Are you still thinking about that New Year’s resolution you made? Are your kids (and you) slipping into their old habits? Not to worry – mamawolfe is delighted to have guest writer Jessica Socheski share her ideas about healthy families!

Every January, the number one New Year’s resolution is to get back in shape. After the months of holiday indulgence it only seems natural to start the New Year off right with workout routines and new diets.

Instead of doing this resolution alone, why not include the entire family? Children need to practice healthy habits in order to maintain health in adulthood, so why not make health a family affair?

Family Physician

One of the first steps towards improving family wellness is to find a good family doctor. A great doctor will take an interest in every family member and take the time to know your clan. Having a family practitioner who is good with children will help kids feel comfortable when receiving shots, visiting for check-ups, or receiving emergency medical attention.

Because kids need regular check-ups to ensure healthy growing, developing a personal relationship with your physician seems ideal because you will be interacting with him or her on a regular basis. When finding a family physician, consider traditional insurance coverage and alternatives like concierge medicine which tends to provide more private primary healthcare.

Make Mealtime Fun

Many times families spend more time eating on-the-go from fast food restaurants than they do in their own kitchens. No matter how many nutritious offering a restaurant boasts on its menu, cooking at home almost always proves better at delivering healthier food and better family relationships.

In order to make mealtime fun, invite your kids to cook with you in the kitchen. Spend time each weekend looking over healthy and relatively simple recipes. After selecting a few to choose from, ask the kids to pick the meals for the week. Your children will feel involved in the process and, as a result, will probably be more likely to eat the healthy food on their plates because they asked for it.

Bring the kids to the grocery store, too. Most parents dislike shopping with their children because it seems like too much of a hassle. Avoid the junk aisles when shopping with kids, and allow them to select whatever they want to eat from the healthy aisles. This is another practical step to involving children in your family’s new healthy lifestyle.

Finally, make sure meals are eaten together. Do not let life’s busyness interfere with enjoying this essential time with your children.

Family Night

Designate one night a week as family night. Family health is not just physical health; it includes mental and relational health as well. Spending at least one night a week together without homework, work, chores, and other interfering tasks can improve a family’s overall mentality. Children naturally want to spend time with their parents, but if this happens rarely, families will grow apart.

Outdoor Adventures

Another great way to pursue health together is to spend time exercising as a family. Kids learn the most from your example. So spending family days biking together, hiking, walking, or playing sports will teach children to stay healthy through fun exercise. And these activities will also serve as team builders between you and your kids.

As a parent, there is nothing more important than the well-being of your family. Focus on improving the areas that are lacking in mental and physical health and turn 2014 into the year of total wellness.

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Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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Health (Photo credit: Tax Credits)

In the current economy, most industries are shrinking instead of expanding as the stock market indices would have the public believe. However, there are numerous Baby Boomers who are in great need of top notch private care. They can also afford this care and will pay a premium for individuals with the right kind of education and skill set. In the event that government administration such as HIPAA does not appeal to you, then you can go into the private market as long as you are not afraid to relocate. There are such a large number of chances in terms of finding a job in the field of health that everybody can definitely find something.

However, you must first have the right kind of degree: an online MPH.

Are you looking for a change? There is one definite industry that is expanding and will continue to do so for the next few decades: public health. Obamacare virtually assures a need for more government bureaucracy when it comes to health. The government is also requiring the vast majority of practicing doctors in the country to conform to an entirely new set of administrative standards. Most doctors simply do not have the time to make the necessary changes themselves. They are in desperate need of individuals who understand medical administration and government oversight.

These are exactly the skills that an online public health administration Master’s degree program will teach its students. Upon graduation, a student will be able to immediately go into a private office and keep it up to code or move into the government to help administrate the huge program that is Obamacare.

Baby Boomers with no family are also in great need of individuals with high levels of medical and administrative skills to tend to their needs. If a student is ready to move to certain areas of the country, especially large, metropolitan areas, then they will definitely have their choice of employment when it comes to public health.

There are additional advantages to getting a public health degree. The program itself is much less expensive as well as less time consuming than many other programs that are after the undergraduate level. Also, no program has the ability to assure more of an opportunity at a job immediately coming out of school like the field of public health.

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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Guest post by Judy R.

Although acupuncture has been a proven method of treatment for a variety of problems for thousands of years across countless cultures, its potential is just now being recognized in the mainstream world of western medicine. Now that the research is being conducted, people can look at the actual numbers. There are dozens of reports that quantify the level of improvement in patients suffering from back pain when they are treated with acupuncture. Research published in “Focus On Alternative and Complementary Therapies” also documents the significant results that patients suffering from osteoarthritis of the knee experience through acupuncture. The evidence is mounting, and people are beginning to wake up to the realities of this form of treatment.

The list of conditions that acupuncture can significantly treat is fairly comprehensive. Everything from arthritis to asthma is treatable through the right acupuncture techniques. Patients have also sought this method of treatment for infertility, stress, chronic fatigue, and as a counter to the side effects of chemotherapy. The most common reason that people seek out an acupuncturist is for the treatment of chronic pain. In most cases, they have tried everything else that they can think of with no real results. Pooled data from people participating in research studies across the nation shows that nearly 18,000 people seeking relief from chronic pain in some form are able to obtain some degree of relief.

A large number of patients choose to use acupuncture treatments in conjunction with other conventional forms of medical treatment.Acupuncture has been shown to boost the effectiveness of some medications and aid in allowing patients to heal faster. In the case of depression and anxiety, some patients respond better to acupuncture than to large doses of medications. From severe illnesses to small issues with bodily comfort, acupuncture has been shown to play a role in providing relief. Brazilian research indicates that acupuncture procedures can alleviate heart burn and indigestion in pregnant women.

In order to achieve these kinds of results, however, people must visit a Board Certified practitioner in their area. These specialists have the training and the experience necessary to apply the treatments correctly and effectively. Because so many of the treatments tend to work well with pregnancy and the female physiology, many practitioners will specialize in women’s health. By visiting “http://www.acupuncturecure.com/,” you can further explore the possibilities that acupuncture has to offer. You can hear from a specialist, and start your life down a healthy path that is guided by natural and comprehensive caring.

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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I’m feeling depleted. As much as the rich brown earth of my backyard garden is bursting with new green growth on the rose bushes, brilliant red and yellow tulips, and creamy white fragrant freesias, my mind and my heart are drained. Dwindling. In need of refueling.

Freesia Photo by Jean Tosti License GFDL

The last several months have depleted me, left me questioning – often those big sticklers, like, Am I really doing the job I’m meant to do, and Is this right and fair and just, and what can I do about it?

I definitely have moments of extreme despair as I watch things that I love dissolve in front of me. I’ve watched injustices before my eyes, children confused at the choices other adults have made, and I must remain painfully silent.

I don’t like to be silent. I grew out of that years ago.

As I stuff the reasons back inside, the depletion festers and stirs and sometimes erupts in rage, fear and indignation.  It feels unsettled. Unfair. Sad.

My mind spins it around and around until I’m dizzy with the thought of it all. Logic, rationales and what seems to me to be ‘right’ is losing to…what is wrong. Illogical. Irrational.

My heart-it cracks. It oozes with the pain of relationships built purposefully over time, suddenly tossed into the turbulence of what someone else thinks should happen. It blends into a muddle of someone else’s perspective, someone else’s control.

The silence depletes me.

june (Photo credit: the past tends to disappear)

I tell myself that it really will be ok. That this is temporary, and in June I will breathe again. I can tell the real truth about what pushes me deeper and deeper into introspection and despair. I tell myself to listen, to watch, and to look for openings for light to shine through. I know now to look for change, for help, for a guide to lead me out of this moment and into a new space.

I tell myself to be patient, and that surely truth will show itself.

But the silence. It slows my breathing. I clutch the pillow to my chest, exhale, stretch, and really feel it. I feel it engulf me, slow me down, and surprisingly, give me a moment of hope.

My hope grows in the sunshine, in the vibrant pinks of the primrose, still fighting to share their fading beauty. It grows in the dusky red pansies planted in stone pots, their faces following the sun. And the iris, strong, tall and majestic, who remind me that beauty comes from deep within, despite the conditions.

In the silence I hear the doves calling to their partner, the dog barking in the distance, and the call from my son announcing he’s home. At least one of my questions has been answered.

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Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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Sitting in a karate dojo may not be the best writing environment for calling forth the creative spirit.  But it’s where I am for the next hour, and time is precious. Nine black belts gather on the bright red and black mat, geared for battle with padded sticks, thick, protective gloves and head gear that rivals any major league baseball catcher’s. Silently, they listen. Quietly, I watch, my fingers clicking the keyboard in opposition to their stick staccato.

I watch the instructor lead the class through drills that require intense hand/eye coordination, quick reflexes, and serious concentration to avoid a beating. “Don’t look away-stare your opponent in the eye,” the teacher directs. My son’s cat-like reflexes make it appear effortless, but I know better. I see what’s going on behind his stare.

I envy his ability to block out all distractions and focus on one seemingly simple act of snapping a stick towards his opponent. He’s not stressed out about the English homework left behind on his desk, or the piano practice he has to do when he gets home. He throws himself into the moment, fully present for the hour of training. I’m having trouble getting in my groove. Distractions abound in this place.

For me, being fully present in my environment is essential for creating, and while I find inspiration in the world around me, today the words come slowly. The train whistle, the beat of the funk music and the chants from the students across the hall challenge my focus and complicate my thoughts. I can’t concentrate. The words swirl. I need silence. Escape.

I could walk to my car-that’s always a quiet, controlled space for me-but that’s not politically correct in the parenting world. I could put in earplugs, but then how would I follow along with the class? Perhaps I should just sit with my notebook, jotting down words, thoughts, and inspiration that comes to mind…

They’ve moved to knife defense now. The instructor carefully tosses directions to his students. Tighter grip. Looser grip. Crowd the upper arm. Don’t let him wiggle out or get his posture back. Nice and smooth. It’s not about bending your arm 90 degrees in the wrong direction.

As I gaze down at my screen, I suddenly realize what I’m doing wrong: I’m bending in the wrong direction. I’m filling my days to the brim, looking for any moment to spill my thoughts. I’m immobilizing myself, keeping a tight grip on all the parts of my day instead of keeping it smooth. I want to capture it all, to not miss a moment. I’m bent over, poorly postured, no wiggle room. I’m not present in my now. I’m the epitome of multi-tasking. I’m the sucker walking down the dark alley, unaware of the danger lurking behind me.

I’m my own worst opponent here. I’m a sure target for being taken down. I have no self-defense.

The drills stop, and the students line up for last words. Today, it’s a motivational quote. Something by Winston Churchill – maybe “Never, never, never give up.” I’m not 100% sure. I’m listening, watching, writing, and only part-way there. Maybe that’s just the quote that comes to mind-my creative muse sending me a message after all, perhaps.

I’d better listen up and learn how to get myself out of this one – before it’s too late.

More life lessons from a 13-year-old.

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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