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Post-Holiday! Reset back to normal routines · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:00
  As God intended.
• 0:02
  Let's go.
• 0:19
  Well, good morning, good evening, good day.
• 0:23
  Happy happy day.
• 0:26
  I don't know.
• 0:27
  We have so much going on.
• 0:29
  It's the holiday season, and I am so grateful for you to be here today.
• 0:33
  This is looking for Healing Radio.
• 0:36
  And this is your host, Dr.
• 0:37
  Angie Farilla.
• 0:38
  For those of you that have not been tuning in to me, I am a pediatrician in Webster, Texas.
• 0:45
  And I have been doing this show now for a few months.
• 0:48
  And I'm giving you some tips to keep everyone healthy and trying to keep everything sane, because of course, in my line of work, it doesn't just mean that there is sanity in the world.
• 1:03
  It's it just you know, kids are chaos, right?
• 1:06
  And so here we are, so are the holidays.
• 1:09
  The holidays are absolute chaos.
• 1:11
  And so there's lots of high emotion running through.
• 1:15
  It's just a time of year that many of us need to just kind of slow down to speed up, if you understand what I'm saying there.
• 1:24
  And you know, a lot of this is something that is self-inflicted.
• 1:30
  We do this to ourselves, unfortunately.
• 1:32
  And a lot of times it's not intentional that we do this to ourselves, but we do um we do kind of overstress ourselves.
• 1:42
  So in the background, you might hear a little hint of my theta waves um playing.
• 1:47
  And the reason why I play theta waves is because they're calming waves, they are actually really good for you, and they really help with easing your mind and making good decisions and things of that nature.
• 1:59
  And so that's kind of one of the things that I really enjoy.
• 2:05
  Um before I go to bed, or if I'm hitting a very high stress time, what I try to do is I um try to listen to some of these waves to calm myself down, bring things to another level.
• 2:17
  This way you're not so you know, just all tight and strung up about everything that's going on in the world.
• 2:24
  Then it's it's easy to do.
• 2:26
  It really is.
• 2:26
  It's not that hard to get all caught up.
• 2:29
  Um, yesterday I was feeling it this morning.
• 2:32
  I got up earlier and uh I decided that I'm just gonna take a walk.
• 2:36
  And so I walked my two and a half miles this morning before coming on, really to put myself in a better spot.
• 2:44
  And you know, sometimes you need that.
• 2:46
  Everyone needs that every once in a while, and we we all can really just benefit from a healthy dose of nature.
• 2:54
  Um, I'm in Southeast Texas, so of course, when you're in Southeast Texas, um, the weather is warm, and we literally are in shorts and t-shirts, which I know the rest of the country sometimes is a little jealous of, but you know, we we have a a very great opportunity out here to get into nature to try to do things that maybe sometimes you just don't get a chance to do.
• 3:18
  And you know, the the post-holiday transition time can be really crazy, right?
• 3:24
  You're leading up to Christmas, and then you have Christmas and Christmas Day, and if you have little kids, I mean, it is just a fun fest, you know, seeing Santa, going to church, um, eating great food, meeting with friends and family.
• 3:41
  Um, but I can tell you that sometimes that's very, very stressful, and it's stressful for kids too.
• 3:46
  Kids just um they express it in different ways, they tend to get a little more irritable or hyper, they fight sleep now because they have FOMO, they just do not want to miss out on anything.
• 3:58
  And so what we are trying to do is help you keep the sanity in your home today.
• 4:06
  Um, I'm going to talk to you a little bit about post-holiday transitions.
• 4:10
  Um, you know, because they they can be very tough.
• 4:13
  They could be tough on the mom, they could be tough on the kids, they're tough on the other people in the family.
• 4:19
  And so, you know, kids at this point are, you know, they're watching lots of Christmas movies.
• 4:25
  Sometimes they um are staying up later, they're getting up crazy early on Christmas day, the meals are different, you know, they're all different times, they're different types of food.
• 4:36
  Um, and then of course you're not in school, so your school schedule is thrown completely off.
• 4:41
  And then what happens is when it's time to go back to school, the big ugly happens, right?
• 4:48
  For both for for everyone involved for the kids and for the parents, and so really what we are going to talk about today is is trying to get back in a routine.
• 5:01
  So I have three parts to this today.
• 5:03
  We're gonna really just talk a little bit about um, you know, resting and resetting your routine and tackling sleep because honestly, that's kind of the hard part is you have kiddos that um just are thrown off that you know, there are some kids that are very, very re routine focused, meaning like if you change their routine, they are off and out of it for quite a while, and then there's other kids that doesn't seem to bother as much.
• 5:34
  But I can tell you, even in our home, which you know, I have older kids now, and the routines are still embedded in me from when they were little, but now that they're older and they're all over the place, it really throws me off.
• 5:50
  And a lot of times, you know, my husband and I are home by ourselves, so we don't have routine meals.
• 5:55
  We don't have the things that we used to do when the kids were around because we were very, very strict about making sure there was good, healthy, high protein meals on the table for the kids um for breakfast and for dinner for sure.
• 6:09
  Lunch, we kind of let them slide a little bit, but really and truly, this is a big issue.
• 6:15
  And of course, now they're sweets this time of year, there's lots of things that we can't control.
• 6:21
  And with these sudden changes for little guys, um, sometimes it acts like jet, you know, like jet lag when you get home and you're very irritable and you can't think, and you just um are thrown off.
• 6:35
  Like there were times that I'm that way, and I could tell you yesterday was that day.
• 6:40
  I was really thrown off.
• 6:41
  I was very irritable.
• 6:42
  Um, and I just felt that I needed to get out of the house for a little bit.
• 6:47
  So my middle daughter and I went out and we went shopping and and um, you know, it was just it was good retail therapy, I think, you know, and we didn't spend a ton of money or anything, it was just that I just needed to get out with the world and kind of reset.
• 7:02
  And so I know some people think that's a weird way to reset, but I really just wanted to spend some time with my daughter, and that is what she enjoys, and so that's what we did.
• 7:11
  And um, you know, we really have to focus on sleep.
• 7:16
  This is not something new that you've never heard before.
• 7:21
  Um, it's but it seems to be a hot topic because people talk about it all the time, and we in the United States, we're a go-go go instant gratification type of country.
• 7:32
  We um do not sleep well.
• 7:35
  We have 24-75 televisions, we have access to information 24-7, we have notifications beeping at all times.
• 7:47
  We are really bombarded by all kinds of 5G and all kinds of blue light because we're in front of screens a good portion of the day, especially even with our cars.
• 7:59
  I'm sorry, even yeah, actually, even in the car, right?
• 8:02
  Because a lot of our cars have those computer screens, so you're getting bombarded there too.
• 8:06
  And but my big thing, like right now, I'm getting bombarded, right?
• 8:10
  Because I'm on two different computers and I have my phone playing the um theta waves in the background, and just to kind of give me some peace and some a little more inner tranquility, if you will.
• 8:23
  Um, but we really need to understand that children enjoy structure.
• 8:30
  I know, I know that sounds really crazy, but kids really thrive when they have a structured environment, and that includes sleep.
• 8:39
  So, just so that you know, like a lot of people go, well, well, well, what's great sleep?
• 8:44
  Well, you know, of course, that depends on their age, right?
• 8:47
  So in the uh newborn period, when I'm talking in the first, you know, four to six weeks, it's pretty much they sleep about you know, 18 to 20 hours a day.
• 8:58
  Once they hit um for uh two months old, sometimes it's they're awake almost 12 hours and they sleep about 12 hours, sometimes a little bit more.
• 9:08
  When they get to school age, we're still talking about nine um nine to twelve hours for the school age kids.
• 9:15
  Super important to make sure that those little kids are sleeping because you know, when you sleep, you grow, and you want to make sure those periods are really really heavy during uh midnight to about 4 a.m.
• 9:27
  when the circadian rhythm is is going strong, and then for teenagers, teens need about eight to ten hours of sleep.
• 9:34
  And I know people think, oh, teens are always sleeping, they're not really always sleeping, they just shift their time frame, right?
• 9:40
  So they stay up later and then they go to bed later, and so then of course they sleep in, which seems a long time later because we're up usually a few hours before them.
• 9:51
  But you know, honestly, um, you just need to understand that sleep is our cornerstone of our bodies.
• 10:00
  Healing is the cornerstone of our bodies.
• 10:02
  Reset, it's the cornerstone of all the things, even biological mechanisms happen mostly when we're sleeping.
• 10:10
  And so it's really important to get these kids to reset by adjusting their bedtime and wake time before the school shifts.
• 10:21
  So this can this applies even to before school starts, um, you know, on the back to school times.
• 10:27
  But this is also important when they're on a lengthy winter break.
• 10:32
  Um, you know, for the holidays.
• 10:34
  And what you need to do is depend, you know, kind of look back on when they go back to school, and at least five to seven days beforehand, start shifting.
• 10:44
  If you notice that their date that their uh bedtime is later, start shifting it backwards earlier, about 15 to 30 minutes each night until you get back to their normal routine of um bedtime.
• 10:58
  Because when they get back to school, if they're not put on that schedule again, they are going to have a really big struggle getting to pay attention at school.
• 11:11
  Um, you know, just getting along with others because they're going to be tired and when they're tired, they're cranky, and when they're cranky, they're irritable, and they can be very, as we all know as mothers, they can be quite um opposing in their behavior at that moment.
• 11:26
  And so we really do need to focus on getting them back on their sleep schedule when we throw it off during the holiday breaks.
• 11:35
  And you know, our get back to your bedtime routine.
• 11:38
  I always tell parents, bath book bed, right?
• 11:41
  And that's for the the children that are very small.
• 11:44
  You know, I really try to tell my parents to get their newborns and and um up to up through toddlers on a good bath book and bed routine so that the kids know okay, I'm taking my bath, therefore that means it's almost time for me to get ready to go to bed and um really do that through a book because screens will really disrupt melatonin, and so it's harder for the children to fall asleep if they are front in front of a TV or if they're in front of a screen for whatever reason.
• 12:16
  And so we really do want them to be screen free for at least two.
• 12:21
  I say up to three hours prior to bedtime, because I think that's really important to really start establishing a calming routine that is not over stimulating their brain like blue light does.
• 12:33
  And I know this sounds crazy, but especially during the shorter days.
• 12:37
  Now we are so excited because the winter solstice has happened, and so now our days are getting longer, right?
• 12:44
  So by a few minutes every day.
• 12:46
  And so, you know, we want to try to take advantage of the blue light so the sun coming into their windows um in their bedroom really helps reset them too.
• 12:58
  So that early morning blue light is actually excellent for them.
• 13:02
  So if you have a way to allow for the sun to come into their windows in the morning and get them back on a natural rhythm, that really does help amazingly.
• 13:13
  Um, and don't let it falter on weekends because really weekends can really screw up the whole next week, right?
• 13:22
  And and you can talk to parents that have maybe two parent homes where these children, I'm sorry, uh the the homes they have two homes with each parent in each home.
• 13:33
  And if their schedules are vastly different in each home, the one that they spend their primary time in will always complain that it takes them two or three days to get their kids back on track with the rules of their road.
• 13:45
  And so, you know, these are some tips that maybe will help, you know, just keeping that consistent schedule, having an open dialogue with the other parent and just saying, look, you know, this is really messing up the kiddo, so we really need to kind of be on the same page, at least because of this, right?
• 14:03
  And so also little kids, I you know, I'm kind of shocked.
• 14:06
  A lot of them are drinking products with caffeine in it.
• 14:11
  And so, you know, really in little kids, I I'm not a big fan of them having caffeine.
• 14:16
  Um, but you know, a little bit's fine, but you don't want to over-rev them up.
• 14:21
  And I really try to encourage daytime activity.
• 14:24
  Don't let them sit in their rooms.
• 14:25
  Now, of course, this is mostly the teenagers, right?
• 14:28
  The they'll sit in their rooms most of the day.
• 14:30
  So while the daylight hours are burning, these kids are hiding in their living room watching television, gaming, you know, especially around the holidays because it is, you know, they got all these new things and they're playing and they're having a great time.
• 14:43
  But honestly, they need some some weather breaks, you know.
• 14:46
  I know in the colder places it might be harder to get outside, but even having that that sunshine come through that window is so important.
• 14:54
  Or if you have a way to get outside, even just to go pick up the mail for a few minutes, make the kids go and take take a walk to get the mail, uh, the mailbox, or bring in the garbage cans or take out the garbage cans, you know, all those little chores that will make them go outside.
• 15:11
  It's really, really helpful.
• 15:13
  And you know, now that February is coming around the corner pretty quickly, um, that's the pruning season, right?
• 15:19
  So that's going outside, that's pruning down some of your bushes or your trees.
• 15:25
  Um, you know, I do that with my rose bushes every year.
• 15:28
  It's like February 14th, and then of course, Labor Day.
• 15:31
  Those are my two days that I know, okay.
• 15:33
  Anytime around those times, I'm gonna go out there and prune my rose bushes.
• 15:38
  So have the kids come outside with you and help.
• 15:41
  I mean, man, what's what's there not to love, right?
• 15:44
  Um, and so, you know, how do you handle a kiddo that fights you on a bedtime?
• 15:52
  You know, and and they don't want to transition to get to sleep.
• 15:57
  There's a lot going on there, right?
• 16:00
  So sometimes um there's just too much what I consider too much um freedom on the children's part, meaning parents forget to be parents sometimes.
• 16:12
  And especially in the holidays, those rules kind of get lax because you don't really have anything else to look forward to, but you also want to put your parental authority in place, okay.
• 16:23
  It's really important for you as the parent to continue to establish your parental authority.
• 16:30
  And so if you have kids that are fighting bedtime, there's a couple of things, you know.
• 16:37
  Once you establish that routine, okay, you know, fine.
• 16:40
  You can what we are going to do is you can bargain.
• 16:43
  Some of the older kids you can actually bargain with.
• 16:45
  Look, if you get to bed on time, then we will spend an extra hour doing X, Y, or Z that you like to do during the day.
• 16:54
  Um, and you could start small, it doesn't have to be huge.
• 16:57
  I know my kids actually love going out for coffee in the morning because they're teenagers and above.
• 17:03
  Um, and so sometimes I am lucky enough that I can bribe them a little bit with, well, look, if you go to bed tonight, we'll get up early tomorrow and we'll go out for breakfast and we'll get you know your special coffee at your special coffee house or whatever.
• 17:17
  So that's a great way to kind of get on the teens level, you know, find something that they like and that they're strong in and they strive for that they will get up for, think about what do they get up for and um try to use that.
• 17:32
  And in our next segment, we'll we're gonna go through some nutrition and screen time some more.
• 17:38
  But let me just remind my listeners to go on to the shop and use your out loud coupon code because there's always some great new healthy products out there.
• 17:50
  I love my bear bars, so I need to actually go on there during this break and get myself some bear bars for the new year because I love those personally, and that is something that I am definitely gonna go on there for during our break.
• 18:05
  So we'll see you back in just a few minutes.
• 18:08
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• 20:49
  This is Dr.
• 20:50
  Angie Ferrella on Looking for Healing Radio.
• 20:53
  And you know, we were talking our first segment a little bit about trying to get kids back into the sleep schedule because that is a huge part of transitioning after a holiday or after our long break.
• 21:06
  And you know, we need to kind of reset our kids' um clocks as far as sleep clocks, but also we also have to reset our routines and really just trying to tackle the lack of sometimes it's lack of activity, right?
• 21:23
  Sometimes it's lack of sleep, sometimes it's lack of healthy good food because we're eating a lot more sweets and I hate to say it, junk food um during this time, you know, because we're spending time with family, and also, you know, the food is different now because we are maybe spending time at someone else's home.
• 21:41
  We're eating foods that maybe we only eat once a year, and so it's a it's a big deal.
• 21:46
  And um, you may hear in a little bit in the background, my theta waves are playing for y'all.
• 21:51
  Um, and that's really as a reset for myself as well.
• 21:54
  Um, I think it's super important that um we all reset, you know, it's not just for kids, it's for everyone, it's for the adults as well.
• 22:03
  And so when we are talking today, um, there's a lot going on with the world, right?
• 22:10
  We're home a little bit longer because we're not at work, and so sometimes those news reports get a little bit harrowing, and maybe sometimes we as adults are starting to um fizzle a little bit and have shorter um fuses than we normally do because of the stress of the holidays, you know, holidays are stressful, some and some stress can be good stress, stress could be bad stress, and then I consider some stress just like indifferent, um, where you're just stressed because you just are thinking about all the things you have to do, right?
• 22:45
  It's not necessarily a bad stress, it's just it's just there.
• 22:48
  Um, and I think really um one of the things that we have to do is really reset our sleep schedules.
• 22:56
  I know with the shorter days, it throws everything off, it's hard for me anyway, because I'm a very light affected human being.
• 23:03
  It's very hard for me to kind of do things in the winter because it gets dark so early, and I honestly look forward to the winter solstice because then in my head, I just kind of reset like, oh, the days are getting longer now.
• 23:18
  Um, and even though it's not real appreciable for a while, it still psychologically helps me to say, oh, the days are getting longer, and um I just really enjoy going outside and and the sunshine, and of course, I live in southeast um Texas.
• 23:35
  So when you live in a warm climate, you have the fortunate and pleasant um atmosphere here where it's nice and warm, and we can go outside generally our we have a pretty temperate climate, and we can go outside and take walks.
• 23:52
  I live very close to a nature walk, so I literally this morning got up because I was a little off yesterday, and I went for a two and a half mile walk this morning with my husband and our daughter's dog.
• 24:04
  So it was a great reset for me.
• 24:06
  Um I'm playing my theta waves right now as we're talking because again, it's it's it's just so stressful, even watching other people be stressed out, right?
• 24:19
  You know, if you're on social media, you see all the the love and joy and the cool little pajama outfits and you know, the beautiful trees and the decorations and and sometimes the little trips that people take to those winter wonderlands, and I love all that.
• 24:34
  I really do.
• 24:35
  I love going to look at lights and all that fun stuff, but behind it, um, you know, it's almost a burden for me to go out in the car and go look at Christmas lights.
• 24:45
  I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous, but I'm just I'm worn out by the time Christmas comes.
• 24:51
  And so I need to reset just like kids need to reset.
• 24:54
  And so, you know, one of the things that we have to really pay attention to is not just sleep and getting good rest, but also what about resetting our guts?
• 25:04
  You know, we've been eating a lot of things that we don't normally eat, um, and our days are usually uh a little bit jam-packed with let's go and do this, let's go and do this, let's go and do this.
• 25:16
  And maybe we just have to kind of make it healthy balance.
• 25:19
  And so, you know, let's re-establish our regular meal times.
• 25:24
  You know, I'm I'm just as guilty as the rest, right?
• 25:27
  Holidays throw things off, and you know, you tend to not eat at your regular meal times, which you know, for us, our meal times um during the holidays usually are sometime around 230, 3 o'clock.
• 25:41
  So it's more of a brunch type, well, it's probably more of an early dinner type time, and um, but sometimes it's you know 6 30 or 7 or whatever.
• 25:51
  I really um need to kind of re-establish that now because you know, even if you're intermittent fasting, your intermittent fasting gets thrown off, right?
• 26:00
  And so um, you know, getting some healthier foods.
• 26:04
  And so this morning, my thing after my two and a half mile walk with some Greek yogurt with some frozen raspberries and some really healthy high protein granola.
• 26:15
  And you know, I do feel better.
• 26:17
  I feel a little bit better, I feel a little more focused, I feel a little more awake, and and that is because uh it had a lot of protein in it, and I think um when you're reducing your sugar intake, and I think in the beginning of the year, I'm gonna go through a little sugar detox and see how that works out.
• 26:32
  But you know, you I talk about this all the time that kids need protein.
• 26:37
  Kids are very protein poor, especially before school starts.
• 26:41
  So, again, re-establish that morning routine, get them on that protein-rich breakfast because that's going to help them focus at school.
• 26:48
  It's gonna give them good energy, not like that nervous sugar energy, you know.
• 26:52
  So things like your your eggs and yogurt, just like I had this morning.
• 26:56
  I had Greek yogurt, which is 20 grams of protein per three-quarter cup serving.
• 27:02
  So that's phenomenal, right?
• 27:04
  How about nuts?
• 27:05
  Now, nuts, you want the raw nuts, or do you want or you want them boil like in peanuts?
• 27:10
  You actually want boiled peanuts.
• 27:12
  Um, you don't want them roasted in seed oils because unfortunately in vegetable oils, a lot of nuts that come in those mixes are actually done with um oils that are not so good for us.
• 27:25
  So try to stick to things that are more naturally prepared or raw, like raw almonds and make your own, roast them in the oven with your own seasoning.
• 27:34
  I do that often, and I love that.
• 27:36
  Um, and then and we also know just from we know that kids who eat a high protein breakfast, they generally do better academically, and so you know, that's a huge, huge thing for kids.
• 27:50
  I mean, there's so much pressure to do well in school, and they want to do well.
• 27:55
  Kids want to please their parents.
• 27:57
  That is just kind of we all want to please somebody in some way, and maybe that's just you want to please yourself, you know.
• 28:04
  I there are times that I just need to accomplish some goals to make myself happy, so to speak, and I think everyone goes through that.
• 28:13
  But I think you know, if you feed your kids, especially if you had an ultra super sugar break, you know what?
• 28:21
  Really be heavy on the protein and really try to avoid those post-holiday sugar crashes, you know, as much as you can by really starting from the beginning.
• 28:31
  And I always tell people I tried to prepare things that are very low sugar.
• 28:37
  Um, I I don't even bake anymore.
• 28:39
  I mean, I know that sounds really crazy, but I don't I don't bake because I really don't need all that stuff around the house.
• 28:46
  And as much as I love love, love, love the holidays and baking and enjoying that time with my kiddos.
• 28:53
  I think we kind of overdo it, right?
• 28:56
  So this year I really didn't do anything, you know.
• 29:00
  I participated in um a fundraiser for a kid's school, they were making apple pies, and these were actually handmade homemade pies, so they didn't have preservatives and stuff in them.
• 29:13
  And so I was very happy to oblige them with that, you know.
• 29:17
  And when I didn't buy any sweets from the stores this year, which is good.
• 29:22
  I'm I'm like happy for that.
• 29:23
  I found other alternatives that because people don't want it either, you know.
• 29:27
  I just I just found different alternatives, and um, I think people appreciated that.
• 29:32
  I think it was a good thing to do this year.
• 29:34
  Um, I did I do every year, I do um like a coffee station slash cocoa station, and I have some fun stuff on there, you know, like some fun marshmallows and things like that.
• 29:46
  But you know, this year that was even toned down.
• 29:50
  I didn't have like the chocolate stirring sticks and all the little things that you can do with that.
• 29:56
  So um, you can modify your holiday, and I honestly think.
• 30:00
  No one missed it to be real.
• 30:01
  No one missed it.
• 30:03
  So it was a great holiday.
• 30:05
  I hope you all had a wonderful time.
• 30:06
  I had a great time too.
• 30:08
  And I and I can tell you that there's one thing in our family that we really enjoy.
• 30:12
  And that's we love watching Christmas movies, right?
• 30:16
  And so I can tell you that this time of year is the only time of year that I spend a lot of time in front of the television set.
• 30:22
  So that is something that we really need to get back on track with our kids and start setting limits and try to replace it with play.
• 30:33
  You know, how about a board game or a card game?
• 30:35
  Like a there's nothing better than a game of um Mexican Mexican train, which is Domino's game.
• 30:41
  And then what about Uno?
• 30:43
  I mean, we had into some really fierce Uno games.
• 30:48
  My husband's favorite game is risk, um, which I begrudgingly play.
• 30:54
  I really don't like risk.
• 30:56
  I know people think that's weird, but um I like strategy and everything, but man, some of these guys really go over the top with risk.
• 31:04
  So I try to get out as quickly as possible.
• 31:06
  Um, I will not be a world dominator there game.
• 31:10
  Um, but I try to also encourage some physical activity, like I said, you know, we go outside, we try to um go on family walks, um, and or go out, just go outside and hang out with the dogs in the yard, you know, throw balls.
• 31:25
  Um, we don't have great retrievers, but you know, sometimes they'll chase us around the yard.
• 31:31
  And so it's good to be out there and working with them, you know, working in the yard, and then they can come and um help you and and the kids can play with the dogs and you know, or borrow their neighbor's dog, you know.
• 31:44
  This time of year, a lot of kids are gifted with things like bikes.
• 31:47
  And I and I'm gonna I'm gonna hit on this because it really shocks me as a pediatrician.
• 31:53
  How many kids do not own bikes and never learned how to ride a bike?
• 31:57
  So, listeners, let me tell you what I did this year.
• 32:00
  So every year I do an angel tree.
• 32:02
  Okay, every single year, I do multiple.
• 32:05
  Um, usually it's multiple kids, and usually multiple families.
• 32:09
  And there were a couple of kids this year that asked for bikes.
• 32:14
  So this year, I gifted out five bikes to kids.
• 32:21
  And it gave me such an overwhelming feeling of joy that there's going to be two things with that.
• 32:28
  Number one is that they're gonna get exercise, right?
• 32:31
  They're gonna go outside, they're gonna play, they're gonna get on their bike, maybe they're gonna explore places.
• 32:37
  Hopefully, they'll explore them with um their parents' permission.
• 32:42
  But maybe they'll you know, explore and go to you know, a local park with some of their friends and go and play on in the park outside, or just ride their bike around, or maybe they're gonna use that bike to ride to a fishing hole and and learn how to fish, or maybe they're gonna use that bike just to explore or to try to be, you know, as unfortunate as it sounds, is Daredevil, right?
• 33:06
  I mean, my childhood was filled with ramps.
• 33:09
  I mean, we always were jumping curbs and making ramps, which sometimes were successful and many times they were not.
• 33:16
  Um, but it's good for kids to learn risk.
• 33:19
  I know people think I'm crazy, but honestly, we live in a very risk-averse um country right now, and we really have to let kids explore and take some extra risk because we are we are raising up a generation of fear, and um that is not healthy, it is not healthy to live in fear, it is not healthy to not understand how to adjust risk.
• 33:45
  And the only way that you can adjust risk is if you are taught that it's okay to take risk and that it's okay to enjoy some of that freedom to determine whether or not that risk is worth it or not, right?
• 33:59
  And so I think it's really important for um our listeners to understand that giving a kid a bike is giving them a little bit of freedom.
• 34:09
  And I know if you if you are lucky enough to have a neighborhood where there's a couple of different kids with bikes where they all can kind of be a little biking and ride around.
• 34:19
  I'm not saying they should go and torment people, but they can ride around and really explore some new uh places and maybe find out some new, I don't know, just like new features or maybe things they'd never noticed before when they were walking.
• 34:36
  Um, they could just get on their bike and ride and have a great time.
• 34:41
  And I think that's really important for kids.
• 34:43
  Really, really important.
• 34:45
  It's a great thing to do with them.
• 34:47
  And then, you know, you're we did the same thing when we were kids, and it was like, you know, when you start to see the sun get down, you better get home, right?
• 34:54
  For dinner.
• 34:55
  Those those um when those lights go on, for the street lights go on, you better hustle home and be home by the time those lights go on, right?
• 35:03
  I mean, we all joke about it, but it my parents didn't see me from morning to night.
• 35:07
  We were on bikes, we were seeing other friends.
• 35:10
  We were finding kids that we knew from school and playing with them, and these were kids that we didn't play with normally during school times, but if we were out and about and we found them at a park or whatever, we all hung out and played and had a great time and and tried a new time of discovery.
• 35:26
  That is what we did.
• 35:28
  Um, we built forts in the woods, you know, like what is that?
• 35:31
  People don't even know what that is anymore.
• 35:33
  So it's really important to get that.
• 35:35
  And you know, here are some things that I would really like you to do is consider doing a like vision board or vision calendar for your kids to start counting down the time to go back to school, right?
• 35:52
  And build it as an exciting time because I think that's when you're gonna get buy-in from the kids.
• 35:56
  It's like, oh, look, 10 more days to get to school, and you know, and so you can start doing kind of a reverse thing where you go, okay, we're gonna do 10 push-ups, and then we're gonna do nine jumping jacks, and then we're gonna do eight.
• 36:10
  I don't know, bicycle um swings or something like that.
• 36:15
  Just something fun that you can do with your family.
• 36:19
  I think that would be a great place to start.
• 36:25
  So we are gonna go into the next segment talking about things.
• 36:29
  Um, one thing's I one of the things I want to do is maybe present to you some meal ideas or maybe some hints on how to curb the screen battles.
• 36:39
  You know, that is a big deal.
• 36:41
  Um, there's some things that you can do as a family and do a screen free time and really do it as a family because really it's not good for anybody, so it's never a bad idea to do a screen holiday with your family.
• 36:53
  Um, but we, you know, great things to do to build that excitement with the kids going back to school, especially the younger kids, is maybe just kind of think about starting some, you know, educational game, like where you learn something new every day on the way to school, you know, on the way to school or on the on the countdown to school time.
• 37:16
  Um maybe start doing some if the kids are you know in second grade or higher, they're generally learning multiplication tables.
• 37:24
  So start doing some multiplication table games or okay, ready set go.
• 37:29
  What's two times two equals, you know, things like that to get their little noodle moving again because it's been kind of retired over the holiday system, uh holiday season.
• 37:39
  And so I think that would be um one thing to do.
• 37:43
  You can also do something where they can design their day.
• 37:47
  Um, and you know, there's a great movie out where the kids design the day for the parents and the parents had to say yes to everything.
• 37:54
  It was like a yes day.
• 37:55
  It was a great little movie that I saw years ago, and so um where you really within reason, of course, um say yes to everything your kid does that day, and that may build them up to being okay with going back to school because they know when they go to school, things get more restrictive, and so maybe building up one day before they are about to head back as a yes day, you know, where the kids plan the day, they plan the meals, they plan everything, and that would just get them more involved and and into it.
• 38:26
  So in our third segment, which will be coming up, I just want to remind my listeners that this is a place where I am trying to give you information in maybe a different format that you haven't heard before.
• 38:43
  So if you like this podcast, please share it with with your friends and family because I can tell you that when you wait on your friends and family to give you information, and you trust their their expertise or you trust their likes and dislikes.
• 39:00
  If you share that with your friends and family, they're gonna be with us all the way, and that's an informed public is a great public.
• 39:05
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• 39:16
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• 40:11
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• 40:15
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• 40:18
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• 40:21
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• 40:24
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• 40:37
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• 40:52
  Welcome back.
• 40:53
  We're so glad that you are here.
• 40:55
  Listening in on looking for healing radio on America Out Loud.news.
• 41:00
  And we are talking about reset.
• 41:03
  We are talking about getting the kids back to school, getting them back on schedules, just trying to get them to come down a little bit emotionally, um, physically, and all the other crazy things that go down.
• 41:18
  Hopefully um, they're not too crazy before they're about to go back to school.
• 41:23
  And what do we want?
• 41:24
  We always want our kids to be best prepared to return.
• 41:28
  And so this is a big adjustment, right?
• 41:31
  Sometimes um the kids have not seen their family members for a year or more.
• 41:38
  Um, and it was a very high emotional holiday season.
• 41:42
  Sometimes you've lost loved ones and it could be uh an emotional season for that reason where you're really missing someone that normally sits at your table.
• 41:52
  And it could be it could it's a lot, you know, even though you feel it, if you feel it, someone else is feeling it too.
• 41:59
  I always try to remind people that kids read us like books.
• 42:02
  So if you're a parent and you are grieving the loss of someone in your home, your kids are going to feel that um emotion and probably reflect it as well.
• 42:12
  So not that you shouldn't have those emotions because I think it's a healthy thing to grieve.
• 42:17
  Grieve does not have a timeline either.
• 42:19
  I just want to remind my listeners that some people will get very critical of grief and say, you know, you should be over that by now.
• 42:28
  Well, you you can't put a timeline on it.
• 42:30
  I mean, I could tell you for sure, you know, my youngest daughter is 16 years old.
• 42:34
  So my mom passed away before she was born.
• 42:38
  And so that's a real tough every year, this time of year, it's a it's a tough go.
• 42:44
  She died right around Thanksgiving time.
• 42:47
  And um, so I sometimes will reflect on that and have a really rough go during the Thanksgiving to Christmas period.
• 42:58
  Um, just because I mourn her loss.
• 43:01
  I mean, even though it was 16 years ago plus 16 more than 16 years ago, almost 17 now.
• 43:06
  Um, it's still a loss that I feel.
• 43:09
  I mean, the emotion sometimes will hit you out of nowhere, and it's okay.
• 43:13
  I want you to know that that is healthy too.
• 43:16
  Do not box up or bottle up those emotions until you because you will explode.
• 43:21
  I my husband and I always walk around going, Do you want me to explode?
• 43:26
  Um, kind of playing off of grew.
• 43:29
  And um when we do that, there's sometimes there's a bind, you know, that we all have to understand that we have to get ourselves out of.
• 43:38
  And so how do you do that?
• 43:41
  Well, one of the things that I try to do is I try to replace that grief with joy.
• 43:46
  And whether that means listening to Christmas music, or maybe just reminiscing and bringing up memories, um, or maybe it's replacing with a new tradition, you know, do a new tradition, something that maybe that loved one would have really enjoyed and loved.
• 44:04
  Um, so those are some of the things that I suggest to people when they say they're kind of stuck in that funk.
• 44:11
  Um, you know, where they really feel they cannot recover.
• 44:16
  Um, it's an unfortunate thing to walk through, but I can tell you you're gonna be better on the other side.
• 44:24
  Um, and when you are talking about things, you know, with your family, you want to share those memories because you want that person to live on in your legacy, right?
• 44:36
  And so I often will tell my kiddos things like, you know, Nan would have loved to do X, Y, or Z with y'all.
• 44:44
  Or I I can tell you right now, I have three girls.
• 44:47
  My mother would have just went over the moon to go shopping for them for clothes because she was a crazy person when it came to um the the clothing.
• 44:57
  She loved going shopping, she loved buying clothes that made people feel good.
• 45:02
  That was like her love language was to gift people with clothes.
• 45:05
  And um I just know that she would have loved that for for if she was here, you know, to do that for my girls.
• 45:15
  So this year was a little emotional because um we my my youngest daughter really really wanted a vanity table, kind of like a desk for herself to get ready in the morning.
• 45:27
  And I don't blame her.
• 45:28
  Her room does not have windows, so she has one little window and it just really doesn't is not conducive.
• 45:33
  So she wanted a vanity mirror so she can get ready for for work and get ready for school.
• 45:39
  And the little vanity that she used to have was one was one of the last gifts my parents gave my daughters.
• 45:45
  And so we replaced it, and with that replacement, it that really took a little toll on me, to be honest.
• 45:52
  But all things must change and morph, right?
• 45:56
  So I think um with that, I'm going to just reuse up cycle, if you will, that little vanity.
• 46:06
  And um, this way the memory lives on.
• 46:09
  And I'm gonna I'm gonna probably redo it.
• 46:11
  And I think that'll just make it feel I'll I'll feel better.
• 46:15
  She may not want it anymore, but it'll make me feel better.
• 46:18
  Um, but here we we go to, you know, sometimes we brood, right?
• 46:24
  And it's because we're off track.
• 46:26
  We are not on our normal schedule.
• 46:28
  And when we don't tie our physical, physical movement, um, sometimes we have a strong effect on our emotions.
• 46:37
  And so we all know that when you're feeling not the greatest, sometimes it is great to go outside and exercise a little bit.
• 46:43
  We all know that when you exercise endorphins start to pump up, and when you pump up your endorphins, um, you tend to be in a much better mood.
• 46:52
  And so um, that was one of the reasons why I took my two and a half mile walk this morning is I really need to, I needed to get in a better rhythm for myself.
• 47:02
  I used to walk a lot and we had some yucky weather, and just with the busyness of the season, I've really got off my walking.
• 47:09
  And it's it's really taken a toll.
• 47:11
  So, you know, getting back on track, like I tell people, I'm not telling you anything that I would not do for myself.
• 47:17
  Okay.
• 47:18
  And so don't take this as like a dictation to you.
• 47:21
  You know, I'm not dictating this that you should do this.
• 47:24
  I'm just telling you everything I'm telling you that to do is what I do as well.
• 47:29
  And it's the advice I give my patient population as well.
• 47:34
  So, you know, I know that um sometimes the kids may have had a rough first semester.
• 47:40
  You know, we have one of my kiddos who's in college, and she came home and she really was in a rough place because that semester kind of beat her up a little bit as much as we tried to tell her, like, hey, look, you tried, you did your best, and this is you just move on.
• 47:52
  This happens sometimes.
• 47:54
  You know, we we may underestimate the anxiety that our kids have on returning back to school.
• 48:03
  You know, sometimes there's a new teacher, there's a transition with a new teacher.
• 48:09
  Sometimes some of the friends don't come back or kids move or new kids come in.
• 48:14
  Um and a lot of it is just they had such a great fun break.
• 48:20
  They don't want to get to the humdrum of school, right?
• 48:23
  And I can't say I really blame kids like that.
• 48:26
  But you know what?
• 48:27
  We do need to talk to our kids a little bit about that.
• 48:30
  And sometimes you have to dig a little bit to unearth really what's underneath.
• 48:34
  Um, so talk to them about school, what they like about school, um, and and even what they don't like about school.
• 48:41
  You know, what why are you, you know, if you hear them say, uh, we have to go back to school, do we really have to?
• 48:46
  I don't want to go back to school.
• 48:48
  Well, ask them why.
• 48:50
  You know, what's going on?
• 48:51
  I thought you like school.
• 48:52
  I thought you wanted to see your friends.
• 48:54
  I thought you really enjoy um, you know, that class that you take or enjoy seeing your friends, you know, things like that.
• 49:02
  So try to build up that excitement going back to school from the break that they just had a bunch of time off.
• 49:10
  It may have been a free-for-all, but now they're getting back to the routine and the schedule of school.
• 49:15
  So they may not be looking forward to that too much.
• 49:18
  But try to build that up in a positive light, you know.
• 49:20
  Hey, you're gonna see all your friends that you hadn't seen all, you know, for a couple weeks.
• 49:24
  This will be fun.
• 49:25
  But also look for the red flags.
• 49:28
  You know, this time of year, there's some persistent sadness.
• 49:31
  Um, you know, it's seasonal effective disorder is a very, very big thing, you know, or if they are flat out really being avoidant.
• 49:41
  Um, you may have to consult your provider and talk a little bit about that because some of the kids will get in the doldrums, you know, they get into the um comparison contest, right?
• 49:54
  And that I always tell people it's really hard to walk around a kid's head.
• 49:57
  Sometimes I get depressed over things that we have no.
• 50:00
  idea why they're depressed or anxious over these particular things but it's but it's it's valid it's their feeling it's their no matter what the background if it is is you need to acknowledge it as a parent and also maybe seek help if you have to because some of these kids can get really really deep into it but you know don't forget to on your way back you have been sometimes you are a lot of people get very sick over Christmas holiday um the stress of the season will get you sick so don't forget to build back your health also you know I talk about this all the time um you know whenever I hire people over Christmas or around the winter holidays um season I'm like welcome to pediatrics you will get sick if you don't wash your hands enough and so I'm very big on health hand hygiene and illness prevention I tell everyone in October get on your vitamin D.
• 50:58
  You're not gonna be outside as much you're not gonna see the sun as much we need to keep that vitamin D up the vitamin D is going to keep that healthy immune system going.
• 51:06
  Eat healthy food you know try to balance your vegetables and your proteins try to watch the sugar especially if you know that Christmas uh week is going to be heavy sweets because you're seeing family and friends and parties and you know all the things and so it's really um you know make sure that you utilize that time you know the kids here's the other thing mouth hygiene right the kids tend not to brush their teeth nearly as much on breaks as they do during school again it's because they're off keter maybe they're sleeping in a little longer maybe they're going to bed later and they just forget but get those kids brushing their teeth mouth hygiene is so important especially in the winter months especially when they're eating a lot of sugar because sugar feeds bugs and bugs like to get you sick.
• 51:58
  They're gonna take advantage of you if you're stressed out and you're running around like a crazy person you throw your sleep schedule off you're gonna catch something if you don't take precautions and pay attention so get on your multivitamins get on your vitamin D outside a little bit get the curtains open don't black out the entire house all the time you know I always say I hate living like a vampire because my house has porches on it and so it doesn't allow for a lot of natural light but my office has tons of natural light and um I have family um and friends that have come and saw to see my new office and they are all hysterical about that they're like here she is with her natural light I'm like it's a big thing for me.
• 52:39
  Sorry you know I'm gonna do what I love and that's what I love.
• 52:42
  So I try to keep that you know watch the kids you know there's a lot of what I call the puke and poop which is the vomiting and diarrhea illnesses go around like crazy this time of year.
• 52:53
  So do things like food poisoning right food poisoning happens people are preparing food maybe it's left out too long and you're sneaking a bite before you walk out the door you know sometimes that may not be such a terrible thing but man picking up a stomach bug is just misery so it's really important wash those hands and really try to stay away from people that are sick and if you're sick stay away from healthy people I know that sounds really awful but my goodness take care of yourself you need the rest take your vitamin D take your vitamin C take your vitamin Ae multivitamin get plenty of fluids it's really important and wash your hands and brush your teeth often if you are sick you should brush your teeth more often than if you are not sick that's just my personal preference because I think mouth hygiene is really the root of a lot of illness so if you have great teeth you probably have great health you don't have great teeth you probably don't have great health I'm just gonna that there is that thing so it does it's actually a very true statement.
• 53:59
  Now for our little guys you know the little littles the toddlers and the preschool kiddos you know again those kids are thrown off too I mean there's excitement there's late nights there's um late days you know where you guys may be kind of lazy in the morning and so your daylight hours are short the kids again are not in preschool or or um daycare because a lot of them are closed during the holidays so you know try to set a schedule for yourself and try to reset before you send all the kids back um you know be kind to those the to those teachers and assistants and daycare workers because man I I just feel for them and when those kids come back from break it is probably just one giant mayhem mess and so be kind to them remember them too and and uh really just try to get the kids reset before you send them back if you can it's really really important um and and try to get the kids involved in planning like hey guys we're gonna go back to school next week let's go and plan what your snacks are going to be in your lunch box for the next week um you know try to get them involved in that what would you like to have for lunch to pack for school what would you let's prepare you know a list to go shopping and little kids can do this they're they're great at this little kids really enjoy being asked their thoughts and their ideas do you have to act on every idea a toddler tells you no you don't take your nutrition advice from a toddler but if you get them involved and you get those school age kids involved and you say look here's your three choice you can if if you have a kid that just like is way off the mark we have some of those we know those kids um they're super upbeat and creative and they tend to go a little off the deep end when it comes to what they might want to have in their lunch box you can give them choices like out of these three choices what is your favorite choice or what is the best now and that this way you're setting the tone for their health and well being but they actually can help participate in their choice of what they want and that may make transitions a little easier too um and then of course be real careful with negative screen time in the in the teens the teens really get affected by what they watch or the games that they are playing same with the school age kiddos so start being more mindful you might one of the things is if you were letting them play those games or watch those movies or do whatever what you might want to do is put time limits on it now so let's just say thank you merry Christmas happy new year and all joy of the season I hope has been embodied in each and every one of you I look forward to a new year and why don't you start today with picking up some kind of new year's resolution I found there's there's a book called one word that I read every year that I try to meditate on for my word of the year and um not really sure what that is yet because I haven't really focused on it too much yet but do that maybe do a vision board maybe pick up a good book or hey why don't you I think this year my new year's resolution is going to be to try to learn something new every week there you go well you guys have a great one I'm so happy to be with you today thank you and God bless this is Dr.
• 57:29
  Andrew Farella from looking for healing have a great one