November Already?!!!

Welcome November!

The Month of the Sweet Potato

“For Real!”

When you live by your heart, it leads you to the best things,

Even healthy food

This Thanksgiving you will find one of the most healthy foods right on your own table.

Imagine the richness! Each one contains important vitamins like C and minerals like potassium. They are also high in fiber. Better than that they not only reduce blood sugar but also contain the antioxidant betacarotene which raises levels of vitamin A in your body.

FOOD

Here is a wonderful four-part plate.

Have fun with your child naming everything good about this meal pattern 

Then be sure to live by and teach these 8 basics.

* 1. Serve foods that go together by color and texture.

* 2. Teach about chewing food well.

* 3. Encourage eating “with others” when possible.

* 4. Enjoy three meals a day at a table, of course!

* 5. Serve family meals or snacks by a schedule.

*  6. Give food when seated at a table, not at play.

*7. Avoid offering food in a stroller or while walking.

*8. Plan mealtimes for dining and enjoying others.

Talk to your child about all of these!

Then remember most of all,

Food is Not a Toy!

Here is a quirky thought, but a good one:

Reading is Nutrition for the Brain!

Record-a-story. Your child will especially love having a story recorded by you. It will be great to listen to together while you are at home and even better for times when you are away. After hearing many repetitions of the story, while looking at the print at the same time, he or she may begin to recognize some of the words.

But Reading is good, hugging is good, and holding is good too.

In reality reading to your child is harder than you think.

Why is that? It takes being able to give it your full attention.

Imagine that “in-person” has become a valued concept to savor. It is as natural as Nature itself and must be saved from extinction.

Sally Goldberg, Ph.D.

                           Professor of Early Childhood Education