Fatherhood Factor

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Health

Being a Parent is Hard – Especially Without Sleep

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Being a parent is not an easy task.

When dealing with school, soccer games and homework, things can get a little hectic. In moments like these, your health and sleeping habits can be overlooked, leading to a state of sleep deprivation. This can cause many problems, from obesity to stress, to poor judgment and many other negative effects.

By adjusting your routine and habits, however, this is something you can tackle and control.

The Virginia Spine Institute has created a guide to help rid of the effects of sleep deprivation and to help you get through daily life happy and energized:

Root Canals; A Kids Picture Story

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As your child grows and develops, they’ll begin to lose their baby teeth, but the premature loss of these teeth can create a unique problem for your child.

Premature tooth loss is due to tooth decay and infection. Because a child’s tooth and jaw is not fully developed, this problem can result in the loss of permanent teeth in the future.

Learn how to protect your child and their baby teeth today through pulpotomy treatment.

The below graphic was compiled and designed by Grove Dental Associates, creating beautiful smiles every day.

Root Canals For Children

Easy-To-Make School Lunches Your Kids Will Love

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When it’s time to pack your kids’ lunches you face that constant battle: Will you pack something brightly colored and artfully packaged that your kids are begging for, but that lacks nutritional value? Or, will you pack something with nutritional value that will fuel their minds for a day of study? You know, all too well, that the healthy option often ends up in the garbage or brought back home at the end of the day. Here are some easy and fast ideas that can get your youngsters excited about eating a healthy lunch.

Stock a Bento Box

Bento boxes are small lunch boxes with individually portioned spaces ideal for holding fresh foods. Fill each space within the bento box with fresh fruits, salad and diced meats. The novelty of the bento box, especially if it is bright and colorful, will entice your children to eat the healthy choices.

Make a Fresh Twist on Salad

Salad makes a great lunch option that is healthy and fast. Prep your veggies and toppings at the beginning of the week and simply toss it all in a container with a side of dressing in the morning. To tempt kids to eat salad, add some fun toppings. Find out what their favorites are, and buy those.

One fun, kid-friendly salad is a pizza salad. To make this salad, prep salad veggies as usual, then add bacon and pepperoni as toppings, along with mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. Finally, if you are feeling creative, cut a thin pizza crust into cracker-sized portions, brush with olive oil and toast in the oven to make “croutons.”

Cut the Sandwich

Are your kids getting tired of their healthy sandwich? Invest in some large cookie cutters and cut the sandwich into fun shapes. You can make a themed lunch, like a fishing theme with whole-grain fish crackers and a fish-shaped sandwich. The fun shape may be all it takes to get the kids interested in that boring sandwich again.

Make-Your-Own Lunchables

For some reason, Lunchables — those tiny slices of meat and crackers that kids can turn into miniature sandwiches — have universal appeal. Yet the amount of food in a Lunchable is really not enough, and some parents prefer fresher ingredients. You can provide your kids with the same fun by making your own Lunchables.

To do this, purchase a type of sliced meat with ingredients you approve. Then, cut it into quarters. Cut slices of cheese into small squares or other fun shapes. Add whole-grain crackers of your choice, and place them all into the lunch bag.

Give Them Dip

Do you want your kids to eat more fresh fruits and veggies in their lunch? Give them something to dip them in! This has universal kid appeal, and you can use something healthy, like hummus for veggies and peanut butter or yogurt for fruit, to add a bit of nutrition to the mix. A meal of finger foods with dips is fun and can be quite nutritious.

Make Kabobs

Any time food is different, it becomes fun. Instead of simply packing a sandwich, take the meat and cheese you were planning to use and skewer them with a pretzel stick for instant, fully edible kabobs. You can also make fruit and veggie kabobs for additional fun in the lunch box.

Ditch the Lunch Meat

While there are nutritious lunch meat options for health-conscious parents, sometimes your kids just want something different. Consider ditching the processed meat in favor of something new. Peanut butter and jelly can be upgraded to peanut butter and fresh fruit slices. If your child is in a nut-free school or class, you can assemble sliced strawberries and cream cheese on whole grain bread.

Making lunches is a task many parents dread. If you aren’t careful, it can quickly become routine. To keep your kids from getting bored, and seeking less-healthy alternatives (and to keep yourself excited about the task at hand) consider making some changes to the way you pack lunches. Everyone will thank you when you do!

Teaching Your Daughters True Beauty and Real Fitness

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As a dad of three little girls, I often find myself cringing at our culture’s concept of female beauty and fitness.

Just turn on the Disney channel and spend a few minutes watching some of their programming. You’ll quickly see what I mean.

Although some shows do a better job than others, the stereotypical figures are slender, petite, and blemish free.

Never mind what is portrayed on prime-time with more adult programming.

What’s The Goal?

Well, you can choose to avoid raising healthy daughters, or you can adopt the norm and hope that your girls aren’t scarred too deeply by trying to be someone they’re not.

Personally, I would suggest picking up a helpful book with the right message.

The idea however, is to pick up something that teaches both the parents and the child.

Enter “The Girl’s Fitness Guide” by Muresan, Morar, and Hawkins.

With the combination of a retired NBA basketball player, a health and fitness expert, and a writer, parents are afforded a guide of how to teach their girls a healthy lifestyle. All the while the girls are encouraged through practical application and technique.

Even for the daughter that may be too young to comprehend, this book is something that can easily be re-taught after you’ve consumed the information yourself.

A thorough Teaching

Now, I may be a little biased towards the topic of exercise because I personally enjoy it and believe in its benefits.

With that being said, this book doesn’t discriminate or cater towards either of the two groups…with those being the knowledgeable fitness enthusiast and the dad that knows very little of the subject.

And trust me, even as a dad that is pretty solid in my understanding of physical fitness, I need to be reminded of how my thinking sometimes needs to change as it relates to my daughters.

So, regardless of depth that you may or may not have in this area, you and your girls can expect to grow wiser in twelve areas.

Those being:

  1. The Circles of Fitness. The culmination of exercise, body care, and nutrition.
  2. The Fact that Muscles Make it Happen. This is a break-down of the major muscle groups and their function.
  3. Exercise – The Big Picture. What it means to exercise and the make-up of exercise (cardiovascular, resistance, and flexibility).
  4. Warming Up and Stretching. The reason for performing these prior to exercise.
  5. Stretches. Actual diagrams of what stretches to perform.
  6. Aerobic Exercise. An overview and what constitutes an exercise as aerobic (running, biking, etc.).
  7. Resistance Exercise. Also an overview and what constitutes resistance (weight training) exercise.
  8. Exercises. This includes examples and diagrams of both aerobic and resistance exercise and the proper way to accomplish both.
  9. Nutrition. You will learn proper nutrition guidelines and the break-down of what your girls should be eating to remain healthy and active (not how to achieve the figure on the cover of the latest tween magazine).
  10. Body Care. This includes body hygiene, oral hygiene, and sleep hygiene.
  11. Putting it all Together. How all of these areas come together to represent the totality of fitness.
  12. 7-Day Exercise Program. Some practical ways to put the lessons in to a weekly routine.

Take a Deep Breath

As if being a dad wasn’t complicated enough, now you have to teach your daughters (and sons) how to be healthy and physically fit?

I’m afraid so…

But, the great thing about this fitness guide is that these things can often be done right in your own home.

Unless their activity level demands it, the book suggests that things begin slowly and with little more than some exercise clothes and some empty floor space.

This is especially true for the younger girls, because with too much exercise (especially resistance training), there can be damage done to their maturing bodies.

How about You?

Are there things you would suggest for raising girls with a proper concept of true beauty and real fitness?

Maybe you have a story of things gone awry, or maybe one that suggests great success?

Either way, give us your ideas in the comment section below.

Just remember, be smart, pick up this fitness guide, and join your kids in this journey of staying physically fit!

More from this Publisher

For more from this author check out their website, Boy’s and Girl’s Guide Books, and their blog at Growing Up Smart. You can also connect with them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter for additional information.