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Parenting Press®News for Parents — August
Dear Friends of Parenting Press,
Welcome to the August issue of our electronic newsletter for parents. Our goal is to provide you with interesting and useful information in a format that’s quick and easy to read—and FREE. We welcome your comments, both about the newsletter content and its format. To get the newsletter delivered, you can sign up for an e-mail subscription.
August 2007
IN THIS ISSUE
- WHAT’S NEW?
- FEATURES
- POTPOURRI
I. WHAT’S NEW?
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Conquering Clutter IS Possible
“Get wise and organize,” says Where’s My Stuff? The Ultimate Teen Organizing Guide, new from Zest Books (zestbooks.net). That’s excellent advice, but the “News for Parents” crew has mixed feelings about this book by Samantha Moss and “professional teen organizer” Lesley Schwartz.
Our first concern: will the kids who need this book most be able to use it? The graphics and colors are very kid-friendly, but there’s a lot going on visually on many pages. We wonder if kids who have difficulty focusing (those with attention deficit issues, for example) will be so distracted by the graphics that they miss the advice.
Another question: how many chronically messy people will really follow through on the recommendations to take five minutes every afternoon to transfer materials from one section of a binder to another (say, from “to do” to “done”)? Some of us are also chronically short of time—although the authors insist that staying neat and organized frees up time.
That said, we found lots to like in this short book, especially as we’re all trying to get more organized for the new academic year. Our favorite tips for kids:
When you finish each assignment, put it in the front of your binder, so it’s easy to find when due.
Pack up your binder, backpack and sports gear the night before, so the only things you have to remember in the morning are perishables like your lunch.
Carry a glue stick or small stapler so that you can attach handouts to spiral notebooks if necessary.
Use the “save as” command for each version of a computer document to ensure you always have a backup document and that you’ve kept all the alternate versions.
And best of all (from a parent’s perspective): “The more consistently organized you are, the more your parents will trust you . . . . Short of hypnosis, the only way to gain their trust is to do what you say you’ll do, when you say you’ll do it.”
In addition, there are templates for organizers your kids can photocopy and step-by-step checklists for major projects such as research papers.
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Novelty Architecture for Kids
Ever eaten at what looked like giant coffee pot? Bought gas at a very oversized cowboy hat? It’s the “old woman who lived in a shoe” style of architecture gone life size! For more information on these sometimes wacky buildings, click through to Wikipedia’s page on novelty architecture, and talk to your kids about how many of these structures you’ve seen. Then think about how many similar “buildings” the kids can make for their plastic toy people, action figures or dolls. The town can be scaled for Legos, Duplos, Matchbox cars or larger people and vehicles.
Lay out a “site plan” (in your case, the streets for a town) with chalk on concrete or a sheet of cardboard or plywood. Turn a milk jug into an ice cream booth by cutting a rectangle for a window and adding a cardboard counter. Glue on a sign and use colored adhesive dots and cone-shaped paper to advertise the different treats available. Wash a take-out coffee cup, add a door and make it the entrance to the espresso shop. Take the bottom and top out of an empty vegetable can, stabilize the bottom with a cardboard base and Tiny Town can have a walk-through greengrocer’s.
Transform the box from a rice mix into the “Wok In” for Chinese take-out and an old potato mix package into “The Spud” diner. Cut car shapes in the side of a box for garage doors. Cover a box in yesterday’s headlines for the newspaper office and wrap paper cylinders (from paper towels and toilet tissue) in silver or gold paper and attach them to a box for “The Castle School.” Turn a box into a giant bed, complete with coverlet, and cut doors for a furniture store. Get creative with signs, too: glue a baby tooth to the “Dentist” sign and suspend a doll shoe outside the cobbler shop. Paste pictures of flowers or fake blossoms across the front of the florist and put a toy airplane on the roof of the travel agency or airport. Finish off your town with a real shoe! Stiffen a discarded lace-up shoe or boot, cut or draw a door, use one of the shoelaces for a miniature clothesline and then decorate the house with a ladder, flower boxes, and a flagpole.
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How Screen Time Affects Family Life
How has family life changed since television became our nation’s primary source of entertainment? How do screens—televisions, computers, DVDs and videos, cell phones, video and online games and PDAs—affect the way we interact, work, study and eat?
Obesity and its relation to screen time were the primary focus at the recent “Washington Summit on Smart Screen Time” sponsored by the University of Washington’s Exploratory Center for Obesity Research, its Center for Public Health Nutrition and the Washington state health department. That doesn’t mean, however, that speakers fell prey to the simplistic conclusion that television-watching itself equals weight and health problems. Here are two articles based on conference presentations:
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Why Does TV Make Us Fat?
Watching television makes us gain weight because it makes us couch potatoes. Right? Nope, says Dimitri Christakis, a Seattle pediatrician and co-author of The Elephant in the Living Room: Make Television Work for Your Kids (Rodale, 2006).
People who watch less television are less likely to be overweight, even if they spend hours in other sendentary activities, for a very simple reason: they eat less.
Unlike in almost every other leisure activity, people who watch TV snack, Christakis points out, making TV snacks (and TV-snack advertising) a major U.S. industry. You don’t have to nibble much to pack on the pounds. One fat-, sugar- or salt-laden snack a day can easily increase your weight by 10 pounds a year. There are two issues, says the doctor: the fact that we eat while watching and the snacks we choose. His conclusions:
- TV viewing and eating go together in our culture,
- TV ads are effective in creating a demand for unhealthy snacks, and
- TV advertising is directly responsible for the weight gain experienced by those who watch a lot of television.
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Why Is Screen Time Risky?
Research shows that kids who spend too much time in front of screens, especially the television screen, are more likely to
- be overweight or obese, which increases the risk of Type II diabetes,
- struggle in school,
- have sleep problems,
- experience attention deficits,
- engage in risky behavior, and
- be insensitive to violence.
What’s to blame for these? In part, technology and government policies which have created such unintended consequences as the sharp increase in screen time, our increasingly inactive lifestyle, and less personal interaction, pointed out Patty Hayes, a health department nurse. Some examples cited by “Summit on Smart Screen Time” speakers:
Widespread use of electronic technology, which now dominates how we interact, how we gather information, how we are educated and how we are entertained.
State proficiency exams for school kids, which almost legislate how children spend their time in school and have changed how many spend their after-school hours.
Federal deregulation of broadcasting, which has decreased the quantity and quality of children’s television programming—and changed the goal of all commercial programming.
We rely on e-mail and voice and text messaging for communication. We’re more likely to go to an Internet search engine than make a trip to the library and consult the research librarian. Kids often do their homework and take their tests online; in fact, some take entire courses in front of a computer. We’re as likely to play cards online, make virtual holes-in-one or chat through our avatars in virtual realities as we are to join a bridge club, head out to the links or organize a potluck with friends.
Old Maid? Checkers? Hangman and tic-tac-toe? Kids play these and many other old favorites not with buddies, but with their computers. And when they travel, even on school or sports trips, they carry along their handheld gaming devices, cell phones loaded with computer games and movies to watch on the charter bus or van’s DVD player.
State proficiency exams, which schools start administering in elementary school to meet No Child Left Behind requirements, mean that school curricula is driven by the test questions. Making the school day long enough to cover all of this means fewer and shorter recesses in many schools and more reliance on computerized programs that can assess progress toward mandated standards. Kids who do poorly usually get more screen time in remedial sessions at school and tutoring center or with educational software at home.
If you’re old enough to remember Howdy Doody, you’ve lived through deregulation of broadcasting. As Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician who co-authored The Elephant in the Living Room: Make Television Work for Your Kids (Rodale, 2006), explained, television programming in the late 1940s and early 1950s was designed to sell television sets: programs were designed to bring families together for viewing. By 1956, when 75 per cent of American homes had televisions, broadcast networks began to focus on a new financial goal: making money by selling advertising.
“Today, the sole purpose of television is to deliver you and your children to advertisers,” emphasized another conference speaker, Adam Drewnowski, Ph.D., of the Obesity Research Center.
What TV Communicates
Among Christakis’s other concerns about current programming:
The high level of stimulation in programs and videos for the very young (even quality programming such as “Sesame Street”) makes reality boring because of its slower pace,
Violence is often shown as humorous,
The consequences of violence are limited, and
The increased advertising, and both ads and programming that make such risky behavior as alcohol use look like fun (or necessary for fun), especially for teenagers.
Whether you’re talking about television, many children’s videos, “edu-tainment” software or online and video games, the message is usually, “Eat this, buy more, sit more, violence is fun and normal,” added Jean Rystrom, regional practice director, pediatrics, Kaiser Permanente Northwest Region, Portland, Oregon. “Often I ask parents what if they could immunize their kids, give them something that would help prevent excess weight, poor grades, early sexualization, tobacco and alcohol use. All they have to do is one thing: reduce screen time.”
Just turn the screens off
“It would be so easy if we could simply turn it off,” said Marilyn Cohen, a speaker from the Northwest Center for Excellence in Media Literacy. “But what is it? There’s a lot of it around.”
As she noted, even children who do not watch television at home live in a “marketing eco-system.” Kids play “advergames” with heroes like Tony the Tiger and they carry lunchboxes with images like that of Sponge Bob. If they walk in Burger King, they see a MySpace.com promotion; at YouTube they see videos that are really advertising.
So what is the answer?
Robert Kesten, a former actor who runs the Center for Screen Time Awareness in Washington, D.C., recommends that we not use screen time as a reward or punishment.
“When we use TV or computer time as a reward, we make it important. When we deprive kids of it as a punishment, we make it even more important.”
Rewards, he went on, should be shared family experiences. “We should celebrate the good grades with a trip to the zoo or a picnic.”
Take a vacation from at least television, recommends Barbara Brock, the Eastern Washington University professor who wrote Living Outside the Box: TV Free Familes Share Their Secrets (EWU Press, 2007). She observed 130 schoolchildren who volunteered to give up television for a month. Six months later, 80 per cent reported watching less television than they had originally and overall, their Body Mass Indexes (an indicator of body fat) had improved. Nor did they report spending more time on computers to compensate for the lost TV time.
Model the screen use you want to see in your children, the speakers agreed, and become both a critical thinker and a critical consumer of media so that you can encourage your children to evaluate the messages they’re hearing and seeing.
If a program or game shows violence, ask your kids about the real-life consequences of such action. Help them brainstorm possible alternatives to the violence for the characters, suggested Christakis. Watch ads with the kids, he continued, and ask them how they are being manipulated by the marketers.
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Coming Attractions
What’s ahead in “News for Parents?” Here’s a sneak preview of the next issue or two. If you’re not already a subscriber, sign up now or bookmark this page so you can return each month for our newest features. (And remember, if you’re looking for something not covered in this issue or the next, check the web site for back issues. It’s likely we’ve discussed your topic in a past issue.)
— How even little kids can map their neighborhood
— Birthday festivities as fundraisers for your favorite charity
— Leading a group
II. FEATURES
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Tips for the month
Each Saturday, Parenting Press posts a new parenting tip and the previous week’s tip is moved to the archive. The topics planned for August are:
August 4 — Sidestepping Arguments
August 11 — Alternatives to Hitting, Part I
August 18 — Alternatives to Hitting, Part II
August 25 — Giving Your Children Attention
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Family Fun Ideas — Smash It! Crash It! Launch It!
At Parenting Press, we review a lot of research: often big, thick books full of academic language. One that recently crossed our desks is serious and stuffed with statistics—about why families should take time to have fun. Being spontaneous and playful are two very important characteristics of family life, says Dorothy S. Becvar in Families That Flourish: Facilitating Resilience in Clinical Practice (New York: Norton, 2007). “Liberal sprinklings of spontaneity, humor, celebrations, and fun often make tasks and responsibilities far more easily accomplished and sometimes even more enjoyable,” she writes . . . and we’re going to take this expert at her word and talk about some projects that will probably make every parent seem playful.
Before you can be spontaneous and goofy, make sure you’ve got tomatoes, eggs, candy, soda and a few other basics. (Clean-up supplies, too!) Then ask your librarian or bookstore for a copy of Smash It! Crash It! Launch It! 50 Mind-blowing, Eye-popping Science Experiments by Rain Newcomb and Bobby Mercer (Lark Books, 2006). Even the table of contents is fun, with listings for “Splat!”, “Exploding Marshmallows,” “Parachuting Eggs” and “Candy Rocket Engine.”
Yikes! These sound messy, don’t they? That’s why this is FAMILY fun: projects for Mom and Dad or aunts, uncles, or grandparents to participate in. Older kids can do some of the projects on their own, but only with adult approval. Regardless of how old you are, many projects are best done outdoors, some place where it won’t matter if a tomato splits open or egg shells turn themselves into confetti.
Too hot to think about science? The perfect opportunity to try “Water Bucket Flip,” where you fill a bucket about half full of water, swing it back and forth like a pendulum. . .and then, when you’re going fast enough, send it all the way around. Wonder why the water’s staying in the bucket? It’s centripetal force! (And it’s related to speed, so you absolutely, positively have to swing the bucket quickly. Unless you’re anxious for a shower, of course!)
Now for something a little less messy: “Fettucine Bridge Is Falling Down.” That’s right: you’re going to build a bridge for a toy car—with only 20 pieces of fettucine! Then you’ll test its strength by putting books on the top. How much weight will your pasta structure support before it smashes? Try different designs and compare them for strength. What you’ll probably find is that trusses—triangles—are the best because they redirect vertical force, allowing you to make a stronger bridge with less material. (That’s the science part of this project.)
Once you’ve built a bridge, how about a vehicle? “Balloon dragsters” take a little bit of cardboard, a flexible straw, uninflated balloons and a few other household items. A great project for a group—each of you can build your own and then race ‘em, to see which one of you has learned the most about rocket science. Because, believe it or not, that’s what dragsters are all about!
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Community Service: Saving Stamps for Veterans
Do your kids enjoy the variety of stamps that arrive in your mailbox? Stamps for the Wounded is a Lions International group, founded in 1942, that serves thousands of in- and out-patients through organized clubs and occupational therapy programs in veterans’ hospitals and convalescent centers. Any kind of stamps can be used. Veterans mount the unusual stamps in their own collections. Mentally disabled patients also use stamps to make greeting cards or cover decorative boxes in therapy sessions.
Helping this group is simple:
When an envelope is trimmed around a stamp, leave a margin of at least a quarter inch,
Don’t peel, steam or soak stamps off the envelope corner,
Sort stamps into three groups: stamps from foreign countries, cancelled U.S. stamps, and uncancelled U.S. stamps,
Include your children’s names and address so that the volunteers who run Stamps for the Wounded can send them a thank you note,
Mail donations to SFTW at P. O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041.
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“Reader Rewards” Program Recognizes Reviewers
Tell us how you use your favorite Parenting Press publications and we’ll send you much more than a thank-you note. In fact, we’ll send you an entire book—your choice of anything Parenting Press publishes!
If you have a favorite Parenting Press publication you’d like to tell us about, please send us your comments and contact information. If we use your comment, you will receive a gift certificate redeemable on your choice of Parenting Press publication. Please note that all submissions become the property of Parenting Press for use in promotional literature and activities and that we reserve the right to identify you by name, title and city of residence/place of business. However, you will be contacted for written permission prior to the use of your submission. All “Reader Rewards” submissions should be received by Parenting Press prior to Dec. 31, 2007.
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Raise funds with a Parenting Press Book Fair
Would your school or group like a new fund-raiser?
For years Parenting Press has been offering its carefully written books on child guidance, problem-solving and dealing with feelings through preschool Book Fairs. Now our Book Fairs are being expanded to schools, churches, child-care programs, parenting groups—any organization that can use parenting and children’s books.
More information about our Book Fairs is posted online. We have posted a copy of the brochure, an explanation of how much you can earn with a Book Fair, a step-by-step guide to make Book Fairs easy and fun to organize and downloadable promotional materials.
III. POTPOURRI
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Special of the month—Five for Four!
This special has expired.
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