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Your Headspace Mindfulness & Meditation Experts

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We want children to be healthy & happy now & for the rest of their lives. Teach meditation for kids with Headspace, using easy exercises designed for young minds.

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Researchers have found new ways to increase positive emotions and well-being.

Psychologists including Martin Seligman, Barbara Fredrickson, Jon Kabat-Zin, and Amy Cuddy, have shared findings to help increase the level of positivity you can experience in your life.

The six techniques described below have all been shown to boost positive emotions, albeit with a certain amount of commitment and practice.

Depending on your preferences, you might find some techniques suit you more than others, but let us introduce six exercises. Hopefully one will resonate with you, and you can let us know how it goes!

1. Journaling Three Blessings

This classic gratitude exercise is recommended by Seligman (2011) in his book Flourish. The idea is a simple journaling exercise: every day, at the end of the day, write about three things-large or small-that went well for you and why they went well.

This exercise has been shown to improve symptoms of depression over a timeframe of a few months, but we can all benefit from reflecting on what went well each day. Experiencing and savoring the moment is a powerful way of connecting with our inner selves in a positive way.

2. Practicing Mindfulness

While its origins can be found in ancient Buddhist philosophy and meditation, mindfulness has found its way into modern life thanks to advocates like Job Kabat-Zinn, who developed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. The Berkeley University Greater Good Center offers an excellent overview of the evidence supporting mindfulness's many advantages.

There are various techniques which can be practiced to train your brain for mindfulness, such as mindful breathing and full-body scanning.

3. Practicing Loving-Kindness Meditation

In Love 2.0, Barbara Fredrickson describes how increasing micromoments of love in your life-including compassion towards yourself-can increase your health, vitality, and well-being.

Self-compassion, a concept introduced and studied extensively by Kristen Neff, is about learning to love and support oneself. This approach of self-love has been shown to impact positive emotions toward ourselves, our behaviors, and our blunders, as well as develop loving-kindness and compassion for others.

Loving-kindness meditation is one method that can be introduced into your daily life to begin experiencing loving-kindness toward yourself and others.

You can find simple guided meditations on Fredrickson's website.

4. Reframing Negative Events

How we interpret the world around us has an influence on our subjective well-being. Developing skills to deal with adversity helps us become more resilient and positive.

Reivich and Shatté (2002) describe a sequence of steps you can take to examine and reframe negative events, which include:

Identifying the type of emotion experienced;

Identifying thinking traps preventing us from seeing the bigger picture;

Putting our negative thoughts into perspective and;

Taking positive action.

Reframing forms one of the building blocks of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and plays an essential role in the coaching approach.

Famous motivational speaker Tony Robbins shows us the power of shifting perspectives in his TED talk, "Why we do what we do."

5. Creating Positive Experiences

It has been shown that positive experiences, and especially those shared with others, can have a lasting impact on our emotions. The Big Think presents to us the evidence of why experiences make us happier than material things.

In a similar vein, research has shown that helping others makes us happy, whether it is helping out a colleague, friend, or neighbor on short notice, offering support, or volunteering ourselves regularly. Random acts of kindness are an easy and fulfilling way to bring positive emotions into your life.

6. Holding a Good Posture

When you are in immediate need of positive emotions, paying attention to your body language and adjusting it accordingly can be beneficial.

Amy Cuddy's new book, Presence (2016), and her 2012 Ted talk, "Your body language shapes who you are" explain how our posture affects our emotions, and she shares "power poses" to quickly change your frame of mind and build confidence.

Start Small

Wanting to start living in a positive spiral is achievable. These six exercises, which each offer a unique approach to positive emotions, could be your solution to a more positive life.

Start with choosing one: practice it every day for a week, or even just three days a week for a month, and notice the difference you feel in yourself and toward others. We have no doubt that the changes will be noticeable and we wish you a positive experimental period.

Are you familiar with other practices? What helps pick you up or moves you towards experiencing positive emotions?

We would love to hear your story as well as new practices we can add to this list. Please leave a comment below.

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Positive Emotion Exercises: 6 Exercises to Start Your Upward Spiral

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Researchers have found new ways to increase positive emotions and well-being. Psychologists including Martin Seligman, Barbara Fredrickson, Jon Kabat-Zin, and Amy Cuddy, have shared findings to help increase the level of positivity you can experience in your life. The six techniques described below have all been shown to boost positive emotions, albeit with a certain amount of commitment and practice.

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How to Plan Your Kid's Schedules During School Closures

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If you are developing a schedule for your children to follow at home during school closures, I want to encourage you not to get too stressed out about academics. Since stress depletes the immune system, if you are fighting with your children about academic work, and they are fighting back with you, it might make things very difficult.

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Top 10 Best Virtual Museum Tours & Online Art Gallery 2024

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Explore the greatest museums in the world for modern and ancient art on a virtual museum tour from your home. It's an educational and fun activity to keep kids entertained.

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It's a weird, scary and strange time, for a world enduring the Covid-19 pandemic, and all too often the media can make things seem worse. Between fake news (somehow that's back again), equally terrifying real news and endless Instagram directives (in all caps) not so calmly telling you to 'STAY AT HOME', it's almost inevitable that the constant stream of negativity is going to affect your mental health.

Which is why, while we're all social distancing and missing the care, comfort and convenience of our normal lives, it's more important than ever to flood your feed with a good dose of positivity.

So, when it comes to positive news about coronavirus, it's all about switching the narrative from scaremongering, to caremongering. These are some individual heroes proving love and kindness will always win.

1.Journalist Lauren Katzenberg Fosters A Homeless Dog For Her Quarantine

NY Times journalist, Lauren Katzenberg, showed the love for our animal friends who are also feeling the effects of Coronavirus by fostering a homeless dog. A genius way to help with the increasing pressure on dog shelters whilst also gaining some adorable company for social distancing. Win, win.

2. Butcher Dave Jones Gifts Food Parcels To Those On Benefits

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

The owner of D Jones Butchers in Earlsheaton, Dewsbury, Dave Jones, not only has the most entertaining Twitter feed we've come across lately, but also proved himself to be a Coronavirus kindness king.

Jones posted a call out on Twitter saying, 'If anyone near our shop has to self isolate over the coronavirus and are on benefits I will put together a two week food parcel that will be delivered to your door.' Quality butcher, quality human.

3. Kind Citizen Rebecca Mehra Helps An Elderly Couple Get Their Food Shopping

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

With the elderly and vulnerable instructed to stay at home during Covid-19, kind citizen Rebecca Mehra did what she could to help. 'I went to the grocery store this afternoon. As I was walking in I heard a woman yell to me from her car. I walked over and found an elderly woman and her husband. She cracked her window open a bit more, and explained to me nearly in tears that they are afraid to go in the store,' Mehra Tweeted.

The professional runner continued on to say that the couple were in their 80s and concerned for their health. They gave Mehra a 100 dollar bill and a shopping list. 'I bought the groceries and placed them in her trunk, and gave her back the change. She told me she had been sitting in the car for nearly 45 min before I had arrived, waiting to ask the right person for help,' Mehra continued on Twitter.

4. Twitter Hero Samantha Kelly Sets Up A Hashtag To Help The Vulnerable

In a time of self-isolation, communication is key. Ensuring those in need of help receive it is Samantha Kelly who started the hashtag #SelfIsolationHelp. The idea? To join those who can offer assistance and run errands to those who have been forced to self-isolate.

'There was so much negativity and I wanted to do something useful. This is about people feeling like they are not on their own, and that there are people out there who do want to help,' Kelly told The Times.

5. Copywriter Becky Wass Starts A Postcard Scheme To Combat Loneliness

Becky Wass

An inevitable side effect of self-isolating is loneliness. Aiming to combat it is freelance copywriter Becky Wass who devised a postcard scheme that allows vulnerable members of society to request that others carry out certain errands for them.

Wass designed the postcard that aims to help with essential errands whilst also offering up more socially-skewed services such as a chat on the phone.

6. TV Presenter Noel Fielding Launches An Online Art Club For Kids

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Ever the artistic extrovert, TV presenter Noel Fielding has conjured up a way to keep children entertained at home whilst schools are shut: an online art club.

Taking to Twitter, Fielding announced the creative new scheme encouraging children to submit artworks fitting a theme of his choice with a winner nabbing a spot in the Art Club Hall Of Fame.

After sharing several of the submitted works, the comedian Tweeted, 'You gotta love this! Kids are so pure. Art Club was beautiful today. Thank you to everyone who joined in. I love you all. keep safe and keep smiling and creating.'

7. Footballer Gary Neville Offers Up His Hotels To NHS Staff

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Pro footballer and hotel owner, Gary Neville, hit headlines today with the news that he is closing both of his hotels. In place of guests, Neville will be offering rooms to NHS workers and medical professionals to support them whilst they self-isolate from family members.

In a video statement Neville said, 'We've been in consultation with health services and our 176 beds will be occupied by National Health Service workers and medical professionals. They will be free of charge and the health workers will be able to stay there without any cost.'

Additionally, the entrepreneur vocalised his plans to protect his staff during Coronavirus:

'The most important thing is the health of our staff and our guests and we've taken this decision with that foremost in our minds.We will not be making anyone redundant or asking anyone to take unpaid leave, we're working on a package for our staff to make sure they retain income.'

8. Pub Owner Ben Boothman Offers Free Rooms To Those Self-Isolating

In Greater Manchester, pub owner Ben Boothman is offering free rooms to those that need to self-isolate, but are unable to at home. Having considered his own situation (Boothman's mother needs to self-isolate on her own), the owner of The Flying Horse Hotel explained that he wanted to 'offer rooms to people in the same situation'.

'If you think you are going to put someone in your household in danger, then do get in touch. We can’t have people who are at risk themselves, but we can help in this way, by allowing them to isolate alone,' Boothman added.

9. Landlord Reassures Tenant Amy Gledhill That She Has A Home

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

In times of economic uncertainty, let alone when you're being asked to stay at home and often can't work, it can be those who rent that are most at risk of losing the roof over their heads. So when tenant Amy Gledhill's landlord sent her a kindhearted message ensuring she would have a place to live whether 'your circumstances change', it caused her to sob with relief.

In turn, Gledhill Tweeted in response to her landlord's generous words, inciting other landlords to do the same. 'Landlords, take note. If you’re in a position to say this to someone. please do. When we can’t rely on the government, we’ve got to help each other.'

10. Chef Jonny Burnett Delivers Meals For The Isolated And Vulnerable

With restaurants and cafes instructed to close, chefs and business owners are turning their culinary talents to helping the isolated and vulnerable where they can. Helping the cause is Somerset-based chef Jonny Burnett who is cooking and delivering meals for to those self-isolating.

'I know a lot of people are isolated so I said to my boss, "I’ll take time off work unpaid and just start feeding as many people as possible,"' Burnett told the Weston Mercury.

11. Anonymous Spanish Doctor Starts A Letter Writing Scheme For Those In Isolation

Some of the most endearing individual acts of kindness during Coronavirus are by those who are humbly remaining anonymous. In Spain, an unnamed doctor at Madrid’s Princesa Hospital appealed to people to write letters to those who have been hospitalised with serious cases of coronavirus.

The doctor's plea asked people to write to patients about their lives, encouraging them to keep fighting. Inevitably, such an act of kindness quickly went viral on social media leading to over 30,000 letters being sent to patients.

12. 3D Printer Colin Keogh Designs An Open-Sourced Emergency Ventilator

Those in more specific lines of work are also lending their talents to the cause. Irishman and 3D printing expert Colin Keogh did just this, working to build a 3D printed open-sourced emergency ventilator to send to frontline medical workers.

'We're going to start testing it in Ireland next week,' Keogh said. 'I hope no one ever has to use it. But some form of ventilator system is better than no ventilator system.'

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George Driver Acting Beauty Director George Driver is the Acting Beauty Director at ELLE UK covering everything from the latest make-up look taking fashion week by storm, to curating edits of the best moisturisers for dry skin (that actually work) and the psychological impact your skin can have.

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12 Individual Acts Of Kindness Proving Love And Humanity Wins Over Covid-19

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The humans showing the power of kindness during a global pandemic

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Gratitude is an immensely powerful force that we can use in the most simple of ways to expand our happiness and cultivate loving relationships, it can even improve our health, both mental and physical.

I am so excited to share the Power of Gratitude. The very many powerful health benefits to a regular gratitude practice along with some tips and thoughts on how to cultivate a grateful heart, plus if you scroll to further down, I'm even offering a free download of a Gratitude Journal worksheet you can use daily, as part of your practice.

I invite you to explore ways to support living gratefully as a way of life, not simply something we celebrate once a year.

A Grateful Day

I first shared with you this beautiful meditation from Brother David Steindl-Rast, a few years back (and probably many times since), I post on my social pages at least every Thanksgiving and I still get chills. Every time I listen. I first heard it at the end of a yoga class taught by a friend in Upstate New York. In savasana. As I lay there on my back, arms outstretched, heart wide open, sobbing on my yoga mat, tears rolling down my face, it was pure emotion overcoming me. I will never forget leaving the studio that day filled up with the reminder of what truly matters, with the invite to notice the beautiful offerings of everyday life. I walked to my car looking at the sky with a brand new sense of wonder. Appreciating the smiles and eyes of strangers in a deeper much more meaningful way.

"Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing, all around you. Then it will really be a good day."

The Power of Gratitude

The word gratitude is derived from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness (depending on the context). In some ways gratitude encompasses all of these meanings. Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In the process, people usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies at least partially outside themselves. As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals - whether to other people, nature, or a higher power.

There have been countless scientific studies and research from renowned psychologists that have found people who maintain a regular gratitude practice or simply consciously focus on cultivating gratitude in daily life, experience a much greater quality of emotional well-being and physical health than those who do not. Studies have consistently found that people who practice gratitude report fewer symptoms of illness, including depression, more optimism and happiness, stronger relationships, more generous behavior, and many other benefits.

Benefits of Gratitude:

Gratitude improves physical health. In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and they report feeling healthier than other people, according to a 2012 study published in Personality and Individual Differences.

Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression. Grateful people are more likely to behave in a prosocial manner, even when others behave less kind, according to a 2012 study by the University of Kentucky. Study participants who ranked higher on gratitude scales were less likely to retaliate against others, even when given negative feedback. They experienced more sensitivity and empathy toward other people and a decreased desire to seek revenge.

Gratitude can improve relationships. A study of couples found that individuals who took time to express gratitude for their partner not only felt more positive toward the other person but also felt more comfortable expressing concerns about their relationship.

Gratitude improves personal goal attainment and self-esteem. A related benefit was observed in the realm of personal goal attainment: Participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals (academic, interpersonal and health-based) over a two-month period compared to subjects in the other experimental conditions. A 2014 study published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology found that gratitude increased self-esteem in athletes, which is an essential component to optimal performance. Other studies have shown that gratitude reduces social comparisons. Rather than becoming resentful toward people who have more money or better jobs - which is a major factor in reduced self-esteem- grateful people are able to appreciate other people's accomplishments.

Gratitude opens relationship doors, allows us to feel more connected and encourages new opportunities. According to a 2104 study published in Emotion it was found that thanking a new acquaintance makes them more likely to seek an ongoing relationship. So whether you thank a stranger for holding the door or you send a quick thank-you note to that co-worker who helped you with a project, acknowledging other people's contributions can lead to new opportunities.

Grateful people are generous and more likely to help others. Participants in the daily gratitude condition were more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or having offered emotional support to another, relative to the hassles or social comparison condition.

Gratitude improves psychological health. A daily gratitude intervention (self-guided exercises) with young adults resulted in higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy compared to a focus on hassles or a downward social comparison (ways in which participants thought they were better off than others). There was no difference in levels of unpleasant emotions reported in the three groups.

Grateful people sleep better. Multiple studies have shown that spending just 15 minutes writing down several sentiments of gratitude before bed, may improve sleep duration and sleep quality..

Gratitude Measured:
From research conducted by Emmons Lab in a long-term project designed to create and disseminate a large body of novel scientific data on the nature of gratitude, its causes, and its potential consequences for human health and well-being.

Well-Being: Grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism and lower levels of depression and stress. The disposition toward gratitude appears to enhance pleasant feeling states more than it diminishes unpleasant emotions. Grateful people do not deny or ignore the negative aspects of life.

Prosociality: People with a strong disposition toward gratitude have the capacity to be empathic and to take the perspective of others. They are rated as more generous and more helpful by people in their social networks (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002).

Spirituality: Those who regularly attend religious services and engage in religious activities such as prayer reading religious material score are more likely to be grateful. Grateful people are more likely to acknowledge a belief in the interconnectedness of all life and a commitment to and responsibility to others (McCullough et. al., 2002). Gratitude does not require religious faith, but faith enhances the ability to be grateful.

Materialism: Grateful individuals place less importance on material goods; they are less likely to judge their own and others success in terms of possessions accumulated; they are less envious of others; and are more likely to share their possessions with others relative to less grateful persons.

Ways to Cultivate Gratitude:

Gratitude is the most wonderful way to focus on what we have, rather than what we lack. Regularly practicing gratitude can help us to appreciate what we have rather than always seeking for something "more" or something "new" in the hopes of increased happiness when a new level of physical or emotional needs are met. Like anything else, this is a practice that has to be cultivated and exercised regularly for it to grow stronger. Beyond simply counting our blessings every chance we get, there are a million and one various possible approaches to grateful living in our daily life - find the practices which will best suit your personal lifestyle, needs, and preferences and start reaping the benefits.

Keep a Gratitude Journal

As you write in your gratitude journal, try to challenge yourself to not write things you wrote about in previous days - this will make you look more deeply at all the little things that enhance your life and continuously you joy ... a warm home to sleep in, a pantry full of food, your favorite movie, a call or text from a friend, your health, the running water in your home, the air you breathe, a kiss.

You can write in your journal just before bed, first thing when wake up in the morning, or just before you meditate or pray. The time of day isn't important; what is important is that you consistently take a few moments to consciously focus your mind on your blessings. Commit to keeping a journal for 30 days. What we positively focus our attention on expands in our life. By offering gratitude for all the goodness we experience, we're inviting the universe to give us more and more of what we seek. Download your FREE Gratitude Journal Worksheet below. Print out a bunch of copies and start writing.

Write a Thank You Letter

A thoughtful, heartfelt letter of gratitude written to someone to properly thank them, can not only boost your own sense of gratefulness but it can also strengthen your bond with them. Deliver it yourself or drop it in the mail. Once in a while, write yourself a thank you note! You deserve it.

Thank Someone Mentally

If contacting someone you want to express gratitude to or for, isn't possible, take a moment to think of someone who has done something nice for you, supported you and been there for you, and thank them mentally.

Meditate / Pray

Whatever your modality or practice, religious denomination or not, find space in solitude to cultivate gratitude.

Engage in a Meaningful Ritual

Gratitude walk - Just 20 mins through the neighborhood, in a local park, the woods, the city, a beach or anywhere in nature or even just around your office or home. As you consciously take each step, focus on the many things for which you are grateful. Notice positive things, a beautiful tree, a smile from a stranger, take it in and acknowledge what you enjoy about it. Take time to reflect on your life. You home, the nurturing relationships from people that support you, the many comforts in your life, both material and emotional, the amazing body that allows you to walk, take in and experience the world, your mind that brings the ability for you to understand yourself and others. As you walk, take it slow. Pause take in a breath and be grateful for the air filling your body with life. Acknowledge what you are feeling, the sights, sounds, smells and tastes and discover how many things you can be grateful for. This is a beautiful practice to truly appreciate the abundance always surrounding you and by alternative routes discover new things to admire.

Light a Candle - Lighting candles can be sacred ritual. We light a candle for many purposes: to illuminate darkness, dedicate prayers, solidify intentions, offer blessings, evoke Spirit, and/or to nourish grateful living. The practice of lighting a candle; connecting you to inner stillness and to a global community. Feel this connectedness. Slow your pace and offer these moments your full attention. You can even light a candle virtually.

FREE GRATITUDE JOURNAL DOWNLOAD

Click the image below or this link here to download your FREE PDF download of this Gratitude Journal. Print enough copies to practice for 30 days and take note of how your mood changes as your practice evolves. Feel free to share.
CHECK OUT THIS POST FOR HOW TO CREATE A DAIY GRATITUDE PRACTICE. Additional Resources:
- Gratefulness.org

- Greater Good website at Berkeley

- Gratitude, A Way of Teaching, Owen M. Griffith

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The Power of Gratitude + FREE Gratitude Journal Download - Tasty Yummies

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Gratitude is an immensely powerful force that we can use in the most simple of ways to expand our happiness and cultivate loving relationships, it can even improve our health, both mental and physical. I am so excited to share the Power of Gratitude. The very many powerful health benefits to a regular gratitude practice...

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If it seems that your news feed has been flooded with nerve-wracking updates on the COVID-19 outbreaks, have no fear-there are also plenty of positive updates on the pandemic as well.

So without any further ado, here is a list of 10 hopeful headlines on the coronavirus response from around the world.

Scientists at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle delivered the first rounds of a potential coronavirus vaccine to several dozen optimistic volunteers earlier this week.

One 43-year-old vaccine recipient is Jennifer Haller, who is a mother to two teenagers.

She was all smiles afterward, telling AP reporters she was "feeling great" as she was leaving the clinic.

"This is an amazing opportunity for me to do something," she added.

2) Distilleries Across the United States Are Making Their Own Hand Sanitizers to Give Away for Free

Amidst national shortages of hand sanitizers, alcohol distilleries in Atlanta, Portland, rural Georgia, and North Carolina have begun using their facilities to make their own sanitation products.

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) says that cleaning your hands with an alcohol-based rub can help to kill viruses on your hands, many of the distilleries say they hope to continue producing their bootleg sanitizers until the virus has been properly contained.

3) Air Pollution Plummets in Cities With High Rates of Quarantine

Satellite readings of air pollution levels over China and Italy show that the regions hit hardest by the COVID-19 have also caused air pollution levels to decline dramatically.

Some reports estimate that China's quarantine has saved more than 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere-which is about the equivalent of what Chile produces in a year.

Not only have similar effects been reported across Italy, the canals and waterways of Venice are reportedly cleaner than ever with the waters shining crystal clear in the absence of diesel-powered boats and gondoliers.

4) Johns Hopkins Researcher Says That Antibodies From Recovered COVID Patients Could Help Protect People At Risk

The vaccine being tested in Seattle isn't the only potential treatment for the disease-an immunologist from Johns Hopkins University is reviving a century-old blood-derived treatment for use in the United States in hopes of slowing the spread of the disease.

The technique uses antibodies from the blood plasma or serum of people who have recovered from COVID-19 infection to boost the immunity of newly-infected patients and those at risk of contracting the disease.

5) South Korean Outbreak Finally Abating as Recoveries Outnumber New Infections for Three Days in a Row

According to , South Korea recorded more COVID-19 recovery cases on March 6th than new infections for the first time since the nation experienced the largest Asian outbreak outside of China.

Since the novel coronavirus outbreak was first reported in South Korea back in January, the nation reached a peak of 909 new infections on February 29th. Now, however, Reuters reports that the declining rate of infection has continued to fall with less than 100 new cases reported for several days in a row.

6) China Celebrates Several Milestones of Recovery After Temporary Hospitals Close and Parks Reopen

Crowds of medical staffers and discharged patients were filmed celebrating the closure of all 14 temporary hospitals that opened in Wuhan to treat COVID-19 patients during the worst of the outbreak.

Authorities told the South China Morning Post this week that the virus had finally passed its peak as the nation's mainland experienced only 11 new cases on March 13th, most of which were from international travelers.

As the outbreak is finally brought under control, parks and tourist attractions are slowly beginning to reopen to the public under careful moderation.

7) Australian Researchers Testing Two Drugs as Potential 'Cures' for the Virus

At the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, scientists have found that two different medications-both of which are registered and available in Australia- have completely wiped out traces of the disease in test tubes.

Not only that, the drugs were given to some of the nation's first COVID-19 patients, which resulted in "disappearance of the virus and complete recovery from the infection," researchers told News.com.au.

The university is now looking to conduct a nationwide trial with the drugs to evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of each drug administered separately and together.

8) Uber Eats is Supporting the North American Restaurant Industry By Waiving Delivery Fees for 100,000 Restaurants

As restaurants across Canada and the United States are forced to temporarily shut down amidst COVID-19 outbreaks, Uber Eats has announced that they will be waiving delivery fees for independent restaurants.

"We know the success of every restaurant depends on customer demand," the company said in a statement. "That's why we're working urgently to drive orders towards independent restaurants on Eats, to help make up for the significant slowdown of in-restaurant dining.

NEW Podcast: Daily Inspiring Covid-19 Updates from Good News Gurus Under Quarantine

"As more customers are choosing to stay indoors, we've waived the Delivery Fee for the more than 100,000 independent restaurants across US and Canada on Uber Eats. We will also launch daily dedicated, targeted marketing campaigns-both in-app and via email-to promote delivery from local restaurants, especially those that are new to the app."

9) Dutch and Canadian Researchers Are Reporting Additional Breakthrough Research on Treating the Virus

Scientists from Canada and the Netherlands have also made medical breakthroughs of their own. In Toronto, a team of researchers managed to isolate the agent responsible for the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, which will help researchers around the world develop better diagnostic testing, treatments, and vaccines.

"Researchers from these world-class institutions came together in a grassroots way to successfully isolate the virus in just a few short weeks," said Dr. Rob Kozak, clinical microbiologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. "It demonstrates the amazing things that can happen when we collaborate."

Meanwhile, Dutch researchers have submitted a scientific paper for publishing on how they have identified an anti-body for the virus-and it could be a world-first.

10) Here Are a Bunch of Other Ways That People and Businesses Are Supporting Each Other Throughout the US Outbreak

Dollar General has announced that they will be devoting their opening hour of shopping time to elderly customers. Athletes and sports teams are pledging to pay the wages of arena employees during the shutdown. Utility companies, landlords, automakers, and internet providers are waiving a number of late fees and payments to ease the financial burden of the shutdown. School districts across the country are still opening their doors to serve meals to kids and families.

All in all, the pandemic situation may seem grim, but these are just a few examples of how businesses and individuals are still looking out for each other during times of trouble.

NEW Podcast: Daily Inspiring Covid-19 Updates from Good News Gurus Under Quarantine
Multiply The Good By Sharing The Positivity With Your Friends On Social Media...

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10 Positive Updates on the COVID-19 Outbreaks From Around the World

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If it seems that your news feed has been flooded with nerve-wracking updates on the COVID-19 outbreaks, have no fear-there are also plenty of positive updates on the pandemic as well. So without any further ado, here is a list of 10 hopeful headlines on the coronavirus response from around the world.

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Information on coronavirus also known as COVID-19

We understand that you may be concerned about the ongoing coronavirus situation. This page provides you with an update including actions we are taking to care for patients and to reduce the risk of spreading the infection.

Supporting fathers in prison to be the best they can be

Nurses are helping expectant fathers who are serving sentences in prison to be better dads thanks to a unique project run by Evelina London and Her Majesty's Prison Brixton.

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Evelina London Children's Hospital and community services are part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. We are the second largest provider of children's services in London. Our vision is to be a world leading centre of life-changing care for children, young people and their families.

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Like most of you reading this, I am figuring out how to keep my children and myself physically active without the normal routine of school and sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are certainly challenging times for all of us.

As we in sports medicine are trying to navigate them, we are holding daily telehealth clinic visits to stay connected to our patients. One major concern that has arisen from these virtual visits is our patient's sedentary behavior. I've noticed that children have simply stopped exercising. Teenagers are in bed or have been on screens all day - or both! Few kids are practicing their sport in any way. Many are not even going outside....all day.

The Importance of Continuing Exercise

As a sports medicine physician and pediatrician I find this worrisome. It is essential for kids to continue being physically active. Here's why:

Brains need physical activity to stay psychologically healthy. If your child has stopped exercising, you may notice an increase in emotions, especially irritability. Children and adolescents who are used to being physically active have brains that are used to this activity. Their brains NEED the physical activity to stay psychologically healthy.

Brains work best when they have regular physical activity. Concentration and focus right now are challenging for the student engaging in 'alternate learning' while school is physically out. Moderate exercise for at least 20 minutes has been shown to increase ability to focus and learn in the few hours after - use it!

Exercise promotes better sleep: We need our children to sleep well, and normally, during this time. Schedules are off. People are stressed. This is harder to manage when we are sleep deprived. Our coping skills are not as sharp. Exercise helps with both sleep initiation (falling asleep) and consolidation (staying asleep).

So how can we help our children stay physically active during these challenging times? Here are some strategies I am using with my three children, ages six and seven:

Tips for Encouraging Exercise at Home:

Make physical activity intentional. If you don't plan it, it probably won't get done. We have dedicated one-hour blocks of time for exercise each morning and afternoon, with 'free exercise' outside after 'school', which we are ending at 3:30 daily. For older children and teens, many coaches have been sending home training ideas. Be intentional about this and include it on their daily schedules.

Let them choose. Everyone needs to feel in control of themselves, so give your child two choices for exercise, both of which would be acceptable. Example: We are going on a hike! Would you like to hike in the park or up to your school?

Make it fun. Here are things we have done so far: hiked in our neighborhood and in parks; ridden bicycles with the adult running alongside; ridden scooters to the park; practiced indoor grounder/fly ball/line drive catching in our hall with a soft ball (this is now a particularly popular game in our home); creek walked/hiked; had jumping jack competitions; hosted yard races. This is as fun for me as it is for them, and I need it.

Start fresh! For children and adolescents who are not regular exercisers, now is a great time to start, especially with more down time at home. Aim for 20 minutes of walking, preferably outside. Increase the time as you can - with a goal of at least 60 minutes every day. This doesn't have to be in one long session. Feel free to break it up as needed.

Dr. Logan is director of the Division of Sports Medicine at Cincinnati Children's and is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati. She joined Cincinnati Children's in 2013 from the Ohio State University. Her clinical and research interests include concussion, female athlete health and overuse injuries in sport.

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Ways to Keep Kids Exercising During COVID-19

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Like most of you reading this, I am figuring out how to keep my children and myself physically active without the normal routine of school and sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are certainly challenging times for all of us.

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Emotions...we all have them. Everything we do and everything we learn is shaped in some way by the way we feel. Feelings are a natural part of who we are. But how do children learn about emotions? How do they learn to understand their sadness or joy? What is appropriate behavior when these feelings are strong? What can a parent do when a child explodes in anger or hides in fear? Parents spend lots of time teaching children important things such as reading or tying shoes. Taking time to help children learn to understand their feelings is important too.

Research shows that children who understand their feelings and learn about their emotions have these advantages:

They form stronger friendships with other children.

They calm themselves down more quickly when they get upset.

They do better in school.

They handle their moods better and have fewer negative emotions.

They get sick less often.

Becoming an Emotion Coach
Emotion Coaching is a parenting technique that helps children understand their feelings. When parents Emotion Coach, their children learn how emotions work and how to react to feelings in healthy ways.

Emotion Coaching starts by recognizing your child's feelings. Many parents are able to see the positive emotions a child expresses, but drawing close to a child who is angry or sad can take some practice. While it takes effort to teach your child about feelings and appropriate behaviors, it is time well spent. Your relationship with your child will be stronger and your child will be more prepared for the challenges life can bring.

Here are the five steps of emotion coaching:

STEP 1
Be aware of emotions
Tune in to your child's feelings and your own.

Pay attention to your own emotions, from happiness to sadness to anger.

Understand that emotions are a natural and valuable part of life.

Observe, listen, and learn how your child expresses different emotions.

Watch for changes in facial expressions, body language, posture, and tone of voice.

STEP 2
Connect with your child
Use emotional moments as opportunities to connect.

Pay close attention to a child's emotions.

Try not to dismiss or avoid them.

See emotional moments as opportunities for teaching.

Recognize feelings and encourage your child to talk about his or her emotions.

Provide guidance before emotions escalate into misbehavior.

STEP 3
Listen to your child
Respect your child's feelings by taking time to listen carefully.

Take your child's emotions seriously.

Show your child that you understand what he or she is feeling.

Avoid judging or criticizing your child's emotions.

STEP 4
Name emotions
Help your child identify and name emotions.

Identify the emotions your child is experiencing instead of telling your child how he or she should feel.

Naming emotions helps soothe a child.

Set a good example by naming your own emotions and talking about them.

Help your child build a vocabulary for different feelings.

STEP 5
Find good solutions
Explore solutions to problems together.

Redirect misbehaving children for what they do, not what they feel.

When children misbehave, help them to identify their feelings and explain why their behavior was inappropriate.

Encourage emotional expression, but set clear limits on behavior.

Help children think through possible solutions.

Don't expect too much too soon.

Be aware of tempting settings and be prepared to help your child through them.

Create situations where your child can explore without hearing lots of "don'ts."

Catch your child doing lots of things right and praise her.

Do chores, like picking up toys, together.

Make tasks as fun as possible.

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Emotions...we all have them. Everything we do and everything we learn is shaped in some way by the way we feel. Feelings are a natural part of who we are. But how do children learn about emotions? How do they learn to understand their sadness or joy?

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The coronavirus pandemic has unleashed a catastrophe of epic proportions. But amid the global upheaval and sufferings several good things have emerged. Gulf News rounds up 19 such silver linings.

1. It has instilled good hand hygiene habits among millions worldwide

For years, health experts have been recommending regular handwashing to keep diseases at bay. Not everyone heeded to their advice. In fact, 69 per cent of men don't wash their hands after using the bathroom, according to a study. But with coronavirus gaining traction all that has changed and millions are practising good personal hygiene.

2. It has unleashed a war against germs and pathogens

The worldwide disinfection and sanitisation drive have caused a big blow to one of our deadliest enemies -- the many resistant germs and pathogens responsible for infectious diseases like pneumonia, meningitis, common flu, norovirus and HIV to name a few.

3. Given us extra quality time to spend with the family

Family time - a scare and hard-earned thing until recently -- is suddenly in abundance in the era of Stay Home. For the first time since the early 19th century, parents and kids - in some cases even grandchildren - are under the same roof all day.
4. Reduced road accidents
Road accidents account for 3,424 deaths daily or two deaths per minute globally but coronavirus stay-at-home orders have led to a heartening reduction in these numbers. In Washington, for instance, fatal accidents plummeted 100 per cent from 12 to zero between March 16 and March 22 while accidents involving serious injuries declined by 78 per cent. Sharjah too has seen an 85 per cent drop in road accidents.
5. Cleaned the air and water
The pandemic has contributed to a noticeable drop in pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. With streets emptied of people and vehicles, factories shut and flights grounded, the environment is breathing easier.

Skyscrapers shrouded in smog are now visible and waters in Venice's canals run clearer than ever.

Homes around the world have become clutter-free with people getting rid of unwanted stuff. Recently, Fay Wolf, author of New Order: A Decluttering Handbook for Creative Folks (and Everyone Else) even hosted a decluttering webinar for people sequestered at home.

7. It has caused a forced slowdown enabling us to pause and reflect

The frenetic pace of modern life had made our lives into an exhausting dailydayathon. But with almost everything shut down and social distancing becoming a norm, the forced slowdown has allowed us to take a pause and catch our breath.

8. Led to a surge in book sales

Book sales appeared to face a bleak future but now their sales have hit new highs as readers seek escapism and education. In the UK alone, sales of fiction have risen by a third, while children's education have gone up to the third highest level since the coronavirus outbreak.

9. Reduced expenses

What with everything from malls and restaurants to cinemas and clubs closed, we aren't left with many places to spend our money on. Holidays are ruled out too. Meanwhile public parking in the UAE has been made free and the government has announced discounts in traffic fines.

10. It has made us realise the importance of nurses

All healthcare workers are playing a significant role but perhaps none are more important than nurses. Many are beginning to realise the importance of these frontline soldiers.

11. Encouraged altruism

The pandemic has made us altruistic. Many support groups have stepped forward to aid the poor while corporates and celebs have loosened purse strings to help their governments In Dubai, Emaar Properties announced a donation of Dh100 million to support humanitarian efforts aimed at alleviating the impact of the pandemic. In the US, Oprah Winfrey donated $10 million while in India, Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar pitched in with Rs 250 million.

12. It has reinforced the need to invest in health-related research

More and more countries are now realising that only a sustained and increased investment in health-related research will win the war on coronavirus and provide health and safety to its citizens.

13. Broken the nine-to-six work grid

The new work from home culture has dismantled the nine-to-six lifestyle allowing us to stay focused on the job and mentally healthy while working from home.

14. Free online courses from top universities

As universities scramble to shift their curriculums, online digital course companies Coursera and edX have stepped in to offer access to their vast portfolios of course content. While Coursera has made its Coursera for Campus platform free to higher education institutions impacted by coronavirus, edX is offering a range of free online courses from top universities like Harvard and Imperial College, London. A site called Class Central has also listed free online courses offered by top universities.

15. Free online concerts

Top artistes are live-streaming impromptu concerts for fans stuck indoors. It all started when Coldplay front man Chris Martin shared a 30-minute clip from his intimate at-home performance, during which he played guitar while singing Trouble and A Sky Full of Stars. It didn't take long for the idea to trend. Within big names like Legend, Pink Keith Urban, Rob Thomas, David Foster and Katharine McPhee also followed suit.

16. Neighbourhood singing

The pandemic has given rise to a new phenomenon - neighbourhood singing. From India to Italy, neighbours have been raising spirits with good old-fashioned sing-along during the lockdown

17. It will make future pandemics less likely

The pandemic has exposed the inadequacies of healthcare system throughout the world and provided an opportunity to improve them. The bitter lessons learned from it will pay dividends in the future and hopefully, help us avoid future pandemics.

The crisis has given an opportunity to end the war in Yemen and Libya and ease hostilities between the Ukraine government and Russian backed rebels in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

19. Encouraged people revisit their long lost hobbies

The overabundance of newfound free time has encouraged people confined in homes to revisit childhood hobbies or pick new ones to get a respite from the grim situation.

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Mazhar Farooqui, Features Editor - Special Reports

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Coronavirus: 19 surprisingly good things that came out of COVID-19

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The coronavirus pandemic has unleashed a catastrophe of epic proportions. But amid the global upheaval and sufferings several good things have emerged. Gulf News rounds up 19 such silver linings. 1. It has instilled good hand hygiene habits among millions worldwide For years, health experts have been recommending regular handwashing to keep diseases at bay.

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32 FREE Energizing Brain Breaks Vids for Kids!

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32 FREE Energizing Kids Brain Breaks Vids for Kids: Teacher tested and kid approved! Energize your children with these inviting, kinesthetic brain breaks. Here's a collection of 32 of the most popular, fun and energizing brain breaks videos. ♪♫**¨**.¸¸☼ ¸¸.**♫♪ ♪♫**¨**.¸¸☼ ¸¸.**♫♪ ♪♫**¨**.¸¸☼ ¸¸.**♫♪ Why Brain Breaks are Important: Regular brain breaks enhance attentiveness, concentration and focus....

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Like the rest of the world, Place2Be is adapting as coronavirus (COVID-19) impacts society and everyday lives.

With school closures and lots of uncertainty, we're working hard to ensure we can support as many children, young people and families as possible during this unsettling time. Over the coming weeks, we'll be sharing tips, advice, and updates on how to access our services.

With so much uncertainty in the world, children and young people need our emotional support now more than ever. Please donate today to help us to support the mental health of children and families across the UK.

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Coronavirus: updates, advice and support from Place2Be

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With school closures and lots of uncertainty, we're working hard to ensure we can support as many children, young people and families as possible during this unsettling time. Over the coming weeks, we'll be sharing tips, advice, and updates on how to access our services.

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( for: actual quarantine, school closures, weekend social distancing, anytime!)

Have each kid pick a topic they'd like to learn about and spend 30 mins each day on that topic

Spend one day reading every single picture book we have in the house

Go through all the old mail laying around (ok, that one's not for kids although they do enjoy helping tear stuff up)

Bake something every day

Have each kid write a letter and/or emails to a different friend or family member each day

Use all of our building toys on one giant structure

Wash our hands!!!!

Races of various kinds in the backyard (hopping on one foot, crabwalk, walking backwards, etc.)

Try stop motion animation with playdough

Facetime grandparents a lot

watch everything on Disney+

inventory the plants & wildlife (from bugs on up) in your yard.

learn the parts of plants/flowers & how they function (bonus if they learn the Latin names).

if you aren't too squeamish & have a spare clear shoebox size tote or 5-10 gallon tank, catch some pillbugs (rolly pollies, sowbugs) & observe them (if you really do this, i can tell you how to set them up. i have about a thousand of them currently because it's too cold here to thin the herd & they've been reproducing all winter. they're pretty interesting).

write a short story & illustrate it.

learn how to do simple book binding.

make paper (from your old mail!)

have the kids help with yardwork in between playing games outside. They're little, but they like getting dirty and "working" in the gardens.

GoNoodle! Great for guided movement, relaxation, etc.

Board games, card games

Legos.

We have some extreme dot to dot books (1400 dots) that the kids love, especially the 5 year old!

Lots of reading, playing with the dog,

Working on learning to sew using stuff we have on hand.

Card making/scrapbooking projects (mostly for me but kids can do it too).

Getting the garden ready, we need to weed and work the ground. I might get seeds and we'll set up to have our own starts this year.

Make tents and reading caves : ) flashlights, tidy snacks, books, and pillows!

Have a shadow show in the reading tent (we used blankets over chairs or a table)

Get binoculars and learn about the birds near your house, look them up on google and search for their birdcalls on YouTube

Learn how to make a stuffed animal

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LIST: Giant List Of Ideas For Being Home With Kids | KAT 103.7FM

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( for: actual quarantine, school closures, weekend social distancing, anytime!)

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Child Mind Institute | Transforming Children’s Lives.

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The Child Mind Institute is an independent nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children struggling with mental health and learning disorders.

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Boosting Positive Emotions & Unlocking Gratitude

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A new story book that aims to help children understand and come to terms with COVID-19 has been produced by a collaboration of more than 50 organizations working in the humanitarian sector, including the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Save the Children.

With the help of a fantasy creature, Ario, "My Hero is You, How kids can fight COVID-19!" explains how children can protect themselves, their families and friends from coronavirus and how to manage difficult emotions when confronted with a new and rapidly changing reality.

The book - aimed primarily at children aged 6-11 years old - is a project of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, a unique collaboration of United Nations agencies, national and international nongovernmental organizations and international agencies providing mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings.

During the early stages of the project, more than 1700 children, parents, caregivers and teachers from around the world shared how they were coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. The input was invaluable to script writer and illustrator Helen Patuck and the project team in making sure that the story and its messages resonated with children from different backgrounds and continents.

In order to reach as many children as possible, the book will be widely translated, with six language versions released today and more than 30 others in the pipeline. It is being released as both an online product and audio book.

Download the book here
My Hero is You: all language versions
Quotes from collaborating partners
World Health Organization
"Previous humanitarian emergencies have shown us how vital it is to address the fears and anxiety of young people when life as they know it gets turned upside down. We hope that this beautifully-illustrated book, which takes children on a journey across time zones and continents, will help them to understand what they can do to stay positive and keep safe during the coronavirus outbreak."

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General
UNICEF "All over the world, children's lives have been completely upended - the majority of them living in countries with some form of restricted movement or lockdown. This wonderful book helps children understand and navigate this new landscape and learn how they can take small actions to become the heroes in their own stories."
Henrietta Fore, Executive Director
UNHCR "This is an important resource for children around the world with a strong message of inclusion at its heart - that this pandemic can only be beaten if everyone is included in its prevention and response. Children, including those who are refugees, displaced and stateless, can help too. No-one is protected unless we are all protected".
Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNESCO "Sharing facts and reliable information is vital to respond to COVID-19, and I wish to commend the creativity and passion of all artists, writers and publishers who find compelling ways to translate and craft stories and artwork so they can reach children and families to comfort and guide them through a distressing situation. UNESCO is proud to support this initiative and we see this as an example of the contribution of the artistic community to the well-being and resilience of all."
Audrey Azoulay, Director General
For requests relating to translations
Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, Email: [email protected]

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Children's story book released to help children and young people cope with COVID-19

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A new story book that aims to help children understand and come to terms with COVID-19 has been produced by a collaboration of more than 50 organizations working in the humanitarian sector, including the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Save the Children.

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Open Today 9:00 am - 9:00 pm

Explore Ocean Voyager Built by the Home Depot

Find out more about Ocean Voyager, one of the largest single aquatic exhibits in the world.

Voyage Deeper Into Other Aquarium Experiences

Support Georgia Aquarium

Please consider supporting the Aquarium today so we can continue delivering amazing animal experiences for everyone.

Buy Tickets

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Ocean Voyager Live Webcam | Georgia Aquarium | See Whale Sharks

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Check out the live Webcam from our Ocean Voyager gallery, built by The Home Depot. Watch our whale sharks, manta rays and thousands of other species.

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Workout plan

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Google Arts & Culture features content from over 2000 leading museums and archives who have partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the world's treasures online.

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The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. Visit London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo.

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With school districts across the country shutting down for weeks or months, many parents are finding themselves working from home while parenting.

It's a challenging balance that has already spawned social media jokes like the "my coworker..." meme. (Describe your child's behavior as if they were your coworker; the exercise involves a lot of reports of coworkers refusing to wear pants.) But jokes aside, the combination of working and supervising children during has the potential to create stress and family conflict. Experts say that the best route forward is to maintain some semblance of structure, while allowing that this is an unprecedented situation.

"I would say to parents, do your best and cut yourself some slack as well, because it is not really possible for parents to suddenly be able to juggle everything, to be 100% present, to oversee all their children's homeschooling with complete efficiency and also to do their job," said Eli Lebowitz, a clinical psychologist at the Yale School of Medicine who treats child anxiety.

Related: The ultimate kids' guide to the new coronavirus
More: 11 essential tips for working from home (from our sister site Tom's Guide)

Explaining COVID-19 to kids

The one-month trial gives you access to all of the educational site's 9,000 activities in reading, science, math and art. Keep your child busy and learning while we are all stuck indoors.
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The first challenge many parents are facing is how to explain the coronavirus pandemic to their children, particularly given the uncertainty over how long school closures may last. (Some states have already announced that students will not return to school this academic year; others are so far under closures lasting several weeks.)

The exact information that parents give to their children will differ depending on the child's age, Lebowitz said, but one important rule is to maintain calm when speaking to children about COVID-19.

"If they perceive the parent as being very anxious and scared and worried, then that's what they're going to pick up even if the words are not necessarily all that charged," Lebowitz told Live Science.

It's important to be factual and give clear explanations of the situation, said Matthew Cruger, the senior director of the learning and development center at the Child Mind Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to children's mental health. Don't overload children with information or bring up issues that they don't ask about, he said.

"The easiest rule of thumb is to try to be direct and honest and brief," Cruger told Live Science.

If children do exhibit stress or worry about the virus, ask them questions to gauge what they know and understand, Lebowitz said. Many may have heard misinformation from peers, or they might have misinterpreted something they overheard from adults. Accept and acknowledge the worry, he said, and try to give kids the sense that the changes happening around them are designed to keep everyone safe.

A new routine

While the sudden disappearance of daycare, school and other daily routines may be destabilizing, parents can combat this by setting up new routines, both Cruger and Lebowitz said. This doesn't have to be regimented or perfect, they said: A good start is to make sure everyone still wakes up at a reasonable hour, eats a good breakfast, brushes teeth and puts on clothes. Block out time for physical activity and try to give kids a sense of what life will look like, day-to-day, Lebowitz said.
Related: Activities and online resources for homebound kids: A coronavirus guide
"The sense of complete chaos is more anxiety-provoking for kids ... than having a schedule," Lebowitz said.

A plan and a schedule can also help reduce conflict for school-age kids who might have academic work to do during school closures, he added. It's easier to get buy-in from kids to do a worksheet or reading or writing time if they know what to expect, rather than surprising them with a request to do homework when they were settling in with a video game or TV.

For younger kids who may struggle to play independently, Cruger recommends a graduated approach. Set aside short periods of quality time, when you can put away other responsibilities and focus on playing with your child. During this quality time, let the child direct the play and praise them for their ideas. When you need to do another task, stay nearby and tell the child to play by themselves, but to let you know if they need help.

"Being near your child while they play is sometimes sufficient," Cruger said.

Though chores with young kids can be more time-consuming than getting them done solo, Cruger also recommends including kids where you can: Mix pizza dough for dinner together or pancake batter in the morning. And use all hands, he said. If two or more caregivers are home, work out a predictable plan for trading off work time and childcare time, he said.

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Stephanie Pappas - Live Science Contributor

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Tips for handling work and kids during COVID-19 isolation

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With school districts across the country shutting down for weeks or months, many parents are finding themselves working from home while parenting. It's a challenging balance that has already spawned social media jokes like the "my coworker..." meme. (Describe your child's behavior as if they were your coworker; the exercise involves a lot of reports of coworkers refusing to wear pants.)

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An evidence-based approach to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children in the classroom, school and home environments. Choose the implementation option to suit your school.

For a limited time, Australian primary schools can apply for a funded place and receive the Primary School Program at no direct cost to the school.

Smiling Mind is Australia's leading digital-led, prevention focussed mental health not-for-profit. Smiling Mind has been helping minds thrive for over 10 years and are the innovators behind Australia's most trusted mental wellbeing app. Our evidence-based tools support people to learn the skills to maintain their mental health in fun and interactive ways.

If you'd like to support our work, you can make a donation. Every contribution, however large or small makes a difference and we're so grateful for your support.

The Australian Mental Wellbeing Index provides a snapshot insight into the everyday mental wellbeing of Australia. It explores the factors that contribute to mental wellbeing and aims to generate a national conversation about how Australians can take a proactive approach to support mental wellbeing.

We've recently released the second annual report exploring the data collected across 2022-2023. The latest report shows young Australians aged 18-24, are experiencing poorer mental wellbeing than older age groups and poorer levels of focus and concentration may be a key driver of this.

A daily mindfulness and meditation guide at your fingertips

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Smiling Mind is a non-for-profit web and app-based meditation program developed by psychologists and educators to help bring mindfulness into your life.

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"kids yoga" "yoga for kids" "yoga for children yoga story for kids" "children's yoga" "yoga adventure for kids" "kindergarten yoga" "preschool yoga" "kids me...

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YOGA | MINDFULNESS | RELAXATION FOR KIDS! Screentime that gives kids SUPERPOWERS! ⬇️ D O W N L O A D T H E C O S M I C K I D S A P P ⬇️ 🍏Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cosmic-kids/ 🛍️Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cosmickids 🖥️ Desktop (great for teachers!): https://app.cosmickids.com/ 📺 Roku: https://rb.gy/44r8d -------------------------------------------------------------------- Why watch on the App?

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Edited by Katherine Rundell, with contributions from more than 100 children's writers and illustrators

This extraordinary collection of short stories, poems, essays and pictures has contributions from more than 110 children's writers and illustrators, including Lauren Child, Anthony Horowitz, Greg James and Chris Smith, Michael Morpurgo, Liz Pichon, Axel Scheffler, Francesca Simon and Jacqueline Wilson.

The collection, published by Bloomsbury, is dedicated to the doctors, nurses, carers, porters, cleaners and everyone working in hospitals.

Read the book

When schools were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic in both 2020 and 2021 Bloomsbury generously permitted us to share The Book of Hopes as an ebook freely accessible to schools and families.

As part of our Education Recovery support for schools and children we worked with partners to develop a range of supporting resources, that you can find linked below.

The Book of Hopes is now available as a beautiful hardback gift edition, with 23 never-seen-before stories, poems and illustrations, providing an ongoing wealth of discovery, comfort and inspiration for children.

The Book of Hopes is available to buy from all good book retailers. A donation from the sale of each book will go to NHS Charities Together, in gratitude for the incredible efforts of all those who worked in hospitals over the quarantine period. Learn more and purchase your own copy.

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The Book of Hopes | National Literacy Trust

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Read The Book of Hopes: Words and Pictures to Comfort, Inspire and Entertain Children

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This is a resource app for you to share with your child to help teach skills such as problem solving, self-control, planning, and task persistence.

Laugh and learn as you help a Sesame Street monster friend calm down and solve everyday challenges. This bilingual (English and Spanish), research-based app helps your child learn Sesame's "Breathe, Think, Do" strategy for problem-solving. Tap and touch to help the monster friend take deep breaths, think of plans, and try them out! Your child will enjoy silly animations and playful interactions as she is exposed to important emotional vocabulary, a calm breathing technique, personalized encouragements, and more!

Features:
* Explore five interactive activities with a unique, everyday challenge
* Tap, pop bubbles, and more to help the monster breathe, think, and do to solve problems and feel better
* Personalize encouraging phrases that your child will hear as they help the monster think of a plan
* "Breathe with the Monster" activity to help children practice taking deep breaths to calm down
* Robust Parent Section with great resources for navigating everyday challenges with your young child

Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame is intended for parents and caregivers to use with their young children (ages 2-5).

This app is part of Sesame Street's Little Children, Big Challenges initiative, which aims to provide tools to help children build skills for resilience, and overcome everyday challenges and more stressful situations and transitions. You can access other Sesame Street resilience materials online at sesamestreet.org/challenges

About Us:
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization that revolutionized children's media with the landmark Sesame Street. Learn more at www.sesameworkshop.org

We've updated the app to better support iOS 12, as well as support the iPhone X to create a better user experience. We hope you find these updates helpful!

Information

Seller

Sesame Workshop Apps

Compatibility

Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Copyright

© 2018 Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved.

Family Sharing

Up to six family members will be able to use this app with Family Sharing enabled.

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‎This is a resource app for you to share with your child to help teach skills such as problem solving, self-control, planning, and task persistence. Laugh and learn as you help a Sesame Street monster friend calm down and solve everyday challenges. This bilingual (English and Spanish), research-base...

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There's a lot in the news every day about the coronavirus.

Some of what you see or hear might sound confusing or scary, so it's normal to have some worries about a big story like this.

But if sometimes you feel like your worries are becoming too much, psychologist Laverne Antrobus has some tips, including:

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Coronavirus: Advice if you're worried about it - CBBC Newsround

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There's a lot in the news every day about the coronavirus. Some of what you see or hear might sound confusing or scary, so it's normal to have some worries about a big story like this.

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Help your child to learn: reading and maths tips for parents

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Supporting Children During online learning. Internet Safety Tips for Kids. 

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Supporting Children During online learning. Internet Safety Tips for Kids. 

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After a few parent sessions and the recent issues with inappropriate content popping up in YouTube Kids, we decided to do a quick run through of the app, the security settings and perhaps the most important thing you can do as mum and dad which is remove the search bar from your children's YouTube Kids account. Check out video below

It's a brief run through and as mentioned in the video, a back to basics approach. But we feel this is actually what is necessary today. Many parents have told us that in some cases, they feel that because of how prevalent the internet, online gaming and social media is in their children's lives and how long it's been the case, they are almost afraid to ask the basic questions. So we figured we would answer the basics first and then work to the more advanced stuff. Walk before you can run we say!!!

Awareness on these subjects is key, so if you are reading this and see value, please do share the post, or head over to our social media channels - Twitter Or Facebook - where you'll find plenty of content to share with other parents/teacher/children and young people. Thank you.

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YouTube Kids - Quick Introduction For Parents - Beat the Cyber Bully

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After a few parent sessions and the recent issues with inappropriate content popping up in YouTube Kids, we decided to do a quick run through of the app, the security settings and perhaps the most important thing you can do as mum and dad which is remove the search bar from your children's YouTube Kids account.

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If you are looking for a parental control app, there is a lot of information out there and it can be confusing which one to go for. Here at Beat The Cyberbully we have evaluated quite a few. Part of our remit is to provide you with hand picked information so you don't have to go looking elsewhere. Introducing Boomerang

The great thing about Boomerang is that it's not just an App as it were. What the guys at Boomerang are trying to do is provide technology that prompts conversations between parents and children of all ages. One of the many reasons we like this product is because we at BTCB are able to compliment it with the education part of the picture. Software and technology are part of the answer, but they aren't the entire thing. Sticking monitoring software on your children's devices or on the home wifi is highly recommended, but it's not the whole solution.

So what part of the solution does a parental control app provide?

Boomerang puts parents in control of what their children are accessing and for how long on their devices.

1. Setting screen time allocations according to days of the week - flexibility to reduce or add screen time at weekends as required. Helping your children prioritise their free time and teaching them about choices.

2. Schedule shut down of apps at bedtime - basically lock down the devices so even if you allow them to take them to their room (so they can use it as an alarm) they cannot access anything they shouldn't be whilst they are meant to be going to sleep.

3. Flexibility to have 'always on' apps - for example if your child is learning a musical instrument and are using an app to help them with their practice, this app can be available all the time to encourage use.

4. Monitor YouTube searches and history

5. New app approval or blocking

6. Safer searching on Google

7. Safer surfing of the net

8. Family instant messenger so that conversations can remain within the application when it comes to requesting time from your children or you advising them of why time or apps have been restricted.

9. Text message monitoring

10. Call monitoring - only allow calls from numbers they have in their contacts. Helps to prevent talking to strangers

11. 24/7 location tracking for peace of mind.

Android vs iOS devices

We don't support one or the other in terms of the products, but there is something that should enter the purchasing criteria of your children's phone or mobile device. When it comes to being able to monitor your children's devices, the Android platform gives parents more ability to do this. The iOS platform is shut down in many areas and as such some functionality is just not possible through an iOS device.

Our recommendation, from a parental control app monitoring side of things is to think about buying an Android device for your children. You as a parent can still have an iPhone if you wish, as the parents dashboard works equally well on both. And for those children that want the latest and greatest, whatever the most up to date Android device is gives them the 'kudos' they are after and you the peace of mind that you can be a part of their digital lives to ensure their safer exploration of the digital environment.

For more information and to try Boomerang for free - head on over to their website or the Google play store or iTunes, download it and try it for 14 days for free. We think that after that period you won't know how you managed before Boomerang!

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Parental Control App | Use Boomerang | Beat The Cyberbully

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If you are looking for a parental control app, there is a lot of information out there and it can be confusing which one to go for. Here at Beat The Cyberbully we have evaluated quite a few. Part of our remit is to provide you with hand picked information so you don't have to go looking elsewhere.

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With the help of the parents association (PADIA) at Dubai International Academy, we had the pleasure of talking with the parents the other week and it highlighted the need for us to deliver more knowledge to parents. Our children are getting to grips with the technology the second it is released, as digital natives, it's just easy and normal. For mum and dad though they are sometimes a good few miles behind when it comes to understanding the digital world. It's that distance and gap that is of a major concern because it positions mum and dad further away from their children as the resources they should turn to when something goes wrong. The digital world is here to stay and aside from keeping children safe, we also have to prepare them for a life spent in this world. Screens for education, social media for business, and digital platforms for communication are mainstays of our world today. Safe effective use of these tools is essential for them to play their part in this ever-changing world.

Top 3 tips for parents

1. Use Parental Controls - it's not about being controlling, it's not about snooping, it's about helping block certain apps, allocate specific amounts of time per app and blocking access to explicit content like pornography. Remember that once it is seen, it can't be unseen. Sometimes, especially with younger children, their brains aren't physically developed enough to process what they are seeing. A great app to consider is called Boomerang. We did a blog post about it and you can read more here - UseBoomerang

2. Talk regularly with your children - make online safety interesting - you actually want to get a conversation or debate going within your family unit. Get their opinions on what's happening in the news/world. Play a game where you ask them what the most interesting thing they saw/heard online today was. This encourages critical thinking and awareness.

3. Listen - it goes hand in hand with point 2. All too often as parents, we want to fix a problem when we hear it (Dads, we're especially talking to you on this one) When we hear our child or children are unhappy or hurt our instincts kick in and protection or retribution become the priority. We have to learn to listen and not offer our opinion. If we ask our children a question, we have to be prepared to listen to the whole answer, regardless of whether we like what we are hearing, whether we think we can fix the problem, or we want more information. Listening and allowing our children to express their full opinion without interruption is a sure fire way to keep the communication channels wide open.

Sharing our information and the research gathered over the last 4 years of delivering our sessions is something we want to do more of moving forwards but also provide more value to more parents in more schools more often. We are working on a way of doing this, leveraging the digital environment we share information on. Keep up to date on this. As parents, you are going to want to know where you can go, to get up to date content, relevant to this part of the world, in both English and Arabic delivered to your own smart device. This is what we are working towards, so follow us on Facebook and or Twitter to stay up to date with that and make sure you don't miss out when it comes online.

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Dubai International Academy Parents Digital Awareness Session - Beat the Cyber Bully

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With the help of the parents association (PADIA) at Dubai International Academy, we had the pleasure of talking with the parents the other week and it highlighted the need for us to deliver more knowledge to parents. Our children are getting to grips with the technology the second it is released, as digital natives, it's ...

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Parenting in the Digital Age

Modern kids have never known a time when they couldn't connect to the entire world via the internet. In fact, they probably spend more time online than anyone else-certainly more than their parents. If you are a parent, this presents a problem, as there are explicit, disturbing, and illegal websites and apps that you don't want your kids to encounter. Parental control services can help you manage the ever-increasing number of devices that your kids use.

These software and hardware solutions let you block unwanted web content, limit screen time, restrict the use of risky applications, and more. Basically, they are a way to help keep your kids safer on their computers and mobile devices. Communicate with your kids before implementing any of these options, as it is important that they feel that you respect their privacy. Otherwise, they'll make sure to find a way around any protections, even if you had your kids' best interests at mind. Also, as tech addiction increasingly becomes a problem, it's important that children learn the value of good device habits for themselves.

Monitor Your Child's Devices

Long gone are the days when a single parental control utility on the family PC was sufficient for keeping your kids safe and productive. Modern kids use all kinds of internet-connected devices, and parental control systems must keep up.

Before settling on a particular parental control utility, you need to make sure that it supports all the device types in your household. While all the products in the chart above support Windows and Android, compatibility with macOS and iOS varies. Apple's Screen Time and Restrictions features for iOS are quite capable on their own and come with the added benefit of first-party support. You might consider using these tools over a third-party solution.

Note that some parental control utilities often leverage VPN technology, running internet connections through a local app to enable content filtering. You'll see the VPN icon when such a utility is active, but it doesn't mean the child's connection is secured by a full-scale virtual private network, nor that the device's IP address is masked.

Check, too, that any limits on the number of child profiles or devices won't be a problem. Large families, for example, will appreciate that Norton Family and Kaspersky Safe Kids work on an unlimited number of devices. Most parental control software operates as a subscription service, so pricing tiers tend to align with device limits, though some offer free versions for basic protection on a limited number of devices. If your kids are strictly smartphone users, take a look at our roundup of mobile parental control apps.

If getting parental control coverage installed on each of your family's devices starts to seem too difficult, consider a whole-network solution, such as Circle Home Plus or Open DNS. These systems perform content filtering at the router level, so your settings affect every device on the network. Naturally, you don't get the same fine level of control and detailed monitoring that you get with a local agent on each device, but this is a much broader solution.

Web Filters, Time Limits, and Apps

At the very least, a good parental control tool features content filtering-the ability to block access to websites matching categories such as hate, violence, and porn. This type of filtering only really works if it's browser-independent and works with secure (HTTPS) sites. With no HTTPS filtering, a smart teen could bypass the system using a secure anonymizing proxy website or even a different web browser in some cases. Using a VPN or the Tor browser often breaks even the strongest protections, too. Most also have the option to permanently enable SafeSearch, though those settings are often limited to Google, Bing, and sometimes YouTube. Privacy-focused DuckDuckGo is usually enough to thwart SafeSearch settings. Of course, the most capable solutions also keep a detailed log of your child's web activity.

Access scheduling is another very common feature. Some services let parents set a daily or weekly schedule for device usage. Others specifically restrict the amount of time your kid spends on the internet. Qustodio lets you set time restrictions on individual mobile and desktop apps. This is particularly useful for children who have a habit of playing games or using social media apps when they should be doing homework. The most helpful time-based settings apply to all your kids' devices, so they just can't switch between them to evade limits.

Messaging and Social Media

As kids get older, content filtering may start to seem pointless. Hey, you let them watch The Witcher, right? At some point, you start to worry more about their interaction with the wider world. Sure, if their friends come over in person, you can at least meet them, but what about friends on social media and other contacts your child never mentions? Who are they, really, and what are your kids discussing with them? Although some supervision is acceptable, you still need to respect your child's basic right to privacy and encourage open discussion, rather than using parental control software as spyware.

Many services let you monitor contacts and messages and keep an eye out for potentially dangerous or unsanctioned situations. You can even block new contacts or view message content with some parental control software. Keep in mind that this primarily applies to SMS texts; messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Signal do not fall under the same scope. Social media tracking can also provide a glimpse into your child's social life, though many services now only monitor Facebook. This kind of oversight usually requires that you either know your child's login credentials or convince them to log in and install the tracker's app. Disabling this kind of data collection is a snap for the child, so here, more than ever, you need to be on the same page.

Remote Notification and Management

Most kids are on mobile devices at least some of the time, and many are almost exclusively accessing the internet on their phones. Fortunately, many parental control services offer a companion app that lets you view your child's activity, set basic rules, and view notifications as they arrive. This kind of companion app is particularly useful for responding to access or time-extension requests on the go. Otherwise, you manage everything online, where you have fine control over activity reports and restrictions. Any changes you make should propagate to your children's devices when they connect to the internet.

When your child tries to visit a blocked site, makes a post using iffy language, or otherwise bends the rules, the best parental control services sends you a notification to your preferred channel, such as via the app, web, email, text, or some combination of those options.

Advanced Features

When you get beyond the basics, parental control systems start to diverge, with many advanced features to help them stand out from the crowd. Among these standout features are YouTube monitoring, geofencing, and remote device locking. You'll also find advanced versions of standard features. For example, the best content filters don't just use a database of categories. They analyze page content, filter profanity, and allow you to add custom keywords and categories you want to block. We also like those services that support two-factor authentication for account logins.

In order to make an informed choice for your own family, check out our full reviews of these parental control solutions. Several offer free trials, which are worth checking out before committing your time and money.

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The Best Parental Control Software for 2020

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Modern kids have never known a time when they couldn't connect to the entire world via the internet. In fact, they probably spend more time online than anyone else-certainly more than their parents. If you are a parent, this presents a problem, as there are explicit, disturbing, and illegal websites and apps that you don't want your kids to encounter.

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7 Questions to help you start a conversation with your child about Online Safety

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7 Questions to help you start a conversation with your child about Online Safety

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It's no surprise that authors are incredibly good at bringing their own books to life. Whether through live or pre-recorded visits, read-aloud videos, or other virtual author activities, kids will connect with books like never before! Here are some of our favorite options to try.

Pre-Recorded Virtual Author Visits

Check out these videos of presentations authors have given at schools and libraries. There are authors here that will interest students at any age.

Arree Chung

Hear Chung talk about the process of creating his book Mixed: A Colorful Story. The allegory of one color who thinks it's better than the others is meaningful at any age.

Bao Phi

Bao Phi's lovely book A Different Pond showcases the relationship between a father and his son. As they fish for the food their family needs, the father tells his son about a pond from his own childhood in faraway Vietnam.

Jasmine Warga

Author of the Newbery Honor book Other Words for Home, Jasmine Warga gives an engaging talk about how she writes.

Jennifer L. Holm

From her Babymouse graphic novels to the Sunny series and beyond, Holm writes books that middle grade readers absolutely love.

J.H. Reynolds

Do your students love the thrills and chills of the MonsterStreet series? Then they'll love seeing its author answer kids' questions about reading and writing!

J.K. Rowling

Every kid will recognize the author of the beloved Harry Potter books! See her interview with the Harry Potter Reading Club in this video.

Kate Messner

Kate Messner writes fiction, nonfiction, novels, chapter books, and picture books, so there's a good chance most kids have read at least one of her books.

Katherine Applegate

Lots of kids read The One and Only Ivan in class, and Applegate has plenty of other popular and award-winning books as well. Hear her talk about her books (and even show off her adorable dog!).

Lois Lowry

Here's another name kids will recognize. Whether they love The Giver, the Gooney Bird series, or any of her other numerous works, they'll enjoy listening to her speak and answer audience questions.

Max Brallier

The Last Kids on Earth book series is now a Netflix series too! Listen to author Max Brallier talk about his writing process and give kids a writing challenge of their own.

Live Virtual Author Visits

Want to set up a virtual author visit live for your class or school? If you have a particular author in mind, visit their website (or their publisher's) to contact them and find out if they do virtual visits. Scholastic offers virtual author visits through their catalog, so that's a great place to start.

The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators has a terrific roundup of virtual author visits and writing workshops too. Here are some to consider.

Gutman has written all sorts of books for kids, and he's happy to do virtual school visits. Find his offerings and prices at his website.

Nonfiction children's author Kurtz loves to present his books to kids of all ages. His virtual offerings include readings, interviews, and concept-based workshops.

Long does both in-person and virtual author visits based on her popular books, like How I Became a Pirate. Visit her website to see her offerings and book a visit.

Biebow's colorful book about the inventor of Crayola crayons is a delight. She offers free virtual visits, plus interactive in-person workshops.

Known for Dahlia in Bloom, Koehler offers both virtual author visits and writing workshops. She does professional development workshops for teachers too.

Virtual Author Read-Alouds

When you hear authors read their own books, it gives you a whole new perspective on their works. That makes read-alouds some of our favorite virtual author activities.

Hale's YouTube channel includes a playlist called Storytime With Uncle Bruce. Hear him read about Clark the Shark and other hilarious characters.

Gutman has a whole collection of read-alouds on his Facebook page, like Miss Blake Is a Flake. Kids will love his wacky style!

Visit her YouTube channel to see the author read her book Where Are My Books? She's got a few other read-alouds too, along with drawing tips.

Fabien Cousteau is the grandson of famed sea explorer Jacques Cousteau. His book series explores his own experiences under the water, and you can watch his read-aloud on Facebook.

You'll feel inspired when you hear Byers read her heartfelt book I Am Enough.

Lin reads aloud from her picture books as well as chapters from her longer books on her YouTube channel.

Watch Knowles read the first chapter of her middle-grade novel Where the Heart Is, while giving students a fun writing exercise.

Hear Cook read a variety of books from her collection, like Wilma Jean the Worry Machine. Her YouTube channel also includes interviews, advice, and other fun virtual author activities.

Watch Messner read Fergus and Zeke and the 100th Day of School in this YouTube video.

This read-aloud of Fry Bread includes some of the author's thoughts on writing the book and the recipe he included at the end.

Listen to Henderson read the first chapter of her book The Magic in Changing Your Stars on YouTube.

The author regularly shares read-alouds of his books, like I Love You Like a Pig, on his Instagram page.

The author has added a collection of videos of herself reading from her picture books on Instagram. Titles include When We Are Kind and You Hold Me Up.

Hear readings from Shusterman's books on his YouTube channel, including excerpts and complete short stories.

The author created a Stay at Home: Story Time section on his website. Initially made during the 2020 COVID lockdown, these videos are still lots of fun to watch.

Visit Reynolds' Facebook page to see him read from some of his most popular books, like The Dot.

The award-winning author and illustrator reads from her book The Story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in this YouTube video.

The author reads his picture books on his YouTube channel, where he also has lots of drawing videos for inspiration.

Other Virtual Author Activities

So many wonderful authors and publishers have YouTube or Instagram channels! Join them as they teach you how to draw, offer writing tips, and lots more.

Kids will do more than just watch these videos. They'll write, draw, and create on their own, inspired by famous authors and illustrators.

Watch story time, Cressida Cowell's summer camp, author interviews, how-to-draw videos, and a whole lot more.

The prolific author has a robust website full of videos, activities, podcasts, and more virtual author activities to engage kids of a variety of ages.

The Lunch Lady author and illustrator has a series of videos showing kids how to draw some of their favorite characters. His YouTube channel also has cartooning tips, writing tips, pep talks, and shorts.

This YouTube channel is rich with content, including interviews, tour journals, how-to-draw tips, and so much more.

The Kennedy Center sponsored this series of videos with the beloved author of classics like Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

Author and illustrator of hits like Smile and Drama shares drawings, time-lapse videos, and more on her Instagram page.

Aspiring illustrators will enjoy this series, where any kid can learn to draw creatures of every kind.

These half-hour chats with well-known middle grade authors are the perfect length to share with your classes.

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The Big List of Virtual Author Activities

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Check out live and pre-recorded author visits, read-alouds, and other virtual author activities like drawing sessions to share with students.

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CORONAVIRUS | What Is Coronavirus? | Coronavirus Outbreak | The Dr Binocs Show | Peekaboo Kidz

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Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus Crisis - Child Mind Institute

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What parents and other adults can say to kids about the coronavirus COVID-19. How to answer their questions and keep kids feeling safe.

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Coronavirus is all over the news right now, so i t's understandable that many children, and adults, are anxious about the virus and how it could impact them.

How can you support your child, and yourself, with these concerns? We share some of our tips, and some useful resources, to put this in context.

Deal with your own worries

It's just as important that you look after your own mental health and wellbeing. It's good to stay informed but bear in mind that watching upsetting footage or reading sensational social media coverage may be detrimental to your own mental health.

Consider where you're getting your information from. Try to stick to reputable sources for updated guidance on the virus, such as , the NHS Public Health England or Health Protection Scotland , rather than relying on social media or the press for your information.

reading We recommend this advice from BACP counsellors on how to cope if you're feeling anxious about coronavirus.

Talk to your child

Don't be afraid to have conversations with your child about coronavirus - not talking about something can sometimes make children worry more . Other children will be talking about it, they may have heard it on the news or seen someone wearing a face mask, and they might have questions for you.

Remember that you don't need to have all of the facts and answers. There are lots of resources out there for you to read together, or for you to direct your child to, to help ease their worries.

reading We recommend this Newsround article about coronavirus a nd how it's being tackled .

Be reassuring

It may be helpful to remind your child that flu is actually more common than coronavirus and reassure them that more people are recovering from the virus, than dying from it.

watching We recommend CBBC's Dr Chris and Dr Xand talk about why coronavirus 'may not be as scary as it sounds'.

Take precautions to protect yourself

If you, or your child, are worried about catching coronavirus; take precautions to protect yourself. Be aware of the symptoms and follow NHS guidance on how to avoid catching it. Health bodies across the world are advising people to regularly wash their hands, put used tissues in the bin, avoid close contact with those who are unwell, and not touch their face s if their hands are not clean.

watching We recommend this Newsround video on how to wash your hands.

Other resources you may find useful:

Remember that if you are struggling with your mental health, there is always help available.

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Coronavirus: Helpful information to answer questions from children - Place2Be

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Coronavirus is all over the news right now, so i t's understandable that many children, and adults, are anxious about the virus and how it could impact them. How can you support your child, and yourself, with these concerns? We share some of our tips, and some useful resources, to put this in context.

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Life in Dubai is busy, bold, and anything but boring! That is my 3 B's to describe Dubai in a nutshell... Today we look at the 3 R's of wellbeing.

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Relationships, routines, and resilience: The new three R's

Nonprofit Turnaround For Children offers ways parents can help their children manage stress during this uncertain time.

We call it the COVID-19 paradox. To stay safe and keep others safe from this insidious virus, we must practice physical distancing. But the very thing that keeps us from catching COVID threatens the connections that help us feel safe, manage stress, and grow and learn.

We are all experiencing disruptions to some of the most important communities and relationships in our lives-friends, classrooms, teachers, teams, coaches, churches, extended families-the people we trust the most. The people we count on to help us get to the other side of this crisis and build resilience for whatever the future may hold.

So what can we do about this? We can make our homes and eventually our schools places that inoculate us and our children against the intolerable stress of the scary, uncertain world we now live in. How? By focusing on the Three Rs: relationships, routines and resilience.

Relationships

Let's start with ideas for strengthening and maintaining relationships at home. Relationships are the "active ingredient" in any environment-classrooms included -because they boost oxytocin-the love/trust hormone-and activate the learning centers of the brain. In fact, trust is the antidote to stress and relationships are the medium through which we experience trust.

Exercise together for at least 30 min a day-running, walking, dancing, all rhythmic activities calm the brain

Schedule one-on-one conversations with teachers, coaches and advisory groups so children stay connected to their teachers, coaches and peers

Prepare meals together where kids help choose the menu or even do the cooking themselves

Hold family meetings and family-teacher check-ins to gauge how everyone is doing and answer questions about COVID-19

Encourage older siblings to help younger ones with homework and household chores

Call relatives, friends and neighbors who may be alone-helping others promotes the release of neurochemicals that boost the immune system

Routines

Routines are something we have some control over in this uncertain time and can make our home environments feel safer and calmer. Our brains are prediction machines that like order and knowing what is coming next. When our environments are orderly the brain is calmer and able to learn.

Build a daily schedule with your kids that includes regular time for lessons, reading, movement, journaling, healthy meals, and room for hanging out together

Make or hang a visible chart or calendar with schedules and lists of successes to celebrate

Set and post achievable goals for learning and wellness

Plan activities to look forward to-such as playing cards, Twister or music, maybe over zoom with a classmate, or a hike with friends - six feet apart

Resilience

Building resilience is likely the most important task we have, for ourselves and our kids. You might think that resilience is something you have or you don't, like eye color, but resilience can be built just like a muscle. And it starts with knowing the strengths we already have from our life experiences and bolstering the skills and mindsets we possess to regulate our emotions, our actions, our behavior. We can do this through co-regulation in activities with others. Think of soothing a crying child, running or walking side-by-side, or coaching a teenager to prepare for a test.

Turn to credible resources to learn how stress works in our brains and bodies, ways to reduce it and how to build self-regulation skills

Choose and practice healthy habits, including a well-balanced diet, at least 8 hours of sleep, and regular exercise

Limit exposure to media-and use the time to call a friend or relative

Try meditation, mindfulness practices or dancing, walking or throwing a ball to a repetitive beat

Re-write and tell your personal story from a positive, asset-based point of view-be the change you want to see

Express confidence to children that this crisis will end, knowing that we must work at managing ourselves and our fears and frustrations every single day

We don't know when schools will reopen. And until we have a vaccine for this coronavirus, or a cure, it is likely that many children will move between home and school for some time to come. This means learning has to move with the learner, wherever that learner may be. All the more reason for adults to learn how they can design calm, safe, supportive environments for children.

Settings that prioritize the Three Rs are like an ecological vaccine, rich in protective factors that ignite the developing brain, promote wellness, and protect children from the damaging effects of stress all at the same time. These are the places where kids can develop the complex skill development and deeper learning skills to tackle a thorny word problem, write a critical essay or imagine a practical solution to one of the many challenges in front of us today.
To learn more, check out the nonprofit's resource hub. You can also donate to support Turnaround for Children here.

Pamela Cantor, M.D. and Kate Felsen

Dr. Pamela Cantor is the founder of Turnaround for Children and its Senior Science Advisor. Dr. Cantor practiced child and adolescent psychiatry for nearly two decades, specializing in trauma. She founded Turnaround for Children in 2002, after co-authoring a study on the impact of the 9/11 attacks on NYC schoolchildren. In schools with high concentrations of children growing up in poverty, she saw students deeply affected by the adverse circumstances in their everyday lives, teachers struggling to meet the variable and often intense needs of their students, and principals who were unable to build environments that were safe and supportive. She recognized that the research from the fields of developmental and learning science, adversity science and mental health on stress and the developing brain she had studied in medical school needed to be shared and translated for the systems that develop and educate our children.

Kate Felsen is an award-winning journalist and communications professional. She is president of Up Up Communications in New York City.

Relationships, routines, and resilience: The new three R's

Nonprofit Turnaround For Children offers ways parents can help their children manage stress during this uncertain time.

We call it the COVID-19 paradox. To stay safe and keep others safe from this insidious virus, we must practice physical distancing. But the very thing that keeps us from catching COVID threatens the connections that help us feel safe, manage stress, and grow and learn.

We are all experiencing disruptions to some of the most important communities and relationships in our lives-friends, classrooms, teachers, teams, coaches, churches, extended families-the people we trust the most. The people we count on to help us get to the other side of this crisis and build resilience for whatever the future may hold.

So what can we do about this? We can make our homes and eventually our schools places that inoculate us and our children against the intolerable stress of the scary, uncertain world we now live in. How? By focusing on the Three Rs: relationships, routines and resilience.

Relationships

Let's start with ideas for strengthening and maintaining relationships at home. Relationships are the "active ingredient" in any environment-classrooms included -because they boost oxytocin-the love/trust hormone-and activate the learning centers of the brain. In fact, trust is the antidote to stress and relationships are the medium through which we experience trust.

Exercise together for at least 30 min a day-running, walking, dancing, all rhythmic activities calm the brain

Schedule one-on-one conversations with teachers, coaches and advisory groups so children stay connected to their teachers, coaches and peers

Prepare meals together where kids help choose the menu or even do the cooking themselves

Hold family meetings and family-teacher check-ins to gauge how everyone is doing and answer questions about COVID-19

Encourage older siblings to help younger ones with homework and household chores

Call relatives, friends and neighbors who may be alone-helping others promotes the release of neurochemicals that boost the immune system

Routines

Routines are something we have some control over in this uncertain time and can make our home environments feel safer and calmer. Our brains are prediction machines that like order and knowing what is coming next. When our environments are orderly the brain is calmer and able to learn.

Build a daily schedule with your kids that includes regular time for lessons, reading, movement, journaling, healthy meals, and room for hanging out together

Make or hang a visible chart or calendar with schedules and lists of successes to celebrate

Set and post achievable goals for learning and wellness

Plan activities to look forward to-such as playing cards, Twister or music, maybe over zoom with a classmate, or a hike with friends - six feet apart

Resilience

Building resilience is likely the most important task we have, for ourselves and our kids. You might think that resilience is something you have or you don't, like eye color, but resilience can be built just like a muscle. And it starts with knowing the strengths we already have from our life experiences and bolstering the skills and mindsets we possess to regulate our emotions, our actions, our behavior. We can do this through co-regulation in activities with others. Think of soothing a crying child, running or walking side-by-side, or coaching a teenager to prepare for a test.

Turn to credible resources to learn how stress works in our brains and bodies, ways to reduce it and how to build self-regulation skills

Choose and practice healthy habits, including a well-balanced diet, at least 8 hours of sleep, and regular exercise

Limit exposure to media-and use the time to call a friend or relative

Try meditation, mindfulness practices or dancing, walking or throwing a ball to a repetitive beat

Re-write and tell your personal story from a positive, asset-based point of view-be the change you want to see

Express confidence to children that this crisis will end, knowing that we must work at managing ourselves and our fears and frustrations every single day

We don't know when schools will reopen. And until we have a vaccine for this coronavirus, or a cure, it is likely that many children will move between home and school for some time to come. This means learning has to move with the learner, wherever that learner may be. All the more reason for adults to learn how they can design calm, safe, supportive environments for children.

Settings that prioritize the Three Rs are like an ecological vaccine, rich in protective factors that ignite the developing brain, promote wellness, and protect children from the damaging effects of stress all at the same time. These are the places where kids can develop the complex skill development and deeper learning skills to tackle a thorny word problem, write a critical essay or imagine a practical solution to one of the many challenges in front of us today.
To learn more, check out the nonprofit's resource hub. You can also donate to support Turnaround for Children here.

Pamela Cantor, M.D. and Kate Felsen

Dr. Pamela Cantor is the founder of Turnaround for Children and its Senior Science Advisor. Dr. Cantor practiced child and adolescent psychiatry for nearly two decades, specializing in trauma. She founded Turnaround for Children in 2002, after co-authoring a study on the impact of the 9/11 attacks on NYC schoolchildren. In schools with high concentrations of children growing up in poverty, she saw students deeply affected by the adverse circumstances in their everyday lives, teachers struggling to meet the variable and often intense needs of their students, and principals who were unable to build environments that were safe and supportive. She recognized that the research from the fields of developmental and learning science, adversity science and mental health on stress and the developing brain she had studied in medical school needed to be shared and translated for the systems that develop and educate our children.

Kate Felsen is an award-winning journalist and communications professional. She is president of Up Up Communications in New York City.

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Relationships, routines, and resilience: The new three R's

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We call it the COVID-19 paradox. To stay safe and keep others safe from this insidious virus, we must practice physical distancing. But the very thing that keeps us from catching COVID threatens the connections that help us feel safe, manage stress, and grow and learn.

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Coronavirus: Supporting Children and Young People

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Information for parents, carers and those working with children and young people to understand the current situation.


Please have a look in all the sections. Lots of the information will be useful for more than one group of readers!

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Online Safety Guide to Home Internet Controls for Parents

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Online Safety Guide to Home Internet Controls for Parents

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Five ways to help children heal after the pandemic

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Some children will find it hard to return to life as normal when the current lockdown ends, writes Mary Meredith, but schools can help them to adjust

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A picture book for children who are worried about Coronavirus

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While some of us crumble in the face of adversity, and struggle to recover, others quickly bounce back from even serious trauma. Psychological resilience is undeniably important in all kinds of areas of life, so understanding what underpins it, and how to train it - particularly in children - is of intense interest to psychologists.
1. Watch your language
According to Carol Dweck of growth mindset fame, to drive success in our children we should 'praise the effort that led to the outcome or learning progress; tie the praise to it', as opposed to praising effort more broadly, or achievement alone. Research led by Victoria Sisk and published in Psychological Science last year did challenge the idea that encouraging children to have a growth mindset (to believe that effort affects attributes like intelligence) increases academic achievement. However, there are certainly studies finding that focusing on a child's actions, rather than who they 'are', helps them to withstand setbacks. As Emily Foster-Hanson and her fellow researchers at New York University note in a study also published last year, in Child Development: 'Setbacks and difficulties are common features of children's experience throughout development and into adulthood', so it's important to examine the effects of category labelling - like 'being smart' or 'being a helper'.

The team's study of four- and five-year-old visitors to the Children's Museum of Manhattan found that setbacks were more detrimental to a child labelled 'a helper' than a child asked 'to help'. Children asked 'to help' with tasks in which they were set up to fail (by being asked to put away a toy truck that fell apart as soon as they picked it up, for example) were more likely to go on to volunteer to help with other demanding situations. In contrast, the 'helper' kids tended to avoid these and opt instead for low-effort tasks with a high chance of success, like putting away some crayons. Perhaps these kids were taking advantage of a quick, virtually-guaranteed way to restore a little of their dented 'helper' image - one they weren't about to risk even further by going for a challenging task. So, if you do want your kids to weather inevitable setbacks, resist asking them to 'be' anything, like 'my helper'.
2. Engage in 'strength-based parenting'
'Strength-based parenting' entails deliberately identifying and cultivating positive states, processes and qualities in a child, explains Lea Waters at the University of Melbourne, Australia. 'This style of parenting adds a "positive filter" to the way a child reacts to stress. It also limits the likelihood of children using avoidance or aggressive coping responses,' she says.

In 2015, Waters and her colleagues published a preliminary study in the journal Psychology that explored strength-based coping in a group of Australian primary school-age children. The team presented the kids with a few theoretical stressful scenarios - falling out with a friend over turns on a swing, and being the only one in class who hadn't done a homework project that was due in the next day - and asked them to describe how they would respond. The children who came up with 'positive' responses (like taking deep breaths to help them to cope with the homework challenge, and reminding themselves of happy times with the friend, or 'using their kindness', and deciding to let the other child have more turns on the swing), and who indicated that their parents were aware of their strengths, and encouraged them to use them, also experienced less stress themselves.

In 2017, Waters and her team reported that training in strength-based parenting could help parents, too. Parents who were taught how to identify and cultivate strengths in themselves and their children went on to feel more positively about their children and reported greater confidence in their ability to raise them successfully. Then in 2019, the team reported a link between strength-based coping and enhanced academic perseverance in adolescents. This work suggests that a 'strength-based' approach may help with resilience to setbacks at school.

To try a strength-based approach with a child, the team recommends consciously identifying and fostering their abilities, talents and skills, and encouraging them to use them when faced with difficulties.
3. Don't shield them from stress
Dennis Charney, a biological psychiatrist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai, New York, has studied all kinds of people who've been through traumatic experiences - from being a prisoner of war to suffering assault, or natural disaster - and identified factors that explain why some people bounce back, while others don't. (His 2012 book, Resilience, jointly-authored with Steven Southwick at Yale University, explains the findings in full. There's also a podcast based on the book.)

Being the kind of person who embraces tough challenges, rather than trying to avoid them, emerged as a key factor. To develop this, Charney recommends giving kids challenges that they can just about manage, and once they have achieved them, raising the bar a little each time. With his own five kids, he'd take them on long hikes, for instance, and get them just a little lost. During one of these trips, he recalls, one of his daughters told him that 'out of her soul, she despised me'. (Now an adult, she willingly goes off hiking herself.) Exposing kids to controlled stressful experiences allows them to develop a 'psychological toolkit' of coping methods to draw upon in adulthood too, Charney maintains.
4. Teach self-regulation skills
Explicitly teaching kids ways to regulate their responses to adversity builds resilience, helping them to do well in school and in life. This is the message from a 2017 study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, of 365 Spanish children and young adults, aged 15-21, all of whom struggled academically.

In research conducted for her 2014 PhD thesis, Raquel Artuch-Garde at the International University of La Rioja found that self-regulation and resilience are key factors that can determine academic success or failure. For the more recent study, she and her colleagues gave the participants a resilience scale (which asked about their perceptions of support and their ability to tolerate negative situations) and a self-regulation questionnaire (which explored their ability to make and stick to goals and to persevere at a task). They found a clear relationship between scores on both. Participants who were better able to learn from mistakes - which was considered to be a crucial aspect of self-regulation - had a greater tolerance for negative situations; in other words, they demonstrated greater resilience.

Self-regulation involves analysing and setting specific task-related goals, monitoring and evaluating your performance, managing your emotions throughout, and learning from whatever went wrong. The recent study suggests that teaching children these kinds of skills could help with resilience, too. 'The research shows the relationship between two essential non-cognitive skills: resilience and self-regulation, that are equally or even more important than cognitive aspects in the educational process of students at risk of social exclusion', Artuch-Garde says.
5. Focus on 'quantity time' and group activities
In 1998, Iceland launched a national initiative with the aim of slashing alcohol and drug use among teens. But the way the programme was set up meant that it did not only this, but much more.

Through funded sport, art and music classes, teenagers were given alternative ways to feel good. Among new measures targeted at adults, parents were encouraged to spend more time with their kids (not just limited 'quality time') and to talk more to their children about their lives.

National questionnaires showed a huge adoption of both these strategies between 1997 and 2012 - and during the same period, Iceland went from having some of the worst statistics for teen alcohol and drug use in Europe to having the best. 'This is the most remarkably intense and profound study of stress in the lives of teenagers that I have ever seen,' commented US-based consultant Harvey Milkman, in 2017. 'I'm just so impressed by how well it is working.'

Towns and municipalities in many other countries have now adopted the model, and in 2019, Chile announced that it would roll out its own version of the Icelandic programme nationally.

The Icelandic initiative was not set up to 'train resilience' but in bringing families closer together and increasing access to sport and cultural activities, it is producing physically and psychologically healthier teenagers - kids who find it easier to resist drugs, and who should be better equipped to cope with challenges in their lives.

It couldn't have happened, however, without the full backing of the government, local mayors, other public officials and schools. In other communities that are adopting the model, and that are seeing the benefits, local mayors and policy-makers have either instigated or come on board to drive similar programmes within their community. An individualistic focus on improving self-regulation, for example, in your own kids is one thing. But when everyone gets together to support all the teens within a community, or a country, the results can be remarkable.
For the British Psychological Society's Research Digest
Resilience and character is the topic of a new BPS briefing paper from the Policy team...

and the subject has cropped up numerous times over the years in The Psychologist and Research Digest archives:

Building resilience to radicalisation
Lynn Davies on efforts to create a world where 'everyone is an insider'

'An ecological approach to resilience is essential'
Kate Bennett on widowhood and resilience

Underrated: Resilience
Elizabeth Meins on the concept that she feels is underrated

A message of hope and resilience
Clare Jones and Alan Barrett on the development of the Manchester Resilience Hub in response to the May 2017 bombing

From adversity to buoyancy
Marc Smith reconceptualises academic resilience in schools

What an Auschwitz survivor taught NHS safeguarding leads about resilience
Mike Drayton, Jessica Memarzia and Sarah Robinson on work with NHS England

'People need a period of stability, otherwise they may actively resist beneficial change'
Gail Kinman on compassion fatigue, burnout, and resilience

'You cannot sit on the fence, you have to commit and act'
We talk to Megan Hine about her book Mind of a Survivor, and what wilderness survival might tell us about coping and self-reliance

The role of human capability and resilience
Ingrid Schoon and Mel Bartley look at the impact of growing up in poverty

From riots to crowd safety
John Drury on collective resilience in crowds of survivors

Resilient, friendly people are more responsive to placebo treatment
Christian Jarrett for the Research Digest

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While some of us crumble in the face of adversity, and struggle to recover, others quickly bounce back from even serious trauma. Psychological resilience is undeniably important in all kinds of areas of life, so understanding what underpins it, and how to train it - particularly in children - is of intense interest to psychologists.

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Online Safety Guide for Parents - Understanding Age Ratings

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Online Safety Guide for Parents - Understanding Age Ratings

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Boosting Positive Emotions & Unlocking Gratitude

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Social Pressures Linked To ‘Friends and Followers’ Online Safety Guide

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Social Pressures Linked To ‘Friends and Followers’ Online Safety Guide

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Social Pressures Linked To ‘Friends and Followers’ Online Safety Guide

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Feeling stuck in a 'bad mood'? Cheack out 15 was to breakthrough the funk you're in!

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We have all had a case of the blues. You know, those times in our lives where the world looks bleak and things just don't seem to be going in our favor. No matter how hard we try to turn things around, it seems to end up as wasted effort and all we can do is throw our hands up and ask, "Why me?" But as much as we resist our sadness, anger, frustration, or grief, it is often during these dark moments when we come to realize we have the greatest opportunity for transformation.

Finding yourself in a funk you cannot seem to shake? Here are 15 tips to transform your bad mood and learn from it in the process:

1. Acknowledge and accept it: You have probably heard the phrase "resistance is futile." Fighting against negative feelings will not make them go away. If you find yourself in a dark room, you will not make it light by pretending it is not dark. You must, at some point, acknowledge that it is dark before you search for light. In order to change your mood, you must first admit to yourself how you are feeling.

2. Reframe your bad mood: Every experience can serve as a lesson. When you experience mood changes, examine the triggers behind your emotions and try to reframe your thinking. Emotional reactions can teach us a great deal about our personal values and desires. Rather than see your bad mood as an enemy, reframe it as a friend that's there to help you learn about yourself and grow as a person.

3. Cultivate gratitude: When you find yourself waking up in a bad mood, try focusing on what you are grateful for. Many people tend to focus on a bad event or situation that isn't unfolding according to plan, rather than looking at all the good things surrounding the event or situation. Taking a few moments to build a simple list of things you are thankful for each day can greatly improve your mood and change your outlook.

4. Monitor your thoughts: If you seem to always be in a bad mood, start monitoring your thoughts for negativity. Our thoughts typically precede our emotions. If we consistently engage in negative self-talk, it is virtually impossible to feel good about ourselves. Try to remain aware of your thoughts throughout the day, or consider keeping a journal to help you shift your negative thoughts into positive affirmations.

5. Remember, you are not your emotions: It's easy to get so caught up in emotions that we become them. We often hear people say, "I'm angry," rather than "I have anger." Emotions are passing experiences. When we can become the witness consciousness-able to observe closely without reactivity or judgment-and separate ourselves from our emotions, it is easier to stay centered and at peace.

6. Exercise: Exercising releases endorphins, which create a positive feeling in the body. Regular exercise has been shown to improve mood, alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression, and reduce stress.

7. Meditate: Meditation not only helps us monitor our thoughts and feelings, but it also brings us into the present moment. Many times, when you are in a bad mood, it might be over something that occurred yesterday or even last week. When we come into the present moment, we can experience a sense of freedom and peace.

8. Try something new: The daily grind of life can start to feel mundane, and a lack of stimulation or excitement can contribute to a bad mood. Novelty awakens the senses and sparks our curiosity. Try something you've never done and enjoy the benefits of shaking up your routine.

9. Talk to someone: Sometimes, simply speaking your thoughts aloud and sharing your feelings with others may help you feel better. Consider talking to someone you trust, such as a friend, family member, or qualified therapist.

10. Get creative with your emotion: Emotions are meant to be expressed, not repressed. When you feel like you are in a bad mood, try using your favorite creative means to express your feelings. Write a poem, play an instrument, draw, paint, dance, or craft-whatever moves you.

11. Spend time in nature: Spending time outside naturally relieves stress. Sunlight, fresh air, and living plants tend to provide us with a sense of invigoration and aliveness. Going outside also gives us a great excuse to exercise. Try going for a bike ride or a walk or hike in the woods next time you feel down in the dumps.

12. Pay it forward: Giving evokes feelings of gratitude and promotes feelings of goodwill. Giving is also known to release oxytocin, a feel-good hormone in the brain. Shifting your focus away from yourself and onto someone you care about may help you gain perspective and feel a stronger connection to others.

13. Focus on self-care: When you're down in the dumps, it is easy to let your self-care regimen fall apart. Taking care of ourselves is essential to making sure that we feel good physically, emotionally, and mentally. Among other important things, make sure you're eating a healthy diet, getting plenty of rest, and effectively managing your stress.

14. Set attainable goals: Studies have shown that people experiencing depression often set unrealistic goals. While setting goals is a great way to motivate oneself, setting unattainable goals will only increase our feelings of dissatisfaction and hopelessness. Consider working with a life coach or therapist to help you create realistic goals and set them into action.

15. Forgive yourself: Sometimes when we ask ourselves, "Why am in a bad mood?" we may find it is due to feelings of shame, regret, or guilt over mistakes we have made in the past. Forgiving ourselves is typically more difficult than forgiving others. Remind yourself that you are human and that life is a learning process. Let go of your mistakes and focus on how you can do better in the future.

Know When You Need Help

If you have tried unsuccessfully to improve your mood and nothing seems to work, consider reaching out for help. Depression and chronic bad moods can seriously affect a person's quality of life and lead to more serious mental health issues. The great news is that depression is highly treatable, with 80% to 90% of those who seek treatment reporting relief. If mood changes persist for a long period of time or you continue to feel down, consider finding a therapist or counselor near you.
References:

1. Public Broadcasting Service. (n.d.). Depression out of the shadows. Retrieved from http://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/depression/pdf/dep_stats.pdf

2. Strunk, D., Lopez, H., & DeRubeis, R. (2006). Depressive symptoms are associated with unrealistic negative predictions of future life events. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44. Retrieved November 28, 2014, from https://psychology.sas.upenn.edu/system/files/Strunk Behav Res Ther 2006 Negative Predictions.pdf

3. Zak PJ, Stanton AA, Ahmadi S (2007). Oxytocin increases generosity in humans. PLoS ONE 2(11): doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001128

© Copyright 2014 GoodTherapy.org. All rights reserved. Permission to publish granted by

The preceding article was solely written by the author named above. Any views and opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by GoodTherapy.org. Questions or concerns about the preceding article can be directed to the author or posted as a comment below.

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Breaking Bad Moods: 15 Tips for Shaking the Funk You're In - GoodTherapy.org Therapy Blog

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We have all had a case of the blues. You know, those times in our lives where the world looks bleak and things just don't seem to be going in our favor. No matter how hard we try to turn things around, it seems to end up as wasted effort and all we can do is throw our hands up and ask, "Why me?"

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A Guide on How Not to Be a Screen Zombie

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A Guide on How Not to Be a Screen Zombie

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A Guide on How Not to Be a Screen Zombie

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How to help your child feel better about being back in school

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How to help your child feel better about being back in school

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School closure due to the pandemic has brought uncertainty and lack of structure to many families but, over time, home-schooling has become the 'new normal'. As many schools reopen, families are now faced with a new uncertainty and a need to adapt again.

During school closure family experiences will have varied considerably and for some children returning to school may be enjoyable and even a relief, whilst for others it may feel sad, scary and confusing.

Schools have worked hard to introduce new routines and practices to keep children safe when they return to school, including bubble groups that stay together across learning and play.

When adjusting to these changes in school life, it is normal for children to feel anxious and sad. Over time these feelings often ease, but there are ways families can support their children to feel more positive about being back at school again.

Deciding on whether children should return to school may have been a difficult process for many families. Weighing up concerns about the safety and wellbeing of children or close relatives and work commitments is not easy and sending children back to school may understandably cause carers to feel anxious, sad or even guilty.

Even if we do not discuss our feelings directly with our children, they can pick up on our emotions. In order to understand what your child might be sensing it's a good idea to stop and notice how you are feeling by talking to someone you trust, writing down your feelings, or practising mindfulness to gain insight into your emotions.

Choose a moment when you feel calm to talk to your child about school. Be aware that they might try to copy your feelings as a way to understand the situation and how to react to it. If you want your child to feel more excited about school, try to show some excitement yourself by talking to them about the positives and what they might have missed, such as seeing their friends.

Try to listen to your child and acknowledge their feelings. If they are feeling anxious about school, encourage them to write down their worries as they occur and post them in a worry box, or if they are younger you can help them to draw a picture that represents their concerns.

As parents and carers we naturally want to reassure children but too much reassurance can perpetuate worry. If your child feels very anxious, try and limit discussions around worries to once a day for 30 minutes and have a dedicated "worry time" to talk about concerns.

Problem-solving is a useful strategy to lessen worrying. Help your child to identify and describe a problem they are concerned about, such as 'my friend is in a different school bubble group and we can't be friends anymore'. Then come up with as many solutions as possible, consider the pros and cons of each, and decide which solution to try, for example: they could speak with their friend regularly by phone.

A growth mindset can help your child believe that they can keep on learning and changing, seeing challenges as a normal part of life and opportunities for growth. Considering the current uncertainties, including the possibility that the school routine may change again, this mindset is important to nurture in both our children and ourselves.

One of the best ways to encourage this mindset is through daily reflection on positive experiences, particularly at school. Families could think of three top things that they have enjoyed that day, and talk about this during a mealtime, or write or draw these activities in a gratitude journal together. You could encourage your child to consider what kind words or actions helped them through the day, either their own or from others, or think up a quote for the day such as 'I can do this' or 'School might feel tough before it gets easier'.

School will feel different now and your child will need to get used to new ways of doing things. Families may also need to revive essential routines that have lapsed over lockdown such as eating and sleeping at regular times and making time for exercise. It's also important to put in in place regular activities that children enjoy and make them feel good as this can support a child's positive attitude towards school.

Discuss with your child what fun routines could be introduced such as scooting or biking to school. If your child has packed lunches agree what should go in the lunch and make this together. Consider new routines after finishing school such as doing something creative, having some agreed screen time or going to the park. And if you have discovered fun and new activities during lockdown, make sure you plan for how to keep these going around school.

As children have got used to spending more time with their family during the school closures, they may start to miss it as they return to school. It can help to introduce special time together for a specified amount of time and at an agreed time each day for a child's chosen activity. As a family, you can also agree fun activities to plan for the weekends for children to look forward to.

To help with motivation, you could create a reward chart together that can counteract what your child finds challenging. For example, if they find school worrying, the rewards might be for going to school every day, or, if they find a change in class structure difficult, the rewards might focus on talking to new classmates. The timeframe for achieving the goal should be clear and the reward itself specific - for example stickers, a small toy, or an experience such as a movie night. Alongside this, general praise for attending school and engaging with the new routine can help your child feel positive about the experience.

These are challenging times for children, as they adapt to a different type of school environment, but by listening to how they are feeling and putting into place different ways of thinking and fun routines, we can help them to see the positives in being back at school.

Dr Jessica Richardson is Principal Clinical Psychologist for Trauma, Anxiety and Depression Clinic, National & Specialist CAMHS, Maudsley and Co-Director for Children and Young People's Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies at King's College London. Additional support by Drs. Patrick Smith,, Zoe Maiden, and Sarah Miles and Prof Andrea Danese of the National & Specialist CAMHS Clinic for Trauma, Anxiety, and Depression at the NHS Maudsley Hospital.
For more advice on anxiety about returning to school see this featuring Dr Jessica Richardson or watch the Families Under Pressure animations. King's College London and NHS Maudsley Hospital work together to make children and young people's mental health better.

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How to help your child feel better about being back in school

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School closure due to the pandemic has brought uncertainty and lack of structure to many families but, over time, home-schooling has become the 'new normal'. As many schools reopen, families are now faced with a new uncertainty and a need to adapt again.

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Emotional Management, Coaching, and Intelligence - Wellness Wednesday

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Supporting Students to Manage Anxiety using Positive Education

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Supporting Students to Manage Anxiety using Positive Education

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Wisdom Wednesday - Helping children & teenagers manage stress and build a growth mindset

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Wisdom Wednesday highlights on 'Ensuring online safety of our children'

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The internet has become an indispensable part of a student's life but parents need to be vigilant about their child's cyber activities and teach them how to ...

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Managing Emotions and Building Resilience  

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Managing Emotions and Building Resilience  

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Wisdom Wednesday: Managing Emotions and Building Self-Esteem - 5th October