Free Six Flags Tickets

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I am not a fan of giving kids rewards for learning because it makes them reliant on extrinsic motivators and instead of increasing the behavior, ‘expected rewards’ actually did the opposite. There have been many studies done on this phenomena over the years and at this point it is a psychological truism. However, there is a major caveat.

Children given surprise rewards performed marginally better than those who were not given rewards for drawing

Surprise rewards may be ok
Children who are “taught to fish”, so to speak, get a sense of satisfaction from their hard work and it is that sense of satisfaction that motivates them to continue. As parents, we rob them of their pride in their work when we give them a treat for doing a good job. A simple acknowledgement of their hard work (I’ll discuss this at another time) is enough. The study above did find that surprise rewards to be motivating and that’s understandable because who doesn’t want to be recognized once in a while? However, there can be too much of a good thing so keep the rewards and praise to a minimum.

Free Six Flags tickets

For those of you who didn’t read, your little ones can get free Six Flag tickets for participating in the “Six Flags Read To Succeed” program. The bottom line, however, is that this should be a surprise reward. Don’t tell them about it until after they have read all the books. Here’s more information on the program:

Read to Succeed is an exciting program that encourages students in grades K through 6 to read for fun. Students who complete six hours of recreational reading earn a free ticket to Six Flags! The program is available to teachers and schools at no cost to participate, and it’s a great way to motivate kids to read. The program deadline is March 3, 2014 at 5pm CST.

Click here to sign your child up for the program.

What’s wrong with a “fat letter”?

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I saw a post on MommyNoire about the fat letters that have been in the news and I couldn’t disagree more with their position:

    Maybe the fat letters help some families but the bottom line is, shouldn’t parents and their pediatricians be responsible for their kids’ weight? It’s good that schools want to be active in stopping childhood obesity. Fixing school lunches is one thing, but sending my child to a healthcare person that doesn’t know their situation for arbitrary evaluation seems silly.

If a child showed symptoms of a serious illness that was not being addressed, wouldn’t we expect the school to let a parent know? These letters may not just be stating the obvious, they maybe alerting parents to an issue that is being ignored.

According to a recent study, the obese children are not being treated because their parents are in denial. Childhood obesity isn’t just a matter of aesthetics, it has lifelong repercussions such as diabetes and heart disease. I get it. No mother wants to get one of these letters because we take criticism of our babies personally but we have to be able to put our feelings aside for sake of the kiddos.

Parents are the key to reducing childhood obesity
A UCLA pilot study showed that it is possible reduce obesity rates through an intervention program which educated parents on healthy eating. The study participants had a 9 percent decrease in weight while the kids in the control saw their weight go up by sixteen percent! The problem I see is that some parents don’t know how to help their children eat healthier meals. Well, Wendy Slusser, MD, co-founder and medical director of the UCLA Fit for Healthy Weight program has offered the following steps to help parents create a balanced healthy diet for their kids:

    “Offer a healthy, balanced diet

    Healthy Eating with meals and snacks that are rich in nutrients and minerals. Half of your child’s plate should contain fruits and vegetables, one quarter should contain whole grains and the other quarter should be foods high in protein. By making plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grain snacks and healthy beverages easily accessible, parents can help their child avoid foods high in sugar, salt, high- fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and saturated/trans fats, and encourage a healthy diet both during meals and snack times.

    Cook more meals at home, have regular meal times and get your kids involved.

    By cooking at home, parents have control over food choices, portion size and when meals or snacks are served. When kids are involved in shopping for and cooking meals, parents can teach them the nutritional value of each food as well as have important family time.

    Control portion size.

    Exact portion sizes differ depending on age, gender, weight and height, but a rough estimate of portion size is a one-hand fist size for fruits, vegetables, pastas and beans and a palm-size for proteins.

    Increase physical activity and limit TV/computer time.

    Exercise is an important component of a healthy lifestyle. By reducing screen time, kids can avoid unnecessary empty calories from snacking and be more inclined to increase physical activity by going outside.

    5-2-1-0 Blast-Off to Healthy Eating

    5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables
    2 hours or less of recreational screen time
    1 year or more of breastfeeding; with exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life with introduction of appropriate infant food at 6 months old
    Blast off and have fun with one hour or more of physical activity

    Support a healthy lifestyle

    Healthy Lifestyle“By introducing your child at an early age to a healthy lifestyle and a well-balanced diet rich in minerals and nutrients, parents can help their child prevent obesity, diabetes and iron-deficient anemia,” Dr. Slusser says. “The family home environment needs to support a healthy lifestyle for everyone.””

As mothers, we are responsible of our children’s health and it is as simple as saying no to junk food and saying yes to healthier choices but that can only happen if we stop being in denial.

Freebie Friday: Free Kindle Books For Kids

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It’s Freebie Friday!

While not Oprah’s “Favorite Things”, I do feel like the lady in the gif above whenever I come across free educational things for kids! Below is a list of free Kindle books for kids just in time for long holiday road trips.

Remember that you don’t need a Kindle to read these. You can download the Kindle app on your smartphone or tablet.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0078WJINI/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C0V4PPS/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E4TDOGA/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ZI1LS2/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008D65XFU/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DS7FVUQ/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00APLN8AI/
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We are all in this together so share your favorite freebies in the comments!

“Mom, I’m Stupid!”

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I am a big fan of the “Love and Logic” program because their advice matches my child-rearing philosophy. What is “Love and Logic”? I’m glad you asked! The “Love and Logic” approach teaches kids that there are logical consequences for their poor choices. Parents are instructed to lay out consequences in a loving and empathetic way that, in my opinion, does a better job of connecting actions to the consequences than other ways of disciplining.

Here’s the “Love and Logic” technique in action:

    Dad: “Oh, no. You left your bike unlocked and it was stolen. What a bummer. I bet you feel awful. Well, I understand how easy it is to make a mistake like that.” (Notice that the parent is not leading with anger, intimidation, or threats.)

    Dad then adds, “And you’ll have another bike as soon as you can earn enough money to pay for it. I paid for the first one. You can pay for the additional ones.”

I plan to post their newsletters but I urge you to sign up and search their site for advice because the “Love and Logic” approach is a great tool especially when you find yourself stumped.

“I’m stupid”

I know a lot of parents feel stumped when their little one’s express their frustrations at some difficult task by saying, “I’m stupid”. Could there by anything worse than hearing your baby verbally beat themselves up? Seriously, it’s ugly crying time.

Well, the people at the “Love and Logic” organization have some great advice which feels counter-intuitive at first but hear them out. As mommies our instinct is use our kisses and words to make our little ones feel better but “Love and Logic” suggests otherwise:

    There are few things that tear at our hearts more than hearing our kids say, “I’m stupid.”

    At first glance the following parent seems to be right on track:

    No you are not stupid. Honey, think of all of the things you are good at. How about reading? You’re good at that! And, remember how much you improved in baseball last summer. Stupid kids don’t learn how to hit curve balls like you did. And your art is wonderful. If you were dumb, would you have been able to learn how to create those drawings with such wonderful three-dimensional perspectives? I don’t think so.

    At second glance, we realize that this well-meaning parent is actually lending credibility to their child’s “I’m stupid” remark… by spending so much time and energy addressing it.

    Consider employing a much simpler approach… one that avoids unintentionally reinforcing your youngster’s self-deprecating remarks:

    Honey, aren’t you glad I don’t believe that!

    The most effective parents, smile, pat their child on the back, and give this sweet and simple response.

Please let me know what you think about using the “Love and Logic” technique in the comments.

Is your black boy at risk? Here are three possible warning signs

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One in three of these newborns will spend time in prison

I read a great article on The Root by pediatrican, Dr. Robert Ross, who went on a mission to find the root causes of the mass incarceration of our black boys. The main point of the article, for me, is that there may be an early warning system for at risk black boys:

Third-grade reading level. Students who do not read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma. Yet more than 80 percent of our third-grade black boys cannot read at grade level.

Suspensions and early truancy. Every suspension doubles the chance that a student will drop out and triples the chance that he will be involved with the justice system. A new report found that 1 million elementary school students were truant — defined as having three or more unexcused absences or tardies — in California last year

Justice-system involvement. The system is expensive, harms kids and doesn’t keep us safe

These warning signs seem broad and probably a bit obvious but taken together they signal to teachers and authority figures that something is wrong. Also, Dr. Ross explains that his mission goes beyond identifying these warning signs. His foundation, The California Endowment, has planned a $50 million intervention to reduce the one in three black male imprisoned statistic. For example, he plans to reduce the number of suspensions and he hopes to create restorative justice programs in some communities.

As great as his programs sounds, I do have a problem with it. It seems to be focused on black males and that it makes me concerned. Yes, the statistics show that black girls fare better than black boys on key metrics such as college graduation rates but our girls are also risk. Black girls are at a greater risk of depression than black men and also use maladaptive coping skills and yet they are rarely the focus of outreach methods this extensive. Nonetheless, I hope Dr. Ross much success. For all our sakes.