Meet the Child Care Council Staff

Introducing Sharon L.

Melissa @ Kids Matter

            I am proud to introduce Sharon; Administrative Assistant in the Louisville office located in the L&N building. Sharon has been with the CCC since they began managing the CCAP contract in July 2012. She has more than twelve years of CCAP experience. To describe Sharon is easy; she’s funny, lovely, generous, and sweet. When our clients come into the office, she is one of the first people they will encounter. No client could say they had a bad experience with her. She’s always smiling and appears happy, even when she’s not. I cannot think of a person more fit for their job than she is.

            I was excited to interview Sharon because of her infectious personality and her incredible weight loss. She’s lost over 100 pounds in a little over a year. While she doesn’t know the exact amount, because she prefers not to focus on the numbers, she is proud of her success. When asked what began her weight loss journey, she replied that she was tired of being tired and tired of not being able to chase her granddaughter around. She also mentioned that previous weight loss attempts failed because she was doing it for her family rather than herself.  Now, she’s in it for herself and the better quality of life she has. She admitted that she did do it, in a small part for her husband, because she, “…didn’t want him to watch her die”.

            Sharon completely changed her lifestyle. She stopped eating things that weren’t good for her and replaced them with fruits and veggies. She traded tea and soft drink for water, which she admits, “…was extremely difficult because I do NOT like water”. She says when she first began her weight loss, her only goal was, “…not to gain any more and everything else was a bonus”. Sharon also mentioned that when the CCC gave employees Fitbits, it really changed her way of thinking. She said that the Fitbit, “brought my attention to how much I wasn’t doing,” in terms of walking. So, she got up and she got walking!  The weight started to melt away. Sharon now does three miles per day on her elliptical and averages 17,000-20,000 steps per day. What an inspiration! Watching Sharon walk around the office and get ‘steps’ in wherever she could, has been inspirational to several people in this office, including me. She said, “Walking is great and I really need it because there’s a party in my head and it relieves my stress”. Jillian Michaels, weight loss trainer, was a huge inspiration to her.

            Sharon is married with two sons and one daughter, and two granddaughters, who are her life. She’s a new ‘empty nester’, but states that, “…there was no sadness in that… well maybe for a hot minute, but not really”. She loves going to the lake in the summer with her grandchildren and just being outside. Sharon’s advice to us is, “Never look at yesterday as a failure, it is only a lesson learned for tomorrow”.

Childhood Obesity

Parents today want the same things for their kids that every other generation has wanted. We want our kids to be successful, happy and healthy. Sadly, that is not the case in many homes today. As children and families become more sedentary, parents have to work longer hours and screens like TV, computers, phones, etc. are constantly distracting kids and keeping them from being active. Their health is declining at an alarming rate. The American Heart Association recommends that children and adolescents participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day.

Today, approximately one in three American kids or teens is considered overweight or obese. This rate is nearly triple the rate of childhood obesity in 1963. As parents get busier and kids become more sedentary, this epidemic continues to grow. Today’s children are being diagnosed with diseases that have historically been “adult problems”, such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes and elevated blood cholesterol levels. In addition to the physical issues, these children are also experiencing more psychological issues such as low self-esteem, negative body image, and depression.

What can you do to give your kids the best chance at a healthy life?

• Start by restricting screen time. Restrict the time they can sit and use these devices. Encourage them to go outside and play. After a healthy dinner, take the entire family for a walk around the neighborhood. If you don’t want to walk, pull out the bikes.
• After work, take the kids outside and set up an obstacle course in your backyard. Use a rope or a garden hose to outline the course. You can then race the kids, or you can perform the course as a relay team.
• Play ball! You can pull out a basketball, baseball, soccer ball, football, softball, kickball or any other ball that you have in the house. Get outside and divide the neighborhood into teams. You can mix kids and adults on teams, or you can have a kids versus adults game. A little competition is a good way to get kids interested.
• Plant a garden. Not only will you get fresh vegetables for the table, but also your kids will get exercise working in the garden. Research shows that kids are more likely to eat vegetables that they grow. Take the kids to the local garden shop and let them pick out a few plants that they want. You may also plant a theme garden. For example: a pizza garden and include plants like tomatoes, peppers, basil, onions, etc.

Get outside with your kids and show them the way to be healthy. Children will do what their parents do; just telling them to do something is not enough. You must be willing to play with them and interact. These are the days that your kids will remember. They will not remember sitting down to watch TV each night; they will remember the games you played outside or the hikes you took together. Take the time to teach your children about health and wellness. It will be a lesson that stays with them for a lifetime!

By: Angie @ Kids Matter

Fabulous Friday - Fun Fitness

Okay, I admit it! I would always take the stairs if they were musical. This would be so much fun!

Family Fitness

Every time you turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper, you are bombarded with stories about the obesity epidemic in the United States. You are also bombarded by advertising from people trying to sell you "convenience foods". Whether they are fast food restaurants or just pre-packaged prepare at home meals, we all know that these are not our healthiest options.

How do you battle the bulge with your family, without spending $100s on a gym membership for the whole family? There are several inexpensive options available. We are going to explore a few here.


1) Jump rope: You can buy a jump rope for each family member. Start out just getting your skills down and then you can work on getting faster and faster. The video above is former U.S. Olympian Buddy Lee showing you his prowess with a jump rope. Jumping rope is no longer just a little girl's game as she sings a cute rhyming song. A jump rope is a versatile and useful training too.

2) Geocaching: Have you ever gone Geocaching? It is a great activity for a family. I downloaded an app onto my IPhone but you can also just use your computer at home if you do not have a smart phone. You put in your location and it will tell you of all the caches near you. You then set out on a hike to the area it tells you to go to. The caches will be hidden so it will take some searching to find. Once you find the cache, there is usually a small gift inside with a notebook and pencil to sign in. Always remember when you are caching, if you take something, leave something. If you take the small gift, be sure to leave one in its place for the next person. Once you find the cache, you also put it back exactly where you found it. Now, be sure and log back onto the website to claim the find. Once you get started, it can be addictive! There are caches hidden all around the world, so wherever you are, there is a cache near you.

3) Pool Noodles: They are no longer just a fun pool toy! You can use them for a variety of activities. The picture above is from Parents Magazine and shows an obstacle course that was set up with pool noodles that had the ends taped together to form rings. There are tons of games you can play with pool noodles. In addition to the obstacle course, set up hopscotch with the rings; just toss a ring back and forth; toss bean bags into rings, the list goes on and on. The best news? You can purchase the pool noodles at the Dollar Stores!

Get outside and get active with your family! Good health is an amazing gift for your kids.

Childhood Obesity

If you read any newspapers and/or magazines, you have probably seen that headline lots. It is in print, it is on the news, it is the new buzz phrase. Even though we are all talking about it, it does not seem to be going away any time soon.

Here are some links to help you keep your family healthy and happy. If you want the kids to learn about nutrition you can go to Nutrition for Healthy Kids and they have a free home school curriculum, broken down by subject.

Food

All Day I Dream About Food made gummy fruit snacks that contain no added sugar. This link is to all of her recipes that are labeled "healthy snacks". She has some yummy ones, including a revised gummy fruit snack that is more shelf stable.

Real Simple shows a snack station that is stored in the refrigerator for the kids. They can go in and help themselves to a healthy snack.

I also love the blog Super Healthy Kids. She posts amazing recipes and tips but the best part: Healthy Meal Plans! Check out her blog, you will wonder how you managed before you found it!

Since the current generation is the first to spend more time indoors than outdoors, I have scoured the Internet looking for fitness ideas also.

Most people are familiar with First Lady Michelle Obama's quest to help us raise a healthier generation of kids and her Let's Move Campaign is helping to do just that. She has brought to light many facts and findings on health and is inspiring many to get up and move!

Kids Health and Sesame Workshop partnered to provide Healthy Habits for Life. You can download the book and read through it with your kids. The above link takes you to the Preschool edition but they go up to 12th grade.

E Max Health has a list of 50 ways for kids to exercise, without them even realizing it.

What does your family do to stay healthy?

Tuesday Teachings - Worms, Worms, Worms

This past Friday (July 15th) was Gummy Worm Day! My son's teacher was so kind and invited me into the classroom to do a special segment on worms/gummy worms. I had so much fun and I think the kids enjoyed it too. I am sorry I do not have action pictures of the kids participating in the activities but I did not want to put a bunch of kid's pictures on here with out parent approval first.

First, I purchased 2 inch petri dishes for the whole class. Once I received them, I washed and sanitized them well to make them food ready. I then laid a small gummy worm in each dish and made blueberry gelatin to surround them. Each child then had a gummy worm snack to eat. They really enjoyed this, as how often does anyone eat anything out of a petri dish?

Next we played a game of "Pick Up Worms". I cut up several pipe cleaners/chenille stems into a variety of sizes and we used tweezers or ice tongs to pick them up. This was much like the game my son and I played picking up snakes, I just renamed it. To make it a bit more of a challenge, I put the "worms" in a container filled partway with colored rice.

We also played a rousing game of "Worm in the Apple". All of the kids stood in a line with their legs spread. They were the apples. The child at the end of the line was the worm and had to crawl and wiggle through every one's legs. When he reached the front, he also became an apple and the new last person was the worm until everyone had a chance to be the worm.

I also made up a little sheet for everyone to measure their worm. For this, they used a gummy worm. I taped a seamstress' measuring tape down to the table and we measured each worm a couple of ways. First we just laid the worm down and measured it. Next, we stretched it out as far as we could without breaking it and measured it. This turned into a discussion of elasticity and how even though we stretched the worms, they went right back to their original shape. In addition to measuring the worms in inches, we also had a pre-made measuring stick of "unifix cubes". The kids wrote each measurement on their sheet and at the bottom of the sheet was a box to draw a picture of their worms.

The last activity was probably one of the favorites. I actually bought a container of night crawlers. I put a few in larger petri dishes and gave the children magnifying glasses to investigate them. We wrote down all of the words that they used to explain and describe the worms. In the beginning several kids were hesitant to touch the worms but by the end everyone was letting worms hag out in their hands. At the end of the experiment, we went outside and released the night crawlers into the garden that they have. The classroom is growing tomatoes and marigolds. We explained how the night crawlers would crawl around in the soil and make it loose and easy for the roots of the plants to go down deep and allow the plants to grow happy.

A Healthy Family

Kid's Activity Pyramid

There are many things we can do to keep our family healthy. One of the easiest things to do is to just go outside and play. You can play games of tag, hide and seek, kickball, throw a ball, red light/green light or Simon Says. Regardless of the age of your children, you can play a game out side with them.

The youngest kids will understand Simon Says and red light/green light, the older kids will enjoy badminton volleyball, basketball or just tossing a ball around. It does not take a lot of forethought to do these activities and not only will it improve your health and the health of your child but it will also improve the relationship you have with your kids. If you do not already have some of the games that requires equipment, now is the time to purchase it. Stores are marking everything down to super clearance in preparation for fall and winter so summer items have to go. There is still plenty of time for you to use these activities outside though.

Another great thing you can do is a 5K walk or run with the whole family. Pick a local charity and participate in their event. Not only do you get to exercise but you can teach your child about philanthropy by collecting donations. Here in Lexington we can refer to a local shoe store's race calendar, John's Race Calendar. If you look at this calendar you will see that there is at least one race every weekend that is within a short distance of our town. I bet your town is the same way.

If you do not want to do a 5K, you could always put together a race for your family and a group of friends. It would be easy to go to a local track and perform your race. Before arriving, pick a few events or distances. You could have the Dads compete, the Moms compete and the kids compete. The winners of each event would receive a small award like a trophy or a medal. Be sure you have plenty of water and sports drinks on hand along with some oranges, apples and bananas to keep everyone healthy. If you do not have access to a local track, do an obstacle course at the local playground.

If you want it to be a longer lasting activity, buy pedometers for the whole family then pick a destination. From Lexington, maybe I would pick Kings Island in Ohio. When I go to Mapquest I see that it is about 115 miles. When I looked around online I discovered that 2,000 steps is about equal to 1 mile so we would have to walk 230,000 steps to get to King's Island. You could do a graph for each family member that you log the steps to every night. You can compete to see who gets to Kings Island first. It does not have to end with you actually going to the amusement park but it would be fun to then go to the place you are "walking" to.

There are lots of great ways to keep healthy and to teach your children how important it is to use their body every day. Maybe just playing in the backyard with Mom and Dad will teach the kids to love their bodies and to take great care of their bodies.

Monday Meanderings - Water Play

Since the dog days of summer are now upon us the only way to stay cool is with a little water play. I have rounded up some ideas around the web to help you keep the kiddos occupied and cool.

First up is Amazing Moms with lots of great ideas. When I was young we did a variation of the ice ball surprise but instead of balloons we used plastic bowls.

TLC has some great ideas on their website also. I love the idea of the bubble pie.

Last but not least is Blisstree. The Water Balloon Toss with a Twist sounds like an easy way for me to stay cool as the balloon would probably pop every time on me.

When you go out to play in the water with the kids, do not forget the sunscreen. Now get out there and get wet and have fun doing it. Some of these ideas would also be great to use for a summer party, whether it be a birthday party or just a gathering of good friends. Enjoy what is left of summer as Fall and Winter are trying to knock on our doors.

Ideas to Help Children Maintain a Healthy Weight

Picture compliments of MyPyramid.gov

You've probably read about it or heard about it on the news, reports state that childhood obesity has continued to climb over the last two decades. Type 2 diabetes, which has always been an adult disease has now also become prevalent in childhood. No longer can Type 2 diabetes be called Adult Onset Diabetes. Children are experiencing heart disease caused by high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Asthma and sleep apnea are on the rise. Children are getting more and more unhealthy, it is time for us to take action. As parents, it is our responsibility to offer our children as healthy a lifestyle as we can.

What can you do?

Help your child maintain a healthy weight by balancing the calories your child consumes with the calories that your child uses through physical activity and normal growth. Children and teens should not be placed on a weight reduction diet without the consultation of a health care provider.

Developing healthy eating habits

This is easiest done by example. If you are eating fast food several times a week then so is your child.

• Look for ways to make your favorite meals a little healthier.
• Provide plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole grains. It is not enough to just buy them, have them cleaned and ready to make it the easiest thing to grab when food is needed.
• Include low-fat or non-fat milk and dairy products in your home. Reports state that the only people that should be consuming full fat milk products are children under the age of two. They need the additional fat but anyone over two does not need the additional fat.
• Choose lean meats, poultry, fish, lentils, and beans for protein. Prepare these foods with little to know additional oil. It does no good to by healthy fish and then batter and fry it to serve your family.
• Serve reasonably sized portions. Do not use restaurants as an example of a healthy portion of food. Most restaurant portions are enough to feed two to three adults.
• Encourage your family to drink lots of water. If they do not like "plain" water, slice up some fresh fruit to serve in it. Water is delicious with lemons, limes, oranges and a variety of other fruits.
• Limit sugar sweetened beverages, this includes sodas and juices.
• Limit the consumption of sugar and saturated fats.
• Remove calorie rich or salty temptations from your home. Everything can be enjoyed in moderation but these items should be an occasional treat not the norm.

You do not have to buy 100 calorie packs of snacks. These are all heavily processed and not very filling so you usually will eat several of them when hunger strikes, instead give these 100 calories or less snacks a try:

• 1 medium sized apple
• 1 medium sized banana
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup grapes (also delicious served frozen)
• 1 cup carrots, broccoli or bell peppers with 2 tbsp hummus
• 10 cashews or 10 almonds
• 3 ounces low-fat cottage cheese and 3 whole-wheat crackers
• 2 large graham cracker squares with 1 teaspoon peanut butter
• 1 small baked potato with 1/2 cup salsa and 2 tablespoons of fat-free sour cream

Help Kids Stay Active

Children and teens should participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity most days of the week, preferably every day. Some examples of moderate intensity physical activities:

• Brisk Walking - buy pedometers for the family and challenge one another to see who takes the most steps
• Playing tag in the back yard
• Jumping rope
• Playing soccer
• Swimming
• Dancing
• Skating
• Bicycling
• Relay races in the back yard

As you can see, no special equipment is needed other than your determination. Many reports are talking about how parents will soon be outliving their children if the childhood obesity epidemic continues. This is the time for you to stand up and take control. Lead your children to a healthier life and join them on the journey. No one should be sitting on the sidelines watching life play out in front of them. Get out there!