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Parenting Press®News for Parents — June
Dear Friends of Parenting Press,
Welcome to the June 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.
June 2008
IN THIS ISSUE
- WHAT’S NEW?
- FEATURES
- POTPOURRI
- COMING ATTRACTIONS
- How and Why Parents Stress Out Their Kids
- Diagramming Doesn’t HAVE to Be a Dead Art (or Deathly Dull)
- Fund-Raising with Recipes
I. WHAT’S NEW?
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Summertime. . .and the Eatin’ Can Be Healthy
Remembering the tune from the opera “Porgy and Bess,” the newsletter staff hopes that livin’ is easy for you this summer.
Even if the pace of your daily life doesn’t slow, this is a season when it’s much easier to eat healthy. Farmers’ markets and fruit stands are open all over the country, giving us the opportunity to try produce that is so much tastier when fresh from the field. In many regions, there’s still time to get seeds into the ground (or a large pot) for a vegetable or herb crop.
Even better, much fresh produce can be eaten raw, which makes it easier for kids to prepare. A quick scrub, or a gentle rinse, and your snack may be ready in literally seconds! (Although it is sometimes difficult to delay gratification: the newsletter editor can’t seem to water her raspberry patch without eating every ripe berry in sight.)
Most of us have heard of the U.S. government’s “food pyramid” and such maxims as “5 a day.” Now there’s updated information, which recognizes that a single dietary recommendation does not fit all of us. At the USDA’s MyPyramid.gov web site, you can type in height, weight and activity information for each family member and get personalized information on both daily calorie and fruit and vegetable consumption. There is a special pyramid for nursing mothers.
For example, a 10-year-old boy might need a 2,000-calorie diet, with the pyramid web site recommending that his weekly diet include three cups of dark green vegetables (think spinach), two cups of orange vegetables (such as carrots), three cups of dry beans and peas (such as beans that go in chili), and nine or 10 cups of other vegetables such as potatoes. By comparison, his 40-year-old mother who doesn’t get much exercise can maintain her weight at 135 pounds if she sticks to the same diet, but limits calories to 1,800 daily (goodbye Dove Bars).
To keep track of how healthy your diet is, the government provides easy-to-download tracking sheets. For the mom on an 1,800-calorie diet, here’s the PDF for her menu record.
(Thanks to our alert readers for pointing out that “Summertime” is from “Porgy and Bess” rather than “Show Boat.”)
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On the Road Again
Heading out for a week? A day? Or an afternoon? Think parks. Wherever you want to go, however much time you have, there’s probably a park that will make a wonderful stop for your family.
To plan a kid-friendly road trip, start with the web site Teddy’s Travels. The newsletter offers several ideas, and links to such valuable web sites as UNESCO’s World Heritage properties.
You can go from Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park to Washington’s Olympic National Park And then south to California’s redwood forests. Heading east, there’s Yosemite, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, the Great Smoky Mountains, Cape Hatteras. . .and so many more.
If you have an Oregon Trail buff or a child getting ready to study Lewis and Clark’s exploration of the west, try to visit a spot where the wagon ruts still show. According to a National Park Service web site, there are 2,000 miles where you can see traces of the trail. When this newsletter was written, Auto Tour Route Interpretive Guides had been created as downloadable PDFs for three areas:
- western Missouri through northeastern Kansas
- Nebraska and northeastern Colorado
- Wyoming
Interested in a shorter trip? Check your phone book for the local parks department listing; it may include swimming and wading pools and in-city hiking trails. On the Internet, you may find even more information using the parks department web site, your local visitors bureau site, or online guidebooks. Here’s a few examples of helpful web sites:
- State parks, for example, Montana’s.
- City parks, for example, Iowa City’s.
- Statewide guides, such as the Texas state tourism agency’s web site, which provides dozens of tips on where to go in each region of the state.
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Launching the Teenager
You have a child leaving home and you suddenly realize that you never spelled out the difference between RSVP, PDQ, IRA, and COD? Besides teaching the new graduate how to use a coin-op washer and dryer and the importance of balancing the checkbook at least occasionally, you may feel compelled to offer a few last minute lessons in etiquette. We’ve been browsing a little book called From Clueless to Class Act: Manners for the Modern Man, and it has dozens of tips that are just as important for the modern ma’am.
Especially if your child will be far from home and can expect invitations to others’ homes for holidays and other special occasions, here are some reminders from author Jodi R. R. Smith along with suggestions from the “News for Parents” staff:
Respond promptly. If a roommate extends a verbal invitation for a holiday dinner, your child must confirm within some reasonable time frame. If necessary, he or she can say, “I really appreciate this, and I’d love to come if it turns out that I can’t go home. When do your parents need to know?” When the invitation says “RSVP,” you must say “yes” or “no.” When it says “Regrets only,” you are expected to attend unless you have indicated that you cannot.
Be up front about dietary restrictions. Do this when responding to the invitation: “I’d love to come, if you don’t mind the fact that I’m on a gluten-free diet.”
Be up front about travel and schedule constraints. If your child will be traveling by public transportation and will need a lift from and back to the station, or must meet a curfew, that should also be discussed when an invitation is accepted: “I’d love to come, if there is some way for me to get to your house from the Amtrak station and then back in time for the 8 p.m. train.”
Pitch in. Your child should ask what he or she can do to help, keep the bedroom area clean, and pick up his or her things from the bathroom being used. When it’s time to leave, your child should strip the bed sheets, fold the blankets on the bed and take the bed and bath linens to the laundry room.
Take a hostess gift. Even a college freshman should remember to take a small gift for the host and hostess: chocolates, flowers, baked goods or one of the college’s specialty items. (The “News for Parents” editor attended a college where the dairy science students make cheeses that are often welcome gifts.)
Be honest about accidents. ‘Fess up immediately if something gets broken or the toilet gets plugged. Offer to help clean up and to replace the item.
Go with the flow. If you’re invited to dinner, eat. If you’re invited to a dance, dance. If it’s a backyard baseball game, pick up a mitt. “Refusing to comply with the program will only attract negative attention,” reminds Smith.
Follow up with a note. A legibly hand-written thank-you is ideal and has the best chance of being seen by both host and hostess. An e-mail is acceptable, but definitely second-best. The thank you should be sent within a week of the visit. If your child has not taken a hostess gift, this is the appropriate time to send a gift. It could be a novel that the hosts expressed interest in, flowers (although delivery can make this expensive) or a specialty item from your child’s home region.
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Selecting Books for Your Kids
What’s better than a warm afternoon with a new book? If you’re choosing books at the library or a bookstore for your own children, or someone else’s, here are some suggestions:
Consider the child’s age.
Consider the child’s attention span, especially for certain topics, and compare that to the pace of the action in the book, the length of the sentences, chapters or entire book.
Think about what your child has experienced (or may be about to experience as part of a summer trip or camp).
Determine if you’re comfortable with the quality and accuracy of the illustrations and the text.
Review the illustrations and text for consistency with your values regarding gender, age, race, religion, occupation, disabilities and other characteristics.
Consider how easy the book will be to use: is the type the appropriate size for your child (or you), and are the margins wide enough so that it’s easy to read all the text?
Some of us who loved Little Women and The Swiss Family Robinson have been surprised with our children’s complete disdain for these tales—until we thought about the sentence length, the heavy emphasis on religion and the ratio of description to action. For a USA Today and Sesame Street generation, many of the classics are too slow-paced.
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 June are:
June 7 — Saying Goodbye to Your Teacher or School, Part I
June 14 — Saying Goodbye to Your Teacher or School, Part II
June 21 — Music for Minors
June 28 — Reasons Children Get Angry
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Family Fun Ideas — Beat Boredom with Simple, Fun Projects
“Perfect for those long summer days or boring weekend afternoons” says the back cover of The Sneaky Book for Boys (Andrews McMeel) which promises “over 40 fabulous build-it-yourself projects, self-defense and survival strategies, sneaky human feats and fun magic tricks.”
And guess what? Author Cy Tymony really does deliver all that! Best of all, the projects will be just as much fun for girls, moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents and neighbors! Many projects can be finished in less than an hour by elementary-school kids; kindergartners may need assistance for most. Despite being quick, these activities usually demonstrate fairly sophisticated principles, so adults will enjoy them, too. A few examples:
Sneaky Soaring Cylinders, which each require only a sheet of ordinary paper to create a flying vehicle;
Animated Cassette Tape Creations, which use tape from old cassettes and a magnet;
Low-voltage battery-powered projects with ballpoint pen springs, twist ties or telephone cord and lemons or coins;
Emergency flotation devices using balloons, soda bottles or pants; and
Compasses and other ways of finding your direction.
Have your kids read the materials lists for the projects that interest them, and collect everything you’ll need in a box or bucket so you’re ready for a rainy morning or sultry afternoon. Some of the materials—a fast food restaurant’s catsup packet, an old silk tie, the tape from a cassette, a postcard—may turn up when you’re cleaning cupboards and drawers. Others—a black light, for example, battery or tiny light bulb—can be picked up when you’re visiting a hardware or salvage store.
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Community Service — Adopt a Marine
Our goal with this column is to suggest ways that you can model the concept of sharing and giving back to your community. There are other practical advantages to community service, too. Kids can use these projects to meet school or youth group requirements for community service and to start building resumes that they’ll use when applying for first jobs or college.
This month you’re invited to join a teenager’s project to support the Marines and soldiers serving in the Middle East. Ryan Rust is a Florida high school student who matches deployed personnel with stateside individuals, families and groups who send small gifts and messages. As Ryan’s web site says, his goal is to get people involved with direct support of the Marines deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Your kids might pack a box, complete with crayoned self-portraits and letters, or organize an “adoption” campaign at their 4-H, scout or church group.
“This was never intended to be a comment for or against the war(s). It was intended to support the neighborhood young men and women that chose, for whatever reasons, and there are many, to enlist in the military,” he writes.
Ryan’s web site (select “Adopt A Marine”) says that some of the most commonly requested items are letters, newspapers, magazines, snacks such as hard candy, beef jerky, Campbell’s SpaghettiOs and RavioliOs, black or white over-the-calf socks, and such hygiene supplies as soap, toothpaste, disposable razors, antibacterial hand sanitizers, and wipes. CDs of music and DVDs of movies are also popular.
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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—Happy Birthday, Mits!
This special has expired.
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