Motivation | The Limiting Beliefs Of African Women

It's been three months since I had my second child and I feel good.

I believe three months is a milestone for him and me because he's starting a new phase in his life now and I can also start doing sports as my doctor recommended. This is so exciting.

June is a great outdoors month and I decided to celebrate it by doing some outdoor sports.

June Is Great Outdoors Month | Celebrating 3 Months Postpartum

I was a little surprised when my doctor mentioned that because after my first C section I started jogging at six months postpartum. So yeah I am excited to begin working out.

So far I have been doing just stretches and yoga from time to time. And I am glad I can now do some not too intensive sports. I am definitely not ready for belly workouts so I won't even be trying them. I can only jog, jump and squat right now. I'm taking things slow despite my excitement.

I'm happy I did outdoor sports. It was refreshing and fulfilling. It also gave me some alone time and I really felt good not having the kids clinging to me or not having to worry about them for a bit.

I had to dig out my old jogging shoes and outfit. 

One major thing I hope to get out of this is a healthy and relaxed body and spirit. I also want to lose my postpartum belly. It has made a lot of progress lately and I hope this workout will help it reduce some more. 

When kids are at home most of the time, one of the things you worry about is their safety. Staying at home is sweet but there are a few accidents that we need to watch out for.

To celebrate safety month I am sharing with you safety tips for your kids this holiday.

June Is Safety Month | How To Keep Your Kids Safe At Home This Long Holiday/ Break

June is Men's Health Month | How I Am Taking Care Of My Little Man

We may want holidaymakers to spend time in our homes for different reasons. There are impacts of having these kids over for the holiday on various aspects of our lives.

Here are some ways having holidaymakers affects your life.

Effects Of Having Holidaymakers This Long Break

Influence on your kids

Kids from other homes may influence your kids positively or negatively as they come from different backgrounds and training. 

Affects your relationship as a couple

If you are married or in a relationship you may or may not be ok with having other kids over at your house. Also, disciplining these kids may bring disagreements between you and your partner.

Budget

You'll be spending more on food and bills and even health care when you have these kids over. This will affect your finances so you have to plan for it.

Routine and time

Your routine may change to be more or less busy. You may have more or fewer chores to do depending on the ages of the children you receive. If they are older kids they may lighten your work by helping you out but if they are smaller then you'll have more work to do.

Those are the ways your life can be affected by the presence of holidaymakers in your home.

During schooltime kids spend most of their time in school and bonding with them can be difficult. That's why when they are at home for a long time, it is important to intentionally create a better relationship with them. 

Here are ways to create a better relationships with your holiday makers.

How To Establish A Better Relationship With Your Holiday Makers This Long Break (Third Term Holiday)

Create time for them

Spend quality time with your kids. Let them feel that you created the time just to be with them even if it's just for a few minutes. You can play with them, take them out cook with them or read with them.

Give them many hugs and kisses

Hugging and kissing your kids make you closer to them. It creates a warm relationship with them.

Explaining things to them

Explain things they don't understand. Tell them why you discipline them, why you take certain decisions and tell them how much you love and support them.

Listen to them

listen to what they have to say. Ask their opinion on things acknowledge their intelligence and show them that you hear them.

Protect them and defend them

When kids feel protected they can run to you at any time.

Show them you love them

Now that the kids are home longer than usual, food becomes such an important commodity. Staying at home all day will require them to eat more so it is important to make them eat healthily.

Here are tips to help you plan the menu for a balanced diet this long holiday period or break.

How To Plan The Menu For A Balanced Diet For Your Kids This Long Holiday (Third Term Holiday)

Plan your meals

To feed your holidaymakers right you have to plan your meals. Draw a timetable for what you will cook each day and week. This will ease your grocery shopping.

Shop the week before 

Buying the items you need ahead of time validates that you are going to respect your food timetable. It gives you time to pre-prepare your meals and ingredients so that you cook easily. 

Prioritize fruits, vegetables and proteins on the menu

To help your kids have a strong immune system, include fruits and vegetables in their diet. Also have lots of protein in the form of snacks such as fried groundnut, coconut sweets, etc. 

Cook the favourite meals of your kids

Including their favourite meals guarantees that they will eat enough on certain days. This is necessary for kids who are very picky with food.

Be intentional about including variety in your menu for better nutrition

Be creative with your recipes to help kids eat more

Planning your menu and shopping the week before helps you make better food choices. Also, being intentional about what you eat and how you eat is very helpful to eating well.

Now that the kids are home longer than usual, food becomes such an important commodity. Staying at home all day will require them to eat more so it is important to make them eat healthily.

Here are tips to help you plan the menu for a balanced diet this long holiday period or break.

How To Plan The Menu For A Balanced Diet For Your Kids This Long Holiday (Third Term Holiday)

Plan your meals

To feed your holiday makers right you have to plan your meals. Draw a timetable for what you will cook each day and week. This will ease your grocery shopping.

Shop the week before 

Buying the items you need ahead of time validates that you are going to respect your food timetable. It gives you time to pre-prepare your meals and ingredients so that you cook easily. 

Prioritize fruits, vegetables and proteins on the menu

To help your kids have a strong immune system, include fruits and vegetables to their diet. Also have lots of protien in the form of snacks such as fried groundnut, coconut sweets, etc. 

Cook the favourite meals of your kids

Including their favourite meals guarantees that they will eat enough on certain days. This is neccessary for kids who are very picky with food.

Be intentional about including variety in your menu for better nutrition

Be creative with your recipes to help kids eat more

Planning your menu and shopping the week before helps you make better food choices. Also, being intentional about what you eat and how you eat is very helpful to eating well.

The Pros & Cons Of Sending Your Kids To Spend The Holiday With Relatives & Friends

Pros

It widens their knowledge 

It helps them know family memebers better and creates a relationship with them

It helps them to learn new good habits

Cons

The kids can also learn bad habits from their new environment.

They are exposed to abuse like rape

How To Manage Your Holidaymakers This Long Holiday (Third Term Holiday)

Distracting/entertaining them during the holidays

Kids during this time need some entertainment. Entertain them with TV or interesting shows online, take them out or buy them games, help them learn a skill or travel with them.

See things you can do to distract them here.

Feeding 

They need to feed well and now that they are at home they will eat more than usual so plan your meals in order to have clarity on your budget and to know if they are eating balanced meals.

Caring for and protecting them

You need to pay more attention now that they are home. Children are curious and may get hurt in the course of satisfying their curiosity. keep harmful objects far away and beyond their reach. Also, make sure you know where they are and what they are doing.

Educating them

Use this time to educate your kids. Teach them what you never had time to teach them during school time.

Bond with them

Get closer to them, listen to them and create a bond to strengthen your relationship.

This is the most difficult thing to handle when kids now have a lot of free time. It may be more difficult when they don't have friends to play with or can't simply go outside to play. They may get bored easily and there is a need to distract them.

How To Distract/Entertain Your Kids/Holidaymakers This Long Holiday (Third Term Holiday)

My tips here are to; 

- Entertain them with TV or interesting shows online. Yes, there's nothing bad with kids having more screen time this holiday. The only thing to do is to make them have breaks in between. Don't let them eat in front of the TV so that they can have a break. Also let them help you out with chores around the house like cooking, setting up the table, and cleaning so that they spend some time away from the screen. Don't just let them watch TV or Youtube for very long hours without any short or long breaks. Cable TV providers like Canal Sat and DSTV have channels that are meant for kids. You can try them out depending on where you are. Canal Sat is found in most French-speaking African countries and DSTV in English speaking ones. In Cameroon, there is Canal Sat and also cable guys who connect the cable TV at a cheaper rate.

- Another way to distract them is to take them out to a children's fair or just to eat out. Kids love this and will keep talking about it for weeks. They will also find the holidays cool when they tell their friends about them.

- You can distract them with games. It must not be PlayStation. There are simple educative games or toys kids can play with solo or together. You can also let them play games on a phone or tablet. Also, make out time to play with them or tell them stories or do games together.

- Teach them a skill or pay for them to learn a skill like painting, cooking, sewing, embroidery, hairdressing, computer, baking, a language or gardening. If they have a hobby help them to develop it. It will keep them busy for long hours.

- Travel with them to visit new and interesting places. You can take them to the village or another city. 

Those are my tips for you. 

Affirmations For June

 Hi guys and a happy new month to you.

Happy Month Of June

I hope you guys are doing well. I pray for God's blessings to fall on us every day of this month.

Last month was neutral to me. There weren't special moments but it was fine. The one thing about last month was that I took the time to do some content planning. I feel so good about that. I have never planned my content like this and I did this for all my online platforms. I feel so proud though at the same time I wish I had done more. 

This month I will try my best to do some catching up on things like the self-love challenge and other things. 

I feel proud of the plans I have made so far. What about you? Have you made some plans for your career or your life or for the last half of the year?

Yes, we are already in the middle of the year which freaks me out sometimes when I think about it. 

But I am willing to make it count and that's all that matters. 

I pray for us to have testimonies this month of June in Jesus' name. Amen!