July 9 is National Summer Learning Day. This event is sponsored by the National Center for Summer Learning.

I like to promote this event because it reminds all us how important it for kids to keep learning even when school is out. You may be thinking, give the kids a break, it is summer time. And I agree, that learning during summer should not be as structured as regular school but learning can be fun and can occur in many different ways.

Here are some facts from the Summer Learning Center that may change your mind (or if you agree with me, validate your position)

• All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. Research spanning 100 years shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer (White, 1906; Entwisle & Alexander, 1992; Cooper et al., 1996; Downey et al., 2004).
• Most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, despite the fact that their middle-class peers make slight gains (Cooper et al., 1996).

• About two-thirds of the ninth-grade achievement gap between lower and higher income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities during the elementary school years. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college (Alexander et al., 2007).

• Children lose more than academic knowledge over the summer. Most children—particularly children at high risk of obesity—gain weight more rapidly when they are out of school during summer break (von Hippel et al., 2007).

• Parents consistently cite summer as the most difficult time to ensure that their children have productive things to do (Duffett et al., 2004).

Many programs are celebrating National Summer Learning Day throughout the country. Click here to find an event in your area. You can even look for an event that is designed for your child’s age.

It’s not too late for any program that promotes summer learning to register and participate in this national event. You can obtain a free event planning kit full of ideas and resources to make it a fun event for everyone.

Kids make their own cute “Nutrition is Fun” bookmarks to use during their summer reading.

You can even plan your own at home summer learning program for free! Have the kids learn about nutrition and the importance of being active with nutrition games, nutrition and health worksheets and kids healthy tips monthly page.

It is that time of the year, where kids (adults too!) stop and recognize how great dads are.

There are many ways for kids to thank dad for his fun and loving ways that don’t cost money. With father’s day quickly approaching, we have created some free printable coloring cards, certificates and gift of time certificates that kids can personalize to make a special thoughtful gift for dad.

We have included a list of special gift of time activities children can choose from if they need some ideas.

We took the time to create these father’s day coloring sheets because one of the keys to long term healthy eating habits is associating a positive attitude with nutrition. The more we help kids remember the importance of being active and eating healthy – in fun ways, the more we are helping them form that positive association.

That is why we now have a “Fun Activities” section in our educators’ webpages. Kids’ bookmark activity and tons of free printable nutrition worksheets are also available.

We can learn from the fast food, high sugar, and high fat food manufacturers, who use their characters in all kind of fun ways to promote their food. Let’s continue to work together to move the word, idea, attitude about “nutrition” into the FUN column.

Teachers, counselors, childcare providers, afterschool leaders, parents, and really anyone working with children should feel free to use and distribute these worksheets for educational purposes, so long as the copyright and footer information are left intact.

Grandparents, they are so loving to their grandkids. But what do you do if the grandparent is teaching your kids unhealthy habits? I was at a graduation party last weekend and noticed a grandparent feeding her grandchild the following:

• chocolate chip cookies – 5 different times!
• cake – 2 peices (he quickly ate the first piece and then they asked for a second piece for him)
• 2 servings of ice cream
• a glass of soda
• who knows what other goodies they also fed him

What I did not see, was the 3 year old eat a plate of food at the barbecue. I know it is a party and some might argue that this would be the “once in a while” rule. But this amount of sweets is excessive and well beyond the intent of the “once in a while” rule. And what message is really being taught here?

So where was mom and dad? Dad was busy visiting and enjoying himself. I looked over at the mom and she seemed torn if she would intervene in or not. She obviously chose not to intervene or the child would not have been given more and then more sugar.

Grandparents are known for spoiling their grandchildren. In fact, it seems many would say it is their right as a grandparent! But can a grandparent’s spoiling go a bit too far.

So let’s think about what was taught to the child that day (because everyday is a learning day for kids; everyday is a day where kids are watching, doing and forming habits):

• it’s a party- so time to eat sweets
• it’s a party- so its okay to eat excessive amounts of sweets
• it’s a party- so I don’t have to eat anything but sweets
• whatever I ask for, I get
• mommy doesn’t say no when grandma is around

Wow, this child was busy learning quite a bit of new habits and behaviors.

What do you think will happen when they go home? What do you think will happen when this child goes to the next party? What do you think will happen when the child is 6 years old, 9 years old or even 12 years old at parties?

Parties really represent a great time to teach kids some great habits. This child could have been taught a lot of valuables lessons:

• to choose between a cookie and a piece of cakecake
• what are once in a while treats
• how to limit treats
• portion control
• balancing healthy foods with once in a while treats
• eating healthy is still important at a party

So many missed learning opportunities for this child. I am not a psychologist, so you have to check with Dr Phil on how best to deal with grandma but I do think it is important to realize that everyday is an important learning day for young kids. There are no “days off.” Your child is forming habits every day through every experience.

Don’t forget to plan for “TV Turnoff Week”.  This year it will be celebrated on April 20-26.

I wanted to remind you early enough so that you could have a family planning session.  TV is such a big part of most of our lives, that turning it off for a week requires a little planning.  But done as a family, it can really be a fun time!  I will never forget being in the mountains of Peru with my children and no TV for a week.  We talked for hours, played cards, read books and really didn’t miss TV at all!  But we had prepared for our journey into no TV land.

Not to worry, here are some simple steps that will help the whole family get ready:

• Discuss the importance of time away from the TV, bodies need activity to be healthy
• Sit down as a family and agree to give up TV for a week- Print a kid-friendly TV turn-off agreement
• Have the kids help come up with activities you can do instead of TV – print a  list of  25 FUN indoor and 25 FUN outdoor activities
• Have fun!!
• Celebrate your families successes!

Get more information about the National TV Turnoff Week

Here are some interesting TV related facts that might surprise!

• Number of 30-second commercials seen in a year by an average child: 20,000
• Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 38.5
• Number of minutes per week that the average child watches television: 1,680
• Percentage of children ages 6-17 who have TV’s in their bedrooms: 50
• Percentage of day care centers that use TV during a typical day: 70
• Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900 hours
• Hours per year the average American youth watches television: 1500
• Percentage of Americans that regularly watch television while eating dinner: 66

Turn off TV National Organization

It was very disconcerting to read the latest childhood obesity report on childhood obesity and our preschool population. The study was conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics and looked at 8550 preschoolers born in 2001. The child’s BMI percentile was calculated.

The study found these statistics:

• 1 out of every 5 American 4-year-old was obese (not overweight, obese)
• 31.2% of 4-year-olds who were American Indian, Native Alaskan were obese
• 22% of the Hispanic 4-year-olds were obese 20% Black, non-Hispanic 4-year-olds were obese
• 15.9% of White, non-Hispanic 4-year-olds were obese
• 12.8% of Asian 4-year-olds were obese

What does that mean? That means that there are over half a million 4 year-olds that are obese.

This is a large group of children who will be at a very high risk for heart disease, diabetes, joint disease and other serious diseases. What will happen to their long term quality of life? What was also very concerning was the higher rates of obesity among minorities.

I know there are no easy answers but early nutrition education and parental support are going to be key factors in changing habits. 4 year-olds are still young enough to modify eating preferences and physical activity habits. They are actually still forming their habits and food associations so there is still a great deal that can be done to change the current direction of their health.

But, it starts with parents.I know, we have heard that a zillion times. But it is so true. Yes, TV is a huge influence on eating habits but at the age of 4, parents have the control. In fact, parents, you have a much larger influence on your children than TV!

Parents can help their children learn the fun and joy and daily activity and eating healthy. Start with simple changes, small ones. Keep it fun. Kids that age are easily excited about family activities. This can be an opportunity for the whole family to set some health goals and then let the kids track them.

Remember, Kids need to be involved. There are lots of ways to help your child become healthy and enjoy doing it.

• they can help in the kitchen
• give ideas for daily activities
• they can color in successful goal accomplished
• they can help find the most colorful fruit or vegetable in the market
• they can help select a favorite TV program (limiting it to no more than 2 hours a day)

Here for some ideas on family health goals from our free nutrition education website

You can print our daily family healthy tips and post on the fridge! See how many you can do during the week.

There are family tip sheets for helping your child increase their activity, eating out healthy restuarant tips and even grocery shopping nutrients reference sheet.

A little about BMI scores:

BMI scores for children are not measured the same as adults because they are growing and these differences need to be accounted for. In children, scores are computed into percentiles for that particular age. Children with a 95% or greater for their age are considered obese.

Resources:

ABC News- Preschool Obesity Rate Study

Learn more about BMI scores for children.

Find out if your child is at a Healthy BMI score.

Nourish Interactive’s Free Nutrition Games

It is your turn to bring in the snacks for the your child’s sport team. You want to be the fun mom and bring treats that the kids will love. But that doesn’t mean it has to be high sugar drinks and sweet treats for the little athletes to love it.

Talk with the other parents. Chances are they are looking for better options as well. Healthy moms and dads have got to band together.

Here are some tasty and healthy snacks.

• fruit: frozen kebobs are a tasty treat
• frozen fruit juice bars made from real fruit
• popcorn, non buttered served in individual happy face bags (you remember, paper bag with the face drawn on it!)
• beef jerky
• low fat muffins
• granola bars (look for the ones higher in fiber)
• nuts
• trail mix with unsweetened fruits (no candy)
• pretzels
• corn nuts

As for drinks. Water is the best drink you can give those little athletes. Keep em active and healthy with treats that pack the punch in nutrition!

Halloween is sugartime. Is there any hopes in controlling the amount of sugar that our kids eat during this time. It’s hard but here is some suggestions I found in this article.

I hope some of these Halloween nutrition tips help:

• Decide with children, before Halloween, on what is a reasonable amount of candy to eat that night, and beyond. Will the candy be packaged in small bags to make the holiday last longer, rationed to a piece or two a day, donated or thrown away?

• Feed children dinner before trick or treating so they will not be ravenous and want to fill up on candy while going from house to house.
• Go out early, when candy-givers are less likely to encourage children to grab a handful of candy so they don’t end up stuck with it.
• Do not ban candy or ditch it when the kids aren’t looking; it may just make them want it more.
• Parents should be good role models by not eating all the candy themselves.
• Let children enjoy some sweets on the holiday while focusing on good nutrition the rest of the year.
• Offer candy alternatives alone, or alongside candy, to give trick or treaters a choice.
• Take some emphasis off candy by focusing on the fun of the holiday, like checking out the costumes and decorated houses.
• Walk, don’t drive, if possible, to get some physical activity in while candy collecting.
• Suggest kids wait to eat candy until they get home, where parents can inspect the wrappers to ensure they’re tightly sealed. Parents should consider throwing out everything else.

New healthy Halloween tips and free printables from our website:

Healthy Halloween Tips-Halloween is sneaking up- Be prepared, manage your child’s sweet tooth. Our Halloween Nutrition Article for Parents!

Our top low sugar and no sugar Halloween treats for kids

Fun Healthy Halloween Coloring Pages- printable Halloween themed coloring pages and bookmarks for kids

free Halloween coloring pages and printables

One survey done over the internet found that some teachers are using chocolate as a reward for good behavior.
This article ties in with our monthly newsletter topic discussing Schools Wellness Policy. Children spend almost one third of their day in school. They eat one or two (if you include breakfast) of their main meals and usually a snack during this time period. What are they learning in school about nutrition and food.

Well according to this article, kids are learning that if they do good, they get chocolate! Yup, that’s what I said! Teachers are rewarding the kids with chocolate. I am not saying that chocolate is bad, it is a good once in a while treat. But associating it with good grades or following directions in school seems like a pretty strong message about the importance of chocolate.

What is so surprising is that with all the bans on junk food in school and the global concern about childhood obesity, you would think a teacher would know better. What do you think, is it okay to reward kids with chocolate or other high sugar foods?