’s okay to feel sad/ scared/ angry/ confused/ outraged. Talk to me whenever you want to and as much as you want to. There’s nothing you can feel or say that I can’t handle.’ And when they ask for answers that you don’t have (that none of us have) it’s always okay to say ‘I don’t know.’ When this happens, respond to the anxiety behind the question. When we can’t give them certainty about the ‘why’, give them certainty that you’ll get them through this. ‘I don’t know why people do awful things. And I don’t need to know that to know we’ll get through this. There are so many people who are working hard to keep us safe so something like this doesn’t happen again, and I trust them.’ Remind them that they are held by many - the helpers at the time, the people working to make things safer. We want them to know that they are woven in to a humanity that is good and kind and loving. Because however many people are ready to do the hurting, there always be far more who are ready to heal, help, and protect. This is the humanity they are part of, and the humanity they continue to build by being who they are.♥️

MENU
View Cart Checkout Continue Shopping