Ilana Estelle is a mental health and wellbeing advocate who combines educational insight with her personal experience of living with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities.
She holds diplomas in Counselling, Diet and Nutrition, Nutritional Therapy, Psychotherapy and Counselling, and Stress Management. Through her writing, Ilana supports others in navigating their emotional, mental, and physical health challenges.
In addition to writing for The CP Diary, her work has appeared in healthy lifestyle magazines.
Ilana is also the author of three books: Cerebral Palsy: A Story – Finding the Calm After the Storm, Spirituality, Healing and Me, and Survival: The Covid Years – Time for Change.
Something inspirational: “Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.” DORIS LESSING Thinking for yourself means more than having your own opinions. It means owning your words, your choices, and ...
Something inspirational: "We are not what happened to us. We are what we choose to become.” JAMES HOLLIS "I am drawn to James Hollis's words: 'We are not what happened to us. We are what we choose ...
Something inspirational: "Healing begins when we can hold our own experience with compassion." TARA BRACH Brach's quote reminds us that healing begins when we meet our pain with kindness instead of judgement ...
Thanks Maria. You're absolutely right and I agree.
I would just add. Whilst it's true some parents (people) don't always know or understand their behaviour, I think some parents (people) are aware of their behaviour.
A human failing is that we're selfish. We're not always willing to work together for the greater good. But it's important for parents to work as a team to nurture their child/children so that they grow into healthy and balanced individuals.
As you say, not all parents are capable or realise and that is genuinely sad, but for those parents who are and who don't bother, they are setting their children up for a fall, as adults. This is what we're already seeing in society.
In my own case, it was a case of 'not wanting to know.' It doesn't get more brazen than that.
You can say this quote is true for many but not for all. Some parents do a good job of showing how not to parent, we just have to see that to change it for our own children.
Yes of course that is true, but as you say, 'we just have to see that to change it for our children.'If parents aren't seeing it, if their parents before them weren't seeing it, nothing will change.'
We have to continually make ourselves consciously aware. I spent my formative years working things out, so that my children wouldn't have to go through my experiences.
We have to also ask ourselves and look to the things we would change for our children, if we had the same time again. We also have to be open and honest. Some parents are completely in denial over their parenting.
My family fountain seems to have been polluted for a very long time now. I have only been able to go back 3 or 4 generations at this point and every time I open that closet door, the skeletons keeps falling out.
It has been very difficult to find any real information beyond a point, seeing as the records are spotty at best. On my mother's side, I will actually have to travel to England to find them since my grandmother was from England.
On my father's side, it has been difficult too, since they were from a very isolated area in Maine and may have come down from Canada also, so that really complicates things.
It's such a long story but being French wasn't always such a good thing in this area. so it may take a lot of hard work and research that I'm not exactly anxious to do.
It's sad to see angry parents passing on bad traits to their kids. Some people don't realize they are poisoning their kids lives.
Everything we say and do is emulated by our children. This is why we must be kind, respectful and instill good values in our children.
It's easier to love a child in their formative years than it is to fix a broken adult.
Thanks Maria. You're absolutely right and I agree.
I would just add. Whilst it's true some parents (people) don't always know or understand their behaviour, I think some parents (people) are aware of their behaviour.
A human failing is that we're selfish. We're not always willing to work together for the greater good. But it's important for parents to work as a team to nurture their child/children so that they grow into healthy and balanced individuals.
As you say, not all parents are capable or realise and that is genuinely sad, but for those parents who are and who don't bother, they are setting their children up for a fall, as adults. This is what we're already seeing in society.
In my own case, it was a case of 'not wanting to know.' It doesn't get more brazen than that.
You can say this quote is true for many but not for all. Some parents do a good job of showing how not to parent, we just have to see that to change it for our own children.
Yes of course that is true, but as you say, 'we just have to see that to change it for our children.'If parents aren't seeing it, if their parents before them weren't seeing it, nothing will change.'
We have to continually make ourselves consciously aware. I spent my formative years working things out, so that my children wouldn't have to go through my experiences.
We have to also ask ourselves and look to the things we would change for our children, if we had the same time again. We also have to be open and honest. Some parents are completely in denial over their parenting.
My family fountain seems to have been polluted for a very long time now. I have only been able to go back 3 or 4 generations at this point and every time I open that closet door, the skeletons keeps falling out.
It has been very difficult to find any real information beyond a point, seeing as the records are spotty at best. On my mother's side, I will actually have to travel to England to find them since my grandmother was from England.
On my father's side, it has been difficult too, since they were from a very isolated area in Maine and may have come down from Canada also, so that really complicates things.
It's such a long story but being French wasn't always such a good thing in this area. so it may take a lot of hard work and research that I'm not exactly anxious to do.
Your family history sounds fascinating Randy, but sadly regardless of our family history, it's important our parents get the parenting thing right.
As our experiences have shown, to be on the other side of that can be very difficult.
The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, as they say. Reminding us that parents are the foundation upon which everything is based.
The lack of civility in our society tells me that something is seriously wrong with the tree that bears the fruit.
Thanks Tim. I love your response. I think it sad this is where we are in society and if we're not careful, there will be no return.
It's not too late for us to want to be better people and to be caring, to be sympathetic, empathetic, tolerant and patient.
As for the parent thing, we all must do better through the generations so that each new generation behave better than the last generation.