%20(Tag%20(US))%20(2%20x%202%20in)%20(3000%20x%203000%20px).jpg)
The Geriatric Mom Podcast with Dr. Nefertiti B. Poyner
Join us every Friday at 5 on a heartwarming and insightful journey through the diverse world of parenting with Dr. Nefertiti B. Poyner, a "seasoned mother" who brings over two decades of expertise in child development, social-emotional learning, and resilience. This podcast is a haven for moms at every stage of the parenting adventure.
The Geriatric Mom Podcast with Dr. Nefertiti B. Poyner
Conquering the Holiday Break: Simple Strategies for Memorable Family Time!
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Prepare to conquer the holiday break with simple strategies to ensure a smooth and enjoyable time off. We'll chat about the importance of rest, sticking to a schedule, and being mindful of our diets during this festive season. Let's focus more on presence and less on presents and create magical memories with our babies ones that will last a lifetime. So join us in embracing and making the most out of this special time of year!
🎧 Enjoying The Geriatric Mom Podcast!
If you love what you hear, we'd greatly appreciate your support! Here's how you can help us continue to grow and reach even more listeners:
👂 Follow and Subscribe: Hit that "Follow" or "Subscribe" button on your favorite podcast platform. This ensures you'll never miss an episode, and it helps boost our visibility in podcast directories.
⭐ Rate and Review: Leave a 5-star rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or your preferred podcast app. Your reviews provide valuable feedback and help others discover our show.
🌟 Spread the Word: Share the podcast with your friends, family, and colleagues who might enjoy our content. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways to support us.
📢 Connect with Us: Follow us on social media @nefertitibpoyner on Instagram to stay updated and engage with our community.
📧 Feedback and Ideas: We love hearing from you! If you have any episode ideas, feedback, or questions, drop us an email at contact@sheknowswhatshesdoing.com
Your support means the world to us, and it's what keeps us motivated to bring you more engaging and informative content. Thank you for being a part of the Healthy Village!
Happy listening, and we'll catch you in the next episode! 🎙️🎉
Connect with me!
My Website:
www.sheknowswhatshesdoing.com
Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnefertitibpoy...
Successful Holiday Break With Kids Tips
Speaker 11951 . 1951 . That's when the song it's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas was written , and I can't read all the lyrics that are in this song , but there is one sentence that I think we're going to talk about today , and mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again . It's beginning to look a lot like Alright , come on , let's do today's podcast . Five , four , three , two , one .
Speaker 1Hey , welcome back to the Geriatric Mom podcast . I am your host , dr Nefertiti Pointer . I'm so glad that you're here . This is our space . I know the podcast title is called Geriatric Mom and you have to make sure the people know that this isn't no podcast for old people , although I might be old , but tell them , tell the people , that the term geriatric comes from the term given to those of us who have babies over the age of 35 . That's what the medical field calls geriatric . Tell them that your girl's not old . I may look a little old today , I'm tired , but I'm here . I am here and we're not going to sing Christmas songs , but we are going to talk about holiday break because , if all goes well , this podcast is dropping on the last day of school for us before we go on holiday break . Lord help us all . And so what are we going to do today ? We're going to talk about just a few things to think about over the holiday break , and I've been talking to a few of my teacher friends and I'm going to pull on my career as a teacher and I'm going to tell you what we want from you , parents . Over the spring break , I'm going to have one of my mom , I'm going to have my mommy had on and I'm going to have my teacher had on , and I've been talking to my teacher friends and here is what we want parents to know , particularly my mamas . Here is what we want you to think about as we think about holiday break . So can I go back to that song ? It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas .
Speaker 1So back in 1951 , mom and Dad still couldn't wait for school to start again . I thought that was funny . Listen , yes , it is going to be a long break for some of us , a short break for some of us , but I want to emphasize the word break Now . For many of you , you will have a few days off before January 2024 . For some of you , your babies go to school all year round . Some of you may be listening to me as a homeschool mom , so I know things will vary If you're listening to me as a person who has a full-time job . Your children may be on break , but you're not on break . I get it . I get it . Today . I just want to talk to those of us who will have our babies home from school , and here's what the teachers want us to know and what we can do over break to keep everybody sane . Okay , to keep everybody sane Now again .
Speaker 1Back in 1951 , the songwriters wrote we could not wait for school to start again . Well , let's talk about it all , right . First thing I want you to think about as we go over the holiday , or our holiday winter break , is to first of all breathe . Can you do that for me ? Can you just breathe ? You have been moving and shaking and picking up and making doctor's appointment and picking children up early , and the little one has gotten suspended again . It's a lot going on . All of us are going to take a break . We are going to breathe . Maybe that first night out we're going to get a pizza and we're going to watch something on TV . We're just going to breathe . Give yourself permission to just let this first day be All right . That's the first thing . And the next day , which might be a Saturday for most of us , I want everybody to sleep late . I want everybody to sleep late . I want you to stay up all night long on that Friday night , if it's Friday night , and then I want you to sleep all day . On Saturday , nefertiti , you want us to sleep all day . I do . I want you to give yourself permission to just go with the flow . Listen to me . The reason why I'm advocating for this is because , if you're doing this thing right , your school days are structured . And I say if you're doing it right because , again , I'm hoping you're listening to all of the podcast messages .
Speaker 1Our children need structure . So during the week , you have a solid structure of what happens . So , for these first two days of our winter break , I want you to give yourself permission to let your hair down . I want you to give yourself permission . You have been busting your you know what . All of you have been working so very hard , and so now , on this first few days of our break , I want you just to give yourself permission to just be All right . So , after the weekend goes and we're going into the new week , what do we want to do Well , because you've given yourself permission to kind of just hang out . After you've done that , I'm asking you to stick close to a routine . Now listen , for the weeks that we're out of school we might have a new routine . Let everybody in the family know what the routine is . Again , I can't say this enough Routines express love .
Speaker 1When you have a structure and routines in place for your children , it lets them know you care . It lets them know that they matter . Let me give you a quick analogy . Have you ever gone into a store where everything feels like all over the place Right , the shoe box that says it's a size nine is really a seven . Nobody . If you go over to this department for some service , everybody says it's not my department . You ever feel that in an environment . Well , when you don't have structure and routines , as a parent , that's what it feels like for your children . Now , when you're in that store , you can leave . I hope this quick analogy of a store and how we run our homes makes sense . We need routines and we need structure . We need structure because they convey the message that you matter , because have you ever gone into a store where things are set up well , you can find what you need . It's got good customer service , good lighting . Yeah , you spend some money in that store and the message is you matter , you're welcomed here . I want you to think about that for how we're raising our children . Our babies need routines , and that's all the way up to our teenagers .
Speaker 1So this week , or the few weeks that we're all for when to break , what's the schedule like ? What is the schedule like ? Do I have permission to sleep late ? Make that clear . Am I able to eat things out of the pantry , out of the snack box , out of the refrigerator ? Make that clear . Now , first of all , you already know you should have added a few dollars to the grocery list for these days that these babies are going to be home .
Speaker 1I know , I know what you're going to say . Their school stomach is not going to be the school stomach . As soon as the last day of school happens , the school stomach is no longer in service . It now becomes the I'm a home stomach and I want to want to eat everything that is in sight . So what do you do ? If you can , you want to add a little room to the grocery list to make room for babies who are going to be home all day Now , because they're going to be home all day does not mean they can eat you out of house and home . I didn't say that . I said add a little wiggle room for snacks and some meals , because they're going to be home all day .
Speaker 1But now it's time to set an expectation for what can happen , what I can eat , what I cannot eat , and when I can eat it . And again , you may say enough for Titi . Does it really take all of this ? I dare you to try it and come back to the comments , either on YouTube or if you're listening to me and an audio outlet . I want you to try it for just these two weeks , all right , or however many weeks you and your family are home . Set a schedule , gather everybody together , let them know what time we're going to get up and what time they're going to go to bed , and set parameters around healthy eating and see what happens . Let me know . So what else do our teacher friends want us to know ? All right , our teacher friends want everybody to get some rest , everybody to get some rest .
Speaker 1Now , listen , if you are a mama who cannot be off during the week , I get it . You're going to have to continue with your routine to the best of your ability , but set an expectation for what you want for the children . If you have your teenagers staying home during the day , and maybe they're watching their younger brothers or sisters what is the expectation ? I cannot say this enough , mom If you set the expectation , you can always come back to it and say thank you , babies , for following mom's expectation . I really appreciate that . And if the expectation is broken , you can come back and say all right , come on , let's talk about it . The expectation that mommy said this week was not carried out . Let's talk about what we can do better . Again , they're probably going to eat you out of house and home during the week , but I want you to be okay with that because , again , if there anything like Madison I don't even think Madison eats during the day , because she complains about the breakfast , the lunch , the dinner , and I ask her does she want to take a lunchbox ?
Speaker 1But she was like no , maybe taking a lunchbox is not the thing to do , I don't know , but when she comes home she is always hungry . So remember , food is love and be careful of what you have around . Make sure we've got some fruits and some vegetables and lots of water and be careful of all the sugary snacks and then set expectations for what we're eating . All right , if Santa Claus left some extra cookies . That don't mean we have to eat all of them . All right , maybe we'll have a few cookies a day , one or two a day .
Speaker 1Check the expectation and watch your child show up for you , for the family . The next thing I want you to be really careful about during the holiday break and you know I'm so serious about this and I wish I , I hope my seriousness gets conveyed again , whether you're watching me on YouTube or if you're listening to me in an audio version Don't let the break lack supervision . Okay , and this is also a time of of where you might be having other people coming over to visit , or you might be going over to visit other people . Set the expectation for what you want from other adults . For example come here , give me a kiss , give me a hug , come sit on my lap . Uh-uh , uh-uh . No-transcript .
Speaker 1Maybe in your family we don't do all of that and you can say to your children it's okay with somebody says give me a kiss , for you to extend your hand and say it's nice to see you again Now , again . I do not want to be misunderstood . If you are raising your children in a culture where hugging and kissing and they know all the people , that's what you do . That's fine what I am saying for this particular podcast , because sometimes during this time of year , we're around lots of different people , we're doing lots of different things and other people may not raise their children the way you raise your children . So be clear , set your expectations with the other grownups . Can you drop a comment down in the YouTube box ? Let me know you heard me and again , if you're listening over in an audio land , just send me some positive vibes and say yes , nefertiti here is , here is , and I'm so serious about this .
Speaker 1There was a video that went viral maybe the same week that I'm taping this , where a little girl was going to sit on Santa's lap and a little girl was like that's a no , I'm not sitting on your lap . And Santa did a great job of saying to this little girl you are one , you are right , and I love it that you're setting good boundaries , and I can't remember everything that Santa said , but that's what I'm talking about . This is a time of year where your child may be in the company of other people that they don't know as well . Set the expectation with your child and with the other adults . I hope I've made myself clear with that one . I hope we're clear .
Speaker 1All right , let's talk about gift giving and all the gifts and all the stuff that might be present . All right , I want you to remember that the presents , the present , your present , your presence , is more important than any present that will go under the tree , that will that you'll celebrate over Kwanzaa , over Hanukkah or whatever a particular holiday you may celebrate where there is some exchange of gifts . Come here , mom . I know your finances may not allow you right now to do what you want to do . I know that , and I want to look you right in the eye and tell you your presence is enough . The world makes all of these holidays about gifts and things . You got to go by before a certain hour and a three-week-end sale . I get it . You have the potential , however , to make sure you create routines and structure and love , and you can do that , and I'm telling you , those memories will last your babies far longer than any electronic game , anything they could put on their back , around their neck , on their feet and I know , I know how you're looking at me , I know , and I'm going to tell you , I was raised in a house where we wanted all the things too .
Creating Memorable Holiday Moments for Families
Speaker 1My brother always wanted the fancy shoes , the , the , the , the fanciest video games . I , you know , I had my wants too . But can I tell you something ? Can I be totally honest with you ? There were days in my home where , if Christmas did not fall on Mom's paycheck weekend , we celebrated it the next weekend . Ask my Mama .
Speaker 1And so what did we do on Christmas day ? Well , maybe Mom did get us a little , a little tree . She was going to get that tree . She wasn't going to do nothing else . She was going to get that tree , and she knows I love music , so maybe she brought me a record . Yeah , that's how old I am . I got a record and maybe she was able to get one thing that my brother wanted just for that day . But you know what else my mom would do ? She would make sure we were warm and we had something to watch on TV . She's going to make a little something special for our bellies and we were going to laugh and we were going to be together .
Speaker 1And I'm telling you , I know what the world is doing , but that does not have to be what happens in your house . You can change the narrative for how all of our holidays are celebrated and remember , it's not about presents as much as it is about presents , I know . I just want you to not be so hard on yourself , all right , don't be so hard on yourself , all right . So more about the idle time that the babies will have . Our teacher friends want us to know that a little TV is okay , a little video game , the little video gameplay , all of that's okay . But again , what's your expectation ? If it's , or during the weekday , while mom is at work , what do you want to see happen ? And when the TV and the video games are not on , what am I doing instead ? Do I have a book that you want me to read ? I think that would be wonderful .
Speaker 1Let's not be afraid of getting some things in there , not because they feel academic , but they're just good to do . And so our teacher friends want us to relax . Our teacher friends want us to . You know , take , let our hair down . Our teacher friends don't want our babies eating a whole bunch of stuff . It's not even . It's not good for the physical body , the mental body , it is just not good for them , so be careful of what we're allowing them to eat .
Speaker 1But our teacher friends also want us to remember that the best gift we can give each other during the holiday break is being together , being together , and so if you want to bundle up your coat , let's all go to the playground . I know , let's just go to the playground , let's do it . Let's go for a walk , let's do it . Let's get on the bus and go downtown and go . Just look at the lights downtown . Those are the things you can do that I'm telling you . I know it doesn't feel like it right now , but they will last forever .
Speaker 1I want you to remember this Every day . As a mom we are , every day we have with our babies , we are creating a memory for them . We're creating a memory . They are going to tell a story to their children , maybe their grandchildren , their mate . We're creating memories , and so I want you just to think quietly about what can I do to make this memory amazing ? All right , our teacher friends also want us to go to websites like Groupon and Half Off Deals and Facebook Deals and Instagram Wherever you can find a deal . That's where our teacher friends want us to go , and our teacher friends want us to go out and do things together . So maybe if mom has to work when students act at all we're all going to go watch a movie together , or we're all going to go skating , or we're all going bowling , or we're all going to make dinner together .
Speaker 1Our teacher friends , me included , want you to do some things together over this holiday season . You know there are some wonderful things that can happen around . A game of cards , right , just a simple deck of cards . Get a good game going . Get out some dominoes or whatever . Whatever you play as part of your family's culture tradition . Play some old-fashioned games . But our teacher friends want us , during this holiday season , to do some things together .
Speaker 1All right , and that brings me to the final thing that our teacher friends want us to do over this holiday season is enjoy the moment . Guess what ? This is the last time your child will be this age over this holiday season . You will never get this moment back , and so whatever you can do to be present and stay close and love upon each other , that's what our teacher friends would want us to do . Enjoy the moment . All right , it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again ? Yes , All right .
Speaker 1So what are we going to do over the holiday season ? We're going to prioritize rest . Everybody's going to let their hair down and chill out and we're going to just be okay . We're going to . We're going to prioritize rest . We're going to stick to a schedule , even if the schedule has been adapted for our days off . What's the schedule ? We need a schedule . It can be a loose one , but we still need a schedule , because , guess what ? This break going to go by real , real , real quick , and it's going to be time to get back into the swing of things . And so keep the babies on some type of schedule , even if it is one that a modified schedule , all right .
Speaker 1Be careful of what we're eating . Just because it's there doesn't mean we have to eat it . All right , their school stomachs are not their school stomachs . As soon as the break happened , their home stomach , home stomach got turned back on , and so let's be careful of what we're eating and how much we're eating . Again , we want to be careful of that . We also said , during this particular time of year , we want to be careful about not letting up on supervision Our young people .
Speaker 1Where are you ? Where you're going , who's the phone , who you like ? All of it , I want to know all of it . All right , let's pay attention to supervision . And then for our younger children , they don't know everybody , and I'm not sitting on everybody lap , I ain't kissing everybody . It is okay to extend the hand and say it's nice to meet you , it's nice to meet you . You got it Okay , all right , All right . And then remember , remember your presence is more important than presence . Stop being so hard on yourself . Remember you're making memories and just the laughter and joy that you share is as important as anything you could put under the tree . And then , finally , don't forget to enjoy the moment . You'll never get this age at this time of year again , so do whatever you can to enjoy the moment . All right , mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again . Spoken into the good life like Christmas , I'll see you next time .
Planning and Sharing Holiday Ideas
Speaker 1Thank you so much for joining me today . Let me know what you're thinking about doing to make this holiday special . How are you going to keep saying ? How are you going to work on the schedule ? Go ahead and drop me a comment , let me know on YouTube and or send me a message at contact at . She knows what she's doingcom , and if you heard me think today that you think is worth sharing , would you please share ? Will you please follow ? Will you please like ? Will you please subscribe ? You know , do all the things and , most importantly , happy holidays . Let's do it together . I'll talk to you soon .