A new study showed that restaurants’s kids meals are unhealthy, and loaded with calories. Blame it on those chicken nuggets, mac n’ cheese and fries.
And what do you know, Dunkin Donut is jumping on the bandwagon of fastfood chains adding healthier choices in their menu. Customers can have two new choices for under 300 calories with 9 grams of fat or less. You really buying that? Check out Dunkin’ on August 6.
Now, instead of going out for breakfast, dinner or in-betweens, here are healthier menu choices that the family can enjoy:
Busy Family Meals lays out two weeks of …read more

He used to smell like baby powder, your little boy. These days, he passes you by the hallway and “eew!” he smells like sweat, week-old socks and something quite foreign. Looking closer at your young man, you even notice – gasp(!) -stubble on his once-smooth face. Get a clue – he is entering the adolescent years and with it come chemical and physical changes to his body.
Here are some ways of helping the young boy develop proper hygiene with puberty.
He really should wash. If he’s not taking daily showers, this is certainly the time to start. Pimples and “zits” …read more

When my son first started sucking his thumb at one month of age, my first response was to stop the habit cold. I wasn’t too thrilled about thumb sucking, as my firstborn didn’t have the same habit. Besides I got plenty of unsolicited advice about thumb sucking as a bad habit. My efforts to remove my son’s thumbs were rewarded with a different habit – he sucked on his two other fingers!
But really, thumb sucking is one of the most common habits of young children. This natural sucking instinct is a child’s way of self-soothing. It also does not …read more

World Breastfeeding Week is from August 1-7, and I thought it’s an good time for a Kitchen Table talk (or round-table if you wish) about your experiences with breastfeeding.
As an incentive I will be giving away a $20 gift card to Amazon to a winner randomly chosen. But first, let’s chat. Here are some questions to begin with -

How long did you breastfeed? How was the experience like?
If you did not breastfeed, was it a choice or because you can’t? Care to share the circumstance and experience?
What breastfeeding tips can you give for first time moms?
If you’re …read more

Finally my infant son is starting at eat solids! My breasts can rest. Well, only a little, really. 
But I’m excited to feed him and determined to give him a well-balanced diet at an early age. If I may compare him to his older sister, she is such a slow and picky eater that her weight is constantly on the lighter side. Both children are also diagnosed with multiple allergies, so their choice of food are already limited. But my daughter does love to eat fruit and vegetables so I must be doing something right.
So how do you develop …read more

Children do best when interaction is part of learning. When you’re trying to teach a child about the importance of nutrition and fitness, it helps to illustrate “what happens if-” and have kid experience the payoff of keeping healthy.
The David Beckham Academy has come up with a cool electronic handheld soccer game – MatchMaster – that teaches kids all about managing their health. In the virtual sports game, a player simulates proper nutrition, exercise and adequate rest to increase health and performance. The claim to fame of the MatchMaster is that it is a great soccer training aid …read more

This week is the quarterly massive Bloggy Give-away Carnival, and blogs everywhere are participating, so you’re right in time for winning something.
So thanks to everyone who joined the Kids Health Notes give-away for Scholastic books for children! Here are the nine winners, randomly chosen.
117 susan p  How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon
77 Tammy The Invention of Hugo Cabret
50 Linda Moeller Paint the Wind
37 Tonya Froemel The World of Germs
18 Patricia Hill  The Encyclopedia of Immaturity
61 Christina You Can Save the Planet: 50 Ways You Can Make a Difference
55 Thomas Gibson The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming
137 TRACY HEYER Magic …read more

Summers mean theme parks, state fairs, carnivals, and FOOD.
But before you order your child that tempting plate of funnel cake, the gigantic onion blossom, or snow cones, STOP YOURSELF.
Here are ten of the unhealthiest foods you can find at the fair:
APPETIZERS: Chicken nuggets. Almost every child loves chicken nuggets, whether at the fair or fastfood. Eeek! Just a serving of 6 nuggets contain 341 calories, 17 g (26%) total fat, 63 mg (21%DV) cholesterol, 870 mg (36%DV) sodium. The chicken strips don’t fare any better either.
APPETIZER: Fried onion blossom. Surely onions are healthy! Not …read more

Sometime between ages 10 and 15, your cute little boy will become a young man. In one quick summer, you will hardly know this awkward young man goes around your house carrying a razor, with a voice that fluctuates between squeaks and baritone and an odor that suddenly smells suspicious.
If you say YES to the questions below, prep yourself, your boy is going through puberty.

Has his voice become deeper?
Has his muscles gotten bigger? (Like you didn’t see him flex it more often too!)
Is he suddenly taller?
Is he getting pimples on his face or back?
Has he …read more

The new craze for today’s tweens? Half sleep-overs. It’s fun, it’s crazy and and best of all, it’s parent-approved!
Half-sleepovers are just the cool kind of pajama parties where parents drop off their girls, in pajamas, and then pick them in time for bed. It’s more like pretend sleep-overs, but girls still have fun like it’s the real thing.
Set the stage. Think of a theme your girls will love. Transform her room into a mini party room, with decor, balloons, cool lights, and small table for snacks and drinks. Set up a TV area, lounge (pillows on the floor …read more