Parents Teach Kids Nutrition While Introducing Them to the Benefits of Juicing

By now, most of us have heard about the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.  We've all heard about it, but the problem continues.  Why?  Because eating habits aren't changing.  And where does that start for children?  It starts at home, with what their caretakers are purchasing them to eat.

What's in the cabinets?  What is in the refrigerator?  In most cases, obesity in children begins with their parents.  And, in many cases, those children who eat poorly and are significantly overweight, have parents who have poor eating habits as well.

But today, there's also a growing interest in teaching children how to get good nutrition.  I see it all the time with the kids' sports teams I'm involved with.  While there are many who feed their kids whatever they'll eat to "get something in them,"  there's an increasing group of parents who understand input equals output, now and also way in the future.

I'm seeing more and more interest in kids and nutrition -- helping them consume good nutrients.  And one way that parents are doing this is by introducing their kids to juicing benefits.  Parents are making their children healthy breakfast smoothies and the kids just think they're having a great breakfast shake.  (Some do taste better than others, but some fruit smoothies are packed with nutrients and taste fantastic!)

As kids get more used to drinking smoothies and vitamin-rich fruit drinks, parents can introduce them to veggie drinks through tasty combos that give them nutrients that their bodies need without all of the empty calories that fast food provides.  They get the benefits of juicing vegetables, but don't initially give up the more processed foods that they're used to.   They idea being that they eventually swap more nutrient-dense drinks for junk food long-term.

Today, with rising costs of health care, everyone being one or two people removed from someone who has cancer or another significant health concern, and with increased competition among our youth to out-perform others in the sporting arena, nutrition is one area that can make a huge difference in our lives.  And juicing or blending more fruits and vegetables is one thing we can do to begin to feed ourselves right.


For more information about nutrition, visit the nutrition page on my parenting site. 

Want more info on juicing?  Check out Dr. Oz's recent piece on the Healing Properties of Juicing, and this site on juicing and blending.

Baby Product Recalls and Other Parenting News

If you have a baby, toddler or child with toys, you are probably really aware of the need to stay apprised of recalls.  Sometimes, it's just a matter of getting a replacement part or some other quick fix for the problem that's been found with the product.  Sometimes, though, the product needs to be replaced or retired.

When recalls occur, there have been hazards reported about the specific product; often the problem is just a concern for possible incidences, but often there have been serious injuries reported that are concerning enough for the CPSC and the product manufacturer to take action for consumer safety.

With all this said, if you're a busy parent like I am, it is difficult to stay current on recalls that actually might affect a member of your family.

To make it simple, I've got two pages on my site that enable you to make quick checks of products and/or just read through a list of the most recent recalls. Click here to check out all of your infants' items, and click here for a current list from the CPSC of recalls in general.

Aside from recalls, it's important to know what's going on in parenting circles.  Knowing what others are going through, current topics of interest, and just news that might affect you and your family is a good thing!  Join us on our "Parenting Resource" page for the news on what's happening with new treatments for various conditions, psychology research, neonatal studies, and other general parenting news.

Parenting Articles by Guest Posters

I've been asked over and over if I'd take parenting articles by guest posters.  There are a lot of parents with some insight that they want to share out there! (This isn't for this parenting blog so much as it is for my positive parenting website. )

In the past, I just didn't have time to put together a specific place for guest articles on parenting, but as of a couple of days ago, it's done! Now I'm calling for parenting articles, written by readers, by either credentialed parenting authors and moms and dads who have some specific advice on how to go about positive parenting.   (Let's face it... moms and dads who haven't had the first early child development course still have gone through the school of hard knocks and have some do's and don'ts to give!!)

This call-out is for articles; if you have something really short that speaks to a topic either here or on my parenting blog on the website, please write a parenting guest post either on this blog, or on the website.  (Link above.) However, if you have something more substantial to contribute, we now have a place for it!

Please make sure that you read the guidelines for submission.  (All too often, we get people wanting to advertise their product or website.  Parenting articles on the website is NOT the place for that.  Read the guidelines on the site.  You can click on the link below to be taken there.)

As always, I look forward to reading the contributions of other parents!


Want to contribute a parenting article?  Click here to go to the right tab on Positive Parenting with Purpose. 

Parenting and Sports

I haven't written in a while.  I've been trying to parent around and through all of the sports.  What I mean is that I've got all my kids in many different things after school.  Parenting and sports can be a great thing, but it can also make things nuts.

And, yes, I did mean to say that "I've got my kids in many different things after school." Truth be known, it started out with me pushing them to try different things.  Many parents do this.  You put them in something when they're young and they try it out to see if they like it.  Eventually, they might just land on something that they like enough to want to continue with it.  Along the way, if they're lucky, they might learn some determination, they might learn that disappointments in placement or performance are great motivators, that it feels better to win than to lose, but they also might learn to lose with some grace if that's important to you as the parent. Mine have learned that giving up play time is worth the results that they're getting.

With packed (and I mean packed) schedules, it can be a little stressful.

My friend was pretty blunt with me the other day and asked me what the heck I was doing having my kids so busy after school.  She has two kids that have one-day-a-week piano lessons, but other than that, they do homework and play.  (They're in the 5th grade.)  I think that that's fine.  But as kids get start to get a little older, my feeling is that it's good to limit idle time to the weekends.  My HOPE is that, while a little crazy sometimes, my kids are learning the skills of sports (which they love), and are also learning time management, delayed gratification, prioritizing, and many other lessons that create life-long impact.

How do you feel about parenting and sports?  Feel free to weigh in.  Different strokes, right?






For an aggregate of parenting sites which provide different information from birth to teens, visit my pipes.

Teaching Kids Personal Values

I read and watch all of the chatter surrounding Lance Armstrong and his eventual confession about actually doping while participating in professional cycling, and also his confession about lying for the past several years.

So many thoughts go through my head.

With all of the hype around the topic, it's no surprise that my 10 year old asked me the other day, "Mom, what is 'doping'", followed almost immediately by, "Why did he lie about it?"

Obviously, I had to explain the term to him and then explain reasons why it's been such a topic of discussion recently.

The second question, the one about lying, came just after we watched the CEO of Livestrong talk about the effects of Lance's revelation on the Organization, and it needed more thought on my part in order to provide the most meaningful explanation.

If you've read any of my other entries in this parenting blog, you'll know how I feel about teaching kids personal values.  One of the primary ones to teach at a young age is the negatives of lying.  It's a hard lesson to learn, and some don't ever learn it.  Some, as Lance indicated happened with him, lie to perpetuate their own reality regardless of the effects it has on others.

Kids who are taught personal values, such as telling the truth,  at an early age are much more likely to have a strong sense of virtue and want to do what's right with others, and do it for God and themselves... just because it's right.

I can't begin to know Mr. Armstrong's upbringing, his inner drive to perpetuate the narrative that he was the best of the best, at all costs.  I feel for what he put others through who competed with and against him the honest way.  But this post isn't so much about him, as it is about what we can and should learn from it all.

I'll be purposefully inserting some discussion with my kids about it, and hopefully get their wheels turning about the choices and consequences surrounding this situation.  I hope that some good can come from it.