PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND CHILDREN

Why is exercise or physical activity important for my child?

Increased physical activity has been associated with an increased life expectancy and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease.  Physical activity produces overall physical, psychological and social benefits. Inactive children are likely to become inactive adults. And physical activity helps with

• controlling weight
• reducing blood pressure
• raising HDL ("good") cholesterol
• reducing the risk of diabetes and some kinds of cancer
• improved psychological well-being, including gaining more self-confidence and higher self-esteem 

How do I promote physical activity in my child?

• Physical activity should be increased by reducing sedentary time (e.g., watching television, playing computer video games or talking on the phone).
• Physical activity should be fun for children and adolescents.
• Parents should try to be role models for active lifestyles and provide children with opportunities for increased physical activity.

What if my child is uncoordinated or overweight?

All children, even less-coordinated ones, need to be physically active.  Activity may be particularly helpful for the physical and psychological well-being of children with a weight problem.

The American Heart Association recommends:

• All children age 2 and older should participate in at least 60 minutes of enjoyable, moderate-intensity physical activities every day that are developmentally appropriate and varied.
• If your child or children don't have a full 60-minute activity break each day, try to provide at least two 30-minute periods or four 15-minute periods in which they can engage in vigorous activities appropriate to their age, gender and stage of physical and emotional development.

EARLY STIMULATION PROMOTES CHILDREN ABILITY

There are many hereditary, environmental, and physical factors that contribute to one’s intellect, and it is difficult to isolate the particular influences. For many children who have difficulty in school, we will never know precisely why their ability to learn is limited. Let me tell you what is now known about intellectual development that may explain some – but not all – cases of learning deficits.

Accumulating evidence seems to indicate that some children who are slow learners and even those who have borderline retardation may not have received proper intellectual stimulation in their very early years. There appears to be a critical period during the first three to four years when the potential for intellectual growth must be seized. There are enzyme systems in the brain that must be activated during this brief window. If the opportunity is missed, the child may never reach his capacity.

Children who grow up in deprived circumstances are more likely to be slow learners. They may not have heard adult language regularly. They may not have been provided with interesting books and puzzles to stimulate their sensory apparatus. They may not have been taken to the zoo, the airport, or other exciting places. They may not have received daily training and guidance from adults. This lack of stimulation may inhibit the brain from developing properly.

The effect of early stimulation on living brains has been studied in several fascinating animal experiments. In one study, researchers divided littermate rats into two identical groups. The first was given maximum stimulation during the first few months of life. These rats were kept in well-lighted cages, surrounded by interesting paddle wheels and other toys. They were handled regularly and allowed to explore outside their cages. They were subjected to learning experiences and then rewarded for remembering.

The second group lived the opposite kind of existence. These rats crouched in dimly lit, drab, uninteresting cages. They were not handled or stimulated in any way, and were not permitted outside their cages. Both groups were fed identically.

At 105 days of age, the rats?were sacrificed to permit examination of their neurological apparatus. The researchers were surprised to find that the high-stimulation rats had brains that differed in several important ways: (1) the cortex (the thinking part of the brain) was thicker and wider; (2) the blood supply was much more abundant; (3) the enzymes necessary for learning were more sophisticated. The researchers concluded that the stimulation experienced during the first group’s early lives had resulted in more advanced and complex brains.

It is always risky to apply conclusions from animal research directly to humans, but the same kinds of changes probably occur in the brains of highly stimulated children. If parents want their children to be capable, they should begin by talking to them at length while they are still babies. Interesting mobiles and winking-blinking toys should be arranged around the crib. From then on through the toddler years, learning activities should be programmed regularly.

Of course, parents must understand the difference between stimulation and pressure. Providing books for a 3-year-old is stimulating. Ridiculing and threatening him because he can’t read them is pressuring. Imposing unreachable expectations can have a damaging effect on children.

If early stimulation is as important as it now appears, then the lack thereof may be a leading cause of learning impairment among schoolchildren. It is imperative that parents take the time and invest their resources in their children. The necessity for providing rich, edifying experiences for young children has never been as obvious as it is today.

TEACHING CHILDREN MORAL AN SPIRITUAL VALUES

Moral and value education has been the subject of a number of studies, each of which has expanded on the studies prior to it. Three pivotal studies are those done by Drs. Piaget, Kohlberg and Turiel. These studies each focused on a different method of teaching morals and values but there are common threads that run between them all.

Values Through Cooperation and Decision Making

Jean Piaget’s 1932 study examined how well children learn basic morality. He concluded that moral development follows a similar path through all children. Like all skills, the basic functions are learned first and the more advanced functions follow.

Piaget applied this theory towards teaching moral development. His idea was that children would develop morally if they had to cooperate with one another to solve problems. By working together they would gain an understanding of what kept the group together – namely, the individuals in the group working together and avoiding morally wrong decisions.

CHILDREN COOKING

BREAKFAST BENEFITS

Breakfast has been called the most important meal of the day, and with good reason. While every meal counts toward good nutrition, the facts are on the table: Eating in the morning has positive effects on health and on kids' ability to learn.

What's a nutritious breakfast? A meal consisting of foods from at least two of the five food groups is healthiest, but the truth is that noshing on nearly any food in the morning is better than none, especially when it come to kids.

It's a good idea to get your child into the habit of eating breakfast before he begins kindergarten. That's because youngsters who eat breakfast tend to fare better in school and have a healthier overall diet. Hunger makes it harder to keep your mind focused on learning, no matter what your age. In fact, studies show breakfast skippers are often more irritable and have shorter attention spans. Here's a possible explanation. When you forgo eating in the morning, blood glucose levels drop. Glucose is the fuel cells need to function, so brain cells become particularly sluggish when glucose concentrations are insufficient. Without adequate energy, young minds get fuzzy, hampering concentration and memory.

Without the morning meal, kids are hard-pressed to meet daily nutrient needs, too. A simple, easy-to-fix meal of fortified cereal with eight ounces of milk and six ounces of orange juice provides substantial amounts of a variety of nutrients, particularly B vitamins, vitamins C and D, calcium, folic acid, and iron if the cereal is fortified with it.

Navigate the Morning Rush
With all the promise of the morning meal, why don't more kids eat breakfast? You're probably pressed for time in the morning, and so are your children. Simplify your morning routine with these tips:

• Get up ten minutes earlier.
• Give up morning television and computer games in favor of concentrating on the task at hand: eating breakfast.
• Stock the kitchen with healthy, quick-to-fix breakfast foods, including cereal, waffles, pancakes, milk, juice, cottage cheese, bread, fruit, and peanut butter.
• The night before kindergarten or nursery school, help kids pack their school bags and decide what to wear the next day to reduce the morning chaos.

On the Menu: Not Your Basic Breakfast Foods
Your kids may balk at traditional breakfast foods, but that doesn't mean they must go without. Here's how to jazz up the morning meal.

• Split a bagel. Spread each half with peanut butter and sprinkle with raisins. Serve with milk.
• Warm up leftover pizza or serve it cold. Have kids sip juice to go with it.
• Combine a soft pretzel, string cheese, and fresh fruit for breakfast.
• Serve 8 ounces of yogurt, a piece of toast, and juice.
• Mix it up with a hard-boiled egg, small roll, and a piece of fruit.
• Heat a freshly made or frozen pancake, spread with peanut butter, top with sliced banana, and roll up.
• Layer one or two slices of turkey breast and one slice cheese on a tortilla or colorful sandwich wrap. Roll up. Serve with juice or with fruit.
• Concoct a breakfast parfait with layers of fruit yogurt; sliced fresh fruit; and crunchy, iron-fortified cereal. Kids love this in an ice cream cone.
• Swirl applesauce and raisins into warm oatmeal. Serve with milk.
• Combine in a blender until frothy: ½ cup lemon yogurt, ½ cup milk, dash vanilla extract, and 2 ice cubes. Complement with a slice of whole grain toast.
• Scramble an egg, stuff into half a pita pocket, and top with ketchup or mild salsa, if desired. Serve with juice or fruit.
• Puree chunks of peaches, pears, or apples in the blender or food processor. Thin with fruit juice to desired consistency. Use instead of syrup on fat waffles and pancakes. Add milk to make a meal.
• Mix cottage cheese with chopped peaches, pears, or apples. Spread on whole wheat crackers or toast.

DAY CARE CENTERS AND PRESCHOOL

Day care centers, as well as preschools, typically are institutional settings similar to elementary schools. Often, children are grouped in classroom-type arrangements according to age, with one or more teachers or aides. Each class usually will follow a lesson plan similar to those used in grade schools. These school-like surroundings are one of the main differences from family day care.

Day Care Centers
Day care centers provide supervision to children in a larger group environment during set hours. A typical center might remain open from 6:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, although there are any number of variations on opening hours for different facilities. Some programs provide care into the evening, overnight, or on weekends.

Another major advantage to choosing a day care center is that centers are able to remain open if one of the employees is ill. In a family day care setting, discussed in Family Day Care, there may only be one caregiver, forcing the need to make other arrangements if the caregiver is sick. Absent a facility-wide outbreak of an illness, a day care center can be relied upon to remain open on all of its regular business days.

Day care centers also are seen by some as safer than family day care or in-home situations, mainly because of the number of people present in the facility. With a greater number of staff, not to mention all of the parents coming and going throughout the day, it is less likely that a situation of abuse or neglect toward any child would occur without anyone noticing.

Disadvantages
On the flip side, there are several disadvantages with day care centers, mainly related to the number of staff members and the number of children. The biggest problem has to do with children-to-staff ratios. Higher numbers of children per staff member generally correlates with lower quality of care. Unfortunately, in many cases, day care center staff is underpaid, leading to unfilled positions and high turnover. This results in higher children-to-staff ratios than are desirable, and possibly to less stability in the care that the children receive.

The sheer number of children in day care centers is also seen as a disadvantage by many parents. If there are four, five, or even more rooms, even if there are fewer than ten children per room, there are far more children present than there would be in a family day care setting. More children means more germs, and of course, a greater chance that your child will come home with a nasty cold, strep throat, or worse.

Another potential sticking point for families is the philosophy of the individual program. Sometimes, day care centers tend to be play-based rather than educationally focused. This is seen as a deficiency by some parents, who prefer that their children are provided with scholastic experiences when in childcare situations. At the same time, there are plenty of day care centers that provide an actual curriculum for enrolled children. Check for National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation, which is discussed in Evaluating out of home childcare. If the facility is accredited, it has a curriculum that meets NAEYC standards.

CHEATING

What Exactly Is Cheating?

Cheating is when a person misleads, deceives, or acts dishonestly on purpose. For kids, cheating may happen at school, at home, or while playing a sport. If a baseball team is for kids who are 8 or younger, it's cheating for a 9-year-old to play on the team and hit home run after home run.

At school, in addition to cheating on a test, a kid might cheat by stealing someone else's idea for a science project or by copying a book report off the Internet and turning it in as if it's his or her original work. Copying someone else's words or work and saying they're yours is a type of cheating called plagiarizing (say: play-jeh-rise-ing).

Why Kids Cheat 

Some kids cheat because they're busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending the time studying. Other kids might feel like they can't pass the test without cheating. Even when there seems to be a "good reason" for cheating, cheating isn't a good idea.

If you were sick or upset about something the night before and couldn't study, it would be better to talk with the teacher about this. And if you don't have enough time to study for a test because of swim practice, you need to talk with your parents about how to balance swimming and school.

A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions together. Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.