media Archives - Happy Healthy Kids

Raising Awareness: 4 Great News Sources for Kids

March 16, 2018 by Kelley 3 Comments

When I was growing up, news came to me in glances, via the Philadelphia Inquirer that took up permanent residence on our kitchen counter. Now that my three boys are 11, 9, and 6, I’d like them to also have exposure to what’s going on in our increasingly complex world. But here’s the conundrum: Where should that news come from?

Ironically, even with so many choices for news—phones, tablets, cable, our good friend Alexa—it’s harder than ever to find news in a format that works for young minds. Salacious scandals force me to turn even NPR down in the car. The few quality kids’ news sites, like Time 4 Kids, require subscriptions and are geared toward schools. Moreover, anything on a browser is, at least for us, problematic—it’s way too tempting and easy for kids to wander off to YouTube and its ilk.

After some digging, I’ve come up with the following potential options for parents to find news for their kids that’s at once PG and engaging. If you’ve come up with some ingenious news-gathering solutions of your own, clue me in at kelley@happyhealthykids.com.

1. For setting up on a laptop at breakfast: Channel One News. Think of it as a televised Skimm for kids. Every morning, you can find two short (6-7 min) videos on the homepage of this news site created especially for children, teens, and families. The tone and content is upbeat and simple enough to engage my 6-year-old. But unlike a lot of educational programming, it’s not campy and goofy, a fact that appeals to my 11-year-old. It’s also short, so I don’t feel bad about the early-morning, pre-school screen time. We usually just watch the first segment, which consists of a brief rundown of 2-3 top headlines that are in the mainstream adult news, too. Yesterday, my kids’ learned about Stephen Hawking’s death, the closure of Toys ‘R Us, and that Russia is trying to interfere with our elections—all over a bowl of cereal.

2. For reading on the way to school or practice: News-O-Matic app. I love this free app, which is like a daily, interactive newspaper geared for kids ages 4 to 14. There’s a carefully curated mix of articles to read with a video or two and some fact boxes to help boost vocabulary and background knowledge. Kids can get through it in about 10 minutes on a phone or tablet, which I find is perfect for a quick car ride.

3. For Sunday morning family reading: The new New York Times ‘Kids’ Section. Old school meets new school: Inspired partly by a change.org petition from parents who said they’d pony up for a print newspaper subscription if it included content for their kids, The New York Times has started a once-monthly, print-only ‘Kids’ section that comes along with the Sunday paper. The first few iterations have been awesome: January’s edition included a primer on North Korea, an Olympics-inspired luge maze, a funnies section, and even some kid-friendly recipes. Right now, the Sunday paper is $5.13, and along with the awesome once-a-month Kids section, there’s plenty for the whole family to peruse, from the science section to movie reviews.

4. For road trips: Wow in the World Podcast. Anyone who’s ever listened to NPR’s TED Radio Hour can understand how friendly Guy Raz would make a great host for NPR’s first-ever kids’ program. This new weekly podcast created by Raz covers science, innovation, and other kid-friendly news topics every week by starting with a question—”What in the world is a solar eclipse?”—that segues into one or two current events. Kids as young as 4 or 5 can get it, and grown-ups will learn something, too, making it a great listen for a long car ride.

Photo credits: Top, Pixabay; Channel One News; News-O-Matic; New York Times; NPR/Wow in the World

Best TV for Preschoolers

March 1, 2017 by Kelley Leave a Comment

A couple years back, I wrote a post—one of this site’s most popular, ever—about the best TV shows for teens and ‘tweens. I had dug into the topic because it seemed that all the great children’s television was (and has always been) reserved for little kids. That remains true—almost, dare I say, maddeningly so. With Netflix, Amazon, cable, and other streaming sites constantly rotating similarly splashy looking, “enriching” tot bait, finding a great program for my Pre-K’er is like trying to pick out the best piece of hay from a haystack. I don’t even know where to look first first anymore.

I realize that homing in on “TV shows” makes me sound like a borderline Luddite. Like many of his peers who could tap and swipe before they could speak full sentences, my five-year-old will almost always pass up a TV show in favor of trying to propel Mr. Crab to the top of a perpetually rotating vertical obstacle course on the iPad. But the fact is, while the science on this subject is early and mixed, from my mom perch, I do see benefits to my kids watching “passive” television and movies rather than frenetically “interacting” with apps. Mr. Crab makes my son, well, crabby. But when he watches a good show, especially when curled up next to one of his brothers or parents, his little body seems to relax. Some days, that’s just what the situation calls for.

As when I reviewed big-kid TV, I reached out to the fantastic thinkers at Common Sense Media, my go-to site for children’s movie, TVs and game reviews, for recommendations on preschool shows that really raise the bar when it comes to unique themes or lessons. Polly Conway, TV editor for the site, shared five of her current top picks. Two are probably familiar to you; the others might be new discoveries.

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood
Inspired by the gentlest media of our own generation, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, it’s no surprise this program is a critical darling. Kids learn social cues, citizenship lessons, and a smattering of letter and number knowledge along with the curious little tiger cub who stars in the show.
Watch it: PBS Kids

Doc McStuffins
Another exemplar of getting little kids to think about social-emotional concepts, Doc also emphasizes the fun of imaginative play, the importance of caring for others, and as a bonus, good hygiene. The Common Sense Media review of the show lauds how it pokes a few subtle holes into stereotypes, with Doc’s mom away at work most of the day and dad helping out at home.
Watch it: Disney Junior

The Stinky and Dirty Show
One of a growing number of gems produced by Amazon, Stinky and Dirty “is a great new show that helps preschoolers learn teamwork and communication,” says Conway. Based on a series of books by Jim and Kate McMullan, two hard-working, fun-loving friends—a garbage truck and backhoe loader—are constantly faced with challenges they must overcome together. The animation and dialogue are first-rate.
Watch it: Amazon

Word Party
“This is a fun one from Netflix that lets kids be the teachers to a group of even younger learners,” says Conway. This unique premise is inspirational to little kids who might constantly feel like they’re on the receiving end of instruction from remote grown-ups. For toddlers and younger preschoolers, there’s some real skill development to be found here; and they seem to find the baby animals, created by Jim Henson’s production company, mesmerizing to watch.
Watch it: Netflix

Puffin Rock
Also from Netflix, Conway says her personal fave is a “beautifully animated, gentle and sweet show that teaches empathy and a little environmental science.” Puffling Oona, her baby brother, and pals explore notions of friendship, family bonds, and appreciation for nature. A perfect wind-down pick.
Watch it: Netflix

For more preschool show ideas, check out Common Sense Media reviews here and here. What are your family’s top picks for shows for the preschool set? Clue us in to more ideas in the comments here or on our Facebook page.

photo credit: donnierayjones Relaxed Twinning via photopin (license)

Top Kids’ Health Headlines of 2016

December 30, 2016 by Kelley Leave a Comment

I think we can all agree that 2016 was a news roller coaster —at turns nauseating, exciting, and just plain sobering. And the output of fascinating headlines included an unusual amount of news relevant to parents and kids. Here are five family-centric health topics that caught my attention last year, and are good to catch up on if you haven’t already. What am I missing? Be sure to comment here or on Facebook to let me know. Happy New Year to you and yours…and thanks so very much for reading.

Screen Time for Tots O.K.—As Long as Parents Get Involved. For the past decade, parents have struggled to heed American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations banning any and all screen-time for kids under 2. But now, conceding the ubiquitousness of digital media in all our lives, the AAP have updated their guidelines to not include an age floor for screen use—but instead encourages parents to be more proactive in how, what, and for how long kids of all ages watch. They recommend printing out and sticking to a Family Media Use plan like this one that encourages careful vetting of games and shows, time for outdoor play and exercise, and putting phones and tablets “to bed” when kids do.

HPV Vaccination Works—But Not Enough Kids Are Getting It. The prevalence of the cancer-causing human papilloma virus (HPV) in teen girls has dropped impressively—by 64%—since the HPV vaccine was introduced a decade ago. And yet, just 42 percent of girls and 22 percent of boys between the ages of 13 and 17 are getting the recommended 3-dose vaccine series. A just-released study in Pediatrics suggests that pediatricians take a more formal approach to getting families on board—presenting it clearly as one of the recommended vaccines for kids rather than launching an open-ended conversation about it over the course of a well visit.

Dads are Crucial to Kids’ Healthy Development. Shifting family dynamics have gotten more fathers involved in childcare, but old stereotypes and gender norms still perpetuate the notion that moms are the emotional center of kids’ lives. New research and guidelines may change that perception: In a rigorous review of recent research on fatherhood, the AAP released a clinical report showing that dads’ involvement is a stronger predictor of kids’ health and success than many might assume. Among their findings: Healthy “horseplay” often initiated by dads may challenge children to be more confident in taking risks; the amount of father communicates with a child at age 3 may be one of the chief predictors of kids’ later verbal ability; and teens with involved dads are less likely to engage in risky behavior or suffer from depression. Michael Yogman, M.D., chair of the AAP Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health and co-author of the report, goes so far as to suggest that pediatricians start giving dads, specifically, a prescription at infant well visits: “Play with your baby every day.”

Zika Hits Home—and the Impact Goes Beyond Microcephaly. A little more than a year after we started reading about the devastating effects of the mosquito-borne virus in South America, cases of Zika started popping up in Florida in July 2016. The spread, at least domestically, seems to have been contained by now, but public health officials warn that warm weather in 2017 could bring about more cases—and more dangers. A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that damage during fetal development from the mosquito-borne virus can occur throughout pregnancy, and that other birth defects are even more common than microcephaly, when babies are born with very small heads. Given Zika and the increase in tick-borne illness diagnoses in kids, it’s more important than ever that parents get as serious about applying an effective insect repellent to kids—and themselves, especially if pregnant—as they’ve become about slathering on sunscreen. We’ve listed the most effective safe bug sprays, here.

U.S. Kids are Heating Healthier, But… Finally, some good news on the kid diet front: Brown University research on children’s eating patterns between 1999 and 2012 reveals that kids are eating more whole grains, whole fruits, dairy, and protein from seafood and plants. They’re also laying off sugary foods and drinks more than ever before. But: they continue to eat too much salt and not enough vegetables—even fewer veggies than previous, less health-conscious generations consumed, say Brown epidemiologists. Here are some HHK ideas for some simple, kid-friendly veggie side dishes, and 25 superfoods—including seven vitamin-packed vegetables—worth trying on your children.

Best Podcasts for Kids

June 21, 2016 by Kelley 1 Comment

You may have gathered that I’m a little obsessed with podcasts. Why clean the dishes in silence (or in earshot of post-dinner mutant-robot sword fights…why does their energy always ramp up right after dinner when you need it to dissipate)? Popping in an earbud and catching part of a Fresh Air interview or Dear Sugar Radio episode doesn’t just pass the time and force me to think beyond work and family minutiae. On some days, it keeps me sane.

I realized recently that the same might be true for my kids. There are plenty of short, “dead” periods in the car and at home when, tired and left to their own devices, my kids will choose to needle and whine. While I realize that down time to just “be” is important to childhood, I think we have plenty of those. What I could use is a little brain teaser when energy is short but I’d like my kids to do more than zone out to Sonic the Hedgehog. The other month, I covered audiobooks. Today, I’m talking podcasts.

While podcasts about kids (i.e., parenting) are plentiful on iTunes, podcasts for kids are few and far between. But among these, there are several gems. Sample from some of the programs below, and hook up your phone or the kids’ iPads to the car or home stereo when you’re in this zone of betwixt and between. And, just in case you don’t know how to access, much less download, a podcast, here’s a quick primer: If you have a smartphone, you should have (or can download) a Podcast app, where your chosen programs will be stored as you subscribe to or download them. To find one—and there are hundreds of thousands of free ones—fire up iTunes or Stitcher and search for whatever you’re interested in…fashion, politics, parenting, whatever. These services will cue up the 10 or so most popular podcasts in that genre. You can subscribe (new episodes download automatically), listen to a single episode if you are in a Wi-Fi or good cell zone, or download one by one.

Brains On!
Ages 5-12
In terms of quality, this is tops among kids’ podcasts, probably because it’s run by three public radio vets. Each episode explores a kid-friendly scientific phenomenon or conundrum—why is some hair curly? Is there an edge to space? Smart, excited kids and friendly, real-life scientists animate the explanation. Just in case brain cramp sets in, each installment is broken up by a feature called “Mystery Sounds” in which a short audio clip is run and everyone gets to ponder the source. Older kids might balk at some goofy elements, but they’ll also surprise themselves by learning something.
Listen and subscribe

Ear Snacks
Ages 3-6
Indie kids’ rock musicians (and parents) Andrew and Polly mix it up on this wacky podcast, which covers topics from “Beeps” to “Boxes” to “Shadows” with a mix of science, stream-of-consciousness ramblings, and surprisingly good music. Best for the preschool set but some musically inclined early elementary schoolers might get into it, too.
Listen and subscribe

Storynory
Ages 3-8
Among little kids’ audio, there are a lot of creaky-feeling folk-tale retellings, but what’s great about this podcast is its mix of classic and new, and long and short, with some funny poems and songs mixed in. Actors read myths, fairy tales, and original stories you’ve never heard before.

Story Pirates
Ages 5-12
It’s a clever concept: top comedians and actors adapt stories written by kids into musical theater. The performances are amusing, but perhaps the best part is that children get the idea that their ideas matter. (Sample episode teaser: “From the Wilderness show, the Story Pirates present new story ‘Bird Tornado’ by Austin Fuemmeler!” You can imagine Austin’s delight.) Each podcast in an excerpt from the Story Pirates’ weekly Sirius XM radio show and nicely edited down to 6-20-minute bites: perfect for the ride to camp or the pool.
Listen and subscribe

Tumble
Ages 5-12
Husband-and-wife duo Lindsay Patterson and Marshall Escamilla are psyched about science, and are on a quest to get entire families feeling the same way. What it lacks in polish compared to, say, Brains On, it makes up for in enthusiasm. Perhaps you do know why dogs or loyal, or why bats hang upside down; for the rest of us know-littles, it’s a great podcast for parents, too.
Listen and subscribe

Readers: What awesome, kid-friendly podcasts am I missing? Clue me in below or here!

Photo credit: “Sharing” via Photo Pin, cc

Why the “Two-Minute Warning” Backfires

May 26, 2016 by Kelley 1 Comment

You hear it on the playground, in the toy store, in playrooms and TV rooms across America:

“Two-minute war-ning!”

My husband and I hardly the only parents who throw this phrase around like Skittles on an airplane. To our minds, it’s a way of letting kids know that while happy-fun-time is reaching its endpoint, while also allowing them to wrap their little heads around the concept and therefore ease more comfortably into an undesirable transition. I’ll speak for myself that there’s even a little smugness about it: I’m standing firm, but softening the blow.

The two-minute warning wasn’t our brainchild, of course. When my oldest was a stubborn toddler who tended to fixate on what interested him and tune out the rest of the world, our New York City pediatrician clued us into the idea of the two-minute warning. “It’s helpful to give him time to get used to an idea rather than just yanking him out of a situation,” he said. So from that point on, whenever we could remember to do it and physically situate ourselves in earshot, we’ve given our kids two-minute warnings before the end of playtime, outdoor time, before-bed reading time, and most commonly, screen time.

And yet, my nagging suspicion that this common parental tool always made me feel better than it did my kids is supported by new research out of the University of Washington. Researchers in the school’s Computing for Healthy Living and Learning Lab interviewed some families and asked others to keep a diary of screen time experiences over the course of two weeks. Researchers found, to their surprise, that two-minute warnings seem only to worsen tantrums in young kids. The study was small, but controlled, and definitely compelling.

So what does work to get kids to move away from an activity without throwing a fit? The researchers suggest the following:

Routine, routine, routine: When the Shopkins or Transformers always come out, say, just after snack time and get put away just before bath, kids seem to accept the end of free time as a natural order of things.
Natural stopping points: You don’t like it when the baby starts to cry in the middle of Game of Thrones, do you? So we can sympathize when we pull the plug just after Bree enters the time machine to the third dimension on Lab Rats. We can help ourselves and our kids by choosing a show or program that has a defined endpoint, and making sure you are around and ready to call it quits when the credits roll or avatar completes his mission.
Make timers do the dirty work for you. Funny, children are far more accepting of a beeping device than a yelling parent. Lots of smart TVs, iPads have controls that lock access at a certain time. And we’ve had success in setting up these small, inexpensive timers in the playroom and the bedrooms (they’re even good for getting lazy kids out the shower).

I’m piloting a greater effort to structure our busy lives so I’m not continually yanking my four-year-old, especially, from one thing to another, and will keep these tactics top of mind. If you have any good tricks, do tell!

Kids Worry About Our Screen Time

March 11, 2016 by Kelley 1 Comment

My second-grader had a class play today, and before the curtain opened, the school’s headmaster made the request he now always makes before the excited, nervous elementary-schoolers in his care perform for their parents: “Grown-ups, can you please turn off and put away your cell phones?”

Heads swiveled around to make sure moms and dads in the back were complying. I saw one child nod pointedly toward a parent as if to say, “this time for real, Dad.”

Just like we parents get aggravated about our kids’ “obsession” with tablets, texting, and video games, this morning reminded me that children are growing equally irritated by the way we are so often bent over our phones, demanding “one more minute!” as we tap out a message or post. University of Washington and University of Michigan researchers recently discovered this too, in a survey of 249 families with kids between 10 and 17 about their technology usage. The study, one of the first to include findings related to kids’ feelings about their parents and screen time, is an eye-opener.

When researchers asked kids what technology rules mom and dad needed some brushing up on, they had a lot of thoughts. Among other things, they said they wished their parents would:

Be more present. Children felt there should be no technology at all in certain situations, such as when a child is trying to talk to a parent.

Cut back on use. Parents should use technology in moderation and in balance with other activities.

Keep them safer. Parents should focus on establishing and enforcing technology-related rules for children’s own protection, primarily.

Put down the phone on the road! Parents should not text while driving or sitting at a traffic light.

Stop oversharing on social media. Parents shouldn’t share information online about their children without explicit permission.

Be less hypocritical. Parents should practice what they preach, such as staying off the Internet at mealtimes.

I’m going to keep this last one, especially, in mind as we head into the weekend—when screen limits get relaxed for everyone, and it’s all to easy to get mired in emails or Pinterest even after we announce that “time’s up!” on our own kids’ tablet time. If modeling the right behavior is the most effective form of good parenting, this is one area where I, for one, need a reminder. Perhaps a screen alert?

Great Audiobooks for Kids

November 4, 2015 by Kelley Leave a Comment

Audiobooks have been a classroom staple since we were kids—which is maybe why many parents overlook them. But if you haven’t downloaded a library of stories on a family phone or tablet yet, it’s time. The scratchy cassette tapes of our youth have given way to vivid re-tellings, often by celebrities or the authors themselves, that can be downloaded in seconds. Best of all: you don’t have to feel guilty about plugging in. “Audiobooks are valuable media for your children because they don’t pre-digest imagery for them,” explains pediatrician Michael Rich, M.D., in his “Ask the Mediatrician” blog for Boston Children’s Hospital. “That means that as your kids listen to the stories, they’re given the exquisite experience of actively imagining the worlds they’re hearing about. Their brains can paint the characters and actions in ways that resonate most with them.”

Audiobooks can also boost literacy. In a recent multi-center study, researchers found that kids’ participation in a weekly audiobook club significantly improved standardized test scores as well as attitudes towards reading. “The impact of this project was more far-reaching than the researchers ever anticipated,” authors wrote. “While the teachers were initially pleased to have some outside help with their struggling readers, most were satisfied to send in a list of students and leave it at that. The teachers’ responses, however, indicate that by the end of the study they were sold on the use of audiobooks.”

We’re sold, too. Audiobooks have become my number-one favorite family chill-out tool. We play them during car rides (even short ones), quiet time, and sometimes just before bed. Listening together unites us in a way that reading to them doesn’t—perhaps because we’re experiencing the story in the same way. They’re also genius for sick days: Dim the lights, fluff up some pillows, and set up some stories on low volume as kids drift in and out of sleep.

You can pay to own titles at iTunes or Amazon’s Audible.com (first story is free), or borrow from the local library (most now offer instant streaming through Overdrive.com). Here are some terrific selections to start with.

Preschoolers

Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones by Judy Schachner. You think you have fun attempting “kitty boy’s” loco language? Author Judy Schachner is hilarious in this installment of Skippyjon’s adventures—in this case, pretending that dog bones (filched from canine nemesis Darwin) are dinosaur fossils. My kids giggle out loud.

Frog and Toad Audio Collection by Arnold Lobel. A rare example of little-kid fiction in which illustrations are fairly superfluous, the Frog and Toad series brings together a string of short (5-10 minute) tales which are cute and simple with wry wit that older children and grown-ups can get into too.

Grades K-2

Nate the Great Collected Stories Vol. 1 by Marjorie Sharmat. John Lavelle is perfectly deadpan as kid-sleuth Nate, who takes his cases (of missing cookie recipes and the like) seriously. His interpretation of dotty Rosamond is especially funny.

A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond. Something about Stephen Fry’s crisp accent and Paddington’s wanderings about London makes for great, cozy listening. Kids will laugh and feel empathy at the sweet bear’s misadventures.

Grades 3-6

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. The movies are entertaining, but the original series by Cressida Cowell is the real deal, and a vocab-boosting triumph of kids’ fiction. British narrator David Tennant is at his cheeky best as he relates how hapless Hiccup tries to live up to his lofty Viking heritage.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Wasn’t Anne Hathaway born to play Dorothy? She is spot-on in this voice and others in this treat of an audiobook, which may capture today’s kids’ interest more than the print version.

Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson. The amazing Alfred Molina skips back and forth between gentlemen and salty pirates effortlessly. Wait until you hear his Long John Silver. My 9-year-old was hooked from the start.

Photo credit: “Pondering” via Photo Pin, cc

Do Boys Need a Violent Media Detox?

October 27, 2015 by Kelley Leave a Comment

About six years ago, I attended a local mother’s group lecture about media violence and its impact on kids. The speaker was Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor of early childhood education at Lesley University (and, in an interesting side note, Matt Damon’s mom). She didn’t talk about her famous son; she talked about the worrisome pervasiveness of fighting and weapons in kids’ entertainment. As she talked about the need to steer our children toward peaceful images and messages, I nodded along with the rest of the parents in the audience. It made perfect sense, and I vowed, at least that night, to be more careful about what my boys, then two in number and still in the tot stage, watched.

Fast forward to this moment: My third son, nearly 4, is a few feet away, waging an imaginary war with Deceptions. This is something he does for a disturbingly large portion of his waking hours. A healthy interest in trucks and trains and furry animals has given way to a fascination for robots, and not just any robots—huge, weaponized ones with names like Megatron, Demolisher, and Snarl. And how can I blame him? I let him watch Rescue Bots for his before-dinner show. I indulge his interest by printing out images of the metal beasts and pasting them into a “Transformers” book we created together. Hell, one rainy day last week, I played Ratchet to his Shockwave in a game of indoor tag, gruff, angry voice and all.

Even as this interest made me a little uneasy, I pushed worries away, assured by the fact that almost every boy I know is into some show or game involving some sort of weaponry, be it a ninja sword or “ice breath” or metal fists. Isn’t that just what boys are into? When my oldest son was a toddler and I wondered aloud about toy guns, a veteran mom friend assured me that if I withheld them, “they’ll just make one out of sticks anyway.”

(Then there’s this honest fact: When he watches or plays with Transformers, my youngest son is busy. And happy. And for a busy mom of three, that’s worth its wait in gold.)

But something last weekend brought me back to that moms’ group lecture. My mother-in-law, a longtime teacher and world-class mom and grandma, was visiting. After gamely reading Buddy Brawl aloud to my son for about the 13th time in an afternoon, she looked at his pile of Transformers’ books and mused lightly, “I wonder how storylines like these change a child’s worldview?” It wasn’t a judgment, but an honest question; and, as I thought about it over the course of the next day or two, an excellent one.

I did a little research, and discovered that the effect of violent programming, even seemingly innocuous cartoons involving fighting, has a negative impact, on boys, particularly. An especially persuasive 2007 University of Washington study in the journal Pediatrics found that for every hour a day spent watching violent TV as a preschooler (I’m talking Power Rangers-level stuff, here), boys were three times more likely to exhibit behavior problems at age 7. And in studies performed at Princeton, researchers discovered that kids who watched a heavy amount of fantasy violence had lower-level moral reasoning skills than their peers.

So, I’m embarking on an experiment: To remove from the DVR, iPad, and desktop “favorites” bar any show or game involving fighting or weapons, for a month. While the impact of books is less clear, for the sake of continuity, I’m tucking away the Transformers, Star Wars, and Superhero books for a time as well. (I won’t worry about stuff they do at friend’s houses…who wants to be “that mom?” And anyway, my goal is to reduce exposure, not eradicate it, which would be impractical.) When the same University of Washington researchers, above, prescribed to preschoolers a similar “media diet” of prosocial programming only, their behavior noticeably improved. I’m curious to see whether it cuts down on the kids’s level of play fighting and real fighting—which, while not overtly aggressive or dangerous, has been picking up lately. If the kids balk, I’ll explain it isn’t a punishment, but an effort to explore some new shows they might love. To my older sons, I’ll also speak honestly about my concerns about the impact on-screen fighting has had on their baby brother (whose pugnacious style of play, apparent with his brothers if not his peers quite yet, can often be as annoying to them as it is concerning to me.)

It won’t be easy: The older boys will have to forego their favorite iPad app (involving warring clans) and the little guy is bound to have some Autobot withdrawal. I’m going to have to log some serious time reconfiguring TV and computer settings. But if they pick up just a few more positive media options (and possibly brain cells) along the way, I figure it will have been worth it. In the next week or so, I will report back about the non-violent, boy-friendly shows and apps that have gotten the household thumbs-up.

I’m not expecting miracles, here. Just a little more peace in programming (and, hopefully, the playroom). Wish me luck.

Photo credit: The Team via Photo Pin, cc

How to Take Great Photos Of Your Kids

May 28, 2015 by Kelley Leave a Comment

There’s nothing like a beautiful or funny photo of a child to help remind us of the big-picture joys of raising kids. Even as years and legs stretch on, a photo will capture a stage or moment that may otherwise be stolen by the messiness of day-to-day life.

When it comes to memorializing our kids in 2-D, smartphones are a mixed blessing. The good: We can take tons of pictures, at any given moment. And the bad: We can take tons of pictures, at any given moment. We’ve devolved from point-and-shoot to point-and-tap, and too often, quality gets lost in quantity.

After discovering about three dozen crummy shots of blurry kids with blank expressions on my iPhone the other day, I decided it was time to get some legit advice on taking better pictures, before these irresistibly cute years pass by with few great photos to show for it. So I talked to the three moms I know who take the most unbelievably gorgeous, and seemingly effortless photos. My sister-in-law Susannah and friend Beth are amazing amateurs who are constantly taking and posting enviable shots of their children (they each have three). My high school friend Carolyn is a professional photographer who specializes in children’s and family portraits in Cincinnati (check out her website, Carolyn Bowles Photography, here.) They were kind enough to share their secrets to taking great photos of their kids and others’. Print out these tips and share them before summer vacation rolls around!

Susannah’s Tips

What’s your camera of choice? I always use the Canon EOS Rebel T3.

What settings do you use? I usually shoot in “full auto mode” (it automatically focuses, adjusts brightness, etc.) especially when taking photos of the kids on the move. I use portrait mode for holiday card photos, framed photos, etc. These are definitely my go-to, but in certain environments (beach, whatever), landscape and sports modes are also handy.

What time of day or positioning of sun is best? I always shoot with the sun behind my back so that it provides good, natural lighting. If you shoot with the sun facing the lens, you get hazy photos with lots of glare.

Stolen moments: Susannah took this photo of my oldest son and me in Martha’s Vineyard.

How do you get kids to look like they’re not being tortured in a photo? I generally take candids, which means I try to stay in the background, be as invisible as possible, and capture my kids in motion. I like to use my zoom feature, and take close-up photos of my kids’ faces, even when I’m far away. This allows me to capture really great, genuine moments without the groaning. For “staged” photos, my husband stands behind me and makes the kids laugh (pretending to trip over furniture is a go-to tactic). This helps generate genuine smiles in a staged setting.

What mistakes did you used to make? As I’ve become more experienced, I’ve really become more conscious of avoiding odd eyesores in the background (lawn furniture, bystanders, etc.)

Last piece of advice? Don’t be afraid to experiment and involve the kids—they love taking a picture or two.

Beth’s Tips

For water shots, Beth uses a Fuji Fine Pix point-and-shoot.

What’s your camera of choice? Sadly, most of my pictures end up being taken with my iPhone 5s, then cropped and edited. But when I’m really out to take pictures, I use a Nikon D40 SLR, most often with a 55-200mm zoom lens. You need to shoot from a distance with this, but that’s exactly why I love it: I can stay far away from the kids and get better candids, and I can really focus on details. I personally would rather capture the spark in one eye when a child is looking at something, than capture the 40 other things that could be going on in a standard frame. I also use a Fuji FinePix point-and-shoot in places where I don’t/can’t use my Nikon or iPhone—usually water-oriented things.

What settings do you use? As much as I can, I avoid using the flash, because I can never get the right tones. But if I have to use flash, then I deflect it/soften it using a bent index card. On my Nikon, I rely heavily on the automatic settings when I want dependable results, liking the portrait and action settings mostly. I also use iPhoto editing tools for adjusting color balance, cropping to get a better shot, etc. Very little that I share has not been at least re-framed.

Don't be afraid to break "the rules" of lighting.

Breaking “the rules” of lighting: Beth’s daughter at the Cape.

What time of day or positioning of sun is best? My favorites are the start and end of the days—it’s just good light. A full shadow is better than dappled shadows, and an overcast day is easier to shoot than a super sunny day (especially on snow and sand.) And some of my favorite shots break all the rules of lighting … I love evening backlighting and getting really dark subjects, especially if the kids are at play. And, when something is close but not quite right, playing with exposure and contrast after the fact can make a huge difference.

How do you get kids to not look like they’re being tortured in a photo? After a few horrific portrait sessions, I decided I’d rather have happy candids than “perfect” portraits. For those family pictures, though, it’s key that kids not be hungry, tired, or forced to sit while other kids are throwing a frisbee or eating ice cream. And not before opening gifts on Christmas morning. The best pictures tend to be taken at places where the kids are authentically happy anyway: with friends, at the beach, during an Easter Egg hunt or a birthday party.

What mistakes did you used to make? High expectations are the seed of disappointment: I no longer tell the kids that this is important to me. That’s the kiss of death. One mistake I have made again and again is waiting until the end of an event to try for a “memory” shot” (“Great Grandma is here, let’s get everyone in a picture..”). But the kids have been excused, Great Grandma is worried about the time, and no one is happy—and no one looks happy—even if you manage to get the shot. Do it at the beginning, or while everyone is sitting and eating. It’s way easier to put a plate down for 30 seconds than to reconvene everyone for a forced photo once the event is waning.

Last piece of advice? You can’t get good pictures if you don’t take pictures: Always have a camera with you, and take a lot of shots. And take a lot of them at once: On the iPhone, use the burst feature. A lot of point-and-shoots and SLRs have a version of it, too. Even if you get no perfect shots, they’ll have been taken so closely together that you have decent odds of photoshopping open eyes into a picture where one kid is caught mid-blink and everything else is great.

Carolyn’s Tips

What’s your camera of choice? I love the Canon 5D and it has been my go-to camera for many years. It’s amazing when paired with a lens like my favorite, the 50mm 1.2. I always tell people a great lens to start learning about photography is the 50mm 1.4, either Canon or Nikon. It’s called a prime lens because it’s at a set focal length. So, you move on your feet to move close to or far away from your subject. It’s an amazing lens and really helps you learn how to shoot in manual mode.

What settings do you use? I always set it on manual and make adjustments between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The great thing about digital cameras is that you can practice, practice, and practice some more without wasting money on film. Plus, you can get instant feedback by checking the back screen so you can make adjustments and get the exposure right.

Carolyn Bowles Photography

What time of day or positioning of sun is best? My favorite is a few hours before sunset. I love that soft, glowy, even light that you get when the sun starts to go down for the day. Now, while I encourage all my clients to choose this time of day, sometimes it just doesn’t work out and we have to shoot mid-day. In that case, I’ll find nice open shade so I don’t have to worry about the sun. I may need to move around my subject multiple times to find the most pleasing light before I start snapping away. Take your time to get the set up right with the light and you’ll be so happy you did.

How do you get kids to not look like they’re being tortured in a photo? I like to start every session by telling the kids how much fun we’re going to have. This is in big contrast to some parents who want to tell their kids to quickly smile and then they can get a treat. In my experience, that tactic rarely works because the child never fully settles into being photographed. He/she instead does a fake smile super quick just to get to the treat. But if you make the session fun by playing games, blowing bubbles, going on a nature walk,

Carolyn Bowles Photography

swinging with parents, running in circles, having a tea party, or whatever is of interest, that child will have a blast and be engaged and forget that he/she is even being photographed. That’s where the magic starts and you get genuine, documentary style portraits that every parent wants to have of their child. That’s not to say that kids don’t have meltdowns, get upset, or feel tired. In that case, I always encourage parents to have snacks and drinks on hand. Sometimes we even stop a session to read a book and just take a break with no photos. When we have a specific pose in mind or something we want to accomplish, I find that hardly ever goes well. But if we see where the photos lead us and what the kids do, it leads to unique portraits that tell the story of that individual child.

What mistakes did you used to make or do you see other parents make? A mistake I often see parents do is to start to get upset themselves that a photo session may not go as they had planned. Again, it takes much patience, ease, and go-with-the-flow attitude when photographing children.

Any final tips or tricks? One, I would encourage everyone to try moving toward manual mode. Start by setting your camera to AP mode (“aperture-priority”). In this case, you choose the aperture (how much light comes into the camera) and then the camera chooses the shutter speed and ISO. It’s the first step into seeing how these three technical things work together. Once you get the hang of it, you can eventually get into manual mode and see your photography start to take off! Two, get a good photo management system to help you organize your photos and not hog space on your device. After I take my photos, I upload them immediately to Lightroom (an Adobe app), choose my favorites to process and delete the ones I don’t like. Finally, print your portraits! Get them off your hard drive and actually enjoy them. The look of joy when I hand over a wall gallery of prints, a masterpiece canvas, or an album of a session to a family is priceless and always reminds me to print my own photos.

How Much Screen Time is Okay?

May 7, 2015 by Kelley Leave a Comment

Our mothers worried about plenty of things, but screen time probably wasn’t one of them. There was TV, but since chosen shows appeared at set times, there were natural limits to how long we watched. Atari and Nintendo made an appearance; but options were limited, and depictions were largely innocent and relatively unrealistic.

Our generation of parents is the first to deal with the dilemma of screen time, which, in excess, is associated with physical and mental health issues in kids. With no precedent and scant data on how currently hot technologies affect kids’ brains, we’re all feeling our way through an ever-changing landscape of sometimes-enriching, sometimes-mind-numbing, and occasionally harmful interactive imagery. It’s no wonder, that in a recent survey of Happy Healthy Kids readers, more than two-thirds of you worry your kids get too much screen time, and 70 percent of you describe your children as “obsessed” at times with TVs, phones, tablets, and computers.

It was 2011 when the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) last issued a policy statement specifically addressing young children and media, discouraging parents to allow kids under age 2 any screen time at all. That was a year after Apple launched the first iPad; now, the iPad is in its sixth generation, and the Wall Street Journal recently reported that some 48,000 developers are working on developing kids’ apps, many of which cater to the toddler set. (Apple’s app store’s lowest “searchable” age category is 5 and under, but many of the apps in this section are clearly for babies, not preschoolers.) Two years ago, another AAP policy statement on children and media, focusing on older children, was issued. It prescribed a “media diet” for children, and suggested writing down screen time limits and appropriate choices for children. But with more and more schools—right down to my youngest son’s toddler program—utilizing iPads for classroom work and homework in the two years since, it’s nearly impossible to get a grasp on how many total hours our children are staring at and tapping on screens.

Our survey also revealed that 71 percent of you fight with your kids at least once week about screen time limits. In our house, screen time is a near-daily disagreement. We have basic limits—a half hour of TV or computer before dinner, if homework is done, during the week, and an hour on weekends—but they do everything they can to stretch those limits as often as possible. They “don’t hear” timers. They argue that a brother somehow eked out more than everybody else. And we’re probably to blame. It’s hard to be consistent 100 percent of the time, and if you’re on a phone call or the rice burned or just tired of the whining, it’s easier to give five more minutes than it is to draw a hard line.

In need of some more updated, nuanced perspective than blanket statements, I turned to one of the leading thinkers when it comes to children’s screen time issues: Michael Rich, M.D., a.k.a. The Mediatrician. The Director of The Center for Media and Child Health at Boston Children’s Hospital, the pediatrician and dad of four fields parents’ media-use questions in his online column, Ask the Mediatrician. Here are some main points that Dr. Rich generously shared with me in an email exchange we had last week.

There’s no hard and fast rule about how much screen time kids should get.
Dr. Rich doesn’t think it’s realistic or even helpful anymore for experts to prescribe official screen time limits for any age. “Because screen media devices have become more and more ubiquitous and even expected in communication (i.e., Skyping with distant family) and education (even in preschool), the definition of screen time has become muddied,” he says. Plus, Dr. Rich points out, while there’s evidence that physical, mental, and social health problems tend to increase with greater screen time, there’s no distinct point at which risk outweighs benefit.

…So parents need to understand the risks and benefits about screen time to make calculations about what’s healthy for their own kids.
When deciding on screen rules for your kids, Dr. Rich advises parents to think about media like nutrition: “We have to learn what’s healthy and unhealthy for them, and pay attention to consuming media that helps rather than harms.” He does note evidence that children who watch TV at earlier ages watch much more TV than their peers at later ages, and are at higher risk for obesity, poor sleep, anxiety, attention problems, and more. Changes in social behavior, school performance, moods, or communicativeness all can be signs of too much screen media consumption.

Screen choices may be more important than screen time.
Dr. Rich resists advocating one type of media over another: “These products change so rapidly that naming better or worse types is bound to be obsolete or downright wrong very quickly,” he says. “The best approach is to recognize that all media are educational—what differs is what they teach and how well they teach it.” If educational benefits are what you’re after, immersive, interactive media where the player controls the narrative and practices over and over (like, yes, certain, non-violent video games) are more effective teachers than receptive media where the viewer passively watches other people’s narratives. There’s evidence that under 30 months, children do not learn anything substantial from receptive media (i.e., most TV shows) at all. Most important in deciding on allowable shows, apps, or games: We should observe our children using media and their subsequent behavior to assess how particular types affect them, good or bad.

Scheduling appropriate screen choices into kids’ increasingly busy days will help enforce whatever media plan you decide on.
“Engage kids early and often in planning their days, and prioritize activities that they must do (going to school, doing homework, and getting adequate sleep) and that help them stay physically and mentally healthy (sitting down to meals with family and getting some physical activity, preferably outdoors). Make sure their screen time doesn’t blend into time spent doing those activities: Trying to multitask “must-dos” with media “leads to more mistakes and less retention, even for MIT students,” says Dr. Rich. Media that are acceptable to parents can be used in the time remaining.

Have a question for Dr. Rich? Find him on Ask the Mediatrician.

photo credit: Noo via Photo Pin, cc