New Year - Healthy Choices for the Whole Family

In a time of busy schedules outside of the home, it is important to make time for the family unit to be together. It’s a new year and a time to consider making healthy choices concerning food and physical activity for the family.

Here are a few simple suggestions that the whole family can participate in:

1. Consider adding at least one fresh fruit snack to the daily diet
2. Consider switching to whole grain cereal, pasta, and bread
3. What about play time? Why not add 30 minutes of outdoor activity 3-5 times a week
4. Consider scheduling family activities on the monthly calendar.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Evening walks
• Fitness classes
• Board game or Wii night
• Skating night, soccer game, or other sporting events.

 Make your New Year’s resolution to include family time for healthy eating, physical activity and together time. Be creative and let your child help to generate ideas for the family sharing time together.

Easy No Bake Cookies - Family Activity

Want an easy recipe for cookies that your children can help make?  Here’s an easy no-bake cookie recipe that uses the following ingredients:

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups chocolate chips

3 cups slightly crushed corn flake cereal

You will also need a cookie sheet or tray and a sheet of wax paper

Wooden spoon

Optional items: ice cream scoop; cupcake paper cups;  plate for serving

 Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.  Heat on low setting.  Stop and stir after one minute.  Continue heating on low and stop after 30 seconds and stir until chocolate is smooth and creamy.

 Remove the bowl from the microwave.  Spoon the peanut butter into the chocolate.  Let your child stir the chocolate and peanut butter until the mixture is blended.

Gently stir in the crushed corn flakes.  With a spoon, fold the mixture over and over until the corn flakes are covered.

With a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, scoop the cookie dough with a spoon or ice cream scoop onto the waxed paper.  Make 16 cookie balls.

Place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator until firm, about 2 hours.

Cookies can be placed in individual “cupcake” paper cups or placed on a plate to serve.

These no-bake cookies are easy to make for little “helping hands” to share in the preparations.  Why not include your child in making these delicious cookies for the holiday festivities.

Holiday Greetings

Now that the holidays are fast approaching, here’s an idea that will be fun for your kids and educational, too. Start a family tradition of making greeting cards for family and friends this holiday season. This is a fun activity for children. They get to be creative and artistic to design original cards. The hand written messages will be treasured by Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and friends. Let’s make holiday greeting cards!

Materials Needed:
• Old cards that can be cut apart and recycled into new cards
• Assorted colored paper
• Makers, pens
• Envelopes of various sizes (envelopes can be made by folding plain paper)

1. Allow your child to design the cards by using materials listed above
2. Assist, as needed, in writing the special greeting on the inside of the card
3. Decide to whom the card will be sent
4. Decide if the cards will be hand delivered or mailed
5. Assist, as needed, with securing mailing addresses and postage

EXTRA: have your child make extra cards to be sent to military heroes in foreign lands. Use the following address to forward all military cards:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20792-5456

If you elect to send cards to the military personnel far from home, I’m sure they will appreciate your thoughtfulness during this special time of the year.

So spend some quality time with your child and make holiday greeting cards together. Remember to save a few as “keep-sakes” and don’t forget to put the date made on each one.

Family Fun Facts

Here are a few “family fun facts” that came from the Harvard Family Research Project (www.hfrp.org). These activities can improve your child’s education and help him/her to be successful in school.

Their research findings reported that:
• Children who eat dinner around the table with their families do better in school. Having this family time together is especially beneficial if the family engages in a conversation about the day’s events or happenings.

• Children who take family trips do better in school. These trips do not have to be long expensive vacations. Simple free trips to a local park and to the public library are just as beneficial.

• Children who are read to frequently read earlier and better. Just 20 minutes a day of reading or being read to will make a difference in your child’s reading ability.

• Children who see their parents, guardians, or caregivers read regularly are more likely to read more themselves. Reading includes, but not limited to: newspapers, magazines, books, and media devices.

• Spending 30 minutes a day with your children can help them achieve better grades in schools. By taking an active interest in your children’s school work encourage your children to take an interest in performing better in school.

• The bottom line is, children LOVE to spend quality time with their parents. So give your children extra time this holiday season and you both will see encouraging results in your efforts.

During the holiday season when your children are at home most of the day, why not begin to put into practice some of these research based practices that will have long-lasting effects on your children’s education. Take some time and give your children quality time with you, their first and most important teacher.