It’s October… which means Halloween time!!! This beloved holiday is a time to be creative, have fun, and... eat way too many handfuls of candy corn! It’s also a time when cultural appropriation is very present. At Mind, we believe in honoring the backgrounds, cultures, races, religions, and other important factors of children and families. We know that our staff, clients, and community believe in respect and kindness, too.

Everyone experiences pain. But sometimes that pain turns into suffering or even misery. For young people struggling with anxiety, depression, racial/oppression-based stress, or other challenges, it feels very difficult (and sometimes impossible) to tolerate pain. As a result, they may attempt to alleviate pain with strategies that ultimately transform that pain into suffering. When pain turns into suffering or misery, doing what is important to you, making connections, and caring for yourself becomes very, very difficult.

It’s hard to say something original about parenting. Every cliché you’ve heard about parenting you already know to be true:

“You’ve never felt such love.”

“You’ve never been so tired.”

“It’s an incredible, life-changing experience.”

“It’s brutal.”

We’re all experiencing some level of suffering and sadness after the Texas school shooting and the Highland Park (a Chicago suburb) parade shooting. Beyond these terrible attacks, community violence has been an all too frequent reality in many Chicago neighborhoods.

When you start a neuropsychological evaluation at Mind, the first question you will hear is “What do you want to know about your child?”

From vacations to camping trips, parents are eagerly seeking new and creative ways to reconnect with their children after a challenging year and a half. In fact, some of those families are trying their hand at improv. Yes, you heard right, I said IMPROV! If you instantly recoiled, I understand. Improvisational theatre sounds intimidating. However, I’m going to provide you a simple introductory technique to help you enjoy this fun and meaningful activity and deepen your relationship with your child. But first, let me tell you a little about improv.

As parents, we do our best to respond to our children’s needs - from loving support to setting boundaries. Although we may be doing the best we can, many of us become lost in comparisons, overwhelmed by frustration, and/or consumed with worry (I know I have!). When we are caught up in these thoughts and emotions, we can lose sight of what is happening right in front of us with our child (and ourselves). We step into a reactive space, making choices from a place of strong emotions and persuasive, unhelpful thoughts. We may also make choices from a place of fear, preventing our young people from experiencing the difficult emotions that are necessary for growth, grit, and resilience.

If you are a parent or caregiver of an anxious child, there is no doubt that you are effortfully trying to support them. You have given words of encouragement, answered their many "what if" questions, and eliminated anxiety provoking cues. You may have noticed that although these strategies help reduce distress in the short-term, anxiety hasn't gone away, and, in fact, you may have even observed it getting much worse!

During the month of September, we have focused on different ways to reduce emotional vulnerability and improve emotion regulation by utilizing the coping skill SEEDS. We have introduced and reviewed how Sleep, Exercise, Executive functioning, and Diet are important to children’s emotional health and are helpful topics to address as children transition back to school. If you have not been following along yet, be sure to check out our most recent blog posts on these exciting topics!

As we continue our month of SEEDS, the focus this week is Diet. (“Diet” should really be replaced with “Balanced eating,” but SEEBS didn’t make for a good acronym.)

The 2020-2021 school year is starting off unlike any in recent memory. With schools pursuing in-person, virtual, and hybrid learning models, children and families are adjusting to new rules and altered routines in an unfamiliar and uncertain landscape. Navigating so many changes at once can be overwhelming.

Whether you are in-school, hybrid, or distance learning, movement and exercise may look a bit different this school year. Getting your kids and teens moving, suddenly requires more planning and organization on the part of teachers, parents, and students - as if finding the motivation to exercise wasn’t hard enough before.

With summer nearing its end, families are preparing for the start of the school year. Whether your child will be learning in person, via e-learning, or a combination thereof, some preparatory measures can set your child, teenager, or college student up for success.

How much screen time is too much screen time? If this isn’t the question of the year (or the century), I don’t know what is. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limited screen use for children under two years old and no more than 1 hour per day for children two to five years old, it feels nearly impossible to adhere to these limits in the face of e-learning and social distancing.

So, how do we know where to draw the line?

“Rachel did it,” I, at three-years-old, insisted when my parents asked why there was blue ink on our ecru walls and white couch. I was informing them that my sister, their devious daughter, was to blame. After a booming count to three (my father’s timeframe to “come clean”), I was punished for vandalism – and lying.