Albert Einstein once said, “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
 
It is starting to get to that time of the year that in order to go outside, a process of bundling up to stay warm occurs. Although this is a time-consuming, it is still crucially important to spend some time outside. Nature provides serious benefits to our bodies and minds. Unplug and let the body and mind wander. Below are 5 reasons why it is still important to get outside – even when it is cold.

1. Walking outside boosts creativity and increases concentration: Walking not only increases physical activity but has shown that it promotes the flow of ideas. Backpackers have been shown to score 50% higher on creativity tests after 4 days without electronics.
2. Being outdoors can improve your mood: Its no secret that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) can be brought on by Winter. Symptoms of SAD can include anxiety, exhaustion, and overwhelming sadness. Many believe SAD comes on from shorter winter days and more time inside and having less sunlight. So a simple solution is more time outside.
3. Increased time outside allows our bodies to soak up more Vitamin D. Vitamin D helps ward off heart attacks, improve conditions in osteoporosis and some types of cancer. We receive 80-90% of Vitamin D from the sun.
4. Recharge exercise routine: Its much more difficult to find the motivation to go outside and exercise when it is windy, snowy, or cold. However, working out in these conditions provides a better workout, burns more calories, and makes physical activity more enjoyable. Being active in these conditions can provide solitude as there are just not as many people outside.
5. Nature is healing: Seventy-year-olds who spent time outdoors daily reported fewer bouts of pain and had less trouble sleeping. They also seemed to show less of a decline in day-to-day activities. In other words, the outdoors may help us stay healthy later in life.

Spending time outside and giving your body and mind a chance to unwind, relax, or exercise, is still as important, and potentially more effective – even when it is cold outside. MAKE time to get outside and enjoy nature this Fall/Winter, do not just try to FIND time.

​Being an optimist can mean many things. Bert Jacobs in the book “Life is Good” describes optimism as, “A powerful and pragmatic strategy for accomplishing goals and living a meaningful life.” Optimism is broad in the sense that it means to be positive, cheerful, strong-willed, believable, and open-minded. Being an optimist means you are experiencing the world around you with open arms and an eye towards growth and progress. Pessimism is corrosive, realism lacks creativity, and optimism is boundless. Below I list the 2nd and 3rd superpowers to be an optimist:
Superpower #8 Creativity:
You can light the way of creativity by feeding your childlike curiosity, daring to explore new ideas, and sharing those ideas collaboratively. The only requirement is an adventurous spirit.
We adults tend to fear the judgment of our peers far more than kids do. Were more sensitive to opinions. Whereas healthy children can scribble out a drawing and flash it proudly, adults tend to self-censor ideas, tapping the delete key all too early and often.
Creativity wants out, so let it go and let it flow.
Your own positive impact multiplies when you're able to sync your creative pursuits with your existing values and passions. For example, a teacher out at Kids Connection Rivercrest had the idea for having a Facebook group where you share your artwork, activity, or goals, etc. with all other teachers at all the centers. Use your passion for taking care of children to get creative with new activities.
By admitting you don’t know the answer, that frees you to ask openly, engage, and listen so we can co-create the answer instead of butting heads or defending our own fraction of a solution.
Connection with those around you, talk and collaborate about a solution, and finally create the solution. A PB and J sandwich is much greater than the sum of its parts.
There is inspiration all around you, especially when you dial your mind in on a subject of love. Not all who wander are lost, this applies to your mind as much as your body.  In the end, creativity is like a muscle, if you don’t use it, you lose it.
Superpower #9 Authenticity:
We want to stay true to ourselves, feel comfortable in our skin, and express ourselves, naturally. We also want to live consistently in sync with our strongest values. However, I understand it can be a real challenge when external influences pressure us to be someone we’re not. In the end, know who you are, and act like it.
We are all drawn to the real deal. Folks who walk the talk and are comfortable in their own skin are people we like to be around. How can all of us stay grounded in our core beliefs while we all continue to change and evolve?
To deepen self-knowledge and stay true to yourself, it’s invaluable to have people close by who know you well enough to tell you the truth. For example, my brother Blake and I have no problem calling each other out and keeping each other honest. Familiarity and trust make directness – straight talk – easier to give and take. People tend to be more forgiving when they know you’re listening, you’re trying, and your aim is true.
Authenticity that creates deep trust includes exposing vulnerability, acting with humility, and admitting when we drop the ball.
For humans, staying true in the moment is tough for us, and it’s a lifelong quest. Perfection is not achievable on this quest, but improvement always is. On one hand, it takes strong determination to openly acknowledge our flaws and keep striving to improve. On the other hand, trusting your instincts, pure introspection, and always doing what we love can be the ultimate form of expression of our best self.
Superpower #10 Love:
Love can be expressed authentically in words- from a sincere “How are you?” or “How can I help?” all the way to a phrase my mom uses “What the heck were you thinking?” that’s considered tough love, but love nonetheless. However, sometimes love needs no words.
Love is action. Deeds, selfless acts, following through on something. It’s being there when your asked, but also when you're not asked. We are wise to remember that our actions – and often, our mere presence – can speak even louder.
Humans beings are social creatures. We need love to reinforce deep connection to each other. When we receive a good hug, a warm smile, even a heartfelt high five or fist bump from someone we love, the positive result bolts right past our brains and goes straight to the heart. It makes us feel one with humanity. And providing that positive charge to others can be even more rewarding.
Do what you love, love what you do. “Do what you love.” It says “Do” and not “Say” for a reason. Because love is action. Don’t think so much all the time. Relax the mind and do what feels good. Your body is wise. Listen to your body. If your body wants to run, then run! “Love what you do.” This is about pride in one’s actions – in other words, living in such a way that when you look back on your actions, you feel satisfaction. This is about a fulfilling life, a life with a purpose.
The more you share your love, the more you connect with people you love – and the more you connect with the people you love, the richer your life is. This is a recipe tested, and it will never change, so spread love. Don’t keep it in a jar, spread it like peanut butter, because life is good.
 

​Being an optimist can mean many things. Bert Jacobs in the book “Life is Good” describes optimism as, “A powerful and pragmatic strategy for accomplishing goals and living a meaningful life.” Optimism is broad in the sense that it means to be positive, cheerful, strong-willed, believable, and open-minded. Being an optimist means you are experiencing the world around you with open arms and an eye towards growth and progress. Pessimism is corrosive, realism lacks creativity, and optimism is boundless. Below I list the 2nd and 3rd superpowers to be an optimist:
 
Superpower #6 Fun: Like I said before, optimism takes courage, and sometimes recharging that optimism demands we seek out our own simple fun.
The great thing about fun is that it doesn’t require much beyond a playful, open mind. But sometimes a ball helps too. My college soccer teammates and I would always pass the ball around on the quad. Sometimes random people, or friends a-like would run through calling for a pass, and we would kick it to them and if they played soccer they would try to control it, but if they like football they would try to catch it. The connection was childlike and somewhat doglike. Kick. Catch. Connect.
Even when our calendars seem jam packed, maintaining a youthful enthusiasm is worth making time for fun, rather than just finding time for fun.
Having Fun at work is not a diversion from productivity. In fact, it’s an essential ingredient to stay loose, open, creative, and solution orientated. Fun makes for easy lifting. Fun is an effective means to attract, unite, and propel people toward achieving common goals.
Everyone has different stresses in life, however, bursts of fun throughout the day help keep your mind and spirit strong.
 
Superpower #7 Compassion: Compassion is the concern for and willingness to help someone who is suffering. Identifying with another person – including identifying with their pain – is hardwired in us.
How can we care for all the tragedies in a 24/7 news cycle? We can’t. But we can care for the people around us in our circle. Everyone’s resources are different, maybe donating clothes, money, furniture, or most importantly your time is how you give. Everyone's resources are different. Beware the naked man who offers you his shirt. You cannot give, what you don’t have.
Focus on self-care. Tending to our own joy and well-being is crucial. Breathing techniques, meditation, yoga, play, exercise, scheduling down time, are ways to achieve this.
Social support is also important. Spending time with those who bring positive energy and build you up, are very important to help you see the glass as half full. By lifting others up we can lower the shields many of us raise against the outside world as we grow older.
You can cultivate your compassion with that simple phrase, “Just like me…” Just like you, everyone is fighting some battle, big or small. Just like you, others want to be happy and free of suffering.
Lastly, you do not need all the answers to help someone who is hurting. Just be yourself and take time to be with them. Presence can be much more powerful than you think. 

​Being an optimist can mean many things. Bert Jacobs in the book “Life is Good” describes optimism as, “A powerful and pragmatic strategy for accomplishing goals and living a meaningful life.” Optimism is broad in the sense that it means to be positive, cheerful, strong-willed, believable, and open-minded. Being an optimist means you are experiencing the world around you with open arms and an eye towards growth and progress. Pessimism is corrosive, realism lacks creativity, and optimism is boundless. Below I list the 2nd and 3rd superpowers to be an optimist:
 
Superpower #4 Humor:
Humor is most potent and effective when morale is low. A funny joke, line, phrase, or face can raise spirits. It can break tension, reset the table, and refocus people on opportunities that are ahead. It is easy to form trust and bond through laughter.
Humor leads to more unity and productivity in the workplace. Laughter relaxes us, enables us to think more clearly as well as communicate and solve problems more effectively. Ron Burgandy in the movie Anchorman once said, “For just one night, let’s not be co-workers, let’s be co-people.” Laugh, smile, jump up and down.
Teams that laugh together build greater trust and unity, and teams with greater trust and unity perform better. So, laugh at work together, your job will be even more enjoyable, and productivity will increase.
 
Superpower #5 Gratitude:
It’s nice to stop and reflect on the positives in life. Taking stock of the many people, experience, and things that are good, right, and working well in our lives has an uncanny way of attracting more good. What we focus on grows. Focusing on simple pleasures – on the good we are experiencing here, now, today – can do wonders.
If we don’t do this, we can spend our time defining happiness in terms of “Someday.” Saying things like, “I’ll be happy and grateful when (fill in the blank)” or, “Someday I am going to take the kids to pick pumpkins.” As the saying goes, someday is not a day of the week.
It’s easy to look at the news and think the world is getting worse day by day. There are so many trauma centers across the country, and not one, zero, joy centers. By elevating our awareness of what’s right with the world, instead of focusing on what’s wrong, we come to realize that the keys to happiness are all around us. Being gracious for what we have and not focusing on what frustrates you.
Live life with a “get to” mindset rather than a “have to.” I “get to” go to work today, I “get to” pick my kids up from school, I “get to” cook dinner tonight and fold the laundry. This is a consistent reminder to be grateful. Some people may feel burdened by daily tasks and commitments “have tos.” it’s possible to change your mental mind set and turn them into “get tos.” Once again, the choice is ours.
Grateful people are happier, more open and sociable, less depressed and neurotic, and express higher levels of satisfaction with their lives and relationships. Grateful people have higher levels of personal growth and self-acceptance, and they have stronger coping skills for the challenges and setbacks they experience. They are more willing to seek out help from others and demonstrate the ability to interpret challenging events in ways that help them grow.
Thanksgiving should be celebrated every day. Young and old, everyone gets it: we gather to give thanks. There is nothing confusing about it, or gifts or excessive hype that can weigh it down. Everyone comes together to give thanks. After times of tragedy which there is so much of, it is okay to mourn what we've lost, but we can also cherish what we still have.

​Being an optimist can mean many things. Bert Jacobs in the book “Life is Good” describes optimism as, “A powerful and pragmatic strategy for accomplishing goals and living a meaningful life.” Optimism is broad in the sense that it means to be positive, cheerful, strong-willed, believable, and open-minded. Being an optimist means you are experiencing the world around you with open arms and an eye towards growth and progress. Pessimism is corrosive, realism lacks creativity, and optimism is boundless. Below I list the 2nd and 3rd superpowers to be an optimist:
 
Superpower #2 Courage: The first thing you need to decide starting at the beginning of the day is if you are going to believe in yourself. You don’t think you can do a lot of things until you are faced with choices. What are my choices today, smile or frown? Why would you choose to frown and not smile? Is smiling easy? Hardly. Courageous? For sure.
Courageous people have an extra reservoir of optimism within them. When things are crazy, and a tough day only seems to get tougher, courageous people have the ability to dig down and find a little positivity.
Every day, we can choose to define our day with Discouraging or Encouraging frames. Are we building people up or tearing them down? Are we contributing positively or are we a negative influence? It takes more effort to be encouraging, which is also why it is harder. How do you want to reflect on your day? The courageous thing is to always try because you either succeed or you learn. Both scenarios you win. If you don’t try you cant learn, and if you don’t learn, you can grow.
Sometimes the most courageous thing you can do is admitting your licked for the day and it got the best of you – only for the day. Because tomorrow is a new day, and you need to believe it will be better.
Lastly, making the courageous choices isn’t always the easy choice, however it opens doors for new opportunity. There will be moments of self-doubt, skeptics in our path, and external forces inviting us to focus on what is wrong with the world. But we need to be courageous and open the doors of opportunity.
 
Superpower #3 Simplicity: Make life and work simple. Not to be confused with a work – life balance. Which there is no such thing as work – life balance because what you are saying is your work and life are working against each other, when really your work should just be a subcategory of your life. However, I digress. Making complex things simple is the highest form of sophistication. Why work harder, and not smarter?
When we are “too busy” we don’t do anything well. Our relationships suffer, our performance at work suffers, and we don’t enjoy our lives. Yet, being “Crazy Busy” is a badge of honor for some people. The adrenaline rush of multi-tasking and trying to speed through a million things at once can reinforce an illusion that we are in high demand and moving towards something grand. When really multi-tasking to me just seems like another phrase for not doing anything well. When you are multi-tasking it means part of your attention is in one spot, and in another, and another. If you focus all your attention on one thing, the finished product should be completed faster and in higher quality.
How can we make things simple then? Well by being selective in what we focus on. If your focus is to do laundry right when you get home, then do it right when you get home. Don’t first take the garbage out, then change, then exercise, etc.
Unplug. Yes, the 23-year-old millennial is telling you to unplug from your phones, and social media, and email, and games, etc. There is one simple question to ask yourself, what do you give it and what does it give back to you? Is it worth it? Do you get some type of intrinsic value by using it? I'm not saying to completely stop using it, I still use it. However, I have cut completely down on it by setting time limits on it and deleting different applications. You have to figure out what feeds your good wolf.
Each of us have a “Good Wolf” and a “Bad Wolf” Fighting inside of us. The question is, “Which wolf will win?” Well, the wolf you feed. You feed your good wolf by living life with good intention and focusing on the important things. You feed your bad wolf by focusing on extraneous stuff and external distractions. Feed your good wolf.

Most of our coping mechanisms are starting to develop in the childhood period. So, as a parent, you can help your child manage his emotions. You can help him recognize the emotions he or she feels and how to control them. You can help him learn how to understand the emotions he is experiencing. Below are some tips to help your child manage their emotions!
 

1. Lead by Example: Children often mirror their parents. They “want to be like mom or dad!” Children mimic behavior, expressions, and attitudes. Pay attention to your emotions and how you are dealing with stressful situations. Parents are the two closest people to a child, and if you can manage your emotions, your child is too.
2. Identify Coping Strategies: You need to let your child know that they will go through good and bad times. There will be moments full of emotions that will have a lasting impact on them and their behavior. Some coping strategies can be listening to music, drawing, going for a walk, and so on.
3. Talk about emotions: identify things that trigger you and notice if you are truly feeling that way or that there is something else that is bothering you. Are you upset, or are you just tired from a long day, or hungry, or stressed?
4. Practice mindfulness: When you are present in the moment, you are less likely to dwell on the past or worry about the future. Practicing mindfulness means focusing on nothing but what the person in front of you is saying, the path in front of you, your surroundings, the music you are listening to, your breath, etc. Being actively part of the present moment can limit the amount of time you spend building up past events into emotional issues or creating problems out of concerns for the future that have not yet occurred. It gives you the freedom

to simply be here now rather than getting caught up in things you cannot change or control.
 
When you have the ability to cope with your emotions and understand why you feel a certain way, you can learn a lot more about yourself. Identifying things that bother you, excite you, etc. can help you understand your responses in the future.

​At our childcare programs, the kids are constantly learning, growing, and having tons of fun! It is no surprise that even when Mom and Dad arrive for pick-up, the children are reluctant to leave! In this blog, we will be discussing some tips for smoothing over the stressful time of picking up your child from daycare!
Tips for pick-up:

1. Giving your child a chance to finish what they are doing/working on (within reason). A child may have been working on a skill all day, and it was just finally coming to fruition, and that excitement may need just a few more minutes before heading home.
2. Allow them a chance to say goodbye to their friends. Many of your child’s friends may be considered part of their primary social group. A primary social group, especially for young children, is the people closest to them. This includes parents, siblings, and your closest friends which is probably the ones your growing up with and the few people you see on a consistent basis. Giving them a chance to say, “Good Bye!” closes the chapter on that day and initiates a beginning for the next day!
3. Have a consistent pick-up routine. A lap around the classroom checking out learning centers, draw a picture, collect art-work from the day, etc. keep it short and simple, and your child will know that when those things are done, it is time to go home.
4. Communicate to your child the activities that need to be done at home! For example, “We need to go home to see daddy!” Usually their eyes brighten up and they get giddy with excitement and anticipation.
5. Lastly, do something when you get home each day discussing what happened at daycare for the day. If you do this consistently, the child can anticipate this conversation every day and want to go home so they can tell you all about their day!

These are just a few tips to ease the pick-up process, and hopefully can help end the day on a positive note. 

​Social groups are everywhere in society. Social groups are two or more people that see and interact with each other regularly and share a sense of unity or common identity. We can be a part of many different social groups such as a sports team, church group, workplace, classroom and more! There are two different types of social groups, primary and secondary groups. No two groups are created equally. Each group has its own purpose, culture, norms, etc.
 
A Primary Group is a group that is extremely close-knit. These groups are usually smaller and much more intimate. These groups are usually very long lasting, and the members of the group share a strong personal identity with the group. Family members, and close friends usually make up primary groups. These are small groups and the relationships are close-knit and enduring. Primary is used with these groups because they are the primary form of relationships and socialization. We learn our values and norms from these relationships that stay with us for most, if not, all of our lives.
 
A Secondary Group is a group that can be small or large and are mostly impersonal and usually short term. These groups are typically found at work and school. An example of a secondary group is a team organized to run a fundraiser. Members of the team meet infrequently and for only a short period of time. Although team members may have some similar interests, the purpose of the group is about the task instead of the relationships. Sometimes, secondary groups become pretty informal, and the members get to know each other fairly well. Even so, their friendships exist in a limited context; they won't necessarily remain close beyond the fundraiser.
 
Both types of social groups are necessary to have in today’s society. For your children at daycare, they are beginning to form strong friendships with each other. These can be the foundation of primary groups they may share for years. Seeing each other each day, learning the same concepts, growing up at the same time, sharing similar experiences, etc.