Family Matters Newsletter - January 2008

Dinner Conversations

Sheila Gaines, Colorado State University Extension - Family and Consumer Sciences, Arapahoe County

Feeding the Mind, Body and Spirit

Mealtime conversations play an important role in the language development of young children. Current research reports that conversations that occur around the family table teach children language skills. Improved vocabularies lead to better readers. Positive communications between family members at family meals mean higher grades for children. Children and teens who eat family meals together experience improved family communication, stronger family ties, positive self esteem and have a sense of belonging. Spend a few extra minutes before your next family meal to plan for rich healthy conversations.

These conversations are best when you can talk and listen to each other away from the distractions of the phone, newspaper, computer and television. Dinner conversations should be positive and non-confrontational. Save any discipline or nagging for another time. Share what's going on in your daily lives and how you feel about what's going on. This might be the best time of day for families to share news and make plans for tomorrow.

Use conversation starters. Just as you might have a theme for the food, such as Italian, have a theme for the conversation. Put a pile of index cards or slips of paper on the table. On each, write a conversation idea. These conversation starters can be in the form of a question like "If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?" A conversation starter could be a direction such as, "Name one thing you did this week that you are proud of.", or "Share one new thing you learned this week."

Turn the conversations into a game. Ask each person at the table to tell two things that happened to them today. Make one of them untrue. Family members try to guess which one is true and which one is untrue. It is fun and family members learn to share.

Make up conversation starters yourself. Ask family members for suggestions. Most of all make a plan. Have fun and start talking. This investment in time is an opportunity to get to know each other and pass down your values and traditions to your family.

For more information on the benefits of Family Meals, visit the Purdue University Center for Families' Promoting Family Meals Project at: http://www.cfs.purdue.edu/CFF/promotingfamilymeals/.

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Active Kids

Making physical activity a part of the day is fun and healthy. Encouraging kids to build physical activity into their daily routine helps to create a pattern that may stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Increase children's physical activity every month until they are doing at least 90 minutes more per day. Congratulate them every step of the way. Put a progress chart on the refrigerator or your bulletin board. Use stars, stickers of check marks to celebrate. Talk about the goals and accomplishments during family time or when doing other activities with the children.

Keeping children active contributes to child development on many different levels:

  • Builds strong bones and strengthens muscles
  • Maintains flexibility
  • Maintains and achieves a healthy weight
  • Promotes good posture and balance
  • Improves fitness
  • Strengthens the heart
  • Improves physical self-esteem
  • Increases relaxation
  • Enhances healthy growth and development
  • Helps develop social skills

Raising healthy children requires an investment in physical activity.

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Healthy Kids

Nutrition recommendations for children over the age of two differ little from those for adults. Most children will grow about two inches and gain about four to seven pounds per year. Between the ages of six and 12, youngsters will grow an average of one to two feet and almost double in weight. A wide variety of foods rich in essential nutrients is necessary for growing bodies. Encourage the tasting of new foods in small quantities without forcing the issue. Children will often come to accept and like new foods. Nutrition experts urge parents not to insist that children "clean their plates." Children may benefit from choosing their own portion size of wholesome and nutritious foods. Parents should not use food to reward or punish behavior.

Children should eat at least three means a day - beginning with a hearty breakfast. A healthy breakfast affects both mental and physical performance. If a child eats breakfast, he or she may be more alert in school and better able to learn and perform sports or other physical activities.

Snacks also are an important part of meal planning. Young children often cannot eat large quantities of food at one sitting. They often feel hungry before the next regular mealtime. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks may be appropriate for this age.

Adapted from: IFIC. Nutrition, Health & Physical Activity During Childhood and Early Adolescence. November 2006.

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Safe Kids

The majority of deaths to children involving vehicles are traffic crashes on streets or highways. About 10% of deaths reported are non-traffic related. Because most of these incidents happen in driveways, parking lots and sidewalks, there is little national data to help us understand exactly what happened or even how many of these incidents take place.

When it comes to protecting children around cars and trucks, the behavior of parents and other adults is as important as seat beats and booster seats. Here are five ways parents can insure safety for their children.

Supervise - Never leave a child alone in a car.

Buckle Up - When you start the car, buckle up and do not move until your child is properly restrained as well.

Hold Hands - Hold a child's hand near a street or driveway and in parking lots. You offer them another pair of eyes to watch for danger.

Know your Choices - Car buyers have choices. Every year, there are more vehicle safety features. Pick the right one for you and your family.

Observe - Walk completely around your car before getting in. Know where your children are. Teach them to move away from a vehicle when it is started.

For more information, go to Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety. www.SafetyFeature.org.

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