EB Family Day Blog

Here are ten simple pleasures you can enjoy with your children this month.

1. Ask your child to read a book to you. Younger children can look at the pictures and describe
what’s going on in the book. Older children can read a current chapter in the book they are reading.

2. Make a Back-to-School time capsule with each child. This is a great tradition for the first week
of school. Over the years, you’ll have an album of memories that really tells a story. Here are
instructions and ideas on things to include at the Family Fun website:
http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/feature/famf89school/famf89school4.html

3. Choose one Saturday this month to be Kids’ Day. For one day this month, they choose what to eat
for meals, when to get dressed, what to do

4. Ask each family member to start a gratitude journal. Younger children can draw pictures instead
of words.

5. Make a big bowl of popcorn, gather pillows, dim the lights and splurge on a Pay-Per-View kids movie.

6. Take a walk with your children and let them decide the pace, as well as where to go. Allow them to
linger over a stream or a single flower if they wish. Budget a lot more time for this than you might
think you need so you’re sure to be unhurried and relaxed.

7. Plan a short bit of “special time” with each child.an hour or so to connect over hot cocoa or
lemonade. Ask them about new friendships and express a genuine interest in their social lives at the
beginning of this school year.

8. Take an art class with your child.

9. Blast music when you all are doing chores together.

10. Start working on homemade holiday gifts together. Now is the time to make some headway on those
fun projects – and still be relaxed enough to enjoy the process.

Susie Cortright is the founder of momscape.com – http://www.momscape.com and Momscape’s
Scrapbooking Playground – http://www.momscape.com/scrapbooking -devoted to helping
visitors record and preserve their cherished memories. Visit her site today to subscribe to
her free newsletters.

[tags]family traditions, family fun, family life, children, parenting, scrapbooking, natural parenting[/tags]

WOW! If you learn nothing else about managing the stress of your life, you must become skilled in recognizing these five common stress management myths and take steps not to be caught in their deadly trap.

In today’s 24/7 pressure filled world, it is crucial to develop the stress hardiness needed to enjoy the stress of your life, be at peace and productive. The speed of life today is not going to slow down! If anything it may speed up, if that is possible. In order to survive and thrive you must not only strengthen your stress coping reserves, you must maximize them! You must also be aware of some very dangerous misinformation circulating about stress.

MYTH #1I’M NOT STRESSED BECAUSE I DO NOT FEEL STRESSED! The question is: how do you know? Stress is very deceptive and many people who feel very stressed are actually handling their stress quite well while others who do not feel stressed are on the edge of disaster. The truth is that some individuals can handle huge amounts of stress and thrive while others collapse under less than normal stress.

MYTH #2ALL STRESS IS BAD, AND I CAN ELIMINATE ALL STRESS FROM MY LIFE, RIGHT? Wrong, stress is not all bad. In reality, stress is the spice of life. Life would not be much without it. The only people experiencing no stress are in the cemetery. Eliminating stress is not the goal. The goal is to manage both positive and negative stress for the optimum enjoyment of life.

MYTH #3EXECUTIVES AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ARE THE MOST STRESSED PEOPLE, RIGHT? Wrong! Executives and air traffic controllers deal with huge amounts of stress and most thrive on it because they have learned the basic stress coping skills needed for their high intensity work. Actually, the reverse of this myth is true. The average worker and those in middle management are often the most stressed in an organization because of the lack of control they feel in their every day lives combined with limited stress hardiness skills.

MYTH #4I ALWAYS KNOW WHEN I AM STRESSED! Unfortunately most people don’t and a serious miscalculation here could cost you your family, your job or even your life. Your feelings are not the best indicators of how well you are managing your stress. You need some objective assessment tools which will tell you how effectively you are handling your stress and more importantly how stress is actually affecting you. With a good assessment, some people find out that they are handling their stress very wella pleasant surprise! Others, sometimes in the same family or work group, get an unpleasant surprise when they find out that while they do not feel stressed that in reality they are heading for a crisis and don’t even know it. If you had asked me if I felt stressed a few days before I experienced serious job burnout, a few years ago, I would have said no. An effective and objective assessment tool is worth it’s weight in gold.

MYTH #5IF I IGNORE MY STRESS AT HOME OR WORK IT WILL ALL GO AWAY. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Plus this is a very dangerous attitude. We never automatically resolve work or personal stress. You must be aware of your stress and know and use daily the stress resolving tools that work best for you.

Here are three ways to make sure that these myths do not unnecessarly harm you:

1. Discover all you can about stress, how it both positively and negatively affects the body and most importantly how it is affecting your body mentally, physically and emotionally.

2. Become tuned in to your body’s reactions to stress. Know what are the key stress warning signals for you.

3. Take the necessary proactive actions needed to thrive and grow with the stress of your life. I have FREE E-course entitled, 7 Days to Enjoying the Stress of Your Life, to sign up click on the link below.

Cameron Johnston is an author, speaker and stress fitness coach. He is a burnout survivor who has inspired tens of thousands of individuals to live it up without being washed-up. Through his articles, books and speaking, employees in hundreds of organizations have mastered the stress hardiness tools needed to thrive and succeed in our fast-paced, 24/7 world. He has a Masters of Science Degree in Public Health and has developed the Cooling DownThe Stress Soup Stress Management System. Cameron is the author of three books on stress management including, Don’t Eat The Soup As Hot As They Cook It! Here he has distilled all the stress management essentials into eight powerful and very doable ways to cool off the stress soup. He is President of WellChoices