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How to Help Protect Your Teen From Mental Health Disorders

Keeping Teens Safe


From their very first days, your mission as a parent has been to keep your children safe from harm. This involves taking proactive steps to ensure their safety and make sure they grow to understand the potential for negative consequences to their actions. It's so hard to know how to help protect your teen from mental health disorders. Protecting your children from harm is a lifelong job.




How to Help Protect Your Teen From Mental Health Disorders




Like many parents, you likely sought to accomplish this goal by teaching them good eating habits and how totake care of themselves physically. However, the mental challenges that children face, particularly when they

transition into their teenage years, might not have been on your radar quite as much.


It can be difficult for parents to understand the mental struggles that teenagers face in this day and age. Today, teens face a great deal of pressure to live up to a certain archetype and work hard to set themselves up for future success. That being said, from a mental and physical standpoint, teenagers are still developing, leaving them to face such pressures before they even really know who they are or what they want to do with their lives.


As a parent, the best thing that you can do for your teen is take a proactive stance on mental health. With mental health conditions on the rise in young people, and more and more teenagers turning to self-harm and even suicide, it is important for parents to step in and help teens to navigate the burden of this stage of their lives. If you're the parent of a teen, here are a few ways you can seek to protect your teens from developing a mental health condition.


Educate Yourself


First and foremost, the best thing you can do to help your teen avoid developing a mental health condition is

to educate yourself. Learning about the prevalent mental health conditions in teenagers and how to detect

early signs that an issue might be at play can go a long way to stopping the progression of a mental health

condition before things get out of hand.


It's also a good idea to learn about the treatment options available to teens who struggle with mental health disorders. Resources on specific conditions like anorexia and bulimia can be found at edentreatment.com Acquiring information from your family care physician can help you to learn more about the internal struggles that your teen might be facing.


Create a Positive Environment


With busy work and school weekdays, it can be difficult to make time for meaningful conversationsand time together as a family. However, one of the things parents can do to help teens avoid mental health

issues is to work to create a positive and safe environment. Checking in with your teen and leaving the door open for communication is key. Promote a positive sense of self and provide your teen with positive affirmation which can help combat outside pressures to change or act in a certain way that may not align with their personal ethics and morals. Positivity and a happy home life go a long way in helping children cope during the teen years.





Recommended Reading:


How to Protect Teens from Cyberbullying


Self Care is Key to a Healthy Family Life


Teen Mental Health Self Help Books  (Affiliate Link)







Snow Day Activities

 5 Snow Day Activities to Keep Your Kids Entertained


Snow days are basically the best thing ever for kids. What’s not to love about a random day off from school? For parents, though, seeing their child’s school scroll by on the list of closures during the morning news isn’t always such an exciting experience. Having the kids home on short notice can be stressful for lots of reasons. For some parents, arranging childcare is a huge challenge. Even for stay-at-home parents, having the little ones home unexpectedly isn’t always easy. Don’t let the next snow day get you down. Prepare yourself by checking out these snow day activities to keep your kids entertained.


“Snow day” written in fresh snow.


After a heavy snow, your kids will likely want to spend their morning sled riding or building snowmen. Once the chill sets in and they get tired of being outside, though, you can expect to listen to a chorus of “I’m bored” all afternoon. That is, unless you plan ahead and come up with some indoor activities in advance.


Activities for Snow Days


Bake Up Some Tasty Treats

Baking is always a fun way to warm up and pass the time when you are stuck indoors. Most kids love helping in the kitchen, and with proper supervision, baking is an activity that is fun (and rewarding) for kids of all ages.

There are all sorts of kid-friendly recipes for things like cookies, breads, cupcakes, etc. Pick out a few options and stock up on the supplies necessary to make them. Keep everything on hand and you’ll be prepared for the next snow day.

Baking with your kids is a great way to work on your holiday gift list, too. If a snow day falls prior to the holidays, spend the day making cookies and other goodies to share with your loved ones. The kids will have fun and you’ll get to check something off your holiday to-do list. Talk about a win-win!


Customize Clothing

Tubes of paint for clothes and t-shirt in tie dye style on a white wooden table. Flat lay.


Arts and crafts projects are the standard go-to when it comes to keeping kids entertained when they are stuck indoors. If you want to try something a bit different from the usual drawing, painting or stringing beads activities, though, consider stocking up on wholesale clothing. There are many ways to customize blank t-shirts and other apparel, and kids of all ages enjoy making their own wearable art.

Wholesale kids’ t-shirts are the perfect foundation for tie-dyeing, drawing, painting and much, much more. You can dye cotton t-shirts with food, use readily available dye kits, customize them with iron-on decals… The options are virtually endless.

Older tweens and teens can also use blank t-shirts and sweatshirts to make entirely new garments and accessories. They can transform t-shirts into purses, skirts, headbands and all sorts of other fun things. There are plenty of ways to give sweatshirts a makeover, too.


Build a Fort

Sometimes, the best activities are the tried and true classics. Chances are, you have your own happy memories of building a fort in your living room or bedroom when you were a kid. Why not help create those memories for your little ones, too?

You can keep things old school by building a fort by draping blankets over chairs and tables or making one out of a large cardboard box for a nostalgic feel. Or, if you want to be a bit more modern, there are now fort building kits that make things much easier. Whichever option you prefer, you and your kids will have a great time building and playing in a fort. You’ll also have a blast getting to see your little one’s imagination at work as they design their creation.


Read a Book Together

When the weather is cold and snowy and you are trapped indoors, you can escape to a place where the weather is a lot more pleasant (or simply doesn’t matter) by getting lost in a book. Consider picking up a few adventure books and tucking them away for the next snow day. Any genre works, but adventure books are great when you want to help your kids mentally escape for a little while.

Cuddle up on the couch with a soft, cozy blanket and read together. Put on your best performance to help your child feel like they are really in the story rather than just listening to it. You may find yourself getting lost in the book, too!


Have a Treasure Hunt


Kids playing treasure hunt graphic


Keep a special toy or treat on hand to surprise your child with when they are home on a snow day. Hide it and then create clues that they need to follow in order to solve it. Riddles are great for older kids. For younger kids, each clue can be something simple, like a picture of where they need to go next.

Putting together this type of scavenger hunt does take a bit of time and planning. If you are running short on time, you can make it a simple game of “hot” and “cold” instead. Tell your child that you have hidden a surprise, and when they are getting closer to it, tell them that they’re getting “warmer.” Tell them they’re getting “colder” if they move farther away from it.

If you have older and younger kids, ask your older child to hide the prize and draw a map that their sibling will then use to find it. As you can tell, there are all sorts of ways to have an indoor treasure hunt. Get creative with it!


The Bottom Line

Keeping your kids entertained when they are stuck at home doesn’t have to be difficult. With a little bit of creativity, you can come up with all sorts of snow day activities that will pass the time and keep you from having to listen to whining, arguing, etc. Look at a snow day as an opportunity for making family memories instead of as a burden. Changing your perspective will make it way easier to have fun with these unexpected days off rather than dreading them.


Recommended:

Games for Kids from Adventures of Kids Creative Chaos

Cool Snow Day Activities from Amazon

Fishy Crafts from Adventures of Kids Creative Chaos



6 Reasons You Should You Retrain as A Nurse

 6 Reasons You Should You Retrain as A Nurse


Whether you've homeschooled or attended public school, the field of nursing is a great profession to learn. In the past, not that long ago – once you had a job and were on a career path, you stuck with it. Essentially, jobs were for life, and changing wasn’t something that a lot of people did. If you worked in a store, you stayed a store worker. If you were a laborer, you remained a laborer. However, if you've ever thought about changing careers, now might just be the time to become a nurse!



This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.


Should you Become a Nurse?



Today, things have changed. We’re not even expected to think of our jobs as being for life, and evolving midway through our careers is something that more and more people are willing to do. After all, why be unhappy in your job when you could retrain as something else and start a career that makes you glad to be working and makes you feel as though you are truly contributing to society? 


Technology plays a big part in allowing us to do this. Not only does it mean we can research different careers and apply for new jobs, but if we need to learn how to do something, or we need additional qualifications, we can do that online too, often while we work at something else in the meantime. 


Nursing is one of the careers that people tend to want to go into later in their lives. Whether they have experienced being in a hospital and were impressed with their nursing care, or they liked the way nurses helped a friend or family member, or even if nursing was something that had always wanted to do. Still, their life circumstances meant they couldn’t do it at the time and have to try, later on, nursing is something that is always going to be there for you. 


Get a Guide to Becoming a Certified Nurses Assistant


Nursing is a rewarding career to go into, and if you're thinking of changing your career, this is a great career choice to move to; here are some of the reasons why. 


You Can Be A Nurse 

We need to be honest; although nursing is a fantastic career with many different prospects and areas to progress into, and much job satisfaction, it isn’t something that is going to work for everyone. There is shift work to consider, the job is hard, and you need to be a caring, compassionate person who wants to take care of other people. Not everyone can do this; it’s just not in their nature, and many people might feel uncomfortable and unhappy if they were to become a nurse. 


Learn How to Succeed in Nursing School


However, if you do have the kind of personality and skills that make for a good nurse, and you feel this is what you are meant to do with your life, then there aren’t many barriers to entry. This is a skilled role, but one that offers the chance to everyone who wants to take it to learn exactly what to do and how to do it. You do need to realize that it might take some time to gain the qualifications needed, especially if you're still working full time at your current job, but the fact you can study online means the choice is yours, and the career is open to everyone with the right mindset. 


The personality traits that will make for a good nurse include:

  • Patience

  • A willingness to learn

  • Being able to listen

  • Compassion

  • Organizational skills

  • Dedicated to the job

  • Able to cope with shift work 

  • Being good with people

  • Being physically fit 


So Much Choice 

The term ‘nurse’ is an overarching one that describes the profession as a whole but might not accurately describe exactly what it is you want to do as a career. This is because there are many different types of nurses and so much choice within this seemingly simple career. 


For example, if you love children, you can be a children’s nurse. The same is true if you want to work with senior citizens. There are trauma nurses and OR nurses. There are also different levels of nursing within each sector too. Each type of nurse must have a thick skin, be compassionate, and in a good state of mental health. Nursing can get depressing.


You might ask why become a nurse practitioner or look into other branches of nursing. This is something you can do, even if you're already working as a nurse or if you're changing your career. In either case, you can gain the additional qualifications needed and move across to a different area. In all, there are potentially dozens of different routes you can take when you have your nursing qualifications. 


It’s A Calling 

For some, even the thought of questioning the idea of whether nursing is the right thing to do or not wouldn’t cross their minds; it is simply something they know they have to do, and they'll fight hard to be able to do it. That’s because nursing is sometimes seen as ‘a calling.’ Essentially, this means that those people who feel like this know there is no other career they would be as good at or love as much, and even if it means earning less money or going back to school or rearranging their lives entirely, they'll do whatever it takes to become a nurse. 


However, what shouldn’t be allowed to happen – if we want to be as happy as possible, of course – is to pass up the opportunity to retrain as a nurse later in life when our circumstances change. At this point, your calling can finally be met, and the fact that you can train online and learn as much as possible in your spare time before you qualify is a wonderful idea that means you can now do anything you want, and it will never be too late to try. 


You’ll Have Plenty of Support 

If you're retraining at a later stage in life to become a nurse, you might feel worried or unsure about whether you're making the right choice or not. It can be scary to make such a big change, especially if you haven’t been working, or if your career has been something that doesn’t relate to nursing and caring for people at all. In this case, you might want to start out as a CNA, just to learn the ropes.


There will always be people around to support you. Ideally, some of this support will come from the people you already know, your family, and your friends. Still, if they are, for whatever reason, unsupportive there will be many others outside of your current circle who will look out for you and help you when you need assistance. These will likely be other people training at the same time as you, course leaders, and those who are keen to see you succeed in life. Those you train with and work with as nurses, will become lifelong friends.


With this kind of help and encouragement, you'll feel much more positive about making the changes you have to in life, and retraining to become the nurse; you always wanted to be. 


Every Day Is Different 

One of the things that can start to get people down when it comes to their current jobs is that every day is the same. Even down to the time they wake up in the morning, to the route, they take to work, to the tasks they carry out when they get there. Everything is the same, day in and day out. It's like the movie, Groundhog Day.


This can be comforting, and for some, it is the ideal situation, but this is not the best thing for everyone. For those who don’t enjoy routine work, it can make every day extremely boring, causing them to ultimately be miserable and unfulfilled in their work and their lives. 


If this is the case for you, it will make sense to retrain as a nurse instead. Every day as a nurse is going to be completely different from the next, and you'll never feel bored. The truth is, whether you are working in a hospital, a clinic, a doctor’s office, or you go out into the community to see people in their homes, you just never know what you will get from one patient to the next. It is a stimulating, interesting, fascinating job that allows your body and mind to work. Add to this the immense feeling of job satisfaction that you'll get, and the idea of retraining to become a nurse will seem even better than ever. 


You, Will, Make A Difference

Perhaps the biggest reason that people choose to become nurses either through retraining or from the start of their working lives is how much of a difference you will make to people. If you think back to any time you have ever been in the hospital, it will have been a nurse who gave you the most comfort and help, and a nurse who was able to make a difference to your life and your health, whether you had something seriously wrong with you, or it was a minor ailment. 


It feels amazing to make a difference in someone’s life, in whatever way, big or small. You might also consider a career as an Activities Assistant in a long-term care facility. Some of these positions require you to hold a CNA license, but you get the added enjoyment of entertaining seniors in their last years of life. You can honestly make lives so much better; why wouldn’t you want to retrain as a nurse knowing that? 



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How to Get More Traffic to Website: Traffic Secrets

Traffic at a Standstill?


This is a sponsored post. #ad Are you stuck in the eternal flow of social media? Do you have a blog, website, or other social media pages to sell a product or service? After you've exhausted all ideas, is your traffic still at a standstill? If so, you've probably searched for how to get more traffic to your website. It seems like an uphill battle. Okay, it is an uphill battle, but persistence and perseverance pay off.



how to get more traffic to website: traffic secrets


I've been working the 30 day challenge in this book by Russell Brunson, Traffic Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Filling Your Websites and Funnels with Your Dream Customers. Let me just say, it may feel overwhelming, but that's what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the crowd. The past few years, I've slowed down on my personal endeavors. They've taken a backseat to the digital marketing that I do for other brands and businesses. I've got a keen eye for what needs to get done, but when it comes to doing it for myself, I don't always accomplish those goals. Reading this book has been the kick in the pants I needed to get motivated. 



Traffic at a Standstill?


The first thing I noted was it felt like work. It felt like stuff I don't really want to do. Ugh. If that's you and you can't find the motivation, this method isn't for you. However, you should kick yourself in the pants and just get it done. Even if you do only a portion of what's been explained in the book, it will motivate you to set new goals. I hadn't posted every day on any social media platform, for years. YEARS! It was clearly time to make a change. For me, this 30 day challenge helped me overcome some fears. I posted several times a day nothing bad happened. In fact, my social media pages, particularly Facebook, started getting more engagement. More. Not less. More! Social media sites like it when we're active. Even if you're just talking to yourself everyday, post something valuable to help build that engagement score.



Russell Brunson Book Reading



Russell Brunson is doing all the things I dreamed of doing! Book signings, podcasts, videos, and most importantly, selling books! For me, the goal of more traffic is to reach my target audience and sell more books! I love to write and create content for kids, but it can be difficult to attract the right audience to your website and even more difficult to attract them to make a purchase. That's where your dream 100 comes into play. In Traffic Secrets, Russell Brunson details what it takes to work with your dream 100. The first step is to identify who they are so you need to make a list. Once you've got that list, you need to work it. Find ways to connect with your dream 100. Make sure your dream 100 knows who you are! You can read all about it in his book, Traffic Secrets.






By completing the Traffic Secrets 30-day challenge, you'll learn the strategies you need to increase your site traffic. You've probably already got a great product or service ready to go, you just those customers! If you've yet to create a product to sell, you need to get on that. 

Here are some of my products:


I sell my products anywhere I can! In his book, Brunson mentions how important it is to have an affiliate army. Get other people (your dream 100) to mention your books and sell them on their websites. Set them up as affiliates so that they earn a little for each book sale. After reading his book, I discovered that I really need to focus more on building my tribe. First thing I plan to do is set up an affiliate marketing program for other book bloggers. In this latest book Traffic Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Filling Your Websites and Funnels with Your Dream Customers, entrepreneur Russell Brunson reveals the classic and foundational direct marketing techniques that will allow you to be at the front of new trends and see opportunities that are invisible to everyone else. Having an affiliate army is a huge piece of the puzzle.

Russell Brunson is a Best-Selling Author & CEO of the $100M software company ClickFunnels. If you've started any digital marketing, you've probably heard of funnels. Everyone needs a funnel! He has built a following of over a million entrepreneurs, sold hundreds of thousands of copies of his books and popularized the concept of sales funnels. Basically, you need a funnel where you have all sorts of marketing efforts pointing to your landing page or the page where you sell your product or service. You drop links to this page preferably through other great online and personalities, and they all funnel in one direction, which drives sales of your product or service. There's an online adage, "work smarter not harder." However, if you can work smarter and harder, you'll find success in your entrepreneurial endeavors. 

There's no time like the present, be sure to pick up your copy of Traffic Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Filling Your Websites and Funnels with Your Dream Customers and start your 30 day challenge today!


#TrafficSecrets 
#RussellBrunson 



 



My call to action:  Your kids have been cooped up for too long! Be sure to get your copy of my Summer Camp Handbook! 5 theme weeks of science experiments, recipes, exercises, games, and activities to enrich your lives!







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Treating the Gut to Improve Autism Spectrum Disorders

Gut Health and Autism



It is true that autism is generally not curable, but in most cases, people try different therapies to improve autism spectrum disorders. Therapies like occupational therapy, speech therapy, and applied behavioral analysis are the most common ways to treat autism and reduce the effects of autism, but treating the gut can help too!



Gut Health and Autism


This GUEST POST contains Amazon and other affiliate links. The information in this post is not written by a medical doctor, be sure to contact your physician before starting any new treatments.


Is anything more important for autism than brain foods? Yes, some foods like fatty fish, milk, egg, nuts, chocolates, and others may help the brain develop and increase its functionality. However, that is also challenging as many autistic children have weakened digestive health and may suffer from irritable bowel syndrome.


Why do many children with autism suffer from weakened gut conditions? Our brains have strong correlations with the gut. Autism can impair brain and gut development. Improving the gut can improve brain development, meaning alleviation from some of the symptoms of autistic spectrum disorder and other sensory processing disorders



Gut Treatments for Autism

There are many suggested treatments for improving gut function. Below are some popular options for autism that you may want to try.



1. Use of Probiotics and Prebiotics

Probiotics are good bacteria that aid our digestion and improve the immune system. Some of the common beneficial bacteria include bifidobacteria, lactobacilli, and saccharomycetes. Autism probiotics are an effective treatment since the good bacteria kills the bad ones and helps provide more helpful benefits for the gut. 


On the other hand, prebiotics are food components that boost growth to these beneficial bacterias in the gut. Probiotics are common in food items like kimchi, kefir, miso, and yogurt, while prebiotics is common in items like garlic, onions, bananas, asparagus, leeks, and more. 


Regular use of probiotics and prebiotics may improve leaky gut and prepare the body to accept all different kinds of foods. Studies have found improved gut condition increases neurotransmitter production and helps boost brain functions.


2. Focus on Diets

Because of impaired guts, children suffering from ASD often face mineral and vitamin deficiencies. Also, the lack of fiber can worsen gut imbalance and often contributes to leaky gut symptoms. Many children on the spectrum are sensitive to proteins like gluten and casein in their diet.


To overcome these hurdles, parents often put their children on a ketogenic diet. It is a common belief that a keto diet gives children with austim foods that are rich with omega-3 fatty acids. Foods like sardines, tuna, salmon, flaxseed, chia seed, and walnuts are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Some also try dark chocolate to help enhance brain functionality. 


3. Antibiotics 

Under a physician's prescription, some try antibiotics like vancomycin but that is usually only for extreme cases. Antibiotics can wipe the gut of both good and bad bacteria leaving negative consequences. As children with autism have more bad bacterias over good ones, trying antibiotics can alleviate some conditions like chronic diarrhea. 


Always consult a doctor for the best therapeutic dose of any medication or herbal remedy. Some people also try antibiotics and probiotics together. In such a case, try fermented products like curd, yogurt, or kefir to help balance gut bacteria.


4. Fecal Transplant

Fecal transplant sounds absolutely bizarre to anyone who is reading it for the first time, but the concept is to transplant fecal material into the GI tract of the patient. This allows a complete shift of microbiome to a recipient without hurting anyone's digestive system. 


5. Microbiota Transfer Therapy

This is a new solution where patients use antibiotics to clear their gut. After clearing their gut, the patient is put on high-dose, standard human gut microbiota for several weeks. This not only improve GI symptoms, but it can also normalize gut microbiomes to that of healthy individuals. 


Try Probiotics over Others

Though we have discussed some possible treatments, most of the options require a physician's help. A diet plan doesn't work well with conditions like diarrhea, and you may also need to consult a nutritionist. These days, there's a lot of focus on probiotics that you can use at home to help your child to improve their gut problems which may, in turn, help improve their autism symptoms.


For most people, probiotics have no major side effects outside of mild gas and bloating. Some of the best benefits of probiotic use include:


1. Probiotics help the body fight cold and flu viruses.

2. Probiotics can boost vitamin B12 in our body, resulting in more energy.

3. Probiotics are helpful in maintaining the ideal body weight.

4. Probiotics can boost the immune system naturally.

5. Probiotics can help eliminate bad breath.


Probiotic Strains and Autism

When it comes to probiotics, people often recommend yogurt, fruits like bananas, mangoes, papayas, and herbs like peppermint and fennel. These foods can help to grow all good bacteria in your gut. The question is which strains of bacteria are good for people with autism? 


Studies have shown that two of the best probiotic strains to help in IBS and autism are bifidobacterium and lactobacillus. Using these with probiotic-rich foods can have synergistic effects to help improve gut functions.


Besides that, lactobacillus reuteri showed promising results in improving social behaviors in kids with autism. A study conducted in Texas found this strain of bacteria to release more oxytocin and improve the social behavior in children with autism. No wonder it can heal gut problems too. Using this form of probiotics also showed a wide array of health benefits including myoskeletal maintenance, improved metabolism, wound healing, and more.


Bacteroid fragilis is also beneficial for kids with autism. A study from the California Institute of Technology found this strain has the unique ability to penetrate the mucus layer and embed itself to repair the intestinal cell lining, which is a big bonus to anyone suffering from leaky guts. 


Things to Avoid with Probiotics

Though probiotics have no major side effects, it's prohibited for post-cardiac surgery patients, patients with bloody stools like hematochezia or melena, patients with pancreatic disorders, and infants. Other than that, anyone with a severely weakened immune system should consult with a doctor before taking probiotics or any other over the counter remedies. 


The Bottom Line

It's been proven that there's a strong correlation between our brains and our guts. If you can fix either of them, the other one will likely react to that positive feedback. When it comes to autism, this correlation is a key part of further study to lessen the effects and work toward a cure. 


You'll likely see significant behavioral changes, improved social interactions, and a big margin of improvement in your child’s learning abiity with gut treatment. In short, treating the gut can result in a better lifestyle for anyone suffering from autism spectrum disorder. 



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