ARTICLES - Page 50 of 165

Redshirting: Holding Them Back To Get Them Ahead

It is called “redshirting.” Perhaps you have heard of it.

“Redshirting for young children refers to the practice of postponing entrance into kindergarten of age-eligible children in order to allow extra time for socioemotional, intellectual, or physical growth. This occurs most frequently where children’s birthdays are so close to the cut-off dates that they are very likely to be among the youngest in their kindergarten class.” (Wikipedia)

In simpler terms, ‘redshirting kindergarten’ is holding you child back one extra year before sending them to kindergarten. Instead of entering kindergarten as a 5 year old, if your child is on the cusp of the grade cutoff, that is, one of the youngest children in the grade, you would hold him or her back one year, and he or she would enter kindergarten as a larger, more developed, 6 year old.

Celebrating Motherhood

This is our 9th Mother’s Day together on WomenOnTheFence.com. I have paid tribute to my incredible mother and mother-in law and to my two beautiful sons (that I owe my mother title to). I have also paid tribute to the many stories of mothers who have endured and overcome, who have experienced tragedy and triumph, and who have come out on the other side with grace and resilience.

For this year’s post, I have decided to pay tribute to women everywhere, and merge Mental Health Awareness Week with Mother’s Day.

So, let’s start with mental health awareness, shall we?

Here is a photo of my health and wellness panel from last weekend’s I Am: A Conference For Her.

This week especially, during #MentalHealthAwareness week, it felt relevant to stop and pause and do a few things:

ANNOUNCEMENT: Erica Diamond Brand Ambassador For Lisette L Montreal

I am finally able to reveal some exciting news– I am the new brand ambassador for Lisette L!

It all started last year with a fashion show. I walked the runway of the Cystic Fibrosis Canada charity fashion show, and was lucky enough to wear what has been called, “The world’s most flattering pants.”

We’re talking pants and collections worn by Oprah, Martha, Eugenie Bouchard, Venus Williams and many more!

When I met Lisette Limoges and put her pants on, seen here, I knew we had to find a way to collaborate.

Stayin’ Up Late

When I started teaching yoga last fall, I committed to two classes a week (knowing two classes per week was what my schedule would comfortably allow). Two day classes, that is, as I have always reserved my nights for my kids and husband exclusively. I try and book very few things during the week (the odd girls night out, absolutely). I want to be there every night for dinner, homework, showers, and snuggles.

But when a few of my yogis recently requested I teach a night class as they work during the day, I was really hesitant to say yes. I made a vow to myself and my family 10 years ago not to work nights unless I was called away to speak. I started to talk to myself. Yes, I do that… a lot. I said to myself, “It’s springtime, Erica. The days are long, and I think I’ll go out of my comfort zone and maybe say yes.” I did, after all, watch Shonda Rhimes’ TED Talk on the Year of Yes. You know, the year when she said YES to everything to welcome more happiness? 😉

Fears of Female Sexuality and Pleasure

Nervous twitching preceded silence the day my fifth grade class participated in its first sex education class. Ovary, uterus, fallopian tube and cervix labels hovered below a title that read “Female Reproductive System” in bold letters. Once I graduated into middle and high school, the importance of protection was added to the list, and we were shown how to use a condom.

It wasn’t until several years later that I discovered a missing component to these sex-scientific lessons — pleasure. Now, as a grown woman, I’m left wondering why the cover up of the pleasure piece of female sexuality? Is there something imbedded in our society that’s fearful of women enjoying sex too much?

Research shows that denial of female sexuality starts in early sex education instruction. Whereas boys are openly told how their puberty is marked by erections, ejaculations and masturbation, females are left to ponder a hidden anatomy structured for periods and pregnancy. Peggy Ornstein in Girls and Sex describes the illustrations used as, “The classic diagrams of a woman’s reproductive systems, [that] blur into a gray Y between the legs as if the vulva and the labia, let alone the clitoris, don’t exist.”

Springtime Is The Perfect Time To Create Your “Mom Cave”

It’s spring! Spring is about spring cleaning, renewal, regeneration, reorganizing.

What if I said, spring is the perfect time to create your own Mom Cave? A MOM cave you say? We’ve all heard of THE MAN CAVE, where men go to decompress, have a beer, watch the game, or porn, whatever. But a mom cave? And I’m here to tell you– yes, yes, yes!

Now, the concept behind the man cave goes back many years, and stemmed from the idea that when a man came home to his wife and children, he first needed to go to his “cave” to decompress after a long day. But with more and more women in the workforce, contributing financially, and frankly, just downright exhausted and needing more “me-time”, more women are craving the same decompression time and cave time that men crave.

Your Choice Now…

As we are finishing up Q1, the first quarter of the year, it’s a good time to pause and take stock. Even if you’re not a company. 😉

I wrote a post in December about blooming where you are planted for the New Year. I truly believe, wherever you are on your path at any given moment, you don’t have to be THERE yet to still bloom NOW.

I wrote in December, that while experts were discussing new year’s resolutions and what changes to make in 2018, I offered you the idea that what if it’s all about NOT changing, not replacing— but fixing, enhancing and appreciating? Want to find a better job, bigger house, better relationship? Renovate what you have to make it suit your needs.

That option is always available for you.

The Closing of #WomensHistoryMonth and Beginning of Springtime

Given that it’s #WomensHistoryMonth, I was asked to participate in this photoshoot to celebrate the magic that happens when strong, boundary pushing women get together. This is only a small portion of the inspiring women who were in that studio on that wondrous evening (full photos below), but it was a true testament to how powerful the vibe of our tribe really is. We had women from all walks of life. Restaurateurs, doctors, mathematicians, real estate moguls, writers, jewellers, designers etc… Thank you to Monique Weston for bringing us all together, staging us, and to the incomparable Sasha Onyshchenko/Kravetz Photographics, your work is MIND-BLOWING.

Gang’s all here. This photoshoot is part of a much bigger conversation, which will unfold in the next little bit… but for now it’s exciting to be part of a message that highlights what happens when brains and beauty meet. When strength and confidence shatter ceilings. When we are effortlessly ourselves, open, raw, and ready to seize opportunity. Intelligence is sexy. Nobody in this group accepted the bare minimum life had to offer, and nobody ever should. Together we can move mountains.

Resilience

I never set out to be a single mom. I’m not sure that many women do to be honest (despite what the media might like us to believe).

I always wanted to be part of a family, part of a close-knit group of people who looked out for and loved each other. I didn’t experience that growing up; I was abused by my grandfather at the age of 5, my grandmother told me not to tell anyone as I’d be taken away and, when she thought I had told (although I was too frightened to tell a soul), she tried to drown me in the garden pond. That was the start of the sexual harassment and abuse I encountered both inside and outside of my family, over many years.

I grew up being told that no one liked me, loved me, or wanted me. That no one thought I’d achieve anything and that I was stupid and hopeless. Although school was my sanctuary, and I loved it, I didn’t do very well academically due to a series of undiagnosed learning difficulties. I left home the day after I turned 18, got married at 19, had my daughter at 20, my son at 22, and was divorced by 25.

On The Fence About Cosmetic Procedures? Facebook Live with Dr. Sandra McGill

So, back to my fun announcement. I had the great privilege of being included in a spring photo shoot of inspirational women in Montreal in honor of Women’s History Month, and met an incredible woman there, plastic surgeon Dr. Sandra McGill.

Sandra and I got into a conversation about women and beauty today. I told her I am choosing to age naturally – I haven’t had any work done to my face or body, but that I sometimes feel like the oldest looking 42 year old around my community. Many of the women I see look truly fabulous – smooth faces, fabulous lips, awesome eyebrows. I have wrinkles around my eyes, cellulite behind my things, large pores and bad skin, but I’m trying, goddammit, I’m trying. I eat well, I sleep a lot, I practice yoga, and I practice good self care. Isn’t that enough? For me right now, it is.

But I am still curious, and I know many of you are too, because you’ve written in that you would like to read blog posts on options available to help preserve your youth and vitality… with a little help. Wink wink.

Ready to Make Self-Care and Well-Being a Success Strategy?

Book Erica Diamond to deliver a keynote or workshop that gives your audience practical tools to prevent burnout, boost focus, and thrive—without sacrificing ambition.