Parent Action for Healthy Kids® in the News
As Parent Action for Healthy Kids® is all about disseminating information, when the information is about our organization we're proud to pass that along too. The following articles have appeared in print or web-based publications. We appreciate their promoting our important cause.
Is your family up for the 100 days of eating right challenge?
Posted August 14th, 2010
North Carolina family takes the 100 days of eating right challenge.
After reading "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan, Lisa Leake realized all the junk she was feeding her family. She and her husband Jason decided to take the challenge! They challenged themselves to eat only "real" food for 100 days. Processed foods came off their grocery list and they only allow themselves to purchase items with five ingredients or less and nothing they buy is refined.
You can read more about the Leakes in this inspirational article written by Jennifer Rothacker at the Charlotte Observer. Read "100 Days of Eating Right". You can also read Lisa Leake's Food Illusion blog at momscharlotte.com and her 100 Days blog at 100daysofrealfood.com. Here you can learn about her 100-day challenge and see if you and your family might consider giving it a try. Congratulations to the Leake family!
Creative and easy ideas for healthier schools and communities
Posted July 21st, 2010
What a great group of parent leaders at the Kentucky PTA Leadership Convention. Here I am with Leigh McGuire (left) and Cyndi Gatman (right) from Kelly Elementary and Past Kentucky PTA State President Janice Jackson (center). Our workshop about the importance of parents when it comes to school health opened the door to many creative and easy to implement ideas like healthier food at classroom parties and PTA meetings, getting kids more physical activity like doing recess before lunch, developing safe walking routes to school and Family Fun Days to raise money as opposed to selling candy. I know many of these will be implemented in the coming school year.
Leigh and Cyndi are anxious to go back to Kelly Elementary with their action plan to make their school and community a healthier place for kids.
Lucky for me, I get to return to Somerset, Kentucky to talk more about school health on November 6th.
Share ideas and learn more on our Facebook page! Look forward to talking to you there. Barb
In the words of Erma Bombeck..."flies die from happiness" on the 4th of July
Posted July 2nd, 2010
The 4th of July is a time to be with family and friends and get outside and play. Take a bike ride, a swim, or toss a ball. Let's be real, this probably isn't going to be the day when your eating is going to be 100% healthy.
In the words of the late Erma Bombeck: You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.
Have a happy and safe 4th of July everyone!
Attention Dads! For Father’s Day don’t forget about sex, sports and rock and roll!
Posted June 18th, 2010
Got your attention? Cool. Father’s Day is the perfect time to play some sports, listen to some music and, yes, talk about sex with your teen.
Research shows that Dads are an important influence on whether their teenagers become pregnant or cause a pregnancy. In many ways your behavior and the connectedness that you have with your child does influence them in their teen years when it comes to them making a decision whether or not to be sexually active and use contraception.
We know that at around age 13 boys look for a male role model, and if dad is not available, they will look elsewhere. For girls, Dads are as important in adolescence as they were in early childhood. Often as a Dad sees his daughter growing into a young woman, he feels uncomfortable and backs off from doing the things he did with her when she was a little girl. A Dad needs to be the man in his daughter’s life now more than ever. Research shows that when Dads are engaged with their daughters through adolescence, girls will delay the onset of sexual activity.
Take a look at Dads Make a Difference from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Watch this video Ball Talk, (Watch the video) through the lens of men who are community leaders, playing basketball and talking about the issue of unplanned pregnancy. You can also learn more about male involvement by going to: http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/males/.
Don’t know how to start the conversation, what to say, or how to connect? Try this! The National Campaign has a web site with lots of information for teens www.StayTeen.org. Get on line, learn together, and share your point of view. Make this a Father’s Day that your kids won’t forget.
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You've united your voices on behalf of healthier kids!
Posted June 17th, 2010
Dear Parents,
Thank you for signing on to my Call to Action for parents in support raising healthy, physically active children! As you know, I was honored to be invited to Washington D.C. to provide expertise to the First Lady’s Let’s Move initiative. However, when I returned I realized that actually affecting change would require a grass roots effort on the part of the community’s most influential people – the parents.
By joining my Call to Action, you have taken the first step in becoming an advocate for healthy eating and physical activity and I am honored to serve you by facilitating this unified effort. Now we need to support each other by sharing stories of what we are doing in our homes, schools and communities. We also need to hear what is not working in order to address the barriers to change head on. Please email me stories of your successes and challenges so that we can all begin to benefit from each other’s experiences in working to raise a healthier generation.
I want to be a resource for you, answer questions, get needed information, blog your stories and bring our voices together to make changes at the state and federal level. To that end, I will be emailing you updates, blogs of what you and your peers are doing, and requests to take action on important issues.
Sincerely,
Barb Flis
Founder of Parent Action For Healthy Kids