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Health & Wellness for Parents

Self-Love for Single Parents

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Self-Love for Single Parents: Five Ways to Take Care of Yourself

posted on Share Abode

Self-love for single parents can be hard. Separation and divorce often leave us with damaged self-esteem. Moreover, taking care of a child on your own often means sacrificing your own needs — physical, material, and emotional. But as your child’s role model, it is important for you to show them the importance of confidence and self-care.

Self-love for single parents isn’t a cure for all ills. It can’t magically fix your loneliness, insecurity, depression, anxiety, or resentment. But it is an important ingredient of good parenting.

So here are ways to help you build self-love today:

1.     Practice Emotional Hygiene

Mental hygiene is the practice of maintaining emotional, psychological, and social well-being. There are many ways you can practice emotional hygiene. One way is to reach out to your friends, loved ones, and family members when you are feeling lonely. Make plans to meet for lunch or a virtual coffee date if they are far. This can help against emotional isolation.

2.    Get Enough Sleep

Being exhausted all the time means you are not taking care of yourself enough. This is risky because you can’t take care of your child effectively if you get sick. Additionally, it compromises your psychological and physical health. Eat well, exercise, and get enough sleep.

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Why Self-Care is Essential to Parenting

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Why Self-Care is Essential to Parenting

written by  posted on ChildMind

Parents who are the main caregivers for kids with special needs can be at risk for burnout, especially if they don’t have enough support themselves. Symptoms of burnout include anxiety, depression, feeling tired and feeling cut off from other people.

Caring for a child with a developmental or mental health disorder can put a big strain on your marriage or relationship. There can be also be physical risks from the constant stress of taking care of a special needs child. Physical risks from constant stress include things like heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

To avoid burnout, it’s important for parents to take care of their own needs. That includes getting enough sleep and exercise, drinking enough water and spending time away from your child. Parents sometimes feel like they have to do everything by themselves, but getting help from other people is crucial. Support groups, spending time with friends and even just making time for fun activities on your own can all help.

If you don’t have family you can rely on or money to hire babysitters, something called “respite care” can help. Respite care provides temporary help so you can take a break from constant caregiving.

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10 Signs of a Healthy, Effective Co-Parenting Relationship

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10 Signs of a Healthy, Effective Co-Parenting Relationship

written by Jennifer Wolf, posted on verywellfamily

It takes a lot of work for two parents to get to the point where they can say their co-parenting relationship is going really well. For most families, there is still room for improvement. Rather than focusing on what’s not working, though, identify what is going well so that you can accentuate the positive as work toward resolving conflicts with your ex.

The following signs are evidence indicators of a healthy and productive co-parenting relationship.1 As you read them, consider what already works for you, as well as those areas you hope to improve.

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Home Projects to Improve Your Mental Wellbeing

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Home Projects to Improve Your Mental Wellbeing

written by Denisse Garcia, posted on porch.com

Your home environment plays a vital role in your physical and mental wellbeing. If you’re suffering from stress or anxiety, it’s crucial to make sure that your home is a place that promotes feelings of positivity and calm. People who work from home may suffer from mental wellbeing issues.

Conditions like burnout have become more common in recent years. Taking care of our mental health in the workplace has become a challenge, especially for those working from home. However, these issues can affect anyone from every age group and background. Fortunately, there are things you can do in order to simplify your life and improve your home, which will, in turn, promote a greater sense of happiness. This guide has some easy, helpful tips that will encourage and inspire you to start taking action to make your home a space that’s welcoming and optimized for better mental wellbeing.

Having a clean, organized home can be beneficial for your health. Studies show that being surrounded by clutter can negatively affect your mental health in many ways. Thankfully, there are several things you can do to optimize your space to improve your sense of emotional wellbeing. With the proper arrangements, layout, and organization, you can free your mind and enjoy improved wellbeing at home.

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What Can Help When You’re Feeling Hopeless

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What Can Help When You’re Feeling Hopeless

written by Amy Morin, LCSW, posted on Very Well Mind

Hopelessness, by definition, is the belief that things aren’t going to get better or that you can’t succeed.

Whether you feel hopeless about your ability to get out of debt or you feel hopeless about almost everything in life, it is an awful feeling.

Feeling stuck in a place of hopelessness makes life really tough.1Fortunately, there are some things you can do when you’re feeling hopeless to make life a bit better—no matter how bad things might seem.

Consider That Your Brain Might Be Lying to You

Your brain might tell you that things are awful, horrible, and dreadful. It may try to convince you that you can’t succeed or tell you that there’s no chance things are going to get better.

But just because you think it doesn’t mean it’s true. Your thoughts may be distorted, inaccurate, or downright wrong.

Hopeless feelings fuel hopeless thoughts. And it’s easy to get caught up in a negative cycle that makes it hard to see that things can get better.2

You might even think things like, “I’ve tried everything already and nothing works!” But that’s probably a cognitive distortion. You may have tried a few things—or even 10 things—but you likely haven’t tried everything.

At least be open to the idea that the way you’re thinking might not be accurate. There may be more hope than you imagine.

"The various psycho-educational testing Dr. Liz conducted on our son gave us critical clues about where his learning strengths and weaknesses lie so that his needs could be better addressed at home and school. Moreover, because of their warm, kindhearted personalities, both Dr. Liz and her associate, Stephanie, formed an immediate bond with my son. He eagerly looks forward to his weekly therapy sessions. We are so lucky Dr. Liz came into our family's lives when she did! For stressed-out families trying to help their children as best they can, she is a calming voice of reason!"
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"Dr. Matheis has an amazing ability to read kids and connect with them. She has been an invaluable resource for our family over the past several years and has helped us with everything from educational consulting, to uncovering diagnoses as well as family therapy. Working with Dr. Matheis never feels clinical and most importantly, our children love and trust her. We can not thank you enough Dr. Liz!"
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"My teenage son had been seeing Dr. Matheis through his senior year of high school, as he was only diagnosed with ADHD at 16 years old.  Dr. Matheis came highly recommended from our pediatrician and she has done wonders for our son as well as our family, navigating new ways for him to deal with his diagnosis without the use of medication.  She taught him ways to organize himself and even when something did not work for him, she patiently continued teaching him new ways to keep himself on track.  She has also helped us as parents to understand how his mind works so that we did not continue to blame his lack of focus on him, rather on his unique way of thinking.  Thank you Dr. Matheis!!!!"
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"Dr. Liz is the best! Our family was directed to her by our Pediatrician to assist with figuring out severe mood changes, severe anxiety, strange new fears and food aversion that had come onto one of our children literally overnight. After just a couple of visits, she suggested that the issues may actually be rooted in a physical issue and suggested we immediately take our child to be swabbed for strep, because Dr. Liz suspected PANDAS (a pediatric autoimmune disorder brought on by strep). The same Pediatrician that suggested Dr. Liz would not do the swab (they do not believe in PANDAS and we no longer go there) but I took my child to my doctor who did the swab and it was positive for strep. When our child went on antibiotics, within 24 hours all symptoms went away and our child was back :-) Dr. Liz then recommended a PANDAS specialist who helped us and our child is in complete remission and is happy and healthy. We are incredibly grateful to Dr. Liz for her knowledge of all things, even the most remote and unusual and for helping us so much! Thank you!"
- Anonymous
"The various psycho-educational testing Dr. Liz conducted on our son gave us critical clues about where his learning strengths and weaknesses lie so that his needs could be better addressed at home and school. Moreover, because of their warm, kindhearted personalities, both Dr. Liz and her associate, Stephanie, formed an immediate bond with my son. He eagerly looks forward to his weekly therapy sessions. We are so lucky Dr. Liz came into our family's lives when she did! For stressed-out families trying to help their children as best they can, she is a calming voice of reason!"
- Anonymous
"Thank you, Dr. Liz. Although we have told you countless times, it will never feel enough. You have listened when J could barely speak and continued to listen when he was sad, angry and confused. You've challenged him and directed us in our roles as parents. You've helped J face his fears while the list evolved and changed, and yet you've stayed committed to 'the course.' We pray that your children realize that time away from them is spent helping children learn and that vulnerability is a sign of strength and bravery."
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"My son was admitted to an Ivy League school when only 2 years ago, you assessed him and saw his struggles, his Dyslexia. We are grateful that he no longer has to carry that deep feeling of inadequacy or shame that must have kept him so self conscious and from reaching his potential. He has the PERFECT program for him. He has A's in high math and economics. He became a Merit Scholar, a Boys State legislature, the HEAD captain of the football team and help a job ALL while studying and managing his classes and disability. I am PROUD of you, a young doctor, who knows and sees the vulnerability of children and helps them recognize "it's NO big deal" God bless."
- Anonymous

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