Summer weekend planning

By Christina Lacey
Last post I wrote about "Enjoying every moment".  How true.  Now that the weather is better, we have the opportunity to put this to action. People usually plan their family trips for the summer months, vacations and camping. It seems as if many times families make these plans because that's what other people do, not for the pure enjoyment. All the planning, booking, packing, etc adds stress that we, most likely, should be getting away from. Time schedules that need to be kept to complete all the tasks, or visits to families takes the fun away.

How can we make this better? We may not be able to.  But, we can make weekends a nice time to bond with family, learn about each other, spend nice time together.  Have you seen the commercial with the little girl who asks if she is cute, so why are her parents spending all weekend cleaning and not spending time with her. This is a cute reminder that is true. Children want to have their parents around. They don't really care necessarily what the family is doing. From playing on the swing set in the park or playing cards in the house on a rainy day, those times are what our children remember. They also remember the times when they were ignored, or told "later, we'll play later". 

Let's try not to have our children have those memories but the good, fun times they had with their parents and family. They will also take those memories and continue those weekends with their kids!
As a Marriage and Family Therapist, I see individuals and couples mostly. I enjoy working with my clients and learning about them and how they can be better as an individual and also to others around them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adjusting to New Situations

By Christina Lacey
As a therapist and a mother, adjustments are never really easy, especially if they are difficult, such as a move to a new state or moving away to college. They have termed this 'homesickness'. Someone who does not know what it means or a translation could see it as sick of home. But in reality it is the saddness and anxiety we may feel when we are away from home and missing what is comfortable to us. People in general do not like change but change is part of our lives. How can we deal with it or make it more manageable? This can be tough. One thing we can do is to set up a new routine. Some colleges and even assisted living and nursing homes have the newcomers create a schedule that is visible to them so they can have something to look forward to and help stay on target.   Another thing is to make your new home your home. Have those things around you that make you feel good and bring you comfort. Pictures of friends and notes can be something that you have to look back on
Read more

My original question, why therapy!

By Christina Lacey
When I began this blog I named it "Why therapy?" People ask themselves, why go to talk to someone that they don't know, how can they help me? It's not that you're talking to a stranger. You're talking with a trained professional that is looking at your situation differently then a family member or friend can. As a marriage and family therapist we look at the entire picture, all factors, that contribute to an individual and their situation. As an individual we may not realize the things that may be contributing to our anxiety, or our sadness, such as changes in life, whether they be a death in the family, change of job, tension in the household, or even something that could have happened many years ago. We influence those around us and they influence us as well, which can contribute to our situation. So why therapy? The time with a counselor provides you and your family a time to express your feelings, frustrations and things you may not be able to stay at
Read more

Motivation, why is it so hard?

By Christina Lacey
People always talk about motivation and that either they have it or they don't. What is it? The online dictionary says motivation is the reason or reasons one has for acting in a particular way. The second notation states that it is the general desire or willingness to do something. So why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to be motivated? If it's a reason to act a particular way what does that have to do with being motivated to diet or study? It seems it is just a word that we have attached to these types of situations. Either way, how do we develop the drive to want to be better, to be thinner, to be stronger, or smarter? Similar to so many other things we need to have a positive attitude. A positive attitude is very powerful not only for ourselves but for those around us. When we think of something that we want and we attach positivity to it it seems more reachable. Negative thoughts and attitude actually can turn into feelings of hopelessness or impossibility.
Read more