The Parents Plus e-newsletter is a monthly resource for professionals and parents. It contains timely links from all over the web in the areas of parenting, cradle-to-college education and healthy family relationships.

1. Click to view this email in a browser
þ
Parents Plus E-Newsletter
þ Issue 14 / December 2010
Dear {First_Name},
The Parents Plus e-newsletter is a resource for
professionals and parents. In this month's issue
you will find these headings:
Culturally Responsive Parental Involvement
Talking Numbers Counts for Kids' Math Skills
10 Tips to Get Your Kids to Eat Vegetables and
Fruits
Fast-Food Options for Kids
The Effect of the Recession on Child Well-Being
Culturally Responsive Parental Involvement
Abstract from Education Resource Information Center
This booklet explains that strong parental involvement in a
child's education and school environment is essential to
the success of the child and the school. It explores
culturally biased beliefs many educators frequently have
toward their students and their students' families,
examining a variety of ways in which educators and
parents can work together to benefit students.
PDF
Talking Numbers Counts for Kids' Math Skills
NPR Staff, NPR
In almost every home and pre-school in America, young children are being taught how to recite
the alphabet and how to say their numbers.
A new study by University of Chicago psychology professor Susan Levine finds that simply
repeating the numbers isn't as good as helping kids understand what they mean.
According to her study, for children to develop the math skills they'll need later on in school, it is
essential that parents spend time teaching their children the value of numbers by using concrete
examples — instead of just repeating them out loud. Read More

2. 10 Tips to Get Your Kids to Eat Vegetables and Fruits
From the American Heart Association
1. Make fruit and vegetable shopping fun: Visit your local green market and/or grocery
store with your kids, and show them how to select ripe fruits and fresh vegetables. This
is also a good opportunity to explain which fruits and vegetables are available by season
þ
and how some come from countries with different climates.
þ
2. Involve kids in meal prep: Find a healthy dish your kids enjoy and invite them to help
you prepare it. Younger kids can help with measuring, crumbling, holding and handing
þ
some of the ingredients to you. Older kids can help by setting the table. Make sure you
praise them for their help, so they feel proud of what they've done.
3. Be a role model: If you're eating a wide range of fruits and vegetables -- and enjoying
them -- your child may want to taste. If you aren't eating junk food or keeping it in your
home, your kids won't be eating junk food at home either.
More
Plus check out:
Nourish Interactive: Tools and tips for parents to promote healthy living for the whole family
Fast-Food Options for Kids
Mark Bittman, The New York Times
Excerpt: Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity recently released a report – Fast Food
FACTS – that explores both the nutritional value of fast food kids’ meals and the ways in which
those foods are marketed to children. The study examines 12 fast food chains, McDonald’s
among them, and evaluates their kids’ menu options based on three nutritional criteria: the
Nutrient Profile Index, a scoring system of “overall nutritional quality that considers positive and
negative nutrients in foods,” and calorie and sodium limits based on recommendations made by
the Institute of Medicine Committee on School Meals. I.O.M. guidelines suggest that a meal
served to preschool-age children should not exceed 410 calories and 544 mg of sodium, while a
meal served to elementary-school-age children should not exceed 650 calories and 636 mg of
sodium.
The Rudd Center study found that out of a possible 3,039 kids’ meal combinations at the 12
restaurants – that’s one main dish, one side dish, and one beverage – only twelve meals (0.4
percent) meet all three nutritional requirements for preschool-age-children, and only 15 meals ( 0.5
percent) meet all three for elementary-school-age children. Read Full
Report: The Effect of the Recession on Child Well-Being
First Focus
When the economy takes a downturn, it often hits the most vulnerable children and families the
hardest. The recent recession is no exception. In their paper, “The Effect of Recession on Child
Well-Being: A Synthesis of the Evidence by PolicyLab, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,”
Katherine Sell and colleagues at PolicyLab at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
Research Institute synthesize evidence of the effects of the recent and prior recessions on child
well-being.
Among their takeaway messages is that it takes years post-recession for families to bounce
back to pre-recession income levels, and low-income families take even longer to rebound. A
second key finding is that public programs play a pivotal role in blunting the negative impacts of a
recession.

3. Forward this message to a friend | To ask about available resources: 414-755-8700
Editor's Note: If you are recieving this newsletter, we obtained your email from: (1) our mailing list, (2) because we work with you, or (3) because
you gave it to us.
We will not share your email with anyone else.
If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following
link: Unsubscribe
Parents Plus Inc.
660 E Mason St.
Suite 100
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202
Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy.