Healthy Activities For Children

Kids have so much natural curiosity and energy, it seems a shame to set them in front of the tube as a regular activity. Playtime should ideally serve to forward a c h i l d ' s development across the board, but in true play and fun mode. For example, encourage regular physical activity with sports activities and walks in the park. Spark the c h i l d ' s imagination and creativity with art projects. These types of children activities satisfy both objectives. Let's take a look at some activities for children that provide lots of fun for the kids while promoting healthy age-appropriate development.

Craft projects help children develop their motor skills, creative nature and problem solving abilities. Making colored paper daisy chains and clay objects are a couple of examples of good activities for younger children. Older kids enjoy weaving and beading kits.

Science can be an excellent and favorite activity for children. Kids are very curious about nature. They love to dig around in the dirt and get to know the bugs, birds and plants. Get an ant farm. Go to the hobby shop and buy an inexpensive microscope and a prism. Kids love checking things out with a microscope - it's a whole new look at the world they want to understand. Prisms are fascinating to kids.

Although it's true most kids spend too much time in front of the TV, judicious use of the tube can work for you. The Discovery Channel and Animal Planet provide programs that enrich a child's knowledge in terms even young children can understand. Kids who see these programs when quite young often continue to catch these programs on their own, well into their teens. So don't discount TV altogether. This strategy allows the kids to feel they aren't deprived of television time, while being a terrific activity for children of any age.

Video games are a subject of some controversy among parents, educators and psychologists. Some say it should be allowed only on a limited basis, so kids don't become totally screen oriented. However, there have been a number of studies which show that video games prove to boost motor skills and complex problem solving abilities remarkably when compared with kids who don't play. If you screen out the violent and aggressive games, video games are excellent activities for children. To prevent the addictive potential of video games, just set aside approved time periods for this play.

Any activities for children that involve putting things together are recommended. This includes paper projects, L e g o s (TM), T i n k e r toys (TM) and Lincoln Logs(TM). Clay, paper m a c h e and beading or weaving projects fit in here too.

When you think about it, the best kinds of activities for children, that also promote healthy development, are ones the kids love best. You just need to give a little direction. Read More..

Missing Children Facts and Tips on Keeping Your Child Safe

There Are Many Things We Can Do as Parents, and Things We Can Teach Our Kids, to Keep Them Safe

FACTS

There are different types of missing children. The largest group of missing children is those who are runaways. The children at greatest risk of injury or death are those children who are abducted by nonfamily. There are also family abductions usually done by the non-custodial parent or
another family member. Children also go missing when they become lost, injured or become disoriented and separated from a parent or caregiver.

According to Nismart-2 Research for the year 1999 there were 797,500 missing children during that year. Missing children has become such a nationally recognized problem that in 1984 the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children was created as the clearinghouse federally mandated by the U.S. Congress to assist families and law enforcement in cases of missing and exploited children.

TIPS TO KEEP YOUR CHILD SAFE

Here are some tips that may help to keep your child safe. Assure your child of your love and that you will never stop loving them or wanting them. Often in noncustodial parent abductions the child is told that the custodial parent does not love them any more and does not want them. If you have often assured them that this could never happen they are more likely to question the validity of this statement.

Make it a strict safety rule that your child either is with you or play using the buddy system. When playing outside, they must always be with at least one other child. Although it is no guarantee that abductions won’t happen when your child is with another child, it is less likely. Should the unthinkable happen and an abduction happen when your child is with another child, if that child is old enough to understand and remember details of the abductor then they may be of assistance in giving clues to who did the abduction. Another child can also let an adult know of the abduction and give information concerning what happened and where it happened. Read More..

How To Prevent Obesity in Your Child

We have all noticed throughout our country the rising epidemic of obese children. Every single one of us know of at least one family that has several obese children. This is not something that is rare, as it used to be. But now, having a child that is overweight is very normal. When I was a child, I was quite overweight, and it took many years for me to shed the weight, however, the emotional toll that being an obese child causes can stretch many years, far after the weight has left. But how can you keep your child from becoming obese? I have listed out several tips that will aide you in your quest to keep your child healthy and fit for years to come.

Within the past two years, the counts of obese children have doubled according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is why it is so important that you teach your children healthy eating habits when they are young. Some of the things you should do is DON'T force him/her to eat when he/she is not hungry --- the child shouldn't have to clean his/her plate if she/he is already full. I remember being a child and this was a number one rule -- "you can't leave the dinner table until your plate is clean." What this teaches your child to do is gorge him or herself. This teaches them that it is okay to just eat when you are not hungry.

Another thing you should not do is use food as a reward, or as a comfort when they are upset. By dong so, you will inadvertently create a deep emotional connection to food. Have you ever heard of "emotional eaters"? Perhaps you, yourself are an emotional eater. This is why you mustn't use food as a reward or a punishment. You do not want to create any emotion attachment to food. You must teach your children that food is there to keep you alive. And yes, it can be very tasty, and there are certain foods for certain occasions, however, food will in no way make you happier, feel better, or have a happier outlook on life. Food IS NOT comfort. Read More..

How to Keep Your Kid's Teeth Healthy Maintain Your Child's Beautiful Smmile

Each day, you carefully brush your teeth, floss, and swish with Listerine, happy that you're keeping your mouth healthy. But how can you be sure that your kids are brushing like they should? With their young hectic lives of school, homework, and 24/7 technology, it's easy for children to forget to brush their teeth. Here are a few ways to ensure your child's teeth are staying healthy, even if he or she doesn't always remember to brush and floss:

Fluoride Water

Water enhanced with fluoride has been proven to keep teeth healthy, and many big cities automatically add fluoride to their water to promote city-wide health. See if your city adds fluoride to tap water, and if not, buy bottled water with fluoride added to strengthen your family's teeth.

Warning: Some scientists warn that fluoride, even in small amounts, can be a harmful carcinogen after long-term exposure. Research fluoride to decide if it's right for your family.

Limit Soda Consumption

Have you ever seen the carbonated egg experiment? Basically, an egg with shell on (representing your teeth's surface) is placed in a glass of soda. After a couple of days, the egg's shell has completely dissolved. This experiment represents what soda does to your teeth over time- scary, huh? (Trying this experiment with your children would be a fun way to illustrate the importance of dental hygiene.)

To greatly improve your children's teeth, make a commitment to limit or eliminate soda in your household. Additionally, if your children drink bone-building milk or vitamin-rich juice instead of soda, their teeth will be even healthier.

Make the Daily Dental Routine Fun

Minutes spent brushing, flossing between every tooth, and rinsing with mouthwash can make your children bored and less likely t take care of their teeth in the future. Luckily, you can make your children's dental experience entertaining with singing character toothbrushes, flavored floss, and color-changing mouth-wash. By introducing some fun into your children's dental routine, you'll be encouraging them to maintain their health. Read More..

Fit Kids ..... !!

There's a lot of discussion these days about fit kids. People who care (parents, doctors, teachers, and others) want to know how to help kids be more fit.

Being fit is a way of saying a person eats well, gets a lot of physical activity (exercise), and has a healthy weight. If you're fit, your body works well, feels good, and can do all the things you want to do, like run around with your friends.

Some steps only parents can take — such as serving healthy meals or deciding to take the family on a nature hike. But kids can take charge, too, when it comes to health.

Here are five rules to live by, if you're a kid who wants to be fit. The trick is to follow these rules most of the time, knowing that some days (like your birthday) might call for cake and ice cream.

1. Eat a variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables. You may have a favorite food, but the best choice is to eat a variety. If you eat different foods, you're more likely to get the nutrients your body needs. Taste new foods and old ones you haven't tried for a while. Some foods, such as green veggies, are more pleasing the older you get. Shoot for at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day — two fruits and three vegetables. Here's one combination that might work for you:

• at breakfast: ½ cup (about 4 large) strawberries on your cereal
• with lunch: 6 baby carrots
• for a snack: an apple
• with dinner: ½ cup broccoli (about 2 big spears) and 1 cup of salad

2. Drink water and milk most often. When you're really thirsty, cold water is the No. 1 thirst-quencher. And there's a reason your school cafeteria offers cartons of milk. Kids need calcium to grow strong bones, and milk is a great source of this mineral. How much do kids need? Aim for 3 cups of milk per day, or its equivalent. You can mix it up by having milk and some other calcium-rich dairy foods. Here's one combination:

• 2 cups (about half a liter) of low-fat or nonfat milk
• 1 slice cheddar cheese
• ½ cup (small container) of yogurt

You probably will want something other than milk or water once in a while, so it's OK to have 100% juice, too. But try to limit sugary drinks, like sodas, juice cocktails, and fruit punches. They contain a lot of added sugar. Sugar just adds calories, not important nutrients.

3. Listen to your body. What does it feel like to be full? When you're eating, notice how your body feels and when your stomach feels comfortably full. Sometimes, people eat too much because they don't notice when they need to stop eating. Eating too much can make you feel uncomfortable and, over a period of time, can lead to unhealthy weight gain.

4. Limit screen time. Limit screen time. What's screen time? It's the amount of time you spend watching TV or DVDs, playing video games (console systems or handheld games), and using the computer. The more time you spend on these sitting-down activities, the less time available for active stuff, like basketball, bike riding, and swimming. Try to spend no more than 2 hours a day on screen time, not counting computer use related to school.

5. Be active. One job you have as a kid — and it's a fun one — is that you get to figure out which activities you like best. Not everyone loves baseball or soccer. Maybe your passion is karate, or kickball, or dancing. Ask your parents to help you do your favorite activities regularly. Find ways to be active every day. You might even write down a list of fun stuff to do, so you can refer to it when your mom or dad says it's time to stop watching TV or playing computer games!

Speaking of parents, they can be a big help if you want to be a fit kid. For instance, they can stock the house with healthy foods and plan physical activities for the family. Tell your parents about these five steps you want to take and maybe you can teach them a thing or two. If you're a fit kid, why shouldn't you have a fit mom and a fit dad?

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Children's Snoring

It's sweet to see a young child gently snoring. But when the snoring gets louder -- especially in infants -- it's time to take action.

Snoring in infants

Snoring is always abnormal in very young children. The most common causes are sinusitis or adenoid enlargement. Sinusitis is treated with antibiotics and decongestants; adenoid enlargement treated with surgery (removal of tonsils and adenoids). Also possible is choanal atresia, a congenital closure of the back of the nose which also requires surgery for correction. Allergies are almost never present in infants.

Snoring in children

If your child snores, be alert for signs of obstructive sleep apnea (periods of not breathing, typically followed by a gasp or snort). But sleep apnea is much more subtle in children since true apnea rarely occurs. So parents should be looking for behavioral symptoms which may indicate a sleep disorder: these include hyperactivity, ADHD, poor school performance, snoring, mouth breathing, bedwetting. A 2005 study, conducted at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, found that 23% of snoring children had poor academic records compared to 13.5% of those who did not snore. The snorers were more likely to be bad tempered, with 35% having poor temper control, 75% higher than non-snorers.

Recent research suggests that some children who are medicated for ADHD might be better served if their sleepiness and snoring were addressed first. If your child does show signs of sleep apnea, it is very possible that the cause is tonsil and/or adenoid enlargement. The treatment is surgery to remove the offending tonsils and adenoids, and this has been shown to be extremely effective in solving the problem.

As with adults, our advice is to never ignore snoring. Backing up this view are findings that children with lower academic performance in middle school are more likely to have snored during early childhood. Young children who snore are also likely to suffer from asthma and nighttime cough. The researchers hypothesize that a "learning debt" may develop with Sleep Disorder Breathing during early childhood and hamper subsequent school performance. For more details, see our recent newsletter.

Snoring and Asthma: Snoring may be an early indicator of asthma in children. A study in the journal Chest found that 40% of pre-school children who snored and then developed a nighttime cough were ultimately diagnosed with asthma.

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Our Kids Get a Cold ?

You wake up in a cranky mood. Your head hurts. You don't have the energy to even get out of bed. And you can't breathe out of your nose. What's wrong? You have a cold!

Having a cold is the number-one reason kids visit the doctor and stay home from school. Kids get up to eight colds per year with each cold lasting an average of 5 to 7 days. Let's find out more about them.

What Is a Cold?

A cold is an infection of the upper respiratory system. This just means it affects the nose, throat, and ears. A cold virus gets inside your body and makes you sick. There are over 200 viruses that cause colds. The rhinovirus (say: rye-no-vye-rus) is the most common cold virus, but there are more than 200 viruses that cause colds. Because there are so many, there isn't a vaccination, or shot, to prevent you from getting colds.

Fortunately, your body already has the best cold cure - your immune system. The immune system defends your body against illness. White blood cells are the immune system's main warriors. They're your own private army working to help you feel better. Take that, cold viruses!

How Kids Catch Colds

Mucus (say: myoo-kus) is the wet, slimy stuff inside the nose. When someone sneezes or coughs, mucus drops float in the air. Breathing in these droplets can spread a cold from one person to another.

You can also catch a cold if you touch your eyes or nose after handling something with cold viruses on it. Video games, the doors at the mall, and your school desk are all hot spots for viruses. So be sure to wash your hands regularly.

Getting a cold works like space travel - the virus actually has docking points that stick to the inside of your nose - just like a small spaceship attaching to a mother ship! The virus takes over the cells lining the nose and begins creating more viruses.

White blood cells charge to the nose's rescue and cause cold symptoms, while also killing the virus that caused the cold. Runny noses and sneezing actually help to prevent viruses from invading other parts of your body.

You sneeze because your nerves detect the irritation in your nose and get the lungs to push a blast of air out through your nose and mouth. Your body can sneeze over 100 miles an hour (161 kilometers per hour) - faster than a car travels on the road, unless you're at a racetrack!

Cold Clues

Symptoms (say: simp-tumz) are signs or clues that tell doctors you're sick. Once you've been in contact with a cold virus, it takes 2 to 3 days for cold symptoms to begin. If you have some of the following symptoms, you probably have a cold:

• low fever (100 to 101 degrees Fahrenheit or 37.2 to 37.8 degrees Celsius)
• body chills
• itchy or sore throat
• sneezing, runny nose, and watery eyes
• coughing
• feeling tired and not hungry
• congestion (when your nose is stuffy and it's hard to breathe)

Helping Kids Feel Better

Although medicine doesn't make colds go away faster, some medicines can help you feel better while you wait for your cold to go away. Don't take any medicine unless your parent or doctor gives it to you. They might suggest acetaminophen or ibuprofen, which helps aching heads and muscles.

Decongestants sometimes can make it easier to breathe by shrinking the swollen lining of the nose. Antihistamines (say: an-teye-his-tuh-meenz) dry up mucus and may help stop runny noses and sneezing.

Here are some other feel-better tips:

• Bring on the heat. Hot drinks soothe coughs and sore throats while also clearing mucus. So eat (or drink) your chicken soup!
• Get steamed up. A steamy shower helps stuffy or irritated noses. Or run a humidifier (a small, quiet machine that sprays fine cool mist in the air) to relieve your scratchy throat, stuffy nose, and itchy eyes. Humidifiers make room air moist, which loosens mucus.
• Practice healthy habits. Your immune system will be ready to fight colds if you eat a balanced diet, get plenty of sleep, and keep your body fit through regular exercise.
• Blow your horn. Blowing your nose is the best way to get rid of mucus.
• Rest. Take a nap or go to bed a little earlier for a few nights.
• De-stress. Kids who are stressed out feel worse when they have colds. Relax and use the time to read, listen to music, or watch a movie. In other words, chill out and you might prevent a cold!

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