Latest news with #routine
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Opinion: The Power of Routine: How simple traditions build stronger relationships
When my kids were young, Friday night meant one thing: pizza night. We looked forward to it all week. There was something about that atmosphere—laughing together, sharing a meal, knowing it was 'our thing'—that made it special. It wasn't just a habit—I was being intentional about creating time we could count on, because I believed those patterns would build connection and lasting memories. Routine often gets overlooked in our fast-paced culture. It might sound ordinary, but in my experience — both as a dad and a therapist — it's one of the most powerful tools we have to build trust, strengthen relationships, and create emotional safety. What begins as a schedule often becomes a memory. And what's repeated with care often becomes something a person carries with them for life. More: Letters to the Editor: Can fascism happen here? As my kids grew into teenagers, I had to become even more intentional. I carved out regular one-on-one time with each of them — sometimes to do something fun, sometimes just to catch up. We didn't always spend money. Some of our best moments came from going to the park, being creative, or just grabbing a snack together. But because it was consistent and intentional, they looked forward to it — and so did I. Now, working in IHBT (Intensive Home-Based Therapy), I've seen firsthand how patterns of connection can rebuild trust in families that feel fractured. Many of the families I work with are navigating complex dynamics — adoption, trauma, behavioral challenges, blended households. And one of the first things I encourage them to do is this: create a tradition. Build a routine. Put something on the calendar that everyone can count on. I'm currently working with three siblings who are adopted. Every week, I take them out for a picnic as part of our therapy. We play games, talk, and just spend time together. Over time, this simple tradition has become something they eagerly anticipate. That's not just therapy — it's a pattern of connection. And it works. Even my dog, Coco, reminds me how much patterns matter. Every morning and evening, we go to the dog park together. He knows the routine. He looks forward to it. It's our bonding time. And yes, even animals thrive on predictable, shared moments. Here's what I've learned: you don't have to be perfect to build connection. You just have to be present — on purpose, and consistently. We often chase big moments or try to fix everything at once. But meaningful relationships—whether with kids, partners, or friends—are built through the small things we do consistently. A shared meal, a regular walk, a planned time to talk. These aren't just routines—they're investments. Over time, they become patterns that shape how people feel loved and valued. If you're looking for ways to strengthen your relationships, don't wait for the perfect timing or a major breakthrough. Start by doing one simple thing together—regularly. Let it be fun. Let it be predictable. Let it be yours. Because in the end, the strongest bonds aren't built in grand gestures. They're built in quiet moments that happen again and again. Mark Stratton is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) who works with youth and families in the Lancaster area. He is also the author of the upcoming book, "People Really Can Change." If you would like to book an appointment, click here. This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Opinion: How simple traditions build stronger relationships
CTV News
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
CTV Morning Live welcomes its new host
Ottawa Watch We welcome Will Aiello to the CTV Morning Live family as he shows us his unusual breakfast routine.
CTV News
12-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- CTV News
Skincare tips for mature skin
Atlantic Watch Makeup artist Shobana Lakkavally walks through a full skincare routine with some age-appropriate upgrades.
Daily Mail
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Inside King Charles's rigid upbringing and the trait he inherited from his grandfather, King George VI, according to royal expert
Born heir to the throne, King Charles was taught values such as formality and self-control from an early age. As the late queen's hopes of Charles being raised 'normally' were dashed by the sudden death of King George when her firstborn was just three years old, the young prince's primary care was put in the hands of nannies. Ingrid Seward, 77, the editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine, has spent much of her career interviewing and writing about the Royal Family. Her latest book, My Mother and I, provides an inside perspective to the relationship between Charles and the late queen. She wrote that one nanny in particular – Mabel Anderson – had the greatest hand in shaping Charles's character. Although she had no formal training, Mabel was chosen because the queen liked her quiet, unassuming manner. She was even said to have sent King Charles special shampoo for his dandruff at boarding school. 'She was gentle, organised and worked by a strict routine,' wrote Seward. 'She provided both stability and security, and wherever they were in the world, her royal charges knew exactly what was happening in the Buckingham Palace nursery. 'It was unchanging and the same in the 60s, 70s and 80s as it had been in the 50s and Charles carried this routine into his life,' wrote the royal author. Even at the age of 76, Charles sticks to a rigid routine, reportedly starting the day with a Canadian air force exercise plan. His daily workout routine reportedly includes doing headstands in his boxers to help deal with back pain ailments after years of playing polo. Prince Harry wrote in his tell-all book Spare that his father would perform these exercises daily – and that there was always a risk of accidentally walking in on the King - 'in just a pair of boxers, propped against a door or hanging from a bar like a skilled acrobat '. He is also reported to have the same breakfast of muesli every day for breakfast. But rigidity is not always a positive trait. Seward wrote: 'According to behavioural experts, Charles's conduct was partly fashioned by the formality of life in Buckingham Palace and the constant presence of the adults and their expectations of him. Throughout history royals have been expected to be poised and stoic and rise above outbursts of anger. The late King George VI was known for his temper, as is King Charles 'This led him to become solitary and approach friendships with his peers with great caution. 'He was required to be tidy and neatly turned-out at all times, and his over-concern with appearance and things being just right has persisted all his life.' At Gordonstoun it was reported that Charles found no companionship among his schoolmates, but two compassionate young teachers helped him to survive the macho environment and became lifelong friends. It also led to him having a short fuse, which has been well-documented in his adult life. Seward wrote: 'Like his mother, Charles was sensitive to the plight of others, but like his grandfather George VI, he is intolerant of those who fail to offer him what he considers to be proper respect.' Former footman Mark Simpson said of Charles in the 1970s: 'I have heard him when I have been laying up dinner and he has been in his study next door screaming like crazy on the phone. 'Everybody would quake. He would clear his desk in one swipe. You could hear him sometimes in his bedroom. 'You couldn't hear what it was about but it was a huge, high-pitched scream. 'It comes from his grandfather. It was quite scary to witness. But afterwards he would be back to normal and be very polite and say thank you every six minutes. 'The rest of the time he was terribly gentle.' Tom Quinn's book Yes, Ma'am The Secret Life of Royal Servants, which details accounts from royal servants over the years, revealed an insider's perspective on what life was really like inside the royal household. Insiders explained that Charles and Queen Camilla always treat their staff 'well', but that the King is prone to 'little bursts of irritation'. Charles, who is widely known to have a temper and has previously fumed in public over his pens not working, has very particular demands for how tasks are carried out. The monarch was said to have kicked up a fuss if he wasn't given the 'right teacup' and also had opinions on how his toothpaste was placed on his brush. In the book one servant recalled: 'Charles and Camilla do treat their staff well, but you always feel that they would no more fly without an aeroplane than invite you to have tea with them. 'And Charles does have little bursts of irritation with his staff – perhaps he hasn't been given exactly the right teacup, perfectly polished shoes and toothpaste neatly squeezed on to his toothbrush in exactly the way he likes it. The occasional tantrums of King Charles and the bullying tactics of Prince Andrew seem to have been ' inherited in different measures by Prince William and Prince Harry ', Tom Quinn writes. 'They both get irritated very quickly,' said one former member of staff. 'Throughout their lives they have had these things done for them, so they are very picky. It comes naturally to them. 'People who have everything done for them from childhood tend to be rather spoiled and prone to bouts of irritation because they have no idea how much work is involved in washing and ironing, polishing and sewing when they have never done any of it themselves.' Remembering Harry's temperament, one of the Duke of Sussex's former servants said: 'I remember once in his private apartments I'd muddled something – some of his papers on his desk or something. 'He was immediately angry and it was out of proportion to the problem, or at least I thought it was. 'I was surprised at how cross he was about something so trivial, but his other staff had experienced similar incidents. 'We thought it was a bit rich complaining about me being muddled given that Harry was probably the most muddled of all the royals of his generation.' How did George VI come to the throne? George, known as the 'reluctant king', was crowned following his brother Edward VIII's abdication. His coronation was held at Westminster Abbey in May 1937. In the run-up to the ceremony, he enlisted Lionel Logue to help him conquer his stammer after his private secretary introduced him to the Australian. One month after George's coronation, Edward VIII married American socialite divorcee Wallis Simpson at the Château de Candé in Monts, France. Four months into their marriage, the couple went to visit Nazi Germany as Adolf Hitler's guests. Meanwhile King George's popularity soared as a wartime monarch and he became a figure of stability despite previously being marred by his speech impediment as well as a reputation for being unprepared. The boon to his reputation was aided by his decision to remain in London as the bombs of the Blitz rained down on the capital. George died of ill health in 1952, leaving his daughter Elizabeth, 25, to take over as Queen in a spell that has seen her become Britain's longest-reigning monarch. Prince Andrew, however, was said to have far more serious temper tantrums. The book tells how Andrew was 'bossy' and tended to 'act like a classic school bully' with staff - widely assumed to be down to frustrations he would never become king. According to the book, several former servants recalled Andrew - said to be the late queen's favourite son - insisting on removing a staffer due to disliking a mole on the man's face. Throughout history royals have been expected to be poised and stoic and rise above outbursts of anger. King George VI, though known for his stoic and dutiful nature, was also prone to outbursts of temper. He was described as 'highly strung' and a 'worrier,' and his temper could be explosive. In Harry's memoir he claims that his father, Charles, was bad at showing his emotions - alleging that when Charles broke the tragic news that Diana had died he didn't hug his son. 'He wasn't great at showing emotions under normal circumstances, how could he be expected to show them in such a crisis?' Harry wrote. 'He had trouble communicating, trouble listening, trouble being intimate face-to-face. 'On occasion, after a long multi-course dinner, I'd walk upstairs and find a letter on my pillow. 'The letter would say how proud he was of me for something I'd done or accomplished. 'I'd smile, place it under my pillow, but also wonder why he hadn't said this moments ago, while seated directly across from me.' In his recent tell-all interview with the BBC the Duke of Sussex claimed his father is not speaking to him because of his battle over taxpayer-funded police bodyguards. A young William, Harry and Charles are pictured in July 1999 In his recent tell-all interview with the BBC the Duke of Sussex claimed his father is not speaking to him because of his battle over taxpayer-funded police bodyguards. He said there had been 'so many disagreements, differences between me and some of my family', as he admitted he couldn't see a world in which his family would return to the UK. But, amid another devastating broadside reopening wounds with the Royal Family, Harry told the BBC in California that he wants 'reconciliation'. 'He won't speak to me because of this security stuff,' the prince said, adding he didn't know how long the King had left to live. Many royal observes continue to hold on to a hope of a reconciliation. But perhaps distance between the two men, who both seem to have inherited a short temper, is what is needed for the time being.
The Guardian
07-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Tim Dowling: the dog has seen my mother-in-law's ghost – or possibly just a bug
The new dog is now a year old, and her bedtime habits are firmly established: when I retire for the night I invariably find the dog already lying on my side of the bed, her chin resting on my pillow. At this point I usually push her off, whereupon she will retreat to her own – perfectly nice – bed, or sleep on the bare floorboards, depending on the night-time temperature. At around five the dog will leap back on to the bed and tunnel under the duvet head-first, stretching out between my wife and me, leaving only her back legs sticking out the top. That's how things remain until one of us decides to get up. It's not ideal, but it's a routine. The daytime routine is looser. The general rhythm is well established – eat, walk, sleep, walk, eat – but there are random moments when the dog seems to require additional, unspecified engagement, when she sits down next to me on the sofa, places a gentle paw on my forearm and gives me a look that says: we need to talk. 'I'm just watching this,' I say, pointing at the television. The dog turns to look at the screen, and then slowly rolls her eyes back toward me. It's easy to read too much into a dog's expression, but at times like these I sense deep wells of frustration. Maybe, I think, she just wants me to change the channel to a show with dogs in it. The next day in the park the dog is lively but obedient, off the lead but never straying out of sight, playful with other dogs but willing to take no for an answer. She behaves perfectly right up until the end, when we encounter a woman in a long coat with two dogs of her own. Shortly after we pass by, my dog suddenly stops, turns and hares off after them. I whistle and call her name, but the dog ignores me and follows the woman – a complete stranger – in the other direction, all the while staring up at her with a look of true devotion. 'Well, we had some good times,' I say, twirling my lead. Eventually the woman is obliged to stop and head back towards me. We meet halfway, my dog still fixated on the woman, who smiles at me and shrugs. 'It's because I have …' I don't quite hear the last word – something like 'spraahtz' – which in the discomfort of the moment I take to be a foreign term for a powerful form of canine magnetism, perhaps as practised in remote parts of Belgium, or maybe Poland. Then the woman reaches out and hands me a tiny dead fish. 'Oh, sprats,' I say. 'They love them,' she says. That evening my wife, my oldest son and I are watching television, while the dog sits next to me and stares at my ear. 'So the take-home message is: we need to get some sprats,' I say. 'I've seen them in the pet store,' my wife says. 'Apparently they can't get enough of them,' I say. 'Be quiet,' she says. 'I'm trying to follow this.' Suddenly the dog barks once, leaps from the sofa, slides across the coffee table and lands on the other side. 'What was that for?' says the oldest one. The dog sits and looks up, staring at nothing with fearsome concentration. 'What is it?' my wife says. 'It's like she's witnessing some kind of apparition,' I say. Perhaps an apparition holding a little dead fish. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion 'Have you seen a ghost?' my wife says. 'Is it my mother?' The dog stares, unflinching. 'Actually I think she might just be watching a bug,' I say. 'If it's my mother, give me your paw,' my wife says. The dog takes two steps forward, and places its right paw into my wife's outstretched hand. 'It is my mother!' my wife shouts. The oldest one and I exchange a brief glance as if to say: bit weird. 'Give me your paw again if she misses me,' my wife says. The dog obliges. 'That dog only knows one trick,' the oldest one says. 'And that's it.' 'A tiny hovering insect,' I say. 'Or a baby spider floating on the draught from the windows.' 'Thank you for the message from beyond,' my wife says. 'Now go lie down, I'm trying to watch this.' The dog climbs on to the sofa and curls up next to me, wearing a look of profound dissatisfaction. We watch the telly in silence for a moment. 'So yeah, sprats,' I say. 'Oh my God,' my wife says. 'We'll have to rewind!'
