Helping Children Cope With Divorce or Separation

Healthy Kids

March 23, 2008
What's in a lunch?

A few years ago I recognized that the school lunch program had dramatically changed from when I was a kid. I found out that not a single food is prepared in the school cafeteria. Everything must be brough in a package and "heated". That means nothing more than processed food! YUCK! It's bad enough that we sometimes resort to eating the stuff in the processed food world, but to put that into the school lunch program??? My kids now are brown baggers. We look for fruits and vegetables they will take in place of dessert. We've replaced the chips with dried crunchy vegetables or nuts. Often we pack up a thermos full of last night's homemade leftovers. These are lunches we can be proud of! Consider looking into your school cafeteria and see what's up!

February 23, 2008
Get some sleep!

I cannot say enough about the importance of sleep. It is the time that our cells grow and rejuvinate. We grownups should get enough sleep so our bodies can make repairs. Our kids need enough sleep because that is when they can grow. It amazes me how many kids are running around staying up until all hours of the night. We adults wonder why we have to have that coffee or sugar kick every day. It's simple. Our bodies were built to be rested. We must let them in order for them to be in tip top shape. I dare you for one week, get 8 hours each night and see how you feel. You'll be a nicer parent, just watch and see.

February 22, 2008
Monkey see monkey do! I eat healthy snacks so my kids will eat healthy snacks!

We have a lot more influence over our kids than we think. They are watching what we do, and until they are teenagers, they mimic us intently. So if you want your kids to stop eating chips and cookies for snacks, you must stop eating those things. The other day I pulled out the bowl of berries and cream just as a snack for myself. In fact, I asked my 10 year old son to make it for me. He did. The following day when he came home from school I caught him making another bowl of berries and cream. Only this time it wasn't for me. It was for him. I have been cutting up apple slices with peanut butter for a snack for myself. I let my daughter try one as she seemed curious. Sure enough a few days later I was dumbfounded as I stood in the kitchen and watched her carefully slicing apples to go with the plop of peanut butter she'd placed on her snack plate. It's working I thought! They're really getting it.......I only wish that would work for cleaning their rooms!

February 17, 2008
Dessert? Berries and Cream!

My kids are always trying to get a treat. They want candy. They want ice cream. They want everything that is going to poison their little insides. I finally found a treat that is absolutely healthy for them. I get a bowl of berries.....strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or whatever. Then I pour half and half over them. They think they are getting the most fabulous dessert ever, and I know they are getting some extremely important berries. The vitamins and antioxidents that are in berries are chart topping. So go ahead, let them have their dessert. Berries and cream.......yum!

February 12, 2008
Recommended: Special Chocolate Milk

We've all enjoyed chocolate milk once or twice in our life. Well have I got something great for kids. I discovered this in a magazine article. It's called Super Food for Kidz. It is a powdered drink mix that you mix in milk. It makes a drink so similar to chocolate milk, you wouldn't know the difference. That is unless you look at it very closely. If you do that, you'll see the flecs and specs of the 33 different fruits and vegetables the powder is made up of. It is a little expensive, until you think about what it would cost to serve your kid even the 5 recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. In that perspective, this isn't so bad. My kids love it. So when I think they've been neglectful of their fruits and vegetables, out it comes. I even sneak a glass every now and then. It's great!

February 11, 2008
Did you ever think about water?

Water. It seems simple enough. Can you imagine all of the poisons and chemicals and unneccessary sugars we would save in our bodies if we would just change to drinking water. Kids need water. We all do. They are beginning to come out with facinating studies about the benefits of drinking water. I challenge you. Just replace one of your beverages per day with water and see what you notice. Then go on to replace all of your beverages with water. Then expand to your kids. My kids don't drink anything but water these days. Yours can too.

Archives

February 2008
March 2008