Find the Perfect Camp for Your Family with P&K
Don’t miss P&K-sponsored Camp & Education Connection, on Saturday, February 16. From 10am-4pm, this fun and helpful event is located upstairs at Center Court at Ridgeland’s Northpark Mall.
Effectively plan your child’s summer as you meet representatives from overnight camps, day camps and summer programs from all over the Southeast at this annual expo. Learn how to choose the right camps for your child and discover other opportunities available for children of all ages.
Representatives from sports associations, dance, art, theatre, libraries, special needs programs, academies, and more will be in attendance to help you determine the best activities for your child. Investigate education opportunities with representatives of private schools and colleges and financing options. Fun children’s entertainment and door prizes will be featured.
This fantastic event is free and is sponsored by Northpark Mall and Parents & Kids Magazine. For more information, contact 601-366-0901 for more information.
Be a Superhero! Fight Childhood Obesity
Don’t miss this seminar designed to help families get on the right track to healthy lifestyles and avoid obesity. Bring your children ages 6-14 and join Baptist on January 12th from 10am-12 noon at the Clinton Healthplex for this fun, family-friendly morning of learning how to eat right, get moving, and get healthy.
Speakers include pediatrician Julia Sherwood, MD, who has a special interest in childhood obesity; Chef Luis Bruno, who will share his personal experience of conquering obesity; and Janna McIntosh, RD, LD, and Kristina Burrow, LPAT, ATR-BC, MA, clinicians at the Baptist Nutrition Center working with children regarding weight issues; and Melanie Fortenberry, RN, MSN, Education Coordinator. Additionally, exercise physiologists at the Healthplex will work with the kids on exercising. Visit www.mbhs.org or call 601-948-6262 for more information.
Even “Safe” Levels of Lead Cause Development Problems in Young Children
Cornell University researchers conducted a six-year study examining the effects of lead on the development of young children. The study found that even legal blood levels of lead can still hurt the cognitive development of very small children. Children who were found to have lead in their bloodstreams had lower IQ scores than those who didn’t have a measurable lead content in their blood. The higher the lead concentration, the lower the children’s IQ’s.
Even children who had blood-lead-levels (BLL) accepted as safe by the CDC were affected. Richard Canfield, a Cornell researcher, says, “This indicates an adverse effect on children who have a BLL substantially below the CDC standard, suggesting the need for more stringent regulations.”
Walking Your Way to Weight Loss? Wear a Pedometer
A new study reveals that wearing a pedometer and having a daily step goal can significantly boost your activity level.
"Our major result is pedometer users increased their physical activity," says Dena Bravata, MD, senior research scientist at Stanford University School of Medicine and a doctor in private practice in San Francisco. “Specifically they increased it by about 2,000 steps a day, or about a mile," Bravata tells WebMD. That's roughly burning about 100 more calories. In Bravata’s study, those who wore the devices also reduced body weight and blood pressure, she and her colleagues report in the Nov. 21 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
A total of 10,000 steps a day, or roughly 5 miles, is often recommended as a goal when wearing the devices. The total includes "purposeful" exercise as well as routine activity such as walking through the grocery store.
ATV Accidents Doubled in Past Ten Years
All-terrain vehicles can be fun, but they can also be extremely dangerous, particularly to young children. Deaths and hospital visits related to ATV use have more than doubled in the past decade. Common injuries consist of broken legs and arms, skull fractures, brain injuries and hemorrhages.
"Parents need to understand that ATVs are not toys. We tend to think short-term and believe that we're giving children a toy or some kind of entertainment with an ATV," said Dr. Chetan Shah, a radiology fellow at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. "But, remember, a trip to the ER is in no way recreational."
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that 467 people died from ATV-related injuries in 2005. In 1995, that number was 200 people. In 2005, 136,700 Americans visited U.S. emergency rooms after ATV accidents, in contrast to 52,200 in 1995.
Support Our Troops with the Help of Girl Scouts
As you select your favorite Girl Scout cookies this cookie season, consider sending some to US Troops abroad. Some cookies (non-chocolate) are perfect for delivery to our soldiers and Troop #3555 will help you out by arranging the shipments. All you need to do is buy the cookies for $3.50 a box. Please make checks payable to Troop 3555 and mail to Troop Cookies, PO Box 4406, Jackson MS 39296 by Feb 28.
Your choices are Trefoils, Do Si So's and Lemon Cremes, or you can let the Girl Scouts choose the flavor. Cookies will be sent to troops in Iraq and/or Afghanistan via the US Postal service and will arrive in mid-March. A Girl Scout will acknowledge your gift. While the donation of the cookies to the troops is not a charitable gift for tax purposes, you will benefit two organizations dedicated to making America stronger.
Early Flavor Learning Promotes Acceptance of Healthy Foods
A new study from the Monell Center reveals that breastfeeding moms can provide their babies with a head start to healthy eating by eating healthy food themselves. The study, designed to test the influence of early sensory experiences on the development of healthy eating patterns, is published in the December 2007 issue of the journal Pediatrics. The results revealed that breast-feeding confers an advantage for baby’s acceptance of foods during weaning — but only if the mother regularly eats those foods.
“It’s a beautiful system,” says Mennella. “Flavors from the mother’s diet are transmitted through amniotic fluid and mother’s milk. So, a baby learns to like a food’s taste when the mother eats that food on a regular basis.
“Babies are born with a dislike for bitter tastes,” explains Mennella. “If mothers want their babies to learn to like to eat vegetables, especially green vegetables, they need to provide them with opportunities to taste these foods.”
