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.
Hey there, friend! Welcome to an exciting journey where we'll delve into enriching your relationship and embracing the incredible adventure of parenthood. The Gottman Bringing Baby Home Program is your golden ticket to creating a strong and loving foundation for your family. In this heart-to-heart chat, we're going to explore where this program came from, its fantastic benefits, and what you can expect as you embark on this life-changing adventure.
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is a creation of none other than the brilliant minds at the Gottman Institute. At Little Elf Family Services, we affectionately refer to them as the "crazy researcher people" who have spent nearly five decades delving into the intricacies of marriage and parenting. Imagine all the wisdom they've accumulated in that time! Our mission is to bring their remarkable discoveries to you and tailor them to your unique needs.
Did you know that one of the best ways to ensure that your marriage will last is to start TODAY to identify yourself as a couple who learns relationship tools? Don’t wait until there is a problem! Why is this so important?
According to research, the average couple waits 6 years before they seek help in their relationship. Yet half of all marriages that end do so in the first 7 years (https://www.gottman.com/about/research/couples/).
Lack of sleep has such a rollover effect on other areas of our relationships and our parenting. New parents often find that lack of sleep is the most difficult part of parenting. Nerves get frayed and patience gets short with ourselves, our partners, and our children. Especially in the middle of the night we end up saying things that we never thought we would say to each other. But my goal is for your relationships to fill you with happiness and stay that way for the long haul? So what can we do?
Are you curious about the secret signals that could be sabotaging your relationship? Well, get ready to ride the wild emotional rollercoaster known as the Gottman 4 Horsemen! 😱🎢
1️⃣ The Criticizer - "The Roaring Stallion" 🐴 Watch out for this fiery horse! The Criticizer is all about nitpicking every little thing your partner does. From their fashion choices to the way they slurp their soup, nothing is off-limits. It's like they have a Ph.D. in finding faults! 🤷♀️👀
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.
When you become a parent, you want to feel calm and confident, but that’s often harder than you expect. Obstacles can get in the way, and unprepared parents may feel overwhelmed. While your moods may fluctuate, your overall happiness level is like a muscle: it gets weaker or stronger over time. If you ignore symptoms of depression or anxiety and hope that the problem will go away, you are likely to find yourself feeling more depressed and anxious.
What’s the difference between a baby shower and a nesting party?
A baby shower focuses on the baby. It focuses on STUFF. Some stuff is good and useful — a baby needs a place to sleep, a car seat, some clothes, a few bottles or boppies or burp cloths. But if you end up with too much stuff, you just have to sort it out and manage it and find a way to give it away later.
Why have a birth doula? An interview with Rebeca Martin, birth photography & doula services
What impact do you think that having a birth doula had on you as a mother?
My labor was really hard, and my doula was the thing that got me through.
Sometimes I struggle to describe the challenges of early parenthood because I never want to scare people or make anyone feel like they aren’t enough, or that they won’t be a good enough parent if they don’t do certain things. As a new parent sanity specialist, one of my primary goals is to help each of us as new parents to grow in our growth mindset, being able to ask for help, to make mistakes and learn from them, and to keep learning.
As new parents, you hope that life with your baby will be exciting - a fun, new adventure and a chance to get to know a new member of your family. You want to create a warm, nurturing home for your children. You want time and space and support to bond with your baby. You want a peaceful postpartum. You want to instill positive values in your children. And if you have a partner, you want your relationship to be happy and connected. Ultimately, you want to raise a kind, positive human being that contributes to society when they are older.
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.
This week I spoke with Dr. Hannah Flammang about C-section scars. We talked about self care and things that we can do to help with recovery and healing after a c-section.
Dr. Hannah is a local chiropractor. She is opening her practice in Rocklin, but she does a lot more than just chiropractic. She really likes to work with women’s health patients, specifically in the prenatal and postpartum periods.
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.
An interview with Shannon Smith of BellissiMamas
Tell me a little bit about BellissiMamas and about what’s so important about guided meditation.
Shannon:
At BellissiMamas, we are helping moms to be able to create their most beautiful motherhood--whatever that looks like. A lot of what we find in our day as a mother is a lot of chaos. Being able to just set aside five minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever it is that we can set aside for ourselves. Maybe it's when the children are quietly playing or they are just dropped off at school and you've got five minutes in the car to yourself.
Resources:
©Lara Elfstrand, MA ECSE, IF-ATMHP, CPSI - Little Elf Family Services, 101 S. Santa Fe Ave. #188, Fountain, CO 80817
