Announcing How To Tuesdays

Today, we’d like to announce a new series called How To Tuesday. From now on, Tuesday’s posts will be dedicated to “how to” information full of good, step-by-step tips and advice about everything from kid’s diets to parenting challenges. We would love your feedback each Tuesday and are looking for post ideas. Send them our way, and we’ll get some great advice posted just for you. We look forward to hearing from you!

This week's How To is: how to feed your kids healthy snacks.

Getting your kids to make healthy choices at snack time can be a challenge. Sugary snacks attract kids with their colorful packaging and fun shapes. And who can blame a kid for choosing a candy bar over a vegetable? Face it – many healthy foods just aren’t that appealing to kids.

However, teaching your child healthy eating habits is an important lesson and will likely encourage him or her to make health-conscious decisions as an adult.

 John Paul Carpenter, director of Le Bonheur’s Nutrition and Food Services Department, shares his creative ideas for how to give your kids fun and healthy snacks. With his tips, snack time can be not only nutritious, but also a fun activity for you and your kids. Here’s how to make some really fun and different snacks that will please your kids imagination and fit the healthy bill.

Ants on a Log: This tasty treat provides a source of protein, fiber and vitamin C. Spread a stalk of celery with peanut butter and have your child place raisins –“ants” - in the peanut butter.

Banana Sushi: For vitamin C and potassium, have your child spread peanut butter on a thin tortilla. Then, roll up a peeled banana in the tortilla and cut it up into sushi-sized pieces. Make sure an adult helps with the cutting. Eat the sushi with chopsticks for even more fun!

Mini Pizza: For a healthier version of this kids’ favorite, spread tomato sauce on a tortilla. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, and have your child add his favorite toppings like pepperoni, mushrooms and green peppers. Place into a heated oven until cheese is melted and cut into slices.

Happy Faces: Spice up ordinary round crackers by turning them into a face. Raisins or dried cranberries make great eyes, and fruit leather strips made with real fruit juices can be peeled into strips for a mouth.

Summer-time Smoothie: Smoothies are a refreshing snack during the hot summer months. Have your child pick out frozen berries and yogurt to mix together in a blender. To sneak in some veggies, Carpenter suggests adding a cup of raw spinach leaves. Your child won’t even taste the spinach.

Fruit Skewers: Make eating fruit more fun by turning it into a fruit-kabob! Let your child thread a wooden skewer through pieces of watermelon, pineapple, strawberries or any favorite fruits for an excellent source of fiber and vitamin C. 

With a little creativity and imagination, snack time can be fun and nutritious. The next time your child won’t eat a healthy snack, try preparing one of these snacks together.

In this week’s installment of “How To Tuesday,” we tackle a problem many parents face: keeping children in their own bed at night. Thomas Hobson, a father of two and director of Le Bonheur’s Child Life department, shares some helpful tips for you sleep-deprived parents. Here's what he had to say:

When your child is first born, everyone expects not to get any sleep. That just comes with the territory, and you learn to sleep when you can. After a while, something magical happens, and your child begins to sleep through the night. It is definitely something to be celebrated.

As your child grows, you continue to celebrate milestones, like crawling out of his or her crib. It’s time for the “big kid” bed. After a little time, something not-so-magical happens: night visitors.

Here’s the good news: this is a completely normal behavior for children. You are their world; they now have the ability to move around. Why wouldn’t they want to get out of bed? It is easy to feel flattered at first; your child wants to get into your bed and sleep right next to you. Who wouldn’t be honored? After you’ve been woken up lots of times, had a little knee in your back, and not slept well in general, your child’s new freedom of movement seems less like a gift and more like a curse. Have no fear, there are things that you can do to help with this behavior.

Keep in mind, it’s a behavior: No, your child is not out to make sure that you never have a restful night sleep again. It is simply a new behavior they’ve developed, and just like any behavior your child should/could/does develop, you have the ability to shape it. Being woken up at 1:37 a.m. every night can wear on you, and after a while, the loving, supportive parent face starts to resemble the agitated, woken hibernating bear face. Your reaction has the opportunity to reinforce the behavior, for good and bad.

It’s business time: When your child wakes you up in the middle of the night, make the interaction about meeting a need and nothing more. If they have growing pains and their joints hurt, give them the appropriate medicine and put them back in their own bed. If they’re just lonely, pick them up and put them back into their own bed. The trick is to only do what has to be done (i.e. medicine, reassurance), and then put them back into their own bed. When you provide any positive reinforcement (i.e. letting them sleep with you, playing, being the sweet, loving, concerned parent), it tells the child to keep up the behavior. Provide the necessary interaction and nothing more. This step is harder than it sounds.

Find out why it’s happening: Asking your child “why” seems like such an obvious step, but often it doesn’t happen. Ask your child why they are coming into your room and listen to the answer. If your child says he doesn’t like his room, that’s a legitimate answer. So, if you got that answer, look at your patterns and behaviors. Does your child only sleep in the room or do they do other things in the room? Is it truly his room or is it your room that you tell them to sleep in? Once you realize the root cause you can begin to change things.

Have a pre-bed game plan: Planning ahead can make all of the difference between a good night’s sleep and another exhausted morning, filled with your frustrations. If you see a pattern appear, have a plan for it. For instance, there was a period when my children were “night visitors” because of bad dreams. My wife and I pulled a page from my parent’s playbook, and doused our children with “monster repellent” (a.k.a. cheap cologne/perfume). The kids saw it as something physical that reminded them that there were no monsters/bad dreams, and as a result, woke up less in the night.

Don’t cheat: Even one night of “weakness” reinforces to your child that sleeping with you is an option. Our actions speak louder than our words, and the one act of letting your child sleep with you can undo lots of previous work. Consistence, consistence, consistence.

Today, we’d like to announce a new series called "How To Tuesday." Tuesday’s posts will be dedicated to “how to” information full of good, step-by-step tips and advice about everything from kid’s diets to parenting challenges. We would love your feedback each Tuesday and are looking for post ideas. Send them our way by commenting below or by e-mailing us at lebmarketing@lebonheur.org. We’ll get some great advice posted just for you. We look forward to hearing from you!

This week's How To is: how to feed your kids healthy snacks.

Getting your kids to make healthy choices at snack time can be a challenge. Sugary snacks attract kids with their colorful packaging and fun shapes. And who can blame a kid for choosing a candy bar over a vegetable? Face it – many healthy foods just aren’t that appealing to kids.

However, teaching your child healthy eating habits is an important lesson and will likely encourage him or her to make health-conscious decisions as an adult.

John Paul Carpenter, director of Le Bonheur’s Nutrition and Food Services Department, shares his creative ideas for how to give your kids fun and healthy snacks. With his tips, snack time can be not only nutritious, but also a fun activity for you and your kids. Here’s how to make some really fun and different snacks that will please your kids imagination and fit the healthy bill.

Ants on a Log
This tasty treat provides a source of protein, fiber and vitamin C. Spread a stalk of celery with peanut butter and have your child place raisins –“ants” - in the peanut butter.
Banana Sushi 
For vitamin C and potassium, have your child spread peanut butter on a thin tortilla. Then, roll up a peeled banana in the tortilla and cut it up into sushi-sized pieces. Make sure an adult helps with the cutting. Eat the sushi with chopsticks for even more fun!
Mini Pizza
For a healthier version of this kids’ favorite, spread tomato sauce on a tortilla. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, and have your child add his favorite toppings like pepperoni, mushrooms and green peppers. Place into a heated oven until cheese is melted and cut into slices.
Happy Faces 
Spice up ordinary round crackers by turning them into a face. Raisins or dried cranberries make great eyes, and fruit leather strips made with real fruit juices can be peeled into strips for a mouth.
Summer-time Smoothie 
Smoothies are a refreshing snack during the hot summer months. Have your child pick out frozen berries and yogurt to mix together in a blender. To sneak in some veggies, Carpenter suggests adding a cup of raw spinach leaves. Your child won’t even taste the spinach.
Fruit Skewers 
Make eating fruit more fun by turning it into a fruit-kabob! Let your child thread a wooden skewer through pieces of watermelon, pineapple, strawberries or any favorite fruits for an excellent source of fiber and vitamin C. 

With a little creativity and imagination, snack time can be fun and nutritious. The next time your child won’t eat a healthy snack, try preparing one of these snacks together.

With the recent media coverage of the teen pregnancy issue in Memphis, you might be wondering how soon is too soon to talk to your child about sex.

Many parents want to delay the conversation as long as possible, but it’s an important discussion to have. Arming your child with the right information is key for preventing unsafe sexual behavior.

Sandra Madubuonwu, MSN, CNS, RN, is supervisor of Le Bonheur’s Nurse-Family Partnership program – an outreach program that offers at-home prenatal care for low income women during their first pregnancy and through the first two years of their child’s life. She is also a mother of three teenage children.

“Having a conversation about sex with your children is so important,” says Sandra. “It is a lack of information that leads to unsafe sexual behavior.”

And that conversation should begin at an early age, she says, starting with teaching your kids the appropriate names for body parts. Parents should also teach their children at an early age that it is never OK for anyone to touch these parts.

As far as “the birds and the bees” talk, Sandra says there is no specific age designated as the right age to initiate this conversation. She recommends broaching the subject when your child is in the fifth grade or in the early stages of middle school.

“What you don’t want is for your kids to get the wrong information,” she says. “They will hear information from their peers, and it likely won’t be the right information.”

Through her work in community outreach, Sandra has heard a wide range of peer-created rumors about sex. Among the rumors – some think drinking alcohol and jumping up and down after sex will prevent pregnancy. Make sure that, as your children’s most trusted source, you’re giving them accurate information about sex and dispelling all rumors.

Parents don’t have to be explicit when they talk about sex, but they should be honest. Start by asking them what they already know about sex. Make sure you validate what they say if it’s true, and don’t make them feel embarrassed.

For parents who might be nervous to bring it up, Sandra says to use teaching moments – something that makes the conversation timely. The recent media coverage of teen pregnancy is an excellent teaching moment, she says.

“Tell your kids, ‘I want to talk about what’s been in the news lately. What do you think of teen pregnancy,’” Sandra suggests.

Teach your kids the consequences of unsafe sex, like pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Parents should not assume their children already know the basic facts. Tell them that diseases they might have heard of – AIDS, HIV, etc. – are passed along through unprotected sex. Talk about the bright future ahead of them, and explain to them how their goals and ambitions can be affected by having sex.

Many parents also wonder which is best – promoting abstinence or talking about safe sex. There is no right or wrong answer, Sandra explains.

“It’s a family decision based on culture and religion, but regardless of your beliefs, you must have a conversation about sex with your kids,” she says.

As Halloween nears, it’s important to talk to kids about staying safe during a night of trick or treating. Though the night is full of fun and festivity, children can be particularly vulnerable to some dangers on Halloween. Safe Kids Mid-South, led by Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, shares ways to keep your children safe.

The organization recommends that children:

• Always trick or treat with an adult until the age of 10
• Only trick or treat in areas that are well lit
• Cross streets at corners, using traffic signals and crosswalks
• Look left, right and left again when crossing; always walk, don’t run, when crossing streets
• Make eye contact with drivers and watch for cars that are turning or backing up
• Walk on sidewalks or paths; if there is no sidewalk, walk facing traffic as far to the left as possible
• Wear light-colored, flame retardant costumes decorated with retro-reflective tape or stickers
• Wear well-fitting, sturdy shoes to prevent trips and falls
• Carry a flashlight or glow stick to increase visibility to drivers
• Wear face paint and makeup; a mask can restrict a child’s vision
• Only eat treats and candy that are properly wrapped in their original packaging

It is also important that drivers do their part to keep trick-or-treaters safe. Safe Kids recommends that drivers:

• Be especially alert in residential neighborhoods
• Drive more slowly and anticipate heavy pedestrian traffic on and near the road
• Be sure to drive with full headlights on they can spot children from greater distances
• Take extra time to actively look for kids at intersections, on medians and on curbs
• Remember that costumes can limit children’s visibility and they may not be able to see a moving vehicle
• Enter and exit driveways and alleys slowly and carefully
• Remember that children are excited on this night and may move in unpredictable ways
• Remember that popular trick or treating hours are during the typical rush hour period, between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m.
• Reduce distraction inside their car so they can concentrate on the road and on pedestrians