Reducing Sugar: Reversing the Too Sweet Kids' Diet

The University of Calgary recently conducted a study to investigate kids' diets. They found that more than half of the foods marketed to toddlers contained at least 20 percent of their calories from sugar. Many of these foods are considered staples: yogurt, cereal, and snacks. Turns out, the low-fat craze that began in the 1990s prompted food manufacturers to replace fats with sugar, so now we're seeing sugar show up in places it's never been before: salad dressing, hamburger buns, pretzels, chips.

Sweeteners, from agave nectar to high fructose corn syrup, all behave the same way in the body. The liver metabolizes fructose, and too much sugar puts added strain on the liver. Too much sugar stimulates the liver to trigger fat production, which can boost belly fat and cholesterol levels. This is heavy stuff. What's a parent to do when sweetened foods are all around your child?

Here are some simple things you can do to reduce your kids' consumption of sugar:

• Limit fruit juice to one glass a day. Although fruit juice contains vitamin C, your body reacts to it in the same way it reacts to Kool-Aid; it's a too-quick dose of fructose for the liver to manage well.
• Avoid other sweetened beverages. A can of soda at a barbecue every now and then won't cause much damage, but multiple servings of soda every day leads to obesity and dental problems.
• Look for unsweetened foods. Buy natural applesauce instead of sweetened applesauce, canned fruit that doesn't contain added sugar, and plain yogurt. 
• Keep your kids active.  Exercise slows down the liver's cycle and allows less fat to enter the bloodstream.
• Don't ban sweets. Banning sugar altogether will only make your kids crave it. Instead, aim for moderation and healthy alternatives.

Sidewalk Paint

Ah, it's May. It's time to go outside and have some fun. And here's something fun: Sidewalk Paint!

You've all bought sidewalk chalk, and you know how much fun kids can have with it. Up the wow factor by letting them paint on the sidewalk. Here's the paint recipe:

1/4 cup of corn starch per paint color
1/4 cup of water per paint color
5-10 drops food coloring per paint color

Put these ingredients in paper cups and stir. Stirring is a great job for preschoolers. It takes a while to stir each paint color because the corn starch doesn't want to break up at first. Don't make the paint ahead of time; you have to use it right away so it doesn't firm up. See if you can find big, chunky paint brushes for painting with this stuff. It's much more satisfying than using little watercolor paintbrushes.

When you're done painting and everyone has gone home, you can clean up the sidewalk paint with your garden hose. Have fun!

Rising Childcare Costs

Childcare has never been cheap, but it may be more expensive now than it has been in the past. According to the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), childcare costs have increased twice as fast as median income in New York since 2000. For many families, childcare has become cost-prohibitive, and they must look for alternative methods of caring for their children.

Many families have found that babysitting co-ops are a great no-cost alternative to traditional daycare. Although most co-ops don't cover enough shifts to provide childcare for a full 40-hour work week, they can be used as a partial childcare solution or as total solution for parents who work part-time or run their own businesses out of their homes.

For more information on babysitting co-ops, check out our Co-op 101 section, or fee free to contact us.

Positive Reinforcement

You know those days when the kids you're caring for just seem to want to be bad? Maybe the weather just changed or a holiday is coming up. Whatever the reason, there are days when the kids will look to the ringleader (you know who it is), just waiting for an excuse to do something they know they shouldn't do.

When it's one of those days, pull out a handy tool we call Positive Reinforcement. It may not work immediately, but then again, it might.

Here's how it works. The kids know they're not supposed to jump on the couch, but one of them (the ringleader, who might just be your own child) inches her way up onto the arm of the couch and looks at the others mischievously. Her adoring fans egg her on, inching themselves up into jumping position. If you don't act fast, they'll all be jumping on that couch within seconds, and you'll have to dish out timeouts right and left.

Just in the knick of time you see which child is behaving. It's Luke. "Oh wow," you say. "Look how well Luke is behaving. I'm so proud of you, Luke." The would-be jumpers will look to see exactly what Luke is doing. He's standing with two feet on the floor playing with the Duplo blocks. Somebody will jump down off the couch and stand next to Luke and possibly even pick up a Duplo block (hopefully not the one in Luke's hands). You gush, "Ava's behaving so well, too. Great job, Ava!" Before long, they're all off the couch, playing with toys, and timeouts were successfully avoided.

Has this method of re-directing worked for you? Do you have any other good ideas for changing a rambunctious dynamic during your co-op shifts?

Homemade Flubber

Last weekend I took my daughter and her friend to Claire's, their favorite store in the whole world. They found a bottle of stuff labeled, "Intergalactic Ooze." I wasn't too sure about introducing such a questionable substance to my house, but they had enough of their own money to pay for it, so they bought it. I have to admit, it's pretty fun stuff, but then I found some recipes for homemade oozy substances that have the potential for keeping kids (and adults) busy for a long time. Here's a recipe for homemade flubber:

Two cups Elmer's glue
Food coloring
4 tablespoons Borax
Warm water

Mix 1 1/2 cups of warm water, the glue, and the food coloring (as much or as little as you want) in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the Borax with 1 1/3 cups of warm water. Pour the glue mixture into the Borax mixture, but don't mix or stir them together. The flubber will form on its own, and watching it form is half the fun. If it has trouble mixing on its own after 10-20 minutes, go ahead and give it a little help with a spoon. Store it in plastic baggies (no need to refrigerate). It seems to get better with time, so pull it out after a couple of days, and it will probably be stretchier and bouncier. You can stretch it and shape it, roll it into ropes, and bounce it like a rubber ball. Fun stuff!

Gluten-free Sugar Cookies

These little gems don't really taste like gluten-free cookies. They have a pretty good texture, and their flavor is great, thanks to that sweetened condensed milk. Yum.

1 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
1 pinch salt
3 c. gluten-free flour
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla and sweetened condensed milk, and beat until smooth. Add salt and flour, and beat until the mixture has the consistency of a workable dough. Roll out the dough into 6-inch "sausages," and wrap the sausages in plastic wrap or parchment paper. Place the rolls in the refrigerator for at least half an hour before cutting them into slices. Place the slices on a baking sheet and bake them in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 8 minutes. If you want to make them festive, sprinkle some colored sugar on their tops before baking.

5 Fun Outdoor Activities

Now that the weather is warm, let your house stay clean during your babysitting shift by transferring the activities outside. The kids will enjoy running around in the springtime air, and they'll wear themselves out before they go home (i.e. the other parents will adore you).

Here are 5 fun outdoor activities to enhance your springtime co-op shifts.

1. Bike Wash. Pull out all of your bicycles, wagons, push toys, and large outdoor toys and put them on the grass. Fill up a couple of buckets with warm soapy water, and give each child a sponge or small rag. After they've scrubbed everything down, let them use the garden hose to rinse the bikes. Plan ahead for this activity, and ask the other parents to pack an extra set of clothes or a swimsuit because they'll all get wet.

2. Hop in the Hoops. First, encourage the kids to "warm up" by running around or playing tag in the yard. Next, scatter hula hoops around the yard and tell the kids to listen carefully to your directions. Give directions like the following, giving the kids enough time to complete each task before you give the next direction. Here are some ideas:

• Put three fingers inside the yellow hoop.
• Run around the outside of the green hoop.
• Put your feet inside the blue hoop and your hands on the ground outside the blue hoop.
• Run from one end of the yard to the other end without touching a hoop.

3. Treasure Hunt. Hide chocolate gold coins or other small treasures in good hiding places in your yard. If you have time, make a quick map to show them where the treasure is hidden, and let them practice reading the map to find it. If you don't have time, you can use the old "hot, cold" method, telling them they're getting warmer when they get close to treasure and colder when they walk away from treasure. If they really enjoy this game, let the kids take turns making maps for the others to follow.

4. Rock Painting. First, help the kids to find a couple of interesting-shaped rocks. You could go on a walk to find rocks if you don't have many in your yard. Then lay out some newspaper on an outdoor table or on the ground and let the kids paint their rocks with tempera paints and water. This can be a messy activity, so warn the parents ahead of time to not dress their kids in their best clothes.

5. Cardboard Mazes. Drag all of those cardboard boxes out of your crawlspace and put them outside. Show the kids how to connect the openings of the boxes to make a cardboard maze. You can help by cutting openings into different sides of the boxes. They can even decorate the cardboard maze with crayons and markers. If you don't have any boxes of your own, ask local retailers if they have some boxes you could take. They usually just recycle them anyway.

What outdoor activities have your kids enjoyed?