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.
