Hey there,
I recorded this short video for you about how to prevent and treat bug bites in your little ones.
Enjoy!
Let me know if you need help. Feel free to book a free meet the doctor to chat more.
Whitney
Mommy Moods & Kids Long-Term Health
1 in 5 people will experience mental illness in any given year in Canada. This is truly an epidemic. It doesn’t only affect the person, their jobs, their health, it affects the people around them.
Sadly, it has a long-term negative effect on children. The ACEs study of Adverse Childhood Experiences found that children who grew up with the experience of a depressed family member in the household had an increased chance of long-term health consequences like chronic disease, mental illness, substance abuse and early death.
This is not great news. This is why it’s so important to address mom’s health when we’re talking about children’s health. They are part of the family unit. Everyone in the family affects the other.
This is why I’m passionate about working with moms.
Watch my short video about this and a small thing you can do TODAY to help both mom and child.
Talk soon,
Whitney
Making Moments Matter
I had a harder time with Father’s Day than I expected. But actually it hit me a day later when I sat down with my counsellor.
“How are you doing?” she asked. The tears started coming.
My younger daughter turned 4 the day before Father’s Day. The collision of the two special days did me in.
On the happiest day of her birthday there is still a shadow caused by the events that happened only a couple of months after her birth.
I still find it hard to look at pictures of her during her first year of life. It transports me back into the pain. The pain of losing my husband, her dad. The pain of my life shattered into a million pieces.
The innocence in her eyes. She didn’t feel the loss like the rest of us did. She had started to bond with him but attachment isn’t solidified by 3 months old.
Leanna met each milestone in her first year of life but if you asked me when she crawled, I don’t know. How horrible is that? I don’t remember. I remember exactly when my first daughter crawled. But my second? I was in a fog. I honestly don’t remember. I was robbed. She was robbed. Steve was robbed.
Father’s Day is another one of those days that reminds me of how he was robbed. How unfair that he only got to enjoy a handful of Father’s Days as a parent? It sucks. But it’s the reality. It is what it is. The grace of acceptance isn’t easy.
As I was searching for photos of Leanna to post on her 4th birthday this past weekend to celebrate her, I stumbled across a photo of the 4 of us. I only thought there was one photo in existence. But here it is. A blurry photo of the 4 of us! Hidden treasure! Here it is! The day that Leanna was born. The moment big sister met little sister. It was a perfect moment.
One of my regrets is that there is only 1 (now 2) photos in the world of the 4 of us as a family. It’s one of those heartbreaking things I realized in the early months after Steve died.
My wish to you is to treasure your moments. Take pictures. Be in pictures. Don’t let your bad outfit, bad hair-day, bad self-image stop you from jumping in pictures with your family. Be part of it. Make those moments matter. Don’t miss out. Enjoy every moment. Treasure every moment. Love is what matters.
Whitney
Supermoms Throw Out the Rules
The biggest lesson I’m learning as a mom is to let go of the strict rules and how I “should” parent, or should do this or that.
I’d ask everyone for feedback. What do you do? How do YOU handle this situation with your kids. What SHOULD I do about bedtimes, sleep routines, their diet, their grieving, their extracurricular activities.
We have so many decisions to make as parents and we put so much pressure on ourselves to “do it right.”
But what is right? Who says there is only 1 right way to raise a child? Who says there is only 1 right way or path for a child to be happy, healthy & hearty so they can ultimately be OK?
There isn’t any 1 path. It doesn’t exist. If someone tells you it does, then they are lying to themselves.
Each child is unique, each child has their own temperament they were born with. Each child responds differently to different things. Maybe your child is great at sports, maybe they like quiet artwork activities. Knowing our children is one of the keys to happiness as a mother. Not trying to fit them into the prescribed box of a “perfect child.”
Allowing them to be free, allows us to be free. Then we don’t have to follow any rules. We get to make up the rules!! How amazing is that?!?
Whitney
Want to be a better mom? Get the Supermom Survival Guide here.
Trust Your Mommy Gut
Your Mommy Gut. The little voice inside you or pit in your stomach that whispers, I want to do things differently.
Have you ever had that feeling? Where you just didn’t think something was right? Or something wasn’t right for you?
The thing is, there are a million different parenting decisions we make every week… what to feed them, how to react or not react to their behaviour, what time to put them to bed, how to respond to their cough or cold or fever. The list goes on.
It’s a hard job making all of those decisions!
And sometimes you want to do things differently than everyone else.
And you know what? That’s ok.
Your superpower is your Mommy Gut. Your intuition that tells you “You know what? This is what feels right for me. This is what feels right for our family.”
Sometimes you will ask for others opinions or advice. Sometimes you will take it and sometimes you won’t. But what I want you to do this week is sit quietly with yourself and the decisions weighing on your mind.
What DO YOU want to do? How DO YOU want to react? What FEELS RIGHT to YOU?
Trust your Mommy Gut. It’s there for a reason.
You’re doing a great job.
And if you want to ask for a little help or a little non-judgmental advice. I’m here for you 
Whitney
The Perils of Parenting
Last night I was running down the stairs into the basement and stepped straight onto an upturned, jewelled tiara. 5 perfect puncture wounds appeared on the bottom of my foot.
I could have yelled. I could have demanded the girls tell me which one did it. Who left that on the stairs?! For me to step on?! And then bleed?!
They were already pretty horrified by my cry out in pain. The sight of the blood also really made them worried.
I took it as a teachable moment. Calmly explaining that this was a great reason why we shouldn’t leave our toys on the floor.
Am I the most patient mother in the world? Probably not. But I do know that there are many things that I do to make sure I’m in a better mood when I’m around the kids so I don’t lose my cool as often as I used to.
Here’s what I do to make sure I’m a calmer mom:
- Get a good night sleep
- Eat regularly (no hangry allowed!)
- Take time away from the kids aka “me time”
- Make my life enjoyable and not totally revolving around them
- Counselling and coaching so I can know my feelings and reactions better
I love working with other moms who want to be Supermoms for their Superkids.
If you’d love to feel more in control of your emotions and your health, book in for a free intro session to chat more about how we could work together.
You’ve got this, Mama.
Talk soon,
Whitney