Tag: parents

7 Ways for Millennial Parents to Focus on Their Health in 2022

The pandemic has been hard on all Millennial parents. In a 2020 survey, 97% of Millennial moms stated they feel burned out from Covid-19. 

It has created drastic changes in the ways moms and dads have to parent. They had to move children from missing out on experiences to learning in a virtual setting–all while working from home. 

Trying to juggle all of this has been unsettling for many families due to breaking points and other various reasons. Because of this, the pandemic has been detrimental to mental health for all parents that are trying. 

Good health always comes first. So, take a few deep breaths and use these seven tricks to help you focus on it for 2022.

Focus on Eating Healthy Foods

Let’s face it. The word “diet” tends to revert us to unhealthy eating habits. There are plenty of things to manage like work and household chores. So, focusing on what not to eat seems to be an extra task you won’t want to figure out during your busy schedule.

Think of it as a default eating style instead. If you can focus on making healthier food choices, your diet won’t seem so restrictive. 

Whole food, plant-based meals are the best ways to start eating healthy. Try including as many healthy things as possible to weigh out the less healthful foods. And when a party or holiday gatherings are around the corner, let yourself indulge a little during those times.

Get Moving

Playgrounds and parks are great for millennial parents and their kids to get adequate exercise and fresh air. Be sure to keep a list of places to go to and even indoor play areas. This will give you endless options for fun activities.

While you’re at the playground, you can watch your kids play while you get a quick set of pull-ups in on the monkey bars. 

Additionally, you can also join a family community center to swim all year round. However, working out while the kids join in is a great way to get some family time together if you choose to stay home.

Do a Digital Detox

When the stay-at-home order was effective, this promoted bad habits for additional screen time. Parents succumbed to checking their phones and getting caught up in notifications.

With that in mind, social media can release dopamine into your brain, which may elevate cortisol levels. This leads to a compulsive pattern of use, similar to addictions. On the other hand, while stress hormones increase, depression and anxiety can occur.

Break your online addiction by limiting your screen with these methods:

● Turning off notifications 
● Avoid screen time during meals and before bed
● Take a 48-hour digital detox
● Restrict digital time daily. A mobile app can help you monitor or limit your screen time.

Maintain Your Stress Levels

Although managing your stress is easier said than done, finding what works can help you remain healthy. Stress contributes to your overall health. So consider dropping the kids off at the grandparents’ house while you and your partner get a break. 

Sometimes even going outside and grabbing fresh air can help with stress management.

Meditation also works to regain calmness. However, if you feel your stress is unmanageable, reaching out for help is your next step.

Build Connections

Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, many Millennial parents have struggled to maintain a social support system. This is a key part of living a healthy lifestyle, and building community strength has never been more important.

Make it a priority to connect with old friends, family and a social community. Social connections are essential to emotional resiliency and contribute to health.

A simple way to approach this is to catch up with a close relative or friend. Start a conversation and ask them how they’re doing. After talking on the phone, you can always follow up with them online or through texts. 

Sending a card or handwritten letter is another way to make personal connections. It’s an unexpected gesture that shows you’re thinking about them. Either way, strengthening your relationships will help you satisfy those interactions you crave.

Get Good Sleep

Stress, family responsibilities and unexpected challenges can all affect your quality of sleep–which can later attribute to health problems. While you might not have the capability to control those factors, adopting better sleep habits can help you function better.

Think of it as adjusting your body’s internal clock. Going to bed and waking up simultaneously each morning reinforces consistent sleep. 

You should also take note of what you eat or drink before bed. A snack at bedtime is okay, but avoid heavy meals since discomfort can keep you awake.

You should also avoid certain stimulants like caffeine and nicotine. These can wreak havoc on your quality of sleep.

Lastly, create a restful environment and do something relaxing before bedtime. Reading, meditation and taking a bath are all calming techniques that promote restful sleep.

Make Mental Health Your Priority

Since the pandemic, all types of stressors have increased for Millennial parents. Furthermore, the winter months make it less likely for you to be active and outdoors. Some parents can also suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder). 

Prioritize your mental health goals and seek help. If you believe anxiety and depression are affecting your quality of life, talk to a therapist or your primary care provider when you can.

Start Building a Healthy Future

It’s time to set the stage for improving your quality of life. The pandemic might have caused several stressors in your life. But you shouldn’t have to pay for it through your health.

Start picking up a healthier lifestyle for a better and brighter future. Self-care is notably the most crucial thing you can do to be resilient and happy this year.

About The Author

Ava Roman (she/her) is the Managing Editor of Revivalist, a women’s lifestyle magazine that empowers women to live their most authentic life. When Ava is not writing you’ll find herin a yoga class, advocating for body positivity, whipping up something delicious in the kitchen, or smashing the patriarchy. 

5 Ways to Help Your Parents During Self-Quarantine

Help Your Parents During Self-Quarantine

As the world practices self-isolation to overcome coronavirus, it’s more important than ever to help our loved ones. Many older adults are at risk for health complications – which means they need a lot of attention. 

Thankfully, there are many ways to show your love and support as we navigate this uncertain time.

Take a look at these tips so that you can assist your parents through self-quarantine.

1. Share Relevant Information


Everyone watches the news, but some older individuals can’t keep up with an abundance of information. Each day, scientific experts and government officials reveal significant data about COVID-19. 

To make sure that your parents stay knowledgeable, do your best to send along alerts as often as possible. You may want to email a comprehensive guide or provide updates as they come.

When everyone’s on the same page, it’s easier to follow guidelines. Plus, older adults must realize the severity of our current situation. When they’re informed, they can make the best decisions for themselves and others.

2. Deliver Weekly Groceries

Older individuals need to stay at home when possible. If you can supply weekly groceries, that’s a straightforward way to help. You could pick up additional items whenever you make your own trip to the store. Then, drop off any requested supplies at your parents’ house. To ensure a no-contact visit, sanitize each bag before you leave it by the front door.

If you live elsewhere or can’t make a trip, search for delivery services that operate throughout your parent’s neighborhood. You can ask your parents for a list and put in an order for them. Don’t worry about possible personal interactions, either. Most companies have adopted new policies that enact proper safety measures.

 

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The Ten Commandments of Rebellious Offspring Born by Strict Parents

It all happened so quickly that you don’t quite know how you pulled it off. Emily and you are getting lunch in town at 12, her mom will be driving. It was 11, you had proposed the idea at 10 -THIS SAME DAY- and your parents said yes. You’re a freakin’ goddess, a mass manipulator, lawyer of sorts, peace-negotiator, and overall champion. At the early stages in seventh grade you executed a same-day, late notice, plan with your friend and not only did your parents approve it, they’re funding it.

You love this feeling. You love your life. You love Emily. You love lunch. You love your parents. You love love.

Beep.

It’s only 11:15, Emily and her mom won’t get to your house until 11:45 so it can’t be her. You dog. You popular, plan-making, rebellious, down-and-dirty dog. You’re so cool. You’re so thug. You’re so free.

**Text Message from Emily**

What? No, NO! Okay, it could be nothing calm down. Open it.

“My brother is sick :'(. So instead of my Mom, it will be my Dad driving! See you 11:55.”

You HATE Emily. You hate her brother. You hate her Mom for taking care of him. You hate the kid who got her brother sick. You hate sickness. You hate life.

Do you dare tell your parents or are you, too, sick? Is lunch with Emily worth it? Will it be that enjoyable? You want to go so badly, but the fear of presenting a new plan to your parents with such radical changes of transportation and timing does not seem worth it. So you lie. By omission. Somehow they find out. You get grounded for a month.

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A Million Thank You’s to My Parents Who Never Stopped Believing in Me

I couldn’t have made it this far without you. 

From the time I was born, I was always given something that every child deserves, love.

My parents gave me everything I could ever want to keep me smiling and the times light. My happiness was their number one concern, but at the same time, they taught me how to always remain humble.

I was taught that giving is always better than receiving and helping others is the greatest gift you can give.

Without my mother and father pushing me to try my hardest, stand tall at my worst, and teaching me to always remain the best version of myself, I don’t think I would’ve been able to achieve what I have so far in life.

They keep me level-headed and honest while striving to achieve my future goals. 

From dance recitals to sporting events, the countless hours of driving and money spent just to make me happy and cheer me on is a greater blessing than words can describe.

There were nights full of tears from fears of failure to endless tears of laughter from the hilarious stories my dad would tell, entertaining my mom and me for hours upon hours.

Being raised by these two selfless, unconditionally loving people allowed for an inevitable and undeniable friendship that will last forever. 

My relationship with them is unlike any other, the closeness we have with each other grows even stronger the older I get. Because there was always such an openness with emotions and feelings that when it came to any struggle I had, I knew they’d be on my side.

And when it came to my greatest successes and accomplishments, the celebration was even bigger.

To my mother for giving me everything and then some, teaching me life lessons, even the “I told you so” moments, and most importantly for believing in me through everything life has thrown at me, thank you. Thank you for being my friend when I felt lost and discouraged and for keeping me so utterly humble through it all.

To my father for teaching me to be strong when I was so scared to fly, helping me trade in my ballet slippers for a pair of cleats, giving me confidence, and most importantly being my partner in crime, thank you. I honestly don’t know what I would do without you.

I thank God every day for my parents and could not imagine going through life without them. I could never repay them for the life they have given me and for this life, I am eternally grateful.

I can only hope I have made them proud, for they have gotten me to this incredible place in life. And I know they will continue to be with me, down this road I have yet to encounter.

I love you, mom and dad. Thank you for everything.

28 Memes You’ll Want To Screenshot And Share With Your Sister Immediately

Growing up with sisters can be a blessing and a curse. For one, you have endless closets to raid and makeup to borrow. But, girls can be the pettiest and ruthless individuals in the world—especially when you wrong them. Try doing wrong by your sister, and you can bet your ass you’re in for a long haul of telling mom you snuck out to meet a guy and tons of savage commentary.

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More awesome Memes:

A Thank You To My Mom, Everything I Am Is Because of You

From the moment I entered this world, my mom has had my back. She is my absolute everything.

She is the first one I call when something goes wrong and the first one I call when something incredible happens.

She was there when I was a rebellious teen and pushed her away and is still here now that I’m twenty-something and call her thirteen times a day.

I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better woman to be my mother. She is my teacher, my comforter, my home, my best friend. She has never steered me wrong.

She has stood by me through stupid boys, late night study sessions, random phone calls asking what setting the washing machine should be on because I’d never lived away from her before.

Through every smile and every stress-induced, tear-filled, crazy moment, she’s been there.

She knows exactly how I think and how deeply I feel things, and, most importantly, she knows I don’t mean the things I say when I’m hangry.

Without a doubt, she is my rock and will forever be my best friend. I would be lost in this world without this beautiful angel I was assigned.

She carries me when I am weak, picks me up when I fail, and rejoiceswith me when I succeed.

She has taught me that it’s okay to make mistakes and that my ponytails don’t have to be bump-free. She has taught me how to love but also how to stand up for myself.

Everything that I am and hope to be I owe to my mother. I wouldn’t be half of what I am today if not for her guidance, love, and support.

I could write pages about her forgiveness, kindness, strength, unconditional love… But no amount of words could ever express how grateful I am to have her in my life or just how much I love her.

For more from RC, visit her writer’s page here. 

5-Year-Old Sent Home In Different Outfit After School Asks Her To ‘Cover Her Body’

We’ve all read stories about schoolgirls being punished for violating the dress code — almost invariably to make male students and faculty feel more “comfortable.” But this sexualization of young girls usually applies to teens, not kindergarteners.

Recently, a 5-year-old kindergartner was forced to change her outfit in school after administration deemed the young girl was showing “too much skin.” Her mother, Emily Stewart shared the story on Facebook, saying:

The picture on the left is showing what my daughter was wearing to school this morning. The picture on the right is what I picked her up in. She is in kindergarten and she is 5.

Now, I knew the weather would be nice today. I sent her to school with a light sweater over her dress and jeans underneath of it. It’s a new dress that her grandma got her and she really wanted to wear it. we live in Minnesota and having 65 degree weather in April a week after a snow storm is everything to us in the Midwest. So, I thought “yeah it will be nice out you can wear a dress.” And that was the end of my thinking. It didn’t occur to me that an adult would look at my 5 year old child and think that wearing a dress was inappropriate.

She was told that she needed to leave class and go to the nurses office.

The nurse told her that she needed to cover her body and made her put on this T-shirt.

I am not making this post to bash the school or say anything bad. I’m making this post to raise some discussion.

As a mother, how am I supposed to teach my daughter to love and celebrate her body when she has people telling her she “needs privacy.”

What exactly is private about a 5 year olds shoulders?

Why is it ok to put my daughters bare shoulders before her education?

Why was her dress looked at as an inappropriate outfit to begin with? She is 5 why is she being sexualized?

I asked her when I picked her up “why are you wearing a T-shirt?”
She said “I was told I had to put something on because I need privacy.”
I then asked “how did that make you feel when they told you that?”

She started bawling.

She was excited to wear that dress to school and show her friends and play in it on the play ground.

She said to me “I don’t know why they told me I couldn’t wear my dress it was super embarrassing.”How do I teach a little girl that what she wears and her appearance is not nearly as important as her education and self development when things like this happen?

Facebook

Stewart also shared a video on Facebook live, discussing in detail what went down and how she feels about the school sexualizing her 5-year-old daughter.

Many people online were outraged to see that adults were that uncomfortable with a 5-year-old showing her shoulders in class.

As it turns out, Stewart’s Facebook video and commentary made waves online. Stewart was featured in countless news segments from town and, after, ISD 264 where her daughter attends school sent out an email announcing changes to the language of their dress code.

Stewart posted the update and the email online, stating that they removed the rule that allows determining sexualization based on a child’s outfit.

Way to go, Mom—that’s how you stand up for your child.

h/t: Scary Mommy, Facebook

Mom’s Viral Post Explains Why We Shouldn’t Be Teaching Kids ‘Not To Stare’

Staring isn’t something that only kids do—there are rude people all around us who are happy to stare, long, hard, and unembarrassed, at people around them who look different than they do. But kids are prone to staring by nature simply because they’re absolutely full of curiosity and everything is new to them. They haven’t yet learned that it’s a rude thing you’re not supposed to do.

But one mother is saying that we shouldn’t be teaching our kids not to stare because that just means ignoring everyone around them who looks different, and that’s not exactly ideal either.

Jenna Gines wrote a post on Facebook about how parents should react when their kids are staring at someone who looks different from most people, whether it’s gender-related, a physical disability, or just about anything that people tend to gawk at. Instead of just looking, she suggests actually interacting.

Facebook: Jenna Gines
Facebook: Jenna Gines

Her post, which includes pictures of two of her sons, one of whom uses a wheelchair, reads:

Please stop teaching your children not to stare!
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What are we teaching them when we say that? Don’t look at someone that is different then you. Don’t be curious or want to learn about something you’ve never seen before. Stay away from things that are different.

“Instead, let them stare. Let them ask questions, talk about it. What is it that they see? What is it that they’re curious about? What is different? What is the same?

If it’s someone using a wheelchair, say hi. If it’s someone that looks or acts different, say hi. If it’s someone ofshort stature, say hi.

“Teach your child about differences. It’s okay to be different. It’s okay to notice it & to talk about it. It’s even better to make a new friend. It’s not okay to ignore, look away, or act like a person who is different isn’t there.
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Let’s embrace different. Let’s talk about differences & be the change we want to see in this world.”

People (other parents, as well as the people who so often find themselves being stared at) shared their thoughts in the comments.

Some moms learned something new and decided they’d be changing the way they interacted with people when their kids were staring.

Of course, there’s a difference between looking at someone and just straight-up gawking at them. Gawking is never okay.

And some people might not feel like talking about themselves, so it’s important for parents to be able to gauge the situation.

But it is true that by ignoring people completely, we teach our kids to be mean.

The ultimate goal is to make it so that kids learn to accept that there are people different from them, and that’s great. It’d be boring if we were all the same.

h/t: Someecards, Facebook: Jenna Gines

Twitter Is Rooting For These Parents After Son Tweets Their ‘Getting Back Together’ After 7-Year Divorce

When your parents get divorced, it can be a difficult experience to go through. Many people feel as though it’s “their fault” for their parents splitting up, especially when they’re young. But, we all know that’s not true. Many adults grow out of love with each other, have issues that cause them to drift, or are just better off as friends than lovers.

But, what happens when your parents split up for 7 years and then magically find their way back to each other? Apparently, they get an entire social media network behind them rooting for them to make it happen. Twitter user @VirgoVonnie shared a text from his mom saying that she “kissed his father.”

He told his followers that his parents got divorced 7 years ago and both became recently single. Apparently, love is in the air, because his mom ended up kissing his dad and it was so good—she’s about to get her man back.

Obviously, people on Twitter were rooting for a family reunion. Who doesn’t love a happy ending? It’s so rare to see parents find their way back to each other, actually seeing it happen is a true blessing.

https://twitter.com/luluuu_boo/status/1066872079843250181

https://twitter.com/lexieb098/status/1066916835168321536

We wholeheartedly agree—we need updates. I want wedding photos!

 

The Truth Is, I Love My Religious Family But Not Their God

Ever since I can remember I’ve been the type to question everything. So growing up in a very religious environment felt like the world just played the biggest prank on my existence. I always felt out of place in everything related to religious activities and so I played along for the longest time just so I wouldn’t cause any tension in my family, discomfort, or shame. It was hard, and it still is because well, I haven’t really told my parents I’m an atheist. I’ve grown tired of pretending that I believe and care about their religious beliefs when in reality I find them flawed and straight up false.

I tried to find sense in what they believe but the more I researched the more I couldn’t comprehend it.

I can’t understand how simple it is for them to feel so strongly about a faith that has so little or none at all evidence to back it up. So am I wrong for not going along with their religious traditions? I mean, after all, they’re not hurting anyone.

If anything, they have been part of a community that for the most part has given them a sense of belonging and that’s important, I guess. But then again, I do feel a sense of belonging being part of my college community so I’ve decided that being part of their religious community is hypocritical and I just can’t continue with this facade.

I know that for some this is not such a trivial thing to have to deal with their family but it is for me.

I feel like a fraud not being honest with them.

I feel that I’m not being myself and that I’m actually losing part of my identity in an attempt to hold on to this thing that is so not me just for the sake of the family.

I know it won’t be easy to have this conversation. I have been pretending for so long it really feels like the biggest betrayal of all time. It saddens me to think that I can really cause a lot of pain to my parents when I tell them how I really feel.

But I have to believe that their love for me will be greater than my beliefs. Not believing in what they believe doesn’t make me any less of the person they’ve known all these years.

I think religious beliefs are just part of who you are, they’re not all that you are.

I have a moral compass and values. I’m kind to myself and others, I’m not judgemental or at least try to be. I’m understanding of others and I have unconditional love for those I care about.

I don’t need a religion to define me, I define me and my parents should be ok with that.

I think honesty is the best policy. I owe it to them to be truthful and open. I’ll be willing to listen to their views and feelings about it. I know that I will disagree with a lot of their arguments on the subject but I feel that I also have valid points about my views that I can contribute. I just hope they receive my views with empathy and understanding

Is it ok for parents and their child to have different beliefs? I genuinely think so, because even if  I don’t believe in their faith but I love them to death, admire and respect them.

Denying their faith somehow made me feel unworthy of their love.

At times I felt like I shouldn’t belong in this family. It was wrong of me to think that way, it was damaging to my soul.

No religion should separate loved ones and I felt like it didn’t allow me to express myself completely.

It breaks my heart to have that much pressure on myself, but it ends now. My family and I deserve to be close even if we are in disagreement. I choose to not be part of their religion. I’m putting my foot down but I’m doing it with unconditional love and an open heart. Wish me luck.

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