Food Fights. Teaching Your Child to Eat Healthy, Without the Fight

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You may remember me mentioning in our Spring Fever Giveaway that one of the items was the Food Fights book. Well, today, I’m going to tell you a little bit about the book. As a parent of 4, I have had my fair share of struggles when it comes to getting my children to eat healthy, good foods. My son eats pretty much any food we give him. My daughters, on the other hand, are extremely picky. I’m not even sure picky can describe it. They drive my husband and me bonkers over food! I don’t always choose the right path for getting them to eat. We have been known to use bribery.  ”Eat you can have some ice cream!” It worked, but it wasn’t right. And it would eventually set the stage for my child only wanting sweets or junk food and I can’t have that!

Not only does food fights give us tips and tricks for getting your child to eat, it also gives great recipes, nutritional info about some of the best foods to eat, weaning your child from bottle to sippy cup, and when to stop the bedtime bottle, etc. Stopping that bedtime meal can be a huge deal and Food Fights gives you ideas on how best to handle it.

This is NOT a weight loss book. It a book designed to help teach us, as parents, how to get our children to eat healthy foods without the fight. And it covers everything from foods that are known to be allergens to constipation! In a small book, everything is covered. And the tips in there have really helped my family. I am learning to pick my battles with my girls. I’m learning to not give up and I’m learning how to get them to eat the foods I put before them!

EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK:

The following excerpts are taken from the new edition of Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed With Insight, Humor and a Bottle of Ketchup (American Academy of Pediatrics, March 2012) by Laura A. Jana, MD, FAAP and Jennifer Shu, MD, FAAP. For more information about Food Fights, please visit www.HealthyChildren.org, the official American Academy of Pediatrics web site for parents.

(EXCERPT 1: )

WHAT’S LACKING IN SNACKING

What’s Not Lacking in Snacking

One of the biggest problems with snacks is, quite simply, that they typically

consist of high-calorie, unhealthy foods rather than nutrient-dense,

healthy foods. With fresh fruit all too frequently replaced by juice and

other sugary drinks, more candy, less milk, and the prize for the largest

increase in snack foods over the past 30 years going to chips and crackers,

what’s clearly not lacking in snacking is salt, sugar, and fat.


Smart Snacking

So now that you know what not to serve for snacks, we wanted to make

sure to impress on you the fact that snacking can and still should play an

important role in your child’s daily diet. Simply put, the right approach

to snacking can help keep kids from getting hungry and cranky while

also giving them added energy and (if you plan it right) added nutrients.

By following simple, smart snacking advice like the tips below, you

can ultimately help your child grow better, think better, and stay active

throughout the day and throughout childhood.


Snacks should not be the exception to the rule that food, in general,

should have nutritional value. Make sure you commit to applying the

same noble goals in choosing your snacks as you (hopefully) do for

your child’s meals.


Keep finger foods on hand. Finding foods that are quick and easy to

grab and serve is actually quite easy. Simply cut up some fresh fruits

or veggies; keep whole grain crackers, pretzels, or ready-to-eat (and

preferably low-sugar/high-fiber) cereals on hand; and then let your

toddler or older child handle the feeding part independently.


Don’t be fooled by packaging. Labels on snack foods for kids, along

with sugary children’s cereals, seem to be the most commonly misleading

when it comes to nutrition. Don’t let creative labeling such as

“fruit snacks” or “low-fat” lead you to believe that sugary treats are

necessarily healthy.


Figure out some “free foods” that your child can eat at any time. It’s

entirely appropriate to agree on some healthy “free foods” (such as

fruits, vegetables, yogurt, or hard-boiled eggs, for example) that your

child can sit down and eat whenever he’s hungry. Remembering that

your ultimate goal is to help your child learn to eat when he’s hungry

and refrain when he’s not, your role is to simply make very sure that

the criteria you use for creating this list is based squarely on the food’s

nutritional value.


Keep junk food out of sight and out of mind. This means not

only limiting the amount of junk food you buy and allow into your

pantry, but also the amount of television your child is allowed to

watch. With literally thousands of television ads designed specifically

to make your child’s mouth water over unhealthy snacks and cereals,

turning off the television—not just when you’re eating but keeping it

turned off throughout the day—can go a long way toward preventing

unhealthy eating habits



(EXCERPT 2:)

SUPERMARKET SANITY

Carting a whining child through the grocery store has essentially

become a parental rite of passage. After all, a toddler in the grocery store

is like a kid in a literal and figurative candy shop.


You have several choices to consider

carefully when it comes to how to handle your child’s potential

grocery-store whining, begging, pleading, and/or tantrums. Better yet,

we hope to give you a handle on how to avoid this common food fight.


Keep on Carting. This is the make-no-concessions approach to shopping-

cart meltdowns. While not always easy to institute, it is usually

very effective. All it really takes is the calm certainty that you are not

the only parent who has walked the aisles with a wailing child. Sure,

this is far easier said than done, but there will probably be more than

a few parents who are eyeing you and your tantrum-throwing toddler—

not in judgment, but out of respect for your resolve. What this

resolve ultimately buys you is a shorter-lived problem. If you don’t

give in, your child will learn a whole lot quicker that it’s not worth

whining for Froot Loops, Fruity Pebbles, Fruit Roll-Ups, or any other

type of fruity concoction that will never qualify for placement in the

produce department.


Steer Clear of Temptation. Have you ever noticed that the overall

layout of most grocery stores is the same? The major food groups, or

“whole” foods such as fruits and vegetables, grains, meats, and dairy

tend to be displayed on the outer edges (or perimeter) of the store,

while the processed foods are typically found in the aisles. Colorful

produce and food that smells good—think bakery and deli—are often

located near the front of the store to entice you to come in. This layout

has definite benefits for the stores since these foods usually have

the highest profit margins, but it also makes your shopping goals a

bit easier: By “shopping the perimeter” on your way in and avoiding

candy-laden checkout lanes on your way out, you can more effectively

steer clear of many temptations and tantrums and come away with

healthier fare.


Negotiate. We don’t want to mislead you—as committed as you

may be to squelching your child’s urge to whine, there may come a

time when you find yourself compromising. And compromise is not

always bad—especially in the instance when you stop to consider

your child’s request and decide that it really isn’t so unreasonable after

all. On the not-such-a-good-idea (but nevertheless a reality) side of

things, you may find yourself giving in when you’ve had a rough day

and just want the whining to stop. While we’re all for the part about

compromise and picking your battles in certain circumstances, be

forewarned that negotiating for the sake of peace and quiet is going

to guarantee you repeat performances, not to mention a cart full of

unhealthy, sugary, processed foods. If you do choose to compromise,

we strongly suggest maintaining some limits and agreeing on terms

before you get in the store. If you are going to indulge your child’s

wishes, be sure to clearly spell out in advance what it is he will be

allowed to get, and then stick to this plan throughout the trip.


Avoid Running on Empty. As adults, many of us have been cautioned

not to go to the grocery store hungry lest our stomachs weigh

in heavily on our decision-making. In other words, take hunger out

of the shopping equation and you’ll be far better equipped to resist

temptation. At least to a certain extent, some (but not all) of your

child’s in-store demands may be hunger-dependent, so it is worth trying to make sure he’s well fed before going to the grocery store. Plain and simple: Hungry children

tend to be crabby children, and crabby children are not only more

inclined to beg indiscriminately for any and all of the junk so enticingly

laid out before them, but they tend to whine a whole lot louder.


Say Your Goodbyes. A lot of parents have told us that when their

child starts begging and whining for things he can’t have at the

grocery store, they simply pick him up, turn around, and leave. From

a behavior management standpoint, this sends a clear message and

helps children learn consequences. By all means feel free to do this if

you can’t get past the feeling that a walk down the aisle with a wailing

child is nothing short of a walk of shame. But if you ask us, it’s an

even greater shame to leave without the food you came for in the first

place and it also stands to send your child the message that he gets to

call the shots.


Go It Alone. You may soon find that, as a parent, a solo trip to the

grocery store is only one stop short of a day at the spa, especially

if your child happens to be going through his whining stage. Rest

assured that it is not a cop-out to find a convenient time (such as

naptime,early morning, or after bedtime—whatever suits your

family’s schedule) and/or somewhere safe to leave your child—at

a friend’s, a babysitter’s, or with your spouse—while you stroll the

aisles at your leisure. If you’re really lucky, you may even find a

friendly neighborhood grocery store where child care is actually

made available to parents while they shop.

 

Our giveaway was held in conjunction with our Spring Fever Event and the winner has already been notified.

 

 

Disclosure: I received 2 complimentary copies of Food Fights as  a part of a Sponsored Post campaign for www.rolemommy.com. One for review and one for givewaway. All opinions are my own.



College Students – Renting Textbooks Can Save $$$

68159ouiunm4pq7.jpgStarting college is hectic and expensive enough without the worry and hassle of purchasing text books. When I was in highschool, I took a correspondence course for Algebra and the textbook was over $50. I was promised that I could sell it at the local campus bookstore when I was finished and receive most, if not all of the purchase price. I received $10. That’s it!

Had I known at the time that I could have rented a book instead, it would have saved me a ton of money. I only needed the book for about a month so that $50 was a lot for me. But just imagine if it had been enough book for several college courses. It would have cost a small fortune for a kid with a low paying job and very little money. Most parents don’t have the money to pay for an entire college education. Especially, if like us, you have more than one child! And what if my husband and I want to take some courses? That would be enough books for 6 people. Granted, our children are still a bit away from college, it will be here before you know it!

So, suppose I want to take some business courses just to refresh myself or even earn a degree. I could go to a site like Campusbookrentals and search for the textbook I was interested. For this post, let’s say I’m looking for a textbook on Business Ethics and I’ll only need it for one semester. I could either purchase the book for around $50 OR I could rent it for a complete semester consisting of 130 days for about $17 plus free shipping both ways.  Now, I may stink at math but that sounds like a pretty good savings to me.

And sites like Campusbookrentals do allow you to highlight in your books as needed. They offer new and gently used books. You want to keep in mind that some of these are used books so you don’t want to go overboard but you can if you need to. And the book you receive might even have some key points already highlighted for you which might not be a bad thing!  You can also purchase the books for the difference if you decide you want to keep it.  My husband and I will definitely look into renting the textbooks when it comes time for our children to go to college.

Do/did you rent your or your childs college text books? Would or will you?

Disclosure: I’m participating in a bloggers campaign sponsored by Cyber connect bloggers network and was compensated. However the opinions are mine.

Image: imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net



The new U by Kotex Tween

U by Kotex Tween

If you are the parent of a girl, you know it is coming. The big P. The talk. Her period, plain and simple. But it’s not plain and simple. As a parent, it can be very hard to talk to our children about puberty and things that affect their bodies. As a child, tween, teen, it can be hard to hear about it. Growing up is hard! For us all!

Kotex has created products for tween girls, U by Kotex Tween,  that make is oh so much easier to have that one particular “talk’ easier to have with our girls. They also have a great site to go along with it. Thanks to the folks at Modern Mom and U by Kotex Tween, I received some nifty gifts to host a party with for girls between the ages of 8 and 12. Yes, you read that right, I said 8. Girls as young as 8 years old are beginning their cycles and it can be a scary time for them and their parents. U by Kotex Tween has a ton of resources on their site including a video (posted below), calendar, etc. And the pads themselves are wonderful. They are the right size for most tween girls smaller frames. The pads have wings which for me are a HUGE must have and the liners are perfect for daily wearing when you’re not totally sure when to expect your actual period. They will keep your daughters clothes protected and give her extra peace of mind. And the designs are so fresh and cute!

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At our party, moms of girls 8-12 and I got together and looked at the products, discussed how to have the talk and related stories of our own first period experience. We decided that since it was a party & the girls were there, we would all have the talk together, right then and there. So we called them in, broke out the Harry & David cookies and the U By Kotex Tween pads and panty liners and info sheets and each of us took turns talking about “monthly bleeding” and how normal it is. We watched the Disney family: Story of menstruation on the computer, then asked the girls if the tips mentioned sounded like good ideas to them. Moms shared their experiences and we let the girls ask questions. In this environment, filled with laughter and fun, our daughters learned all about what to expect and who to talk to and I think they really enjoyed being included in a “grown-up” party.

A party like this is a GREAT way to break the ice and begin the big talks with your children. It sets the stage and allows them to come to you later with any further questions they may have. If you prefer to only have the one-on-one talk, the U by Kotex Tween site can also help with that. The information provided is very down to earth and extremely helpful so I really encourage you to check it out. Then pick a date to have the talk with your daughter. Get mani-pedi’s, go out to a movie or out to eat and just enjoy being together. Make it a day all about her and you together. Here is the video mentioned above:

I didn’t want to post photos pf the moms or their daughters here on the net, as I’m not comfortable putting other peoples pictures on here, but here are some shots of the goodies we received. I’ve included pictures of the boxes of U by Kotex Tween so you know what to look for at the store. They are available at major retailers nationwide including Kmart, Target, Walmart and CVS.

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Products for our party were provided by: Modern Mom and U by Kotex Tween. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own.



Remember – Buzzed driving IS Drunk Driving!

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Each Holiday, I participate in the “Buzzed Driving IS Drunk Driving” campaign through Global Influence to help bring awareness to this very real problem. Many people don’t realize that even a buzz from alcohol can impair your senses enough to cause erratic and dangerous driving.

Last year alone, more than 250 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday periods.

I ask you to help spread awareness for this cause and sign the Pledge to not drive drunk, buzzed or otherwise impaired! Here are several ways you can stay safe and help others stay safe this Holiday season:

Join the Twitter Q&A on Thursday, December 9th at 2 PM ET. Follow the hashtag #buzzeddriving to get safety tips and prevention advice from NHTSA experts. You can follow the chat here: http://tweetchat.com/room/buzzeddriving

Designated Driver Drink List — One of the most important things you can do before going out is designate a sober driver. If you’re throwing a party, make sure to offer non-alcoholic drinks for the sober drivers. Here is  a Facebook tab with 50 non-alcoholic party drink recipes.

Alternative Ride Locator — Here is a Facebook tab with a list of nationwide alternative ride programs that can help keep your readers safe.

Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving website — Sign a pledge not to drink and drive; play “Spot the Difference,” an interactive game that simulates the effects of buzzed driving; and watch a real-life video about how buzzed driving changed one woman’s life.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Ad Council are reminding everyone that the best way to stay safe is to plan ahead and designate a sober driver before you head out for your festivities.

PLEASE help make the roadways safer and ring in a Safe and Happy New Year!

No monetary compensation was received for this post. All opinions are my own.


Create Your Own Pop-Up Book Review. Growing Tree Toys.

When choosing toys for our children, we often search out the most educational toys we can find. But when searching through local stores, we often come up short. That’s why I love Growing Tree Toys. I was sent for review the “Create Your Own Pop-Up Book Kit” This kit is filled with a variety of self-adhesive shapes and stickers, markers and two solid white, completely blank books that allow your child to create their very own story, scrapbook, etc.

It is recommended for children ages 5 and up but my 4 year old daughter wanted in on the fun so I gave her the small 6.25”x6.25” sized book and gave my 7 year old daughter the larger 8.5”x8.5 sized book. Neither wanted any help. So with supervision, I set them up on the dining room table and let them begin creating their books. Our older daughter decided to create a cross between a scrapbook and a story book. She created pages with rainbows and drawings as well as pages to enter information about herself and her daily activities. She did a great job planning and creating the book she wanted.

Mom, daughter and a beautiful rainbow

Our younger daughter wanted to create her very own picture book. She told me that the first page shows a kitty cat and it’s first birthday. She selected the stickers she wanted to use and placed them on the pages easily. I love the way these books brought out my daughter’s creativity and allowed them to use their imaginations instead of them just sitting there playing a standard game, etc. I think they both did such a great job. With no direction from me, they created exactly what was in their minds and loved it!

Kitty Cat's 1st Birthday

The outside of the books are also solid white and can be decorated anyway the child wishes. They can color them, draw on them, add stickers or even paste objects and photos to the outside and the inside. There is one large pop-up page in the center of each book that can be transformed into anything your child imagines. On the box, the heart shape is turned into a lion. Since my oldest daughter loves rainbows and incorporated them into her story pages, she made hers a giant rainbow. Then she scurried off with it before I could get a photo!

The cut-outs can be used to create springy tabs that let your photos pop up off the page. There are spirals that can be used in the same way. There are just so may things you can do with these books. I’d love to have a set to use in making additional scrapbooks for my children. I make their baby books and since there are only a few pages in these books, they would be great to make themed scrapbooks like losing their first tooth or their first sleepover, etc.

My daughters and I were very impressed with these great books! There are are variety of educational toys on the Growing Tree Toys Creativity For Kids page.

BUY IT!

Purchase your own Pop-Up Book Kit online at Growing Tree Toys.

Price: $19.95

Recommended for ages 5 and up.

Features:

  • Includes stickers, 8 markers, pop-up designs, illustrated instructions and step-by-step pop-up ideas to create 2 books
  • 2 hardcover books – 8.5”x8.5” and 6.25”x6.25”

Safety:

  • WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD – Small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs.
Complimentary product was furnished by Growing Tree Toys for review purposes. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions expressed are my own or that of family members facilitating this review.


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