Let's eat.

With the holidays approaching, I wonder how many of us are engaging in food, fun, and family the traditional way - sitting together around the table.

Anymore it seems that families and their overstuffed schedules are running in fifty different directions from the time the bell rings to the time everyone falls into their beds way past bedtime. So how are we making time to actually sit and eat together? 

According to a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, "families who eat together have healthier, more balanced diets. Making family mealtime a priority not only improves everyone's physical health, but it also contributes to their overall well-being and mental health."

One thing about eating together that appeals to me is that it allows me to control what my son is putting in his mouth. When he is elsewhere, I never know what he is receiving in terms of food and nutrition. And as he gets older and spends more time away from home (boo-hoo), I know that this will be an even greater struggle.

Additionally, eating together as a family allows parents to establish hopeful habits for their children. One day my son might go off to college thus taking a sabbatical from home-cooked meals for weeks or even a month at a time (say it ain't so). But I will have some peace in knowing that five years at college surely can't negate my eighteen years of meal-together rituals established here in my home.

Furthermore, my husband was raised in a small town miles away from a restaurant of any sort. Nearly every evening meal that he consumed was prepared in his mother's kitchen and delivered to the family at the dining room table. Now my husband might be a rare breed, but because of this delicious upbringing, my husband can cook a serious meal - breakfast, lunch, dinner - you name it, he can cook it. What joy that brings me my family!

Additionally, mealtime is a perfect lab setting for learning socialization skills and manners. The dinner table is a wonderful place for children to practice how we want them to behave in public. Though mealtime can and should be enjoyable, there is no harm in learning how to keep our napkin on our lap or how to ask, "can you please pass the salt?"

Finally, eating together establishes ritual and tradition. I take great comfort in knowing that, no matter what happens during the day, my family will be together for dinner. Growing up, I always sat in the same seat on the same side of the table during our meals together, and it would not have felt the same had my father, for instance, taken a different chair at the table one evening. To me, our everyone-has-an-assigned-seat was like a security blanket.

In fact, a 2004 Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine study found that families who regularly eat together are closer than those who eat separately. When we sit down with our children we create an environment conducive to communication. Mealtime is a great opportunity to actually talk with our kids rather than simply mentioning something in passing as we often do when we are scurrying off to the next event. Also, dinnertime occurs at the end of the day, which means that by then, we all have some catching up to do.

As we approach the holidays, it would do us all good to break-in the dining room table before our company arrives. Nothing fancy, nothing formal - just family, food, and memories.

To read more about the wonders of mealtime, visit this article.

Background TV not good for kids

In my seven months of motherhood, I have spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not I will allow my son to watch TV (movies and videos included), and if so, what limitations will I put on this privilege. Well the time has come for me to get serious about this decision. Just this morning I had my son in my arms, and as he fussed, I switched the TV from the Today show to the Disney Channel. I kid you not, my son was so enthralled in Handy Mandy that within minutes, he had fallen asleep. 

I was somewhat shocked by the effects of one program, but more than shocked, I was feeling guilty. I had used TV to put my child to sleep. And he's only a baby! And though I hate to admit it, this wasn't the first time that I have turned to the TV to entertain my son. 

Because I realize how easy it is to use the TV as a babysitter, child-calmer, and baby-soother, I decided to start thinking seriously about the issue and making some decisions. I imagine that I will allow him to watch some TV, but how much, I am still not sure. I am finding that it is not simply about what he watches. It's equally important that I consider what I am watching when he is present. Not only because of the PG-13 rated content of many shows and commercials, and the link to childhood obesity, but also because of the exposure to constant background noise.

According to a recent study, leaving the TV set on disrupts young children while they are playing and may be detrimental to a child's development. The study found that background TV disrupts the toy play of young children, even when they paid little attention to it; "when the television was on, the children played for significantly shorter periods of time and the time they spent focused on their play was shorter, compared to when the TV was off." According to the study's lead author, "Background TV is potentially a chronic environmental risk factor affecting most American children. Parents should limit their young children's exposure to background television."

Hhm. This complicates things. I not only need to consider limitations to my son's TV exposure but also for mine. And my husband's. Fortunately we only have one TV (and we plan on keeping it that way), but our house is small, and when the TV is on, it nearly fills the entire house with background noise. And I can't help but wonder if the constant background noise is a factor in the attention deficit disorders suffered by so many of our youth.

This recent study leaves me with more to think about as I decide what is best for my son. But more importantly, it leaves me with a challenge. Am I willing to sacrifice my own entertainment for the health and well-being of my son? I hope so (though easier said than done, I am sure).

Veggies and Fruit and Nutrition, Oh my!

In conjunction with a grant from Ohio Action for Healthy Kids, a local elementary school initiated a "Take a Taste" program which gives children a chance to sample different fruits and vegetables. The monthly program offers elementary school children a taste of healthy foods that they might not typically find in an ordinary snack pack. The goal is to increase nutrition in young people by exposing them to a variety of nutritious foods. School is a great lab for this program because healthy kids equates to more on-task, alert, and energized students. What a wonderful and fun way to invest in a child's healthy and education!

Vitamin D & Kids

A recent report released by the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends doubling the amount of vitamin D consumption for infants, children and adolescents. It recommends that all children receive 400 IU of vitamin D a day. 

According to the AAP's website: "adequate vitamin D throughout childhood may reduce the risk of osteoporosis. In adults, new evidence suggests that vitamin D plays a role in the immune system and may help prevent infections, autoimmune diseases, cancer and diabetes." Additionally, it is recommended that children receive daily supplements of vitamin D as most children do not get enough vitamin D through diet alone.

Child Health Day

Today is the 80th annual Child Health Day, a health awareness day initiated by the Health Resources & Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Child Health Day's tagline is Eat Healthy & Be Active for a Healthy Future. 

As part of the initiative, the surgeon general asks everyone to take this pledge because "a healthy future is our gift to our children":

I pledge to:

Be a role model by making healthy choices for myself.
Help children be physically active through everyday play and participation in sports.
Support children's healthy eating habits.

The initiative cites that 1 in 6 U.S. children between 2 and 19 is overweight (that is roughly 12.5 million children or 17 percent). Overweight children are at greater risk for many serious health problems including asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. 

The Child Health Day website is packed with resources, information, and relevant links. I am especially fond of the site's resources pertaining to community involvement. Too many times people turn a blind eye to issues related to children because they do not have children of their own (I have heard, all too often, individuals in my community say, "I'm not voting in favor of that school levy because I don't have any children"). But I believe that we should all be invested in the next generation regardless.

Here are a few of my favorite community involvement suggestions:

• Increase the "Walkability" of your community. I live in a community full of bike paths, parks, and green space (roughly one acre of park space for every 40 residents). In addition to backyards and sidewalks, there is a bounty of run-around space.
• Increase the number of places people can get healthy food they can afford. I love this idea but I know how difficult it is. Fast-food is convenient and cheap, but it often lacks nutrition. One idea is to host a farmer's market in your community. I think every community should have a farmer's market. My community does not offer a farmer's market, and I think that is ridiculously unbalanced considering my community is resourceful, loaded with "green space," and surrounded by farm land. But don't worry, I have contacted my city's community services department regarding my concern and disappointment.
  
• Build and keep up community recreation areas. My community has a beautiful recreation facility, and I am grateful to its investors for the development and maintenance of the facility. A rec facility is one of the best investments that a community can make as it offers a place for physical activity, recreation and community involvement AND it can be a source of income for the community if the facility has space for performances and workshops.

I encourage everyone to take a minute to consider the health and well-being of a child. You will be giving a gift not only to the next generation but to generations to come.

In the news: Kids and fast-food

Recently the Center for Science in the Public Interest released a report that looked into the nutritional quality of kids' meals at thirteen major restaurant chains. They found that 93% of 1,474 possible choices at the thirteen chains exceed 430 calories (an amount that is one-third of what the National Institute of Medicine recommends that children ages 4-8 should consume in a day). This got me thinking...are people really looking to feed their children healthfully at fast-food restaurants, and if they are, then what exactly is the fast-food restaurants' responsibility concerning this issue?

Quite frankly, I don't have much sympathy for those individuals who are upset that fast-food restaurants do not offer more healthy food choices. There was a time when a family could not drive-through for dinner, and if you planned on eating on-the-road, you had to pull out the cooler and fill it with sandwiches and fruit. Really, is it that hard to plan ahead? I understand that fast-food is usually the cheapest way to go when we are in a hurry, but if we find ourselves in that predicament every night, then we have a greater problem. If we are only running through for dinner on occasion, then a 450-calorie meal isn't going to catapult our child into obesity. 

As for the fast-food restaurants . . . I argue that they are getting better. By no means are fast-food chains healthy choices, but they seem to be offering more options like fruit cups and yogurt. The report found Subway to offer the healthiest choices for a child, and that is no surprise. Subway brings a much healthier image to my mind than Burger King or McDonalds. I would expect Subway to offer the same healthy choices to kids as they offer to adults.

Overall, the report does not alarm me. It notes that eating out now accounts for a third of children's daily caloric intake, and the Center's nutrition policy director states that "America's chain restaurants are setting parents up to fail." I disagree. If a parent is failing to serve his/her child healthy meals, the only one to blame is the parent.