WHAT’S INSIDE: 1. letter to a parent 2. themes from the past months 3. our community events 4. parents share 5. did you know that? 6. health & yummy
SUPPORTS HELPS ANSWERS RECOMMENDS
MARCH 2019
A welcome note to parents: Dear ACS Athens Community, Welcome to our PTO SHARE newsletter. We will be featuring an article “letter to a parent” written by an ACS Athens mom, journalist, educator and family counselor, Rania Thraskia. We are very grateful for her continuous support in sharing with us her writings which have become a regular section of our newsletter and highly anticipated by many parents. In addition, as a response to a very important topic which has been discussed many times during our meetings, we have included in this issue an article about NUTRITION also written by an ACS mom, a board certified endocrinologist in the US, with specialty in nutrition and metabolism, Violeta Popii. Please enjoy! We are at your disposal, you can reach us at pto@acs.gr or checkout our PTO page on ACS athens website for more information. Best Regards Your PTO Board
LETTER TO A PARENT:
What every kid needs to hear from his parents
01 02
“What a great achievement! Well done!” Such phrases help your child feel your support and faith in him. Any “positive reinforcement” causes pleasant feelings and positive emotions. Avoid comparing your child with another kid that in your opinion is better, because that will harm your child’s self-esteem. Children unconsciously test us with their challenging behavior. It’s as if they’re saying, “will you love me even like this?”. The answer should be:
“Of course I will! I’m happy I have you. If I could choose from all the children in the world, I would choose you”.
03 fearlessness is impossible.
It is important to let the child know that Bravery is just knowing how to overcome fear or act despite it. If your child is afraid of something, share with him your own memories and experiences. Don’t forget to mention that you believe in him!
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ACS ATHENS SHARE NEWSLETTER //MARCH 2019
LETTER TO A PARENT:
What every kid needs to hear from his parents
you ever asked forgiveness from 04 Have your kid?
We all are humans and all of us can make mistakes. It is important to have the courage to admit them and ask forgiveness from your children. This way we let them know that we value and respect them.
05
“Mom knows best. Do as I say!”
06
What is your usual reaction when your child starts crying? Suppression of negative
Children who constantly have things chosen for them grow up passive, dependent, and easily manipulated by someone else’s authority. Instead, encourage your child to choose a game that he wants to play or a cartoon that he wants to watch. By giving the child a right to choose, we teach him to listen to himself and not be afraid to reject offers that are contrary to his beliefs, desired, or interests. When demanding unquestioning obedience from your child, think 20 years ahead. Do you really want him to become an adult who obeys everyone and doesn’t try to defend his positions?
emotions leads to neuroses and psychosomatic diseases. Our task as parents is to teach a child to express his emotions without harming anyone. Show all your empathy and let the child cry over the lost toy for some time if he/she wants to.
okay, try again, I believe in you! 07 It’s Nobody gets it right away
This is what you should say to your child in case of failure. Your child should realize that every successful person has made mistakes and that mistakes help develop perseverance patience and other essential qualities. Most importantly, though, show that his failures will have no bearing on how much you love him.
08 “I love you”
These three magic words are crucial for the healthy development of your child. It is also important to back your words up with actions: spending time together, playing, laughing and fooling around, blowing bubbles, hugging your baby, discussing his problems and supporting him if necessary. Show them that if you say these three little worlds, you mean them with all your heart!
Warm Regards Rania Thraskia Educator, Family Counselor MSc.
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ACS ATHENS SHARE NEWSLETTER //MARCH 2019
nutrition
March is Nutrition Awareness Month! Lets celebrate the arrival of spring with a few insights on healthy nutrition for our children and ourselves as well. This topic has become increasingly difficult to reach agreements upon, within both scientific and public communities, as research in this field is still trying to catch up with the developments in other healthcare fields, after being ignored for decades. There are strong, opposing opinions on multiple fronts, so it is hard to come up with sensible, easy to apply ideas in our everyday, fast pace, modern lives. However, there are few things that most experts (and the public) agree upon:
01. Try to eat together as a family at least one meal a day. Children who start eating with their whole family early on develop good feeding habits and other social skills that will benefit them later in life.
02. Involve your children in cooking and shopping for food; let them help decide what foods will be on the dinner table or lunch boxes at least once in awhile. This will help them build useful skills for future, when they will be on their own and responsible for the food choices and their future families.
banned from use in food industry (like BPA, PFCs, phthalates, nitrates and artificial food colors), but research is unable to keep up with the rate of development of these products. Some of these products are proven endocrine disruptors, linked to feminization of male animals; also shown to decrease male hormone levels in humans.
05. Of particular concern are the artificial sweeteners.
foods” rather than processed foods, which do not have the same impact on the body metabolism and nutrition. This is particularly important when if comes to fruit juices, which provide only the high sugar, watery content of the fruits, without the fiber that has extensive benefits for gut health, satiety and intestinal macrobiota (bacterial flora that populates our intestine).
Large studies have shown that artificially sweetened beverages increase the risk of obesity and diabetes as much as the sugary drinks. The hypothesis is that the sweet taste conditions the brain to crave more sweet tasting foods and drinks (carbohydrates) that will in turn increase the caloric intake and lead to excessive weight gain and all the health hazards associated with it. Other studies done in animals have also shown that artificial sweeteners change the content of gut bacteria that in turn can lead to development of type 2 diabetes. These studies have not included the stevia derived sweeteners, however there have been no studies proving stevia safer.
04. Avoid food additives, which is a category of chemicals
06. Sugar used in liberal amounts is not safe either! There
03. Teach them the importance of eating the “whole
that are used in the food industry to improve the taste, texture, appearance and stability of processed foods. There are more than 10 000 substances approved by the FDA (US food and drug administration agency) to be used in food processing. Some of the substances have been more recently
has never been in human history so much sugar present in daily diet. Limit the “added sugar” (refined sugar added when cooking and baking) as much as possible. There are enough carbohydrates in naturally occurring foods and they usually come with a healthy load of fiber too, like in fruits and starchy vegetables. #3
ACS ATHENS SHARE NEWSLETTER //MARCH 2019
nutrition
March is Nutrition Awareness Month!
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has developed a patient education program to help parents get access to good quality information on childhood nutrition and development: https://ihcw.aap.org/Pages/default.aspx Another broader initiative to help educate parents on childhood health issues is healthychildren.org, also powered by AAP. Here is link to their nutrition page, with excellent resources, including recipes: https://www.healthychildren.org/english/healthy-living/nutrition/pages/default.aspx In conclusion, try to eat fresh, avoid processed foods and sugary drinks, limit the “fruit drinks” especially if shelf stable, because they typically have added sugar. This is not an easy task for busy families who rely a lot on supermarkets and “fournos”-es that stick upfront all the tasty treats before you are even able to get to the fresh bread and produce you were intending to get. Hit the “laiki” when at all possible and get those kids in the kitchen to help and watch you cooking! After all, we have the advantage to live within the highly acclaimed “Mediterranean diet” universe, the only diet properly studied and proven to have cardiovascular health benefits. Lets make the most of it! Happy Spring!
THEMES FROM THE PAST MONTHS Trip to Lalaounis Jewelry Museum Than you all for joining us for this event! We were honored by the presence of Ms. Katerina Lalaounis who was kind enough to give us a Tour around the museum and explain the story behind every jewelry collection.
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ACS ATHENS SHARE NEWSLETTER //MARCH 2019
THEMES FROM THE PAST MONTHS Hike to Monastery Agios Ioannis Kinigos Thank you all for joining us for this event, we had an amazing day!
OUR COMMUNITY EVENTS Teachers’ Appreciation Week!
A SPECIAL THANK YOU FOR
Dr. Ballas Efstathios, a highly accomplished Orthopedic surgeon/ pediatric orthopedic who was very kind to come to our last PTO general meeting to talk about “physical activity and exercise in children and adolescents”. Please check out his website http://www.bone-joint.gr/
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ACS ATHENS SHARE NEWSLETTER //MARCH 2019
OUR COMMUNITY EVENTS
PTO INTERNATIONAL SPRING FAIR
May 18
Save the date Cafeteria committee: We would like to clarify that the cafeteria committee is separate from the PTO as we received many queries regarding food offered by the school’s cafeteria. A note from the cafeteria committee: The ACS Cafeteria Committee always welcomes constructive comments and suggestions from the school community. Please, communicate your thoughts in writing addressed to the Cafeteria Chair: elenimastrogamvraki@gmail.com.
We are currently organizing few upcoming community events. Please take the time to read through our emails as we are planning very interesting gathering and outings for both parents and children.
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ACS ATHENS SHARE NEWSLETTER //MARCH 2019
PARENTS
DID YOU KNOW THAT...?
Each month an Acs Athens parent answers these 10 questions! Please drop us a quick note in our feedback form if you would like to share!
Debbie Richards Perakis
Mom of a ninth grader Gabriella
What is the nicest thing your children have ever said to you? Whenever she thinks of others - when she asks me how my day was or how i feel - it’s the most beautiful part of my day.
What is the most hurtful thing your children have ever said to you? Must be when she calls me old-which is a lot!
What is the funniest thing you remember your children saying? I know why your throat hurts because you
…you can send us your thoughts, ideas and suggestions through the PTO page on the school Website? Or simply click http://www.acs.gr/pto-about/
...according to the oldest Roman calendars, one year was ten months long, beginning in March and ending in December. December was the tenth month, it was named for the number ten in Latin (decem), just like September was named for seven (septem). So, what about January and February? They were just two nameless months called “winter,” proving that winter is literally so awful it doesn’t even deserve a spot on the calendar. ...movie trailers were originally shown after the movies that’s why they are called trailers! ...in 2017, more people were killed from injuries caused by taking selfies than people killed by sharks. The average number of people killed by a shark is 6 and 35 people died from taking selfies in 2017. ...the average male gets bored of a shopping trip after 26 minutes.
HEALTHY & YUMMY
talk too much!
What are your children’s favorite sports or hobbies? dancing, volleyball, swimming, skiing, skating
How do you get your children to eat vegetables?
This month we present:
Our best kid friendly snack
Thankfully she has the very healthy influence of a greek father - vegetables are a natural part of their traditional cuisine and are not forced.
How did you choose your children’s names?
We wanted a name that would sound beautiful and be easy to pronounce in many languages.
What’s guaranteed to make your children smile? Her cat.
What is the best thing you enjoy about being a parent? Experiencing unconditional love for someone
- watching them grow and learn and sharing my passions with them.
What’s the hardest thing about being a parent? Making decisions and setting boundaries.
A big THANK YOU to Gefsinus, our cafeteria company, for their generous provision of coffee and tea at our PTO General Meetings!
Pappardelle with peas, broad beans & pecorino https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/pappardellewith-peas-broad-beans-pecorino/ #7