Makayla King LMFT

A SILENT TRAGEDY There is a silent tragedy that is unfolding today in our homes, and concerns our most precious jewels: our children. Our children are in a deva...stating emotional state! In the last 15 years, researchers have given us increasingly alarming statistics on a sharp and steady increase in childhood mental illness that is now reaching epidemic proportions: Statistics do not lie: 1 in 5 children have mental health problems A 43% increase in ADHD has been noted A 37% increase in adolescent depression has been noted There has been a 200% increase in the suicide rate in children aged 10 to 14 What is happening and what are we doing wrong? Today's children are being over-stimulated and over-gifted with material objects, but they are deprived of the fundamentals of a healthy childhood, such as: Emotionally available parents Clearly defined limits Responsibilities Balanced nutrition and adequate sleep Movement in general but especially outdoors Creative play, social interaction, unstructured game opportunities and boredom spaces Instead, in recent years, children have been filled with: Digitally distracted parents Indulgent and permissive parents who let children "rule the world" and whoever sets the rules A sense of right, of deserving everything without earning it or being responsible for obtaining it Inadequate sleep and unbalanced nutrition A sedentary lifestyle Endless stimulation, technological nannies, instant gratification and absence of boring moments What to do? If we want our children to be happy and healthy individuals, we have to wake up and get back to basics. It is still possible! Many families see immediate improvements after weeks of implementing the following recommendations: Set limits and remember that you are the captain of the ship. Your children will feel more confident knowing that you have control of the helm. Offer children a balanced lifestyle full of what children NEED, not just what they WANT. Don't be afraid to say "no" to your children if what they want is not what they need. Provide nutritious food and limit junk food. Spend at least one hour a day outdoors doing activities such as: cycling, walking, fishing, bird / insect watching Enjoy a daily family dinner without smartphones or distracting technology. Play board games as a family or if children are very small for board games, get carried away by their interests and allow them to rule in the game Involve your children in some homework or household chores according to their age (folding clothes, ordering toys, hanging clothes, unpacking food, setting the table, feeding the dog etc.) Implement a consistent sleep routine to ensure your child gets enough sleep. The schedules will be even more important for school-age children. Teach responsibility and independence. Do not overprotect them against all frustration or mistakes. Misunderstanding will help them build resilience and learn to overcome life's challenges, Do not carry your children's backpack, do not carry their backpacks, do not carry the homework they forgot, do not peel bananas or peel oranges if they can do it on their own (4-5 years). Instead of giving them the fish, teach them to fish. Teach them to wait and delay gratification. Provide opportunities for "boredom", since boredom is the moment when creativity awakens. Do not feel responsible for always keeping children entertained. Do not use technology as a cure for boredom, nor offer it at the first second of inactivity. Avoid using technology during meals, in cars, restaurants, shopping centers. Use these moments as opportunities to socialize by training the brains to know how to work when they are in mode: "boredom" Help them create a "bottle of boredom" with activity ideas for when they are bored. Be emotionally available to connect with children and teach them self-regulation and social skills: Turn off the phones at night when children have to go to bed to avoid digital distraction. Become a regulator or emotional trainer for your children. Teach them to recognize and manage their own frustrations and anger. Teach them to greet, to take turns, to share without running out of anything, to say thank you and please, to acknowledge the error and apologize (do not force them), be a model of all those values you instill. Connect emotionally - smile, hug, kiss, tickle, read, dance, jump, play or crawl with them.

For all the fans of It’s A Wonderful Life and Jimmy Stewart. Just months after winning his 1941 Academy Award for best actor in The Philadelphia Story, Jim...my Stewart, one of the best-known actors of the day, left Hollywood and joined the US Army. He was the first big-name movie star to enlist in World War II. An accomplished private pilot, the 33-year-old Hollywood icon became a US Army Air Force aviator, earning his 2nd Lieutenant commission in early 1942. With his celebrity status and huge popularity with the American public, he was assigned to starring in recruiting films, attending rallies, and training younger pilots. Stewart, however, wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to fly combat missions in Europe, not spend time in a stateside training command. By 1944, frustrated and feeling the war was passing him by, he asked his commanding officer to transfer him to a unit deploying to Europe. His request was reluctantly granted. Stewart, now a Captain, was sent to England, where he spent the next 18 months flying B-24 Liberator bombers over Germany. Throughout his time overseas, the US Army Air Corps' top brass had tried to keep the popular movie star from flying over enemy territory. But Stewart would hear nothing of it. Determined to lead by example, he bucked the system, assigning himself to every combat mission he could. By the end of the war he was one of the most respected and decorated pilots in his unit. But his wartime service came at a high personal price. In the final months of WWII he was grounded for being flak happy, today called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). When he returned to the US in August 1945, Stewart was a changed man. He had lost so much weight that he looked sickly. He rarely slept, and when he did he had nightmares of planes exploding and men falling through the air screaming (in one mission alone his unit had lost 13 planes and 130 men, most of whom he knew personally). He was depressed, couldn’t focus, and refused to talk to anyone about his war experiences. His acting career was all but over. As one of Stewart's biographers put it, "Every decision he made [during the war] was going to preserve life or cost lives. He took back to Hollywood all the stress that he had built up. In 1946 he got his break. He took the role of George Bailey, the suicidal father in It’s a Wonderful Life. The rest is history. Actors and crew of the set realized that in many of the disturbing scenes of George Bailey unraveling in front of his family, Stewart wasn’t acting. His PTSD was being captured on filmed for potentially millions to see. But despite Stewart's inner turmoil, making the movie was therapeutic for the combat veteran. He would go on to become one of the most accomplished and loved actors in American history. When asked in 1941 why he wanted to leave his acting career to fly combat missions over Nazi Germany, he said, "This country's conscience is bigger than all the studios in Hollywood put together, and the time will come when we'll have to fight. This holiday season, as many of us watch the classic Christmas film, It’s A Wonderful Life, it’s also a fitting time to remember the sacrifices of Jimmy Stewart and all the men who gave up so much to serve their country during wartime. We will always remember you! Postscript: While fighting in Europe, Stewart's Oscar statue was proudly displayed in his father’s Pennsylvania hardware store. Throughout his life, the beloved actor always said his father, a World War I veteran, was the person who had made the biggest impact on him. Jimmy Stewart was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 and died in 1997 at the age of 89. -- Ned Forney, Writer, Saluting America's Veterans

https://tinybuddha.com//feel-it-to-heal-it-the-only-way-o/

Rocket! Therapy dog in training!

If you’re unsure of why you’re feeling angry, try thinking of anger like an iceberg. Most of an iceberg is hidden below the surface of the water. Similarly, when we’re angry, there can be other emotions hidden beneath the surface.