As days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and months turn into, well, A WHOLE YEAR NOW, quarantine brings many challenges. One of which, although superficial, is hair styling and the dreaded haircut.

Here are a few tips and tricks to handle that horrible pandemic hair, until we can get the kids to the salon again.

MINDFULNESS, EMOTIONAL AWARENESS AND SELF-REGULATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

From our earliest moments, mindfulness can help minimize anxiety and increase happiness.

At every developmental stage, mindfulness can be a great tool and coping mechanism to decrease anxiety and promote happiness, especially in moments when we are faced with adversity. Every age group faces adversity of some sort. With infants, it may be hunger or fatigue.

We all know how hard it is to get out of our own way and get some activity and exercise. It's not any different for our kids. They have been living in the same locked-down, do-nothing, boring world as the rest of us adults - forced to isolate from family and friends, forced to sit in front of a computer screen for far too long, forced to get comfortable being way too comfortable. We get it. We are living it too and, with the help of the warmer weather, we are here to say, LET'S GET ACTIVE!

The upside of hanging out virtually and social distancing is being able to share the things we would usually take for granted. The pandemic has been tough for all of us in many different ways, especially not being able to see all family and friends! For those seeking a useful way to spend their time during social distancing, we have a few fun suggestions for you to try so you can keep up and stay connected with your loved ones in a few more fun and different ways!

We all know that keeping the kids active is a great way to work out all of their energy, to keep them healthy, and to promote physical activity as an integral part of their health for the remainder of their lives. What we, as parents, often forget to promote is how important physical activity can be for our mental health - coping with stress, fostering feelings of happiness, and promoting body positivity. In Canada, more than 800,000 children between the ages of four and 17 experience a mental health condition, for which the majority never receive formal treatment.

As this second lock down comes to a close, so starts the beginning of school again. For many of us, this means tear-filled drop offs and little hands clinging to our legs. For parents and children who are new to school, separation anxiety is a struggle under normal circumstances, but THIS YEAR? It's a whole other thing entirely. They were in school, then they were out, and now they are going back in.

It is no surprise that we have chosen this as our topic talk for the week. As we move into another month with COVID-19 on our coattails, we thought it would be a great time to address the elephant in the room - GERMS. We all know that kids will be kids, and part of this is being oblivious to the dangers around them. Here are some fun and clever tips and tricks to teach the kids about germs and handwashing.

Focusing on Online Learning, We have all been there. "Pay Attention!" "Focus!" "Why aren't you at the computer?!?" This year, parents have been asked to be the nanny, the work-from-home employee, the cook, the maid, and most recently, the teacher. On top of everything else, we now have to figure out a way to keep our energetic and cooped-up kids focused on school. As parents ourselves, we get it - it is HARD! Here are a few suggestions to help keep your virtual schooler's attention:

With all of the emotional exercise and character building that goes into parenting, sometimes it's hard for parents to limit their expectations of their children. Thanks to the global pandemic, working from home and virtual schooling has created the perfect storm of parental micromanaging and high expectations. Having our children around 24/7, has made it too easy to plan their whole day and create unrealistic goals for their physical, emotional, and intellectual growth.

With the current social situation- being cut off from family and friends, outlets for physical activity, school, work, and other sources of self care - we are finding ourselves spending a lot of time with our kids. In theory this is an incredible gift, but in reality every parent can attest to how difficult this can be. Highly sensitive parents may even experience parental sensory overload - you may not know it. Characterized by high irritability, low patience, and feeling out of control emotionally with little to no provocation, parental sensory overload effects most parents at some point or another.

Working from home has become the new norm and most of us have seen our typical routines make a 180'. For many, it was already a challenge to multi-task work and family pre-pandemic; now, a new challenge has been thrown into the mix - raising your kids while adapting to your new work from home schedule. Schools and daycare closings and “social distancing” restrictions mean that families are suddenly spending a lot more time at home together.

How to find balance in your life as a parent—How can we possibly spend the same time and effort on meal prep, helping with homework, building relationships with our kids, cleaning, and self-care? There is no way that we can ever perfectly balance all of the things we are required to think and do as parents. Maybe, instead of balance being everything in perfect order, it is learning to choose the things that are most important at that time.

Nutrition-Most parents ask themselves how they can promote a healthy diet for their picky children. The first piece of advice we can give you is, respect their appetite. Children's little bodies go through so much while they are young and growing and, often, this affects their appetite. If they aren't hungry, try not to force a meal or snack on them. If you let them know you are there when they are hungry, you better believe they will be tugging on those pant legs the second that they are.

We’ve all been feeling the extreme ups and downs of this year, your kids included. It’s important that all of us collectively implement practices into our daily lives that bring us peace, happiness and make sure we are prioritizing ourselves. By encouraging your kids to take little moments for themselves, you will guide them to being more mindful and self aware.

Many children's classes, activities, and toys today are inspired by The Montessori Method. Highly recognized and praised by many, The Montessori Method is a child-centered method of education developed by Dr. Maria Montessori. Her method involves self and peer-led activities that encourage independent learning among children of varying ages.

In a world where talk about bodies, dieting, and nutrition is ever-changing, it can seem confusing or even unnecessary to talk to young children about positive body image. But as we all know, children are sponges who pick up on our words and behaviour. Speaking to your kids about maintaining a healthy and loving perspective of their bodies will set them up for successful futures where they can continue to work on their confidence and know their self-worth.