Choosy Kids

By: Dr. Linda Carson

As we get ready for another holiday that brings friends and families together for picnics, parades, and fireworks, let’s take just a moment to acknowledge real life heroes---those who have served or are currently serving in our military. Recognizing how busy and stressed we all feel at times, for our Fourth of July this year, let’s lift up military families with young children as our personal heroes for the stress and sacrifice that they make on behalf of us each day while trying to nurture their own families.

Forty percent of military children are under the age of five, and the unique circumstances and challenges facing military families make early childhood years even more vulnerable. Having a parent sent to an active combat zone with an undetermined return date may rank as one of the most stressful events of childhood. And the spouse back at home has to cope with the personal stress of deployment and the insecurities of the youngest children over parental separation.

So, U.S. military families everywhere, we salute you and thank you for your many sacrifices that impact your entire family.

About the Author: Linda Carson, Ed. D, is the founder and CEO of Choosy Kids, LLC, and the Ware Distinguished Professor Emerita at West Virginia University. An award winning, nationally recognized expert, Dr. Carson has devoted her career to promoting healthy preferences for young children and the adults who make decisions on their behalf. Click here to learn more about Linda.

Guest blogger Desiree from www.mymomsgeeky.com shared with us a great way to get your babies up and moving! We know babies like to pull themselves up and down, so why not make them a pull-up bar to practice on!? This way it can be done safely and when they have perfected it, it can become a bar to practice new dance moves on (imagine the bars ballerina's use!)

My little man is on the move and just dieing to stand and walk. Problem is, we don’t have any furniture for geek baby to practice pulling himself up and side step. So, I put my problem-solving brain to work and designed a baby pull-up bar for my son easily and affordably.

Here is how you can make one for your little one too.

Here is what you need:
10 ft 1” PVC pipe
2 corner PVC connectors (1”)
4 3 split PVC connectors (1”)
4 PVC caps (1”)

Step 1: You want to cut your 1” PVC pipe into 10 pieces. I just had the staff at Home Depot do it for me. Here are the measurements –
Two 2 ft 6 inch pieces
Two 1 ft pieces
Six 6 inches pieces

Step 2: Then just assemble like so:

Step 3: For extra sturdiness, use some Monkey Glue to keep the pieces fastened together.

Now be warned, this is super light so you will need to weigh the feet down with something. I just slide the feet under the playpen walls and it stays in place.

Have fun playing with your baby as they grow and develop.

Check out her blog on mymomsgeeky.com to see her little man in action using his pull-up bar!!

About the Author: I am Desiree, Disney junkie, crafting nut, puppy rescuer of two, wife of handsome engineer Stephen and Geek Mom to my little squishy, Flynn (yes Flynn from Tangled. No my next kid will not be named Rider, but that would work for either a boy or a girl.) Anyway, I love being super geeky and I wear my cape proudly. Ok, so maybe it isn’t a cape as much as it is yoga pants and boob accessible tank tops, but I really do love it.

When I am not teaching my son the ways of the force, reading him Harry Potter or working on his monthly cosplays, I spend my time talking and listening with my husband about life as we know it, video game ideas and the inevitable end of the world. We plan to have more spawn and love to travel anywhere and everywhere in our super awesome CR-V, Eugene (yes also from Tangled. Yes I am aware we are a little weird.) When adventure isn’t calling I cook, craft and take this mom & wife thing one day at a time. I can’t wait to share these adventures. Follow Desiree on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram.

By: Christine Cox, The Choosy Mommy

There are some mornings that it is hard to get out of bed. I swear I just put my 2 year old to sleep an hour ago (but really it was like 9 hours ago) and now she is up and roaring to start the day. Milk in her hand, coffee in mine and we sit down so I can slowly wake up while she watches her favorite TV show.

Some days are harder than others to get motivated and move. Many moms can relate to this I am sure. We are tired! Being a mom is a full time job on top of whatever else you may do outside of the home. But for our children’s sake, we need to get off the couch and move! By being a healthy role model for our children, they can learn healthy habits from us that will last a lifetime. But where can a parent find the resources to help children move more and form healthy habits at an early age?

Not since Popeye has there been a health-hero for children. Research has demonstrated that children’s characters are profoundly influential. Choosy Kids can help promote healthy habits in your family that will stick with everyone for years to come. When used consistently, health messages paired with the image of Choosy can become familiar and favored.

Healthy habits can include simple things like teaching our children how to brush their teeth and wash their hands properly. Health also coincides with nutrition and Choosy Kids focuses on reducing the number of obese children in our country. It is an epidemic that needs to change sooner rather than later. To do this, children need to move! Movement is another Choosy theme. Through Choosy Kids’ music and DVDs, children can learn about their bodies, how to move them and how to be healthy all while having fun!

Now mom, I know what you are thinking. “Great, another annoying kid’s song to get stuck in my head.” WRONG! Choosy Kids music is fantastic. I bet you’ll even be bobbing your head while listening and dancing along with the directional movements!

I know that I will do what it takes to teach my children healthy habits while they are at home because once they go to school, they will learn to explore other choices that weren’t available at home (vending machines!!!) So let’s all be Choosy Moms, healthy role models, and active play partners to promote healthy habits in our families.

About the Author: Christine Cox is the blog master and The Choosy Mommy for Choosy Kids. She has always had a passion for writing and is honored to contribute her work to this blog. Most of her writing inspiration comes from her daughter, Capri, who is fun-loving and full of energy, and newborn son Cam. Click here to learn more about Christine.

By: Dr. Linda Carson

When I was growing up, a sailor with big arms and a gruff voice had an influential message about getting strong by eating spinach. Popeye was so influential that he increased the sale of spinach by 33% in the 1950’s. I understand that there is an effort under way right now to bring him back for a new generation of children, but this time without his habit of smoking a pipe! A new Popeye and other children's characters with health messages are desperately needed in our country and around the world.

Currently, American children see an estimated $1.6 billion a year worth of food and beverage marketing, and many of those ads are foods that are high in calories and sugar, but low in nutrition. Some of our cereals and other processed foods in a box are so depleted that they have to be “fortified” and even then, the nutritional value is extremely compromised. For some products, there is not much nutritional difference between the contents in the box and the cardboard the box is made from.

Until food and beverage companies are using children’s characters to market only healthy products, it is up to each family and the other significant influencers to share and repeat consistent health messaging with children and families. The research (samples noted below) confirms that children’s characters are profoundly influential, whether positive or negative.

And a very positive thing that the family and/or preschool teacher can do is take advantage of what we know from research---create or introduce a familiar character to help deliver messages about healthy nutrition, physical activities that help make your body healthy, and appropriate dental health behaviors. Plus, having a character as an influential “assistant” helps with the consistency factor that we humans have trouble with at times.

I have spent my career promoting healthy choices, and advocating for parents as the best play partners ever. After teaching in public school enough years to appreciate the needs and barriers of that context, I spent the next 30 years teaching University students who wanted to be teachers. While methods of delivering the content has changed over the years, one thing has remained constant---the need is great for dedicated, well prepared teachers who collaborate and engage with parents on the profoundly important task of getting young children ready to make responsible decisions about learning and life.

In recent years I have had the privilege of developing resources for parents and teachers who are laying the foundation for healthy decision-making by children and entire families. Long before Popeye was given a do-over, we introduced CHOOSY as a health hero for this generation of young children. Choosy’s name stands for Choose Healthy Options Often and Start Young.

If you want to use Choosy as a health hero in your home or classroom, see www.choosykids.com for examples of unique, easy to use resources, especially children’s music that contains health messages. There is such a thing as stuck song syndrome that can work like reminders. If children (and adults) can’t get that song out of their heads, health messaging is working!

Bottom line: If a character promotes it, whether in a story book, on a window cling, or in music, a young child is likely to be influenced by the character’s preferences! What a concept and what a big help to busy Mom’s and Dad's.

**Research examples supporting the influence of children’s characters on health

choices and preferences:

Kotler, et al Journal of Health Communication (2012);

Roberto, et al Pediatrics (2010);

Lanigan, J.D. Child: Care, Health and Development (2010)

By: Holly L. Goroff MS, RD, CDN

Have you ever heard someone say something to the effect of ‘I bought something healthy – it was a gluten-free … (insert food name here)’? Or, ‘It’s good for you – NO CARBS!’? I have and it gives me chills! We are such targets of manipulative food marketing that our sense of ‘healthy’ has been obscured and our wallets are consequently drained.

It seems like every six months to a year there is a new definition of healthy. Healthy one day means juicing every morning, colon cleansing and antioxidants and the next it is eating quinoa, going gluten-free, drinking kefir or almond milk and no dairy...the list goes on and on.

I refer to these changing definitions of healthy foods as ‘food fads’. In addition to being heavily marketed, they also seem to get adopted by key public health figures, say…Dr. Oz, Jillian Michael or someone similar. Daytime shows have special guests to speak to the fads and drop key words like ‘toxins’, ‘metabolism’ and ‘cleansing’ and know they will capture your interest to hear more about the latest health craze.

What makes things a bit complicated is that these fads generally have some element of truth to them. It’s just not the WHOLE truth. And generally, it’s a truth that is subjective. We’ll get into this in a minute.

If I were to ask you WHY some of these foods are healthier than others, what would your source of information be? If it is Dr. Oz, Jillian Michael or someone similar, a quick Google search, branding or word of mouth, I would suggest you consider those resources questionable. Ask yourself, what makes them experts in nutrition? They could be super smart in cardiovascular disease and or fitness, but why does that make them worthy of dictating your diet?! Does what works for them work for everyone?

Another red-flag for establishing if your source is credible is asking if their recommendations ebb and flow with the moving trends. If your source’s recommendations change with the trends, I would suspect there is a financial benefit for them and/or lack of knowledge of actual nutrition research guiding their advice.

With all of these food fad’s flying around and your busy life which prevents you from doing scholarly research, what does “healthy food” actually mean? How do we know? And, how do we know quickly?

Excellent questions! Let me help…

Let’s start with the basics. What does it mean to be healthy?

Here are some helpful definitions to keep in mind:

A) Health– The condition of being well or free from disease.
B) Macronutrients– Food (substance) required in relatively large quantities for providing energy and essential nutrients: Protein, Carbohydrates (including fiber) and Fat.
C) Micronutrients– Organic compounds (notably vitamins and minerals) essential in minute amounts to the growth and health.

Putting it all together:

A healthy food will provide macro and micronutrients to support your bodies’ optimal functional performance. This includes healthy weight, controlling your blood pressure and cholesterol.

Notice I said, YOUR bodies’ optimal performance. Each person has unique needs either for optimal nutrition to accommodate a fast-paced life, athletic lifestyle, pregnancy or perhaps a disease state.

Quick tip for choosing healthy foods before we get to part 2:

Shop the perimeter of the supermarket where the fresh produce, meats and dairy are located. Or, patron farmers markets and fill in the nutritional blanks by purchasing a protein like chicken or fish at the supermarket, butcher or fish store.

Stay tuned to next week’s blog to learn how to calculate YOUR bodies’ optimal performance.

But until then, tell me, what do you consider ‘healthy’ foods for you or your family, especially when you are grocery shopping?

About the Author: Holly is an experienced dietitian in both clinical and community nutrition. She is currently serving as the Clinical Nutrition Manager at now guest blogger for Choosy Kids!

She received her Master of Science degree in Nutrition and Food Studies from the Steinhardt School at New York University. She is published through her research and contributing work at Burke Rehabilitation Center investigating nutritional factors impacting neurological rehabilitation in stroke patients.

In addition to managing her staff of clinical nutritionists, she has a passion for serving at-need and underserved communities. She teaches outreach programs focused on mindful eating and strategies to make healthier lifestyle choices to at-risk community populations. She has recently been made lead in her hospital for teaching and managing the outreach classes to reduce childhood obesity.

She has expertise in: weight loss and management, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, dealing with polypharmacy and achieving nutrition goals, achieving wellness goals in a creative and resourceful manner and motivating change.

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[A] Merriam-Webster.com. Health. Available at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/health. Accessed on June 15, 2015.

[B] Mahan, K. Escott-Stump, S. Food, Nutrition and Diet Therapy 11th Edition. 2004. Page 38. Saunders

[C] Merriam-Webster.com. Micronutriends. Available at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/micronutrients.Accessed on June 20, 2015.

By: Christine Cox, The Choosy Mommy

I am going to preface this post by saying I am not the kind of parent who kept her child from fast food restaurants. They are great for meals on the go and treats but beyond that, there are other more suitable options available. However, my daughter who is almost 3, has had her fair share of fast food and now recognizes those golden arches every time she sees them. Regardless if we just had a really nice dinner out at a fancy restaurant or even if it isn’t meal time, she will say, “McDonalds! Nuggets! Fries!”

And I sigh.

Where did I go wrong? Every parent needs a break from a meal and my break is usually the drive thru. I try to make healthy choices for us both, but now I feel like I have created an arch nemesis, the fast food restaurant, because she recognizes and asks for it.

Should I feel like a bad parent because she eats fast food? Should I just stop going to fast food restaurants all together? NO! I am going to educate her on making healthy choices and being choosy when we do go to these kinds of restaurants because let’s face it…I might be a choosy mommy, but I am also a busy mommy and sometimes convenience wins.

I am going to teach my children that:

Fast food restaurants are for certain times. We don’t make an extra stop just to drive thru somewhere because my child says so. I make breakfast, lunch and dinner and on those “on the go” days, or when a treat is warranted (successful potty training meant a milkshake in my house!) we will drive through. No exceptions.
There are “healthy” choices on the menu. Many fast food restaurants now have a fruit or yogurt option available for kids and have taken sugary drinks off the menu. And it seems to me that the meal sizes are smaller than they used to be meaning your children won’t eat more than they can chew (get it?!)
A penny saved is a penny earned. Right now this doesn’t mean a whole lot to my soon to be 3 year old, but it can make the choice even easier for parents to not eat regularly at fast food restaurants. IT IS EXPENSIVE! Sure, the dollar menus may seem like a bargain but once you add on a side and drink, then it all adds up. You can make a full meal of food similar to what you would find at a fast food restaurant for a fraction of the cost.

So even though fast food restaurants are my new arch nemesis, I am not going to remove them from our lives and we will still eat at them occasionally. It is a life lesson that all children need to learn as these restaurants aren’t going away any time soon. Have your children check out the "Choosy Size Me" song and let them know that Choosy says...

"So I’ve just got to use my head

When somebody comes up to me and

says ‘Would you like a burger and fries?’

Tack on a few extra sides

A jumbo size soda to wash it all down

Is that how you want to be?

(Is that how you want to be?)

Let your brain just waste away

Sitting home watching TV all day

No thanks. I will just Choosy size me

(Ooh...)

Just Choosy size me (Ooh...)"

Want more? Check out this fun, printable healthy food activity for your children! Click here to access the PDF and print.

What fast food stops have you been willing to make and why?

By: Kerry McKenzie

or•gan•ic
ôrˈɡanik/ adjective; of, relating to, or derived from living matter. Now days, “organic” has many meanings, and it’s confusing. There’s "organic" clothing, "organic" dish soap and "organic" milk, eggs and other foods. The price tag is usually higher for “organic” than for items that don’t use “organic” on labels in the supermarket or other stores.

When you see “organic” on the label, it offers confidence that the item has fewer chemicals than the non-organic options. In many cases, it can be shown that organic products are less-processed, contain less synthetic ingredients, and are produced in ways that are more gentle to our environment. In other cases, the organic label offers assurance that the products are made only from living materials, not from chemicals.

What makes a product organic and what allows a product to be legally marketed as “organic” can vary, product to product, because the government and industry have policies with criteria that are specific to say, eggs, or milk, or spinach. Each one of those products has its own criteria. So, it can be confusing.

The bottom line is that when you see “organic”, you can be sure it doesn't contain ingredients created from petroleum or other non-living sources.

If the price seems too high consider this - the list below has the highest pesticide load so buy them organic or grow them organically yourself:

•Apples
•Strawberries
•Grapes
•Celery
•Peaches
•Spinach
•Sweet bell peppers
•Nectarines (imported)
•Cucumbers
•Cherry tomatoes
•Snap peas (imported)
•Potatoes

And buy these conventionally grown products, if you have to, as these have the lowest in pesticide contamination:

•Avocados
•Sweet corn
•Pineapples
•Cabbage
•Sweet peas (frozen)
•Onions
•Asparagus
•Mangoes
•Papayas
•Kiwi
•Eggplant
•Grapefruit
•Cantaloupe (domestic)
•Cauliflower
•Sweet potatoes

Pesticides and other chemicals are unhealthy all of the time, but especially during vulnerable times such as fetal development and childhood. It's always best to buy organic whenever possible to promote the health of our families as well as the health of our planet. Not everyone can afford organic produce so Choosy reminds us that when shopping in the supermarket,

“Fresh is best,

Frozen is okay/fine,

Canned and boxed,

Are last in line!”

We are all busy, but no matter what, let’s make time to carefully select and wash the produce we purchase for our family. And let’s create early conversations with our children about healthy and not so healthy foods. Challenge them with sorting activities like this one from Choosy. And remember: Be Choosy…Choose Well!

What organically grown produce/products do you purchase?

About the Author: Kerry McKenzie, B.A., M.S., has been working in education for more than 13 years. She is a Certified Health Coach, a 500 level (E-RYT500) yoga teacher and specializes in early childhood motor development. She has a passion for working with expecting moms, babies, toddlers and preschool age children and their caregivers at Greenville Health Systems pediatric clinic, child care centers and in the community. Click here to learn more about Kerry.

By: Holly L. Goroff MS, RD, CDN

Welcome back! Glad you have returned. If you are new to this week’s series, you may want to read Part 1 of Fact or Fad first.

So let’s just jump right into where we left of. Considering what we discussed in the previous post, think of your healthy food as being a result of the following equation:

{My Healthy Food = ‘Standard Healthy Food Recommendation’ + YOU}

STANDARD HEALTHY FOOD RECOMMENDATION*

Generally healthy recommendation of eating whole foods, fruit and vegetables (flash frozen is an excellent and affordable alternative to fresh foods) lean meats, low sugar, salt, trans and saturated fats. Focus on foods that are minimally processed to avoid eating lots of fillers and hard-to-identify ingredients.

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*This is not meant a comprehensive list, but a general concept with selected examples of healthy foods.

+ YOU

In addition to the standard recommendations, what is unique to your life that changes your needs? Do you have increased nutritional needs because you’re an athlete, pregnant or recovering from an illness? Do you have allergies or intolerances? Identifying this will help you sort through the multitude of health claims that make us all feel like we need all the foods with the special claims.

Here is an example.If someone is gluten intolerant or has Celiac disease, it is wise for them to adopt a gluten-free diet. A gluten-free diet is not like a weight- loss diet where you can ‘cheat’ and just start again later. Celiac is an immune reaction causing inflammation of your gut, and therefore, malabsorption and potential nutrient deficiencies. If someone requires a gluten-free diet, they need to be gluten-free 100% of the time.

If you have no intolerance for gluten or no diagnosis of Celiac disease, having a gluten-free item is not a healthier choice than a gluten-containing item. In other words, having a sandwich with gluten-free bread and then later a gluten-containing brownie is a useless combination. Either you need to be gluten free or you don’t. A gluten-free food item does not make it healthier. It does make it more expensive though.

Another example: Carbohydrates (Carbs) are a needed nutrient (MUCH needed). Carbs come from grains and plant sugars. There are no carbs in protein or fat. Carbs do not cause someone to gain weight – eating too much does! Balance your meals and don’t overeat and you’ll be fine. If you are trying to eat healthy then you are likely also trying stay away from overly processed foods as recommended. Remember that low carb does NOT mean healthier. But, if you are choosing to eat low carb just eat less carbs! No need to purchase a carb that says it’s not.

You get the idea…

Now that we have established the foundational principle of health/healthy foods, let’s create a simple series of questions we can apply to ask ourselves, “is this food actually healthy for me or not.”

Is this food WHOLE? Meaning in its original form or close to it?

Fresh or frozen fruit or vegetables, fresh meat or fish, plain bagged rice etc. As opposed to Rice-A-Roni. If yes – it’s sounding healthy!

If it’s a packaged good, is there a health claim and is it relevant to you?

i.e. gluten-free. Do you require gluten free foods? If yes, this might be a good choice, if no, then probably not.

Are you buying a packaged good for a reason (nutrition or health claim - i.e. antioxidant rich) that you can easily get from eating whole foods like fruit and vegetables?

If yes, consider replacing the package with some blueberries! (for antioxidants at least).

What is the first ingredient? The first ingredient is also the primary ingredient.

For whole grain anything, the first ingredient should have the word ‘whole’ in it. If it’s enriched, refined white flour, sugar or similar, put it down or know it’s a treat (if it’s cake or some other indulgence).

Does it seem like there are a lot of ingredients for a simple item (example: tomato sauce)?

If, yes, my guess is it is highly processed and it likely has lots of additives you don’t need for maximally healthy food.

If you can get the majority of your diet to consist of healthy foods, you‘re in a great place for keeping a healthy body! Completely eliminating the yummy treats you love that fall under the ‘not-so healthy’ category is a recipe for disaster. Allow yourself some treats but also treat your body well, by choosing wisely most of the time.

If you commented in part 1’s post, think back to your response and let me know what foods you thought were healthy and are now thinking otherwise? Post your strategies for healthier shopping.

If you have further questions feel free to post them at themobiledietitian.com or The Mobile Dietitian on Facebook!

By: Molly Luke, Early Intervention Specialized Instruction Teacher, Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, Norristown, PA

Been to TARGET lately? They've been getting me ready for school since the 4^th of July! Yes, families...it's that time of year to start stocking up on markers, new back-packs and back-to-school clothing sales! But is your child REALLY ready for school? Is your young child confident to start the year? That's what it's all about…confidence. Your child might not be the 4 year-old valedictorian, but you need to ask yourself if your child can walk into the classroom feeling empowered and eager.

As a teacher of 10 years (mostly preschool age) and a mom of a two year old, here is a list of MUST DO's to think about in preparation for that first day. (lists are in no particular order!)

Age newborn to 3: Child Care kids

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Pre-School Kids

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In summary, I hope the above was a good helpful list to get you back to school. Just one thing to leave you on…please do not ask your child "what happened at school today?" This is an open-ended question and it is hard for a child to answer. Try and narrow it down to make your child feel that you care, and brush up on what really is going on in school. i.e. How was gym class today? Who did you play with on the playground? How did your presentation go? Was the test hard? This way, you will get a little more information when you narrow down the topic. And hopefully you won't get the classic "nothing" response, because your child will be impressed that you remembered something specific about the day. Besides, reverse the situation…do you want to tell them about your typical work day- UGH, NO! But maybe you did have a conference, presentation, out-of-the-ordinary event that would make it worthwhile to share. Enjoy your back to school milestones!

PS - Take our back to school survey for a chance to win great prizes!

About the Author: Hello! I have been teaching for about 10 years now, ages Pre-K through 8th grade…needless to say, I am a life-long learner and always looking for new thing to challenge my body and brain to do in a classroom! Outside of the classroom, family comes first! My husband Dan, baby Marshall and basset hound Penelope enjoy my naturally caffeinated personality on a regular basis. The whole family enjoys traveling, and I personally have a goal of visiting all 7 continents! 2 more to go!

By: Christine Cox, The Choosy Mommy

On Monday, May 25, 2015, which happened to be Memorial Day, my husband and I welcomed baby #2, Cam, into our family. Much to our surprise, Cam arrived 7 weeks early at 33 weeks and 3 days gestational. As a second time mommy, I thought I had a lot of things figured out, but I learned so much from my premature peanut. Our experience was unlike my other pregnancy and delivery. My situation was rare and I hope that another mother, or even father, can learn something from my story.

The Thursday before Cam was born, I was in pain starting in the very early hours of the morning. My stomach just hurt. It was hard to describe the pain but it wasn’t contractions. I guess you could say the pain was a constant cramping feeling. That progressed to my back hurting to the point of feeling like I could not walk. I knew something was wrong so I promptly called my OB and went in for a checkup.

My blood pressure was a bit elevated but we figured it was just due to me stressing out. I had a bit of protein spilling into my urine, but it wasn’t enough to be concerned about at that time. The baby’s heart tones were fine according to the Doppler, but just to be sure, I was sent to the hospital for a non-stress test.

The non-stress test also showed that the baby was fine, and my blood pressure had declined by the time I got to the hospital and was hooked up to an IV. However, at that time the doctors were more concerned about my cervix changing than anything else. After an hour or so of monitoring, they thought I may have dilated a bit and since the hospital did not have the highest level of NICU that we would need at 32 weeks I had to be transported to another hospital.

I was hooked up and monitored at the new hospital for another hour. After nothing changed, they gave me some pain medicine and a steroid to help develop the baby’s lungs faster in case we did end up delivering early, and sent me home. I felt fine until Sunday evening.

My toddler and I spent most of Sunday in the pool. It was one of the first really nice weekends of the summer so we took full advantage of the weather. But by dinner time, I started to feel achy again. Not exactly the same pain that I had on Thursday, but similar. The stomach pain intensified (still not a contraction feeling) and I could not get comfortable. Plus my shoulder hurt, but I chalked that up to being in the pool all day and kind of ignored it.

The only time I felt fine was when I was soaking in a hot bath. At one point I did end up throwing up but I also didn’t really think much of that either since I was getting upset. But after taking 4 baths, I finally said to my husband that something isn’t right and we have to go to the hospital again (and by this time it was midnight!)

We dropped our toddler off at grandma’s house and went back to the first hospital. They did a blood test to find out that I had something that I have never heard of before---HELLP syndrome. I was told that we would have to deliver my baby ASAP. Yet again, I was transported to the second hospital since we were still too early in my pregnancy for the first hospital’s NICU.

This syndrome is rare which is why I felt it was important to share my story. According to WebMD, HELLP syndrome is a life-threatening liver disorder thought to be a type of severe preeclampsia. It is characterized by Hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells), Elevated Liver enzymes (which indicate liver damage), and Low Platelet count.

HELLP syndrome often occurs without warning and can be difficult to recognize. A lot of women believe they just have flu-like symptoms and ignore the pain and signs. It can occur without the signs of preeclampsia (which are usually a large increase in blood pressure and protein in the urine – like I had). WebMD states that symptoms of HELLP syndrome include:

Headache.
Vision problems.
Pain in the upper right abdomen (liver).
Shoulder, neck, and other upper body pain (this pain also originates in the liver).
Fatigue.
Nausea and vomiting.
Seizure.

What you need to remember most from this is that HELLP syndrome can be life-threatening for both the mother and her unborn baby. A woman with symptoms of HELLP syndrome requires emergency medical treatment, hence why I was told we had to deliver ASAP, because it is the only known way to reverse the syndrome.

At 11:38 a.m., my son was delivered by cesarean due to him being breach. Born at a whopping 4 pounds, 14 ounces, Cam was breathing on his own and crying!

Cam spent 13 days in the NICU so he could grow and learn things outside of the womb that babies who remain inside the womb normally do (I’ll tell you about this in another blog). This was the most stressful 13 days my husband and I have had. In fact, my husband, a U.S. Marine, said that he would rather go back to Iraq than go through the 13 days in the NICU again!

Now a little more than 3 months old, Cam weighs in around 9 pounds, 7 ounces, He is a happy, healthy baby. My family and I are doing fine now and I haven’t had any further issues since delivery.

My story is important to read because it teaches expectant mothers, and fathers for that matter, to not ignore the signs your body is trying to tell you. Your body is a well-oiled machine but when something is wrong, it starts giving you signs to do something about it. Don’t ignore your body and get the help needed ASAP!

Have you heard of HELLP syndrome prior to reading this post? Do you have a rare pregnancy/delivery story that you’d like to share?

By: Dr. Linda Carson

It’s back to school time and my thoughts turn to young children adjusting to new environments, routines, and faces. It can be exhilarating for some and frightening for others. Even play time can test a child’s enthusiasm and eagerness.

Almost all young children love to move around, and given a little bit of open space, moving may change to galloping or running. We have all watched and winced as our youngest children collide with coffee tables, chairs, playground equipment, and of course, other children. Have you ever wondered how children actually learn to control their movements, or how we can help them become more skillful movers?

Space awareness has complex components, but in simple terms for home practice, space awareness is:

Knowledge about space, and how I use and manage my body in relation to objects, obstacles, and other movers.

For decades, preschool children have been introduced to sitting or standing on a carpet to define the place (or space) that belongs to them. And many teachers have children return to their place after doing an activity somewhere else. Most teachers call this place “personal” space or “self” space.

But space awareness is more than a spot on the floor or carpet. Young children need lots of practice time for learning about locations in space (up-down, high-low, on top-below, over-under, in front of front –behind, etc.) and judging distance. From a child’s perspective, if my self-space is how much room my body needs in my “place,” what happens when I start moving around the room or play yard in something called shared space? It can be a bit challenging but we can help children learn that they take their self-space with them into shared space…and so does everyone else! And now, the familiar safe and self-regulated movements become VERY challenging when other things or other children are included.

So how can we help children avoid collisions while having fun learning about space relationships when playing games, moving to music, pretending, and simply exploring? One way is to use props like a hula hoop to not only be the child’s “place” on the floor, but to help your child actually pick up self-space and see that it moves around too. This also helps children “see” the self-space of others while practicing. Another helpful strategy for applying concepts to a young child’s awareness of space is to use the terms empty and full to your advantage. Using containers or cups with water, sand, cereal or other items in them help demonstrate the difference between empty or full. This brings with it lots of opportunity for dialog and discussion…even math and measuring concepts. If children understand empty and full, and have practiced with hands on props and desktop visuals, they have the foundation necessary to apply the vocabulary and the concepts to their own movements and their relationships with obstacles and other people.

Choosy Kids has a song about moving only into empty spaces. It encourages children to look for and move into spaces that are empty and not filled with another person. The song even empowers children by welcoming them into the Empty Space Club if they can move and play without bumping into anything or anyone. As the song plays, do the movements with your child that are asked for during the song and during the chorus (designed as a rest period). Make up movements that you can do together, for example:

"I Love (hands over heart or draw a heart on chest)

Being in the Choosy Kids Club (hand sign for C)

I Love (hands over heart or draw a heart on chest)

Being in the Empty Space Club (make up a movement for empty, i.e. point to the floor and move your hand in a circle)"

Download your very own Empty Space Club membership card and present it to your child if he or she is intentionally looking for those empty spaces instead of bumping into unsuspecting siblings or friends!

Other fun things that you can do at home to practice space awareness include using available toys and props around the house to review important location words, for example:

Can you put your toy under your chair?

Can you put your toy behind the vacuum cleaner?

Can you put your toy on top of your bed?

Can you put your toy in front of your foot? Is it near to you or far away?

Can you put your toy far away from you?

Which is near and which is far? Toaster and bed? Door and toothbrush?

Standing in your personal space, can you put your hands up high?

Can you put one hand low?

Can you put one hand high and one hand low?

Make up games that involve judgments of space like tossing or rolling a ball over a line, into a hoop or into a laundry basket.

Design an obstacle course with pillows and stuffed animals as obstacles in shared space. The child must find only empty spaces to move, hop, gallop, jump, etc. while avoiding each obstacle.

Practicing space concepts in a fun and playful way lays a foundation for the development of self-regulation, as well as a respect for the personal space of that other children and adults.

What have you tried to do to help your child learn about personal and shared space?

By: Christine Cox, The Choosy Mommy

Choosy Kids is honored to have been asked by Nickelodeon to be a part of their 13th annual Worldwide Day of Play (#WWDoP). I really had no clue what this was when we were first introduced to it, but the concept is wonderful and I am excited to invite you to participate with us!

Nickelodeon’s #WWDoP is an entire day committed to the celebration of physical fitness and active play. As part of the company’s health and wellness messaging and outreach to kids, Nickelodeon goes completely dark on #WWDoP (September 26), suspending their programming on all of their channels -even shutting down their websites globally to reinforce one simple message about physical activity and healthy living: get up, get out and go play!

This is a perfect fit for Choosy Kids because we promote this all of the time and encourage parents, care givers and teachers to get children up and moving, exercising and eating right on a daily basis!

This year, #WWDoP is taking place on Saturday, September, 26. On and around this day, Nickelodeon supporters across the world will celebrate play by hosting their own #WWDoP events. Choosy will be making special classroom visits to friends in his home state of WV during the week of September 21-24 and will make a video showcasing just how much fun it is to move and dance, especially to Choosy Kids songs!

Choosy wants you to participate too so we are also going to have a nationwide dance party! We will all be dancing to our favorite Choosy music and you can do the same! If you are new to Choosy music, you can download our song of the month, Empty Space Club, for free!

Show us your moves by sharing any photos or media with Choosy Kids on Facebook or Twitter (#ChoosyPlay) so we can showcase your support for the #WWDoP theme of celebrating physical activity. If social media isn’t a medium for which you communicate, please feel free to send any video, pictures and information to info@choosykids.com.

Choosy’s dance party is more than just fun; it’s an exciting way to help promote active play and teach about healthy habits. Our health mascot and “Health Hero” Choosy, encourages young children to have fun while moving and dancing to his music. We hope that preschools and families all around the country can participate indoors or outdoors in our nationwide dance party. Let’s take this opportunity to reinforce and demonstrate to our children that music can help us stay active during playtime, reinforce healthy habits, and have fun with family or friends while elevating moods and heart rates!

Have fun with your dance party, share it with us, and be sure to check out other #WWDoP events in a city near you!

By: Christine Cox, The Choosy Mommy

I did it. I just took Capri to her first day of pre-school. I ALMOST made it out of the building without shedding a tear until I saw a little boy crying about leaving his mom. Then I cried…Capri was fine.

I know that the experience of going to pre-school is going to be so rewarding for her. At her pre-school they are full steam ahead in learning over play, however, I fully believe in playing to learn and we do that at home. I am also thankful for fellow Choosy Kids blogger, Molly Luke, who shared her tips for going to school which really helped me!

My goal for Capri at pre-school is really to get her to adapt to being without me, to listen to someone other than myself or her dad, and to interact with other kids her age. She also needs to start to learn routines because we are a very flexible schedule kind of family!

I never went to child care or pre-school. I went straight to Kindergarten and to be honest, I had to take a test to even be allowed into the class because I missed the birthday cut off date by 3 days (parents – September birthdays are the hardest). I remember taking the test: building a tower of blocks, telling him my ABC’s and even correcting him when he spelled my last name wrong on the paper (it was a bit harder than it is now). Needless to say, after I corrected him we didn’t do any more tests…I was READY! Mind you, it was a half day program. Capri is in a 2-day, 2-hour program so the time difference is huge but I know that if I survived Kindergarten without even doing any kind of pre-school, then she should be fine.

This year, she is going to learn all of her ABC’s, how to count to 30 and learn lots of animals (hopefully some new ones that she doesn’t already know because she is an animal “expert”). Her teacher is amazing and a lot of parents with kids who already went through the same program have agreed that it is truly one of the best pre-schools in our area. Let’s cross our fingers that she meets some new friends (wouldn’t it be cute if she met her best friend in pre-k?!) and dives feet first into this new adventure…by herself, like a big girl.

And now the tears start to flow again. I knew this day would come. Everyone told me that time will just fly by when she is young but I truly had no idea time would go this fast. And now I look at Cam, already 4 months old, growing like a weed, knowing that in a short 3 years I’ll be doing this all over again with him. Hopefully I won’t cry, but who am I kidding, I am a mom.

How did you react when your children first went to school? Tell me your stories about this separation anxiety so that I know I am not the only one who cried!

By: Kristan Kostur and Susan Lurz

Founders of Proudtree Empowered Learning

Imagine a world where children feel free to be themselves; where they’re content and love who they are, where they feel like they belong and are accepted by others, and have the confidence to try to achieve their goals.

For many children this is a foreign concept. In today’s world, our children are faced with many demands and stresses which can leave them feeling alienated from their family and friends, confused by their developing emotions, and overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy or self-doubt.

The good news is—there is hope. Because you are your child’s guiding influence, you can provide him or her with the necessary skills to confront and overcome difficult challenges. You can help your child lay an empowering foundation on which he or she can grow strong and succeed in school and beyond.

So how do you begin to lay this empowering foundation? The first step is to recognize everyday opportunities where you can take advantage of teachable empowering moments. And finding these moments are easier than you might think. At Proudtree Empowered Learning, we focus on 10 character-building themes essential for healthy social and emotional development. Below we address two of those themes and ways you can begin to incorporate them in everyday experiences.

Making Choices: When you give children opportunities to plan and make choices, you’ll begin to see them gain a sense of control and confidence. You can support your child’s choice-making skills by involving him or her in appropriate family decisions, or by teaching safe and healthy choices such as wearing a bike helmet or choosing healthy snack options, or by offering choices during daily routines such as asking, “Would you like to brush your teeth before or after taking a bath?” It’s important to limit the number of choices—the fewer the better, and to offer small, manageable choices based on your child’s ability.

Recognizing Emotions: Your child’s ability to understand and recognize emotions plays an important role in his or her overall development. Children benefit when adults help them make sense of their feelings and learn to communicate them in a safe and effective way. A fun way to explore recognizing emotions with children is by reading storybooks together and asking them to point out the different types of emotions they recognize in the characters. You can even ask them to imitate the characters’ facial expressions for the different emotions and name a time when they have felt that emotion.

These are just a few ways to incorporate essential character-building themes into everyday moments to help children develop a sense of purpose and value. And by simply creating these positive and nurturing learning opportunities, you impact how children come to view themselves as powerful!

What are some of the ways you support your child’s choice-making skills and ability to recognize emotions?

To learn more about additional character-building themes, visit us at proudtree.com.

About the Authors: Kristan Kostur and Susan Lurz are the founders of Proudtree Empowered Learning, an educational company dedicated to developing unique materials and programs to help instill in children a sense of personal competence and internal worth—attributes which help them learn to expect success for themselves in school and beyond.

By: Emily Murphy, Ph.D.

When I reflect on my childhood, I remember certain instances that I would say to myself, “I will never turn into my mother.” Well guess what, I was wrong. Don’t be mistaken, I love my mom more than the world itself, but as a head-strong child and adolescent there were certain things that I was convinced that my mom (and dad for that matter) had no clue about. Below are a few examples of some of these things.

As a very involved and active child, my parents had a rule that both my sister and I were only allowed to be enrolled in a maximum of two organized activities at any one time. So I was tasked with deciding between field hockey, cello, piano, softball, etc. At the time, I did not see any purpose for this parental decision being forced upon me. The only explanation that I could see through my child lens was that my parents were being mean and selfish. Boy was I wrong. Fast forward 15 years to the time when I became a parent myself and the reasons behind that rule now appear crystal clear. My parents developed and enforced this rule because they knew that family time was equally, if not more important than, a multitude of structured activities.

In our busy world today, many parents think that in order for their children to be successful they must get them involved in as much as possible. But in reality, families need quality time together to be creative, to be physically active together, and to simply enjoy time together. I often tell parents that I encounter through the various programs that I teach, that being overscheduled does not necessarily translate into having a healthy, happy child. Many times, being overscheduled mean that children spend a lot of their spare time in a vehicle being transported from one activity to the next, eating fast food in the back of the car, and standing on a sport field waiting for a ball to be hit to them or their turn to play. Unstructured family time can be filled with family-friendly physical activity like walking the dog or simply playing tag in the backyard. It can be spent preparing meals together, having a family game night, or a variety of other activities.

Another thing that my parents always made us do when I was growing up was to sit down at the kitchen table and eat dinner together as a family most, if not all, days of the week. Compared to my closest friends and neighbors, my family was one of the only families that had this ritual. I used to think that my friends who were allowed to make themselves something to eat, or eat their meal in their bedroom or in front of the TV were so lucky. Yep you got it, I was wrong again.

Family mealtimes are important for many reasons. Family meal times allow family members to connect and talk about important things that are going on in each other’s lives. Eating meals as a family has also been shown to improve various health outcomes like more healthful dietary patterns (Larson, Neumark-Sztainer, Hannan & Story, 2007). In a study done in 2007, families who ate dinner together every day consumed an average of 0.8 more servings of fruits and vegetables compared to families who did not eat dinner together (Rockett, 2007). These families also had higher intakes of important nutrients such as dietary fiber, calcium, folate, vitamins B₆, B₁₂, C and E, and iron, and they were less likely to eat unhealthy fried foods and drink soda (Rockett, 2007). In addition, children from families who eat together on a regular basis are more likely to have family support, positive peer influences, and positive adult role models (Fulkerson, Neumark-Sztainer & Story, 2006).

I am sure glad my parents were right and that I was wrong about many rules that they had as I was growing up. In fact, most of those rules, including the two examples above, are now rules in my own household. And yes, I am sure that my kids sometimes think that I am mean when I tell them to turn off the TV and put their cell phones away when we sit down together for a meal as a family, but I also know that when they look back at their childhoods they too will realize that my husband and I had these rules because we wanted what is best for their overall well-being.

About the Author: Emily Murphy is an Obesity Prevention Specialist with the West Virginia University Extension Service. By trade, she is a Pediatric Exercise Physiologist and her passion is promoting physical activity for kids and families. While her daytime job is working as a faculty member at WVU, her most important, most rewarding and hardest (at times) job is being a mom to two amazing, creative and loving children.

A state and national leader in childhood obesity prevention, Emily has nearly 15 years of experience helping children, communities and families get active and healthy.

She holds Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral degrees in exercise physiology from WVU. She served as an Extension specialist with the Family Nutrition Program from 2003 – 2005. She then joined the CARDIAC Project at the WVU School of Medicine where she helped implement and gain funding for new programs, like West Virginia Games for Health.

Murphy’s approach to better understanding and helping to resolve obesity issues is to begin by looking at the barriers unique to West Virginians.

To contact Emily, e-mail emily.murphy@mail.wvu.edu, or call 304-293-8589.

By: Dora Gosselin, PT, DPT, PCS, C/NDT

We are now a few weeks into fall. The leaves are changing, the temperatures are cooling and our family activities may change as we spend less time outdoors and more time indoors. Many health professionals encourage us to remain equally as active during winter months as we were in summer. During the month of October the American Physical Therapy Association recognizes the impact that physical therapists and physical therapist assistants make in restoring and improving motion in people's lives.

With these two “events” happening, I have been reflecting on what we did outdoors as a family this summer. We typically spend as much time as possible at the pool. As parents, pool safety is critically important, but there is another very significant part of pool culture – the play and social interaction that happens between children when they are in the water.

Now you may be asking “why are we talking about the pool in October? It basically does not exist in our life until mid-to-late May.” Here’s the answer: in the spirit of physical therapy month and summer 2016, let’s use the “off-season” to develop our children’s movement skills so they can get to the next section of the pool with their friends next summer!

For children to fully participate in the pool environment they must have the movement skills that allow them to be safe while keeping up with their age-matched peers. For children with sensorimotor or other disabilities, the pool may not be a refuge for endless play but rather a scary and isolating experience.

Our pool, like many others, is divided into sections. There is a shallow section that is lined with parents ready to leap into the water to save their precocious toddler; a deeper part, about five feet deep, that hosts the most diverse group of swimmers from very new swimmers keeping their head above water just enough to prevent a lifeguard from jumping in for the save to very skilled swim team members flipping and diving about; and lastly there is the diving well – the home of the diving boards – a spot that is reserved for the most highly skilled swimmers.

Many of you can relate to this description of a community pool. You can likely recall the swimming (movement) skills of children in each section of the pool. What I would like to call your attention to is the play and social interactions that happen in each section of the pool. The shallow end is generally filled with toddlers and kindergarten-aged children doing what they do – playing with plastic toys and dunking their face under to show their parent for the umpteenth time. Interactions between children in the shallow end are less; many children are very fulfilled with experiencing their own movement and there is less peer play here. In the deeper sections of the pool the social interaction and play is more variable and is a much more significant component of the pool experience. Children interact with one another with swimming races, using goggles to retrieve dive toys thrown by one another and of course the jumping and diving activities. They also just carry on conversation as they tread water or wait in line to go down the slide or off of the diving board. If children live in an area that has seasons, the skills they learn and practice during three months of the year may not carryover between seasons. For children who have a disability and need more practice swimming, seasons and lack of access to an outdoor pool are exponentially troublesome for skill carryover.

The most obvious solution here is to find a pool that your family can utilize all year round so that your child can practice and continue to develop skills over the “off-season.” If this resource is not available in your community or is cost prohibitive, here is a list of suggestions to get your little fish ready to swim and play next year:

Get in the water as early as you can in the spring. Even swimming just a few times before pool season 2016 will give your child an advantage and a level of comfort when your community pool does open.
Demonstrate for your child some strategies for peer play they can do in the pool. For example, for a rising kindergartner, the “hot skill” may be jumping in the pool in tandem with a friend or doing a handstand. Take on these skills outside of the pool to help your children develop the movement and play skills they need to participate with their peers.

When you do finally get into the water for the first time in the spring, follow these tips to get your children acquainted with the water again:

Swimming requires integration of the right and left sides of the body. This requires coordination as well as strength and endurance. Putting this all together is difficult. A great tool for lessening the task demands on your children is to use a simple kickboard. With the kickboard, children can practice using their legs symmetrically or they can hold the kickboard with one arm and practice coordinating three extremities.
Practice, practice, practice! Motor learning theory tells us that internal feedback is the most valuable tool for learning a skill. If your children are frustrated and scared as they practice swimming, it is impossible for them to learn from their own bodies what movements they need to do to attain and sustain swimming skills. You will be most helpful by identifying the components of movement your children do well by proposing something that they should practice. For example, “I love the way that you are kicking your feet fast. This time can you also try to keep your bottom up while you kick?”

Growth in one area of pool proficiency (movement or social) may spur growth in the other. If your child continues to be resistant to practice or is having difficulty attaining better skills, you can always focus on the social opportunities. Many pools have rules banning most flotation devices; however, some pool managers may be amendable to your child using a U.S. Coast Guard approved flotation device. Having the safety of a flotation device may provide your children with the confidence that they need to cross the lane line and explore the games and interactions that happen in the deep end.

In conclusion, the challenge of swimming demands integration of both sides of the brain and body in a coordinated and sustained way.. Hopefully this blog has reminded you that swimming has two parts – movement and social – and that both of these parts need to be practiced so that your children can thrive and participate safely at the pool. I also hope that it has allowed you to consider what your strategy will be for ensuring a positive 2016 pool season. Start thinking about your game plan now, not on May 1st!

About the Author: Dora Gosselin, PT, DPT, PCS, C/NDT enjoys her combined clinical and academic roles at Duke University. She is board certified in pediatrics and certified in Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Treatment. She has also completed her Advanced Baby training through the Neurodevelopmental Treatment Association. Dora's most meaningful professional accomplishments always occur when a family and child share joy when a new skill is acquired and when physical therapy students, in the clinic or the classroom, grow their passion and skills. Outside of physical therapy, Dora (and her husband, Ben) can usually be found watching their seven-year-old do some sort of performance in the living room.

By: Dr. Linda Carson

When my father was progressing through the stages of Alzheimer’s disease, I was a very emotional witness to the long goodbye. It was painful for my family to watch someone we’ve loved and known for so long retreat gradually to a place that included the destruction of memory, thinking, language, and behavior patterns.

But something intriguing was also happening at the same time. As my father’s memory loss and confusion progressed, eventually he was only able to recall childhood songs! Yes…songs! I actually had fun singing along during visits with him even though he did not know me. Eventually, that pleasant luxury faded too, but during that brief stage, we sang children’s songs and nursery rhymes over and over!

It made me wonder what is it about music that remains wired into our brains so deeply that it can be recalled even when all other memories have disintegrated. I’ve learned that there is amazing research being conducted by neurologists at the Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Center to study music memory and ways to use it to improve the lives of those with profound memory loss. Watch this dramatic video to see the effects of “neural nostalgia” on Henry, an elderly man with dementia. You will be amazed!

I wish now that I would have sung childhood greeting songs to my Dad, or tried singing songs from his teenage years when he courted my Mother because the research is yielding information about how the emotions attached to our early music may play a profound role in awakening and accessing memory and emotion. So what’s next? Well, music therapy may be commonplace when we need nursing home care as we age. Plus music may be used for creating memories instead of focusing on recall. For instance, the allied health staff may sing directions to us about medications or various therapies!

To return to the present, when our young children hear, sing, and dance to music, they are literally building neural connections by using a variety of areas in their brains. The childhood songs that they listen to repetitiously and that bring such great joy can literally be a quality of life enhancer once again decades later! What a concept!

With that in mind (get it?), I’d like to encourage you to play lively, fun-filled music in your homes, cars, and classrooms and enjoy it to the fullest in the present, knowing that at the same time, you’re building a store house of pleasant, loving memories for use on the other side of the pendulum swing of life.

A perfect music CD for this playful assignment has just been released by Choosy Kids called My Wiggle Makes Me Giggle. This CD has fast paced and upbeat songs that get everyone dancing and laughing together. Children can learn movements from listening to the words in the songs and just like Henry in the video above, may remember the motions for years to come!

I’d like to share with you a free download of the title track from My Wiggle Makes Me Giggle so that you can enjoy this music with your family. I hope that music of all kinds enables you to build lasting and fond memories.

What has been your personal or professional experience with this music phenomenon?

By: Kristan Kostur,

Co-Founder of Proudtree Empowered Learning

October is National Bullying Prevention Month. If you Google “bullying prevention” you’ll get more than 1,000,000 hits addressing this issue. You’ll find everything from eye-popping statistics to what some say are questionable statistics, and posts from those who believe this is simply sensationalism to heart-wrenching accounts of children who felt the only way out was to take their own lives.

We are often asked at Proudtree if our products are for anti-bullying. While they can be used with this intention, our focus is on helping to empower children with a sense of purpose and value—to help them build a strong principled foundation from which they can grow with respect for themselves and others. Our hope is to reach the child before circumstances arise that cause him or her to bully others, and to equip those being bullied with a sense of personal competence, resiliency, and control over their world so they have the confidence to transform it.

We begin with what we believe to be one of the most important aspects in a child’s healthy development—belonging. A sense of belonging—feeling valued, connected to others, and a part of something greater—gives children the emotional strength to overcome challenges and difficulties that emerge in their daily experiences.

The most important place for your child to feel that he or she belongs is at home. The feeling of belonging begins when you establish an emotional connection with your child, making sure he or she feels valued, safe, and loved. When children feel like they belong, they are more likely to perform better in school, make friends, and overcome roadblocks.

Here are some ideas you can use at home to support your child’s sense of belonging:

Let’s Read! - Storybooks are wonderful tools to use with children to help them understand their feelings. As your child watches and listens to the storybook, he or she will make a connection to the characters who share many of the same concerns and problems. This helps your child feel included instead of alone, and helps to develop a sense of belonging. As you read the story, ask questions such as:

What is your favorite part of the story and why?
What do you think the character is feeling?
Have you ever felt that way?
What does that feel like?

You can also have your child describe the characters—the color of their hair, for example, what they like to wear or things they like to do. Explain that meeting characters in a book can be like making new friends. Then ask which character your child would most like to have as a friend and why.

Family Ties - Support your child’s need to belong at home by trying some of these tips:

Give your child uninterrupted, one-on-one playful time with you
Take a genuine interest in what’s important to your child and support those desires
Smile when your child enters the room
Express your love freely and show plenty of affection
Include your child in family matters and decision making
Plan a family party with your child and include family traditions such as special foods, games, or stories

Just how important is it for children to cultivate a sense of belonging? How big of a role can it actually play when a child is being bullied? How likely is it for a child with loving and secure connections to engage in acts of bullying? Consider the invaluable words of author and research professor, Dr. Brené Brown: “We’re hardwired for connection—it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives. The absence of love, belonging, and connection always leads to suffering.”

What are some of the ways you support your child’s sense of belonging?

About the Author: Kristan Kostur is co-founder of Proudtree Empowered Learning, an educational company dedicated to developing unique materials and programs to help instill in children a sense of personal competence and internal worth—attributes which help them learn to expect success for themselves in school and beyond. To learn more about Proudtree Empowered Learning visit http://www.proudtree.com.

By: Amy Requa, MSN, CRNP

Did you know that October is National Dental Hygiene Month? It’s actually good timing, especially since children will be chowing down on their fair share of candy this weekend! The extra candy gives us an even better reason to think more about brushing teeth! Many parents of young children ask: “What is the best method for brushing my child’s teeth?” Well, often a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few photographs of different positions and methods that parents and caregivers can use to help young children with toothbrushing!

Photos courtesy of Joanna Douglass, BDS, DDS

In the photo on the left, the adult sits in a chair while brushing the child’s teeth from behind. The child stands and leans back on the caregiver’s lap, using the adult’s legs for balance. See how the adult carefully stabilizes the child’s head, gently lifting or lightly pressing the lips away from the teeth with one hand, while brushing the teeth with the other? This actually makes it much easier for the adult to brush all surfaces of the teeth while the child still feels secure and won’t squirm away. Looking down at the child’s mouth from behind makes the child’s teeth more accessible to the brush, especially at the gum line where sticky plaque is most likely to build up in that space between the teeth and the gums. The plaque is the build up of sticky germs mixing with food/drink on all the surfaces of the teeth. Plaque eventually breaks down tooth enamel if it is allowed to stay on the teeth. The plaque on the surfaces of the teeth needs to be brushed away twice a day: in the morning and at night, right before your child goes to bed.

In the photo on the right, this toddler is allowed to stand up, probably on the couch, while the mom holds the child’s hands during brushing. After all, who says you have to brush your child’s teeth standing in front of the sink in the bathroom? You don’t! Use a very small amount of fluoride toothpaste and your child does not need to spit it out, so you can brush your child’s teeth anywhere in your home, maybe when your child is sitting in her highchair, playing in the bathtub, or joining you on the couch.

Here are the most current guidelines from the American Dental Association:

For children younger than 3 years, caregivers should begin brushing children’s teeth, with a soft child-sized toothbrush, as soon as teeth begin to come into the mouth. Use a fluoride toothpaste in an amount no more than a smear or the size of a grain of rice.
Brush teeth thoroughly twice per day (morning and night) or as directed by a dentist or physician.
For children 3 to 6 years of age, caregivers should apply no more than a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste to the soft toothbrush.
Adults should assist with toothbrushing until age 7 or 8.
Replace toothbrushes when bristles appear worn (usually after 3-6 months)

How old were your children when you started to brush their teeth? Did they enjoy it? Have any tips to share on how you brushed their teeth?

References:

Fluoride toothpaste efficacy and safety in children younger than 6 years: A systematic review. J. Timothy  Wright, Nicholas Hanson, Helen Ristic, Clifford W. Whall, Cameron G. Estrich and Ronald R. Zentz, JADA 2014; 145(2):182-189.

Fluoride Toothpaste Use for Young Children, American Dental Association Council on Scientific Affairs, JADA 2014; 145(2):190-191.

About the Author: Amy Requa, MSN, CRNP, CPNP-PC, is a board certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. She has 20 years of experience in public health nursing, maternal and child health, family and community health promotion and has extensive health expertise in oral health, childhood obesity prevention and child nutrition. Click here to learn more about Amy.

By: Jamie Jeffrey, M.D., FAAP

The nights are cooler and fall is on its way. For a lot of families this is a perfect time to increase their outside physical activity. The cool breeze is perfect for a family walk or trip to a nearby park. That is the good news. But… Fall also brings a flurry of holidays and celebrations. For health conscious families, this can be a tough time to keep the little ones (and ourselves!) on track with nutritious choices.

We start with Halloween followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas. More than ever, these holidays seem to revolve around food, food and more food to celebrate the holiday. The traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday are loaded with food choices saturated with fat, sugar and salt. It makes it really tough to stay healthy. But one of the worse holidays for our kids is Halloween. Candy. Candy. Candy. Candy at school, candy at Grandma’s house and treat-or-treat at the mall AND in their own neighborhood. Every kid knows which neighbor hands out full size candy bars. Most kids now are seen carrying pillow cases. This is a “supersized” plastic pumpkin. Like a whole pumpkin full of candy isn’t enough for our kids!

On average, each piece of bite sized candy treat contains about two teaspoons of sugar. Multiple sources estimate an average kid will eat 10-15 treats before they get home from the trick-or-treat festivities. Do the math. That would be 20-30 teaspoons of sugar. Hmmm. No wonder they can’t seem to settle down and get to sleep. Can you say, “the energizer bunny?” No wonder my waiting room is full of kids with tummy aches the morning after trick-or-treat. I am always surprised that parents seem “shocked” and have an “ah-ha” moment when I mention that the belly ache could be from too much candy.

So how can Choosy help? Choosy teaches kids to move to music and use movement vocabulary. Halloween could be such a fun and creative time for costumes and fun games and activities. I say TRASH the STASH. Candy corn and bite size candy bars will be everywhere! Preschool, school and family parties should be based on movement and fun…the way Choosy would like it! Plus, a typical child will have to walk 11 miles to stay energy neutral for all the calories and sugar they consume.

I also can offer the following advice for parents to keep their kid’s safe and healthy during the holiday:

Pick safe, comfortable and brightly colored costumes. Make sure kids can safely walk in their costumes and can adequately see if the costume has a wig or mask.
Carry a flash light and add reflective tape to the costume or trick-or-treat bag.
An adult should always accompany their children and go to fully lite houses of neighbors that you know.
Eat a full, healthy dinner with lots of veggie options and lean protein like grilled chicken, turkey or seafood before trick-or-treating activities. Serve water with dinner to make sure everyone is well hydrated.
Make a family rule of eating candy only after inspection at home or only 1-2 items until you get home.
Try to ration treats and consider swapping for cash or other non-food rewards. You could also donate the candy to a local charity (even though I sometimes feel guilty about this one!).

So think of the song, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and substitute the word kids for girls and focus on fun activities that include movement for Halloween and all other holidays as well.

About the Author: Dr. Jamie Jeffrey, M.D., FAAP
Medical Director, CAMC Medical Center
Director of Healthy Kids Pediatric Weight Management Program
Director, KEYS

Dr. Jeffrey is a pediatrician and Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at WVU School of Medicine-Charleston Division. She is also the Medical Director of HealthyKids Wellness and Weight Management Program (HealthyKids) at CAMC. She received her medical degree from Marshall University School of Medicine and completed a pediatric residency at Akron Children’s Hospital in Akron, Ohio. She supervised pediatric residents for the past 20 years. She lives in Charleston with her husband and four fantastic children, ages 10,15,19, and 21.

As Director for KEYS 4 HealthyKids, she works with the community to meet the mission to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by focusing on policy, system and environmental strategies to enable more sustainable change. This will hopefully provide the system and landscape improvements where the HEALTHY choice is the EASY choice.

Look behind the white coat and you’ll see more than a pediatrician in Dr. Jamie Jeffrey.
“I’m a fixer,” she says. “I love to find problems because then I can go to work on fixing them.”

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