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Car Trips With The Kids Don’t Have To Be Stressful

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It’s hot and your family is heading for a fun vacation destination, but there’s still that long car ride that has to happen first.  And no, a car with unhappy, complaining children isn’t the best way to get that vacation off to a great start. While children usually get excited about the upcoming getaway, they also have a low level of patience and are easily bored sitting in a car. How to minimize the stress a car trip can bring for both parents and children?

  • Start by being prepared. Are the tires in good shape, the air conditioning working, oil levels checked and the gas tank full? Get it all done before loading the kids in the car and before risking a  break down on a busy freeway.
  • When the trip starts, don’t give the children a chance to be bored. Assemble a package of books and magazines, favorite electronics and chargers, and downloaded music and movies that will keep the kiddos entertained. And no, don’t give them everything at once. Parcel out fun items over time to help break up the trip rather than having them run through it all in the first hour.
  • This doesn’t mean you let the kids bury themselves in their cell phones or portable video games the whole trip. Have regular breaks that get the kids talking. Get a road map or map book and let them find out where they currently are, some nearby attractions, and where they’re still heading.
  • Remember that kids need to eat, and often on a schedule that’s different from Mom and Dad’s. Pack a bag with small containers of healthy and filling snacks. Take time to stop for a quick lunch if the kids are really starving.

And begin with the goal of making the trip itself interesting. While it can be tempting to just push on to that destination, a better idea is to find some places for short stops, especially if it’s a long car trip. Five minutes at a scenic overlook, or a short visit to a small town and its local ice cream shop can help break up the travel and give everyone a chance to stretch and sometimes even discover something interesting.

Yes, you want to reach that destination, but make the ride an enjoyable part of the whole trip  and you’ll add to everyone’s experience.

CounselingWorks provides family Christian counseling on an affordable sliding fee scale. Contact us to schedule an appointment.

This article is provided by the American Counseling Association. Visit the ACA website at www.counseling.org.

You Don’t Want To Give Up!

Posted on | by admin | 1 Comment on You Don’t Want To Give Up!

Life is full of challenges. Some big, some small, but all can dishearten us at times and make us feel overwhelmed and discouraged. While the goal of some challenge may be important to you, it can be easy to lose sight of that goal when things get in the way. Other responsibilities, a task’s difficulty, a lack of time or just the fear of failing, can all cause you to give up.

Step one in taking on a challenge is clearly defining what it is that you want to accomplish. Identify and write down the goal you want to reach. It should be something specific, not a generality like “be a better person” or “be a happier person.” It might be to stop smoking, to learn a new language, to get that promotion at the office, or any of a thousand other things that would actually make you healthier, happier or more content.
What you write down should become your purpose, something that you are going to give priority in your life. This means redefining your overall priorities. It means not letting yourself be distracted by lesser goals that are going to stop or distract you from achieving what you really want to achieve. This may mean saying no sometimes or rearranging schedules to work toward your goal. The idea is to keep the focus on the thing you most want to achieve at this time.

When your top goal is something large, your next step is to figure out the steps you need to take to finally get you to that goal. If an office promotion is what’s important to you, for example, maybe the first steps are doing small things to make yourself and your talents more visible, or volunteering to take on new projects that will help lead you to that bigger goal.

And, no, you don’t want to give up. It can be easy to want to stop trying when things get difficult. Some studies find that it might take eight attempts before someone is successful at stopping smoking. Losing weight also often takes multiple efforts before one succeeds.
When you have a clear goal that you write down and keep focused on, then it’s easier to see that temptation to quit is just another obstacle in the way, and one that you can find ways to overcome.

Counseling Corner” is provided by the American Counseling Association. Comments and questions to ACAcorner@counseling.org or visit the ACA website at www.counseling.org.

Don’t Let Summer Just Happen

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Most of us, from young children to senior citizens, look forward to the opportunities of summer. While we may complain some days about the heat and humidity, the warmer weather and slower pace offers a chance to relax, to take advantage of more outdoor activities and perhaps to even enjoy a well-earned vacation.

But sometimes the temptation is just to sit back and let summer happen. This might sound tempting but it often means time suddenly flies by, the kids are bored and cranky, and you’ve missed many of the good things that summer had to offer.

The solution is simply to do some pre-summer planning in order to maximize the more-relaxed time that this season allows.

An important starting point is with your children. While their summer plans may revolve around staying up late every night and sleeping till noon the next day, experts advise that life goes more smoothly if a family has a set schedule and sticks to it. When meal times and bedtimes are on a consistent schedule, kids feel more comfortable and usually are more cooperative.

This is also the time to make plans with your kids for summer activities. If we’re talking about a teenager this might mean encouraging him or her now to seek that summer job or to enroll in a summer enrichment program. For younger children it can mean organizing play dates or setting up a regular schedule for playground or pool visits.

Whether there are children in the family or not, this is the time of year to make some clear plans for a summer vacation, if that hasn’t already been discussed. Last-minute vacation planning usually means increased stress and that’s not the point of a vacation. A real vacation means leaving behind the responsibilities and demands of home and work. This is what really reduces stress levels. Recent studies have shown that the majority of us are living overly stressful lives, and high levels of stress, over prolonged periods of time, can negatively affect both our mental and physical health.

So plan now for a summer that will bring you relaxation and revitalization. Whether it’s a long beach vacation, or just a drive to visit relatives in another state, taking the time to enjoy the season can bring many benefits and can keep you from waking up in mid-September wondering how the summer disappeared.

CounselingWorks provides family Christian counseling on an affordable sliding fee scale. Contact us to schedule an appointment.

This article is provided by the American Counseling Association. Visit the ACA website at www.counseling.org.