CLS Parent Support

  7 Steps to Good Digital Parenting Parenting today’s tech savvy kids can seem overwhelming. But you can do it! Take these seven simple, but still challenging steps, to becoming a good digital parent. The 7 Steps to Good Digital Parenting provides parents with seven simple yet challenging ways to become a good digital role model. Each step provides three pieces of advice that parents can use to introduce online safety to their family. Note:  The above comes directly from their website.  Click here to read more.

  What Does a Messy Room Say About Your Personality? Is your mental health or personality the reason for the mess? Organization is big business these days. From books to seminars to organizational systems, everyone seems to want to find some way to perfectly arrange every aspect of their lives. Have you ever walked into a messy house (or contemplated your cluttered abode) and thought, "Why?" There are many reasons a person might not clean their house, including mental health, personality, and stress. Do you ever dream of living in the perfectly clean and organized rooms of a home décor catalog? Or would you rather spend your time in a home cluttered with objects, souvenirs, books, art, and items that make up your daily life? Both of these questions are another way to ask: what causes someone to not clean their house? For some people, a tidy home can be soothing, an orderly retreat in an often disorderly world. For others, such environments can be sterile, bland, and uninspiri...

  Constant Companion: A Week in the Life of a Young Person's Smartphone Use Smartphones have become a constant companion in our teens' lives. From connection with family and friends to entertainment and literal white noise, young people rely on their smartphones for different types of support, relaxation, and distraction—at home and at school, and during the day and night.    This new report fills a gap in understanding around how teens actually use their smartphones, combining data from kids' own phones with feedback from our Youth Advisory Council. Teens told us that the draw of their smartphone is both complicated and powerful. They're managing a barrage of notifications from the apps on their phones—buzzing almost constantly. Phone use in school is common, but policies are inconsistent. Smartphones both help and hurt their sleep, and apps like TikTok provide easy, effortless access to personalized content that provides both relaxation  and distraction.   Th...

Can Natural Antidepressants Help With Depression? When used in conjunction with medication, these can make a difference If you’re feeling seriously depressed, you’re not alone. The Anxiety & Depression Association of America states that major depressive disorder (MDD) affects more than 16.1 million American adults and is more prevalent in women than in men. 1 Given traditional antidepressants sometimes have unwanted side effects, people are seeking natural forms of antidepressants to help them cope with depression. Supplements, natural remedies, and lifestyle changes can improve your depressive symptoms to an extent. But first, ask a medical professional to assess your depression. Only they can determine what route is best for you. You can then work together to combat your particular level of depression using the various tools available. For an approach that doesn’t rely on pharmaceuticals or psychotherapies, you might consider these options. Note:  The above comes directl...

Baby and Womb Lifted from Mum During Cancer Surgery A mother's womb containing her unborn baby was lifted from her abdomen during a life-saving operation. Lucy, 32, a special needs teacher who lives near Sonning Common in Oxfordshire, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 12 weeks pregnant. At 20 weeks, a team of 15 doctors at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford carried out a five-hour operation to remove the cancerous cells on both ovaries, behind the womb. Her womb and son were then returned to her body and her baby was born at the end of January, weighing 6lb 5oz (3kg). Note:  The above comes directly from their website.  Click here to read more.

Microplastics—tiny plastic particles between 1 nanometer (nm) and 5 millimeters (mm) in size—have infiltrated our environment, including the food we consume daily. While research into their long-term health effects is ongoing, and there are no targets for “safe” amounts of microplastics in our bodies, a 2024 study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) linked the presence of microplastics in arterial plaque to a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular events. Researchers have also connected micro- and nanoplastic exposure to inflammation , immune dysregulation , and metabolic disruptions . Still, we’re early in understanding what these exposures mean for human health. There are no established safety thresholds for microplastics in the body. But the absence of a limit doesn’t mean the absence of risk. To help readers understand where exposure might be coming from, we’ve ranked common foods and beverages from the lowest to highest measured microplastic load per serving. But p...