Tagged Self Care

What's Your New Year's Resolution for 2023?

We're about to embark on a new year, and even if you're not a New Year's Resolution person, you might view this time of year - and the turning of the calendar - as a chance to evaluate goals for the next 12…

Keep it Fresh with Fresh Herbs!

Fresh herbs add flavor and nutrition to meals, they are beautiful when added to dishes, and many of them have unique fragrances. They are like tiny greens ! Maybe fresh herbs will inspire poems, cooking, or preserving like they do for…

Book Recommendations for Social and Emotional Learning

The bitter cold, short days, and gloomy forecasts of wintertime have got me thinking... how does a person take heart, find courage, and call up the energy to keep going forward? Here are three titles that may provide some answers…

Nourishing Literacy | Kitchen Life Skills

The Nourishing Literacy team has been creating a short series of audio shares with a focus on children and youth, highlighting skills and qualities that we practice and encourage in the kitchen. These shares include extended…

Giving Back for the Holidays

It can be difficult to get into the holiday spirit in the midst of so much confusion, fear, and grief. Children and adults alike may find ourselves feeling sad at the loss of a loved one, of normalcy and routines, or of beloved…

The Free Library and You: New Year’s Resolutions in 2022!

Can you believe we’re about to turn the page on another (long, strange, COVID-19 filled...) year? I know I can't!  While I've never really been a big New Year's Resolution person, I do appreciate how the…

Nourishing Literacy | Let's Layer: Art and Cooking!

What art projects can you think of that involve layers? What recipes have you tasted that include layers of ingredients? Leanna and Tonii share two ideas for layering, while creating art and recipes in the following video. These ideas…

Nourishing Literacy | Books and Cooks: Strong Rocks

Books and Cooks, a collaboration between the Parkway Central Library Children’s Department and the Culinary Literacy Center’s Nourishing Literacy team, offers an afterschool series of story read-alouds, cooking ideas,…

Join Us in Joyful Acts of Mindfulness: In Joy, Take Care

The ongoing pandemic has elevated stress levels, anxiety, uncertainty, depression, and loneliness within our communities. So what if we took a moment to reflect on self-care? Members of the Culinary Literacy Center 's Healthy…

Nourishing Literacy | Greens Across Tables

Thank you to Nourishing Literacy (NL) team member Carolyn for writing this blog post! In addition to sharing her experience and findings, Carolyn has included some of the activities and approaches that we use in NL. The NL team enjoys…

Self-Care for Caregivers | National Caregivers' Day

Today is National Caregivers’ Day, and we’d like to take a moment to honor the essential role that caregivers play in our communities. Whether it is for loved ones or how you earn your living, giving care is work. Caregivers…

New Year's Resolutions: Moving Forward by Taking a Step Back in 2021

What can I say about 2020 that hasn’t already been said? The Coronavirus pandemic completely turned the world upside-down and forced many of us to hunker down in our households, work from home, and greatly alter the way we travel…

Trail Mix and Hiking Trails Can Cure the Blues

Are you looking for a healthy snack and way to fuel your body as the fall and winter days get shorter? Try some trail mix! Trail mix can be packed with nutrients that fuel the body longer, and depending on the ingredients, it can also…

Do-It-Yourself Family Self-Care

This is the final installment in an ongoing series of self-care blog-posts. I’m not a professional healthcare worker. I’m simply someone that practices self-care in his daily life and for whom self-care is an important…

Family Self-Care and Emotional Vocabulary

This is the 5th in an ongoing series of self-care blog-posts. I’m not a professional healthcare worker. I’m simply someone that practices self-care in his daily life and for whom self-care is an important element. If you…

Family Self-Care and Private / Public Space in the Time of Social Distancing

This is the 4th in an ongoing series of family self-care blog-posts. I’m not a professional healthcare worker. I’m simply someone that practices self-care in his daily life and for whom self-care is an important element. If…

Tips and Suggestions for Juggling Work from Home and Homeschooling Duties

It's been 8 weeks since Philadelphia schools closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic , leaving parents and caregivers pivoting back and forth between work schedules and full-time childcare, amongst other concerns. Last week was the first…

Family Self-Care and Exercise in the Time of Social Distancing

This is the 3rd in an ongoing series of self-care blog-posts. I’m not a professional healthcare worker. I’m simply someone that practices self-care in his daily life and for whom self-care is an important element. If you…

We Don’t Come with Dashboards: Reading Your Internal Gauges

This is the 2nd in an ongoing series of self-care blog-posts. I’m not a professional healthcare worker. I’m simply someone that practices self-care in his daily life and for whom self-care is an important element. If you…

Self-Care Resources for Families

Let’s face it—these are crazy times. I’m writing at home at this moment, because my library, McPherson Square , is currently closed. Schools have closed. Many businesses are closed, and those that remain open have been…