Hudson Valley Parent

HVP - January 2014

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ORANGE RHINO (Continued from Page 11) she never thought of herself as a yeller by nature. "Yet here I was with two young kids, and suddenly, what felt like out of nowhere, I was yelling at my kids a few times a week," says Bertholf. "I wanted to nip it in the bud before it became a daily habit." The importance of self-care Preschool through Eighth Grade Traditional learning in an innovative environment 415 Route 343 Millbrook, New York 12545 845.677.5014 info@dutchessday.org www.dutchessday.org 12 Hudson Valley Parent n January 2014 The group members say the most crucial thing to help them refrain from losing their temper verbally is to take care of themselves, something that we as parents often put on the back burner. For Chase-Salerno, this means maintaining daily personal mental health practices whenever she can. "I do something almost daily to help center and ground myself to be a loving, stable, thoughtful, and good-natured parent," she says. "This includes exercise, like Pilates, walking, and hiking, weights, yoga and meditation." For Bertholf, self-care includes getting enough sleep — "even if that means going to bed super early." "I make the time to do activities that lift me up and de-stress me, and I make sure I see friends on a daily basis," says Bertholf. "These are all simple self-care things that make a huge difference in my day, and in turn make a huge difference for my kids." Self-care, while crucial, is not a magic wand, however, and these parents stress that resisting yelling is a journey. It is something that they consistently work at. Chase-Salerno says that her journey has lasted nearly 10 years and counting.

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