Pathways Connect - Cyprus

The purpose of Pathways Connect is to learn and build solid relationships with other families concerned about conscious choice and family wellness.

Pathways Connect offers us a community to support each other in our conscious choices for family wellness. Using Pathways magazine as a springboard for topics, we will discuss each new quarterly issue’s articles at our Gathering Groups.

Our Pathways Connect Gathering Groups Offer:

• Trustworthy and current information from the conscious choice magazine, Pathways to Family    Wellness.
• Outstanding resources provided through Pathways Connect’s monthly Dialogue and Resource Guide.
• Continuous support for your individual family wellness choices from
• A community of like-minded parents to connect with.

Our meetings will be run monthly in Larnaca, Nicosia and Kyrenia. You are welcome to come to any of the meetings.

Larnaca meeting will always be on the 1st Friday of the month at 8pm . 

We hope to see you then and encourage you to bring a friend or two.

Please Contact : Veronika for further information Tel: 

Passive smoking and children's health

Passive smoking causes lasting damage to children's arteries, prematurely ageing their blood vessels by more than three years, say researchers.The damage - thickening of blood vessel walls - increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes in later life, they say in the European Heart Journal.

In their study of more than 2,000 children aged three to 18, the harm occurred if both parents smoked.
Experts say there is no "safe" level of exposure to second-hand smoke.This study goes a step further and shows it [passive smoking] can cause potentially irreversible damage to children's arteries increasing their risk of heart problems in later life”Doireann MaddockBritish Heart Foundation

The research, carried out in Finland and Australia, appears to reveal the physical effects of growing up in a smoke-filled home - although it is impossible to rule out other potentially contributory factors entirely.

Hidden damage

Ultrasound scans showed how children whose parents both smoked developed changes in the wall of a main artery that runs up the neck to the head.While the differences in carotid intima-media thickness were modest, they were significant and detectable some 20 years later when children had reached adulthood, say the investigators.

Study author Dr Seana Gall, from the University of Tasmania, said: "Our study shows that exposure to passive smoke in childhood causes a direct and irreversible damage to the structure of the arteries. "Parents, or even those thinking about becoming parents, should quit smoking. This will not only restore their own health but also protect the health of their children into the future."

How to help a child with low self-esteem

When a child has low self-esteem, many parents search endlessly for ways to make them feel better about themselves. They compliment their child for minor accomplishments or lower the standards to make them feel better, and nothing changes. They want to fix the problem now, when in reality, they should be coaching their child on how they can overcome their issues on their own. In Part II of our series on Self-esteem and Kids, James Lehman, MSW explains the three key roles you can play to help your child develop genuine self-esteem.

The Teaching Role

 The Teaching Role is just what it sounds like—you actually teach your child how to solve problems. So when you see that your child isn’t feeling good about himself, one of the things you want to do immediately is help him figure out what’s causing that lack of self-worth.

The Coaching Role

 The second step is to coach your child with the skills they already have, just like the coach of a sport would do. For example, if your child is going through a difficult time or learning a new task that’s proving to be a challenge for them, try coaching them by saying things like, “You’ve solved this kind of problem before. You’ll solve it again.”

The Limit-Setting Role

The limits for your child should be very clear, even when they’re having self-esteem issues. So you can say, “I’m sorry if you’re sad or frustrated, or don’t feel good about yourself right now, but we’re not going to lose sight of the fact that you have to do your homework. That’s your job.” Or, “I’m sorry you’re feeling that way, but you can’t take out your anger and frustration on your sister.” Give your child appropriate consequences, but work with him to learn how to solve the problem that’s blocking him.

Freedom Dolls - Fashion Show

Time to be a tourist - Paula Manoli-Gray

Although it's not January, I have made a new resolution; to start living like a visitor to Larnaca.

As a writer, I am always extolling places to visit and things to do both in our town and across the island, but I have only actually done/seen a fraction of them myself.

On Easter Monday, we went to CyHerbia in Avgorou for an egg hunt then onwards to Agia Napa for lunch and a stroll around the harbour. It was a glorious, sunny day and as we had my mother-in-law visiting from the UK, I felt like I was on holiday, experiencing the day and its sights through her eyes.

When you live somewhere, it's easy to get caught up in the every day routine with its stresses and strains, forgetting to enjoy everything your hometown offers. In our case, we don't always feel like it, but for many, Larnaca truly is paradise. What a shame it is that we do not stop, appreciate and absorb our paradise.

And the crazy thing is, so many of the activities and sights cost peanuts to enjoy; our museums are very cheap, a walk down the salt lake, Kamares or seafront is free, it costs nothing (except petrol) to visit a traditional village, and there are always free events on too – some of them pretty major sporting events. What excuse do we have not to discover or rediscover everything we are trying to promote to visitors to entice them?

Personally, I have never been skiing up the mountains, I have never been on a glass-bottom boat, I have never been to the Pierides museum or planetarium, I have never visited the artisan workshops, I have never explored Cape Greco. And I am ashamed to say that I haven't even visited the Larnaca district villages with the exception of a handful… the list goes on and on.

It's not that I stay at home all the time, cooped up. We do things as a family, we go places, we enjoy life, but for some reason, we seem to avoid tourist activities, just as most residents of wonderful cities around the world do.

When I lived in London, it was the same. But that was mainly because a visit to somewhere like Madame Tussauds is expensive, and with the miserable weather and the daily commute on the stuffy, dirty underground, I didn't really feel in the mood or have the wallet to be able to experience all the rich, historical things that London offers.

From now on, I am going to start looking at the event diary that I write in these pages and picking something new to do each week. I am going to make a list of everything I want to see on the island and work my way through it. I don't have to rush through it, it might take me years, and that's okay, because at the end of the day, everyday life does get in the way… but as long as I remember to stop and smell the roses sometimes, life on the island really can be paradise!

First appeared in The Cyprus Weekly, 26/04/14