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Parentown KidSmart

School Bus Safety

Millions of students rely on public transportation to get them to and from school each and every day. The National Safety Council says 25 million students in the United States begin and end their school days on school buses. The NCS adds that riding a bus to school is 13 times safer than riding in a family vehicle and 10 times safer than walking. Although buses are designed for safety, student riders can do a lot to make their bus trips even safer. • Stand only in the designated school bus stop. Always stand on the sidewalk, lawn or curb where the school bus stop is located. Stay away from the street because traffic in the morning and the afternoon can be very busy and hectic. • Arrive at the stop early. Rushing to the bus stop may cause you to make errors in judgment, including running in traffic to catch the bus. Leave early so you have ample time to catch the bus and obey all traffic laws. • Only board and exit the bus when it is safe. Wait for the bus to come to a complete stop before boarding or exiting. The driver will engage the stop sign and put on the flashing red lights. Move around the bus only when it is stopped. • Keep the aisles clear. Stay out of the aisle when the bus is in motion and store backpacks on your lap or under your seat so they are not tripping hazards. • Use seat restraints. Use seat restraints when available on the school bus. While not every school bus has seatbelts, many now do. • Stay in your seat. Remain in your seat while the bus is in motion. Keep your hands inside of the windows. Do not get up to engage with other riders. • Keep a good distance between you and the bus. Exit the bus and cross in front where the driver can see you. If you cannot see the driver, he or she cannot see you. Check for safety signals from the driver to proceed when traffic has stopped. Always walk, never run, around a bus. • Do not goof off. When on the bus, always behave so that you can hear any safety instructions and be aware of your surroundings. Behaving also means one less distraction for drivers. School bus passengers can make their rides to school

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Parentown KidShape

Run! Ride! Work Out! Jump! Bounce!

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that children and adolescents get 60 minutes or more of physical activity each day. The CDC advises that such physical activity should include aerobic activity and muscle and bone strengthening exercises. Aerobic activity should take up most of kids’ daily physical activities and can include moderate activities, such as brisk walking, or more intense activities like running. Parents should make sure kids include some vigorous aerobic activity in their physical activity routines at least three days per week. Muscle strengthening activities do not mean parents should get their youngsters in the gym as soon as possible. Rather, activities like gymnastics or push-ups done three times per week can be enough to help kids build strong muscles. The CDC notes that as kids reach adolescence, they may start structured weight-training programs to strengthen their muscles. Jumping rope or running three times per week can serve as kids’ bone-strengthening exercises.

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Parentown KidSmart

How to create a great study environment at home

A student’s academic performance is influenced by a host of factors, including the learning environment both inside the classroom and at home. While students may have only limited control over the environment in their classrooms, they and their parents can do much to create home study environments that are conducive to learning. Create a distraction-free zone. Today’s students are inundated with distractions. Whereas students were once most distracted by radios, televisions and the great outdoors when studying at home, nowadays kids must also find time to focus on their studies with their tablets and smartphones just a stone’s throw away. When choosing a study area at home, parents can designate a distraction-free zone where no televisions, radios, tablets or smartphones are allowed. Children are increasingly dependent on their smartphones and tablets, and while such devices can sometimes prove useful to students, that benefit is often outweighed by the distraction they present. When kids study at night, be sure they turn off their smartphones and only use their tablets as study aids.Emphasize organization. Various organization techniques can help kids be more efficient when studying. Encourage kids to separate their learning materials by subject, and keep a calendar or daily planner at home listing when their assignments are due and which days they will be tested. Encourage youngsters to keep their home study areas tidy as well, as unorganized areas can make it harder to focus or force kids to spend some of their study time cleaning up. Establish quiet hours at home. Quiet hours at home while kids are studying can help them better absorb their coursework, and that may lead to improved performance in the classroom. While it’s important that a kid’s study areas remain distraction-free, it can also help if distractions outside those areas are minimized. Keep televisions and other potentially noisy distractions turned off while kids are studying. If you want to catch up on a favorite television show or watch a movie, do so on your tablet instead of the television, connecting earphones so kids are not overhearing anything while they’re trying to study. Keep healthy snacks on hand. Hunger can be just as distracting as electronics or noisy housemates, so keep healthy snacks on hand. In lieu of unhealthy fare like potato chips or empty calories like pretzels, keep your home stocked with fruits and vegetables and protein-rich snacks like Greek yogurt. Such snacks will quell kids’ hunger pangs while also providing a boost of energy.A strong home study environment can help students do their best in the classroom.

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Parentown KidShape

Tips for a smooth transition back to school

Often, it’s this first day (or days) that set the tone for the school year to come. Help your child feel prepared and confident to tackle whatever the school year brings with these tips for a successful start. • Plan well-balanced meals: Summer break brings a lax approach to many aspects of life, and healthy eating is often one of them. However, nutrition plays an important role in overall development and countless studies show correlation between academic performance and good nutrition. As the school year approaches, work at creating healthy menus. If hectic scheduling makes it difficult to get well-balanced meals in lunchboxes and on the dinner table through the week, allocate a portion of the weekend for a family prep session. • Reinstate bedtimes: Easing back into earlier bedtimes will make things smoother for everyone when the alarms start ringing on early school day mornings. Well before the start of school, gradually back off more time each night — in 15-minute increments, for example — to get kids back in bed early enough to capture at least 10 hours of sleep, the amount recommended for school-aged children and adolescents by the National Institutes of Health. • Explore outside of academics: Developing interests outside the classroom builds confidence and character, teaches discipline and may help reveal hidden passions or talents that translate into future scholarships or career choices. Now is an ideal time to explore the options available in your community and complete necessary registrations as many extra-curricular activities are closely linked to the traditional school calendar. • Follow the paper trail: The volume of paperwork associated with sending a child to school can be overwhelming. From registration forms and emergency contact sheets to physicals and immunization records, the list goes on and on. Keep on track with a list of all the materials you’re responsible for completing, along with special notes for those that require visits to the doctor’s office or other appointments. • Take a tour: Especially for new students, but even for experienced kids, spend some time getting familiar with the school before the big day. Seeing the bus drop-off location, classroom, bathrooms, cafeteria and any other major features ahead of time can help soothe jitters and lets you proactively answer worries or questions about how those first days may unfold. • Establish a transition tradition: Celebrate the end of summer and the fresh start ahead by creating a special family tradition. It may be a final backyard campout for the season or a scrapbooking project that captures memories from the summer and describes goals for the school year. The time together to talk about what lies ahead can help get the family geared up for a successful school year.

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Parents

KidSmart- July 2016

Learning shouldn’t stop just because school is out. In fact, stepping too far away from the books can result in a learning loss. However, research has shown that encouraging kids to read just six books, or 20 minutes a day, over the summer can help prevent the summer slide. The key is finding ways to make reading fun, combining education and entertainment for an activity kids can truly enjoy, said Kate DiCamillo, a two-time Newbery Medal Award-winning author and the 2016 Collaborative Summer Library Program National Summer Reading Champion. “Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty, but rather as a gift that emphasizes the fun of opening a new book and celebrating the satisfaction that comes from reading another story,” said DiCamillo, who is also the 2016-17 Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Program literary partner. Summer schedules can get busy, but with a little creativity it’s actually quite easy to fit in those 20 minutes a day, even when you have other activities planned. The sooner you start a habit of reading every day, the better your child will be prepared when school — and the annual BOOK IT! Program — kicks off again. The program, available to kindergarten through sixth-grade students, runs from October through March each year and motivates students to read by rewarding them for their reading accomplishments with recognition and pizza. Learn more about the program and find more summer reading tips and activities at bookitprogram.com.     1. Take a book. The best way to get your kids reading is to have books available, so take them with you, whether it’s in the car, at the beach or waiting at the doctor’s office. 2. Summer recharge. Plan ahead for a fun reading-related trip midway through the summer to reignite the love of books and reward kids for reading. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy; the trip could simply be camping like a character in a favorite book. 3. Explore hobbies. Reading is extra fun when the subject matter involves your favorite things. Look for books that match your kids’ personal interests, such as dinosaurs or gymnastics. 4. Magazine madness. Plenty of popular kids magazines can be delivered to your home for an exciting surprise in the mailbox that makes an excellent reason to flip it open and start reading. 5. Road trip reading. A long car ride is a perfect opportunity for the whole family to enjoy an audiobook together. You can discuss the story over lunch breaks and fuel stops to engage even further with the book. 6. Pen pals. Work with other parents to set up pen pals for the summer and have kids write letters back and forth to practice their reading and writing skills. 7. Act it out. Encourage kids to gather some neighborhood friends and create a play based on a favorite book. This helps kids understand the characters and story lines by bringing them to life. 8. Take direction. Ask kids to read the directions for a classic summer project, like setting up a tent or making a snack for a picnic. Whether they are directing you or doing it themselves, reading and understanding directions build important skills. 9. Head to the library. Most libraries offer fun and interactive summer reading programs for kids that include incentives, activities and structure to help get kids excited about reading all summer long. 10. Tap into tech time. If you’ve committed to limiting screen time for the summer, consider a compromise that lets kids use devices for productive activities, such as reading e-books.

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Parentown KidShape

Kidshape- July 2016

Easy Tips to Keep Kids Active this Summer With the school year complete, kids are excited to relax a er a year of hard work, learning and extracurricular activities. However, this may lead to the temptation of sitting on the couch watching TV or playing on a computer or mobile device. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group’s Let’s Play initiative found that only 33 percent of children participate in daily active play, and for 30 minutes less than the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends. It’s important for kids to get daily active play because it contributes to their physical, emotional and social development, and helps them maintain a healthy lifestyle. To ensure kids get the active play they need this summer, try boosting their playtime with these tips: Make play time family time. According to the Let’s Play survey, in general, year-over-year younger children’s active play time is more likely to be impacted by busy family schedules. To make sure your family is getting the physical activity they need, find windows within your busy schedule to fit in some play, even if it’s just a brief break. For example, rather than asking about your children’s days at the dinner table, take a pre-dinner family walk to hear more while getting in some steps. Create summer structure. Without structured school days, kids may get too comfortable sitting inside playing video games. An American Academy of Pediatrics study shows that rather than playing outside, kids are spending an average of seven hours per day on entertainment media and other electronic devices. It’s important to let your children have downtime during the summer, but setting up weekly family playdates will give them something to look forward to while keeping them active. is could be a weekly family bike ride around the neighborhood, a game of catch or capture-the-flag. Creativity is key. Summer means longer days, more hours of sunlight and more opportunities to be outside. Get creative when motivating your kids to be active. For example, take a daily activity like walking the dog and turn it into a scavenger hunt by drawing up a treasure map of things your children should find on their walk, such as a pine cone, flower, blue car and other items around the neighborhood. Host backyard playdates. Playing is always more fun with friends. According to the Let’s Play study, longer stretches of active play are more likely to occur with friends or siblings. Round up kids from your neighborhood to get together for a different activity each week, such as an obstacle course or hide and seek. is allows your children to socialize and be active for an extended period of time.

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Parentown KidSmart

Kidsmart – June 2016

Gardening can be an enjoyable activity for adults and children alike. Gardening encourages creative thinking and can make for an eco-friendly activity as well. Adding a touch of whimsy to gardening can make it that much more attractive to children. Perhaps that is why fairy gardens have become so popular among youngsters. Fairy gardens can be designed in outdoor gardens or in containers that children can nurse and enjoy indoors.Here are six steps to get your fairy garden up and running. 6 steps to creating fairy gardens for kids 1. Choose your container or location. Decide where to place the fairy garden. Hollowed-out tree stumps are both contained and outdoors, and kids may feel like the fairies inhabited this neglected area of the yard and made it their own. Otherwise, use containers you already have, such as old pots, hanging baskets, picnic baskets or cookie tins. Wooden birdhouses with their roofs removed also can make for clever places to house the gardens. 2. Choose a theme. Fairy houses can take on any theme their creators prefer. Themes help children decide what to include in their gardens. For example, a seaside retreat may work well with little reclining chairs, sea grasses and succulents. You can then complete the theme by adding some seashells and colored stones. 3. Draw up your design. Before securing anything in the container or digging into your garden bed, sketch out a garden design. This gives you an idea of how the finished product will look. Even before planting, gently place plants and other components in their spots and move them around accordingly until you find the desired look. 4. Include similar-needs plants. Mixing plants that have different requirements can make it challenging to care for the fairy garden, so select plants that require similar levels of sunlight, prefer similar soil conditions and require roughly the same amount of watering. Herbs are a smart choice because they stay small and are easily maintained. 5. Don’t forget a fairy dwelling. You will need to add a house for the fairies to inhabit. Small bird houses can work, but you also can consider old teapots, bird-nesting boxes or even homemade houses assembled out of bark and twigs. Use your imagination and the garden will take on a life of its own. 6. Invite the fairies. Children can invite fairies to take up residence (fairies often show up at night and tend to remain unseen), or children can create their own fairies using craft materials. Fairy gardens are a fun way to introduce children to gardening. Once families get started, they may want to create entire fairy villages.

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Parentown KidShape

Kidshape – June 2016

Protect and Treat Your Family’s Skin from Bites and Itch this Season Warm days mean picnics, ballgames and outdoor adventure. Unfortunately, all that sun and fun can introduce a greater risk of skin woes for you and your family. “Whether you’re playing catch in the backyard or pitching a tent in the woods, you can help prevent certain issues from occurring, and if they do, be prepared by having a remedy on hand that can offer your family instant healing and relief from itching, burning and discomfort,” says Dr. Angela Lamb, a dermatologist. With that in mind, here are some tips to prevent and treat the itch and irritation of the season: Cover Up More bare skin means more risk for bug bites and stings, and exposure to rash-causing plants such as poison ivy and poison oak. When possible, wear long sleeves and pants. Loose-fitting, light colors can keep you cool on warmer days, even when covered up. When you get home, check clothes for ticks before heading inside. Be Aware Be savvy outdoors and teach your family to avoid poison ivy, oak and sumac. If you spend time in areas where these plants grow, cover up and avoid contact. When you get home, be sure to wash skin and clothing that may have been exposed to the sap of these plants. Ensure your yard drains properly during and after rain and empty kiddie pools and other standing water. Proactive steps such as these will prevent mosquitoes from making your yard a breeding ground. Treat Ailments Even with preventive measures in place, bites, stings, scrapes and allergic reactions do happen. Make sure you’re prepared to treat discomfort. For bites and stings, Dr. Lamb recommends a counterirritant such as After Bite, which stops itch and offers a skin protectant for temporary relief and faster healing. The kids’ formula is a gentle alternative for young ones or anyone with sensitive skin. Both contain soothing baking soda and offer an easy-to-apply, portable remedy for bites from a wide variety of insects. For instant and permanent relief from itching and pain associated with hives, rashes and redness, insect bites, minor scrapes and allergic reactions from poison ivy, oak and sumac, Dr. Lamb recommends a new steroid-free anti-itch product for the whole family called The Itch Eraser. It is offered in a maximum strength gel and spray with antihistamine as the active ingredient, or a sensitive cream formula with baking soda for those who have sensitive skin. All three contain Vitamin E and Tea Tree Oil to heal and moisturize the skin while reducing redness and inflammation. So, get the bikes dusted off, the baseball mitts oiled and the camping gear out of the garage – family fun this season is all about taking advantage of the outdoors. But don’t let skin irritations get in way of your good time! Take precautions and arm yourself with treatments for all your skin problems.

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Parentown KidSmart

Kidsmart – May 2016

Protecting the planet is a global responsibility that requires the cooperation of every man, woman and child. Many eco-conscious adults likely adapted their lifestyles over the last several decades, when the movement to live in a more eco-friendly way took off as more and more people recognized the importance of protecting the environment. Parents who want to instill that lesson in their children at an early age can do so in various ways. Turn time outdoors with your kids into teaching opportunities. The great outdoors provides a great opportunity to teach kids about the environment and how to protect it. If you like to garden, come planting season explain to your children that planting native plants benefits the environment because such plants have already adapted to the local climate, meaning they won’t need as much water to thrive as non-native plants. If you enjoy camping as a family, explain the importance of leaving nothing behind at your campsite. Parents can even volunteer their families for weekend park and beach cleanups, using these outings as opportunities to teach kids about the dangers of littering. Make recycling a priority at home. One of the easiest ways to get even young kids actively involved in protecting the planet is to make recycling a priority at home. Many communities already mandate that residents recycle, so explain to kids why recycling is the law. If your community does not have laws regarding recycling, recycle at home anyway, dropping your bottles, cans and other recycled items off at the local recycling center. Such centers may pay for recycled bottles and cans, and parents can incentivize recycling by giving kids any money the family earns through its recycling efforts. Use a water filter at home. Water filters also provide a simple way to teach kids about the value of protecting the planet. According to The Water Project, a nonprofit organization that provides reliable water projects to communities in sub-Saharan Africa, bottles used to package water take more than 1,000 years to biodegrade. Parents can explain to kids that opting for water filters at home can drastically reduce human consumption of water bottles that are destined to end up in landfills, where they will remain for centuries. When traveling, fill up reusable bottles and travel mugs with water rather than buying bottled water during pit stops, explaining to kids how bringing your own water is helping the planet. Park the car and ride bikes more often. Another fun way to teach kids to be more eco-friendly is to stop driving everywhere and ride bikes when possible. Short car trips burn substantial amounts of fuel and put a lot of wear and tear on a vehicle over time, making the vehicle operate less efficiently. Rather than taking the car to run weekend errands, hop on your bike and take the kids along on theirs. Explain to them how a fun activity like cycling is also very eco-friendly because it reduces fuel consumption and does not contribute to air pollution. Parents who want to instill a love and respect for the environment in their kids can do so in various ways.

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Parents

Kidshape – May 2016

Summer camp is a beloved tradition in many families. Many parents of young children fondly recall spending their summers at summer camp, where they made lifelong friends and learned the finer points of roasting marshmallows and competing in three-legged sack races. Parents looking for the right summer camp for their kids will soon discover there are various types of summer camps, each offering youngsters something different. The following are some of the summer camp options parents can expect to encounter as they search for the right camper for their kids. Day camps are not overnight camps, which means kids will return home each night rather than sleep over at camp. Day camps typically offer many of the activities people have come to associate with camps, including crafts, sports and even day trips to experience local culture or attractions. Many day camps are co-ed, and counselors typically live within the community. Faith-based camps offer many of the same activities as more traditional summer camps, but do so while simultaneously offering campers the opportunity to celebrate and further explore their religious beliefs. Some faith-based camps may focus heavily on religion, incorporating faith into daily camp activities, while others may be more subtle with regard to integrating religious beliefs and lessons into camp activities. Sports camps focus on a particular sport, catering to young athletes who want to further develop their athletic talents. Sports camps may feature guest lectures and lessons from notable local athletes and coaches, while some camps may provide instruction from current and/or former professional athletes. Some sports camps are overnight, while others are day camps. Family camps are opportunities for the whole family to enjoy the summer camp experience. Family camps typically tailor their activities around tasks families can complete together, with counselors providing assistance when it’s needed. Family camps may be faith-based or secular, and families typically stay overnight, sleeping in facilities on the campsites or in lodging away from home. Parents of children with special needs can still send their kids to summer camp, as there are many camps that cater to such youngsters. Special needs camps may cater to campers who are blind, deaf, learning disabled, or mentally or physically disabled. Staff at special needs camps typically undergoes extensive training, which helps to calm some of the fears parents may have about leaving their special needs children at camp. Facilities at special needs camps are often built to accommodate the specific needs of campers.

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