Studies show that children who watch several hours of TV a day tend to have greater health risks than children who spend this time engaging in physical activity or non-screen time activities. In today’s society we are surrounded by screens – television sets, smart phones, computers, iPods, portable video games – and the list continues to grow. All of these gadgets are full of gripping and sometimes mindless entertainment that can keep us content for hours on end, no matter what our age. With more and more time spent in front of the screen, we are also losing direct social contact time, which is necessary to build and refine social skills. Not all screen time is “bad.” A lot of what is offered is educational, helpful, a great way to explore our world and sometimes just pure fun.
While it is fine to include some screen time activities in your child’s day, it is also important for children to engage in non-screen activities to stimulate growth, learning and social skills, as well as to promote and teach healthy lifestyles. Try to add physical activity into your everyday routine where everyone stands up and moves. Make sure you pick activities that your child enjoys, while also encouraging him or her to try new movements. You may even let your child help choose the activity from a list of 2 or 3 options.
Now that winter is here and we are spending less time outside, it becomes more difficult to stay physically active. Below are some ideas of things to do indoors during the winter months to help your kids stay active:
1. Make an obstacle course out of cushions, pillows, blankets, or yarn, and things to crawl over, walk or balance on, and jump over.
2. Play balloon tennis or balloon volleyball.
3. Have a crab-walk or bear-walk race.
4. Make a hopscotch grid with tape on the floor.
5. Set a timer for 1 minute, and see how many jumping jacks, sit-ups, hops on one foot, or heel raises (going up on tip-toe) you can do. Try to beat your number the next time.
6. Go explore a Children’s Museum, Aquarium, or Science Center.
“Idleness, indifference, irresponsibility are healthy responses to absurd work.”
“Marjorie is lazy. That’s all. You need to push her to get things done,” said Ms. Busch.
We were in a parent/teacher conference and I felt uncomfortable with the word “lazy” as a descriptor for five-year-old Marjorie. Lazy seemed derogatory.
Marjorie’s teacher, Ms. Busch, had 25 years of experience to my five. Marjorie’s parents nodded their heads and didn’t seem upset that they had a lazy child. To me, the word “lazy” felt like a splinter under my fingernail. Lazy didn’t belong in a sentence about a five-year-old girl. I wanted to banish the word with its perception of character.
After the conference, I visited with Ms. Busch about her use of the term. As an observer in her classroom of three to five-year-olds, my questions were directed toward understanding classroom dynamics.
“When you use the word ‘lazy’ what do you mean?” I asked Ms. Busch.
“Lazy is someone who can do the work, but won’t. They would rather visit with their friends, watch the clock, play outside, go to the bathroom 10 times a day, wander around the room, whatever, to get out of doing what they should be doing,” Ms. Busch said.
“What specific behaviors do you see in Marjorie that make you think she is lazy?” I asked.
“Marjorie,” Ms. Busch said with a gentle grin, “loves to talk. She gets some work out and looks busy, but she’s talking to her neighbors at the table. She never completes a task. When it’s clean up time, she heads straight to the bathroom and emerges when it’s time to go outside. She cries and whines if I try to get her to complete a task. Marjorie can do the work, but she won’t. She is lazy.”
“Would you mind if I observed Marjorie for a couple of days and kept notes?” I asked.
Ms. Busch was right. Marjorie talked all the time and seemed skilled at avoiding any kind of meaningful task that was age appropriate. Marjorie did spend time with the three year olds, showing them how to do puzzles, sweeping and dusting. Marjorie “bossed” the four and five year olds around. She was busy all day long in everybody else’s business and avoided her own.
Observing children at work gives us insight into their character, their interests and possible obstacles to their development. After observing Marjorie for a day, I didn’t believe she was lazy. I saw Marjorie avoiding work that involved writing or lining up materials, such as math materials for counting or moveable letters for spelling, activities in which other five year olds were actively engaged. Marjorie’s choices for work were appropriate for three and four year olds. Visiting with her neighbors covered up Marjorie’s careful watching of their actions.
By observing Marjorie, I saw her difficulty with fine motor tasks such as using a pencil and scissors or picking up small materials, such as single beads or puzzle pieces. She had difficulty cutting a straight line and putting objects back in order. Marjorie’s “bossing” of four-year-olds was her translating into spoken language certain knowledge, such as numbers to one thousand.
Marjorie was hitting obstacles and had weak fine motor skills. She needed to process information out loud to form clear long-term memories. To overcome these difficulties and compensate for lack of skills, Marjorie talked, did “baby” work and avoided work with small materials.
After discussing my findings with Ms. Busch, we brainstormed for lessons for Marjorie that would assure her success by using larger materials, by building her fine motor control and by allowing for verbal processing.
Ms. Busch told me: ‘It’s like we were taught. It is the adult’s job to remove obstacles for the child. I was focused on Marjorie’s being stuck on an obstacle instead of trying to figure out what that obstacle was and removing it. Laziness is a sign that a child’s between a rock and a hard spot.”
Written by Dara Schmeck, MS, CCC-SLP, Bothell Pediatric and Hand Therapy
The USDA has established guidelines for healthful eating patterns, with an emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. However, many picky eaters tend to refuse these foods, leading to mealtime battles. Here are some things you can do to help your child learn how to enjoy a broad variety of foods:
Offer a variety of foods at each meal and snack. Be sure a starch, protein, and fruit or vegetable is present at every meal. Teach your children about those foods, talking about taste, texture, and smell. Keep your language positive or neutral, and avoid any negative words (e.g., slimy, stinky). Model how to eat those foods, and what happens to them as you chew. Encourage any interaction with new foods; sometimes poking a new food can be a victory.
Establish a mealtime routine. Include a verbal warning prior to the meal, set-up (e.g., washing hands), and clean-up (e.g., clearing plates from the table). When a child knows what to expect at the meal, they are better prepared to handle the challenge of a new food.
Eliminate distractions. Turn off the TV, remove toys from the table, and focus on the food. The table is your classroom to teach about food and eating patterns; help your child focus by removing attention-stealers.
Schedule meals and snacks. Children should eat approximately every 2.5 hours, resulting in 5 meals/snacks each day. Their stomachs are too small to hold enough calories for the day with only 3 meals. As well, the body’s natural hunger cycle occurs about every 2.5 hours. Take advantage of naturally hungry times to offer more healthful foods.
Eliminate snacking or grazing between meals. When your child is snacking between meals, they will not be hungry at meals or snacks when you are offering healthier food choices. This makes it easier for them to refuse those foods. Juice or other flavored drinks can also reduce appetite. Offer only water between meals and snacks.
Engage your child in mealtime preparation. Let them come grocery shopping and help you cook. Empower them by letting them choose and prepare that dinner’s vegetable - they may decide to try it!
Get messy. Playing with food is a normal part of the developmental process in learning to eat foods. Use food as your materials for art projects or even as face paint. The more exposure a child has to a food, the more familiar it becomes, and the more likely they may be to decide to try a new food.
You are the most important factor in your child’s relationship with food. Model healthful eating patterns yourself; your child will learn by your example. Be patient - eating habits do not change overnight. If you continue to struggle with your child at mealtimes, our Food Explorers feeding therapy program is designed to promote positive interactions with food and decrease resistance to touching, tasting, and swallowing food.
Written by Sini Fernandez and Natalie Higashiyama of The Bear Creek School
The Upper School Choir at Bear Creek spent Thursday morning, October 6 working with a master. Choral director Rodney Eichenberger is a legend in choral circles, having taught for over 50 years throughout the United States at three Universities and as a frequent guest artist at seminars and workshops on choral conducting. Mr. Eichenberger brought his passion and energy to Bear Creek as he worked closely with Judy Loudenback, Upper School choir director and the choir on the music from Handel’s Messiah, Susan Brumfeld’s No Time, and Henry Davies’ God Be in my Head.
Eichenberger demonstrated how movement can improve pitch, tone and rhythm. He instructed the singers to hold their hands open, as if holding a ball, and lift them up on Brumfeld’s line, “Rise, O Fathers, Rise.” Throughout the morning, students learned to hear and change pitch more accurately through a simple finger gesture, pointing upward while singing a note instead of pointing downward.
In unrehearsed, spontaneous demonstrations, singers internalized musical concepts aurally, visually, and kinesthetically. During a line from Handel’s For Unto Us a Child Is Born, he remarked, “Don’t be vague when you sing that part.” By listening to each section of the choir individually and then changing the individual order, spacing and number of rows, conductor Eichenberger improved the entire production and vocal tone of the choir. Among his memorable pieces of advice, “Never sing the same word the same way.”
Eichenberger’s philosophy that musicality is enhanced through movement extended to Judy Loudenback, Bear Creek Upper School choir director. He encouraged her to move with “purpose or intention” while conducting. Loudenback especially appreciated that “Rod was able to take music to a deeper level. He is a master at understanding the small nuances of choral music and helping students understand how to bring their music to the next level.” Choral students remarked throughout the day how Eichenberger made them sound so incredible in such a short time.
Approximately 144 excited kids arrived early Friday morning at Saint Edward Park in Bothell to experience what life has to offer in an outdoor classroom. Kids who usually spend their days in a traditional indoor classroom were able to experience learning in the beautiful natural setting.
The Woodmoor Elementary PACE Program (Parents Active in Cooperative Education) offers many unique learning opportunities. For Outdoor Education Day, kids were given the chance to learn how to create their own box oven and enjoy the tasty pizzas they cooked with adult supervision.
The Sarvey Wildlife Center brought owls, falcons, hawks and other birds. There was a woodworking station, a live bat station and a geology table.
The Seattle Science Center allowed the kids to learn about rocks created by volcanoes and observe a model volcano in action.
Tours were guided on the trail to allow children to learn about the watershed.The Eastside Audubon Society was also there to give the kids an introduction to birds.
When there was down time during lunch, PACE parent Eric Stray was on hand with a sound system, allowing any child who was interested to dance in the grass.
Kids of all ages came to celebrate a day they will not soon forget — one filled with learning and surrounded by their peers.
Outdoor Education Day Coordinators Heather Stanley and Shannon Cortinas, along with many other parent volunteers, worked countless hours to bring this fantastic event to fruition. Was it worth it?
Just ask the kids who are still proudly wearing their PACE wristbands and talking about the adventures of that day and probably will do so for years to come.
The Woodmoor PACE Program is a choice program offered through the Northshore School District. Placement is by blind lottery, open to children ingrades 1-6 (space permitting).
PACE is committed to an enriched learning environment, emphasizing active participation of parents, innovative teaching techniques, and creating a partnership of teachers, parents and students. PACE at Woodmoor Feeder schools include: Canyon Creek, Fernwood, Maywood, Moorlands and Woodmoor Elementary schools.
PACE at Woodmoor is hosting an information evening on Tuesday, October 18, at 7 p.m.
For additional information, call (206) 861-5692 and visit the website at www.nsd.org/WoodmoorPACE.