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.
Parents often report that their kids lose it when they say “no”. There are a couple of responses that I have to that.
1) I suggest offering (usually 2) choices that are ok with you. You don’t necessarily need to say “no soda!” but instead you can say “Would you like milk or water?” Try to offer of as many choices as you can throughout the day, because sometimes “it’s my turn to pick.”
As a parent, we really want our kids to be ready for school. But what does that mean exactly? What does it look like for a child to be ready for school?
It’s easy to think that it means that they can identify their letters for reading or their numbers for math. But as a child development specialist, I actually don’t think that those things are all that important.
What are some key things that ACTUALLY have been shown to help children in school? Here are my 2 cents:
When you have a baby, there’s a lot that may surprise you. In this conversation Stephanie opens up about her transformation after seeking help and guidance for her new role as a parent. In this interview, Stephanie shares her challenges, frustrations, and the wins that she achieved through coaching and Gottman Bringing Baby Home classes at Little Elf Family Services.
Do you have a newborn baby at home? Sometimes it can be hard to know what to do with a newborn baby when they're actually awake. First off, that can be rare. (Find this video on Placer Birth Connection’s Instagram page).
Some of the first things we're focusing on with babies, of course is learning to eat and sleep.
An interview with Karen Rothstein of Sacramento Hypnobirthing
This video is available on Instagram here.
Fear
Sometimes moms will think they have fear, and what they really have is just a little bit of worry and a little bit of anxiety.
Three of the top skills of a value driven professional—a person who excels in their workplace—are: they know how to de escalate drama; they know how to accept feedback as a gift, and they know the right way to engage in conflict (according to Donald Miller in his book Business Made Simple). And you know what? Those are skills that I teach in my coaching and in my Gottman Bringing Baby Home classes. They're also skills that make for a great parent and that help us to have a more peaceful, nurturing postpartum period.
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©Lara Elfstrand, MA ECSE, IF-ATMHP, CPSI - Little Elf Family Services, P.O. Box 5098, Auburn, CA 95604
