My last post I asked you to honestly answer a list of questions about how you were taking care of yourself.Today I want to share with you a list of ideas for taking care of yourself (especially during the busy holiday season.) I know you are busy so I want to make this as easy as possible. I have prepared a list below of 12 ways that you can care for yourself. Review the list and write down the ones that speak to you. Then take a few minutes to add or modify options that are more suitable to you.
12 Great Ways for taking care of yourself:
- Spend 15 minutes in the morning preparing for the day ahead. Begin with thinking of things you are grateful for in your life. Focus on the good things; don’t let your mind focus on the negative. If you are a believer, begin by reading your Bible, read the Proverb that corresponds with the date. If you like to meditate, to get centered and focused for the day, meditate.
- Exercise 30 minutes 3-5 times a week. (Determine the days you will do it and when) You can include the kids with a bike ride, hike, run, or swim… Read More Here…
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If you are in the process of divorce or recently divorced, the holiday season can be particularly challenging. During this time of transition from married to single, learning to balance life, career, children, home and any activities for you and/or your children can be overwhelming. It is easy to fall into the mode of taking care of everyone else and attending to the many details of life while overlooking the importance of taking care of yourself.
Sometimes you may tell yourself that this is temporary and after the holidays, or after you get your shopping done, or after the kids get out of school for winter break, that you will some how have more time. Possibly you are trying to stay busy on purpose to avoid feeling your pain.
As a single parent it is really easy to put your children first. You may feel guilty about the divorce and how it is affecting your children so you pour yourself into them and attending to their needs. You may be feeling depressed and lack the energy to exercise, to eat healthy, and to put forth the effort to spend time with family or friends. Yet now more than ever it is important for you to take care of yourself. Let’s do a quick reality check.
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If there is one sign that your kids are in danger after divorce, it is a high level of continuing conflict after divorce. When parents continue the conflict after the divorce is final, children are likely to be affected…and not in a positive way. From all accounts we have, continuing conflict after divorce is bad for kids. The higher the level of conflict, in fact, the more likely it is that children have increased problems. The question is how to step out of continuing conflict after divorce.
Step Out of Continuing Conflict After Divorce
It’s difficult to stop once couples get into negative communication and conflict patterns. It just takes one parent to 
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Conflict. Just the word makes your stomach tighten up a little, doesn’t it? It’s been so interesting to hear each Divorced Parent Telesummit expert’s wisdom on how you can co-parent without conflict. There has been one clear message from all of the speakers: you are a role model for your children, especially when it comes to conflict resolution.
Conflict is Everywhere But Nobody Wins a Custody Battle
Everyone’s life involves conflict from time to time, whether it is with a co-worker or employer or neighbor. How you handle conflict as co-parents is teaching your children how they should handle conflict. What do you want your kids to learn about conflict?
I wish more parents understood that that “custody battles” have no winners. What they have is
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Pam and I have really enjoyed getting to know all of our amazing speakers. It is our pleasure to introduce you to our final speakers for the Divorced Parent Telesummit, Deesha Philyaw and Mike Thomas. I commend Deesha and Mike for their desire, ability and determination to put their two daughters first.
Mike and Deesha will tell you that it hasn’t always been easy. Like you and me, they have had their differences as a divorced couple and they have made their share of parenting mistakes. However, along their journey, Mike and Deesha made a choice. They chose to take the high road. They realized how you co-parent your children really matters. When co-parents partner and work together, the children thrive.
Others who witnessed Mike and Deesha’s positive, effective, co-parenting relationship wondered how they do it. Sharing their experience and wanting to help others become better co-parents, led Mike and Deesha to Read More Here…
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We believe you will really enjoy our next speaker Patrick McMillan. Patrick is the author of, The Science of Happy Kids and Joyful Parenting™. He is a children’s motivational speaker and subject matter expert in childhood emotional development. Patrick is the co-founder of HappierKidsNow. com and the founder of Kids Can Do Anything and An Exercise in Happiness™, an interactive emotional fitness program for children. Patrick is an active member of The International Positive Psychology Association and The National Association for Self Esteem, though his passion stems from being a stay at home dad since 2001.
Patrick says, “A child’s daily quest is to be happy, though for so many kids, this can prove to be an uphill journey. ” Patrick has committed his life to helping kids create for themselves the kind of life they want and deserve, and give parents and teachers the tools to take action in helping their kids in their daily pursuit of happiness.
When you meet Patrick you will quickly realize his passion and enthusiasm for helping kids succeed at finding and living a life of happiness, and empowering them with life long skills. Like you, Patrick has experienced separation and divorce. He knows what it is like as a parent to worry about how divorce would impact his children.
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In today’s world of technology there are a number of resources that can benefit separating, divorcing or divorced parents. Pam and I wanted to take one session of the Telesummit to share two technology related resources with you; Our Family Wizard website and Life Journal software.
Our Family Wizard
First, we would like to introduce Jai Kissoon the CEO and one of the original founders of the OurFamilyWizard website. The OurFamilyWizard website was created to help reduce or remove conflict between separated or divorced parents. The website is designed to help empower families to help themselves.
Using Our Family Wizard can reduce divorce conflict and remove the “he said/she said” that keeps families returning to court over joint custody and co-parenting issues. The Our Family Wizard website helps reduce the face-to-face contact between high-conflict parents. In fact, courts across the USA and Canada have ordered usage of the site in contested cases and found it to be a very effective tool and solution for high conflict parents.
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Kicking off the second week of the Divorced Parent Telesummit is another incredible expert, Dorcy Russell. Dorcy is the Founder and CEO of Conscious Co-Parenting Institute. She is a reunification Coach and co-parent educator. She has devoted her career to providing strategies and solutions for parenting after divorce – especially in situations of Parental Alienation and high conflict divorce. She has developed a unique co-parenting course that can be used by all families. Dorcy encourages all parents to accept responsibility for their actions in high-conflict situations and encourages her clients to apologize when appropriate and have compassion. She has a lot to tell us about Parental Alienation and other high-conflict families and how to break the bad communication patterns with your difficult ex.
Dorcy’s goal is to help establish custody plans and co-parenting roles that encourage positive relationships between
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It is an absolute pleasure to introduce, Christina McGhee, our next featured speaker on the Divorced Parent Telesummit. Dubbed the “divorce coach,” Christina McGhee, is an internationally acclaimed speaker, author and parent educator who believes knowing what to expect and having access to support are often the defining difference between children surviving or thriving when parents split up. Her new book, Parenting Apart, How Separated And Divorced Parents Can Raise Happy and Secure Kids aims to meet that need by providing practical guidance and immediate solutions to the most critical problems of parenting after divorce.
Christina’s strategies have taken thousands of parents from feeling overwhelmed and hopeless to 
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We couldn’t be more excited to introduce Richard “RJ” Jaramillo, Founder and President of SingleDad.com, as our next speaker. RJ as he likes to be called is a single dad of 3 children, located in San Diego, CA.
Twelve years ago when RJ became a single parent, he realized how few resources were available to help him succeed as a single parent. Support groups, organizations, web sites and play groups were everywhere for single moms and nowhere for single dads. He also became acutely aware of the social stigma often associated with single dads: viewed largely as “weekend dads” or as uncaring and absent from their children’s lives. RJ encountered single dads everywhere who were dedicated to raising their children but were in desperate need of assistance.
RJ first began sharing his “on-the-job training experiences and tips” with other single dads through email and phone calls. Word spread and the calls and emails increased. With such an obvious need and his personal desire to help other single dads, RJ developed 
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