​          Nope. Not ever. But is dieting worth it? Yep. But only if you stick with it and lose to your goal weight. While dieting can get you to your goal weight, weight management will keep you there. That’s the rub.
          Pattie was a 28-year-old, married woman with a 5-year-old daughter, Amanda, and husband of ten years, Alex. During her first therapy appointment with me, after pleasantries and settling in, I asked, “How can I help?”
         She came to me for tools to help her overcome her resurging anxiety and depression by not keeping her weight off. She had gained over 100 lbs. during her pregnancy with Amanda and had yo-yo’ed her weight loss, still 30 lbs. from her pre-pregnancy weight.
            “After a horrible childhood, I finally put it all together my senior year in high school, found and married Alex after graduation, and vowed never to be Fatty Patty ever again. And yet, look at me now,” she sighed.
             Pattie recalled for me a childhood of being bullied and body-shamed for her flabby shape. Both of her folks are big boned and overweight. However, Pattie was small and a petite build, taking after her maternal grandmother. She had been in and out of therapy for years, with a modicum of success, losing weight and feeling better about herself. Before her senior year in high school, her folks “sent me to fat camp for two months.”
Pattie shared with me how bitter and resentful she felt for being singled out by her folks, “of all people, but that summer changed my life.” She beamed about how she developed healthy food, exercise, and lifestyle choices during her summer camp experience. She got to her goal weight and kept it, until she got pregnant. “How could I be there for me when I was growing new life inside me?”
After developing therapeutic rapport with Pattie over three appointments and having her fill out the Multimoldal Life History Questionnaire to help me understand her better and develop a realistic treatment plan, I shared with Pattie a weight management program I had developed and used successfully with patients over many years of clinical practice.
“Okay, Pattie, so to review, I can help you lose the 30 lbs. to your goal weight by following my weight management protocol. Remember, the protocol works best within your sticking to a Mediterranean Diet and working out or walking 3 times per week. To stay on track to lose weight, follow these guidelines:

1. Use water as your only beverage. Nothing else. It’s the only beverage with no calories.
2. Avoid what I call the 3 S’s, that is,

1. No snacks
2. No seconds, and
3. No scraps.

1. No food intake after your evening meal, between 6PM and 7PM

until breakfast.
          After following my weight management protocol and weekly therapy for 3 months, Pattie reached her goal weight, began balancing her self-care with other care, was less anxious and noticeably happier and more pleased with herself.
          In my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY9PQXMZ), I introduce Mentalligent Psychotherapy (MPT) and share several treatment protocols that help you soar through adversity and develop a positive perspective on your life circumstances. Check it out. Blessings, Dr. Jon

​       All parents want to keep their children safe. It’s essential to do what we do as parents and give them the opportunity to grow up to be independent, responsible, community-minded adults. We try to be diligent in keeping our children from being in danger.
          Mandy was quickly getting the dishes done while 2-year-old Allison was toddling around the kitchen. Allison had found the pans in an open cabinet and loved to bang them together. Mandy laughed at her and kept her eye on her to make sure her darling didn’t find trouble.
          As Mandy was drying last night’s dinner plates, she glimpsed from the corner of her eye that Allison was trying to get into the cabinet door where the cleaning supplies were kept.
          “No, no, sweetie. These are not playthings,” Mandy chided, as she directed Allison’s attention elsewhere.
                Latches on cabinet doors are commonplace safety measures to help keep inquiring little hands from dangerous products. Another ubiquitous safety measure is electric outlet covers to keep little fingers from getting shocked or worse. While most parents keep dangerous products out of the reach of their young children and attend to other household safety measures, the Lanier Law Firm, https://www.lanierlawfirm.com/child-product-safety/ has taken child safety practice to another level.
          The Lanier Law Firm has identified a list of child product safety guidelines that all parents should read and absorb. Their identified areas of child product safety include:
Make Sure the Product Meets Child Safety Standards

1. Ensure the Product You Want for Your Kids Is Age-Appropriate
2. Examine the Child Product’s Materials and Design
3. Ensure the Product Does Not Pose an Injury Hazard for Your Kids
4. Read the Product’s Instructions and Warnings
5. Making Sure Kids Are Safe From Dangerous Products

 Due diligence on our part creates a safe environment for our children.
          Mandy put up the last of the dishes, dried her hands on the towel, and turned to her baby girl.
          “Okay, Allison, I’m all yours,” she soothed as she reached for her toddler.
          “Yay!!!,” Allison glowed, as she clapped her hands together. Snuggled in her mama’s loving arms, they went to her playroom and settled into playing with her dolls.
          Keep your children safe and savor the fun times. They grow up too soon.
Blessings,
Jon

​     With school out and the beginning of summer here, many parents are planning activities to keep their kids busy, informed, and out of trouble. With time, travel, and expenses sometimes too much to consider, there are only so many day camps, vacation time, and summer classes you can consider for your child.
          “Mama, I’m bored,” Tommy complained to his mom for the umpteenth time. “There’s nothing to do,” he whined sitting on his bed and surrounded by games, toys, and his “stuff.”
          Tina had enrolled her son in the YMCA summer program. He liked going but occasionally had issues with other kids. They had a week’s family vacation scheduled later in the summer, but there were time gaps. She felt she had to fill her son’s time or pay the price with his mischief.
     Emma Romano, mom extraordinaire, has put me on to this website, https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/safest-coding-sites-for-kids/. Kids, ages 5-18, will have a blast learning gaming code and creating their own fun on computer.
             For example, Crunchzilla, at https://www.crunchzilla.com/, is available for kids 8+. It uses JavaScript and it’s free. Crunchzilla offers a series of interactive programming tutorials aimed at different age groups and skill levels. These tutorials allow users to learn programming through hands-on experience by building graphics, animations, games, and more. The tutorials emphasize practical engagement over theoretical instruction, encouraging learners to experiment with live code from the start.
The platform is completely ad-free, focusing on user engagement without external distractions. All tutorials are available free of charge, making the site accessible to anyone interested in learning to code.
              Another one? How about Blockly Games, at https://blockly.games/. This one is for ages 5+ and uses Block-based coding and JavaScript. It’s also free. Blockly Games, provided by Code with Google, offers a series of interactive, educational games designed to introduce programming to children. Through various themed games, users engage with key programming concepts such as loops, conditionals, functions, and mathematical equations.
          Blockly Games are self-paced and designed to make learning to code accessible and engaging. The platform is completely open-source, which means it’s customizable and accessible offline.
          These are 2 of 38 code-learning, gaming options for you and your kids to choose from on https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/safest-coding-sites-for-kids/. Some are free. Others are paid subscriptions after a free trial period. All are informative, interactive, and just plain fun.
          “Okay, son. Which coding site do you want to explore today?”
          “Wow! There’re so many to choose from,” Tommy scrolled down the list of options.”
          Mom concluded, “Tell you what. I’ll get us lunch. After lunch we can take an hour to have some fun with coding and games. Deal?”
          “Deal.”
        The opportunities for young learners to engage with technology are vast and diverse. Each platform offers unique tools tailored to nurture a child’s analytical and creative skills, preparing them for a future in which digital literacy is paramount.
Guiding our children through this journey will both spark their interest in technology and also lay a solid foundation for their education and career. We can encourage the next generation of problem-solvers and innovators.
Blessings,
Jon