balanced life skills

February 3, 2011

Book & Toy Swap, Annapolis, MD

On Sunday, February 13th from 1:00-3:00 PM, Balanced Life Skills will be hosting a FREE “Book and Toy Swap” at the studio – open to the public. The idea is to GIVE books and toys your family no longer uses, and TAKE books and toys your family is interested in – for free.

The Book and Toy Swap not only helps the environment by reducing the number of items that might otherwise end up in landfills, but also benefits local charities. At the end of the event, all unclaimed items will be donated for charitable purposes – one of which is the “Prize Project” at John Hopkins Hospital, where children recovering from surgery are given “prizes” to make them more comfortable and to aid them in the recovery process (more on this community service project to come!).

book swap flier Please feel free to print and distribute as many as you wish or circulate it through your email contacts. Also, please consider advertising this event at your child(ren)’s school(s).

If you have any questions, you are welcomed to contact BLS directly, or call the number on the flier.

As always, thank you for your kindness and generosity!

February 2, 2011

Deep breathing brings better health

While all of us breathe without thinking about it everyday 24 hours a day, we may not be breathing in a manner that is bringing the largest benefits to our health. Breathing all the way into our diaphragms, deeply is so important for our health and even our thinking ability. The oxygen we take in affects all of the cells in our bodies from our bones and muscles to our skin and brain. In fact the very deepest part of our lungs is where the oxygen needs to get to do the best the job of helping our brain cells.

Did you know that without oxygen that the cells go from being oxygen – burning to one that ferments glucose for fuel. So it makes good sense to breathe deeply and to doing so as an exercise is a good way of getting started.

Stand up straight with your arms by your side.
Pushing down on your diaphragm and allowing your abdomen to expand, inhale to the count of 10.
Hold your breath to the count of 20.
Exhale to the count of 5.
Repeat 10 times.

If you are able to do this exercise 2 times every day, once in the morning and once in the evening, you will begin to feel your energy level increase within a short amount of time. You may want to try it at home or work, inside or outside, while taking a walk. The important part is to keep your concentration and to do it in an area where the air is as clean as possible. You probably would not want to do it near a busy highway.

February 2, 2011

Fairness: What it means to be fair or unfair

We have all heard it and all of us have said it and some time in our life. “The words almost always precede an argument or fight amongst siblings or even friends. They are, “THAT’S NOT FAIR.” When it is a young child saying those words it is usually about someone getting more than them or someone getting to do something that they cannot do. When it is an older child it could be about something very childish or it may be not being allowed to do something that they feel they have the right and need to do. Still further along on the age continuum as an adult we may feel that something is not fair when we see or feel an injustice being committed in the legal or political system. Or on a more personal level, an adult may feel the unfair treatment from an employer or even a friend.

Those words, that’s not fair, carry with them some very intense emotions. So what is it that makes something unfair? First as an adult we understand that the word fairness can mean different things in different situations. It may have to do with a group project that all must contribute equally for the best results. On the other hand we would not expect to provide equal amounts of help on a project to an experienced team member as we would an inexperienced one.

As a parent though, dealing with those words from younger children certainly does not carry with it the same emotions as being accused by a teen of not being fair. This month I hope to discuss this subject on a number of different levels including when we are being accused and when we can act as a mediator. The meaning we are working with is, treating others according to what’s needed, deserved, and appropriate.

February 1, 2011

Fairness: Definition

Each month we define and discuss a word of character development with all of our students.

This month the word is Fairness and will be defined this way.

Young students: Fairness means: We all get what we need and deserve

Older students: Fairness means: Treating others according to what’s needed, deserved, and appropriate.

Here are the worksheets for our students:

Fairness Tiger Tot project Fairness 5-6 project Fairness 7-12 project Fairness Teen & Adult project

If you would like to see how we will deal with this subject with our students please follow our discussions here during the month of February or come in and try a class.

January 29, 2011

Our Personal Influence on Others

While I have not been able to confirm this factoid, sociologist say that every person will influence 10,000 other people in their lifetime. What that means to me is that there are quite a few people watching us and at any given time will be swayed one way or another by our words or actions.

Here is what I know to be true: Parents / Leaders influence their children. That is such a huge responsibility. Everything we say and more important every action we take is being recorded on the minds and hearts of not only our own children, but of every child that comes in contact with us.

In class the other day one of the students kept repeating this phrase, “what the…?” No they did not complete the sentence but I was waiting to hear what the next word was going to be. It is a funny thing about our children and us as parents. Not unusually, the very things that get to us, the habits that our children have or little ways of doing things that irritate us are generally speaking, habits that either we or our mate have demonstrated that we do not like about ourselves.

If we have a personality flaw that we would like to change about ourselves, and we see it in our child, that is the one that we will many times be the most upset about with our child. Because we have such a large influence on our children, working on ourselves and willingly open about that work, our children will be influenced also in creating a better habits.

Have you noticed too, the influence that older children have on younger ones. I like to use this in speaking to the older child about their responsibility to influence, set a good example for and be a leader to their younger brother and sister. For some children this is a great motivator for them. They like the idea of being that leader, so without abusing that possibility, we can call on that from them to reinforce the idea of our team / our family.

January 28, 2011

Creating a Vision for our Family

Throughout history in the business world we have seen some great partnerships. Many times one partner was the visionary and the other one was the nuts and bolts person / investor – who knew how to get things done and make things happen. Nonetheless as you look at this list we can be sure of one thing – together they had a vision that they agreed on and they could all see exactly what they wanted to accomplish.

Thomas Edison & J.P. Morgan & Vanderbilts (commercial power companies)
Wright Brothers (air plane)
Sam, Jack, Albert, and Harry Warner (Warner Bro. entertainment)
Coco Chanel and Pierre Wertheimer (Perfume and more)
Bill Hewlett and David Packard (computers)
Richard and Maurice McDonald (McDonalds)
Bill Gates and Paul Allen (Microsoft)
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (Apple computers)
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield (ice cream)
Amnon Amir, Sefi Vigiser, Arik Vardi, Yair Goldfinger, and Yossi Vardi (instant messaging)
Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google)

What a list of history making visionaries and accomplishments! As parents we Continue reading “Creating a Vision for our Family”