Day 11 - Boys Town - Daily Dose of Digital Support

Don’t let social distancing or self-quarantining keep the family from meeting some unforgettable characters and making new friends. Welcome the lovable Freddie the Fly, good-natured Noodle and strong-willed Cora June into your lives. They’ll make you cringe, laugh and think as they try their best to navigate frightful friendships, classroom calamities, social blunders, and other anxieties and embarrassments.      Boys Town Press authors, including the wildly popular Julia Cook, are reading aloud from their award-winning storybooks via Facebook Live.

Friday’s emotional health boost… Are your kids feeling sad and hurt because they can’t get together with their friends, play their favorite spring sports, dance in recitals, or even give Grandpa a bear hug? If so, try some Shoebox Therapy. Here’s how it works… Turn a shoe box into a “memory box” by placing pictures, mementos or notes related to the things you miss most inside. Every day, for 15 minutes, look at the items in the memory box… smile, laugh or cry if you need to. After 15 minutes, put the box away, dry your tears and get on with the day.   Shoebox Therapy allows you to acknowledge those sad feelings and work through your emotions, so you don’t get stuck in sadness or self-pity all day. Soon enough, your days will seem a little happier. Until tomorrow, be safe and be healthy. Remember, your mental health matters too!

Day 10 - Boys Town - Daily Dose of Digital Support

By now, the not-so-happy side effects of social distancing and home confinement are showing up. Those quirky behaviors that once brought smiles now elicit screams. Those news headlines and breaking updates meant to inform now only induce headaches. And no matter how much separation is put between the kiddos, they still irritate and infuriate one another (and you).   Closeness can lead to all kinds of craziness and conflict, but you can get (and keep) it under control in your home. Start now with our special “Keep the Peace Contract.” Use this as a way to encourage and reinforce your family’s values and the behaviors you expect from everyone. It’s also a great way to support a safe, healthy emotional climate inside the home so relationships don’t become irreparably hurt by petty disagreements and small, silly things.

Today’s de-stressing strategy… Learn why it’s so important to stay in the moment, then try these 10 simple techniques to keep yourself grounded…  Until tomorrow, be safe and be healthy. Remember, your mental health matters too!

Day 9 - Boys Town - Daily Dose of Digital Support

Are you or a loved one feeling restless, fighting food cravings, lacking motivation or battling the blues? If so, you may have a case of cabin fever and today’s Daily Dose offers a few cure-alls.

Stop the cravings, take a brain break and trigger your happy hormones by stretching, jumping or lifting. Some of our favorite exercises include jumping jacks, busting out epic dance moves during an at-home talent show and finding our center doing yoga poses. But if those are a hard pass for you, there are many online resources to help get you and your family energized, including this insightful guide from Boys Town Pediatrics. 

Today’s feel good message: Don’t fear your feelings. If today you’re happy, embrace it. If tomorrow you’re sad, accept it. Your feelings are going to change, and that shouldn’t scare you or stress you. See why here.

Until tomorrow, be safe and be healthy. Remember, your mental health matters too!

Day 8 - BoysTown - Daily Dose of Digital Support

Greetings… hope everyone at your house is in good health and good spirits! Today’s Daily Dose is all about healthy habits. Now more than ever it’s important to practice prevention and put a stop to those icky behaviors that can make anyone sick. From nose picking to finger licking to eye scratching, so many kids (and adults) have bad habits that further enable the spreading of germs. Fortunately, it’s never too late to quit those germ-spreading behaviors and replace them with new behaviors that align with good hygiene practices. Boys Town psychologist Dr. Trevor Bixler explains how in these four simple steps.

Today’s feel good message: You deserve all the kindness you can give yourself. Discover what self-kindness really means and the 10 awesome ways you can be kind to yourself. Until tomorrow, be safe and be healthy. Remember, your mental health matters too!

Day 7 - BoysTown - Daily Dose of Digital Support

One way to ensure your kids (and you!) have the focus, attention and creativity to power through your school/work-at-home day is to do short brain breaks. When your energy is dipping, your thoughts are wandering, or your answers to problems are hard to come by, brain breaks can get you to relax, refocus and recharge. We have 33 ideas you can print out and practice throughout the month. Go old-school and bust a move by dancing the Hokey-Pokey and the Macarena or have a friendly game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Every idea is quick and easy to do.

Today’s positive mental health activity from YourLifeYourVoice.org...use these every day to stay happy and be healthy! When you need a little positive pick-me-up, download and write on these notes or use sticky notes of your own. This exercise will help you beat back the blues and remember all the things that make you happy. For a little extra fun, have every member of the family complete their own and share at the dinner table. Until tomorrow, be safe and be healthy. Remember, your mental health matters too!

Song - Enough - Elias Dummer

“Music… will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Enough - Elias Dummer

Enough

For the past few years I have asked God to give me a word to focus on from January through December. This simple practice of choosing a word for the year has been very transforming for me. Every year holds so many highs and lows, but what stands out in my mind at the end is how God revealed Himself specially through that one word. This year God gave me the word “enough” as my focus. As our world faces all the fear and uncertainty coming from the Covid-19 pandemic, I find myself needing to cling to this word more than ever.

When I spend time reading my Bible I am reminded again and again that God is the God who provides. He loves His people so deeply and He never fails to meet them in their needs. One of my favorite stories is when Jesus feeds thousands of people. He had just spent the entire day sharing the good news of God’s kingdom with them, and healing those who needed healing. Jesus’ twelve disciples came to Him and suggested He send the crowds home so they could find something to eat. Jesus told the disciples not to send the people away, but to provide for their needs.

I can only imagine how shocked the disciples were when they heard Jesus’ instructions. The Bible tells us there were 5,000 men in the crowd that day. Scholars estimate that with women and children included there were probably more than 15,000 people present. The disciples were not rich people. They often depended on other people’s kindness to meet their daily needs. If I were one of the disciples standing in front of Jesus in this moment, I probably would have told Him, “But Jesus, what you ask is impossible! We do not have enough.”

“Not enough” is not something that stands in the way of our God. Jesus took the little the disciples were able to find, five loaves of bread and two small fish given to them by a boy in the crowd, and He multiplied it. He prayed to God and gave the food to the disciples. Miraculously the food did not run out as they passed it around to the 15,000 people. There were actually 12 whole baskets of food left over after everyone had eaten and was satisfied. The disciples approached Jesus with their lack, and He gave them more than enough.

At a different time in their journey with Jesus, the disciples asked Jesus how to pray. He taught them the prayer which is now known as the Lord’s prayer. In it He prayed to God, “Give us today our daily bread,” (Matthew 6:11). We can trust God to give us what we need for today. We cannot always see what tomorrow will hold or how He will provide for us then, but we can trust Him to take care of us here in this moment.

As you think about this virus and all the ways it is changing what you once considered normal life, what is the “daily bread” you need God to provide? Maybe your prayers sound something like this:

Give me today… the patience I need to love my children and show them kindness.

Give me today… the faith I need to trust you are good.

Give me today… the basic necessities I need to care for myself and my family.

Give me today… peace so I will not become overwhelmed by the uncertainty around me.

Give me today… rest because I am so weary, and I cannot carry on alone.

We can always bring our needs before God. We are His children and He loves us all. He is always listening, and He is standing nearby ready to comfort and strengthen us. This season might hold fear, doubt, and uncertainty. We do not know when this will pass or just how we will be impacted until it does. These things are true, but this season can be marked by something else as well. We can choose to make this a season of trust, hope, compassion for our neighbors, and drawing near to God. We can choose to rely on Him for our daily bread, and discover again and again each day that He is always enough.

We hope you will visit the Music post "Enough" as part of your quiet time with God today and let the music speak to your heart as you grow in your ability to believe that Jesus is enough for you, today and always.

Written by Christina Roberts

Scripture: Luke 9:10-17

When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then He took them with Him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed Him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.

Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”

He replied, “You give them something to eat.”

They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” (About five thousand men were there.)

But He said to His disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke them. Then He gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Activities for free time with kids

Keeping kids occupied is not always easy. Sure, they could watch tv, YouTube, and play devices all day.... but we don’t want that!!! Here are just a few ideas that we plan to do or have done before that can be used for any age. 

Photo Scavenger Hunts📷 - Pinterest is chopped full of them!! These would be so fun with a Polaroid! If you don’t have one just use a phone/iPod. 

Exercise🏃🏼‍♀️- Again, tons on Pinterest! We love this one!!! Spell out different words and let them do the exercise that goes with that letter. Or...just use the different exercises as circuits! 

Science experiments 🧪- There are lots on Pinterest!! You just have to look through to see what ingredients you have on hand! The foil boat is easy and fun! 

Art 🖼- I love this one... coffee filters and markers. Either the center tip set in water or spray with water. It will give a tie dyed effect and they can turn them into any creation they want! 

Just for fun..... make some bubbles! I am not sure about mixing the syrup, but for sure dawn and water!! I can’t wait to do this with the kids today!! .

Do you have other suggestions?? Let’s help all the busy moms out there and post below if you have some fun things to share!!

Day 6 - BoysTown - Daily Dose of Digital Support

How’s your weekend staycation going? Hopefully it – and you – are great! They say necessity is the mother of invention, and today’s Daily Dose is all about experiencing and connecting to art, animals and almost anything else despite social distancing, shutdowns and abandoned spaces. From virtual tours to live cams, even a staycation can’t keep you from hopscotching the globe and making the world your destination. In real time, you can see pandas playfully wrestle in San Diego and then sit back in the comfort of your favorite couch and take in the Louvre in Paris. From the visually stunning to the artistically surprising to the emotionally heart-warming, we’ve put together a collection of free online classes, tours, apps and webcams that are sure to be boredom busters and mind builders. Check them out here…

Sunday’s feel good activity: It’s hard for our kids (and maybe even us!) to remember there is much to be thankful for when fear of missing out on proms, graduations, birthday parties, sleepovers and sporting events consume our thoughts. To get a healthy reality check and recapture a sense of happiness, try our Attitude of Gratitude activity

Day 5 - BoysTown - Daily Dose of Digital Support

Some good news… the weekend’s here! Hope today’s Daily Dose finds you and yours in good spirits and good health.    Saturdays aren’t quite the same these days. But different doesn’t have to be disappointing. Everyone’s probably feeling a little stir-crazy and some are probably desperately seeking fun. So why not reimagine or reinvent how your family hangs out? Shuttling to sports practices and packing for parties are off the agenda, giving you the freedom to do something new or special for a change. But what? Well, start by thinking of this weekend as a “staycation.” And vacation means new experiences and plain-old fun. So why not do things like… Go on treasure hunts Build covered forts with blankets and furniture FaceTime friends Put puzzles together Spend the day in PJs  Make crazy snacks or bake spring-themed cupcakes Crank up the music and have a singalong Go on solitary walks/bike rides (for much-needed alone/quiet time) You have more options than you may think. So, start your staycation now by building a customized list of family activities to keep kids entertained during social distancing that are perfect for times like these.

Today’s feel good activity deals with worry. In uncertain times, it’s normal to worry but you don’t want it to consume you. Try giving yourself 10 minutes a day to worry about things. After that, whenever you notice yourself worrying, tell yourself it will still be there for tomorrow's ten minutes. You can even try a Brain Dump and write your worries down when your thoughts become overwhelming. Shake free from negativity and find yourself in a happier headspace.