Child & Family Wellbeing
A Focus on Self-Care
As we leave Summer behind and head into the colder months of the year, we are presented with an opportunity to remind ourselves of just how important self-care is.
This can be difficult at times, as parents we are often prioritising the needs of those we love and care for, if we are working, studying or navigating daily life we can often find that our own needs only get attention if there is any time or energy left.
Sometimes self-care activities don’t require much time or much thought. Other times self-care activities are more deliberate and do require thought, planning and time. Making time for self-care can feel hard at times.
The goal is to make time to do things that help us to feel happy and healthy. This can look different for each of us and as little as 10 minutes a day doing something that fills your ‘wellbeing’ cup can make a huge difference.
It is good to remind ourselves that self-care isn’t being selfish, rather taking care of ourselves is not only good for our own wellbeing but also for the wellbeing for those we love and care for.
Lady Gowrie Tasmania recognises the importance of wellbeing and are proud to share that we have developed an Employee Wellbeing Strategy to support the health and wellbeing of our people.
We know the Strategy will have many benefits for our employees and importantly that it will support the work they do every day in educating, nurturing and caring for the safety, health and wellbeing of children.
Safe & Healthy Use of Technology
Exposure to technology and the online world occurs from a young age and with advances in technology and online platforms seemingly occurring all the time, for some it can feel overwhelming and almost impossible to keep on top of it all.
We all have a role to play in helping to keep children and young people safe including in the ‘online world’. A way we can do this is to stay informed and to introduce safe and healthy use of technology and eSafety habits.
This sounds sensible and somewhat easy, yet as many parents of young people would agree it can be much harder to do, and many ask where do I start and where do I go to get safe, reliable, accurate information and to stay up-to-date?
If you are looking for information around eSafety and the use of technology to assist you in establishing healthy habits, the eSafety Commissioner website is an excellent source of reliable and accurate information and has amazing resources for all ages.
The website states: “eSafety is Australia’s independent regulator for online safety. We educate Australians about online safety risks and help to remove harmful content such as cyberbullying of children, adult cyber abuse and intimate images or videos shared without consent.” It aims to help Australians have safer experiences online.
The website is user friendly and is designed for all ages, for example, having sections for parents, children, young people, seniors, educators, key topics and more. It provides current, up to date and accurate information to assist in keeping all of us safe.
The content includes a very broad range of information, tools and online webinars from cyberbullying, an under 5s section, creating a family tech agreement, are they old enough, hard to have conversations, how much time should they be spending using technology and so, so much more.
The website is a safe, valuable, accurate, and helpful source of information to support and guide parents in establishing safe and healthy use of technology and eSafety habits for the entire family.
Another helpful strategy is to establish safe and healthy technology and eSafety habits right from the very get go, not waiting until children get their first device or until they are teenagers or starting to explore social media platforms. For these ‘habits’ to be most effective they need to be adopted and modelled by all family members, including parents.
When our children are young and perhaps, they don’t have their own device or they might have a play on our mobile phone or device every now and again, understandably we may not give safe and healthy use of technology and eSafety habits much consideration at all.
In fact, we may believe we have plenty of time before we need to be thinking or doing anything about this. Remember one of the main ways children learn healthy habits is by watching the habits we as parents, other members of the household and any other trusted adult/s practice.
Although not impossible, it can be so much harder to review or strengthen, let alone introduce, control measures (even if they are around safety) to an older child or young person if they have never existed nor been modelled by parents and wider family members previously.
Where there have been safe and healthy use of technology and eSafety habits that have been demonstrated and modelled by parents and all family members from the very beginning, there is a sound foundation and expectation of use to build upon.
Cindy Woolley
EMPLOYEE WELLBEING MANAGER
