Childhood obesity is a topic of which I unfortunately know very little. I was asked by a parent to make it a topic on this blog and ever since then I've been trying to do some reading on the topic. In the end, I find myself with a bit more knowledge in the areas of nutrition and physical education but really, more questions than I had before I started!
Is this a nature vs. nurture debate?
Is it hereditary?
Is it really linked to socioeconomic status?
Is it really linked to an increase in technology leading to a more sedentary lifestyle? (...but if it's linked to socioeconomic status, shouldn't people at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder, who probably can't afford all the latest technological entertainment/recreation, be more physically active?)
Is this obesity causing an earlier onset of puberty?
Is the increase in childhood obesity caused by 2 working parent households where home-cooked meals are not as common? (....feeling very, very guilty about that one myself)
Is this due to lack of education in the areas of nutrition and physical education? - whose responsibility is it to teach children healthy lifestyle habits?
Here is my confession: I have two children, Sadie is 13 and Rees is 10. They both have a bowl of ice cream almost every single night. It's just something we've always let them do after dinner each night. They both could probably tell you the number of their favorite value meal at both Wendys and McDonalds (very ashamed of this). We do order pizza for dinner one a night a week and we order Chinese food for dinner one night a week. Both Sadie and Rees buy their lunch at school every day. I would elaborate on my children's television, iPod, and computer use -- but I'm just too embarrassed, thinking I've allowed it in excess. Clearly, I'm not doing the best job when it comes to setting the bar for healthy habits with my children.
Here is what I feel good about: Both Sadie and Rees LOVE vegetables. Seriously, they absolutely love them! A veggie tray goes very fast in my house. Rees really loves cooked vegetables - he'd sit down with a bowl full of mashed potatoes and broccoli and be the happiest kid ever. Sadie is always looking for a salad to eat. I don't know how that happened but I'm grateful they both love vegetables. They also both love fruit! Rees would eat apples and grapes all day if we let him. Sadie loves all fruit too. So, I'm lucky. I also feel good about their physical activity. Both are very active in sports all year. But, beyond the scheduled athletic activities, both Sadie and Rees enjoy kickball, Capture the Flag, and many other outdoor games they play until late at night out on the cul de sac. And, both of my children are what I would consider to be looking physically fit - not overweight at all. Now I feel better...
Here are some of the links to websites where I read a lot about childhood obesity:
http://www.bing.com/health/article/mayo-126380/Childhood-obesity?q=childhood+obesity&qpvt=childhood+obesity
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/
http://www.letsmove.gov/
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/obesityprevention/index.html
http://www.smallstep.gov/kids/flash/index.html
So obviously I don't yet have a handle on what many consider to be a national crisis - childhood obesity. I'm hoping some of you choosing to read this blog do have more information and greater insight. Please don't just read this....post! Post your knowledge, thoughts, confessions (like I did), opinions, questions, etc. When we can hear from those of you with more information on specific topics, we all learn!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
April - May: Allowances
Do you give your kids an allowance?
A few years ago, when my children were 7 and 9, my husband and I decided we were going to start giving them each a weekly allowance. We decided we’d assign them chores for the week and if they were done to our satisfaction, they would get their allowances on Sunday nights. My son who was 7 had to do things like bring in the empty trash cans, keep the shoes organized by the garage door, clean his room, and feed the dog each day. My daughter had to do things like emptying the dishwasher, sorting the socks in the laundry, clean her room, and feed the cat each day. We were oh so proud of our parenting skills with this brilliant idea to teach our children responsibility and money management. We had arbitrarily decided that my daughter would get $5/week and my son $3/week (absolutely no reasoning or calculation behind those amounts). It lasted six months, if I’m being generous to myself.
After reading many of the articles I’ve linked below, I can’t believe how foolish my husband and I were! Remember, we have education degrees – and graduate degrees - but, there’s no parenting degree out there and it’s a whole different ball game! Many of the articles and research I’ve read says that parents should NOT tie allowances to chores. I had never thought of all the pitfalls of doing it that way but it makes a lot of sense. Also, there are many decisions we need to make and ground rules we need to set. Will the kids be using allowance to purchase things like birthday gifts for friends, their own clothes, movie tickets, etc.? Even though it is their money, do they still have to get their purchases approved by us? If they have an item that they bought with their money, are they allowed to take it wherever they want (e.g. I don’ t let my son take his DS on the bus but, if he bought it with his own money, should he be allowed to take it wherever he wants?)? Can we designate how much of their money is to be saved, spent, donated? Should we set up a bank account for them? Are they allowed to lend money to each other or a friend? Wow, we really didn’t think through any of this before we tried establishing an allowance system. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve read is to have your child keep a log of their money and their spending. I imagine it is very powerful to reflect on that log over time with your child.
The goal of all this is, of course, to begin teaching our children some financial responsibility and financial values. I believe I will be sharing the articles I’ve read with my husband this spring so that we can work together over the summer to develop a healthy, valuable plan for our children’s allowances.
Please read the articles I’ve linked below and post your comments, ideas, and your own experiences!
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/RaiseKids/ShouldYourKidsGetAnAllowance.aspx?page=all
http://www.kidsmoney.org/allart.htm#AmyN
http://www.kidsmoney.org/allart.htm#YM
http://www.activeallowance.com/kidsallowance/how-it-works.html
(an online program for your family and your kids will have their own accounts)
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3746974
http://www.moneyinstructor.com/art/allowances.asp
A few years ago, when my children were 7 and 9, my husband and I decided we were going to start giving them each a weekly allowance. We decided we’d assign them chores for the week and if they were done to our satisfaction, they would get their allowances on Sunday nights. My son who was 7 had to do things like bring in the empty trash cans, keep the shoes organized by the garage door, clean his room, and feed the dog each day. My daughter had to do things like emptying the dishwasher, sorting the socks in the laundry, clean her room, and feed the cat each day. We were oh so proud of our parenting skills with this brilliant idea to teach our children responsibility and money management. We had arbitrarily decided that my daughter would get $5/week and my son $3/week (absolutely no reasoning or calculation behind those amounts). It lasted six months, if I’m being generous to myself.
After reading many of the articles I’ve linked below, I can’t believe how foolish my husband and I were! Remember, we have education degrees – and graduate degrees - but, there’s no parenting degree out there and it’s a whole different ball game! Many of the articles and research I’ve read says that parents should NOT tie allowances to chores. I had never thought of all the pitfalls of doing it that way but it makes a lot of sense. Also, there are many decisions we need to make and ground rules we need to set. Will the kids be using allowance to purchase things like birthday gifts for friends, their own clothes, movie tickets, etc.? Even though it is their money, do they still have to get their purchases approved by us? If they have an item that they bought with their money, are they allowed to take it wherever they want (e.g. I don’ t let my son take his DS on the bus but, if he bought it with his own money, should he be allowed to take it wherever he wants?)? Can we designate how much of their money is to be saved, spent, donated? Should we set up a bank account for them? Are they allowed to lend money to each other or a friend? Wow, we really didn’t think through any of this before we tried establishing an allowance system. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve read is to have your child keep a log of their money and their spending. I imagine it is very powerful to reflect on that log over time with your child.
The goal of all this is, of course, to begin teaching our children some financial responsibility and financial values. I believe I will be sharing the articles I’ve read with my husband this spring so that we can work together over the summer to develop a healthy, valuable plan for our children’s allowances.
Please read the articles I’ve linked below and post your comments, ideas, and your own experiences!
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/RaiseKids/ShouldYourKidsGetAnAllowance.aspx?page=all
http://www.kidsmoney.org/allart.htm#AmyN
http://www.kidsmoney.org/allart.htm#YM
http://www.activeallowance.com/kidsallowance/how-it-works.html
(an online program for your family and your kids will have their own accounts)
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3746974
http://www.moneyinstructor.com/art/allowances.asp
Friday, February 12, 2010
Feb. - March: Technology Safety
I think the biggest threat to our children's safety online is that too often the adults responsible for them are clueless as to the capabilities and dangers of technology. We laugh off the fact that our children know as much if not more than we do about how to use the latest technologies, sites, etc. But it's actually a very serious issue. Would you let your child drive a car, venture out on the open road, if you didn't know how to drive - if you didn't know how to prepare them for icy conditions, highway driving, use of a seatbelt, how to change a tire (okay, so I still don't really know how to do that), etc.? We need to know more than they do about the technology they are using in order to keep them safe.
A month ago I picked up my nine year old son from his friend's house. On the way home I asked him to tell me about what he and his friend were playing. He told me his friend was helping him set up a Facebook page. I almost drove off the road! I then learned that they used their school email accounts and lied about their ages to set up this Facebook page. His friend has had one for awhile now and his parents are fine with it. My son and I sat down at home, pulled up his page and I proceeded to go into my lecture as to why he should not have a Facebook page: 1. If you have to lie about your age, or anything, you shouldn't be doing it; 2. I don't believe that's what the school intended him to use his email account for; 3. Facebook is primarily to keep in touch with people you don't see often - and he sees all his friends every day at school; 4. He posted information about where he lives; 5. Any social networking or exchanging of information, dialogue, etc. with people over the internet needs to be approved by me and dad first. I'm sure I added even more impressive, spectacular, convincing reasons for my cause...as his eyes kept rolling at me. I de-activated his Facebook account. I showed him my Facebook account so he could see that I use it to keep in touch with my friend who lives in Columbus, my aunt, uncle, cousins, etc. I told him when he is the right age, together we would look at several Facebook pages to see what looks good, responsible, etc. and we'd set up a Facebook page for him (of course by then, Facebook may be an archaic tool).
My twelve year old daughter doesn't have a Facebook page either. Am I crazy or do any of you feel the same? As it is, I have to spend enough time monitoring her texts on her phone! (By the way, I got a good tip from a friend the other day - keep your child's cellphone in your bedroom at night so they can't lose sleep texting friends at all hours).
We had a second grader with a cellphone in class this year! We were shocked! Is this appropriate? What do you think?
Below are some links to an article and sites about technology/internet safety for parents and children. Let's discuss!
www.cnet.com/4520-13384_1-6721018-1.html
http://www.safekids.com/
http://www.webwisekids.org/
www.netsmartz.org/netparents.htm
http://www.netfamilynews.org/
A month ago I picked up my nine year old son from his friend's house. On the way home I asked him to tell me about what he and his friend were playing. He told me his friend was helping him set up a Facebook page. I almost drove off the road! I then learned that they used their school email accounts and lied about their ages to set up this Facebook page. His friend has had one for awhile now and his parents are fine with it. My son and I sat down at home, pulled up his page and I proceeded to go into my lecture as to why he should not have a Facebook page: 1. If you have to lie about your age, or anything, you shouldn't be doing it; 2. I don't believe that's what the school intended him to use his email account for; 3. Facebook is primarily to keep in touch with people you don't see often - and he sees all his friends every day at school; 4. He posted information about where he lives; 5. Any social networking or exchanging of information, dialogue, etc. with people over the internet needs to be approved by me and dad first. I'm sure I added even more impressive, spectacular, convincing reasons for my cause...as his eyes kept rolling at me. I de-activated his Facebook account. I showed him my Facebook account so he could see that I use it to keep in touch with my friend who lives in Columbus, my aunt, uncle, cousins, etc. I told him when he is the right age, together we would look at several Facebook pages to see what looks good, responsible, etc. and we'd set up a Facebook page for him (of course by then, Facebook may be an archaic tool).
My twelve year old daughter doesn't have a Facebook page either. Am I crazy or do any of you feel the same? As it is, I have to spend enough time monitoring her texts on her phone! (By the way, I got a good tip from a friend the other day - keep your child's cellphone in your bedroom at night so they can't lose sleep texting friends at all hours).
We had a second grader with a cellphone in class this year! We were shocked! Is this appropriate? What do you think?
Below are some links to an article and sites about technology/internet safety for parents and children. Let's discuss!
www.cnet.com/4520-13384_1-6721018-1.html
http://www.safekids.com/
http://www.webwisekids.org/
www.netsmartz.org/netparents.htm
http://www.netfamilynews.org/
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