• bridge_in_summer_lined_with_red_flower_planters_and_a_teen_standing_nearby_looking_at_water
    Health

    How to Handle FASD and Running

    November 4, 2025 - By 

    From the moment my youngest child started moving, they were a runner. The kid ran everywhere. in fact, we used to joke that this child ran before they walked, which was pretty accurate and slightly comical, until they started running away. For them, FASD, Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and running went hand in hand. What is Elopement? Elopement is basically when kids with some neurological conditions leave or run away from wherever they currently are. That can be school, home, the mall, the park or any other spot. For some reason their fight or flight reaction is activated and flight…

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    Health

    What to Do if Your Child Needs Glasses

    May 23, 2024 - By 

    Though today’s modern digital age has its perks, it’s also posing unprecedented risks to our eyesight. On average, Canadians spend 3.2 hours a day looking at screens. During this time, they blink less, reducing moisture and causing dry eye syndrome. Though this is easily fixed by using artificial tears, taking screen breaks, and blinking more, the impacts of device use are more apparent among kids than adults. Looking at gadgets up close forces the eye to accommodate close-up vision, elongating the eyeballs and causing myopia (nearsightedness).  Eyesight Changes Kids usually adjust to eyesight changes and may not tell you about them, so…

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    Health

    4 Easy Ways to Save Money on Your Next Pair of Contact Lenses

    December 3, 2023 - By 

    While eyeglasses are more common as a corrective tool, many individuals opt for contact lenses for multiple reasons. One of the most prominent is how they provide more natural vision from all angles, as they sit right on the eyeballs. Aside from this, contacts have the advantage of being without frames, which means they don’t block the peripheral vision, and they are less likely to be affected by surroundings. This means they’re not as prone to falling out, and they’re not at risk of smudging or fogging up. Given the above, contact lenses are an essential expense for many people who rely…

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    Take the 30-Day Mindfulness Challenge Now!

    February 1, 2021 - By 

    Time for a mindfulness challenge! No better time than the present. At least, that’s my current philosophy. So, some of you probably know that mindfulness here is an ongoing battle. Or, should I say has been an ongoing issue. Ironically, or curiously, I think that I have actually achieved more mindfulness during the pandemic than ever before. My Previous Experience One year I made mindfulness my word of the year and it was the worst word of the year experience that I had ever had. That’s right. I have successfully chosen a word of the year for many years but…

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    Health

    My 2021 Word of the Year, Finally

    January 31, 2021 - By 

    “I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart: I am, I am, I am.” ~ Sylvia Plath Sylvia knew. Post may contain affiliate links as a service to readers. I receive a small commission from purchases made via qualifying links. Words This year, it has taken me exactly a month to find my 2021 word of the year. Why? Well, I wasn’t convinced I’d bother to choose a word of the year. Wasn’t it a ridiculous assumption to make that a year would bend to meet the shape of a word. I mean after…

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    Health

    Five Chronic Illness Lessons I Have Learned.

    January 19, 2021 - By 

    Lately I have been thinking a lot about how having a childhood illness shaped me, as a person, as a teen and an adult. I’ve asked myself often what, if any chronic illness lessons, I got out of that experience. Some of you know I have Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease, also now thought to be an autoimmune disease, without a known cause or cure. I was diagnosed at 14 after a period of months when pounds melted off my frame faster than you can even imagine. My abdomen hurt all of the time, as in so much cramping…

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    30 Day Health and Wellness Challenge and Printable

    December 23, 2020 - By 

    Well here we go again! Lockdown threatens to disrupt any progress on my fitness routine. But hopefully not for long. That’s why I am sharing this 30-day health and wellness challenge. Make a Commitment to Health & Wellness I have done my best to maintain a health and wellness schedule for years now. It’s part of my life and I need that as a parent and as someone who has chronic pain and Crohn’s disease. Working out to maintain health and wellness is not an option for me. So, from the start of the pandemic to today, I have been…

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    Health

    The Simple Art of Walking

    December 14, 2020 - By 

    Or How I Don’t Want Your Pity Walk Became Let Me Get a Sweater and My Shoes) With gyms closed for much of the past year, I have discovered the value of the simple art of walking. We walk in all the weather, sometimes alone but often together. That’s been a highlight of this year actually. Walking. Discovering the art of walking has been an unexpected positive in a year too full of negatives. The Art of Walking It started as a way to get the kids moving and a means for me to get my steps in for the…

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    Don’t Let This Rare Eye Disorder Go Undiagnosed

    November 9, 2020 - By 

    “This VKC blog is sponsored and supported by Santen Canada Inc.” A rare allergic eye disorder affecting children and adolescents is often missed by parents and can cause lasting damage. VKC, vernal keratoconjunctivitis, usually strikes during main allergy seasons, but it can also be present all year round. VKC is a relatively rare disorder. Public awareness is very low,” says Dr. Michael O’Connor, Pediatric Ophthalmologist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO in Ottawa), and Past-President of the Canadian Association of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (CAPOS). Common Symptoms of This Eye Disorder With a range of symptoms that mimic allergies…

  • Health

    Getting My Gym Legs Back – Returning to the YMCA

    October 22, 2020 - By 

    After seven months of working out in my basement, I am moving on. This was the month that I found my gym legs again returning to the gym in person. Here’s how I found my gym legs again and here’s how it’s going so far… Deciding to Leave the Basement The decision to return to the YMCA near my home was not without a whole lot of introspection, hand ringing and anxiety. In fact, it kind of surprised me that I had anxiety returning at all, but after seven months of basement workouts, there it was. Nerves. Let’s face it…