Wells County

Check out Health and Human Science Newsletters with helpful articles on health, nutrition, family and finances.

The January/February 2025 edition includes the following articles:

New Year's Resolutions: Building Good Mental Health Habits

Happy New Year! By now, the hustle and bustle and stress of the holiday season is behind us. You have probably spent weeks shopping, gift-giving, and visiting with friends and family – mostly time spent focusing on everyone else. Now, with the New Year upon us, it is time to focus on you. As we think of New Year’s resolutions, we naturally reflect on how we can better ourselves and contemplate changes to make that happen.

For most, New Year’s resolutions typically focus on self-improvement – whether it’s losing weight, exercising more, or learning a new skill or hobby. These resolutions can fill us with excitement in anticipation of the possibilities of achieving goals or weigh us down with dread and apprehension of not living up to our expectations.

It’s tempting to want to make significant behavioral changes each January. It doesn’t help that society pushes us to do just that. Yet, resolutions are rarely kept beyond the second Friday of January—a day known appropriately as Quitter’s Day! Resolutions can fail for a myriad of reasons. It might be because people often start with the best of intentions but realize later that their expectations were unattainable. Sometimes our goals take too long to achieve. Or we take on changes we perceive as important because others are doing something similar, but in the end, it is not realistic for you.

Too often, we set goals for ourselves, and when we don’t meet them, we can have feelings of failure that can ultimately lower our self-esteem, which can trigger stress and anxiety and take a toll on our mental health.

Setting New Year’s resolutions can be a positive way to focus on self-improvement, but it's important to approach them in a manner that promotes good mental health and well-being and maximizes our chances of sticking with them.

There are strategies to prioritize our mental health during this time as we strive to achieve our resolution goals, but keep in mind that you know yourself better than anyone else. Your resolutions – if you even choose to make them – should be custom-tailored to you. Before deciding on your goals, ask yourself, “Does the very thought of making a New Year’s resolution excite you or overwhelm you? How can I make simple day-to-day changes that will help me achieve success? What are the little goals that will allow me to build momentum, so I’m headed in a positive direction?”

Taking it one day at a time forces us to be intentional and think about the “now” and not the long-term, which can be overwhelming. This approach can help us achieve our desired goals. New Year’s resolutions are a tool for personal growth, but the most important thing to remember is to prioritize your mental health throughout the process. If a particular resolution is causing significant stress or negatively impacting your well-being, feel free to reevaluate and adjust your goals as needed. Taking care of your mental health is key to overall health.

Here are some tips for creating resolutions that prioritize your mental well-being:

• Pick a Goal that Motivates You: You are more likely to stick to your goal if it motivates you or if it is influenced by others, such as a spouse, a workout partner, or a medical professional. If your goal is to exercise more, but you know going to a gym is not a motivation for you, then pick another exercise you can do outside of the gym.
• Break Down Your Big Goals into Smaller, More Manageable Goals: By doing this you’ll be much less likely to feel overwhelmed. If your ultimate goal is to run a 5K race, but you have not yet run a lap around the track, start with walking a shorter distance and gradually begin to jog once you feel you’re ready. It may just be a few yards or a lap around the track. Sometimes just signing up for that race is just the motivation you need to get started.
• Focus on Progress, Not Perfection and Stay Positive: Emphasize the journey and strive for progress rather than aiming for perfection. And reward yourself for the progress you made. For instance, if your goal is to lose 10 pounds, but you only lost five pounds, acknowledge the five pounds you lost were five more than before you started trying to lose weight. The way we talk to ourselves can foster a positive and realistic outlook and contribute to a healthier approach to both mental health and success in meeting our New Year’s resolutions.
• Lean on Others for Support and Motivation: Achieving goals can be easier when done with others. Consider joining groups or communities with similar goals to connect with people who can provide encouragement and accountability.
• Practice Self-Compassion: Be easy on yourself. Acknowledge that setbacks will happen and that’s okay. Just pick back up where you left off.
• Set a New Date: You do not need to commit to a resolution on January 1. Feel free to delay implementing your New Year’s resolutions until the time is right. You can make them at any time you want. Under stress now? Why not resolve to make that change beginning in March or by another preferred date.
• Don’t Compare Yourself to Others: Don’t get too caught up in the New Year’s resolutions of others. Set goals with only you in mind.
• Know When to Ask for Help: You are not alone. SAMHSA has behavioral health resources to help. Visit SAMHSA.gov.

No matter how big or small your New Year’s resolutions are for 2024, remember to show yourself some grace and forgiveness during the times when you may struggle as you work to reach your goals. Please take time over the course of this new year to engage in something meaningful to you, but more importantly, be kind to yourself. You deserve it.

Source: www.samhsa.gov

News Notes for Parents is a newsletter geared towards parents with children ages 8 and under. You will find articles about parenting, early childhood education, nutrition and much more.

In the April 2025 issue of News Notes for Parents, you will find the following articles:

English PDF

Spanish PDF

End MEalTIME Battles

The key to calm, positive mealtimes is an appropriate
division of responsibilities between adults and children.
According to child feeding expert Ellyn Satter, MS, RDN,
MSSW:
 Adults decide what foods and beverages are served.
Plus, they choose where to serve the meal and make
mealtimes pleasant.

 Children decide whether to eat and how much to eat.
As they get older, they can learn age-appropriate table
manners and mealtime behaviors.

6 More Ways to Have Meals without Squeals

1. Make Regularly Scheduled Meals a Family
   Priority. Young children need the reassurance of
   structured meal and snack times. Eating on the run
   can be sufficient for adults, but it doesn't work well for
   children. Whether you are eating at home or at a
   restaurant, take time to sit down and eat with your
   child.
2.  Avoid Pressuring or Forcing Children to Eat. Most
   adults have good intentions when they try to make
   children eat "healthy" foods or try new items. The
   problem with pressure is it doesn't work. Kids like
   foods less if they are forced to eat them.
3. Model the Habits You Want Children to
   Develop. Young children do not automatically know
   how to eat like adults. They learn how to behave at the
   table by watching their most important role model, you,
   for developing lifelong, healthy eating habits.
4. Enjoy the Foods You Want Your Children to
   Enjoy. Children learn to eat new foods by watching
   other people eat and enjoy them. If you want a child to
   eat green vegetables, you eat green vegetables.
   Serve them regularly in a variety of appealing ways.
   Talk about how good they taste and how they make
   you strong and smart.
5. Create a Relaxed Atmosphere for Mealtimes. The
   best family meals have minimal distractions. This
   means turning off the TV and handheld devices. Music
   can provide a pleasant background for meals if it is
   played at low volume and doesn't drown out
   conversation.
6. Have Realistic Expectations for Mealtime Behavior. It takes time for children to master newskills, which includes table manners. Adults need tolay out clear expectations for mealtime behaviors and reinforce appropriate behaviors.

For the FULL article ‘End Mealtime Battles’ by Esther Ellis,
MS, RDN, LDN from the Academy of Nutrition and
Dietetics go to:
https://www.eatright.org/food/planning/meals-and-snacks/end-mealtime-battles

Car seat safety through the ages.

Ensuring that children are safe while riding in a car is one of the most important responsibilities for
parents. Proper use of car seats and booster seats can significantly reduce the risk of injury during
an accident. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that car
seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71% for infants and by 54% for toddlers in passenger
vehicles. Car seat safety guidelines are based on a child’s age, weight, and height, and evolve as
the child grows. In this article, we’ll guide you through the key stages of car seat safety and
provide a fun activity to reinforce these important concepts at home.

At birth, babies are fragile and vulnerable, requiring extra protection. Infants should always ride in a rear-facing car seat in the back seat of the vehicle. Rear-facing seats protect the baby’s head, neck, and spine by spreading out the crash forces more evenly across the body. As your baby grows, you can transition to a convertible car seat that can be adjusted from a rear-facing to a forward-facing position.

When your child exceeds the limits of the forward-facing car seat, it’s time to transition to a booster
seat. A booster seat ensures that the vehicle’s seat belt fits your child properly. By age 13, most children are ready to use the car’s seat belt without a booster seat. However, the seat belt must fit properly.

Remember, keeping your child in the correct seat for their age, weight, and height is crucial for their safety. By staying informed and engaging in activities like the one above, you can make car seat safety a family priority.

car Seat Safety Scavenger Hunt

Instructions:

Sources:
1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). (2021). Car Seat Recommendations for Children. Retrieved from
https://www.nhtsa.gov.
2. American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). (2022). Car Seats: Information for Families. Retrieved from https://
www.healthychildren.org.
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2020). Child Passenger Safety. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov.

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Wells County 4-H Newsletter

2025 Well COunty 4-H Fair Theme:Rooted In Tradition.

It’s that time of year again! 2025 4-H Fair activities are in full swing. Clubs have started meeting, ID Days are taking place, and projects are being started! It is such a fun time of year! Before you know it, it will be time to exhibit your hard work at the fair.

Our 4-H Club Leaders have come up with a great theme for the 2025 4-H Fair - “Rooted In Tradition!”, A great way to remember 4-H through the decades!