Tips and tricks for busy parents
Picky Eaters
The way to their tummies is through their hearts!
Argh! My kids don’t like vegetables! Of course, I can relate. I remember how I would eye tomatoes as a kid. Even though I thought they tasted gross, I couldn't help but admire their luscious appearance. That visual appeal helped open my mind to actually eating them.
Now I realize that food likes and dislikes are not simply determined by taste buds, and through the years I have learned to love many healthy foods, not by their initial taste, but from the lasting effects of how they made me feel.
With that in mind, I wanted to start a conversation with my children—a dialogue that goes beyond, “Eat that. It’s good for you.” And I’ve managed to melt at least a little of their resistance, like cheese melting over broccoli “trees,” by keeping things playful at the table.
Here are eight great questions I’ve come up with to help picky eaters think outside their pastatarian habits:
1. What food do you think looks good, but you don’t like how it tastes?
2. If you made a rainbow out of foods, which foods would you use for each color of the rainbow?
3. Where does your favorite food come from?
4. If bites of your dinner were airplanes carrying packages to your body, where would the packages go and what would they do there?
5. If you had a magic garden, what foods would you grow?
6. If you were a chef, what foods would you serve in your restaurant?
7. Imagine that you made a playground out of giant vegetables. What would you use for the slides, swings, jungle gym, trees, sun, or clouds?
8. What is the craziest food that you would ever try?
It’s amazing how adding imagination makes things taste better. My good friend Sarah finds it easier to get her kids to eat fluffy clouds and little green planets rather than mashed potatoes and peas… I suppose for the same reason foods sometimes taste better when served on a picnic blanket or a Disney princess dish.
By Kate Cordell, MPH
Kate Cordell is a local mom of two. When she’s not cajoling her picky little foodies into trying veggies, she moderates MyPromise Kids Facebook Group. It features a Question of the Day and lets parents post their kids’ silly-sweet answers. For more nutrition tips, Kate suggests visiting MyPyramid.gov.
The way to their tummies is through their hearts!
Argh! My kids don’t like vegetables! Of course, I can relate. I remember how I would eye tomatoes as a kid. Even though I thought they tasted gross, I couldn't help but admire their luscious appearance. That visual appeal helped open my mind to actually eating them.
Now I realize that food likes and dislikes are not simply determined by taste buds, and through the years I have learned to love many healthy foods, not by their initial taste, but from the lasting effects of how they made me feel.
With that in mind, I wanted to start a conversation with my children—a dialogue that goes beyond, “Eat that. It’s good for you.” And I’ve managed to melt at least a little of their resistance, like cheese melting over broccoli “trees,” by keeping things playful at the table.
Here are eight great questions I’ve come up with to help picky eaters think outside their pastatarian habits:
1. What food do you think looks good, but you don’t like how it tastes?
2. If you made a rainbow out of foods, which foods would you use for each color of the rainbow?
3. Where does your favorite food come from?
4. If bites of your dinner were airplanes carrying packages to your body, where would the packages go and what would they do there?
5. If you had a magic garden, what foods would you grow?
6. If you were a chef, what foods would you serve in your restaurant?
7. Imagine that you made a playground out of giant vegetables. What would you use for the slides, swings, jungle gym, trees, sun, or clouds?
8. What is the craziest food that you would ever try?
It’s amazing how adding imagination makes things taste better. My good friend Sarah finds it easier to get her kids to eat fluffy clouds and little green planets rather than mashed potatoes and peas… I suppose for the same reason foods sometimes taste better when served on a picnic blanket or a Disney princess dish.
By Kate Cordell, MPH
Kate Cordell is a local mom of two. When she’s not cajoling her picky little foodies into trying veggies, she moderates MyPromise Kids Facebook Group. It features a Question of the Day and lets parents post their kids’ silly-sweet answers. For more nutrition tips, Kate suggests visiting MyPyramid.gov.
"Group child care has many advantages, like early socialization, and now we can say it may benefit the immune system too and the ability to fight infections." Read articles below.
Child care benefits in teen years!
As they get older, day care kids have fewer infections!
5 Steps to Kindergarten Readiness
In getting little ones ready for kindergarten, many parents focus on teaching kids their ABCs, colors, shapes, and how to count to 10. That knowledge is wonderful, say early childhood educators, but in order to be successful in “the big school,” kids need these five basic skills too:
1. Enthusiasm toward learning
Diane Gross, a 17-year kindergarten veteran at the CourtyardSchool, says, “If a child sees his parents excited about learning, this will feed into his natural curiosity and enthusiasm.” Learning doesn’t just take place sitting at a desk or on a blue carpet. It happens in a forest, at the beach, in the kitchen, or on a pile of dirt. Show your child that learning is a life-long process—and it can be a lot of fun!
2. Strong oral language skills
Pull your child away from computer games or the big-screen TV, and go exploring. Visit the Sacramento Zoo. Give your toddler words to describe what she sees, and listen to what she says. Have her describe a lion, a tiger, a zebra, or a giraffe. Tell her about manes, paws and stripes.
Neressa Bennett, a kindergarten teacher at Sacramento Elementary says, “The second most important thing to do [when developing strong oral language skills] is to read, read, read to your kids. Children can listen to stories that are more challenging than their reading levels, no matter what their age.” So head over to your local library and check out some books. On family trips, pop an audio book into your car’s CD player. Have your children discuss what they heard. Bonding over books and stories always encourages kids’ love of reading.
3. Listening skills
Reading to your child not only develops his oral language skills, it improves his listening skills, too. After reading a book to your toddler or listening to a disc, ask him a few questions. “What was the story about? What did you like best about the story? Who was your favorite character?” Gross says, “Make sure the questions you ask are open-ended. It is easy for a child to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and then move on.” This develops kids’ comprehension—a top priority!
4. Self-help skills
Before your child attends her first day of kindergarten, make sure she can dress herself, take off her sweater or coat, hang it up and put it back on, and that she is able to wash up on her own. Gross says it’s also important that children are familiar with the basics of “school culture” and etiquette, like getting in a line with other students and raising a hand to ask a question. Bennett adds, “Parents [should] be sure their student is able to open containers holding food. No teacher has the time to open 26 packages each day at snack and lunch.”
5. Social skills
Does your child play well with others? To practice this at home, parents can play blocks and engage in other activities with their children. Share what you have with your preschooler. When he shares back, reward him with a smile and a compliment. Gross says, “Modeling the behavior is very important.” Kids are not born knowing how to share. After you’ve played at home, take your child on a play date.
Gross suggests setting up a painting experience where two children have two brushes and one set of paints, which will force them to collaborate. “Friends of Grant Park does a variety of craft fairs geared toward young children,” she adds. “Here they learn they won’t always be first in line.” Learning patience is a good thing, and practice cooperating with others can take kids far.
Michael Thal is a freelance writer and educator. With two masters' degrees in education, he's clearly an enthusiastic learner—and he's almost mastered the art of playing well with others. Enjoy his online column (“Dear LA Teacher”) at Examiner.com.
In getting little ones ready for kindergarten, many parents focus on teaching kids their ABCs, colors, shapes, and how to count to 10. That knowledge is wonderful, say early childhood educators, but in order to be successful in “the big school,” kids need these five basic skills too:
1. Enthusiasm toward learning
Diane Gross, a 17-year kindergarten veteran at the CourtyardSchool, says, “If a child sees his parents excited about learning, this will feed into his natural curiosity and enthusiasm.” Learning doesn’t just take place sitting at a desk or on a blue carpet. It happens in a forest, at the beach, in the kitchen, or on a pile of dirt. Show your child that learning is a life-long process—and it can be a lot of fun!
2. Strong oral language skills
Pull your child away from computer games or the big-screen TV, and go exploring. Visit the Sacramento Zoo. Give your toddler words to describe what she sees, and listen to what she says. Have her describe a lion, a tiger, a zebra, or a giraffe. Tell her about manes, paws and stripes.
Neressa Bennett, a kindergarten teacher at Sacramento Elementary says, “The second most important thing to do [when developing strong oral language skills] is to read, read, read to your kids. Children can listen to stories that are more challenging than their reading levels, no matter what their age.” So head over to your local library and check out some books. On family trips, pop an audio book into your car’s CD player. Have your children discuss what they heard. Bonding over books and stories always encourages kids’ love of reading.
3. Listening skills
Reading to your child not only develops his oral language skills, it improves his listening skills, too. After reading a book to your toddler or listening to a disc, ask him a few questions. “What was the story about? What did you like best about the story? Who was your favorite character?” Gross says, “Make sure the questions you ask are open-ended. It is easy for a child to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and then move on.” This develops kids’ comprehension—a top priority!
4. Self-help skills
Before your child attends her first day of kindergarten, make sure she can dress herself, take off her sweater or coat, hang it up and put it back on, and that she is able to wash up on her own. Gross says it’s also important that children are familiar with the basics of “school culture” and etiquette, like getting in a line with other students and raising a hand to ask a question. Bennett adds, “Parents [should] be sure their student is able to open containers holding food. No teacher has the time to open 26 packages each day at snack and lunch.”
5. Social skills
Does your child play well with others? To practice this at home, parents can play blocks and engage in other activities with their children. Share what you have with your preschooler. When he shares back, reward him with a smile and a compliment. Gross says, “Modeling the behavior is very important.” Kids are not born knowing how to share. After you’ve played at home, take your child on a play date.
Gross suggests setting up a painting experience where two children have two brushes and one set of paints, which will force them to collaborate. “Friends of Grant Park does a variety of craft fairs geared toward young children,” she adds. “Here they learn they won’t always be first in line.” Learning patience is a good thing, and practice cooperating with others can take kids far.
Michael Thal is a freelance writer and educator. With two masters' degrees in education, he's clearly an enthusiastic learner—and he's almost mastered the art of playing well with others. Enjoy his online column (“Dear LA Teacher”) at Examiner.com.
Real World Math
Child’s Play
1. With young children, play number games during daily activities. Count the number of steps, the number of items going into the laundry, or the number of trucks you see while driving.
2. At the grocery store, ask your child to find items that are triangles, circles, rectangles, and other shapes.
3. Count the number of items you bought at the store.
4. Ask your child to recognize or stack the groceries you bought by container shape.
5. Read counting books to little ones, such as Counting Crocodiles by Judy Sierra and Will Hillenbrand, Counting on Frank by Rod Clement, or My Little Counting Book by Roger Priddy.
6. Create your own counting book with your preschooler or kindergartener. Ask your child to draw four balls to illustrate the number four, and so on.
Elementary!
7. Read a recipe and have your child measure the amounts for the ingredients. Older kids can help double or halve the fractions in a recipe.
8. Read the calendar and determine the number of days until an upcoming event. With older children, count by sevens.
9. Have your child practice counting the change needed to pay for an item.
10. Plan a shopping list and figure out which items offer the best value.
11. Take measurements for a project around the house.
12. Play board games that require math skills and score keeping, such as Yahtzee, Chutes and Ladders, Scrabble, and Risk.
13. On road trips, point out which exit number is coming up—and show your child how they appear sequentially. Big kids can calculate how much longer based on miles to go and miles per hour.
14. When dining out, have older kids help calculate the tip (10%, 15%, 20%) or calculate discounts on sales items during shopping trips. (How much is 25% off?)
Sources: DreamBox Learning and Beyond Smart: Boosting Your Child’s Social, Emotional, and Academic Potential by Linda Morgan, © 2010, ParentMap Books.
Child’s Play
1. With young children, play number games during daily activities. Count the number of steps, the number of items going into the laundry, or the number of trucks you see while driving.
2. At the grocery store, ask your child to find items that are triangles, circles, rectangles, and other shapes.
3. Count the number of items you bought at the store.
4. Ask your child to recognize or stack the groceries you bought by container shape.
5. Read counting books to little ones, such as Counting Crocodiles by Judy Sierra and Will Hillenbrand, Counting on Frank by Rod Clement, or My Little Counting Book by Roger Priddy.
6. Create your own counting book with your preschooler or kindergartener. Ask your child to draw four balls to illustrate the number four, and so on.
Elementary!
7. Read a recipe and have your child measure the amounts for the ingredients. Older kids can help double or halve the fractions in a recipe.
8. Read the calendar and determine the number of days until an upcoming event. With older children, count by sevens.
9. Have your child practice counting the change needed to pay for an item.
10. Plan a shopping list and figure out which items offer the best value.
11. Take measurements for a project around the house.
12. Play board games that require math skills and score keeping, such as Yahtzee, Chutes and Ladders, Scrabble, and Risk.
13. On road trips, point out which exit number is coming up—and show your child how they appear sequentially. Big kids can calculate how much longer based on miles to go and miles per hour.
14. When dining out, have older kids help calculate the tip (10%, 15%, 20%) or calculate discounts on sales items during shopping trips. (How much is 25% off?)
Sources: DreamBox Learning and Beyond Smart: Boosting Your Child’s Social, Emotional, and Academic Potential by Linda Morgan, © 2010, ParentMap Books.