Six Ways to Beat the Blues

by Phyllis Goldberg, Ph.D. and Rosemary Lichtman, Ph.D.

Your thoughts are mental products although they don’t necessarily reflect an absolute reality. However, for you, they do represent how you feel. Some people can’t help but wear their hearts on their sleeves. Others are more able to manage their emotions and function as if everything is fine. […]

Stretching the Start of Motherhood

by Susan Newman

“This is a good article about why, in terms of fertility, it is not a wise idea to wait,” wrote a commenter in response to The Ideal Age to Have a Baby. However, a new study shows that the likelihood of having a baby after 40 is quite good.
Yes, you can reverse your biological clock. For so many reasons, we all can’t—and don’t—have our babies in our 20s and early 30s. In response to my post, 40 is the New 20 for Having Babies, here is one of several similar comments that explain why many of us come to motherhood later: “I think everyone’s situation is unique. I think if I had a time machine and could have met my husband when I was in my mid to late 20’s, we would have had 2-3 children by the time I was 35. But life doesn’t work that way. I am so blessed to have our son and, yes, even at 41, we are considering another child probably also requiring IVF.” […]

2012 Financial Checkup

Believe it or not, more than one-half of 2012 is over. That means it’s time for a financial checkup. Tax preparer Mike Johnson, EA ATP, owner of Money Matters (MN & ND), says a mid-year financial review is critical for families to reach their financial goals. […]

Eating Crow (Or, How to Ingest the Reality of Getting Older)

by Valerie Gillies

“In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet”  – Sir Winston Churchill

I have long fancied myself to be a natural woman.  Having worn denim for a larger percentage of my days than all other fibers combined, never having changed the color of my hair, succeeding in four unmedicated childbirths (like it was some sort of contest), remembering with grimaced face the few times I have been peer-pressured into manicures.  For over 50 years, I have run pretty much on my own steam, glorifying in how well this machine was holding up, how tough and independent I could be.  Well, baby, it’s now time for me to take her in for the 50,000 mile checkup, and I’m not liking it.  […]

KidsHealth’s Tips for Going Back to School (Part II)

First-Day Mania

There’s no escaping the fact that the first day of school can be crazy. New kids wander around in circles. Lockers won’t open. The school nurse needs your medical records. You forgot your gym shorts. Freshmen are running in all directions, looking for their homerooms.

How can you combat first-day chaos? If you’re headed to a new school, try to arrange a visit before classes begin. Explore any areas that are of particular interest, such as the gymnasium, library, or science labs. Some schools offer maps. Get one and give it a read before school starts — then keep it in your backpack until you’re familiar with your new surroundings.

Other topics include: Emotions, Making Your Way Through the Lunchroom, Having a Brain Drain?

http://kidshealth.org/teen/homework/back/back_to_school.html

Eight Tips for Single Parents Going Back to School

Making it through college can be a challenge for any of us—add to that the responsibility of being a single parent and college can be especially demanding. Dr. Bill Burns, director of the North Dakota State University Counseling Center, and Maggie Pearl, admissions manager at Rasmussen College—Fargo campus, share some of their tips for helping single parents be successful students and parents. […]

School’s In, TV’s Out: Tips for Going Back to School

by Jane Samuel

There is something in my house besides summer’s insects that has been humming along happily since school let out. Filing my children’s brains – one impressionable nine-year-old’s in particular – with fluff and stuff. Fluff like toy ads: “the AMAZING Slushy Magic™ available for only four easy payments of $9.99.” Stuff like potty humor and child-friendly, anti-adult one-liners. […]

Eight Tips for Getting Your Kids Back to School

by Linda Anderson Krech and Gregg Krech

For many families the start of the school year has a more noticeable impact on day to day life than the start of the calendar year. This is certainly true in our family. As September rolls around, the daily routine of every member of our family, even our dog, changes. […]

Sex: It Really is Chemistry

by Dr. Barb Depree

What makes sex feel so good? What ignites passion and sustains attachment? What is it that makes your heart flutter? And how can you keep those feelings alive, especially in the bedroom, after 10—or 40—years?

Turns out passion and attraction—all the stuff of poetry, song, and story—are the product of your most ancient brain—the limbic system—which you have in common with lots of other animals and which regulates a chemical stew of neurotransmitters. Emotions, drives, impulses, and desires originate in the limbic system. This part of the brain is wired for pleasure and passion, and it operates independently of our conscious choice or will. […]

Back-To-School Tips for Dealing with Dysregulated Children

Valerie Gillies

Back to school does not bring out the best in dysregulated children.  If you are seeing an increase in tantrums, meltdowns, clinginess, or regression to younger behaviors, you are not alone.  Children all over America are bouncing off the walls, finishing off the summer with a bang. […]

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