Helpful Ways to Reduce TV Time

With the school year coming to a close soon, children will be enjoying summer vacation from school work and schedules for a time. How do you keep kids off the couch and staying active on their days off? Here are a few simple tips to help your children reduce their TV time and increase physical activity in order to maintain a healthy weight.

Know how much screen time, active time your family is getting. By knowing how much screen media, including TV, DVD, video games and non-school- or work-related computer and Internet use, your family spends and how much physical activity they get, you will be more aware of their needs for physical activity to maintain energy balance.
Talk to your family. Explain to your children that it's important to sit less and move more to stay at a healthy weight. They will also be more energized, have a chance to practice certain skills (such as riding a bike or shooting hoops), and have fun with friends and peers. Tell them that you also are going to limit your screen time and increase your physical activity, so you will all be working toward this goal together.
Set limits on screen time. Set a house rule that your children may spend no more than two hours a day of screen time. More importantly, enforce the rule once it's made.

Study: Spirituality a Big Part of Kids' Happiness

By Ron Csillag

TORONTO (Religion News Service) Spirituality is a major contributor to a child's overall happiness -- even more so than for adults -- according to a new study from the University of British Columbia.

The study tested 315 children aged 9 to 12, measuring spirituality and other factors such as temperament and social relations that can affect an individual's sense of happiness.

"Our goal was to see whether there's a relation between spirituality and happiness," said Mark Holder, associate professor of psychology and the study's co-author. "We knew going in that there was such a relation in adults, so we took multiple measures of spirituality and happiness in children."

Vegetarian Eating for Kids & Teens, The Safe Way

There are many types of vegetarian diets. The two most common are lacto-ovo, which includes eggs and milk products, but not meat, and vegan, which doesn't include any form of animal products. Teens who are lacto-ovo vegetarians can usually get enough nutrients if their diets are carefully planned. Vegan vegetarians have greater risk of not getting enough of several nutrients, especially vitamins D and B-12, calcium, iron, zinc, and perhaps other trace elements. These vitamins and minerals are needed for proper growth. To be healthful, vegetarian diets need to be carefully planned.

If it is important to you to be a vegetarian, it is easier to have good nutrition with the lacto-ovo form. Vegetarians who eat no animal products need to be especially careful about getting nutrients in other ways. A nutritionist can help you plan a vegetarian diet that provides you with the nutrients you need for growth and development during your teen years. Here are some non-animal sources of nutrients that many vegans may not get enough of:

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Healthy Child

Helpful Ways to Reduce TV Time

Study: Spirituality a Big Part of Kids' Happiness

Vegetarian Eating for Kids & Teens, The Safe Way