Cutest Babies, Kids and Sibling Contest 1
2019
Section E
Saturday, February 2, 2019
The examiner
@EJC_Examiner
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Cutest Babies, Kids and Sibling Contest
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Cutest Babies, Kids and Sibling Contest 3
Table of Contents Centerpoint Medical Center................ Page 2
New Car-Seat Guidelines..................... Page 8
Lee’s Summit Physicans Group............ Page 2
Tips for Shy Students.............................. Page 9
More Sleep, Less Screen Time.............. Page 4
Tips for Interrupters, Interruptes.......... Page 10
Children Do Listen................................. Page 5
It’s a Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World................ Page 11
2019 Cutest Babies................................ Page 6
State Farm............................................ Page 12
2019 Cutest Kids and Siblings................ Page7
A special advertising supplement to The Examiner
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2019
Cutest Babies, Kids and Sibling Contest
STUDY:
More sleep, less screen time for SMARTER kids By Melissa Erickson More Content Now
L
ooking for a reason to limit your child’s screen time? A new study finds that capping TV, computer and mobile device use at two hours a day will improve brain power. Children who spent the most time on electronic devices had a 5 percent lower cognitive function than other children 8 to 11, according to a study from the CHEO Research Institute in Ottawa, Canada. The observational study of more than 4,500 children in the United States was published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal. Children and parents completed questionnaires to estimate the child’s physical activity, sleep and screen time, and children completed a cognition test. Better sleep and limited screen time were the strongest links to improved cognition, but researchers also found that more physical activity was important for overall health and cognition. “For growing children, the whole day matters. A healthy 24 hours includes kids sweating,
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stepping, sleeping and limiting sitting or sedentary behavior,” said Dr. Jeremy Walsh of the CHEO Research Institute. “In the age group the study looked at, the guidelines recommend at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day, two hours or less recreational screen time and nine to 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep,” Walsh said. The study found that children in the United States spend an average of 3.6 hours a day engaged in recreational screen time. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests limiting screen time to one hour per day of high-quality programming for ages 2 to 5, while kids 6 and older should have “consistent limits” on time spent with screens. To encourage children to take part in a variety of sedentary and physical activities, Walsh said parents need to get involved. During sedentary times, parents and children can play board or card games, color and draw and read together, he said. “By spending time together in these activities, families can limit their screen time,” Walsh said.
Cutest Babies, Kids and Sibling Contest 5
By Dr. Elaine Heffner
A
More Content Now
familiar complaint from parents is that children “don’t listen.” What they usually mean is that a child doesn’t do what they tell him to do. Often, it refers to routines like, “get dressed, pick up your toys, finish your lunch,” and more of the same. So, the real meaning of children not listening is that they don’t obey us. If they would just do as they are told life would be so much easier. As it is, everything turns into a struggle. Parents begin to feel that there must be some magic that can make it stop, or worry that something is wrong with a child who seems always to defy them. This came to mind when a father shared some of his young daughter’s school work with me. A classroom teacher gave the children a motto with an assignment to write about how it might apply to them. The one that struck me had to do with the Golden Rule. The assignment was “write about the ways you follow the Golden Rule.” What follows is exactly what the child wrote, errors in spelling and grammar included: “I follow the Golden Rule because I treat people with the same respect I want to be treated with and I stand up for other people that aer yunger on the bus. I help people that have a problem.
Children do
LISTEN
I stand up for my self when I need to. I am kind to others. I treat people nicely. I help people crros in front of the bus. I help people with math. I help people spell words. I help people that need to be helped. I help people do there work when they need to. I help people do there homework.” Is this child’s self-description an accurate picture of her actual behavior? Not really. What makes it interesting is not only that it shows she understands the concept of the Golden Rule. More important, it shows the kind of behavior to which she aspires. She has taken in certain ideas relating to the kind of person who would be valued - the kind of person she would like to be.
Parents often express amazement when hearing of their children’s exemplary behavior at someone else’s home, or when they find that a school report reflects no sign of troublesome behavior at home. This disparity is another example that children have taken in parental expectations of behavior and demonstrate children’s ability to meet such expectations in situations other than at home. If children clearly know the “right” way to behave, why don’t they behave that way at home? One reason is that controlling impulses, giving up your own wishes in order to meet the requests of others, is still hard work for young children. Often, when children start school,
they are exhausted when they come home. Functioning in a group and exercising control over their behavior takes great effort. Children may rebel at exerting such effort all day at home. Also, an important part of development is that children begin to assert themselves. At times they develop a sense of their own identity by acting in opposition to their parents. They may behave defiantly when parents seem to disregard their own emerging ideas and wishes which differ from what parents want. The child referred to earlier wrote, “My dad has a positive attitude because he is always there for me and is persistent.” Perhaps she has offered an important message for parents: With persistence in your expectations and a positive attitude, your children at some point will show you they do listen. Elaine Heffner, LCSW, Ed.D., has written for Parents Magazine, Fox.com, Redbook, Disney online and PBS Parents, as well as other publications. She has appeared on PBS, ABC, Fox TV and other networks. Dr. Heffner is the author of “Goodenoughmothering: The Best of the Blog,” as well as “Mothering: The Emotional Experience of Motherhood after Freud and Feminism.” She is a psychotherapist and parent educator in private practice, as well as a senior lecturer of education in psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Heffner was a co-founder and served as director of the Nursery School Treatment Center at Payne Whitney Clinic, New York Hospital. And she blogs at goodenoughmothering.com.
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Cutest Babies, Kids and Sibling Contest
Cutest Babies
2019
st 1 place
Winners
THANK YOU TO “I’m too cute for an ugly sweater!” EVERYONE WHO First Place: SUBMITTED AND VOTED Babies (0 - 2 years) IN THIS YEAR’S CONTEST! Child’s First Name: Liam G.
Bates City, MO
Cutest Babies, Kids and Sibling Contest 7
Cutest Kids st 1 place
Trains, parks, and sunshine are three of his favorite things!
Cutest Siblings st 1 place
“Brothers make the best friends!”
First Place: Kids (2 - 12 years)
First Place: Siblings (any age)
Child’s First Name: Levi Independence, MO
Children’s Names: Hudson & Sawyer Independence, MO
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Cutest Babies, Kids and Sibling Contest
By Melissa Erickson More Content Now
C
ar seats are meant to keep kids safe, but they only work if used — and used correctly. New guidelines released from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that children remain in a rear-facing car seat until they reach 40 pounds, aligning with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s guidelines. “These unified recommendations recommend that all children under 1 should ride rear-facing, and even once a child turns 1, they should remain rear-facing until their convertible car seat is outgrown,” said Carrie Rhodes, passenger safety program coordinator at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. “From there, the recommendation is for kids to continue to utilize their forward-facing harnessed seat until it is outgrown and, finally, use a booster seat until they fit properly in the adult seat belt.”
Protection for older children Putting kids in cars is one of the most dangerous things adults do with them, Rhodes said — not only the infants and preschoolers often thought of as vulnerable, but school-age children and preteens, too. Of the children 12 and younger who died in a crash in 2016 — for which restraint use was known — 35 percent were not buckled up, according
NEW CAR-SEAT guidelines extend use for rear-facing models
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The biggest challenge we see, after incorrect installation of car seats, is the fact that newborns and infants are seen as more fragile and compliance with using car seats is higher with this age group,” said registered nurse Laura Gamino, outreach and injury prevention coordinator for OU Medicine Trauma Services and the Safe Kids Oklahoma City Metro Coalition coordinator. “More deaths are seen with toddlers and young school-age children because once children are a bit older, parents think using a seat belt is safe; it is not. In addition, the child may not want to ride in a booster seat or view a
booster seat as being too babyish.” While a parent may be eager for a child to hit a milestone, when it comes to car seats it’s important for families to realize that far more often, each step forward provides children with less protection in the event of a crash, Rhodes said. “For example, we know that rear-facing seats provide kids with the best protection possible. The seats allow the child’s head, neck and back to take crash forces as a unit, riding down a crash fully supported by the seat’s shell,” she said.
Choose the right seat One error technicians see frequently
is families who leave children in their rear-facing-only — or carrier-style — seats too long, trying their best to follow the recommendations but not understanding that there is a type of rear-facing seat designed for bigger kids, Rhodes said. “Once a child outgrows their rear-facing-only seat by the seat’s height limit, weight limit or by having less than 1 inch of shell above their head, they should move to a convertible seat. Convertible car seats begin as a rear-facing seat and later turn to face the front,” Rhodes said. Convertible seats typically accommodate kids until 40 to 50 pounds, easily allowing children to continue riding rear-facing for several years. “Delaying the transition from rear- to forward-facing allows families to extend the protection typically only given to infants and toddlers to their kids for longer,” Rhodes said. One thing parents and caregivers should know is that car seats do have an expiration date, Gamino said. “The plastic breaks down over time and with exposure to heat and cold,” she said. Securing kids in car seats is more complex than it seems. Both experts advise having car seat installation checked by a certified child passenger safety technician. “If families don’t have or can’t afford a car seat, many communities have programs to help,” Rhodes said.
Cutest Babies, Kids and Sibling Contest 9
Encouragement tips for
By Melissa Erickson More Content Now
“If necessary the teacher can use common techniques like paraphrasing and asking follow-up questions to help the student make themselves understood. The shy student should not be made to feel that their shyness is something to be cured, but also not something they will be allowed to hide behind.” Adam Cole, former educator
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eing a shy child can make school challenging, but caring teachers can help by creating a more inclusive environment where such children can thrive. “For shy students, everyday classroom tasks such as reading aloud, group work and presentations can be a daunting and even scary experience,” said Katie Benson, head of primary at the British International School of Washington, D.C. “It is therefore crucial that teachers are sensitive and proactively manage their needs to enable them to be successful.” “Shy students are a fantastic resource for a classroom. They are also easy to overlook,” said former educator Adam Cole, who taught in the Fulton County and Atlanta, Georgia, public schools at the middle and elementary levels for 12 years. A good place to start is by engaging with the child as an individual so he or she feels comfortable with you and in the class. “Talk to them about their interests. Using gentle humor can also help,” Benson said. There are a variety of reasons a student may be shy, but whatever the cause,
getting him or her to speak is not only good for the student but for the class as well, Cole said. Including a shy child should be done carefully and with some compassion, he said.
Demonstrate empathy A teacher should have a comprehensive method of getting opinions from all students so that everyone is expected to talk, and everyone listens to the speaker no matter how softly or slowly they answer, Cole said. “The students will watch the teacher to see how to treat the shy student when their turn comes. If the teacher is impatient or pushes the shy student to speak more quickly or with more volume, the other students will read that these qualities are deficits and will be intolerant of them,” Cole said. Avoid calling on the first person to raise their hand, said teen life coach and parent educator Sheri Gazitt, founder of Teen Wise. “A teacher needs to give the shy child space and time to raise their hand or to ask/answer questions. It takes shy kids time to build up the courage to interact,” she said. “What happens quite often in the classroom is the outspoken child raises their hand quickly and is called upon. Giving just a few extra seconds
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SHY STUDENTS
before calling on someone can change the dynamics in the classroom.”
Get creative With empathy and understanding, teachers can prompt shy students to interact in their own way, Cole said. “If necessary the teacher can use common techniques like paraphrasing and asking follow-up questions to help the student make themselves understood. The shy student should not be made to feel that their shyness is something to be cured, but also not something they will be allowed to hide behind,” he said. “Think of alternative ways in which you can achieve the learning outcomes you are aiming for, involving them in the conversation where possible,” Benson said. “For example, could they pre-record a presentation rather than do it live in front of the class?” Other ways to participate include writing the answer down on a sheet of paper or individual dry-erase board, having an electronic answering system or having a box in the classroom where kids can drop in questions and comments, Gazitt said. “Crucially, don’t make the shyness into a big deal; doing so will inevitably make it worse. Play it down and don’t draw unnecessary attention to it, especially on front of others,” Benson said.
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Cutest Babies, Kids and Sibling Contest
“They might not even notice it as interrupting or say talking over each other is common in their family,” she said.
By Melissa Erickson More Content Now
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eing interrupted is rude, but so is dominating a conversation and not letting others have a chance to speak. Both are social blunders. Interrupting or talking over others can derail a conversation and sabotage your best efforts in both social and work situations, said etiquette expert Syndi Seid, owner of San Francisco-based Advanced Etiquette. “Interrupting can quickly derail and shut down communication,” said Seid, who admits to being an occasional interrupter. “It’s something I work on,” she said.
For the interrupted
For the interrupter “The first step is to recognize and be aware of what you’re doing. Think to yourself, ‘Am I interrupting?’” Seid said. The goal should be to let others finish their comments before you start to speak, she said. If you do have to interrupt a conversation, do it as politely as possible, saying something like, “Please excuse me, may I interrupt?” or “Excuse me, may I interject something?” Sometimes people need to enter a situation where a conversation is already ongoing, wanting to briefly say hello or comment. In these instances it may be possible to catch the speaker’s eye with a wave or a nod, Seid said. “Look the person in the eyes, quickly say hello, offer a handshake or quick hug, and move on unless you are asked to stay and
TIPS
for interrupters, interruptees
Interrupting is sometimes a cultural behavior, and people who interrupt may have been brought up in families where interrupting was common.
join the conversation,” Seid said. This also works in a situation where you see someone and want to convey a brief message such as “Sorry, I don’t want to interrupt, but seeing you reminded me we need connect on the project we’re working on together.” Etiquette says it’s never acceptable to
interrupt a person who is speaking on the phone except in an emergency, Seid said. Instead, write a short note and hand it to them, she said. Interrupting is sometimes a cultural behavior, and people who interrupt may have been brought up in families where interrupting was common, Seid said.
The course of action a person takes after being interrupted depends on what the conversation was about, Seid said. “If it’s not urgent, out of courtesy let the interrupter finish. Then, you can say, ‘Actually, as I was saying’ and continue,” she said. Another tactic is to ignore the interrupter and not acknowledge the inappropriate behavior, Seid said. Because two wrongs don’t make a right, Seid said it’s not positive to interrupt an interrupter. While it may work, it will also condone and perpetuate the behavior, she said. If a friend or colleague is a constant interrupter, take him or her aside one-on-one to discuss the behavior and share how you feel. “Don’t do it in front of others,” Seid said. Conversation hogs make following etiquette rules frustrating. At times people may have to interrupt others to allow their voice to be heard. Seid recommends talking with the sandwich technique, a three-sentence approach that works well in job interviews. Start with a nice opening sentence followed by the “meat” comments, and end with something uplifting. Speaking in brief, declarative sentences that include pauses allows others to chime in, Seid said.
Cutest Babies, Kids and Sibling Contest 11
As opposed to children’s television there are no regulations concerning in-app advertising to children, which is something Radesky believes should change.
By Melissa Erickson More Content Now
T
oddlers with eyes glued to smartphones and tablets is unsurprising these days, but parents may be shocked by a new study from the University of Michigan Medical School that reports children’s so-called educational apps are loaded with advertising. Nearly all smartphone and tablet apps targeted at preschoolers include commercial content, according to a study published in October in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. For the study researchers analyzed 96 of the most popular free and paid apps aimed at kids under 5 and evaluated the prevalence, design and content of advertising. Overall 95 percent of the apps had at least one type of advertising, including 100 percent of free apps. “We were surprised by the heavy saturation of popular children’s apps with advertising. We were even more surprised by the advertising designs and approaches we discovered,” said Dr. Jenny Radesky, a development behavior expert, pediatrician and a senior author of the report. For example, the pop-up ads, which appeared out of the blue during gameplay, would be really disruptive to a young brain who
Choosing better apps
already has difficulty paying attention, Radesky said. “The hidden ads, which appear upon clicking a fun-appearing gameplay item such as a sparkling cake or a pulsing present on the screen, seemed deceptive to a young child whose attention would be drawn to novel stimuli,” she said.
Rewards for watching While watching a short ad may not seem that bad, parents should be concerned about how apps have ads embedded within the gameplay. For example, children are offered the opportunity to watch ads in order to gain more coins or tokens, get better items such as a faster tool that helps them play the game more easily, or unlock levels. “This can lead to children watching many more ads than you’d expect,
because they’d be motivated to get ahead in the game,” Radesky said. “While it’s not dangerous for children to watch ads per se, except the few we saw that were slightly violent or inappropriate, I think it’s a bad idea to get kids accustomed to the idea that ‘play’ equals a simple app puzzle that keeps nudging you to consume ads or purchase things. Many of these apps didn’t even feel like play — nothing like the fun, challenge, imagination and problem-solving that comes from play in the real world.” While it’s important to monitor what kids are seeing online and in apps, Radesky said she doesn’t want the onus to only be on parents of young children who often have enough on their plates. “Parents have a huge consumer power and should use it, and uninstall anything that is too full of ads or distracting to their child,” Radesky said.
Because kids playing online is not going away, parents should look for apps that have a clear educational or creative goal, allow children to be active learners or creators, and that parents and children can use together, said Heather Kirkorian, associate professor of human development and family studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There are some useful review and curation sites to help parents find content that is more beneficial than most; Common Sense Media (commonsensemedia.org) is a popular one,” she said. The most important things to consider are content (educational versus violent) and context (using media alone versus with a parent), Kirkorian said. “If children are going to use devices by themselves, consider applying the same good-parenting practices that you would for any other situation: Know what your kids are doing, where they are going and who they are with. Always look for content that helps children learn and play in positive ways. Make sure that digital media do not displace other positive activities like outdoor play, social interactions and plenty of sleep,” Kirkorian said.
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