One of my favorite ways to relax is to do a progressive muscle relaxation. To do a progressive muscle relaxation, you go through each body part, tense it, and then feel the difference as you relax it. So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to teach kids how to do a progressive muscle relaxation. Here are my thoughts.
Welcome to Little Elf Family Services! I’m Lara Elfstrand. I am a parent coach, and I am here to help parents to feel connected, rested, and thriving. I have a master’s degree in early childhood special education (and a clear teaching credential), and I am endorsed as an infant family advanced transdisciplinary mental health practitioner.
I became a parent in 2007, and it changed me and my life completely. I realized just how much a person changes when they become a parent. It changed my values, my priorities, and my marriage! The things I learned cannot be summarized in one blog post or even in one blog. But here are just a few things that I would start with:
Nesting parties ask us to re-think the way that we celebrate new parents and challenge us to focus on what the expecting parents need. It’s really less of a party and more of an opportunity to provide the family help.
Unlike baby showers, “Nesting parties shift the focus from stuff to support to help families prepare their homes and hearts for life with a new baby,” explains Lara Elfstrand, the pediatric sleep practitioner of Little Elf Family Services.
“An expectant mother’s play can lower her stress levels and help lessen the discomforts of pregnancy, but that playfulness can also help preform the mind-set of the baby inside her.”
Excerpt From
Play
Stuart Brown, M.D. & Christopher Vaughan
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/play/id357998110?mt=11
This material may be protected by copyright.
Enjoy this video about play courtesy of Daniel Tiger or Mr. Rogers.
In November 2017, we focused on increasing positive interactions in our relationships and decreasing negatives. For December, we are going to take that one step further and focus on play. The December Play Challenge means that we are going to make time for regular play and to look for different ways to play individually (both adults and children) and as a family. As Stuart Brown said in his TED talk in March 2009, “I would encourage you all to engage—not in the work-play differential where you set aside time to play—but where your life becomes infused minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour with body, object, social, fantasy, transformational kinds of play, and I think you will have a better and more empowered life.” Posts will be added throughout December, so come back frequently to see what's new. Let’s play!
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©Lara Elfstrand, MA ECSE, IF-ATMHP, CPSI - Little Elf Family Services, P.O. Box 5098, Auburn, CA 95604
