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Teach Your Child to Eat Healthy
By Jacqueline Seewald
What causes children to have serious weight problems? There are several factors. We can narrow them down to three basic ones: attitude, environment and heredity. And of these three causes or factors, heredity is clearly the hardest to change.
But attitudes can be changed and improved. First and foremost, children have to be made to feel good about themselves. And this starts in the home. Parents need to encourage their children and praise them for their accomplishments, small as well as large. Feelings of self-esteem and self-worth make children want to live up to a positive self-image. Your positive expectations of them make all the difference. Words of praise, the proverbial pat on the back, make our children want to prove themselves worthy of our good opinion. Living healthy is part of maintaining a positive self-image.
If you look at life in a positive manner, then your children will learn to do so as well. Children with a healthy self-image don't need to constantly turn to food to feel better.
This brings us to physical environment as an important factor. Parents are the people who provide the necessary environment for children to thrive. So what can we do to insure that our children learn to maintain a healthy weight?
Here are some suggestions:
·Don't buy snack foods that have little nutritional value. Avoid candy, chips and dips, and other fattening foods. Natural foods are always preferable to processed foods. For example, keep raw carrots and celery sticks handy. Raisins, nuts, apples, all make nutritious snacks.
·Don't reward your children with food. Use praise instead.
·Don't immediately give sweet treats when children are feeling down. Offer to talk things out.
·Sit down as a family for dinner.
·Don't rush through meals. Especially at dinner, eat in a leisurely manner and talk about your day with your children. Encourage them to tell you about theirs.
·Don't allow any family member to eat a meal while talking on the phone, watching television or using a computer. That includes the grown-ups.
·Serve a variety of healthy foods. Every meal should have protein, fruits, vegetables, whole grains.
·Try to serve attractively so that food looks appealing. For instance, have a variety of colors on the plate. Brighten it up with salad, pickles, or relish. Eye candy sells a meal.
·Don't use large plates when smaller plates make servings look larger.
·Don't serve large portions. It's better to have children ask for seconds if they're still hungry.
·Serve water with meals. Also, encourage your children to drink plenty of water during the day rather than sugary beverages.
·Use low fat milk.
·Cut down on fatty foods in general.
·Avoid letting your children eat poorly when they eat out.
·Avoid over-eating yourself when you go to restaurants. Even fast food places provide healthy choices. Select with care. Above all, set a good role model for your children. This is vital. They will not learn responsible behavior otherwise. It can't be "do as I say not as I do" or you will lose the respect of your children as well as their cooperation.
·Pack your children's school lunches when possible. Make certain the food is varied and nutritious.
·Exercise, exercise, exercise! This means you as well as your children. Our bodies need physical activity. In fact, they crave it. Here again is where you must set an example for your children.
Be physically active yourself. Whether you play tennis or swim, ride a bicycle or jog, get out and do something physical.
What if you're not an athlete? No problem. Brisk walking is an excellent activity. Take walks at the beach, the lake, the park, around the city, in your neighborhood, the school track if one is available. Even mall walking is great. And take your children with you whenever possible. Too often we just assume that our children are physically active when they actually are not. Time spent exercising is time not spent eating out of boredom.
Don't assume your child gets enough physical activity just because he or she takes athletics in school or is involved in some organized sport. The organized sports activities most children pursue these days are not necessarily as involving as one might think. Many children mostly sit on the bench and don't participate all that much.
·Discourage over-use of video games by your children in their free time. Again, this leads to the couch potato syndrome. Don't be afraid to turn off their computer game, television, or telephone if they've been using for too long. Just like over-eating, these activities tend to be addictive.
Good parental attitudes, healthy eating habits, an active life style, will prevent obesity and overweight in our children.
Summer Vacation - Give Kids Something to Do
By Keri Schwab
Summer vacation is a child's dream - school is over, the days are sunny and long, and there is nothing to do… absolutely nothing to do. And this is what makes summer a parent's worst nightmare. Remember the Staples commercial with the father shopping for back-to-school supplies while the song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," plays in the background? It's mid-summer and you may be anxiously awaiting the new school year so your children will have something to do. But summer vacation doesn't have to mean stress and whining children. Combining traditional summer activities with your kids' tech-savvy skills can provide them with hours of entertainment. Take a few minutes to set your children up with these self-sustaining activities, and you'll be free and clear from the "I'm bored" mantra.
Gardening. It's all in how you pitch it. Kids might think gardening sounds boring and like too much work. But if you sell the idea as a way to play in the dirt, grow their own veggies, or sell produce to neighbors, the kids might buy into it. Take an afternoon and help your kids set up a plot of dirt; gather few tools, and seeds or seedling plants. Give them a kid-friendly gardening book from the library and then ask your children to take charge. They can decide what to grow, where to plant, how much water and light plants needs, and then dig away. If your kids like the internet, have them use Google to find the best crops for your climate, pictures of garden plots, and best times to plant veggies. Late-season produce such as carrots and beets can be planted well into July. No yard? Check out patio gardening using pots, or planting an herb garden, which requires only small containers. The beauty of a garden is that it requires daily weeding and watering so your children will have something to do every day.
Lemonade Stand. It's a classic summer activity that should entertain as well as teach kids a few business skills. There are even free online versions for kids who need to learn the biz before trying it in the real world. A stand only takes parents an hour or so to prep, and then the kids are out all afternoon. Provide them with frozen lemonade mix, a pitcher, cups, table and chairs, and materials for sign making. Ask them to figure out how to best set up, price, and market their business, and it's ok for them to struggle a bit with these decisions - it'll help with their understanding of selling, finding customers, and making change.
Water Wars. You need a backyard, driveway, or wide sidewalk for this one, but it's another easy and fun-for-hours activity. Have your kids invite their friends over, and supply them with a hose, sprinkler, sponges and buckets, a slip-n-slide (which can be a large piece of plastic) or water balloons and let them go to town. Kids will find their own ways to have balloon fights, wet-sponge dodge ball, or sprinkler gymnastics. And the yard gets a nice watering as well.
Lights, Camera, Action! Another one for the tech-savvy generation, and if your kids are somewhat responsible, lend them your digital camera and ask them to write, produce, and shoot their own movie. Before they get the camera, however, ask to see their script, which needs to include original characters, plot, and scene changes. If they need inspiration, ask them to remake a Harry Potter scene. This activity can include children of all ages as the older children direct and younger children act. Let them work their magic around the house and backyard filming their flick. Once finished, set up a viewing night, invite the neighbors over, make popcorn, and enjoy the show!
Flights of Fancy. Using the internet again, ask your children to find the coolest, most advanced paper airplane diagrams. Print them out, and provide stock paper, newspaper, or plain printer paper, and have a paper airplane contest. Invite the neighbors over for added fun. Besides competing to see whose plane can fly the farthest, offer prizes for the most aerodynamic, most original, or the best decorations. Create height and drama by flying planes off the front porch, out a window, or down the slide. Mark landing spots with stakes or flags and encourage the kids to keep besting their farthest flight.