Tag: Family Support

Supporting Hospitalized Families and Health Care Providers One Sip at a Time. Child Life Coffee: Spotlight and Giveaway

Supporting Hospitalized Families and Health Care Providers One Sip at a Time. Child Life Coffee: Spotlight and Giveaway

Child Life Mommy

We all know how coffee can be the lifeline to getting through stress. Sitting at the bedside with your child or working long hours in the hospital, caffeine can bring a little pick me up with a sense of normalcy. I was thrilled to learn about one amazing family who has walked alongside their son on his medical journey and found a way to give back to others. Read about the Emo family and how they are making a positive impact on families and medical providers through Child Life Coffee.

Guest Blogger, Todd and Morgan Emo, Founders of Child Life Coffee

Child Life Coffee offers high-quality coffee at competitive prices, but the real benefit of sipping on our coffee is knowing that every purchase provides support to children and families in hospital settings. One cup at a time, CLC supports Child Life Programs that have a direct impact on children’s physical and emotional health and well-being. We also strive to ensure that families and healthcare workers have the energy they need by regularly sending our coffee to local hospitals.

We partnered with several of the finest roasters in the country to create our premium coffee line full of traditional and exotic varieties. Our coffee beans are sourced directly from hard-working, reputable producers around the world, and roasted only after your order is received. Then, it’s shipped directly from our roasters to you in two to three days, ensuring the freshest cup of coffee every time.

By drinking our coffee, you are helping us change lives. You can feel less guilty about your coffee addiction, knowing it is directly restoring hope to children and families who experience a hospitalization. We think you’ll also love receiving fresh, delicious, and affordable coffee right to your doorstep.

Inspiration Behind Child Life Coffee

Our son was diagnosed with an exceedingly rare liver condition called Biliary Atresia. This disease affects about 1 in every 15,000 infants, and most require a liver transplant within their first year of life to survive. James received his life-saving liver transplant when he was just eight months old after a very generous extended family member, who we lovingly refer to as Auntie Elise, stepped forward to donate 30% of her liver. Her courage and selflessness saved James’ life, and for that, we are forever grateful. Even now, there is not a day that goes by where we do not think of her life-altering gift. She may not know it, but she truly is our hero.

During the eight months leading up to his liver transplant, and many months after, our family lived at the hospital. We never left James alone in his hospital crib, and it was a constant battle for his life. Between learning about his condition, navigating being first-time parents, and preparing for his transplant, we felt like we were running an endless marathon.

Along the way, we met many families who were also experiencing hardship, many of whom could not be at their child’s bedside 24/7 like we were for James. We also became acquainted with the healthcare team and got to know every nurse, technician, and staff member on every shift. Around this time, we learned about Child Life Specialists.

The whole medical team did an excellent job treating our baby, but it was the Child Life Specialists who had the most significant impact. They are so passionate about what they do, and they demonstrated it every single day. They always reminded us we were not in this alone and provided us the support and resources we desperately needed at the time. We didn’t know it at the time, but their support helped keep us out of dark places.

Where to Purchase

You can purchase a variety of roasts, flavors, and tease from Childlifecoffee.com. Be sure to follow on Facebook and Instagram. 

Win a $25.00 gift card to purchase your choice of coffee or tea.  Choose one or more ways to enter:

  1. Sign up for email notifications at ChildLifeMommy.com and leave a comment below.
  2. Facebook: Follow Child Life Mommy and Child Life Coffee, tag two friends.
  3. Instagram: Follow @ChildLifeMommy and @ChildLifeCoffee, tag two friends.
  4. Twitter: Follow, Like, and RT the post to @ChildLifeMommy.

Good luck, the winner will be chosen by 6/11/21. Open to U.S. residents.

 

If Grandma Were Here: Spotlight and Giveaway

If Grandma Were Here: Spotlight and Giveaway

Child Life Mommy

I’m thrilled to introduce a new children’s book about grief and loss. If Grandma Were Here is a beautifully written book that helps young children feel validated with the loss of a loved one. The illustrations and theme of the story can help children find ways to continue to honor their loved ones after a loss.

Guest Blogger, Amber Bradbury author of If Grandma Were Here

If Grandma were here, what would you do together? Would you sing a song? Go on an amazing adventure? Or give each other a giant hug? Enjoy this treasure chest of memories filled with real, diverse characters! This is a perfect way for families who miss their grandma to remember her kindness and love.

Recommended for ages 3–7.

The Inspiration behind the book

Amber Bradbury was inspired to write “If Grandma Were Here,” by two very separate emotions… joy and sorrow. Joy in experiencing the loving relationships she had with her mother, great-grandmother, paternal and maternal grandmothers growing up in a very tight-knit family. And sorrow, due to two tragic losses. That of her own mother—from a random act of violence—and of her paternal grandmother in a car accident—that deprived her kids of all the experiences Amber wished they all could have had together if both were still alive today.

Realizing that such feelings of loss must be universal, Amber wanted to create a way for all children—especially those from diverse backgrounds and mixed families—to connect with the loving grandmothers and great-grandmothers who might have passed from this life, but could still be a part of theirs.

Knowing all too well how important it is to express emotions—especially those of grief—even with very young children, Amber strongly feels that books like hers can be truly cathartic for young readers and adults alike. Together they can relate to and experience how the sadness of loss can be uplifted by the happiness of knowing their loved ones are still very much with them, in their own hearts and minds, to share every new adventure as they grow up.

Where to Purchase

If Grandma Were Here is available at Amazon, Barnes, and Noble, and at Ifgrandmawerehere.com.

Author Bio:

Amber now juggles life as a writer in upstate New York with being a wife, mom, and caregiver to her father-in-law in a lively, multi-generational household that leaves little time for her other passion—photography—but does provide much inspiration for her newest book, “If Grandpa Were Here,” now in the works. She hopes everyone who has ever loved—and been loved—by a doting grandparent and great-grandparent will want to include both books in their personal libraries as a source of comfort, inspiration, and joy.

We will be giving away a copy of If Grandma Were Here and a handmade tote bag to one lucky winner.

Choose one or more ways to enter:

  1. Sign up for email notifications at ChildLifeMommy.com and leave a comment below.
  2. Facebook: Follow Child Life Mommy and tag two friends.
  3. Facebook: Follow Peace Love and Press and leave a comment.
  4. Instagram: Follow @ChildLifeMommy and @PeaceLoveandPress tag two friends in the post.
  5. Twitter: Follow, Like, and RT the post to @ChildLifeMommy and @_AmberBradbury_ 

Good luck, the winner will be chosen by 5/17/21. Open to U.S. and Canadian residents.

Supporting the Sandwich Generation: Helping Families Cope with Grief & Loss

Supporting the Sandwich Generation: Helping Families Cope with Grief & Loss

Child Life Mommy

Across the nation, approximately 11 million “Sandwich Generation” caregivers simultaneously attend to the needs of their children and an aging loved one while balancing a career, household, and their own health.

Del Oro Caregiver Resource Center has teamed up with Shani Thornton, Certified Child Life Specialist to facilitate a series of FREE virtual workshops. They will address how loss and grief uniquely affect Sandwich Generation caregivers and their families. In these three sessions, learn more about the nuances of grief, understand how death and loss impact children of different developmental stages and develop skills for fostering healthier familial relationships and coping mechanisms. The series is designed to equip Sandwich Generation caregivers with tools to:

• Identify different types of grief and the nonlinear process
• Reflect on and appreciate that individual members in a family will respond differently
• Model healthy coping skills for children
• Communicate more effectively to encourage stronger family solidarity

Click Here to Register 

Session 1: May 11th 7:30pmPST:

Grief Overview: Different types of grief Sandwich Generation caregivers might encounter

Session 2: May 18th 7:30pmPST:

Family dynamics: How grief manifests at different developmental stages

Session 3: May 25th 7:30pmPST:

Coping with Grief Emotions