KID'S HEALTH
Ten Tips to Get Kids Eating Healthy
Obesity has become an alarming trend across America, especially
as it relates to children. With the holidays coming up, start your
resolution to lead a healthier life before the new year.
The following ten tips from Bridget Swinney, author of "Baby
Bites", give parents a guideline for developing positive eating
habits in their children.
- Don't force or bribe your child to eat.
- Set a good example by eating at least five fruits and
vegetables and drinking three glasses of milk per day
yourself.
- Make mealtime as pleasant as possible.
- Encourage children to help in meal planning,
preparation, and cleanup.
- Learn to back off to avoid mealtime power struggles.
- Accept food jags as phases that will eventually pass.
- Accept the fact that your child is an individual and
will dislike certain (perhaps many) foods.
- Don't give up on introducing children to new foods.
Realize that it sometimes takes ten tries to get a child to
accept a food.
- There is a division of responsibility for eating.
Parents are responsible for deciding when to eat and what to
serve. Children are responsible for deciding how much (if
any) they will eat.
- Give your child a multivitamin-mineral supplement if he
or she is a picky eater.
Remember, healthy living starts with parents setting a
healthy example. For more information, check out "Baby
Bites," by Bridget Swinney.
RECIPES
Pumpkin Recipes
Feed your pumpkin frenzy!
You can do much more with a pumpkin than carve it! Vicki Lansky,
author of "Feed Me! I'm Yours" has some great ideas when it comes to
pumpkins. "Most people don't realize how versatile pumpkins really
are—not to mention how good they taste!" said Lansky. Here are three
tasty things you can make using pumpkin, taken from Lansky's book
"Feed Me! I'm Yours."
PUMPKIN FRIES
Cut a small, fresh pumpkin in half. Peel. Cut into matchstick slices
and toss with 2 or 3 tablespoons peanut oil. Bake on a cookie sheet
in a hot oven until brown and tender. Stir often. Sprinkle with
cinnamon to taste.
TOASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS
Wash the seeds and remove the strings to the best of your ability.
Soak the seeds overnight in salted water (1-1/2 teaspoons salt per
2/3 cup water). Then place the seeds in a low baking pan in the oven
at 300 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until golden. Eat
with or without removing the shells.
PUMPKIN COOKIES
Combine 1 1/4 cup oil, 4 teaspoons vanilla, 1 cup honey, 1 cup
molasses or sugar, 4 eggs, 2 cups pumpkin and mix well. Combine ?
cup wheat germ, 2 cups whole-wheat flour, 1 ? cups white flour, 2
teaspoons baking soda, 2 tablespoons cinnamon, 1 tablespoon nutmeg,
1 teaspoon ginger and mix well. Then combine the dry ingredients
with the wet ingredients. Mix until blended. Drop batter on a cookie
sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
"Feed Me! I'm Yours" has sold over 3 million copies worldwide and is
full of nutritious and fun things you can cook up for your kids.
CRAFTS
Autumn Crafts for the Nature-Lover
With trees shedding their summer attire, fall is a wonderful
time for kids to learn about nature by creating autumn arts and
crafts. Fallen leaves, twigs, pinecones and other products of
nature can offer hours of craft enjoyment while teaching children
the wonder of the outdoors. “While enjoying the autumn colors on a
fall walk, parents and children can collect leaves and twigs for
easy craft projects,” says Trish Kuffner, author of “The Arts and
Crafts Busy Book: 365 Art and Craft Activities to Keep Toddlers
and Preschoolers Busy” (Meadowbrook Press). Here are two fall
crafts that you and your child can create from Kuffner’s “Nature
Arts and Crafts” chapter.
LEAF ART
Materials Needed:
Glue and liquid tempera paint or food coloring
Thinned colored glue
Paintbrush
Two equal-sized sheets of waxed paper
Colorful leaves
Flowers, pine needles and other natural objects
Glitter
Hole punch and string
Mix glue with paint or food coloring, or use colored glue thinned
with a little water. Paint the glue onto one sheet of wax paper. The
paper should be well coated with glue. Have your child stick
colorful leaves onto the paper. If you like, add other natural
objects. Sprinkle glitter over the leaves. Paint glue onto the other
sheet of wax paper, and then place it on the top of the first sheet.
Press the sheets together, punch a hole near the top, then hang the
picture with a string in a window.
TWIG FRAME
Materials Needed:
Scissors
Construction paper or gift-wrap
Dry twigs
Ribbon
Cardboard
Photo
White glue
Help your child cut cardboard and construction paper or gift-wrap
rectangles about 2 inches longer and 2 inches wider than the photo.
Glue the paper onto the cardboard. Break the twigs so you have two a
little longer than the length of the cardboard and two a little
longer than the width. Have your child glue the twigs on the edges
of the cardboard so they cross at the corners. Glue the photo onto
the center of the frame. When the glue is dry, tie a ribbon end to
each end of the top horizontal twig and hang the frame to display.
“As the weather begins to cool off this fall, your children will
completing an indoor activity together,” says Kuffner.
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