Restful Sleep…Crucial Factor in the Fight Against Obesity

Posted on January 26, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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I know I feel out-of-sorts when I haven’t had a good night’s sleep. And I had heard (thought it was a rumor) that lack of sleep could cause weight gain.

Tonight, one of our local TV stations ran a special report on kids who get too little sleep being at risk for obesity and diabetes.

So I did a little research and found that studies have shown that “insufficient nighttime sleep among infants and preschool-aged children appears to be a lasting risk factor for subsequent obesity.” (WebMD Health News) http://children.webmd.com/news/20100907/sleep-linked-to-childhood-obesity

I’m always blaming fast food, super-sized meals and lack of exercise on the increase our country is seeing in childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes. But, now it seems that we can add another villain to the mix.

And that is one more reason to set up those bedtime routines for your children…and STICK to them. One of the pediatricians on the TV report had several suggestions:

Bedtime should be the SAME time EVERY night for your child.
Wind down 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime.
Children should be getting 9 to 10 hours of sleep every night.
If you are missing an hour or two of sleep for the week, you can catch up on some sleep on the weekends.

You can refer back to yesterday’s post about bedtime routines for more tips. https://viviankirkfield.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/bedtime-routines-rituals-and-can-i-have-one-more-glass-of-water-please/

In that post, I suggested you read CORNELIUS P. MUD, ARE YOU READY FOR BED? with your child and I provided a recipe for Overnight Cookies. Bedtime is a very special time for young children, but without routines and limits, many try to delay going to bed as much as possible. I promised to give you a simple craft project that may encourage good bedtime routines. With your help, your child can “set” his clock to the particular time when he will need to be ready for his bedtime story. Then he can check that time against the real clocks in the house and will know when he has to complete his toy cleanup in order to be ready for that special treat…the bedtime story.

NO TICK-TOCK CLOCK

You will need: A piece of cardboard (from a cereal box would be fine), metal paper fastener, construction paper, marker and scissors.

Cut a large circle (the clock face) from the cardboard.
Cut two “hands” (one longer and narrower than the other) from the construction paper.
Attach the hands to the center of the clock with the paper fastener.
Draw the numbers in the correct order on the clock face.

Parents…keep in mind that if you’ve been trying to lose a few pounds yourselves (as I have been), perhaps getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis may do as much for you as cutting back on calories and exercising. In fact, if you treat all three elements…restful sleep, nutrition (not diet) and exercise with respect, you may be rewarded with better health than you ever had before. Believe me, I know how difficult it is to call it quits for the night…there always seems to be something else that MUST be done…laundry folded, dishes put away, lunches made for the next day, bills to pay and checkbook to balance…the list goes on and on. This is another reason that making lists of short and long-term goals as well as a daily to-do will help organize and prioritize what needs to be done.

P.S. This post somehow got put in drafts and didn’t get posted on Tuesday…sorry. 🙂

Stop by tomorrow for a look at a very special lady…my grandmother…she was a role model for Positive Parental Participation in an era before spending quality time with your children was a catch-phrase.

Daily Routines: Rut in the Road or Road Map to a Balanced Life?

Posted on January 23, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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According to Catherine Pulsifer, “We need to maintain a proper balance in our life by allocating the time we have.”

Have you found a way to do that?

For me, it’s simple. I set up a schedule and try to follow it. Of course there are times when the schedule goes out the window. Someone is sick or you have company visiting for a few days or you win free tickets to vacation in paradise. Barring those unforeseen events though, life becomes so much less stressful and so much more harmonious when we have routines that we follow on a daily basis.

At least, that’s how it is for me.

When my children were small, it seemed even more important to have a plan for each day. Life can get really chaotic if you don’t have a plan in place.

IF YOU FAIL TO PLAN, YOU ARE PLANNING TO FAIL

Within the framework of the routine, you can be flexible. Take a look at the schedule I created when my children were growing up and I operated a home daycare for the infants and preschoolers of local teachers. These routines can be applied to a family with one or more toddlers, as well as a home daycare. Perhaps with some modifications for your unique situation, it can provide the framework for a balanced and fun-filled day for you and your children. This supposes, of course, that you are home with your children. And that you have children. 🙂

6:30am to 7:30am: Greet the Day: Wash, brush teeth, get dressed

7:30am to 8:30am: Breakfast

8:30am to 9:15am: Story-time

9:15am to 9:30am: Music and Rhythms

9:30am to 10:15am: Arts and Crafts

10:15am to 10:30am: Morning Snack

10:30am to 11:30am: Free Play (not free-for-all)

11:30am to 12:00pm: Cooking Experience

12:00pm to 12:45pm: Lunch

12:45pm to 2:00pm: Naptime

2:00pm to 3:00pm: Free Play

3:00pm to 3:15pm: Afternoon Snack

3:15pm to 5:00pm: Another round of story-time, music and rhythms and arts and crafts

5:00pm: Dinner preparation: young children love to help…they can pour and mix or color placemats or help set the table with napkins and silverware (no knives, please).

6:00pm to 7:00pm: Family dinner

7:00pm: Bedtime preparations…each family will have their own traditions (washing up, brushing teeth, story-time, song, prayer, etc.).

REMEMBER, THIS IS JUST THE FRAMEWORK FOR A DAILY PLAN. IT’S THE ONE THAT WORKED FOR ME. YOUR SITUATION IS UNIQUE TO YOU AND YOUR PLAN MAY LOOK QUITE DIFFERENT.

Perhaps your child still takes two good naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Perhaps your child is in pre-school or daycare for part of the day.

Perhaps dinner can be earlier because the family is home and ready to eat, or perhaps it needs to be later because parents work later. As I said, each of you can take the schedule and play with it until it suits your family’s situation and unique needs. The important thing is to have some kind of schedule and be consistent with it, as much as possible. This consistency helps children relax because they know what to expect and when to expect it.

If you are interested in learning more about the activities that are a large part of the routine, please check out my book for parents of preschoolers, SHOW ME HOW! BUILD YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH READING, CRAFTING AND COOKING. In it, you’ll find story summaries for 100 picture books every young child should hear and an easy eco-friendly craft project and a healthful child-friendly cooking activity for each of those recommended stories. The simple format and fun-filled self-esteem building activities are a perfect shortcut for today’s busy parents.

Library Journal says, “The layout and tri-fold format of reading, crafting and cooking are commendable.”

Katherine Holabird, author of the Angelina Ballerina series says, “What a lovely book! Parents and caretakers will find inspiration in this delightful guide to reading and planning activities with young children.”

Norman Bridwell, author of the Clifford the Big Red Dog series says, “SHOW ME HOW! is a wonderful resource for people who care for their children and hope to better their reading and learning experience.”

The book is in several libraries already…if it’s not in yours, perhaps you can request that your local library purchase it for their shelves. If you can’t wait and want to get started building your child’s self-esteem, developing pre-literacy skills and creating a life-long parent-child bond right away, you can go to my website or to Amazon.

Thanks for stopping by. Please tune in tomorrow for a look at the nemesis of many parents: Bedtime…Routines, Rituals and Can I Have One More Drink of Water, Please! There will be a story suggestion and craft activity as well.

WE ALL NEED A CHEEERING COMMITTEE AND PARENTS ARE A CHILD’S MOST IMPORTANT FANS!

BALANCE: How Do I Find It?

Posted on January 22, 2011 by viviankirkfield

A precision balance scale for weighing silver ...

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“Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.” – Robert Fulghum

We all need balance in our lives. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy – this old saying definitely holds true today.

But what is balance?

The dictionary defines balance as harmony, a state in which nothing is out of proportion or unduly emphasized at the expense of the rest.

There is no standard “one size fits all” spreadsheet for balance because we are all unique individuals with different needs and different situations. However, to optimize the quality of our lives, we can take a look at how we spend our days (and nights). Are you working too many hours? Do you tend to let certain activities slide due to lack of time? How much TV is watched in your home? Please don’t get me wrong…I enjoy watching TV…but I also realize that if we don’t put the TV on in the evening, I get so much done. And when I look at my watch, it is only 9PM. But I do have to admit that my time spent on the computer these days often occupies an unbalanced proportion of my day…so much so that it becomes the wee hours of the morning when I finally feel I am done. SO NOT GOOD! This weekend I plan to sit down to evaluate how I am utilizing that time and hopefully I can produce a more BALANCED schedule that will be better for me AND my family.

I guess we can go back to the dictionary definition of balance: a state in which nothing is out of proportion or unduly emphasized at the expense of the rest. So, if your family enjoys watching a show on TV, that is great…but perhaps when the show is over, you can participate in other activities…maybe a read-aloud story-time. If there are older children, perhaps they can take turns with the adults reading to the younger children, although studies show that older children really enjoy being read to. Or maybe have a family board game night?

According to Catherine Pulsifer in “We Never Seem to Have Enough Time”,

“We need to maintain a proper balance in our life by allocating the time we have.”

So here are a few simple ways to keep track of how you are allocating your time.

1. Use a notebook to list your long-term and short-term goals.

2. Make a to-do list each night for the next day…you will sleep better each night and you won’t realize late in the next day that you’ve forgotten to do something important. For me, writing down what I need to do gives me peace of mind.

3. Set up a daily routine or schedule, especially if you have children. Life can get really chaotic if you don’t have a plan in place.

Do you have a daily routine or schedule in place? Stop by tomorrow for a look at the successful routine I used with my daycare group and my own family when my children were small.