We are all in this together

In ‘normal’ times 49% of households admit to being financially stressed. It’s a major contributor to divorce and ill health. So, in these times where there is unemployment or reduced employment this stressor just got very real. On top of that, we have families at home with each other 24/7. In some families being confined to home is a blessing in disguise but for other families it is a serious risk situation. 

If you are looking for things to do with your family that are fun and educational, go to our website blogs tab and download the FREE Home Entertainment Guide – activities to do with your children at home for your own mental and physical health. 

If you feel at risk being at home, please contact the local support agency in your community. Organization’s like Beyond Blue, Lifeline, Head Space and others have free counselling services. You are not alone. Please reach out. These are unusual times!

What are you doing to look after your mental physical health  while you are at home? Are you listening to the news constantly and feeling  worried and burdened? Are you bored and turn to the fridge and Netflix for  excitement?

Are you becoming a couch potato? Are you working from home  and coping with managing new forms of technology? Are you doing all of this  and home schooling too?

Whatever your situation it’s important that you take time for you - to stimulate, change and energize your physical and emotional state. 

Think about what you used to do as a child – what was fun for you? What playful things did you do? 

- Make cubbyhouses

- Draw

- Read books

Or maybe something else?

Nature and the earth are good to calm us. If you can, go outside or at least have a plant in your apartment – it’ll make a difference. Put on some music and dance with the family to change your state – it’ll make a difference.

Make time in your day, everyday to do something for you. Include the children where you can so that you are taking your mind away from your daily tasks. Try it – you’ll like it!

Many of us know that we have 3 main sections of the brain. Some say that there are 4 actually 4 sections – that includes our ‘gut’, our intuition.

But let’s just go with 3 for now. There is the brain stem at the top of the spinal cord. That is the survival area of the brain, where fight, flight or freeze lives. It’s the part of the brain that develops first.

Above that near the top of the ear is the limbic area of the brain. It too relates to fight, flight or freeze but is linked to the amygdala that controls emotions.

Above that, is the mammalian brain – the thinking and reasoning part of the brain. 

Young children often operate in the bottom 2 areas of the brain and are highly emotional – have you noticed? Perhaps you’ve seen a tantrum or two. Brain development and being able to control emotions takes time and maturity. We can’t hurry it.

In the meantime, children are absorbing and making sense of the world around them. In their own time they can manage emotions better and think before acting and problem solve. But their brains are still developing, and they don’t understand the world in the same way that adults do. As adults we play a huge role in how children see themselves. So, what we model or say forms their beliefs about the world and themselves.