Always pause — When a conflict arises, avoid lashing out. Take a moment to breathe slowly and become calm. Attempting to engage with someone when you are reactive can make things worse.

Allow yourself to feel what you’re feeling— Emotions are indicators that something is going on. They help us recognize what may be happening in us and in others.

Acknowledge that you have space to choose — Recognize that the person you have the most ownership over is you. Dr. Stanfield shares that taking as much responsibility as we truthfully can for our actions, whether we believe them to be small or insignificant, allows us to recognize that we play a part in the how a conflict is resolved or exacerbated.

 Challenge your assumptions — Attempt to understand before attempting to be understood. Be open-minded to the views of others involved in the conflict. Remember, there’s always one more fact in every person’s story that we know nothing about that could explain why they may be doing what they are. Challenge yourself to ask open-ended questions so that you can truly understand their perspective.

Move forward — Stick to the point of the conflict and brainstorm ways to resolve it. Agree to try a resolution without resentment. And when you move forward with a suggestion, give it your full effort. 

Sleep deprivation can have serious effects on your health. Inadequate rest impairs our ability to think, to handle stress, to maintain a healthy immune system and to moderate our emotions.  

Breathe Easy Your pillow can contain up to 16 types of allergy-triggering fungi. But encasing pillows in allergy-proof covers can reduce those irritants by 90 percent.

Try Stretching Woman who do 15 to 30 minutes of simple stretches every day fall asleep faster, slept more soundly and used less sleep medication than women who did not. Stretching reduces muscle stiffness at bedtime, making you more relaxed. 

Turn It Off You’ll fall asleep more easily when you turn off TVs and computer screens at least 30 minutes before bed. Why?? They produce light that makes your brain think it’s daytime, disrupting the chemical balance needed to fall asleep.

~ It is a battle worth the win.

Taking care of clothes. This involves putting dirty clothes in the hamper, putting clean clothes away, and doing laundry (separating colors, operating the washing machine and dryer, folding clothes, and ironing). There are tasks within this category that are appropriate for the very youngest child (a three year old can put dirty clothes in a hamper and carry clean, folded clothes to his room) to the very oldest (teens can show a surprising talent for ironing).

Cleaning. I know, it’s a big topic. Some of the obvious subcategories are: doing dishes, wiping spills, vacuuming, tidying rooms, dusting, making beds, and taking out the trash. With almost all chores, children learn them first working alongside you. Once they’ve learned the steps, they need reminding, supervision and support.

Pick Up Your Socks . . . and Other Skills Growing Children Need!

by Elizabeth Crary, M.S.

Choose a convenient spot within your home to set up a paper processing center, which will be the main hub of your filing system. This could be located in a home office, kitchen, dining room, or entryway. Wherever you place it, make sure you have enough space for these items:

Central inbox: Designate one spot for all incoming paper, including mail, receipts, school papers, flyers, and more. A single stack, even if it's sizable, is more manageable than several smaller ones spread out around the house.

Action file: Go through your inbox daily to pull items that need attention. Sort them by level of urgency into a three-part "action file." Keep the file in the open so you'll remember to check it often.

Waste station: Keep a shredder, recycling bin, and trash can within reach so you can toss unwanted paper as soon as it enters the house before it hits your inbox.

File cabinet: If space allows, have a file cabinet for papers that don't need action, just archiving. If not, collect papers to file in an easy-to-access box or folder. Transfer them to long-term storage, wherever that might be, monthly.

Rain Painting Collect several coffee filters, and some food coloring. Have your child put two or three drops of food coloring on one the coffee filters and take it out in the rain. Watch together as the raindrops splatter on the filter and spread the food coloring all around to make designs. Repeat with the other coffee filters.

Easy Rainbows Tape three or four different colored crayons in a straight line. Show your child how to draw a rainbow with one stroke.

Cereal Rainbows For younger children, you should draw a rainbow shape on to the paper then have the children glue the fruit loops inside the shape. Older children can make their own rainbow shape, or trace it.

Rainbow Eggshell Collage Use the colored egg shells after your egg hunt to let your child glue the eggshells to a piece a paper to make a collage picture.