31 January 2014

From Spouse to Caregiver

The following was written by my mother on The Alzheimer Society of Canada website

The Beginning of Love is the Courtship 
Then the Engagement VOW "Will you marry me?" 
Then the Wedding VOWS 
"To have and to hold; to cherish and love and honour one another, 
in wealth and in poverty, in sickness and health." 

And that is when a spouse turns into a Caregiver. 

Did he know at the courtship that he might one day be changing my depends? 
Did he know at the wedding that he would have to do all the driving and the cooking as I no longer can. 

I wonder would he take those same VOWS again? 

Yet I already see the answer - in the tender looks, in the nurturing. 
The Caregiver loves me more than the Spouse.

29 January 2014

The Importance of Timing

In one of my favourite BYU Speeches, Dallin H. Oaks shared this story to emphasize the importance of timing:

...One university president had come to the end of his period of service, and another was just beginning. As a gesture of goodwill, the wise outgoing president handed his young successor three sealed envelopes. “Hold these until you have the first crisis in your administration,” he explained. “Then open the first one, and you will find some valuable advice.” 
It was a year before the new president had a crisis. When he opened the first envelope, he found a single sheet of paper on which were written the words “Blame the prior administration.” He followed that advice and survived the crisis. 
Two years later he faced another serious challenge to his leadership. He opened the second envelope and read: “Reorganize your administration.” He did so, and the reorganization disarmed his critics and gave new impetus to his leadership. 
Much later the now-seasoned president encountered his third major crisis. Eagerly he opened the last envelope, anticipating the advice that would provide the solution for his troubles. Again he found a single sheet of paper, but this time it read, “Prepare three envelopes.” It was time for new leadership.

28 January 2014

Sesame Street gets healthy food makeover


I sometimes have a reaction to Sesame Street changing, especially when I see the Cookie Monster not eating a cookie! Because sometimes I think a show can't influence our eating habits that much. But it seems that what our favourite characters eat does influence what we eat, as this CBC article suggests. And then I am reminded of the marketing success by McDonald's where children find food wrapped in the McDonald's wrapper (compared to the original or plain packaging of the snacks) six times better!

25 January 2014

22 January 2014

iGadgets class at COTR Kimberley Campus

I am teaching an iGadgets class at College of the Rockies Kimberley Campus on January 29th.

The description is:

Do you have an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch? Get the most out of your device with this course that
will teach you new functions, applications and answer all your "i" questions.  Time will be
divided equally between instructor lead learning and student driven tutorial time.  Please bring
your fully charged i device.

19 January 2014

Kids teased in PE exercise less a year later


Maybe this is a contributing factor to social anxiety, which usually an early indicator that I have observed, is refusal to go to gym. But being teased in gym is correlated with having a lower perceived state of well-being and quality of life (looking at physical, mental, emotional and social).

Read the release of the study here.

18 January 2014

Children with Autism take longer to combine sights and sounds

As "the results" says:
Children with autism had a longer window of time within which they combined sights and sounds, says lead study author Mark Wallace, director of Vanderbilt's University's Brain Institute. It took about twice as long for them to connect the dots, compared to typically developing children.

Read the full article here.

16 January 2014

Kelty Mental Health’s Tool Kit For Families

healthy living

Kelty Mental Health has a toolkit for families that looks at: Health Eating, Being Together, Managing Stress, and Healthy Sleep. There is a website that has all the information on it, or you can download the pdf.

15 January 2014

OHEA Media Release: Happy 2014 to Family Farmers

The following is a release from OHEA. Written by Mary Carver PHEc.

The United Nations (UN) has declared 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming. The proclamation aims to increase awareness of the importance of family farming in addressing world issues such as poverty, food security and protection of the environment.

The goal of the declaration is to ‘reposition family farming at the centre of agricultural, environmental and social policies in national agendas.’ The UN hopes that it will spur discussion at local, national and international levels of governments. The decree includes both developing and developed countries, including Canada.

The UN defines family farming as ‘all family-based agricultural activities, and it is linked to several areas of rural development. Family farming is a means of organizing agricultural, forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture production which is managed and operated by a family and predominantly reliant on family labour, including both women’s and men’s.’According to the UN website, family farming is important for three main reasons:

  • it is linked to world food security;
  • it promotes balanced diets and helps protect biodiversity; and 
  • it promotes strong local economies when coupled with other policies which serve to protect the well-being of communities.

The Ontario Home Economics Association (OHEA) supports the UN focus on the family farm and trusts the special recognition will translate into improved public understanding of the role family farms play in society.
While each generation seems farther removed from the farm that produces it’s food, Home Economists understand the plight of farmers as they struggle to compete in global markets against rising costs and climate challenges. OHEA applauds the commitment that local farmers make to future generations and to the environment.

Too often as consumers, we take food security for granted.

14 January 2014

Dealing with toddlers biting


11 January 2014

Therapy helps children and youth with chronic migraines

It turns out that CBT also helps with migraines. Children and Youth participated in 10 sessions of CBT therapy, and after 20 weeks the amount of headaches per month reduced by 11.5 days!

10 January 2014

1 in 6 Dad’s don’t live with kids

While I find the stat sad, that 1 in 6 dads don’t have their children living with them, I do find the notion, as mentioned later in the article, that Dad’s who live with their young kids are six times more likely to be engaged and involved.

But at the same time, don’t take living with them for granted.

Dr. Victor Fornari said the following:

"Fathers do matter. You can have a profound impact on your child's life, even if you're not living with them. If you are living with them, be sure that you're actively engaged. Just being present isn't enough. Make sure you have dinner with your kids. I understand people have busy schedules, but if you don't have time for dinner together most nights, when do you have time to interact?"

08 January 2014

8 tips to find meaning at work

From the Huffington Post they shared these 8 tricks to find meaning at work:

  • Contributions beyond yourself
  • Learning
  • Accomplishment
  • Status
  • Power
  • Belonging to a community
  • Agency
  • Autonomy