Faithfully Feeding Family, Week One Notes

This first week we discussed the threats facing our kids in our current society.  We made quesadillas and I handed out these 10 “health threats” on little strips of paper to discuss as we eat, just as a family could around a dinner table.  The discussion notes in the following outline were in my notes, not on the strips of paper.

Tomorrow I will post the recipe we used, as well as the discussion topics I handed out for them to take home and discuss with their own families around the table.

The problem:

10 Biggest Health Threats Facing Your Kids This School Year – US News and World Report

1. Poor Nutrition
   • Kids who are overweight eat 50% of their meals in front of a screen.
   • Family dinner can engage kids and give them an opportunity to see adults modeling healthy eating choices.
2. Physical Inactivity
   • On Average, kids today spend almost seven and a half hours a day using some form of electronic media!
   • Set boundaries and stick to them.
   • Challenge your kids to be smarter, stronger, and healthier than those around them.  Kids like a challenge.
   • Making, eating and cleaning up a family dinner keeps hands busy and minds engaged.
3. No School Nurse
   • Family dinners, with healthy foods keeps the need for medication lower.  There are always going to be issues and exceptions to that, but even kids who absolutely have to have medication during the day, often need less when they are eating healthy at home.
4. Asthma
   • One study showed that kids with allergic asthma who ate lots of tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber, green beans, and zucchini had fewer symptoms than kids who didn’t.
   • Where are kids going to eat these things if they aren’t served at dinner?  These aren’t typical snacks.
   • Supportive family mealtimes … make a difference toward reducing signs of separation anxiety, and … as a result, asthmatic children’s lung function was improved. The sense of security and comfort reinforced during family meal times can make a big difference for children who suffer from separation anxiety, Fiese says, and because mealtime is a routine part of the day, it offers consistent opportunity to build trust and communication. – Barbara H. Fiese, professor of human and community development at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
5. An Over-Packed Schedule
   • “These kids (who are over-scheduled) don’t eat right, they don’t sleep right, they stop having friends, and it has an impact on the family,” says Dr. Lonzer.
   • Kids often have multiple interests and they can change weekly.  Don’t follow all their whims.  Encourage them to do extra-curriculars, but filter it by your own knowledge of their needs as well as their giftings and your family schedule.
6. Sexually Transmitted Disease
   • Know your kids, know their friends, know their hurts and know their hearts.
   • Listen.  Listen.  Listen.  If you can’t sit through a few conversations about Minecraft and Marvel, when they are 7, 8 and 9, don’t expect them to come to you with their questions and feelings about McKayla and Misty when they are 15 and 16.
   • “We also noticed that the more often teens had dinner with their parents, the less likely they were to have sexually active friends, less likely girls were to have boyfriends two years older, and the less time teens spent with boyfriends or girlfriends,” said Joseph A. Califano Jr. – a survey of 12- to 17-year-olds by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
   • Family dinner is a great way to open up conversations about their opinions. Kids are forming their world view at a young age and if we aren’t guiding that view, we will be shocked at what they believe about themselves and others one day.
7. Poor Social Skills
   • Vanderbilt University found the top 10 social skills kids need to succeed in school, based on surveys of 8,000 elementary teachers and two decades of classroom research, are:
     • Listen to others
     • Follow the steps
     • Follow the rules
     • Ignore distractions
     • Ask for help
     • Take turns when you talk
     • Get along with others
     • Stay calm with others
     • Be responsible for your behavior
     • Do nice things for others.
   • These are things some adults are still learning and something that regular family dinner can really encourage. While you are listening to their day, they can be practicing listening to each other, passing the potatoes to the left, keeping their phones on silent, saying please when it’s time for dessert, remaining calm when the milk spills and helping each other clean up after.  Amazing!
8.  Stress
   • Kids who live in an unfiltered media environment are more likely to experience stress
     • TV in bedroom
     • No internet blocking software
     • No time limits on screen time
     • No boundaries on ratings
   • Kids who live in an unfiltered emotional environment are more likely to experience stress
     1. Lack of conversation
     2. Overhearing conversation instead of being a part of conversation
     3. Unable to ask questions
9.  Concussions
   • Just something to know:  “Overall, this latest study adds to a growing body of literature that shows girls have a higher incidence of concussions than boys and might also experience more persistent symptoms, says Robert Cantu, a neurosurgeon and professor at Boston University” – Scientific American
   • Kids should play sports if they want to, girls and boys alike, but know their limits.  If your kid is still taking naps in the afternoon and wants to play little league, find out the schedule and commitment before you sign them up.  They may not have the physical maturity to be involved in that yet, your daughters should play as rough as they want to…I so enjoyed playing hard as a little girl…but protect their very important brains!
   • Limit the number of sports they are allowed to play.  Especially if you have multiple children who want to play sports.  Be selective about the schedule.  Have family discourse about those decisions.  Parents are constantly making sacrifices in these areas, brothers and sisters need to be willing to make sacrifices too, for the sake of the family as a whole.
10.  Cyberbullying
    • About one-fifth of adolescents are victims of cyberbullying, putting them at risk for depression, substance abuse, and a host of other concerns. But adolescents who eat regular family dinners handle cyberbullying better and are less likely to engage in substance abuse or develop psychiatric health concerns, even after their involvement in face-to-face bullying is taken into account. – Kathleen Berchelmann, MD
    • Once again: knowing your kids and filtering your media intake is a huge factor in this issue.

1.  

The answer:

• Jesus – specifically His Word which tells us to make our families, our kids & our home a priority.
  • 1 Timothy 5:8
  • Ephesians 6:4
  • Exodus 20:12
  • Proverbs 22:6
  • Joshua 24:15
  • Psalm 127:3-5
  • Proverbs 15:20
  • Proverbs 1:8
  • Colossians 3:20
  • Proverbs 11:29
  • Proverbs 15:27
  • Proverbs 31:15-17
• Parents – Take charge of what happens in your home, even when you aren’t there.
  • Family, Friends, and Neighbors – When we make our boundaries known, we are allowing others to stand beside us with support as well as caution. Knowledge is powerful.
  • Technology – do not assume your kids will follow your rules with technology. Most likely, YOU don’t even follow your rules with technology.  Use it to your advantage, instead of allowing it to run over you.

Proverbs 9:1-6 is very motivating and encouraging to me…set your table with simplicity and insight.

Wisdom has built her house;
    she has hewn her seven pillars.
She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine;
    she has also set her table.
She has sent out her young women to call
    from the highest places in the town,
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
    To him who lacks sense she says,
“Come, eat of my bread
    and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Leave your simple ways, and live,
    and walk in the way of insight.”  (ESV)