Everybody knows that following a healthy lifestyle is the single best way of cutting down your family’s medical bills. Still, just like man cannot live by bread alone, our total wellbeing consists of more than mere physical health.
Feelings of strain, helplessness, frustration and confusion are inherent in modern life and can, in time, lead to both mental and physical illness. There’s no real need to allow things to progress to that point, though: providing people with emotional release valves in a safe, familial context may be all that’s needed to forestall major problems later.
Subscribe to an Online Counseling Service for the Whole Family
Especially as teenagers, your children will be exposed to experiences which they won’t yet have the life experience or judgment to interpret correctly. It’s unrealistic to think that they will always be comfortable speaking to you openly about topics such as sexuality and drugs, and leaving this aspect of their education to their schools is nothing short of naïve.
Giving them access to an online psychologist instead allows them to discuss the issues confronting them frankly and anonymously. The fact is that they will learn about life’s darker side sooner or later; best that this be with professional guidance rather than that of their peers.
Make One Meal per Week a Picnic
Stale routine leads to stale thoughts. Shake things up a little by packing fruit, sandwiches and fingerfood in a basket and spread a blanket in the nearest park, at a local spot or just in your own backyard. A frisbee, football, or even your family pet can provide all the entertainment you need for a family outing and the fresh air will do everyone some good. Picnics can also easily be combined with a visit to a local museum or a trip to a public swimming pool, for example.
Get Acquainted with Camping
Every so often, we need to leave our environment completely behind and perform a kind of mental reboot. There’s no reason that this can be done only once per year, and even less of one for it to involve expensive flights and hotels.
Buying two tents (one for the child(ren) and one for the parent(s); everyone will have more fun that way), cooking utensils, sleeping bags and assorted gear is a one-time expense that will serve for dozens of weekend getaways and longer trips. Chances are that there are several great campsites within a short drive of your home that you’ve never even heard of.
Play Board Games Together
Assuming everybody enters into the spirit of the game, getting the family around a table with a pair of dice can lead to hours of laughter and learning. Although games such as Monopoly could be about as interesting as watching grass grow, many others exist that are both fun and educational and can be adapted to any age level. Cards are especially versatile: children can graduate from go fish to rummy to poker and bridge, and don’t forget all the mental skills you can gain with chess exercises.
Employing any of these techniques ultimately results in family togetherness, which in turn, contributes to our total wellbeing and hopefully some fun family memories for years to come!
See my disclaimer.
