Curbing Excessive Screen Time
It’s hard to think back to a time where our lives were not virtual; where school was in person, and meetings were held in an office, not in our living room. Although there have been benefits to having our lives go virtual, a larger issue looms over us for our future generations: the impact of excessive screen time. Screen time refers to the usage of any technology: tablets, television, cellphones, laptops, and gaming consoles. Before COVID-19, research supported the conclusion that more hours spent online [...]
Beating the Blues: 7 Activities for Family Bonding and Well-being During Lockdown
We made it, 2021! However, with a full year ahead of us, and the global COVID-19 pandemic still stuck with us like gum on a shoe, our plans to go out and live our previous understanding of ‘normal’ may still be on hold for a while. After almost a year of quarantining and lockdowns, you may have finally run out of new ideas to occupy your children, let alone yourselves! But fear not, we have some activities to help you beat the quarantine blues and [...]
How to Stay Productive and Healthy while Working at Home
With the most recent lockdown, our world has been turned upside down once again and put on what feels like a pause with the rise of COVID - 19. We have recently been asked to stay home and away from others again. These lockdowns are a change for many of us. Isolation at home is not something that comes naturally to most people, so it is very easy to fall into bad habits such as sitting around, staying in bed, and turning to procrastination. [...]
Self-Compassion for Parents & Caregivers
INTRODUCTION 1 What is self-compassion? Adaptive form of self-acceptance, emotion regulator and coping strategy. Self-compassion is “compassion turned inward” and refers to how we perceive ourselves in experiences of seeming failure, inadequacy, or personal suffering. Three elements of self-compassion i) Self-kindness Refers to the tendency to be kind, understanding and accepting toward oneself rather than harshly judgmental or self-critical when faced with adversity or suffering. [...]
Repetitive Media: The Good and The Bad of Pandemic Coverage
Amid a second wave of the global Coronavirus pandemic in Canada, shoppers are hitting the stores to stock up on the limited supply of toilet paper, canned goods, and cleaning agents...where they can find them. With case numbers increasing daily and a current total of 481,630 confirmed cases in Canada (Government of Canada, 2020), shoppers are taking every opportunity they can to clear the shelves for essential items. With a full lockdown looming, have you done your big shop yet? How are you [...]
Family Dinners Are Not Senate Hearings
During family holidays we might run into family members holding different values and subscribing to difference ideologies. Families across the world need unity over division more than ever, so how do we handle difficult discussion topics during these polarising times? This holiday season, perhaps we prioritize harmony. This way, we can strengthen our support systems and seek to better understand how to support those around us. But how do we go about doing that? The first thing we can do is ask [...]