Photo courtesy of walletpop.com. Where I live (in beautiful Portland, Oregon), parents of most school-age children have about two weeks left of summer fun before the new school year begins. For those of you parents that are far from ready, I’ve got some strategies to make shopping for junior less stressful. 1. Make a plan. Don’t leave the house without making a list of necessary items. Parents should make the shopping list first and then review it with their children. Managing a child’s expectations is critical to minimizing the battles at the mall. Make sure that the kids know what...

Studio 6 (KOIN PDX) "Kindergarten Fashion" The first day of kindergarten can be filled with excitement, nervousness, and maybe a little uncertainty — especially in figuring out the answer to the age-old question of “What to Wear?” Yesterday, I stopped by Studio 6 on Portland’s KOIN TV for a fashion show with five adorable five year-old “models” looking all sharp and ready for their big day. Kindergartners-to-be, Alicia, Jake, Daphne, Jett, and Lyla modeled clothes, backpacks, and lunch boxes from Little Urbanites, Crazy 8 (budget chain of Gymboree),...

I’ve searched high and low, far and wide to come up with my ten favorite (there’s actually eleven, but that headline didn’t sound as catchy!) stocking stuffers that won’t harm the earth or break the budget, but will delight your kids on Christmas morning. Relish in the fact that your kids are young and these simple, yet unique and engaging items still get them excited and put smiles on their sweet little faces. I miss those simpler days when my (now 18 and 20 year-old) children would be absolutely giddy over receiving pencils that smell like peppermint or crayons in the shape of...

Photo courtesy of www.orientaltrading.com Blogs like mine that have to do with health, diet, exercise and doing everything in your power to avoid things like high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oil are probably not the most popular on a treat-filled day like today so…I will just say Happy Halloween and whatever damage you do today (if you must indulge), don’t do it for another 364 days! Maybe one of these days our candy won’t contain those nasty, toxic ingredients and our chocolate bars will actually have cocoa in them! BE...

I’m not on some big rant about no candy on Halloween. Do whatever you want. I let my kids have it the night of Halloween and then put the rest in the freezer where most of it magically disappeared. Contrary to what they accused me of, I never snuck a single piece…that I can recall. I found a few fun snacks to get the kids in the Halloween mood the days leading up to the big night or they’d also make a perfect pre-tricker treating snack. These both come courtesy of Rifftrax Blog and I think they’re brilliant! Check their blog for a few more creepy, but...

Photo courtesy of www.meetup.com This just in from the New York Times: “There shall be no cupcakes. No chocolate cake and no carrot cake. According to New York City’s latest regulations, not even zucchini bread makes the cut. In an effort to limit how much sugar and fat students put in their bellies at school, the Education Department has effectively banned most bake sales, the lucrative if not quite healthy fund-raising tool for generations of teams and clubs.” I applaud that school districts are trying to address the problem of childhood obesity. With nearly 40% of students...

Yesterday’s blog post on the Freshman Fifteen shed light on some of the problems college campuses face in trying to keep their student population healthy and keep the obesity numbers from rising. It’s good to talk about the problems, but not so good if we don’t eventually come up with some helpful solutions. How can we parents help? I have a college freshman and a college sophomore so today I’ve compiled the perfect care package to send to my kids. My children know all about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), artificial sweeteners, partially hydrogenated oil, and modified food...

Photo courtesy of susanshealthygourmet.com In many US cities, this is the first week of school for elementary, middle, and high school kids. One topic I didn’t hear President Obama remind school children of yesterday during his speech was to eat more healthfully because it allows developing brains to function optimally and helps kids with improved concentration during class-time and homework time. An article titled, Brain Boosting Foods for Kids (on sheknows.com) spells it out perfectly, “Food is fuel – and for growing kids getting the right type of fuel for their bodies can make the...