You’ll need:
- 2 plastic eggs for each child – Use the larger egg shapes, about double the size of a real chicken egg
- High temperature hot glue gun with high temperature glue sticks
- Dried beans, 2 Tbsp. for each egg to be filled (small white beans or lentils, rice for softer sound)
- Utility knife

Open the eggs and place the dried beans in the bottom half. Spread a thin layer of glue around the rim of the bottom half of the egg. Quickly snap the top half of the egg over the bottom half. Be careful to make sure the egg is closed all the way around. If it doesn’t seal properly right away, try to reposition. The glue dries really quickly so you only have one clean shot at it. Practice a few times before you use the glue so you know how to hold the egg and get the top all the way on fast. Stand egg up so the beans inside don’t get stuck to the glue that is exposed from the inside. Allow to cool for a few minutes. If there is a plastic knob on the outside that originally held the two egg halves together, trim with the utility knife so children don’t cut themselves.

Shake, shake, shake!!! These eggs are practically indestructible when used with preschoolers. Use for rhythmic activities or as a great alternative to maracas – which usually are the wrong size for preschoolers’ hands, make too much noise or break easily. And, making them will save you a bundle over the per item cost that most places sell them for. Especially if you need them for an entire preschool class.

For some photos of the kids using these, go to our Facebook page, KID-FIT Kids Photo Album 9
Have some egg-citing fun – all year round!!

Some of the most recent news findings include:

Crime Prevention – Most effective when taught during the early years
Child Abuse – Most serious injuries are in younger children
Dietary Preferences – Early salt consumption leads to stronger desire for salty foods
Portion Control – Weaning babies on soft solids better than pureed foods in terms of self regulating the correct caloric intake

Of course these are just a few of the items researchers are looking at today. We already know that learning to eat healthy and exercise regularly from the toddler years onward helps foster habits that will not only lead to a longer life but a more enjoyable one as well.

What adult habit do you think we could really make a positive difference with if we just started addressing them in early childhood?

There are so many resources for preschool nutrition and fitness if you take the time to look. Search the internet. Look around your area. Movement opportunities are everywhere. If you take advantage of only a few you’ll be developing healthy lifestyle habits in your child and yourself. You may just find that it’s easier tackling dietary changes together and much more fun to “exercise” together. It’s time not just for moving but for talking and building/strengthening family relationships. Something everyone can enjoy!

Craft Table
Children love to draw, cut out or make their own skeletons.  Make large cardstock skeleton bone pieces and let them put the bones together like a puzzle on the floor.  This is a great way to teach them about the skeletal system, why we have one and how to take care of it. They can also make bats, mice and other creepy craft ideas that are especially fun if you have a group of children to entertain.

Games Galore
Playing active games is a great way to burn off extra energy and unwanted calories.  Try things like Mummy Relay (have children keep their body parts stiff while doing relays across the yard), Screaming Scavenger Hunt (set up a series of items with notes on them indicating where to look next, children scream each time they find one) or Boo Hoo Broomball (use small whisk brooms to hit a small plastic  pumpkin to the goal area where children ‘cry’ when they get a goal).  Or, make up your own fun activity that can add to the night.

Apple Smorgasbord
Buy a large variety of fresh apples.  Slice and dip in water with a few tablespoons of lemon to prevent browning. Arrange in different ways to make it interesting to taste the different kinds.  Ask children which one they like the best.  Try fresh apple slices with a sprinkle of cinnamon, dehydrated apple rings, baked apple chips or apple sauce for healthy ways to prepare yummy selections (by the time children are done sampling the apples, they won’t have much of an appetite to eat candy!).

Jack-O-Lantern Time
Let little children make their own mini pumpkins by using a black marker or eye liner stick on a tiny pumpkin, oranges or sweet clementine tangerines.  The size is perfect for preschoolers with no cutting involved.  Arrange finished pumpkins on a tray with flameless candles.

Get Into Costumes
Let your child be more involved with dressing up and choosing their costume. Get creative and make the costume instead of buying one. Preschool children will like it more because you’ve worked on it together. You’ll start the habit of them enjoying a home made costume instead of costly store bought choices. Take pictures, pose, make it fun. Spend some time enjoying the costume before going out to collect the goods.

Teach Moderation and Sharing
The best lesson you can teach your child this Halloween is to eat candy in moderation.  That means just one or two items, saving just a few more for later.  It’s unrealistic to expect them to not eat ANY.  Show them that just a little is o.k.  And to be generous to others.  Ask children who they would like to give the extra candy to, someone who may not have any.  Or, take part in the dentist candy buy back program here and they’ll send it to our troops Buy Back Candy Program

Whatever you do with your preschool child this Halloween, remember it’s the people and the fun that will create the most pleasurable lifelong memories. More than binging on candy.

I thought it was just me until I started looking at the statistics.  Cases like these ARE becoming more and more frequent. Approximately 5 children die each day from abuse.  A report is filed every 10 seconds (that just the reported instances).  Since 1985, the number of child abuse deaths has increased by 39%. Cases of child maltreatment have increased 45% since 1987.  Looking at data from at least 18 states, 82% of these children were under the age of five while 42% were under the age of one at the time of their death. Some 18,000 children become permanently disabled from abuse.

If you’re interested in dollars and cents, child abuse and neglect in the US costs more than 104 billion dollars a year.  It costs us in a lot of other ways too.  Two thirds of the people in drug rehab say they were abused as children.  Thirty -six percent of women and 14% of men in prison were abused or neglected as children.  Eighty percent of 21 year olds that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.  And, if abused or neglected 59% are more likely to be arrested while a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime.  Thirty percent will grow up to do the same thing to their own kids.  That’s a lot of money and a lot of wasted lives.

I’m so sick of hearing and seeing the abuse that parents dole out to their innocent young children.  What do we need to do to cut down on this.  An eye for an eye?  Why don’t we have stiffer penalties for these atrocities, better prevention through extensive parenting programs, etc.  Letting someone like Casey Anthony go after all the evidence presented is unconscionable.  The other cases listed above all happened within the past month and will be going through similar trials.  When are we going to realize that our children desperately need a voice?  When are we going to do more to protect them?  If that means taking them away from parents, I say go for it.  No child deserves to be abused or neglected.  Not one.

What are your thoughts on this issue?  Any suggestions on how to reduce the disturbing statistics regarding abuse?

After taking a look at the original story and interviews with the professor it seems that many are jumping to conclusions. Getting outraged and indignant at the mere thought of taking a child away from parents without really understanding what the message was all about. The original thought applied to children who are morbidly obese. Obviously parents would be presented with other options first and then only as a last resort, would a child be placed elsewhere. I seriously doubt the statement was intended as a threat. Parents who care and who make an effort to help improve the health of their child would not have their young one torn out of their arms.

Personally, I don’t relish the idea of children being ripped away from their families. I don’t think foster care will solve the obesity problem for morbidly obese children. What I do like, is the emotion that this has stirred up. Finally people are THINKING and TALKING about obese children. How they got that way, how to help them, maybe some oblivious parents will even start to take some personal accountability for raising a child.

If parents gave a child a loaded gun or put cigarettes in their mouths they would be prosecuted. If they allowed young children to do drugs or get drunk they’d be crucified. But if they sit on their rears, allow kids to be totally sedentary and toss them Twinkies, soda and fast food every day that’s supposed to be O.K.? This lifestyle kills people. We know that. And we know that kids will live shorter lives than their parents because of it.

Before anyone overreacts, remember we’re talking about morbidly obese children. That means children who are walking time bombs, sure to get a number of life threatening illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, cancer and even stroke. Preventable killers. All because no one cares what they eat or if they move. When lives are on the line – and these are the kids we’re talking about, not those a few pounds too heavy – something must be done to protect them. What that is, is open for discussion.

Maybe if enough people get outraged someone will come up with some good suggestions. Up to now, kids just keep getting fatter and fatter. They’re getting sick and dying at earlier ages. Adults are supposed to be taking care of them, doing what’s in their best interest, teaching them how to take care of their bodies. But they aren’t. Schools are selling them out for a dollar bill to fast food and then blame the kids saying “they won’t eat anything healthy” or “they won’t drink the milk if it’s not flavored”. That’s a crock – the kids didn’t vote in chocolate milk. The adults started making choices based on what’s convenient and cheap. Most kids won’t be taught in school what’s healthy unless there’s an act of God, or Congress.

If a parent knows something can potentially kill their child, and makes that “something” readily available, aren’t they endangering another human being? Or, can ignorance and apathy exempt them from their responsibility? What are your thoughts?

Now, living in California where they are legal, I have to put up with everyone on my street lighting up every imaginable bottle rocket, roman candle, and sparkler. The crackling sounds sends my dog into a psychotic episode (I’ll probably have to tranquilize him this year to prevent frothing at the mouth and pacing from room to room with his eyes bugging out) and I can’t get to sleep EVER without calling the police to come break up the “celebration” after 1 or 2 in the morning. I won’t even go into how I have to go out and scream at the people in the street to get away from my driveway since they set them off so close to my car I can see sparks raining on it. The smoke is so thick it’s disgusting and the place looks like a war zone in the morning. They have to recruit volunteers to come out and spend hours picking up all the debris. All of this because the city makes money off of the sales. Many of the surrounding cities have outlawed anything but public displays but not my town. The mighty dollar bill wins out every year (mmmmm…sounds a lot like junk food vending machines in public schools).

If you happen to think fireworks are harmless and fun, they aren’t. Take a look at the following statistics:

* Children between the ages of 5 and 9 have the highest rate of firework related injuries
* Approximately 4 people will die this year in the U.S from fireworks
* 40% of injuries from fireworks are incurred by kids under 14 years of age
* 8600 people nationwide were seriously injured by fireworks in 2010
* Fireworks contribute to more than 20,000 fires every year
* In 2008 alone, fires resulted in $42 million in direct property damage (I personally know one person whose home caught on fire).
* “Safe and sane” fireworks caused more injuries than illegal fireworks, especially to
preschool children

Before you put a lighted firework into your child’s hands consider this: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states that young children lack the physical coordination to handle fireworks safely. They’re extremely curious and love to examine things – like looking at a dud that often goes off unexpectedly. The most common injuries are burns followed by trauma to the eyes or head. Is it really worth that much to have little Johnny wave a sparkler around? Is it worth the cost of taking out an eye or frying his fingers? What about hurting someone else – how would you like to have a child witness that?

Something else that is absolutely uncalled for is to put a lighted ANYTHING in a child’s hand. Didn’t most of us learn to not play with fire? Why is it ok to teach little children that playing with fire is all right if it’s for the Fourth of July? It’s hypocritical. We tell them one thing, then do another and wonder why they grow up with a lack of respect for adults.

Keep your holiday safe this year and go to a public display. The fireworks are bigger, more beautiful and safe. Your child will enjoy it more than standing around in a crowd (which more times than not involves intoxicated individuals ready to cause trouble) while they watch you literally burn up your money. It’s part of keeping them safe, setting a good example and showing them that fun doesn’t have to involve setting anything on fire.

For more information and statistics from the CDC, go to: http://1.usa.gov/iEDymR