Community Connection
Helpful tips during stressful times.
BUILDING A CHILD’S
SELF-ESTEEM AT HOME
Take Healthy Risks
Develop Competence
Set Realistic Goals
Earn Praise
Help at Home
Make Choices
Unconditional Love
COVID-19 FAMILY BONDING
Before March, many family’s schedules were filled with activities, often eating dinner on the run and seldom all together. Many of our families that we work with at CCFS have reported that one of the benefits of COVID-19 and social distancing is the fact that the family is closer, and they communicate more. Here are a few ideas to use this precious time as family bonding time:
Re-establish the old fashion game night. Yes, drag out the Monopoly board, Game of Life or a deck of cards, sit around and play games together.
Eat dinner together and have each member of the family ask a question that everyone must answer. You will be amazed how much you can learn about each other.
Work on a project together like yard work, cleaning the garage or planting a new flower bed. It will give a sense of pride to see the job finished and it resulted in teamwork.
Have all members of the family help plan a menu for the week and each gets to cook a part of the meal.
Together, think of a way you can support a neighbor or someone in the community by taking them food, making them cards of encouragement or just calling someone who is lonely. It will help your children learn the sense of giving back and thinking of helping the community.
Have a movie night, popcorn included, or go out and look at the stars together.
Have a campout in your living room. Build a tent, light a candle, and sing songs around your pretend campfire.
Above all, just enjoy this time together! You and your children will have wonderful memories to share about these few months for a lifetime.
AVOIDING THE COVID “20” - TIPS TO AVOID OVEREATING!
Take a look at the grocery stores and you’ll see that people are walking out with baskets filled with chips, cookies, and bottles of wine. Many people are feeling their clothes getting tighter and tighter as social distancing continues. Here are a few tips on how to avoid those extra 20 pounds.
Ask yourself as you approach the pantry, “Am I really hungry or am I just eating because I am bored, stressed, depressed or any other emotion that you can name?” If so, get out of the kitchen and find something to do a call/FaceTime a friend!
Avoid buying that special “treat” food that is high calorie. It is one thing to do that once a month but not a great idea to do it daily for 2 months.
Make up a weekly menu. This will help you plan healthy meals and reduce your trips to the grocery store.
Avoid drinking excess alcohol during this time at home. Reports show that alcohol sales are up. People who used to be weekend social drinkers may start treating every night as the weekend.
Avoid snacking between meals. Make sure you have healthy snacks in the house and minimize all the high calorie snacks like candy, chips, and cookies.
This could be the time for you to get in shape and lose weight. Many of us have a more flexible schedule now and time to take long walks, lift a few weights at home or do some abdominal crunches while watching the nightly news, With a little planning, you could come out of social isolation ready for all those summer clothes and feeling fit!
BUDGETING TIPS DURING COVID-19
What to Prioritize:
Your Bills and Spending
Get Realistic Understanding of your Current Spending
Set Savings and Debt Payoff Goals
Be Aware of Scams and Fraud
Determine Wants Versus Needs
Cut Out Non-Essentials
Stay safe by staying within a realistic budget.
FAMILY STRESS TIPS DURING COVID-19
Families are spending a lot of time together right now and we want to share some tips to keep things positive, calming and stress-free!
🌿 Practice Calming Techniques: When we get triggered, and our anger/stress is escalating, there are things we can do to calm our bodies down in the moment. Deep slow breaths will slow our heart and calm our bodies down. Looking up with our eyeballs activates the calming part of the brain (if you are spiritual, it is a two for one!) Open relaxed hands calms our nervous system (closed tight hands increases anger.) Engage the thinking part of your brain - this disengages the emotional part. Count backwards from 60, name every model of car you can think of, choose a fun word for each letter of the alphabet.
🌿 Focus on the Positive: What is good about the family? What do you appreciate? What are you learning? Can I give someone the benefit of the doubt in these times? Speak positive energy into the environment. There should be 5 positives coming out of our mouths for every 1 negative because negativity does so much more damage than positivity does healing. Whatever we think about gets bigger - think about what is right, positive, and good.
🌿 Practice Mindfulness: Be present. When we are anxious we are in tomorrow (what if, what might happen, what if, what if….) When we are depressed we are in yesterday (what should have happened, I can’t believe that happened.) When we are in the here and now we cannot be anxious or depressed. Drop back in your body, into today. Name 5 things you see, 4 things you hear, 3 thins you feel (clothes on your skin, the floor under your feet, air on your face, etc.), 2 things you smell, 1 thing you tast. When we are in tomorrow or yesterday we actually miss today!
MENTAL HEALTH STRESS TIPS DURING COVID-19
Get Some Fresh Air: Social distancing doesn’t mean you can’t get some personal space outdoors! Take a walk on the beach or your neighborhood. Sut on your front porch & take some deep breaths.
Embrace Your Hobbies: Never have time to do the things you love? Maybe you do now. Picking up your hobbies can be soothing to your mental health. Maybe it’s knitting, fishing, drawing, whatever! Pick up that project that has been neglected, and go for it!
Take Short Breaks: It’s easy to get overwhelmed right now. You may be working from home, homeschooling, or our of work due to the COVID-19 situation. If you are starting to feel overwhelmed, take a short break, take some deep breaths, and do something that will shift your focus for a bit.
Stay Active: Keeping busy takes your mind off worrying. Sure, it feels good to lay around in your pjs, but that can take a toll on your mood after a while. Work of some projects around the house, organize that closet that’s a mess, read a book, play a game with the kids, watch a workout video on YouTube. Staying active and busy will help your overall mood.
Stay Connected: Social distancing doesn’t mean you can’t stay in contact with friends digitally. Call or message a friend, or have a video chat with the girls. Catch up with a family member you have not had time to connect with in the past. Staying connected helps us remember, we’re not in this alone!
Take a Break from News and Social Media: Watching and reading all the info on COVID-19 will make your more anxious. If you have kids, consider explaining the situation to them in a way where they do not feel scared or anxious. Protect them from knowing too much fightening information about the virus.
Reflect on Thankfulness: Situations like the one we’re in are difficult, and can lead to extensive complaining and worrying. Try to flip it, and think of the positive instead. We take a lot for granted, such as having toilet paper on the shelves, and being able to hug a friend. Research shows that being thankful helps increase our overall mood. Make a list of the things you are thankful for, and it will shift how you feel.