Summer time can be a really hard time for parents and children to stay hydrated. Parents are usually juggling new summer schedules along with work, and children are in the hot sun more often and running around all day. Symptoms of dehydration can impair normal body functions. Some common symptoms are dizziness, fatigue, and headache while more serious symptoms that aren't always noticeable right away are decreased elimination (decrease waste from the body), decrease lymphatic movement (decreased ability for the body to balance fluids and detox), and joint and muscle pain. Whether you are the busy Mom, Dad, Caregiver, and Grandparent, there are things you can do daily to stay hydrated like these - 1. Start the day with a glass of water with a fresh squeezed organic lemon wedge in it. This will replenish lost hydration from the night and get your digestive tract and body ready and hydrated to start the day. 2. Get in the habit of having a glass of water before or with each meal and snack. Ditch soda's and juices and leave meals to water only to be sure you are getting that extra cup of water in to stay hydrated. 3. Carry a water bottle with you daily where ever you go so you can drink on the go when you feel thirsty. Be sure to send water bottles with your kids where ever they are as well or fill them daily so when they are thirsty they can reach for it. Kids don't want to stop playing to run inside to find a cup to fill, but if their water bottle is outside already filled and near them, they can sneak in a few drinks without missing out on play time. 4. Make healthy organic fruit juice popsicles or freezie pops. Click Here to check out this option for organic freezie pops and see if you think your kiddos may like them! Healthy popsicles are a great way for kids to take a break and cool off during the day, and when they are made with healthier ingredients, without the added food coloring and tons of sugar, you don't have to worry if they request a second or third trip to the freezer. 5. Make an icy or slushy. If you have a Ninja type or any type of blender, you can easily create a quick cool and hydrating drink. Start by adding a handful of ice, then add some coconut water and your favorite fruit combinations. Blend and enjoy! 6. Drink coconut water more often or add it to your child's juice, water, smoothies, and slushies. Coconut water is said to be one of the more hydrating beverages to have due to it's higher concentration of electrolytes. This is why I added it to the icy above. 7. Offer fruits and veggies with every meal and snack. Many fruits and veggies are made up of mostly water so serving them often not only provides much needed nutrients, but also another source of hydration. 8. Add electrolyte drops or an electrolyte powder packet to your favorite drink or water. Electrolytes help our body stay more hydrated or help to replenish hydration much more quickly than just having water alone. Ask your pediatrician or doctor how much is recommended to add daily for you and also your child since the amount will be different. Which ones will you add to your routine so you and your kids can stay hydrated and feel great all summer long? Want more must have natural health & wellness tips? Photo Credit: tangerine-newt-QBLRt7r9phc-unsplash.jpg
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My kiddos like to watch the air quality reports just as much as they like to check the weather on my phone, ask Alexa, or ask Google every hour of the day! Some days are worse than others and we can definitely feel it or see it with the kids ability to clear their lungs or overcome a cough, even if the cough is from allergies. Clear air is so important for lung health, which is therefore, super important for overall health. Here are five things you can start doing today to support your lung health - 1. Get a good quality Hepa air purifier for your home or at least for the bedrooms, where you kiddos are for all of the hours during the night. Hepa air purifiers cannot remove all impurities from the air, but they can certainly help remove dust particles, mold, fungus and quite a few other things you don't want or need to breathe in. Click Here to see the brand we currently have in our home. By ensuring the air quality indoors is more clean and clear, you are offering lungs support and the ability to stay healthier. 2. Exercise (indoors where the air is cleaner) to get your blood pumping and expand the lungs. By exercising the lungs, you can help to remove and clear unwanted germs and trapped particles or phlegm that are stuck way down in the lower lungs. This will help you breathe better and will also boost your lung health and the ability to prevent illness or congestion. 3. Keep hydrated! Dehydration causes a boat load of symptoms which can lead to other health problems. Not only can the first symptoms of dehydration cause dizziness, headache, and muscle cramps, it also decreases the bodies ability to detox. The more the body can detox and keep a better fluid balance with better circulation and function of the circulatory and lymphatic systems, the better chance you have to protect your body's organs, including the lungs. Speaking of helping the body detox, add an Epsom Salt bath in your routine up to three times a week for at least fifteen minutes! Add one and a half cups for teens and adults, older children half to one cup, younger children one quarter of a cup to a half cup, toddlers no more than one quarter cup in a full bath (not sink). Just run it past your health care provider first to make sure there isn't any reason your child cannot add weekly epsom salt baths to their routine and see if they agree to the amount you will be using. There are many more health benefits to epsom salt baths! They are good for Mom too while also pretty inexpensive. 4. Ditch fast food, processed foods, and sugars. I know, I know... it's repetitive! But all of these foods (alcohol too) can cause spikes in blood sugars, poor lymphatic movement, poor digestion and elimination, and more! Why does it matter? Because it will increase inflammation throughout the body, including within and around the lungs, which could possibly make it harder for you lungs to expand or stay clear and healthy. Be sure to add in plenty or even more fruits and veggies than normal to provide your body with much needed antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to be sure you immunity is elevated as well as your over all health. 5. Use true and pure medicinal essential oils to help assist to open up the lungs and make it easier to breathe. You can explore options such as diffusion, topical application of an essential oil blend, roller ball use, and having a nasal inhaler in your pocket or purse to use as needed. They even make diffusers to plug into your computer and use at work and for use in your car while driving! Using the right essential oils at the right dilution is a great way to help open the air ways when the lungs feel tight. Essential oils that are often used for adults are Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus radiata), Peppermint (Mentha piperita), and Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis). *All of these come with high precautions for babies and children so you must check precautions for everyone in the family. *If you are a parent, grandparent, nursing mother, or caregiver holding a baby or child, please know that if the essential oils you are using topically are on your skin and you are holding babies and littles, they will be more prone to an adverse reaction since these essential oils are not recommended for babies and children. Often times they can even cause breathing difficulty for them. If you do have children under the age of 10, sticking to essential oils such as Lemon (Citrus limon), Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), and Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) are better options to explore. Frankincense (Boswellia carterii) is also wonderful to support the lungs and assist to ease a cough, but it has a very strong aroma that isn't always preferred by children. Again, you know you kiddos best and their health profile so do check precautions of all aromatherapy prodcuts prior to use. Hydrosols are a better option to use if you have babies or young children as they are not as concentrated as essential oils. Hydrosols can be sprayed in any room of your home or just in one specific room. You will still have to check precautions with hydrosol's as well prior to use. If you have questions or are ready to learn more, then it's time to book a 1 to 1 zoom call to learn just how easy all of this can be! Just think how awesome it would be to be able to use the knowledge for life to support your family's health! There is no price you can put on learning to better your health and wellness. Click Here to Book Now! Photo by conscious-design-9FYKe4PvZN0-unsplash.jpg
6/13/2023 0 Comments How to Start a Simple GardenTeaching kids to grow their own food is essential. I wish it were taught yearly in schools because we cannot always rely on the weather and that hard working farmer's crops can get to us. I love teaching my kiddos how much of an impact farmers have on everyone world wide. I also love to teach them how easy it can be to grow their own food. I didn't grow up with gardeners so I relied on watching others, learning from others, and experimenting every year. So really, what I am trying to say is, no experience is needed to get started! Just start, learn, and grow! Whether you have indoor space or outdoor, there is always room for plants and herbs. Of course there is more room outdoors, but take these simple steps into consideration to get started on planning the perfect plants to have indoors and or outdoors to get a small or large garden started with your kids. Here are some key points to consider before getting started - 1. Are you planning for indoor or outdoor space? How much space do you have and will it be enough for the plants that you would like to start growing? For example, if you are limited on space it may not be feasible to start a hanging basket of strawberries and a potted tomato plant, but it may work great to have small pots of herbs to use for cooking and micro greens for salads and sandwiches. On the flip side, if you have a lot of space, maybe squash and zucchini will make for a great start. 2. What exactly would you like to grow? To figure this out, make a list of your favorite fruits, veggies, or herbs. Which ones could you grow for the space that you have? We love strawberries, so one of our first garden plants were dug up strawberry plants from a good friend. They reseed and grow year after year without needing to purchase more and kids LOVE them! 3. Check what zone you are in. This is dependent on where you live and the weather. Each seed packet or plant has a preferred zone listed on the tag. If you are buying perennials, you will want to be sure they are for your zone so they come back the next year and do not die off when the weather cools down. 4. Decide if you want all annuals or if you would like to start a perrennial garden that continues to return each spring so you do not have to keep purchasing more plants or plant more seeds every year. Some examples of plants that return for our zone 4/5 here is Wisconsin that we have in our garden are chamomile, lavender, strawberries, lemon balm, blueberries, marshmallow root, lovage, and violets. 3. Now that you have an idea of what space you have and what you might want to plant, assess the lighting. Which plants need full sun and which are okay in a more shady area. 4. Next, find out if what neighbors your friends prefer. You can google "companion plants for ________". Sometimes certain fruits and veggies grown together can change the taste of the fruit or veggie, halt their growth, or they are simply prone to the same pesty bugs so keeping them planted away from each other will benefit the outcome. 5. Next, dig in! Teach the kids about the plant before letting them plant it in the soil. Have them label the plant and be sure to show them a picture of the fruit it will bear. Kids really do love taking care of their own plants or gardens and will eat more fruits and veggies when they actually get to grow them and pick them. 6. Make it fun! Make it a BIG deal when you are out there with your kids and they do a great job weeding or if you find a fruit starting! Get them excited when a plant flowers so they know they are getting closer to it bearing a fruit or veggie. Cheers to teaching your kiddos some much needed knowledge, giving them experiences, and offering them homegrown healthy foods. If you want to take your garden a step further and learn to make herbal teas and infuse oils or see what else you can do with the fruits, veggies, and herbs in your garden... Book a Call Today! We love to harvest and dry herbs to use over winter for herbal and medicinal teas, infused bone broths, infused nourishing skin oils, and healing salves. You could learn how to the same so you have the confidence of knowing you have natural medicine or remedies on hand and know exactly what and how to use them! No store runs required when you plan ahead! Don't be shy, reach out if you have questions - Click Here to Ask A Question. Did you find this helpful! Consider sharing a coffee tip for making life just a tad easier for you today! Click Here! Not signed up for Weekly Health & Wellness tips yet?
It was about two months ago when a friend and I were talking and she nervously added in "And do you know summer is already coming!?! I have no idea what I am going to do with my kids and how I am going to get anything done!" It made me very aware that summer was approaching quickly and I too, needed to start planning ahead. In the past my summer's were quite hectic! I had no schedule and just went with the flow day by day. I feel like I ran on "toddler time"! I had three littles home so our overall schedule had mornings and afternoons open, but nap times were definitely to be spent at home so the littles could stay on a schedule. This worked okay, but my to do list just kept growing and growing. I became anxious getting nothing done, even though I was enjoying every moment of getting to stay home with the kiddos. Everything on my list must have taken an extra three hours to complete with the kids home too! I know I am not the only one who went or is going through this! Fast forward to creating a consistent self care routine for myself and my kids, summer time home with the kids doesn't worry me a bit like before. I know for the most part exactly how every week of summer will flow. I already know our monthly, weekly, and daily schedules too which is an amazing feeling! Here is what you can do to stop the anxiety, rat racing around, emotional rollercoaster turns of summer chaos so you can stay focused, still get your stuff done, have time for yourself and your kids, and actually enjoy your moments while being completely present in them! 1. Grab your calendar or print the summer months of calendars from google (just type in "free printable calendar"). Go through each month of June, July, August, and September (if your kids start school again this late) and write down all the days you already know you have work or plans. Once you do this take a moment to view the BIG picture of what summer looks like. Any free days you have, leave them as just that, "free days" to choose what you want to do when it comes up. Or write in parenthesis what you could possibly do (like a summer bucket list plan if the weather if nice). This ensures you get free days and don't miss out on your summer activities you most likely won't make time for before summer is over if it isn't on the calendar. 2. Create or print a weekly calendar separate from your summer calendar. This can be purchased as an all in one calendar book too with weeks, months, and days in it, or can be printed just like the monthly calendar. On one piece of paper you should have all the days of the week open to write notes on. If you have times of day on the side better yet, otherwise please add hourly times you are awake to the side. Then fill in a rough draft of what you do weekly. Block out time you work, have sports, music lessons, sleep, nap time, exercise time, meditate, yoga, walk, etc. Self Care time gets blocked, even if you are only wanting to put a facial mask on and make aromatherapy roller ball blends! The goal here is to try to get a good feel at what your normal week looks like in summer time. This will help you adjust your daily and weekly schedules on the holiday weekends or days when you travel or have plans. Take a good view at your week and see if there are any time adjustments you can make anywhere that may make things run more smoothly. For example, if you work a half day on Wednesday's, would it make more sense to run to the gym to workout and to the grocery store while the kids are in day care yet or already have it planned in your schedule that you will be gone like the other work days? Would it make more sense to get up an hour early to make the kids meals and snacks for the day while you are gone or to prepare for your fun day with the kids so you aren't so rushed. Would it make sense to skip a few things in your week to free up some time to spend with your kids or on getting more done that needs to get done versus something you may have on the calendar that you really don't even want to do. 3. Now that you know what the big picture of summer activities look like and what your weekly routine roughly looks like, go ahead and print or use a daily calendar now with hours. Here is where you adjust your days now to work around your weeks (like holiday and travel weeks). You will be able to see where you can add extra hours of work in or plan ahead for self care time, especially for those super busy weekends ahead. Doing this part right here was a HUGE everything saver for me! My days ran more smoothly. I wasn't walking from room to room trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. My TODO list was still getting done. I knew exactly what I had to do and I knew exactly what they could be doing while I did my things. Even if you are a stay at home MOM! Do this! Fill in the hours, I swear by it! PRO TIP - Where ever possible, add an extra thirty minutes before and or after a task or event to give yourself extra time. Kids always need something, so planning ahead ensures you have time for them and time to still be on time for the next task. If you have kids five and younger, I would encourage you to try to add a few extra thirty minute free slots (six per day if possible) OR a full hour a few times per day as younger kiddos sometimes need more of Mom's time unexpectedly for things like potty training, sniffles, refusing to nap, tummy aches, or even just time to reason with your toddler. :) ➡️ If you want to take your self care routine to the next level, check out this blog for self care tips you can start today! So there you have it! Prepare for summer with the kids home by having three schedules. 1. A Monthly Schedule. 2. A Weekly Schedule. 3. A Daily Schedule. Enjoy staying on task without over stressing, rushing to avoid being late, outbursts from kiddos not liking chaos, and the ability to consistently get your self care time in, have patience, emotional balance, and stay on track while balancing work life and Mom life. If you need help creating this schedule and need support in creating a self care routine personal to you and your kids, than let's spend an hour online together and get it done! One hour can save you hundreds of wasted hour this summer! Right now is the BEST time to learn natural ways to stay consistent and products that can support emotional balance through the busy summer months. Not to mention, if you do this NOW for yourself and your kiddos, think of how much EASIER adjusting to back to school will be! Click Here to Get Started! Want to keep the health and wellness tips coming to your inbox all summer long? Click here to sign up today! It's free! |
Did you find the information helpful? Show your LOVE & appreciation with a coffee tip so Jamie can continue to deliver more! :)AuthorJamie Michaels, Natural Wellness Educator & Founder of Children's Wellness Tree Archives
September 2024
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