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GET ACTIVE, GET OUT & PLAY!

Eating well and being active is Good for Kids.

Being active is fun and a great way to make friends.

Kids need at least an hour of energetic activity a day (the sort that makes them huff and puff).

Here's some tips for getting active

Make it fun!
Look for enjoyable activities to work up a sweat (eg netball, football, jogging, skipping) but don't push it hard all the time

Free is good.
Explore new places - parks, trail walks and local sports facilities.

Break it up.
Getting an hour a day is easy; 15 minutes dancing to music, 20 minutes playing backyard cricket, 15 minutes riding the bike to school, and 10 minutes skipping and you're there!

Friends can join in!
Having someone else to play with, whether it be a friend, or a family member, or even a pet can make the world of difference.

Mix things up!
Look out for new sports and activities to try. Start with something you might like to do and build from there.

Inside, outside!
It's easy to get active anywhere, indoors (dance, climb stairs and even housework) and outdoors (throw a frisbee, rollerblade or explore your surrounds).

TURN OFF THE BOX!
There are only so many hours in the day, and the more time that kids spend sitting down watching television, DVDs and playing computer games; the less time they have available to be physically active!

To allow kids to be physically active, try to limit the time they spend watching TV, DVDs and computer games for fun to no more than two hours each day.

Try to set time limits for TV watching, computer games, internet surfing and online chat. An easy way to cut back today is to take TVs and computers out of kids' bedrooms.

THINK H2O!

Our bodies are made up of 50-60% water.

We lose water from our bodies through breathing, sweating and going to the toilet. All of this water needs to be replaced to keep up kids' concentration for fun, learning and play.

Tips for making H20 the everyday drink for kids

Have your own individual water bottle that goes with you everywhere, decorate it to your own personal style.
300-500ml bottles are best for kids.
Sip the day away - take a sip whenever you spot the bottle, even if it is out of the corner of your eye.
Have your water icy cold! Freeze half the bottle and fill half the bottle, that way when you fill it up in the morning it is chilled, ready to go.
At home, keep a jug or bottle of cold water in the fridge.
Try a taste sentation by floating a slice of lemon, orange or some strawberries in iced water.

Have a family plan for everyday household tasks and you’ll teach your kids a great life lesson.

Age-Appropriate Chores for Children

Your child may be able to do more than you think. Keep in mind that a child who has mastered a complicated computer game can easily run the dishwasher.

In general, preschoolers can handle one or two simple one-step or two-step jobs. Older children can manage more. Here are pointers on kids' chores by age:

Chores for children ages 2 to 3

Put toys away
Fill pet's food dish
Put clothes in hamper
Wipe up spills
Dust
Pile books and magazines

Chores for children ages 4 to 5
Any of the above chores, plus:

Make their bed
Empty wastebaskets
Bring in mail or newspaper
Clear table
Pull weeds, if you have a garden
Use hand-held vacuum to pick up crumbs
Water flowers
Unload utensils from dishwasher
Wash plastic dishes at sink
Fix bowl of cereal

Chores for children ages 6 to 7
Any of the above chores, plus:

Sort laundry
Sweep floors
Set and clear table
Help make and pack lunch
W**d and rake leaves
Keep bedroom tidy

Chores for children ages 8 to 9
Any of the above chores, plus:

Load dishwasher
Put away groceries
Vacuum
Help make dinner
Make own snacks
Wash table after meals
Put away own laundry
Sew buttons
Make own breakfast
Peel vegetables
Cook simple foods, such as toast
Mop floor
Take pet for a walk

Chores for children ages 10 and older.
Any of the above chores, plus:

Unload dishwasher
Fold laundry
Clean bathroom
Wash windows
Wash car
Cook simple meal with supervision
Iron clothes
Do laundry
Baby-sit younger siblings (with adult in the home)
Clean kitchen
Clean oven
Change their bed sheets

Boredom is good for children, says Oxford professor, because it encourages creativity

Boredom is good for children, says Oxford professor, because it encourages creativity The Oxford University professor claimed bored children are more likely to pick up a book or write a story, rather than being tempted to go online.

TV Can Be Good for Kids!

Where kids are concerned, TV and movies get a bad rap, but with healthy viewing habits and parental supervision, limited “screen time” can be a positive experience for children. Here some ways children can benefit from watching TV and movies:

TV can help kids learn about a variety of subjects.

If there’s a subject your child enjoys, more likely than not, there is a TV show, movie, or educational DVD that explores the subject in detail. You might be even be surprised to find out how many kids watch and love educational shows aimed at adults. Rachael Ray, for example has a huge following among kids and tweens, and her primetime show often features kids in the kitchen.

Children’s shows, whether they bill themselves as “educational” or not, may offer opportunities to spark learning. For instance, was your child wowed by the Red Eyed Tree Frog on Go, Diego, Go!? Go online to look at pictures and read about the frog. In this way, kids are able to see how fun learning can be and establish a habit of finding out more when things interest them.

Documentary and nature shows are also entertaining and educational for kids. A great example: Meerkat Manor, on the Animal Planet, makes a soap opera out of meerkat life and has kids hooked on the drama.

Through media, kids can explore places, animals, or things that they couldn’t see otherwise.

Most kids are not able to visit the rain forest or see a giraffe in the wild, but many have seen these things on TV. Thankfully, educationally minded producers have given us many shows and movies that allow viewers to see amazing footage of nature, animals, society, and other peoples. Kids and adults alike can learn from this type of media and gain a greater appreciation for our world and the animals and other people who inhabit it.

TV shows can inspire kids to try new activities and engage in "unplugged" learning.

When kids see their favorite characters engaged in fun learning games, they want to play too. Kids also like learning activities more if they involve beloved characters. Preschoolers’ shows are especially effective for generating ideas for learning activities and using characters to motivate kids.

If you have a child who loves Blue’s Clues, for example, you can create clues and a riddle for them to solve at home, or challenge your child to create the riddle and clues. Or, turn a regular activity into a challenge and encourage your child to solve it like the Super Sleuths do.

TV and movies can motivate kids to read books.

Of the new movies that are released each year, you can bet that several of them are based on books. Parents can challenge kids to read a book with the promise of going to the theater or renting the movie when they finish it. Or, kids may see a movie and like it so much that they decide to read the book. Discuss the differences between the book and the movie to help kids develop thinking skills.

Kids can build analytical skills by discussing media.

What do you think will happen next? Who did it? What will the result be? What could that character have done instead? Asking these types of questions as you co-view with your children will help them learn to think, problem solve, and predict, making TV viewing a more active experience. More important than just memorizing facts, developing thinking skills will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

Also, remember those compare/contrast tests in school? You can help prepare kids for this type of literary thinking by discussing programs with them. Compare and contrast characters or shows. Who is the main character? Describe the plot. What was the setting and main idea? What was the conflict and how was it resolved? Use TV time to help kids practice for all those essay tests, and they might find that talking about this stuff can be interesting and fun!

Parents can use TV to help kids learn the truth about advertising.

Advertising may be annoying, but it does present yet another opportunity to develop kids’ thinking skills. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, young children may not even know the difference between programs and commercials. They are just soaking it all in and applying it to their reality. As a parent, you can explain the purpose of advertising to your kids and alert them to any deceptive tactics. Allow them to analyze the methods used by advertisers to sell a product.

Good role models and examples on TV can positively influence kids.

Children are influenced by people they see on television, especially other kids. Obviously, this can have a negative result, but it can be positive too. Lately, kids' TV shows have begun promoting some positive agendas such as healthy living and environmental awareness. As kids see their favorite characters making positive choices, they will be influenced in a good way. Parents can also point out positive traits that characters display and thereby spark valuable family discussions.

Daniel Anderson, a prominent researcher on the subject, sums up the situation with children and media perfectly stating, “I hope the broader impact of my research will increase awareness at many levels so that we can be cognizant of both the promise and the peril of what we are doing.” Media truly can have a positive effect on children, but it is up to the parents, caregivers and educators in their lives to ensure that kids’ viewing experiences are enriching and not damaging.

Snacks

** Indicates meets food program requirements

Adding a glass of milk or juice with other snacks may make them meet food program requirements.

Kid Kabobs: Make kid kabobs using any kind of food you have on hand such as fruit, veggies, or cheese and meat. Give each child a few thin pretzels and pieces of food cut into cubes big enough that they can poke the pretzel through it. Kids love poking the pretzels trough the fruit pieces or cheese, and then gobbling them up.

** Yogurt Dunkers: Simple snack kids love, each child gets a cup of yogurt and a handful of vanilla wafers. They can dunk the cookies in yogurt if they want. Tastes great together!

** Pretzels & Cheese: Save those empty yogurt cups to fill with cheese for dipping pretzels in! Yummy! Kids love to dip! (soft pretzels) If you use hard pretzels you will need to serve milk or juice to meet food program... requirements.

** Peanut Butter Tacos: Let kids spread peanut butter all over a soft shell taco, be sure they have added enough to meet requirements, let them roll them up for a great tasting taco!

** Monkey Bread: Use refrigerated biscuits, cinn., sugar, and butter. Place canned biscuits in a pan, sides touching, drizzle melted butter all over and then sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar. Bake like normal.

** Graham-cracker Creatures: Give each child a few graham cracker squares, a cup of peanut butter (once again those yogurt cups come in handy) a plastic knife or child knife, and various small snack bits like mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, dried fruit pieces, etc. Kids can spread PNB on graham crackers and make faces or body parts with the marshmallows and such!

** Hi Ho Spiders: Another great snack kids can make. Spread cheese on round crackers like Hi Ho's and add thin pretzels for legs. Remember spiders have eight legs! Add a couple raisins or chocolate chips for eyes.

Mini Muffin Magic: What's the magic? Make a batch of Mini Muffins. Pillsbury makes a muffin mix just right for this... makes 24 mini muffins all you need to add to the mix is milk! (It is sold in a bag not a box) The magic comes when you see how quickly the kids gobble up the cute little muffins!

** Cookie Cutter Sandwiches: Make sandwiches out of cheese, meat, PNB, tuna salad, etc. what ever you have on hand. Cut them out with different shaped cookie cutters for a snack the kids will love to eat! Use cookie cutters to correspond with the theme for the day... i.e. use animal cookie cutters when you do a zoo theme.

Veggies & Dip: Cut veggies up into skinny dipping sizes and let kids dip them into some yummy ranch dressing or veggie dip! Some kids will enjoy dipping them into **yogurt too!

** Cheesy English Muffins: Toast an English muffin in the toaster then slap on a slice of cheese and pop it in the microwave for a few seconds! Yummy!

** Mini Pizzas: Same idea as above only spoon a little pizza sauce on the English muffin before you add the cheese. Use grated mozzarella cheese and toss in a 350° oven for a few minutes.

**Yogurt Pops: 1 - 32oz. container of strawberry yogurt, 1 - small can crushed pineapple, including juice. Put both items in your blender and blend until well mixed. Pour into Popsicle makers and freeze! -Submitted by Pamm in AZ

Animals In The Mud: Chocolate pudding with animal crackers on top makes animals in the mud. -Submitted by Jane Goodson

GOIN' FISHIN': Goldfish crackers Peanut Butter on individual plates for each child Stick pretzels (the short stick ones) Give each child some crackers, pretzels and goldfish on their own plate. Show them how to go fishing, by dipping one end of the stick pretzel into the peanut butter. Then pick up a goldfish with that same end. Wow! You caught one! Now eat it all gone! - Submitted by Debbi Mllinix

Ants On A Log: (for those who don't love celery!) Cut bananas in half and then the halves in half creating the "log" look. Spread peanut butter on the "logs" and then sprinkle raisins (bugs) on that. -Submitted by Traci

Veggie S'mores: Layer julienned carrots, celery, cucumber and zucchini on toasted bread cut into squares in between vegetable or chive cream cheese. -Submitted by Marnie Flood

Homemade Calzones: 1 tbsp. ricotta cheese, 1 tbsp. shredded mozzarella cheese, 2 strips ham (about the size of a matchbook). I use refrigerated pie crusts and cut each circle in half. use 1 layer each cheese and then the ham, fold over crust and bake on sprayed cookie sheet at 350 until golden brown. -Submitted by Marine Flood

Happy Trail Mix: 1 Cup tiny marshmallows, 2 Cups Honey graham cereal, 1/2 /cup semi-sweet choc chips, 1 Cup chopped peanuts*, 1/2 Cups Raisins. Combine all ingredients. Store in closed plastic bag or closed container. Serve in bright colored red or blue paisley handkerchief. * Peanuts pose a choking danger for small children. I also have used M and M's, -Submitted by Jodi D.

Soft Shells and Cheese: 2 soft shells and any kind of cheese. Take one soft shell and put your cheese on it then place the other shell on top, Place in oven and cook for 5 min or until they are nice and brown. -Submitted by Jodi D

Flying Saucers: Bologna slices and American cheese slices. Place bologna slice on a paper towel. Place a cheese slice on top. Microwave until cheese melts and bologna curls.

Child Development

The key to understanding children is to understand their development!

All children develop at their own rate! However there are some common milestones that most children pass through at relatively the same time. This information can be helpful to know what to expect and know what not to expect from children at different ages and stages. The following links provide resources that can be used as a guide to assess child development. Again, it is not to mean that children must perform all of these criteria at these specific ages! As stated before... all children develop at their own pace.

These resources should give you a guide to determine what is typical for children to be doing at certain ages. Most children's development will fall some where in their respective age groups. Some children may show high development in one area and less development in another area. If a child is lacking development in many areas for their age group then one may wish to seek further assessment from qualified professionals. Our belief is that if you have a concern about a specific child's development then it always better to ask!

Understanding child development is the first step parents, caregivers, and teachers must take when attempting to guide behavior, teach skills, and assess development. We must know what children are capable or incapable of doing before we have expectations of them, which is to say before we plan any activities or before we guide any of their behavior.

Health & Safety

We all know the common sense safety for baby proofing our home right? Well how about a little review...
Keep reading for things maybe you never have thought of before!



Lock away medicine, guns, knives, scissors, cleaning supplies, any potentially harmful thing that children may try to mess with.

Use gates, safety latches, and locks to keep children out of places they don't belong. Be sure the gates you use don't posse a risk, some accordion style ones have large openings that children can get their necks stuck in.

Be sure the cribs and playpens you use have not been recalled! Many have been!

Cover electrical outlets.

Never leave a child alone near any kind of open water... toilets, tubs, or even a bucket of water.

Keep poisonous house plants out of reach as well as secure outdoor plants that may be poisonous.

Always be on the look out for choke hazards!

Check Fire Alarms Monthly!

The 9 Myths to Effective Discipline

Many parents find value in holding children accountable for their actions. They believe that if a child misbehaves, something needs to be done quickly or the misbehavior will continue. To that end, parents seek a multitude of discipline strategies. They look for books, articles, and parenting advice from others that will tell them exactly what they need to do to correct misbehavior. As they compile their stockpile of discipline strategies, little do they realize that these techniques are often filled with myths, misunderstandings, and misinterpretations. In this article, we attempt to help you sort through the most often believed discipline myths so you can parent like no one else, allowing your children to grow up to be like no one else.

MYTH 1: Consequences are a more effective form of discipline than punishment.

FACT: It doesn’t matter whether you call the discipline strategy you are using a punishment or a consequence. It is not the action you take that determines whether or not it’s punishment; it’s HOW you take the action. For example, a “time out” or a toy being put away for a few days could be a punishment if it is administered arbitrarily and capriciously. That same discipline strategy could be a consequence if it is a natural outcome that is more closely related to the behavior and is delivered consistently.

MYTH 2: Consequences need to be severe to be effective.

FACT: It is not the severity of a consequence that has impact. It is the certainty. The certainty that specific, logical consequences follow actions, allows children to trust the discipline process. Your consistency in implementing consequences is the glue that holds a discipline strategy together. Children learn that if they choose to leave their bike in the middle of the driveway, the bike will be hung up in the garage for a few days. Teenagers come to know that if they choose to visit off limit sites on the computer, they have chosen to lose computer privileges for several days. When the consequence occurs consistently, children can count on it and plan accordingly.

MYTH 3: Children learn more quickly from punishment than they do from consequences.

FACT: While it is true that you sometimes get a more immediate result with punishment, it is the consistent implementation of consequences that produces long-term behavior change in children. With punishment, the child is more like to focus on you, your behavior, your anger, than on themselves and the results of the choices they made. Learning rarely results from punishment because children are too busy activating resentment, resistance, and reluctance. They are more likely to spend their time thinking of revenge fantasies, and how to not get caught next time than they are of the cause and effect relationship between their behavior and the consequences which follow.

MYTH 4: The discipline has to be immediate or the effect will be lost and the child will simply repeat the behavior.

FACT: Discipline can be effective whether it is immediate or delayed. How you discipline is more important that when you do it. You might want to take 15-20 minutes to think through how you want to respond to a particular behavior. It could be important to wait until later to discuss options with your partner. Helping children see the cause and effect relationship that exists between the choices they make and the consequences that are directly related to those choices is more important than whether the consequences occurs immediately or the next day.

MYTH 5: Parents need to be in control of their children and discipline strategies are the way to stay in control.

FACT: Effective discipline calls for the parents to arrange consequences so that the child is in control. They set it up so that the child is in control of his choices and thus controls the outcomes which result.

Consequences are not used to control, to manipulate, to demonstrate power, or to get even. Attempting to use consequences for control crosses the line and becomes punishment.

Punishment is force, unrelated to the behavior and comes across as retribution. Disciplining from the power stance places the child in a position of being “done to” by others in a position of authority. The child, feeling powerless, does not see himself as being in control of the outcomes. He sees himself as the victim.

When children see themselves as in control of whether or not they experience consequences or outcomes, they are empowered. They learn to see themselves as the cause of what happens to them. They realize they personally create the results which show up in their lives by the choices they make. It is therefore, the children who need the power and the control for discipline to be effective..

MYTH: 6 Discipline strategies are effective only if they get the child to comply.

FACT: Compliance or noncompliance by the child has nothing to do with the effectiveness of a discipline system. When discipline strategies demands compliance such as in the case where the parent keeps increasing the severity of the punishment until the child complies, children learn that adults have power and they don’t.

In the use of consequences the effort does not concentrate on making the child comply. The goal is to present choices, allow the child to choose, and give them room to learn from the positive or negatives outcomes which occur. With the consequence system, children learn a lesson from either the positive or the negative outcome.

Punishing a child with increasing severity until they pick up their toys might get them to pick up their toys. It will not teach them to take responsibility for their toys or create internal motivation to produce the desired behavior.

With consequences, the choice is presented, “You can choose to pick up your toys or you can choose to leave them here. If you choose to pick them up you will have decided to use them for the next week. If you decide to leave them here, I will pick them up, and you will have decided not to have them available for a week. You decide.” With this style of discipline, the child may choose to pick up his toys and he may choose to leave they there. Either way it’s perfect. If he picks them up, it’s perfect. You don’t have to. If he leaves them there, it’s perfect. It’s the perfect time to help him learn what happens when he chooses not to pick up his toys.

MYTH 7: When you implement a discipline strategy, the child needs to know that you are angry.

FACT: Anger is not helpful in a discipline situation. When you discipline in anger the child’s attention focuses on your strong emotion. He looks outward to the person applying the punishment rather than inward to his own internal reaction to the results of the choice he made.

Sincere empathy is much more effective than anger in a discipline situation. “Bummer, what a shame. I bet that will be a challenge for you now,” is empathy that maintains a positive connection between you and the child, even as you hold them accountable for their actions. When the child hears empathy, instead of anger, he is more likely to look inside and to notice the connection between cause (his choice) and effect (the consequence).

MYTH 8: Children have to know they were wrong for discipline to be effective.

FACT: Making children wrong for their behavior is counter-productive to raising responsible children. An effective discipline system does not make children right or wrong for their behavior. It simply holds them accountable for their behavior.

If your child fails to put his bike in the garage as agreed, don’t make him wrong. Don’t make him lazy. Don’t make him forgetful. Don’t make him irresponsible. Just make him someone who doesn’t get to ride his bike for three days as agreed to earlier.

Even if the problem occurs over time, refrain from making your child wrong. Blaming and faultfinding don’t help children learn how to make different choices and behave differently in the future. Fixing the problem is more important than fixing blame. Together, join in the search for solutions and model for your child that you value solving problems more than you do assigning blame and handing out punishments.

MYTH 9: It is important to point out the pattern of a child’s behavior.

FACT: How many times a behavior occurred in the past is unimportant. The focus in any effective discipline system is the present behavior. The past is over and the present moment is the only place where the learning can take place.

Remember, your role as a parent is to empower your children to be responsible, caring and confident as they move through the development stages of childhood. Avoiding the 9 discipline myths will help you play out that role effectively.

What Parents Give Their Children

"Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy." - Robert A. Heinlein

"Your children need your presence more than your presents." - Jesse Jackson

"In the end, it's not what you do for your children...but what you've taught them to do for themselves." - Ann Landers

"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings." - Hodding Carter, Jr.

"A child, like your stomach, doesn't need all you can afford to give it."
- Frank A. Clark

"In bringing up children, spend on them half as much money and twice as much time." - Author Unknown

"Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he's buying." - Fran Lebowitz, Social Studies

"I've been very blessed. My parents always told me I could be anything I wanted. When you grow up in a household like that, you learn to believe in yourself." - Rick Schroeder

“Sometimes we’re so concerned about giving our children what we never had growing up, we neglect to give them what we did have growing up.”
- James Dobson

"If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm."
- Bruce Barton

"We should say to each [of our children]:...you may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven." - Pablo Casals (Cellist)

"Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve." - Roger Lewin

"All children need to grow up believing that what they are heading for is reachable and worth seeking. Then it will be." - Mel Levine

"Loving a child doesn't mean giving in to his every whim; to love him is to bring out the best in him, to teach him to love what is difficult." - Nadia Boulanger

"Each day of our lives, we make deposits in the memory banks of our children."
- Charles R. Swindoll

"If you want your children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders." - Abigail van Buren

"Love means...spending time and paying attention to children. It means family rituals. Children like structure and they like to have things they can count on happening." - Marion Wright Edelman

"The best thing to spend on your children is time." - Louise Hart

"Parents need to fill a child's bucket of self-esteem so high that the rest of the world can't poke enough holes in it to drain it dry." - Alvin Price

"Loving your child also means respecting him as a person. Treat him with the same courtesy as would a friend." - Claudia Jones

"Long before I was a success, my parents made me feel like I could be one."
- Toni Morrison

"The doctors told me I would never walk, but my mother told me I would - so I listened to my mother." - Wilma Rudolph, US Olympic Gold Medal Winner

"All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.
- Earvin "Magic" Johnson

"Children have more need of models than of critics." - Carolyn Coats, Things Your Dad Always Told You But You Didn't Want to Hear

"What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give." - P.D. James, Time to Be in Earnest

"The best inheritance a person can give to his children is a few minutes of his time each day" - O. A. Battista

"Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted." – Garrison Keillor

Let's face it, we all worry about our children. As they go through school we have all sorts of questions:

1. Am I doing all I can to help them through school?
2. How can I help them with subjects they find difficult?
3. How can I understand today's teaching methods?
4. What should I know when choosing a school?
5. What is taught in each subject and when?
6. At what stage should my child be now?
7. In what sequence is a child taught maths topics?
8. What are phonics?
9. What should I expect from schools and teachers?
10.How can I help my child to enjoy reading?
11.What books?

or perhaps you:

1. don't know enough about the School Curriculum
2. would like to be reassured by communicating with other parents
3. need ideas and worksheets you can use at home
4. would like individual advice.

So what's the difference between parents that know they are doing their best and those that remain unsure? And, more importantly, have happy children at school?