Obesity, sedentary lifestyle and/or exposure to chemicals like BPA in microwave plastics may increase your child’s risk for cancer. 50% of all cancers are preventable but it may take a change in your current lifestyle. If you do not encourage your kids to eat right or exercise, you are putting them at greater risk for cancer. Most parents tend to put sunscreen on their kids and not smoke around them. However most do not demand a form of exercise or reduce chemical exposure because they do not realize that they are equally important.
The Crucial Role of Recess in School
The following is a new policy statement regarding the importance of recess for students released in the January 2013 issue of Pediatrics: The Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics
“Recess is at the heart of a vigorous debate over the role of schools in promoting the optimal development of the whole child. A growing trend toward reallocating time in school to accentuate the more academic subjects has put this important facet of a child’s school day at risk. Recess serves as a necessary break from the rigors of concentrated, academic challenges in the classroom. But equally important is the fact that safe and well-supervised recess offers cognitive, social, emotional, and physical benefits that may not be fully appreciated when a decision is made to diminish it. Recess is unique from, and a complement to, physical education—not a substitute for it. The American Academy of Pediatrics believes that recess is a crucial and necessary component of a child’s development and, as such, it should not be withheld for punitive or academic reasons.”
Do you agree or disagree? Why? Let us know.
Healthy Snacks & Parenting
Offering choices for healthy snacks allow kids to feel like they are making decisions. For example having a child choose between a banana, apple, carrot, or celery empowers them while at the same time allows the parent to be in control of the healthy options.
Possible Cause of ADHD: Bisphenol-A
Kids toys and bottles containing bisphenol-A may be linked to health problems. According to some studies, bisphenol-A exposure even at low doses may be connected with ADHD, brain damage, altered immune system, obesity, breast cancer and prostate cancer. Bisphenol-A in children’s items is enough of a concern that legislation has been filed in Massachusetts to ban the manufacture or sale childcare articles with this chemical.
Childhood Obesity
Childhood obesity is a big problem in America. Kids should be active through sports or outdoor play. Active Bodies = Healthy Bodies and Minds