It occupies our minds, interrupts our days, and takes over our summer: what to do with the kids during summer and school breaks?!? It's that time of the year when we, as parents, are tasked with the responsibility of deciding how the kids are going to spend their freetime during the summer. Some parents see summer as a time to play, have fun, and be active. Others believe it is time for kids to hone their studies and learn new skills. Kidnasium says IT'S TIME FOR BOTH!

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.