Halloween Health Tips

This Halloween keep your kids on an even keel with these health and nutrition tips:

1. Eat lean proteins such as chicken and complex carbohydrates like brown rice before eating sweets to decrease the associated blood sugar spike. Eating lean protein or complex carbohydrates will help slow down the absorption of the sugar into your blood stream. Did you know that in order for you to lose weight, you must keep your blood sugar level steady to allow your body to burn fat?

2. Offer your children a healthy meal before Trick or Treating. The less hungry they are the less likely they are to overload on candy.

3. During the holiday season keep fresh fruit on the kitchen counter so when your kids grab-n-go they choose fresh fruit over sweets.

4. If candy is a must, offer your children lollipops instead of candy bars. In general, hard candies have fewer calories than chocolate. For example, 2.1 oz of a snickers bar has 280 calories compared to a lollipop with only 22 calories. That means, a snickers bar has over 12x more calories than a piece of a lollipop.

5. Buy your candy at the last minute to avoid eating the candy ahead of time. Consider buying a candy that you don't like to avoid the temptation of eating it
when handing out candy to trick or treaters.

6. After Trick-or-Treating offer to buy the candy your kids gathered for 5 cents a piece, they'll have money to go shopping and you'll have less of a headache from their screaming sugar rush.

7. Donate the candy to a day camp, shelter or school, teachers use one piece at a time for academic reinforcement. One piece at a time is the perfect portion.

Halloween is a time for family and fun. Developing a plan for health ahead of time is the key.

Source: Arnel Ricafranca is the owner of Fitness Boot Camp.

Back To The Dinner Table: Name Your Nights

Getting back on a family dinner schedule is one of the best gifts you can give your children after the holidays. Family dinner has been shown to enhance school success, decrease illegal substance use and decrease bullying and teasing.

Take the time to name each night a different dining experience.

Sunday = Buffet Night

Monday = Hearty Meals Night

Tuesday = Spaghetti Night

Wednesday = On Broadway! As your children prepare and sing a show of any sort. Thursday = Picnic Night – Remember you can picnic anywhere anytime, in your backyard, in the park or even on the family room floor.

Friday = Ethnic Dinner Night, try some exotic food choices or simply stick with Chinese.

Saturday = Date Night, mom and dad go out and kids enjoy Pizza and salad.

Change up your schedule when kids get energized or you run out of recipes. Check out www.cooks.com, www.rachaelray.com, www.allrecipes.com and www.bhg.com for monthly recipes.

ON THE SAME PAGE – WHEN YOUR DISCIPLINE STYLES VARY

Parenting your children can be difficult. We often struggle with determining the right appropriate limits and with following through with the consequences we’ve promised. But, things can really get complicated when we’re two people who have very different styles of discipline try to parent together.

Good Cop, Bad Cop
It’s not unusual for one parent to be far stricter than the other. But, allowing each parent to discipline as they see fit when they know their style is different from that of their spouse sets you up to have your child play one parent against the other. Your child will soon learn to go to the more lenient parent with issues, leaving out the stricter parent. The child may even ask the “nice” parent to intervene on their behalf with the “mean” one. Neither of you is receiving a great deal of respect from your child when this situation is allowed to arise. Plus, it’s likely to cause issues in your marriage, because you never agree on how the other handles discipline situations.

Meeting in the Middle
If your parenting styles differ significantly, you’re going to need to discuss every discipline situation for a while. You should make the rule that no punishments, or even threats of punishment should be delivered by either parent alone. Sit down and discuss each and every situation. You can begin by discussing what each of you would do if you had to deal with the situation alone, and then choose a disciplinary action that both of you can support.

After a while, some patterns will be established, and each of you will have a good idea of how to handle a situation on your own in a way that would be acceptable to your partner, too.

A United Front
It’s critical that you and your partner present a united front to your child. Children need to understand that mom and dad are working together to make the rules and provide clear direction. Showing your child that both parents are on the same page and that standards and consequences are fully supported by both parties will have a positive impact on your child’s behavior. Children look to us to set the rules; inconsistency between parents is confusing to them. So, hook up with your partner and create clear rules and consequences for breaking them that everyone can understand and support.

Free Parenting Class in Phoenix

Parachutes For Parents is a one-stop parenting program that will show you how to both love and discipline your children. It then shows you how to achieve the kind of communication that leads to close, warm connections, joyful laughter, and memorable times with your family. It also shows you how to by-pass the teen rebellion and offers a 125-page Problem-Solving Guide for every imaginable parenting problem.

You will learn to:
• Keep parent-child relationships close & cooperative, rather than broken and bratty
• Conduct open, fun, & interesting conversation, rather than combative or shut down interactions
• Use problems to teach clear lessons about living life honestly & effectively, rather that resist and dismiss them as unnecessary disruptions
• By-pass the teen rebellion, rather than become paralyzed and ineffective during this phase of child development
• Bring true peace & joy to your family, rather than the chaos that fills so many homes.

Powerful Parenting Class
Wednesdays, September 10th - November 12th
CCOJ - Building 3 (Room 303 & 304)
6:30pm - 8:00pm
Class is Free of Charge (no need to register)
Day-care is Free @ Kid's Kountry (on same campus as CCOJ)

Presented by Bobbie Merrill, MSW and Tom Merrill, Ph. D.

Much of the Merrill's approach to working with children is based on Bobbie's highly acclaimed book, Parachutes for Parents: Raising Loved and Loving Children for a Better World. This model has been successfully demonstrated in schools in the United States and Australia, producing high numbers of intellectually and socially gifted and cooperative children. In addition, thousands of parents have reported significant results when they use this model.

Joy is located on the NW corner of 75th Ave. and Loop 101. 21000 N. 75th Ave., Glendale, AZ 85308

Is Your Child Ready For Potty Training

Most children show an interest in learning to potty between the ages of 18-36months. Yet every child is different. If you ask your friends, you'll hear every story under the sun from, "My daughter trained herself at 22 months," to "My five year old still won't poop on the potty."

As a parent you want to remain calm and know that your developmentally skillful child will surely be using the potty by elementary school so don't freak out:). One thing I wish someone had told me before I introduced the potty to our children was that many children pee train before they poop train. No challenge, it will all come in time. Breathe, relax.

Let's begin with signs you child might be ready.

Cognitive Signs

Can follow simple instructions, such as "go get the toy."
Understands the value of putting things where they belong.
Has words for pee and poop.
Has awareness that pee or poop are coming out.
Feels the urge to pee or poop.
Can communicate that urge.

Behavioral Signs

Shows interest in other people using the potty.
Wants to look at or watch people going potty.
Gives a verbal noiuse or sign that she is pottying such as grunting, squatting, or telling you.
Demonstrates a desire for independence.
Takes pride in her accomplishments.
Seems eager to use the potty.

Physical Signs

Can sit down quietly in one position for two to five minutes.
Can pull his pants up and down.
Does not like the feeling of wearing a wet or dirty diaper.
Wants the dirty diaper to come off.
Takes the dirty diaper off himself.
Can walk and run with relative ease.
Can hold her pee for three-four hours or more (this shows bladder control)
Has regular, well-formed bowel movements at relatively predictable times.

Next we'll take a look at introducing pottying to your "potty-ready" child.

Art Masterpiece Program

Art is a medium for all the senses. A child can look, imagine, think, ponder, draw, paint, sculpt, explore and learn with art. If you have some time in September consider attending the Art Masterpiece Program at the Phoenix Art Museum for educators. Parents are welcome as well. Specifically, it is training for those parents whose schools participate in Art Masterpiece. But really, any parent can come learn and enjoy.

Art Masterpiece Program

The Art Masterpiece Program trains school-based volunteers in tools and techniques to teach elementary-level students about the visual arts. Most participants are classroom volunteers at a child’s school who augment presentation of the visual arts on a regular basis. The Training Program covers basics of looking at and discussing art objects, an overview of art history, resources for materials and ideas, modeling of classroom presentations and activities, and Museum orientation.

Wednesdays in September*

September 3, 10, 17, 24
9:30am – 12 Noon
Phoenix Art Museum

* New material will be presented every Wednesday

You can register online today or at the Museum on Wednesday, September 3 @ 9am
Cost: $20 for entire program/$10 Training Manual.
Want the Training Manual for FREE?

Here is the link:

http://www.phxart.org/events/documents/2008ArtMasterpieceManual_001.pdf

If you wish to bring art into your home on your own here are some helpful resources:

Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters (Bright Ideas for Learning) by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Kim Solga

Dynamic Art Projects for Children: Includes Step-By-Step Instructions and Photographs by Denise M. Logan (Spiral-bound - Sep 2005)

How to Teach Art to Children, Grades 1-6 by Joy Evans and Tanya Skelton

The Art of Teaching Art to Children: In School and at Home by Nancy Beal and Gloria Bley Miller