ACA Counseling Corner Blog

It is often difficult for parents to accept that sometimes it's a good thing for their children to take risks. That doesn't mean that a child ought to constantly be putting themselves in danger -- that's never a good thing. But it does mean that our kids need to stretch their boundaries at times and try things that they may possibly fail at, but that help them build the confidence and character they need to mature successfully.

Cold weather hits and for many of us that means forgetting all about our promises to ourselves to stay more active. Instead we huddle up in our warm house and ignore the way our weight starts increasing, or the fact that we really don't feel as good as when we're staying active. No, cooler temperatures are not an excuse to become a sloth.

This is about the time of the new year when too many of us give up on those New Year's resolutions that we made just a few weeks before. We shouldn't. In most cases our decisions to change certain things were probably a good idea. The problem, many times, is that we've gone about it wrong. Now is a great time to take a new approach and reach the results we desire.

Most of us, as we get older, are likely to find that our memory doesn't seem to work as well as it once did. That can be a bit scary at times, but it usually is a sign of nothing more than the fact that we're aging and it seems to be a natural part of that aging process. However, recent research appears to show that there are ways we can be more proactive in keeping our brain fit and actively engaged, and fighting memory loss.

This time of the year most families are going to be faced with one or more children who are suffering from a cold, flu or other minor illness. While the family doctor is the one to turn to for medical advice in such situations, it's also important to remember caring parents are an important ingredient in helping that child feel better.