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Impact of COVID-19 on children

Children and young people could feel the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health

 
 

Impact of COVID-19 on poor mental health in children and young people ‘tip of the iceberg’

Children and young people could feel the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health and well-being for many years to come, UNICEF warned in its flagship report today.

According to The State of the World’s Children 2021; On My Mind: promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health – UNICEF’s most comprehensive look at the mental health of children, adolescents and caregivers in the 21st century – even before COVID-19, children and young people carried the burden of mental health conditions without significant investment in addressing them.

Read Full Article, UNICEF

 
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Exercise benefits for children

Even light physical activity among adolescents was linked to better mental health

 
 

Even light physical activity among adolescents was linked to better mental health as they got older, new research shows.

Recent research on the link between physical activity and depression risk in adults has suggested that exercise may offset the genetic tendency toward depression. Adults with genetic risks who exercised regularly were no more likely to develop depression than those without the genetic propensity.

Read Full Article, New York Times

 
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Destigmatize getting help

California is the latest to add a mental health curriculum requirement in K-12

 
 

Mental health curriculum mandates seek to destigmatize getting help

California is the latest to add a mental health curriculum requirement in K-12 to help address the ongoing youth mental health crisis.

Read Full Article, K12 Dive

 
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Are you over-scheduling kids?

Are you overscheduling? There's a lot that goes into managing a child’s schedule

 

As a mom to two young girls I know what goes into putting together and managing your child’s schedule.  (It’s a lot!)   A question I often ask myself is how do I make sure I balance my children’s schedules so amongst school and extra-curricular activities they also have enough time to just “be” - oftentimes it’s the unscheduled moments where a child’s creativity can thrive and they learn what their interests are.

With school ending at 3PM and activities starting anywhere as early as 4PM the afternoons where we have an activity can feel like rush hour.  Get home - wash hands - have snack - complete homework- off to activity - come home - eat dinner -bath- relax-off to bed and then start the cycle over again.  It is not a pace of life I wish to instill for my girls or myself for that matter!

My girls are 8 and 5 and their interests vary.  What’s worked for us is to limit their activities to 2 weekday activities and then piano lessons on the weekends. (The teacher comes to our home which makes it easy!)  Once the two activities are chosen that is it for season,    Even if the other kids are playing soccer or trying a cooking class and we have a little FOMO we stick with what we chose and don’t add more to the schedule.  We also all agreed that when we start something we finish it out for the semester and if we don’t want to continue we take what we learned and move on from it.

I believe the open space we leave in our child’s schedule allows them time to decompress,  daydream, and relax, which is so important.  Even if I get the occasional “I’m bored”  I always remind my girls  that boredom breeds creativity. (Ha, that sounds like such a mom thing to say!)  By finding balance between the doing and just being  we teach our children that life isn’t about rushing or doing what everyone else is doing - rather some of the best moments come from the unscheduled and unstructured spaces in our day.

 
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Protecting youth mental health

Every child’s path to adulthood—reaching developmental and emotional milestones

 

Every child’s path to adulthood—reaching developmental and emotional milestones, learning healthy social skills, and dealing with problems—is different and difficult. Many face added challenges along the way, often beyond their control. There’s no map, and the road is never straight.

 
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Kids yoga benefits

The purpose of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of yoga for eduction

 

The purpose of this review is to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of yoga for the reduction of symptoms of anxiety and depression in youth.

 
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