Back-to-School 2014 Issue of Green Child Magazine

Healthy

Lunch Ideas

Calming the Chaos

Family Command Center

Individualized Learning

Back-to-School 2014

One Size Does NOT Fit All! 1

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www.attachmentparenting.org

Contents

8 EcoFab

A few of our favorite BTS finds, inspired by nature & health!

10 Reasons to Love Waste-Free Lunches Good for your health and the planet. Plus see how much money you can save by dropping disposable lunches.

14 Individualized Learning

Why one style doesn’t fit all, and how you can help tailor your child’s learning experience.

18 Taking Charge of the Chaos

How to design your own family command center.

22 Second-Hand BTS Shopping Back Who says a new school year has to mean an expensive, new wardrobe? Find tips to make second-hand shopping a cinch.

24 Healthy School Lunches

Our annual back to school lunch guide offers 40+ healthy lunch ideas and plenty of fun ways to pack them!

42 Conscious Kitchen

Flourless Banana Bread & Easy Pasta Salad

44 Learning at Home

10 simple steps parents can take to ignite natural childhood learning.

50 First Day Photos

5 tips to capture your child’s big day.

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Contents 52 Grace & Courtesy

Helping our children learn selfdiscipline.

56 Look Listen Read

Our editors’ top picks in books, apps & more.

58 Guard Against Bullying

Dr. Laura Markham shares an attachment parenting perspective on handling bullying.

On The Cover Healthy Lunch Ideas p24

Calming the Chaos p18 Individualized Learning p14

62 Nutritional Nuggets

From picky eaters to avoiding junk food in schools, expert Louise Goldberg answers your questions.

64 Violence in Our Schools

How parents can help create a more peaceful world.

69 Guided Relaxation Shine Your Light.

70 The More You Know Eco

School fundraisers: Giving Kids a Choice

73 Ask Green Grandma

Questions from our readers answered.

74 ReUse Craft

Create a colorful desk organizer.

Hecalthy

Natural Dis

ipline For th Luenc OhldId ee ashild rC lmFinre FCaarm g the aeoss Family Co sh ReCchip mma

76 Community Marketplace

A collection of artisan shops & resources for today’s green family.

78 Your Green Child

A peek into the families of our readers.

nd Center

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Cover Photography by

Amanda Hearn Cincinnati, OH 4

1 in 3 families struggles to afford cloth diapers.

We can help.

Visit our website to see if your family qualifies.

www.givingdiapersgivinghope.org

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Publisher & Editor

Amity Hook-Sopko

Creative Director Amanda Hearn

Copy Editor

Megan McCoy Dellecese

Columnists

Mellisa Dormoy Louise Goldberg, RD, CSP, LD, CNSC Hana Haatainen Caye

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Contributors

Dana Govern Lawrence Williams Sandy Kreps Kerry McDonald, M.Ed Mary Ellen Maunz Dr. Laura Markham Jan and Jason Hunt Peter Kendall

Media & Other Inquiries

media@greenchildmagazine.com

from our publisher & editor

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” ~ William Butler Yeats

Everyone has an opinion on what’s wrong with education. I’m no exception. Want to talk about too much test-taking and not enough critical thinking skills? Let’s meet for tea, and I’ll bring my soapbox.

What we’d quickly find is our complaining about the problem doesn’t give one child a better chance in this world. And we can’t sit around and wait for the higher-ups to pass another round of reform. Fixing education is much like protecting the environment… it begins at home.

Children pick up on the energy around them.

Whether you are the parent or teacher, it matters that you bring passion, enthusiasm, and energy to learning every day. Watch intently how a child lives in the present moment and appreciates what is right in front of her. Show your interest and delight as

they begin learning new things. Watch as the spark of excitement grows and spreads as they discover what they are drawn to as surely as a moth to a flame. Who knows how they will choose to show what they know!

This issue inspired me from beginning to end.

Our contributors expertly cover everything from homeschool and individualized learning to how we can help end violence in schools and what kids can learn in a classroom that takes them beyond math facts and history lessons.

Of course, Back to School wouldn’t be complete without a plethora of healthy lunch options. Want to know if these recipes and snacks are truly kid-friendly? Just ask the youngest GC team members who started eating before the cameras stopped flashing.

And we’re still wondering where all the organic raspberries went… :)

-Amity 7

EcoFab

Inspired by Mother Nature, these are just a few of our favorite finds for back-to-school.

Rise & Shine Alarm Clock With a new school year, it’s important to find a sleep schedule that works for your family. This clock provides not only a gradually brightening “sunlight” option to accompany your choice of FM radio or natural sounds, but has a program to help you fall asleep and sleep more soundly. $70 from Amazon

Believe Jumbo Journal Perfect for letting your little one express her creative side, write to-do lists, or just serve as an adorably safe place for personal thoughts. $15 from Ecojot

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Big Kid Mattress The Naturepedic Organic Cotton Ultra 2 in 1 will grow with your child for many years while providing a more natural, healthy and comfortable sleep environment.

The waterproof side is perfect for infants and potty training toddlers, while the quilted side offers a more luxurious "feel” for when your child is fully ready for a big kid bed. $749 from Naturepedic

Little Lion Hamper Easy to clean, easy to carry, and this adorable hamper folds flat when not in use - making it an ideal space saving laundry solution! This cute little lion might even make your kids want to “feed him” their dirty laundry. $25 from Amazon

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Reasons to Love

Waste-Free Lunches Saving Your Money, Your Health, and the Environment

|by Dana Govern

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It’s back to school time, and for many families with young children, that means back to the morning routine of getting the kids out of bed, dressed, and out the door with a packed lunch and snack for the day. During the inevitable morning scramble, putting together a lunch, or several lunches, often leads to finding what is “fast and convenient” (like prepackaged foods, disposable plastic baggies and utensils, paper napkins, and juice boxes) over non-toxic, waste-free lunches.

• Get a reusable straw such as glass or stainless steel instead of a plastic straw

While these fast and convenient disposable items seem to save time in the morning… are they saving us money, our health, and the environment? This is what the team at Wild Mint set to find out.

Two important elements of a waste-free, reusable lunch include the type of food you pack and the lunch gear used:

To begin, we asked ourselves, what makes a lunch non-toxic and waste-free? Everything packed should be able to be eaten, reused, recycled or composted. To help avoid exposure to toxic chemicals in lunches, lunch gear should also be free from BPA, phthalates, PVCs, lead, and other heavy metals.

For example: • Instead of a paper bag, pack a reusable lunch bag • Use a reusable bottle instead of a disposable drink bottle or carton • Try reusable utensils such as bamboo or stainless steel instead of plastic utensils • Pack a cloth napkin instead of paper napkins • Instead of plastic baggies, foil or plastic wrap, get reusable snack and sandwich bags • Use reusable food containers instead of buying prepackaged foods

After extensive research, we found that packing a reusable, waste-free lunch was not only cheaper, healthier, and more environmentally friendly than a disposable lunch, but also something that could be accomplished efficiently with some time saving tips!

Saving Your Health

Food: When packing a reusable lunch, you are more likely to pack fresher ingredients which won’t contain high levels of sugars and sodium, preservatives, or artificial colorings and flavorings found in many prepackaged foods.

Non-Toxic Lunch Gear: To help avoid toxic chemicals, choose lunch gear free from BPA, lead, phthalates, and PVCs because over time, ingesting these chemicals can lead to health concerns. By doing this, you will ensure a healthier lunch for your family since toxic chemicals will not leach into food or drink. To learn more about toxic chemicals in everyday products visit Wild Mint Learn ~ Chemicals.

Saving the Environment

Because everything included in a reusable lunch is either edible, reusable, recyclable, or compostable, you will have an important part in reducing the amount of pollution in landfills from food and packaging waste. By helping contribute to a cleaner, healthier planet, your personal health will benefit as well!

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Time-Saving Tips

Finding ways to save time while making reusable, waste-free lunches isn’t always the easiest, but with a little practice and preparation it can be a breeze! Below are some of our favorite time-saving ideas, and for the full list of ideas, visit our Lunch Savers guide.

• Pack the night before as you’re putting away leftovers from dinner. Save some leftovers to pack for lunch the next day and freeze smaller portions for future lunch options.

This is also a great way to save time during cleanup since your counter will already be messy from cooking dinner.

• When your kids get home, have them rinse out their lunch containers and place them in the dishwasher.

• Wash and cut fruits and veggies on Sunday for the week.

• Plan your lunches for the week. Write down your lunch idea schedule so you don’t have to spend time thinking about what to

Simple Recipes, Healthy Meals, Happy Babies Sage Spoonfuls gives you everything you need to make healthy, organic baby food with ease.

12 sagespoonfuls.com

pack as you make lunches during the week.

Saving Your Money

Based on research and advice from family, friends, and bloggers, we determined that a typical school lunch and snack consists of the following: • Main Course (examples: leftovers from healthy dinners, a sandwich, pasta, pizza, salad with roll, etc.)

• Snack (granola, crackers, yogurt, nuts, etc.)

• Dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt) • Fruit (apple, banana, strawberries, etc.)

• Vegetable (carrots, celery, broccoli, etc.)

• Drink (juice, water, milk) The beauty of reusable, waste-free meals is that the savings don’t just stop at packing school lunches. Each step we take to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle can benefit our wallets, our health, and our environment…every bit counts!

Waste-Free Lunch Savings

$417.60

Per Child Per School Year

By packing a reusable, waste-free lunch, parents could save an estimated $2.32 per child per day, which comes out to a total of $417.60 per child per school year. That’s well over $400 that could go back into your family’s budget for bills, groceries, and more!

Below you will find two tables that summarize our calculations, and for more details on our research, please visit our Lunch Savers guide.

Kid’s Lunch & Snack Costs Per Day Lunch Item

Disposable Cost Reusable Cost Individual Disposable Cost Individual Reusable ( Individual ) ( Individual ) Cost

Yogurt container/Yogurt in a reusable container

$0.99

$0.66

Apple juice box/Apple juice in a reusable bottle

$0.75

$0.58

Apple, sliced

$1.14

$1.14

Sandwich (turkey and cheese)

$2.90

$2.90

Prepackaged snack/Packed snack

$1.12

$0.97

Carrots and dip

$2.00

$0.44

1 Plastic spoon/1 Reusable utensil

$0.30

$0.00

1 Paper napkin/1 Cloth napkin

$0.20

$0.00

2 Plastic Baggies/2 Reusable baggies

$0.60

$0.00

Total Lunch & Snack Cost Per Day

$9.01

$6.69

SAVINGS ON PACKING A REUSABLE LUNCH & SNACK PER DAY =

$2.32 13

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Individual ized Learning

One Style Does Not Fit All |by Lawrence Williams

Each of us tends to prefer one way of learning to another. Some learn best through reading.

Others prefer to hear information spoken before they can make sense of it or remember it. Some need to see diagrams or demonstrations in order to develop understanding. Still others need to physically touch, manipulate, move, and experiment in order to relate to a given subject. In addition, there are various other ways of learning beyond these. For example, some children might benefit from a social environment filled with group activities; others need ample time for reflection.

One Style Does Not Fit All In previous generations, learning styles were not even acknowledged, much less accommodated.

From one perspective, one could even say that the very concept of “learning disabilities” arose (and continues to arise) from an inability of some teachers and administrators to recognize and deal effectively with the different learning styles of children.

The concept that prompted much of the current debate over learning styles arose in the 1970s, with the left-brain/right-brain theory of neurological functioning. This prompted educators

to view students as either left-brained learners (those that tend to approach things in a logical, linear or verbal manner) or right-brained learners (those that approached things in a more creative, spatial or holistic manner).

Gradually, however, this view began to lose favor, as further research indicated that the learning process involves a very complex interaction of both hemispheres simultaneously. Nevertheless, educators recognized that the left-brain/ right-brain concept, though incomplete, was true to a certain extent, that children do learn differently, and that teachers had to move beyond the purely logical-verbal approach traditionally used in schools and learn how to teach in ways that could appeal to a broader range of learning styles.

The Treasure Trove of Multifac eted Inte ll igenc e Recently, research on learning styles has increased considerably, and our understanding of these differences has grown. Two of the most prominent theories are those of Robert Sternberg of Yale and Howard Gardner of Harvard.

In The Triarchic Mind, Sternberg proposed that there are three types of intelligence. He calls

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Individual ized Learning

One Style Does Not Fit All

these componential (the mind that is tested

by IQ tests), contextual (the kind you use in creating new environments), and experiential (a practical or “street-smarts� kind of intelligence). Conventional school activities tend to focus upon componential intelligence, while contextual and experiential intelligence is what we tend to use in the everyday world. Naturally, this causes a problem for many children.

Conventional The theory that has been most school activities widely acclaimed tend to focus upon is that proposed by componential Howard Gardner. intelligence, In Frames of while contextual Mind, Gardner and experiential synthesized intelligence is what evidence from brain research, we tend to use in the psychological everyday world. testing, experiments with animals, developmental work with young children, descriptive accounts of exceptional ability, and cross-cultural studies.

This evidence supported the idea that there are seven different kinds of intelligence: linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal. He has since added an eighth type, naturalistic. These are not completely separate forms of intelligence, but rather aspects of the same intelligence that is within each of us.

That is, we all have all eight types of intelligence in varying degrees, but generally one or more of these aspects tends to predominate, and this creates a particular style of learning for each individual.

How can we make sense of these various approaches when we’re homeschooling our 16

children? How can we cooperate with individual learning styles to help our children learn more effectively?

There are so many creative options in working with a particular learning style. Often parents find themselves coming up with really imaginative activities on the spur of the moment.

Here are just a few suggestions to give you an idea of the range of possibilities: Verbal-Linguistic learners like creative

writing and word games; making up rhyming verse (perhaps in the form of rap music lyrics) about any subject can be very effective.

Logical-Mathematical learners like logic

problems and mysteries; they enjoy creating timelines for history or graphs for science.

Visual-Spatial learners enjoy drawing

pictures and maps, or creating puzzles and 3D models; they use imagery to understand so providing a visual aid is always helpful.

Bodily-Kinesthetic learners can benefit

from chewing gum or sitting on a ball while solving math problems; they like role-playing historical and literary characters.

Musical learners benefit from translating facts

into rhythmic forms (such as clapping while reciting multiplication tables); they may study best with music in the background.

Interpersonal learners enjoy a dramatic

production or group discussion; they appreciate problem solving with others, and connecting their studies to real-life situations.

Intrapersonal learners enjoy reading

biographies and watching plays or historical reenactments; they appreciate time for reflection and journal writing.

Naturalistic learners benefit from

observing the natural world, so field studies are especially important; literature and writing assignments can capitalize on this interest.

Knowing Style When You See It You may find it interesting to evaluate yourself to determine your own learning style and note how it compares with that of your child. It can be helpful to take into account our own innate tendencies when working with children to ensure we are not unintentionally steering them toward our own preferences.

The purpose of identifying learning styles is to begin the process of identifying and appreciating our children’s unique ways of learning and expressing, and then to encourage that uniqueness by structuring school (and life) activities accordingly.

As our children find joy in embracing the world through their unique learning styles, they gradually become able to explore other learning styles, other creative outlets, and other points of view. By starting with their strengths, we help them develop the confidence they need to tackle the greater challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

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Taking Charge of the Chaos

Creating a Family Command Center |by Sandy Kreps Running a household can be messy, especially when it comes to schedules, mail, meals and paper clutter. Back to school means even more paper, more activities and less time to deal with it all. That’s why creating a family command center can simplify the chaos. Here are four simple steps to creating a command center that works with your family’s needs and space.

#1 Location

For many families, the kitchen is the most logical place. You may select a mudroom, entryway, central hallway, or a living area– any convenient spot your family will have eyes on regularly. Look for a central space that can house all the information you need to stay on top of.

#2 Function

What does your family need from a command center? Ask yourself these questions: • Do you need wall space for hanging a calendar?

• Do you need a spot for paying bills?

• Is this where you want to deal with incoming and outgoing mail?

• How many people need in-boxes? Do you want to hang them on the wall or use a file box or trays on a counter or table?

• What information do you want to keep in your command center? Bills? School papers?

Menus and shopping lists? Coupons?

• Do you want a place to hang a meal plan or menu? How about a chore chart for the kids or a cleaning schedule for the household?

• Would you use a corkboard or magnetic board for hanging notes, invitations and shopping lists?

• Do you need a white board or chalkboard area for leaving notes for other family members, jotting down a grocery list or making notes to yourself? Or would you prefer to hang a notepad so you can take your notes with you on the go?

Most command centers have at least a calendar, a spot for incoming mail, a place for bills to be paid, an area for messages and notes, and inboxes for each member of the family.

Pinterest is a treasure trove of ideas when it comes to home command centers. You can find lots of awesome ideas for how to arrange yours, but don’t be intimidated by the elaborate versions you may see online. Keep it simple and focus on creating a space that will work for your family. You’ll need time to refine your system, and you can always add more bells and whistles later once you’ve determined how your family really uses your command center.

#3 Supplies Before shopping, look around your house and see what items you have on hand to create your command center. Most often, families include: 19

Taking Charge of the Chaos

Creating a Family Command Center

• Wall calendar – We use a personalized calendar printed with family photos I make each year for Christmas gifts. Freebie wall calendars work easily too, or look online for printable calendar pages customized to suit your tastes. A white board or chalkboard can be used to create a perpetual calendar that can be updated with each new month.

• Incoming mail – A basket works well for incoming mail, or you can hang in-boxes or pocket bins on the wall to collect mail. Consider size carefully – you want something big enough to hold a day or two of mail but not much more to avoid it piling up.

• Bills to pay – A bin pocket on the wall works well, or consider using a tickler file in a pretty file box to place bills to be paid. We have a DIY three-tiered board with document pockets and bills are placed in the top pocket for easy access. Whichever method you choose, make sure the bills are placed somewhere together consistently and where they won’t be forgotten.

• School papers – These typically need to be dealt with in different ways: permission slips, calendars and informational fliers for reference, homework that needs to be done and returned, finished work that comes home from school. For us, the best way to organize this was a pretty file basket on the counter with file folders for schoolwork brought home, information for reference, and action items. The folders are colorcoded by child. If you prefer a wall-mounted solution, consider hanging action items on a message board and using wall pockets for each child’s homework.

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• Shopping lists, menus, notes and messages – A white board or chalkboard is great for scribbling notes, but also make sure to have notepads handy for those grocery lists you need to take with you to the store or messages you need to pass along. A corkboard or magnetic strip can be handy for organizing those little pieces of paper that might otherwise get lost in the shuffle.

• A box or cup for pens, pencils, stamps, envelopes and other frequently used office supplies is handy so you don’t have to search for them when you’re in a hurry.

#4 Use it!

Once you’ve got your system, bring together all those important pieces of information and stock your command center.

• Label those folders and bins so everyone knows where things belong.

• Fill in the calendar, and hang the meal plan.

• Personalize it with your favorite quotes or family photos.

Make it a point to use your new command center every day, and direct other family members to it when they come to you looking for something organized there. If something isn’t working, don’t abandon the whole system. Continually look for ways to improve your command center and tweak it to fit the way your family works. The best command centers are those that are functional, organized and personalized so they reflect your family’s activities and lifestyle.

File shelves are great for organizing your child’s day.

Signed notes, homework, and even snacks can be organized for quick backpack stuffing in the morning.

Use a photo box to store photos, announcements, invitations, coupons... or any items that don’t have to be visible at all times.

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5 Tips for Back-to-School Shopping

Second hand Style

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Who says a new school year has to mean an expensive new wardrobe? Shopping used not only helps you consume less, it can help you save big time… often 75% to 80%. Here’s how to make the most of your second-hand shopping trip.

1. Start

Early

Thinking ahead can save you lots of money and help you recycle friends’ and family members’ outgrown, yet still great uniforms or school outfits. Make a few phone calls to play date moms or families from church—see if anyone has left over items that they are just now discovering their own children have grown out of.

The later you wait the more you’ll be tempted to just grab whatever you see in the stores out of desperation!

2. Make

a List

A basic list of items needed along with the items you already have on hand will help you refrain from overstocking your child’s closet.

Simplicity is one of the keys to living green.

Over-stuffing the closet doesn’t help you, or the kids, in the long run.

3. Visit

Often

While you’ll likely want to purchase new socks, tights and underwear, you’ll find great deals on shoes and coats at your local Goodwill or consignment shops.

A huge key to shopping successfully at these shops is having your list in hand and visiting the shops often. Second-hand or resale store inventory turns over nearly weekly. Make a habit of scanning through the racks for items still missing from you list on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

4. Accept Hand-Me-Downs Gracefully

You don’t have to focus on the price points or financial picture aspect of this strategy. If you aren’t practiced at being up front and awake with your neighbors or friends about the gaps in your list start today! You’ll be surprised at how many folks from EVERY level of financial security are happy to trade, barter or just plain give away great stuff. (Plus, it’s cool these days to personally recycle!)

5. Organize

Clothes in One Area

This will help you see your progress over the next few weeks. Don’t panic if you don’t have a full school year of clothes bought/purchased by the time the school year begins. All our kids need is a few outfits to get going that first week of school and you can continue to add to this over the first few weeks/months of this next school year.

Try using hanging shelves to lay out a weeks worth of outfits for your children. This way a full week’s outfits are laid out in one place… no more hunting for the right top to go with the right pants or skit while on the way out the door in the morning!

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Bonus Guilt Free Tip

Lastly, whether a simple lifestyle is old hat to your family or brand new, try to remember that the purpose of clothing is to keep ourselves warm or cool. Sometimes we wish for the simplicity of Grandma’s day, when one good pair of shoes was all one hoped for every year when school started. Let’s remember that teaching our children to focus on the rich experiences open to them is so much more important than the brands or styles they’ll be wearing!

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Healthy

School Lunches + cool gear to pack it in!

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Pack It

1. Planetbox Rover Jack Johnson Aloha $59

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• Grain-Free Banana • Chickpeas Bread (Recipe on p.##) • Pretzels • Pluot • Stoneridge Cherries • Kiwi (Dark Chocolate & • Cauliflower Yogurt Covered)

Pack It 1. Planetbox Shuttle Lady Bug $39 2. PickMeUp Napkins $6 • Bowtie Pasta Salad (w/ Kalamata Olives, Feta, & Dressing) • Sliced Green Peppers • Grapes • Pita Chips • Hummus 27

Pack It 1. Itzy Ritzy Snack Happens Modern Damask $10 • Cucumber Sandwich (Mixed Greens, Cucumber, & Ranch) • Strawberries • Organic Juice Pouch

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Pack It 1. LifeFactory 1 Cup Storage $15 2. LifeFactory 2 Cup Storage $18 3. PickMeUp Napkins $6 • Pasta Salad (Recipe on p.##) • Cantaloupe • Blueberries

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Pack It 1. Zoli DINE Insulated Food Jar $25 2. Funkins Napkin $10 • Potato Soup • Grape Kebabs • Banana Bread (Recipe on p.##)

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Pack It 1. Wean Green Lunch Cube $9 2. Wean Green Wean Tub $5 3. Funkins Napkin $10 • Sunflower Seed Butter & Grape Jelly on Chia Bread • SnapPea Crisps • Oranges • Banana

r e l l A

! y l d n e i r F gy 31

Pack It 1. Planetbox Launch $69 2. Funkins Napkin $10

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• Guacamole • Garden of Eatin’ Chips • Stonyfield Organic Yogurt Tube • Apple • Mango • Cashews • Stoneridge Cherries

Pack It 1. Funkins Napkin $10 2. Stainless Storage Cup • Ham Sandwich w/ Greens • Applesauce, • Zucchini Spears

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Pack It 1. ONYX Lunch Bowl 2. Eco Lunchbox Splashbox $22 3. Itzy Ritzy Mini Snack Happens Sunshine Chevron $13 4. Funkins Napkin $10 • Edamame • Cheese Stick • Mango • Salad w/ Hard Boiled Egg • RW Garcia Tortatos

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Pack It 1. Wean Green Lunch Bowl $9 2. Wean Green Wean Bowl $6 3. Funkins Napkin $10 • Mixed Greens Salad w/ Carrots, Egg & Almond • Plain Greek Yogurt w/ Strawberry • Fruit Leather

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B A

E

F

H

G

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I

Snacks!

A few of our favorite kid-approved snacks. Easy to grab on the way to school, heading to piano lessons, or in a rush to make it to soccer practice on time.

C

D

A. Banana B. Nature’s Path Granola Bar Honey Oat Crunch C. Health Valley Organic Blueberry Cobbler

J

D. Fruit Leather E. SunRidge Farms Organic Deluxe Trail Mix F. Pluot G. Stoneridge Orchard Cherries H. Clif Kid Z Bar Protein I. Carrots

K

J. Apple K. Clif Crunch Granola Bar 37

A

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B

Pack Happy!

A. Itzy Ritzy Lunch Happens Insulated $16 B. Planetbox Shuttle $40 C. Pottery Barn Kids $60 D. SoYoung $32

D C

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A 40

B

Drink in Style!

A. EcoVessel Scout Stainless Steel $16 B. Lifefactory Glass 12 oz with Straw & Silicone Sleeve $23 C. Zoli DASH $26 D. S’well 9 oz Double Walled Stainless Steel Bottle $31 E. Klean Kanteen Kid’s Stainless Steel Bottle $16

C

D

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Flourless Banana Bread • • • • • • • • • • •

3 Green Plantains 2 Ripe Bananas 5 Eggs 1/4 cup Organic Coconut Oil 1/4 cup Honey 1 tsp Baking Soda 2 tsp Cinnamon 1/4 tsp Clove 1/4 tsp Sea Salt 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract 1/4 cup Raw Pepitas or Lily’s Organic Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 2. Peel and cut the Plantains & Bananas into chunks, add to a blender, along with the remaining ingredients — except for the pepitas and/or chocolate chips.

3. Pulse until smooth!

4. Pour the contents of the blender into a greased (buttered!) 9 x 13 baking dish.

5. Sprinkle pepitas or chocolate chips over the batter.

6. Bake for 45 minutes at 350°F 7. Remove from oven, let cool, cut, serve and enjoy!

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Easy Pasta Salad

• • • • • • • • •

Mini Bowtie Pasta Cherry Tomatoes Carrot Chickpeas Green Pepper Zucchini Cashews Vinaigrette Olive Oil

1. Cook pasta al dente. Drain and toss with vinaigrette and olive oil - to taste.

2. Dice all veggies and then toss all ingredients until well mixed.

3. Save in an airtight container for easy lunches.

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Learning @ Home |by Kerry McDonald, M.Ed

Our homes are powerful places for living and learning. As we move through the daily and weekly rhythms of home, we discover panoply of learning moments for our young children.

These moments are not tied to a curriculum, not focused on standards or expectations. They happen naturally, organically, as our children follow their innate instincts to explore the important tools of their culture with curiosity and enthusiasm. Boston College psychology professor, Dr. Peter Gray, writes in his book, Free To Learn: “Children are biologically predisposed to take charge of their own education. When they are provided with the freedom and means to pursue their own interests, in safe settings, they bloom and develop along diverse and unpredictable paths, and they acquire the skills and confidence required to meet life’s challenges.”1

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Here are 10 simple ideas for re-envisioning your home as a powerful place for natural learning:

- Freedom You are a facilitator of freedom, a protector of the conditions of natural childhood learning.

You simply listen, and watch, and then you help to gather or find resources that help your child to learn naturally as he is innately designed to do. You bridge the gap between your child’s nascent interests and ideas and the vast world around him.

As pioneering early childhood educator, John Holt, wrote in his classic book, Teach Your Own: “What children need is not new and better curricula but access to more and more of the real world; plenty of time and space to think over Whether your children are still toddlers and pre- their experiences, and to use fantasy and play schoolers, or if you have decided to homeschool, to make meaning out of them; and advice, road there are many ways that you can create at home maps, guidebooks, to make it easier for them to the conditions that ignite natural learning. By get where they want to go (not where we think reimagining the ordinary spaces of our homes they ought to go), and to find out what they as extraordinary resources for early childhood want to find out.”2 As a parent, you protect this learning, we can foster a home learning envifreedom—the time and space for natural learnronment that sparks curiosity, engages children ing—and connect your child’s burgeoning naturally in discovery of their world, and cultipassions with the abundant resources of your vates a more peaceful home life. community.

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Learning @ Home

- Play The deepest learning, especially for children, comes when they are doing something they enjoy, in the spirit of play. And when this play is unstructured and child-led, the learning that results is richer and more meaningful. Recent research by a team of psychologists at the University of Colorado reveals the benefits of playbased learning. In their study, the researchers found that the more opportunity children had for free, unstructured, unsupervised play time-as opposed to organized play like sports and classes—the higher their “Executive Functioning” skills were. The children who were given more time for free play were better equipped to establish their own goals, be more self-directed, more organized, and more self-regulating than children engaged in more structured, supervised activities.3 Give your children the freedom to play. Make unstructured play time the priority over classes and lessons. Let your child lead and be the director of her play while you hold the space for this deep learning to occur.

- Warmth Natural learning comes easily from a warm and inviting space. Keep natural toys and materials, de-clutter, and incorporate homemade items into play-spaces can create an enriching learning environment. Consider donating half of your child’s current toys to simplify and calm their space. The fewer the toys, the more deeply they will play with those that are left. For your remaining toys, select high-quality, non-commercial toys made from natural materials like wood and wool. These natural toys trigger a child’s imagination in ways that manufactured plastic cannot. And think creatively about special “toys” for young children. Playing with a ball of yarn or a basket of clothespins, while a grown46

up watches nearby, can be great fun for babies and toddlers. Fill your play-spaces with warmth by showcasing the homemade. Drape a piece of string or yarn across a window or wall and clip your child’s artwork to it. Frame your child’s art for all to admire. Sprinkle handmades into your play-spaces, with a homemade pillows or a knitted blanket, adding warmth and inspiration to your home.

- Curiosity Spark your child’s natural curiosity with baskets of books scattered throughout your home. Gather “coffee table books,” and other large, colorful books to include in your play-spaces for children to explore. Make tools for child-directed learning readily available and accessible, like wooden blocks and letters, puzzles, microscopes and magnifying glasses, dress-up clothes and play silks. Set up a book nook or a nature corner or a music alcove. Envision your home as an incubator of curiosity and imagination, with nooks and crannies offering enjoyable spaces for learning and discovery.

- Creativity Think of ways to cultivate creativity in your home. Prepare a morning art table for your toddler or preschooler to stumble upon. Fill it with paper and crayons, tape and glue, magazines to cut up, or different materials to explore. For older children, designate a space in your home as your constant “creativity corner,” with art supplies ready and waiting when inspiration hits.

Filling our homes with creative spaces for our children help them to direct their own learning, reveal their own interests, and pursue their own passions without waiting for grown-ups to lead the way.

- Rhythm When we think of simple ways to integrate our children into the daily rhythms of home-involving them in household projects, inviting them to move through the day alongside us--we find that our days at home can be more peaceful, more enjoyable, and more productive than we ever thought possible. By re-envisioning our home and the daily tasks we complete within it as important to our child’s early learning and development, we begin to see that our role is not to entertain our children, not to occupy them, but to welcome them into the daily rhythms of our life and work. Yes, it will take longer—perhaps much longer—to fold that pile of clothes or bake those cookies, but when we see our home-based activities—like cleaning and cooking—as central to our child’s learning, then it doesn’t matter if it takes longer than it otherwise would. It’s not something to get through quickly so you can play with the train set on the floor. Instead, it is the learning activity for that time of the day, for that moment, and it is deeply worthwhile.

- Nourishment Just as folding the laundry can become a learning activity in and of itself for young children-an exercise in sorting and organizing, identifying shapes and colors in a natural way as part of the ordinary cadence of the day—so too can cooking and baking. Instead of feeling the need to buy play-dough, for instance, and find a set time for using it with your toddler or preschooler, instead make basic pizza dough for dinner.

Mix some flour, water, yeast, and oil following a basic pizza dough recipe, and then let your child play with it, roll it, knead it, squish it, while you move on to sautéing your mushrooms or preparing your salad. In this way, your child becomes actively involved in the daily rhythms of home

Explore.

Experiment.

Dream.

Liberate Your Learning with Oak Meadow!

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Use our curriculum independently or Oak Meadow enroll in our fullyencompasses the whole accredited distance child, the whole family, learning school. the whole self. The curriculum We’re here to engages both the learner and support you every step of facilitator on a journey of the way as you authentic learning. We couldn’t discover your imagine a better way to learn. own inspired —Oak Meadow parent path to learning.

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Learning @ Home while engaged in age-appropriate play with homemade ingredients that will nourish hungry bellies. Playing with dough, then, becomes seamlessly integrated into your day instead of an extra playtime activity. The same could be true of starting a simple herb garden with your child, picking strawberries or applies, visiting farms and farmers’ markets, making jam, or searching for wild edibles on a nature walk around town.

All of these activities are connected to your daily rhythms of feeding and caring for young children, and all present extraordinary learning opportunities.

- Ritual Children learn much through rituals. Different from routines that are rigid and structured and automatic, rituals are fluid and evolving and designed to celebrate daily, weekly, and seasonal moments. Enjoying a cup of tea every afternoon with your child. Celebrating Friday nights with breakfast-for-dinner and a family movie. Welcoming the autumn equinox with apple-picking and a harvest meal. These are all examples of rituals that you can incorporate into your home life. They help children to mark the passing of time, to appreciate the changing seasons and the natural cycle of the earth. They foster family togetherness and position home as the central source for growth and discovery.

- Nature -

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Prioritizing nature, and integrating the natural world into your everyday rhythms, can be an important way to spark natural learning with little ones. Take a daily nature walk. Go puddle stomping. Jump in autumn leaves. Catch snowflakes. Create a seasonal nature table, gathering items from your neighborhood to bring into your home and weave into your child’s play.

Collect nature-based “toys” for your child, such as acorns and tree bark, shells and rocks. These simple activities connect children to nature in important ways and spark curiosity.

- Community Learning at home with little ones is not an isolated endeavor. Build community by joining your local homeschooling network, most of which have designated play dates or park days for preschool-age children. Seek community resources for learning, such as museums and libraries, nature centers and farms, colleges and non-profits, local shops and community-based organizations. Many of these community resources have classes for young children and all can serve as helpful hubs for fostering natural learning.

When we begin to see our home and our daily rhythms as an integral part of our child’s learning, the whole idea of living and learning at home with our little ones becomes much less daunting. We spot simple ways to integrate our children into the daily learning all around us, and provide the important conditions of freedom and play, warmth and nourishment to make learning happen. We can live and learn joyfully with our children, using their natural zest for discovery as our beacon.

1 Gray, Peter. Free To Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct To Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Learners for Life. New York: Basic Books, 2013. p. 6.

Holt, John. Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling. New York: DeCapo Press, 2003, p. 101.

2

3 Barker, Jane E., et al. “Less-structured time in children’s daily lives predicts self-directed executive functioning.” Frontiers In Psychology, June 17, 2014: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/ fpsyg.2014.00593/abstract

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First Day Photos

How to Capture Your Child’s Big Day The photo experts at SmugMug – the largest independent photo-sharing site in the world – have compiled a list of tips to make sure all the effort you put into the first-day-of-school photo shoot results in the perfect snapshots to share with your friends and family. Or, as perfect as it can be when you’re working with children. :)

Choose the right light.

Aim for natural light. Taking snapshots in the living room can turn out dark and cast shadows across your child’s face. If you’re using a flash, avoid getting too close or your child will look more like Casper the Friendly Ghost than a fresh-faced kindergartner.

To keep the spotlight on the star of the photo shoot, choose a neutral the background. Avoid positioning your child in front of wild patterns or cluttered furniture, especially if you’re using props.

Zoom in.

In addition to a full head-to-toe shot, get a close-up of your child’s face, so you can remember what he or she looked like during that time of life.

Don’t stress if Junior spills his milk on his just-pressed slacks or if Suzie rips the bow out of her hair. Sometimes the unplanned messes make for the most fun pictures and memories

Have fun.

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Keep it neutral.

Don’t cry over spilled milk.

It might seem like a no-brainer, but have fun. Talk to your child during the photo shoot to capture natural reactions, like laughter, smiles and, yes, even, a frown that you’ll laugh about

Photography by Jaime Bristow - Ron Wood Photography

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Grace & Courtesy: Helping Our Children Learn Self-Discipline |by Mary Ellen Maunz One of the foundational factors in good Montessori schools is what we call “Grace and Courtesy.” This is our curriculum of how to behave as a functioning part of the home or the classroom community. Rather than “making our children mind,” we demonstrate how to behave appropriately.

and expect the child to do what we say. In psychology, it is called cognitive dissonance when words do not match behavior, and children notice it immediately. Ultimately, our own maturity and our own efforts to live better are what help our children learn to behave. (Sorry – there is no magic bullet!)

Grace and Courtesy is the oil that keeps the group functioning smoothly, it is the ambience that the parents can create in the home and the teacher can create in the classroom, of graciousness and respect. We can only create it when first we model it with our own actions, and then with good-natured lessons, we demonstrate the way we do things in our class, or in our home.

From an early age, even when neurologically and physically, children cannot control their own behavior, they are watching and taking in our behaviors. If we are tense and have our teeth clenched while we try to help a child calm down, they are going to feel the tension and have a harder time calming down. We can learn to take a deep breath when our children are having meltdowns and help them regain control. Especially when they are very little, when we help babies and toddlers calm down, they are establishing the neurological connections to self-calm. Many studies tell us that the roots of violence lie in the inability to self-calm.

Let’s consider a few examples. We want our children to be helpful. So how do we teach it?

Be helpful, go out of your way to help a sick neighbor or a grandparent that needs some assistance. We want our children to be respectful. How do we teach it? Be respectful of your spouse and of your children. The ONLY way our children learn to behave is by seeing it and doing it.

Conveying the same message with our words and our actions.

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As parents and as teachers, we quickly learn that we cannot say one thing and do another

Activities of Grace and Courtesy Grace and Courtesy includes many things, from care of the self and care of the environment to learning the kind and gracious way to handle all manner of situations. We care for one another’s needs and we help one another learn new activities.

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Grace & Courtesy:

Helping Our Children Learn to Behave

When we see our children not functioning the ways we wish, in many cases, we simply re-present the behavior that we want, without shame or blame. When children are deliberately naughty, we may need to take stronger action, help them calm down and try again.

“Grace and Courtesy” lessons Here is a sample list of grace and courtesy lessons many Montessori teachers use in their classrooms to establish the culture of respect for self, one another and the environment. Feel free to take whatever suggestions may be valuable for your family or your classroom and create your own list that supports your values.

Classroom Management Lessons: • How to listen to directions • How to get the teacher’s attention • Place hand on teacher’s shoulder • Wait for acknowledgement • How to raise hand at circle time and wait to be called on • How to wait to speak after others finish • How to shake hands with teacher/adult • How to ask for help from a teacher or another student • How to greet a visitor: “Hello, my name is....

Welcome to (our home or name of school).”

• How to listen to a story or poem without shouting out questions in the middle of the story • How to learn a song at circle time • How to sing with a group • How to recycle paper

Care of the Garden • • • • •

Watering the plants Pulling weeds Setting up a plant area Sweeping walkways Harvesting

Social Skills with Adults & Children:

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• Friend greeting a friend • Making an apology • How to admit a mistake and ask to be forgiven • How to say, “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

• How to give comfort to another • Asking, “Are you all right? May I help you?”

• Getting a teacher • How to introduce friends: “Mary, this is my friend, Tomas.”

• • • • • • • •

Asking to watch another’s lesson Asking to join in play Asking for a turn Asking an older child for help Asking to join a group lesson Inviting another child to play How to refuse an invitation kindly Introducing myself to another: “Hello (or “Hi”). My name is….”

• How to say “no” politely • “No, thank you. I don’t want to do that.”

• How to say, “Stop! Stop! You’re hurting me. Stop. I don’t like that!”

• How to ask someone to move: “Could you please move? I would like to sit here.”

• “Excuse me, please. I want to walk through here.”

These lessons are a start, an example of what you can do, when you set your mind to thinking about what matters in how your home or classroom is run. With these lessons we set the standard of how we want our classrooms and our homes to function. Develop the lessons you need for the layout of your school or home and the rituals you wish your children to follow.

Remember that in Montessori we do not assume the children know something, but we teach everything, giving the child the opportunity to do thing correctly, as they generally want to do.

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Splat the Cat: Back to School, Splat!

By Rob Scotton

Splat is at it again! Although the reading level may be low, children of all ages will enjoy returning to this series time and again. This time, Splat’s first day of school entails picking his favorite part of summer vacation to share at show-and-tell. With a great message and quirky, fun illustrations, kids will enjoy Splat’s adventures and parents won’t mind hearing them over and over again. $4 at Amazon

Project-Based Homeschooling: Mentoring Self-Directed Learners

By Lori McWilliam Pickert

As much a parenting guide as it is a homeschooling text (many reviews even say how it’s a great book for parents of traditionally-educated kids), this intelligently- and warmly-written book suggests to parents how to guide children to become self-directed learners through meaningful, challenging projects. Incredibly insightful. $13 at Amazon

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Cozi Cozi is an award-winning organizational app for a variety of devices. Great for busy families, it's an easy-to-use color-coded calendar, to-do list, shopping list, family journal and more. Homeschooling parents and kids can keep track of each child’s weekly assignments with the to-do lists and games.

This app is free with an optional gold upgrade.

Middle School Makeover

By Michelle Icard

Ahh, the tween years. Riddled with hormones, changing expectations at school and with extracurricular activities, drama with peers, and a plethora of other issues that have only grown since we were in their shoes, it’s a crazy time. This book is a great resource for parents and teachers to understand exactly what’s going on (literally) in the minds of middle schoolers, and how these neurological changes affect their decision-making and sense of identity.

Icard provides sincerely practical advice to help tweens build confidence while navigating through this stage. $14 at Amazon 57

10 Tips to Help Your Child Guard Against Bullying

| by Dr. Laura Markham, author of Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How To Stop Yelling and Start Connecting. Learn more at AhaParenting.com.

Not only is Bullying pervasive, it has become increasingly dangerous, so 58

that children are committing suicide or being beaten to death by their bulliers.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that bullying is preventable, and you can bully-proof your child -- and keep him from becoming a bully.

Photo by Working Word

Bullying begins in preschool and gains momentum as kids grow. Depending on which survey you read, between 40 and 80 percent of middle schoolers admit to bullying behavior.

Model compassionate, respectful relationships from the time your child is small.

The most effective way to keep children from being bullied, and from becoming bullies, is to make sure they grow up in loving relationships, rather than relationships that use power or force to control them. Children learn both sides of every relationship, and they can act either one.

If you spank, your child will learn that physical violence is the way to respond to interpersonal problems. If your discipline methods use power over your child, he will learn to use power over others, or to let others use power over him.

Don’t worry, you don’t need that kind of discipline. For compassionate discipline that works, see the Aha! section on Positive Discipline.

Stay connected to your child through thick and thin.

Lonely kids are more likely to be bullied. Remember, parenting is 90% connection -- a close relationship with your child -- and only 10% guidance. The guidance won’t stick unless you have the relationship to support it, and will just drive your child away. Keep those lines of communication open, no matter what.

Model confident behavior with other people.

If you tend to back down easily so you don’t make a scene, but then later feel pushed-around, it’s time to change that. Your child is learning from watching you. Experiment with finding ways to assert your own needs or rights while maintaining respect for the other person. It’s also important not to put yourself or your child down, because you’re teaching her to follow in your footsteps.

Directly teach your child respectful self-assertion.

Kids need to know they can get their needs met while being respectful of other people. Give him words to stick up for himself early on: “It’s my turn now.”

“I want a turn now.”

“Hey, stop that.”

“Hands off my body.”

“It’s not okay to hurt.”

“I don’t like being called that. I want you to call me by my name.”

Teach your child basic social skills.

Kids who are outsiders are more likely to be bullied. Bullies prey on children whom they perceive to be vulnerable, including needy children who are so desperate for peer acceptance that they continue to hang around a group of peers even when one of the group leaders begins to mistreat them. Role play with your child how to join a game at the playground, introduce themselves to another child at a party, or initiate a playdate. Kids who are successful in joining groups of kids usually observe first, and find a way to fit into the group, rather than just barging in. Make games out of social skills, and practice at home.

Teach your child basic bully avoidance.

Bullies operate where adults aren’t present, so your child should avoid unsupervised hallways, bathrooms, and areas of the playground. Sitting in the front of the school bus, standing in the

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10 Tips to Help Your Child Guard Against Bullying

front of the line, and sitting at a lunch table near the cafeteria chaperones are all good strategies for bully avoidance.

Teach your child that there is no shame in being frightened by a bully, in walking away, or in telling an adult and asking for help.

Bullying situations can escalate, and saving face is less important than saving their life.

Teach kids to intervene to prevent bullying when they see it.

Bullying expert Michele Borba says that when bystanders -- kids who are nearby -- intervene correctly, studies find they can cut bullying more than half the time and within 10 seconds.

The best interventions: Partner with the victim and remove her from danger - Go stand with the victim physically, turn the victim away from the bully and walk her off in the other direction -- towards adult help. Say “You look upset” or “I’ve been looking for you” or “The teacher sent me to find you.”

Get help - Bullies love an audience. Get the other kids on your side by waving them over to you, yelling, “We need your help.” Confront the bully: “You’re being mean.” Then walk away: “C’mon, let’s go!”

And of course, if you’re at all worried about safety, dial 911 or shout for a teacher.

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Coach your child to handle teasing and bullying by role playing.

Research shows that bullies begin with verbal harassment. How the “victim” responds to the first verbal aggression determines whether the bully continues to target this particular child. If the aggression gives the bully what he’s looking for -- a feeling of power from successfully pushing the other child’s buttons -- the aggression will generally escalate. It’s imperative to discuss this issue with your child BEFORE he is subject to bullying, so he can stand up for himself successfully when a bully first “tests” him.

Roleplay with your child how he can stand up to a bully. Point out to your child that the bully wants to provoke a response that makes him feel powerful, so showing emotion and fighting back are exactly what the bully feeds off. Explain that while he can’t control the bully, he can always control his own response. So in every interaction, how he responds will either inflame the situation or defuse it. Your child needs to avoid getting “hooked” no matter how mad the bully makes him.

The best strategy is always to maintain one’s own dignity, and to let the “bully” maintain his dignity, in other words, not to attack or demean the other person. To do this, simply say: “You know, I’m just going to ignore that comment.”

“I think I have something else to do right now.”

“No thank you.”

Then, just walk away.

Teach your child to count to ten to stay calm, look the bully in the eye, and say one of these things. Practice until your child has a strong, self-assured tone.

Don’t hesitate to intervene.

Your job as the parent is to protect your child.

That means that in addition to teaching your child to stick up for herself, you may well need to call the teacher or principal. Don’t give your child the message that she’s all alone to handle this. And don’t assume that if there isn’t physical violence, she isn’t being wounded in a deep way.

Despite the old rhyme about words not hurting, mean words and isolation are terribly damaging to our psyches, and cause lasting negative effects. If the school cannot protect your child, consider transferring to a different school, or even homeschooling.

In addition to the previous 10 tip, here are six of the most successful strategies to help kids defend themselves, courtesy of bullying expert Michele Borba.

Be sure to check out her website for more info on bullying.

Assert yourself.

Teach your child to face the bully by standing tall and using a strong voice. Your child should name the bullying behavior and tell the aggressor to stop: “That’s teasing. Stop it.” or “Stop making fun of me. It’s mean.”

Question the response.

Ann Bishop, who teaches violence prevention, tells her students to respond to an insult with a

non-defensive question: “Why would you say that?” or “Why would you want to tell me I am dumb (or fat) and hurt my feelings?”

Use “I want.”

Communication experts suggest teaching your child to address the bully beginning with “I want” and say firmly what he wants changed: “I want you to leave me alone.” or “I want you to stop teasing me.”

Agree with the teaser.

Consider helping your child create a statement agreeing with her teaser. Teaser: “You’re dumb.”

Child: “Yeah, but I’m good at it.” or Teaser: “Hey, four eyes.” Child: “You’re right, my eyesight is poor.”

Ignore it.

Bullies love it when their teasing upsets their victims, so help your child find a way to not let his tormentor get to him. Fifth graders offer these kid-tested ways to ignore teasers: “Pretend they’re invisible,” “Walk away without looking at them,” “Quickly look at something else and laugh,” and “Look completely uninterested.”

Make Fun of the Teasing.

Fred Frankel, author of Good Friends Are Hard to Find suggests victims answer every tease with a reply, but not tease back. The teasing often stops, Frankel says; because the child lets the tormentor know he’s not going to let the teasing get to him (even if it does). Suppose the teaser says, “You’re stupid.” The child says a rehearsed comeback such as: “Really?” Other comebacks could be: “So?,” “You don’t say,” “And your point is?,” or “Thanks for telling me.”

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Nutritional Nuggets Expert Louise Goldberg answers your questions!

My daughter wants the same thing packed in her lunch every day. I’d like her to try something new, but I worry she won’t eat it and will end up feeling hungry and cranky for her afternoon classes. How can I get her to eat what I send in her lunch?

Unfortunately you can’t make her eat anything, especially when the food you pack is competing with a noisy lunchroom, limited time and other distractions. The best strategy: change or add only one new thing a week (e.g. change the fruit or the type of sandwich) and keep the remaining food the same. This allows her to eat the familiar food and get used to the new one at the same time. Keep in mind your job is to provide nourishing food and her job is to decide whether to eat it and how much. This “division of responsibility”, as termed by Ellyn Satter, RD, helps alleviate some of the pressure we, as parents, feel to make our kids eat.

At my baby’s 1-year-old checkup his pediatrician told us to use 2% milk (instead of whole milk) because he didn’t need the extra fat or calories. This is different from what we were told for our older son when he turned one.

Which is right? What milk should we use?

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It used to be standard to recommend transitioning from breast milk or formula to whole milk at 1 year; however, there are several factors pediatricians now consider when making this decision. The World Health Organization recommends continued breastfeeding up to 2

years of age or beyond, so if you’re still nursing, there’s no need to stop and switch to cow’s milk.

Your pediatrician is likely taking into account his growth rate and what else he is eating. If your second child is drinking 3 cups of whole milk and his diet is predominantly whole milk yogurt, cheese, meat and other fatty foods, the pediatrician may have felt it was beneficial to use the lower fat milk to prevent excessive fat intake. If you are still unsure, it may be helpful to review his diet with a pediatric dietitian to make sure he is meeting all his nutrient needs for growth.

Traditionally my kids’ school has always sold some sort of junk food for fundraising because it has worked. This year I am head of the committee and I want to make changes!

Any ideas on what we can do to raise big money for the school without selling out our kids’ health?

Starting this year, schools are actually required to meet the USDA’s “Smart Snacks” guidelines for any food sold outside the cafeteria lines, which includes fundraisers. Aside from selecting healthier snacks to sell (that meet Smart Snack rules), other fundraisers could involve selling water bottles, a 1-3K Fun Walk/Run, book fairs, car washes or having the kids raise money for a “Free Dress Day”, “Eat Lunch on the Playground” or other similar activity. For other ideas, check out this great list from Action for Healthy Kids here.

Image by Melissa AnotherLunch.com

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Violence in Our Schools How Parents Can Help Create a More Peaceful World |by Jan and Jason Hunt

Jan Hunt, M.Sc. is the director of The Natural Child Project and author of The Natural Child: Parenting from the Heart.

We all hunger for peace. Yet far too often this seems to be just a dream, hopelessly out of reach. Instead of the peaceful life we all want, we have strife in our families, in our communities, and between our nations. We lose hope of anything better, and begin to think that nothing will ever change. Our dream of peace remains elusive.

This is a hard dream to relinquish, because it began at birth. Every infant beams when there is peace in the home, and looks perplexed and cries when there is not. To an infant, conflict is a puzzle. As infants, we not only want everyone to get along, we expect it.

We wake each morning with the hope that things will change, but every day there is another sad and shocking story. We are all bewildered, and want to understand what went wrong. It seems to be human nature to focus on the most recent events, not those further back in time. So we wonder what could have been done on the days before a tragedy that might have prevented it. What last-minute interventions could have made a difference?

What could have been done differently at the scene to save lives?

There is nothing wrong with these kinds of questions - they may help to prevent future 64

acts of violence from taking place. But to reduce the potential for violence in general, it may be more constructive to look at the earliest links, not the most recent ones. While there are many factors that can lead to violence, the best prevention is always the earliest - the one that keeps the first domino from falling.

Psychiatrist Elliott Barker wrote, “How do we go about the task of decreasing the number of psychopaths or the amount of psychopathy in our society? To me it is the same question as ‘How do we increase the number of people in our society who have well-developed capacities for trust, for empathy, and for affection?’”

Here are some possible ways we can accomplish this: 1. Encourage young men and women to consider carefully their readiness to love and nurture a child.

2. Offer local maternity classes and support groups that focus on the parent-child connection, such as La Leche League meetings.

3. Give parents the support they need, so they can have time to fall in love with their baby - everything else can wait.

4. Remind parents of the substantial benefits of breastfeeding with child-led weaning.

Photography by David Schott

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Violence in Our Schools 5. Educate everyone on the importance of responding to a baby’s cries quickly and compassionately.

6. Encourage parents to teach their babies sign language so they can communicate their needs and feelings before they have words.

7. Inform parents of the numerous benefits of family co-sleeping.

8. Promote babywearing, especially skin-toskin.

9. Recommend that parents avoid unnecessary baby gear, which can interfere with the parent-child bond.

10. Help parents learn respectful alternatives to punishment to foster cooperation based on love, not fear.

11. Counsel parents to give every child a voice by listening openly and non-judgmentally to their children’s communication.

12. Teach communication skills to improve relationships among all family members.

13. Support educational alternatives such as unschooling and democratic schools, which nurture the child’s natural love of learning.

14. Train family and marital counselors to emphasize the critical importance of treating children with dignity and respect.

15. Intervene on behalf of children whose needs and feelings are not being heard.

16. Campaign for children’s rights at home, school, and everywhere else.

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17. Above all, remind parents to take their children’s feelings and needs seriously and respectfully, from day one.

Parenting choices such as babywearing, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and a comforting response to crying benefit the child in many ways. They help to provide a capacity for empathy and emotional resilience, and prepare the child for a lifetime of mutually respectful and trusting relationships. These practices also offer significant benefits for the parents, as their relationship with their child will then be easier and more enjoyable.

We all do what we think is best for our children. Unfortunately, we often receive misguided advice to use approaches such as spanking, time-out, denial of privileges, and cry-it-out.

While this advice may be well meant, such strategies inevitably create anger and frustration in the child, which can build up over time and lead to aggressive behavior. They can also damage the child’s self-esteem and hinder their ability to connect with their parents or anyone else.

Without a strong connection to someone they fully trust, a child who is abused, bullied, angry or frustrated (at home, school, or anywhere else) can feel they have nowhere to turn for support and understanding. Aggression may then become their only outlet for communicating their feelings of anger, powerlessness, and desperation.

The most constructive thing we can do to create a peaceful world is to focus on increasing the capacity for empathy within every child.

The importance of meeting a child’s needs with understanding and compassion has been recognized by psychologists and researchers for decades. Let’s start educating everyone about the critical importance of the early years.

Focusing on those years can not only help to prevent future tragedies, but can give our children the best possible start toward a joyful and fulfilling life.

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guided relaxation

“Shine Your Light ”

Gently close your eyes now and softly repeat, “I am still”. Notice your body relax instantly and easily. Allow your body to sink down in your bed further and further, as your muscles become soft and limp. It feels so comfortable.

Your body just seems to relax more and more with each and every word you hear.

Imagine now a small sparkle somewhere deep inside your heart. This small sparkle begins to glow brighter now, and you feel it reaching up and expanding out. The glow becomes brighter and brighter filling up your chest. You feel the warmth spreading out touching your tummy, your shoulders.... getting bigger and bigger.... getting brighter and brighter, glowing all the way down to your toes. Now feel your whole body glowing like a radiant star shining out. This wonderful light is your light - your shining light - your personal brilliance. It is all the love in your heart. It is all you’re possibilities - and your possibilities are endless.

Shine your light wherever you go. Sharing your light makes others happy, and it makes you happy as well. It’s a wonderful feeling to share your light, and by doing so, you become a good example to them. When you shine your light brightly, it lets others know that it is okay for them to shine their light brightly too. When we all do this, it makes the world a more beautiful, peaceful place.

with Mellisa Dormoy of Shambala Kids

Sharing your light can be as simple as sharing your smile, or doing a kind deed. Hold a happy thought about someone, or send a happy wish to someone who is feeling sad. It can mean helping someone who is younger than you, or not as strong as you. All of this is shining your light, and you will discover a wonderful warm, fuzzy feeling inside your heart when you do this. This wonderful feeling comes from doing what you were created to do – feeling and spreading love and joy.

Sharing your light means sharing the real you and being who you truly are. It means standing up for what is right and making the choices that feel right in your heart.

Now, allow that bright light inside to become like a gentle shower of fireworks.

See how beautiful and amazing you are? You light up the sky!

As the firework sizzle and flare down, imagine your brilliant light touching the heart of every person you know and will meet. They feel happier just because they know you. How wonderful and blessed life is!

Now I’d like for you to take in a deep breath and bring back all the good feelings you have right now with you as you slowly stretch your body. Open your eyes when you’re ready. You have done an amazing job!

For more meditations and guided relaxation audios, visit Shambala Kids online.

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the

More you Know

Fundraisers eco: School – Giving Kids a Choice |by Peter Kendall

Director of Earth Rangers

A sense of compassion and caring is something parents and caregivers strive to instill in their children. One of the ways families try to do this is by encouraging their children to get involved in charitable giving. However, before voting on the next fundraiser for your school, there a number of things you should consider.

One of the most important considerations is that your child feels a connection with the organization or cause they are helping. Children can be incredibly passionate and dedicated when they find a cause that is relevant so before choosing a charity, talk to your child about what is important to them and help them find an organization that aligns with both your child’s and your family’s values.

It’s also important that kids have a say in how they support their chosen cause. Having an online tool that allows children to email family and friends should be one option, but children are as diverse as adults and this option will not appeal to all kids. Other fundraising 70

initiatives like bake sales, yard sales, lemonade stands, ice cream socials and even foregoing birthday presents in lieu of donations are all ways that allow kids to take charge of their campaign.

Creating an engaging and meaningful way for children to participate in fundraising is important, but when kids are spending hours baking cookies to sell or foregoing birthday gifts in order to make a charitable donation, it is imperative that the charity provide children with a clear understanding of how their contributions will be used. Outlining how the funds will be spent up front, providing regular updates on the progress of the project and a final update, if possible, will show children that their contributions are truly making a difference.

This approach inspires children to not only get involved but to stay involved in these programs, resulting in new generations of youth who will remain committed to philanthropy as they get older.

Mady, a participant in the Earth Rangers program, asked her family and friends to donate to her campaign in place of birthday and Christmas gifts, made fridge magnets and sold them at her school and held a yard sale.

In Mady’s own words, “This is an organization that empowers children and gives them amazing experiences. The very same organization gives children a chance to make a difference and states where and how their hard work makes an impact. The foundation also gives children the satisfaction of achieving

their own goals and enables them to actively participate in this institution, their own way.

Earth Rangers will give you unforgettable experiences and memories of fundraising to help save an endangered animal.�

This passion and commitment in children shows that when we provide the right support and tools, children who choose to get involved in charitable giving can make a huge difference no matter what the cause.

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Ask Hana Haatainen Caye

Janine asks: I have a two-part question about hand sanitizer. After reading the effects of Triclosan, it’s not something I want my kids to come in contact with. So first I’d like to know a polite, but firm, way to teach my children to decline it at school, parties, or anyplace I may not be close enough to stop a well-intentioned adult from pumping it out for them.

And the second part is… When we’re away from a sink, soap, and water, is there another portable way to get their hands clean? Thanks very much!

GG: Great questions, Janine. As we know, kids say the darndest things, so depending on the age of your children, teaching them to be diplomatic while refusing toxic hand sanitizers from well-meaning adults can be tricky. One truthful and tactful thing they can say is, “I’m sorry, but I have chemical sensitivities, so I have my own sanitizer.

Thank you, anyway.” Let’s face, all kids have chemical sensitivities. It’s just that not all parents are aware of it.

So many of the hand sanitizers out there, even the ones geared toward children contain Triclosan and other endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs).With significant research pointing to possible damage to

reproductive organs and thyroid, no one should be willingly exposing their kids to anything with Triclosan in its ingredients.

Period.

So what do you do?

You’ll not only have to explain the issue to your kids, but to their teachers as well. Let the teachers know that you’ll be sending your own hand sanitizers to school with your children and be firm that these are the only ones they are to use.

There are several kid-safe products on the market. Honest Company has a convenient 2 oz. size hand sanitizer that is free from Triclosan, benzalkonium chloride, phthalates, parabens, synthetic perfumes, glycol, enzymes, dyes, chlorine, formaldehyde, and petrochemicals. It does, however, contain ethyl alcohol. Dr. Bronner’s has a fair trade, non-GMO alcohol based hand sanitizer in a handy 2 oz. bottle as well. If alcohol is a concern, BabyGanics is alcohol-free and offers a variety of options, including individually wrapped on-thego wipes and 1.69 oz. bottles of foaming sanitizer. While not the greenest option, due to the packaging, the wipes can be easily slipped into pockets.

Hana Haatainen Caye, is a wife, mother, grandmother, and author of the book Vinegar Fridays, who shares her passion for common sense greener and healthier living.

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Kid-Friendly Craft

ReUse : Desk Organizer Whether you’ll be gearing up to send your children off to school or dusting off the shelves of your home classroom, the season of school prep is here. This fun project uses a handful of household leftovers and is endlessly customizable.

Materials: • An empty box (we used an old shipping box) • Toilet Paper Tubes • Glue • Paint, Fabric or Tacky Paper • Tape (optional)

Instructions: 1. Find your components! We needed just 4 toilet paper rolls for this box, yours may be a bit wider, or narrower.

2. Once you’ve found your pieces, it’s time to decorate. Paint is an easy and fast way to dress up the cardboard. Two coats should cover it pretty well.

3. Once the pieces are dry, use a piece of tape to hold your TP rolls together and apply glue ONLY to the side that will go up against the back of your box.

4. Place the TP rolls into the box and press firmly against the box. (We laid the box with that side down and then placed a paint bottle on top of the rolls to apply pressure while they dried).

5. When the glue is dried, you are ready to decorate (stickers, doodles, etc.) and get organizing!

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Tuning in to your child’s instincts to stay clean and dry is easy with EC Wear’s selection of eco-friendly training pants, diaper belts, split pants, and other clothes for easy elimination communication.

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Celebrate the joy of nursing in tandem with this sweet polar bear T featuring art by Anne Michelsen.

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Wild Dill is your online boutique for organic, fair trade and natural products for babies and toddlers. Find toys, clothing, bedding, bath and more! Gift registry available. Save 20% with code: GREENCHILD

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An Apple A Day Nutrition Consulting With Louise Goldberg RD, CSP, LD, CNSC A registered dietitian with over a decade of experience working with children and families to find realistic solutions for their nutrition concerns.

One-on-one consultations online or by phone.

Written by Hana Haatainen Cay, Vinegar Fridays offers tips on how to use vinegar for cleaning, pet care, diet, healthcare, car care, beauty and more.

The perfect guide for greener & healthier living!

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Your Green Child

Coraline Twins, Kait and Allie

Laurie

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Maggie

Yaneli

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Community - Get advice from other parents on attachment parenting and raising eco-conscious children Go Green - Learn how to get your kids involved in causes they care about Activities - Have a ball with games, crafts, and more Giveaways - Win eco-stylish and fun green gear for families Learn - Articles by experts in health and green living Get Involved - Let us know what you like

We want to hear from you!

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Koala

by Nicholas, age 10 80

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