by Minette Riordan
A staycation is when you stay home instead of going away. Whether money is tight, time is short or you just don’t like to fly and road trips make you crazy, a “staycation” can be a fun alternative. Here are a few tips on how to make the most out of your spring break staycation.
It is so important to show kids we love them every day of the year. While many of these we do naturally, we might not do them often enough or sometimes we just need to vary our routine and go the extra step to show our own children and the children we meet how special and unique they are!
You will notice that some of the ideas on this list apply to all children we know, not just our own. Whether you are a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, friend, caregiver or teacher you can have an impact on a child with any one of the ideas on this list. Children thrive when they are reminded of how much they are loved and valued, not just by their parents but by others in their lives as well.
A woman I know named Mary had a teen son with anxiety issues. Things escalated with him and he began to refuse to go to school. Eventually, he was placed in an outpatient program through a psychiatric hospital and also attended group sessions with other anxious kids. His life improved and he returned to school. However, a few months later he began skipping school again. The woman decided to get some help for herself. After learning some important things she began to realize that she had been contributing to her son’s anxiety issues. Mary was able to see that she had always seen her son as ‘fragile’ and treated him that way. She had ‘let him off the hook’ over and over again throughout his life, thinking he was incapable of being responsible, towing the line, learning from his mistakes. Her vision of him was a weak one, and it was very perceptible to him and others. Therefore, his vision of himself was a weak one, creating lots and lots of anxiety within his psyche.
