New plan...

I keep forgetting that the purpose of the blog is not to repeat everything from the books... it is supposed to be my actions resulting from the books! After all the books should be read by you as every individual person gets books differently from others.

Like always I'm constantly changing my mind on how to attack the self help books. I guess I'm just too impatient to stick to one book till the end, so I thought to read a chapter a book one after the other. Keep things fresh so I don't get too bogged down with one author (no matter how good they are I always lose track of it half way through the book). I also get to see many different perspectives at once and also cover different topics that I am needing to follow.

As I had already read the first chapter of You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay, the next book chapters I have read since last night are:
*A very funny book called "The Absolutely Essential Penguin Guide to Etiquette" by Pat Lawson-Black & Tom Hazell. - How to behave in the mosh pit, on the mobile phone, and at Government House. 

First chapter covers Dealing with People, The Art of Conversation, The Eavesdrop, The ins and outs of service, Effective complaining, Attitude & the Gift.

Haven't had much of a chance to put it into practice yet, however I did put one tip into practice before reading thanks to advice from my mum. I got a quite inflammatory text from my ex who I need to be on good terms with for my kids. I am actually usually on good terms with him as he is a decent man. I was very angry and upset so I knew to call my mum first to calm myself down. She advised me to respond as the following tip from the book says:

 "Kindness and Courtesy are there own reward: The satisfaction is in knowing you have conducted yourself in an exemplary manner. Do It. It will make you feel good."

I answered with this in mind and his follow up texts were a lot more friendly and I felt calmer and more willing to see that while I disagreed, he did come from a place of caring.

*The other book is: WeightWatchers Healthy Parent Healthy Child by Karen Miller-Kovach - Simple rules for a healthy-weight home.

The first chapter mainly discussed BMI's and that it is best to take control of your child's weight while they are young as the longer they are overweight or at risk of being overweight the higher the risk they will have weight issues as adults.

Being overweight myself I know is not a good example to set for my children. I do have the extra difficulty of being on medication that makes it more difficult to lose weight, but not impossible. Unfortunately my son is on medication that is more extreme. His medication makes him hungry all the time and he has gone from a tiny thing that no matter what he ate stayed tiny, to a bigger boy. He already has enough difficulties in his life with his autism, I do not want that exacerbated by weight problems.

My daughter has a very healthy weight as she is a very serious dancer and also plays netball, however we do also need to pay a lot of attention to her diet due to the high amount of exercise she does and her huge growth spurt this year. We also need to pay attention to it due to her auditioning for a serious dance high school next year. While luckily they do not require the girls to be teeny tiny girls who look like they would fall over (would not send her there if they did), there is a body type she will need to fit mainly at this stage so she has the fitness and stamina to keep up with the high demand of the school. (Half their day is academic and the rest of the day till 5pm is dance - 5 days a week!)

I did learn that I must practice caution with focusing on healthy weights for children. It is best overall to try and maintain your child's weight as they grow. This will help them reach a healthier BMI without any risk to their growth.

Next book to read: Dale Carnegie's: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living