This free, online Relationship Booster will offer information and strategies on easing K-12 school transitions for the entire family. This program will feature Dr. Karen Meadows, Professional School Counselor in Guilford County Schools, as well as HRI Director, Christine Murray, Ph.D., LPC, LMFT. The interactive program will include an opportunity for participants to ask questions to be addressed during the program.
A link to connect to the online program will be provided to all participants via email at least 24 hours before this program is scheduled to begin.
7/17/19: Relationship Booster: Healthy Relationships in Older Adulthood
This free, online Relationship Booster will offer insights on healthy relationships in older adulthood. This program will feature Evelyn Smith, Aging Program Planner with the PTRC Area Agency on Aging, as well as HRI Director, Christine Murray, Ph.D., LPC, LMFT. The interactive program will include an opportunity for participants to ask questions to be addressed during the program.
A link to connect to the online program will be provided to all participants via email at least 24 hours before this program is scheduled to begin.
Although summer is full of opportunities to engage in fun and exciting adventures, it is important to be flexible with your summer schedule and include time for relaxation. Busy and strict schedules can cause stress and conflict within families, which can hinder opportunities for connection. We recommend trying to only plan one big activity per day and making sure to set aside time to relax. By setting aside time to relax, you can avoid the added stress of feeling rushed, over-committed, and exhausted. Relaxation time is also a great opportunity for family bonding! One great way to relax in the midst of summer activities or on a family vacation is to stay in and have a family movie or game night.
Summer is the perfect time to try new things and go on exciting adventures with your family. Not only is this a great way to keep everyone engaged, but it is also a wonderful opportunity for children to explore, learn, and grow within the safety of their family. There are plenty of fun activities in Guilford County and the surrounding areas that you and your family can explore this summer! Check out our list below to help you get started with planning your next family adventure:
We encourage you to unplug and spend quality, technology free time with your family this summer! Technology can serve as a barrier to having fun and connecting with your family during your summer activities and vacations. In today’s blog post, we will be sharing some helpful tips to help you unplug and spend more face-to-face time with your family this summer!
Plan technology free activities. Planning activities that don’t require technology, such as hiking, going swimming, and playing in the park, can help you and your family unplug for a couple of hours. These activities are a great opportunity to connect with one another, while having fun and promoting healthy behaviors, such as exercise, within your family!
Set technology limits. Creating rules and setting limits about technology is key to unplugging and spending quality time with your family. Encourage your family to refrain from checking their phones and to leave other technology at home when going on vacation or when engaging in family activities over the summer. A great rule to help set limits around technology is the “inside/outside rule.” With this rule, family members can only use technology inside of the house or hotel room when on vacation. This will help your family stay in the present moment and connect with one another during family vacations. This rule can also look like designating certain times during the day as technology free, and only allowing technology use for short periods at night.
Model healthy technology behavior. An important part of setting limits around technology involves the adults in the family modeling the behavior they want to see. One way to do so is to refrain from checking text messages, emails, or working during vacations and family activities. However, we understand that sometimes it is not possible to be completely disconnected from work or personal matters, so if you do need to work or check your email/messages, try to set aside scheduled time that doesn’t interfere with family plans to do so.
We hope the tips we provided today will help you spend quality, technology free time with your family, while having lots of fun and making lasting memories!
With the school year coming to an end and summer quickly approaching, you may be thinking ahead to fun activities and vacations you will be going on with your family! Summer is a wonderful time to go on adventures, try new things, and spend quality time with your loved ones. The HRI team is especially excited about the summer, as it provides so many wonderful opportunities to create stronger connections with your family, while having lots of fun. Fun is an essential part of having healthy, happy, and safe relationships, and part of our mission at HRI is to encourage families to have fun together. Throughout the next week, we will be sharing tips to help your family have a summer full of fun, while also building your relationships and creating a strong foundation for a happy and healthy family!
MaryLou Dovan and her husband Andy are finishing their first year of foster care. She teaches at Bradford Academy in Mebane, and they are members of Hope Chapel in Greensboro.
Have you heard the quote by Mother Theresa: “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family”?
I came across this phrase in a book years ago. Recently it’s been popping up all over the place, like Instagram captions and Hobby Lobby. Her words apparently resonate with us.
In this quote, Mother Theresa praises the ordinary, calling us to recognize that family and home – though quotidian realities – are the incubators for world change. Do you want to leave the world a better place? Do you want to have an impact beyond your lifetime? Invest in the next generation. Use your home as a place of change.
The home holds our most mundane tasks. We repeat small routines like tooth-brushing, dish-washing, and bed-making.
To me, home has been a place where the kitchen timer dings, birds sing through window screens, and individual thoughts become shared conversations around the dinner table. I take comfort in recognizing the cadence of my family members’ footsteps. I love when someone sits down to play the piano.
I’ve realized over time that my rich experience of family and home are not ubiquitous. Many children in our communities live in homes where the kitchen timer doesn’t ding and where the sound of footsteps is foreboding.
I treasure my upbringing and remember it fondly, but it is not possible to move backward and relive my childhood experiences. Time compels me to move forward. If I want to access those familiar joys of home and family, I must recreate them and give them away.
Foster care invites us to open our homes and expand our definition of family. Through fostering, we welcome a child into our ordinary-doings and offer thousands of small things they may otherwise never receive. In the context of a loving family and a safe home, I believe these daily rhythms compound to break generational patterns of abuse and addiction. In this way, foster care not only protects children, but it also empowers them to grow into leaders.
Around the time my husband and I began fostering, I began making my own sourdough bread. The two have more in common than you might think. A principle of sourdough is regular use of the starter. If it is not used, it turns rancid. But if it is used consistently and properly, the same batch of starter can provide bread for generations.
Likewise, I am confident that the purpose of receiving the assurances of love from my own parents was not to hoard them for myself. Now I have the opportunity to invest and multiply the blessings I received to make a profit of well-being in the next generation.
If you ever find yourself asking questions like: Didn’t I just do laundry two days ago? Didn’t I just feed this family two hours ago? Didn’t I just sweep up these crumbs? — you may be a great candidate for foster care.
These regular things require us to embody the love we say we have, and they teach us lessons like patience, stewardship, and excellence, too. More than that, they create an environment of safety and predictability for others in our home. And in the absence of the mundane tasks and all the usual things we are prone to tire of, the home-life disintegrates and children are left vulnerable.
Foster care sounds big. It is a big decision for any family or individual to make. And it is hugely important. But the act of fostering is really a myriad of small things. If I remember correctly, it was Mother Theresa who also said “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Foster care invites us to do both.
