Monthly Archives: March 2017

Healthy Snacks for Adults

March is Nutrition Month – Tip # 3

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Make snacks work for you by choosing nutrient-rich foods from the MyPyramid food groups. Snacks can boost your energy between meals and supply essential vitamins and minerals. There is a place for snacks in a healthy eating plan. Just choose wisely:

• Think of snacks as mini-meals that contribute nutrient-rich foods. You can fit snack calories into your personal healthy eating plan without over-spending your day’s calorie budget.

• Snack only when you’re hungry. Skip the urge to nibble when you’re bored, frustrated or stressed. Feed the urge to do something by walking the dog or working in the garden.

• Keep portion control in mind. Have a single-serve container of yogurt or put a small serving of nuts in a bowl. Eating directly from a multiple-serving package can lead to overeating.

• Plan snacks ahead of time. Keep a variety of nutritious ready-to-eat supplies on hand, such as whole-grain crackers and low-fat cheese.

Get creative with the following snack suggestions by swapping out different fruits, vegetables and grains to keep your snacking exciting!

Snacks with 200 calories or less:

• One tablespoon peanut butter spread on slices of a medium apple

• One cup tomato soup with five whole-grain crackers

• Three cups air-popped popcorn sprinkled with three tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

• Tri-color veggie snack: 6 baby carrots, 10 sugar snap peas (or green pepper strips), 6 cherry tomatoes and 2 tablespoons reduced-fat ranch dressing for dipping

• Small baked potato topped with salsa and 1 ounce low-fat cheese

• Toaster waffle topped with ½ cup blueberries and 2 tablespoons low-fat yogurt

• Six whole-wheat crackers and one slice low-fat Colby cheese

• Fruit smoothie: Blend 1 cup fat-free milk, ½ cup frozen strawberries and ½ banana

• One 6-inch flour tortilla with ¼ cup black beans and 2 tablespoons fresh salsa

• Quick-to-fix salad: 2 cups mixed greens with ½ cup mandarin oranges, 1 tablespoon sliced almonds and 2 tablespoons reduced-fat dressing

• Mini-sandwich: Whole-grain dinner roll with 1 slice deli turkey, 1 slice low-fat cheese and mustard

Snacks with 200 to 300 calories for active adults, teens and athletes:

• Refuel between meals or after a work-out with these higher-calorie snacks. Watch serving sizes to stay within the range of 200 to 300 calories.

• Whole wheat pita cut into wedges with 2 tablespoons hummus for a dip

• Yogurt parfait: Layer 6 ounces fat-free yogurt, ½ cup berries and ¼ cup granola

• Trail mix: Mix 20 almonds, miniature box of raisins, and ¼ cup sunflower seeds

• Instant oatmeal made with fat-free milk with 1 tablespoon honey, ½ cup sliced peaches and dash of cinnamon

• One 4-ounce fat-free, ready-to-eat vanilla pudding with ½ cup fresh fruit and 5 vanilla wafers

• Veggie pizzas: Split whole wheat English muffin. Top with 2 tablespoons low-fat cream cheese, ½ cup diced fresh veggies and one ounce low-fat mozzarella cheese

• Cinnamon-raisin mini-bagel spread with one tablespoon peanut butter

• Hot chocolate made with low-fat or fat-free milk and a small oatmeal cookie

• Whole-grain toaster waffle with 1 ½ tablespoons chocolate-flavored hazelnut spread

• Banana split: banana sliced length-wise topped with ½ cup frozen yogurt and a tablespoon of chopped nuts

For more healthy eating tips, visit www.eatright.org.

Make Your Own Blarney Stone

Blarney Stone CraftIn this simple project, a smooth river rock is turned into a small, kissable Blarney Stone.In southwestern Ireland, there is a very famous stone, called the Blarney Stone. It is located high up in Blarney Castle. If you kiss the Blarney Stone, it is supposed to give you the gift of eloquence.
Supplies needed:

  • A smooth, clean river rock
  • Brush
  • Green paint
  • Glue
  • Markers
  • Glitter, sequins, plastic jewels, googly eyes, bits of yarn, etc.
Make sure your rock is clean and dry. Paint the rock green.
After the paint is dry, decorate your rock using glitter, sequins, beads, plastic jewels, googly eyes, bits of yarn, or other interesting items.
When the paint and glue are dry, add details (like eyebrows, etc.) using markers.You now have your own small Blarney Stone to help you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

 

Battling Backtalk

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From Amy McCready, founder of Positive Parenting Solutions

Why do kids talk back?
Kids talk back for a variety of reasons. They may be testing your limits or trying to get a reaction. Perhaps they’re hungry, tired or just having a bad day. However, if backtalk is frequent, it’s usually the child’s way of exerting his power and saying “You’re not the boss of me.”

We’re all hard-wired with a need for POSITIVE power -– the ability to have some control over our lives. When parents over-protect, over-demand, or constantly order, correct and direct their kids… they strip them of independence and personal power.

The only way our kids know to respond is to fight back. It’s a basic fight or flight response. They can’t easily flee (your food and shelter are way better than they can afford on their own), so they fight back with backtalk, attitude, negotiating, arguing, stomping away, eye rolling, etc.

All kids, toddlers through teens, seek to exert their independence -– it’s what they’re supposed to do. Our goal as parents is to foster their independence within our limits and without the back talk.

Here are five tips to help you reduce backtalk in your house.

Own your role: Power struggles that lead to backtalk are a two-way street and parents and au pairs also play a starring role. Be aware of your day in and day out communication with your kids (and your spouse, for that matter!) Watch your tone of voice and minimize the amount of ordering, correcting and directing you do. No one wants to be “bossed around” all day and the natural reaction is to fight back.

Remember, it’s not about “winning” the battle. It’s about recognizing that your child needs more control over her life and helping her find ways to have positive power within your boundaries.

Fill the attention basket: Kids of all ages have an attention basket -– plain and simple. If they don’t get sufficient positive attention, they will use negative behaviors to provoke us until they get our attention. From their perspective, negative attention is better than no attention at all. Fill their attention baskets in positive ways by spending one-on-one time with your kids daily. It doesn’t have to be a long time – just 10 minutes when they have your undivided time and attention (if the phone rings, don’t answer… if your Blackberry chirps, let it go.) As you fill their attention baskets positively and proactively, your kids will become more cooperative and less likely to provoke power struggles.

Finding a spare 10 minutes to spend with each child can seem daunting in a busy non-stop life, but think of it as an “investment” in good behavior, a calmer home and less backtalk.


Give power to the people: Find ways to give your people the positive power they need. Provide more choices — within your family boundaries –- so they can have more control over their world. To a toddler, power means choosing between a Batman and Spiderman toothbrush. To a teenager, it can be allowing him to decide which restaurant the family goes to on Saturday night.

Chill out: Don’t overreact! Kids talk back to get a reaction. When you get upset and respond with “you will not talk to me that way, young man”, they score with a power payoff.

Instead, get eye to eye and very calmly say, “I feel hurt/disrespected when you speak to me that way. When I hear that tone of voice, I’m going to walk away. I’ll be happy to talk with you when we can speak to each other respectfully.”

Then – walk away! The next time it happens, don’t remind; don’t say a word. Just calmly walk away. It sends the message, “I won’t participate in this power struggle with you.”

Rule of law: Be very clear about the rules in your house and be equally clear about the consequences if the rules are broken. Then, if kids push the limits, follow through -– each and every time. Parents and au pair don’t have to be harsh or overly strict. They just have to set fair limits, communicate those limits clearly and be consistent in implementing consequences when appropriate.

Helping Young Children Learn Language

Being an au pair is an important role in a child’s life. When you are caring for a young child up to 45 hours per week, there are lots of opportunities to help them learn language. Many host parents are eager for their children to be exposed to foreign language. If this is true of your host parents, you can try the suggestions below, in both English and your native language.

Below are a few tips to start with, for more ideas, check out Ready at Five.

  • Read – Read to them daily, point out pictures and ask questions. Even if they can’t answer the questions, this is still modeling conversation.
  • Talk – Point out objects around them, names of their body parts, explain what you are doing and places you are going. Long before babies can speak, they benefit greatly from being spoken to.
  • Sing – You can sing childhood classics or make up your own silly songs. If you are looking for song ideas, HERE is a great website with lists of songs, lyrics and links to YouTube videos* of the songs.  Children’s music is also available at the public library and even on iTunes.
  • Words – As children move from toddlers to preschoolers begin to point out written language.
  • Writing – Toddlers and preschoolers can begin to learn pre-writing skills by drawing with crayons or doing finger paints.

*The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for babies under 18 months of age. For children 18 months to 5 years they recommend no more than 1 hour of high quality content. You can play the songs on youtube for the audio and not necessarily show the screen to the child.

Photo: Quinn Dombrowski (Flickr)

National Peanut Butter Day

Today is National Peanut Butter Day.  Who would have guessed you can make Peanut Butter Lover’s Day a Craft Day!

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Other Things To Do:

  • Find out more about where peanuts come from.
  • Make home-made peanut butter.
  • Talk about the color brown/tan.
  • Try one of these Open-Faced Peanut Butter Sandwiches.
  • Go on a peanut hunt (hide peanuts all around the room for someone to search for).

How to Say Goodbye Around the World

How to Say Goodbye

The English word “goodbye” is derived from the pharse “God be with you.”  Parting words in other languages are similar. In Spanish, it’s adios (ah-dee-ohs), in French adieu (ah-dyur).  Both words literally mean “to God”.

There are other ways to “goodbye”, however.  English children shout “Cheerio” when parting and in Switzerland. Germany and Italy they say ciao (chow) which is the informal way of saying “goodbye” in Italian.

A wave  of the hand accompanies most goodbyes, at least in the West.  In Japan, people bow when they part, and Hindus press their hands together and say “Namaste”, just as they do when greeting one another.

In some households, in India, it’s considered a bad omen to say “goodbye”.  Instead people say, “go and come back”.  If you are the one leaving , you announce, “I’m going and I will be back.”

How many languages can you teach your host kids to say “goodbye”.  Amaze your host parents at by having the kids say goodbye from around the world at the dinner table.

 

Dr. Seuss Week — A Week to Celebrate Reading

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This week (March 1-5) many schools throughout the United States are celebrating the birthday of Dr. Seuss.  To honor Dr. Seuss’ love of reading and his inspiration for kids and adults alike,   March 3 is Read Across America Day. The National Education Association sponsors events to inspire reading in children throughout our schools and communities.

Dr. Seuss wrote many childrens books – Cat in the Hats, Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop to name a few.  In the cluster monthly Kids Activity Kit for March, there is a Dr.Seuss Reading Rewards Card for each host child.  Punch out the colored dots for each book the children read.  After 15 books, complete the Dr. Seuss Reading Certificate and reward the children with a Dr. Seuss pencil (included in the kit).

My son’s school developed a week of celebrations based on the themes of the Dr. Seuss books.  This is a fun activity to do with your host kids at home.   Dig out the Dr. Seuss books – you will be surprised how much fun the books are to read and the rhyming will help improve your english.

Monday – “Red and White Day” – wear red and white to show Seuss Pride.

Tuesday – “Cat in the Hat Day” – wear your favorite hat to school.

Wednesday – “Grinch Green Day” – wear green, but don’t be as grumpy as the Grinch

Thursday- “Fox in Socks Day” – Roll up your pant legs and show off your cool socks.

Friday – “Sneak Up on Reading Day” – Wear your favorite sneakers and participate in “Drop Everything and Read.”

Check out the Dr. Seuss website

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for more ideas, printables and on line games to play with the kids.  Enjoy!