Author: Michael Radigan

Summertime means fun and adventure! Before you dive into your summer vacation, take a minute to consider the safety risks associated with exciting summer activities. As partners in creating healthy and happy environments for children, Minute Menu offers the following reminders for summer safety.

Stay Safe in the Water

As temperatures rise children and adults spend more time in water. When heading to the pool, lake, beach or other water destination, keep these safety tips in mind:

• Have a plan for supervising children swimming or playing in the water. Make sure enough adults are available to supervise the number of children present. Consider using a visual reminder such as lanyards or small flags for adults and children to know who is in charge at any given time.
• Swim with a buddy. Drowning can oftenlook like swimming or playing in the water, and the person drowning might not make any noise. Each swimmer should have a buddy who is in the water and can watch for signs of distress. Read more here.
• Never swim in unfamiliar water. Talk with children about the dangers of playing in or near irrigation ditches, overflow drains, or unfamiliar bodies of water, including flood waters. Bodies of water can have varied depths and currents, both of which can be dangerous or deadly.
• Don’t forget the sunscreen. Apply sunscreen and then wait about 30 minutes before going into the water. This gives the skin time to absorb the sunscreen. Remember to reapply after swimming. Read more tips on choosing, applying, and using sunscreen properly here.

Stay Hydrated

Staying safe in the heat means staying hydrated. Dehydration occurs when the body’s fluid levels are too low. This can happen quickly, especially when exercising or playing outdoors in higher temperatures. To avoid dehydration, drink plenty of fluids, and choose water over sodas, sports drinks, or other sugary beverages. Water helps you stay hydrated without the added sugar and sodium in other beverages. Learn more about the benefits of drinking water here. Visit this page to learn more about dehydration in children.

Know the Signs of Heat Stroke

Heat stroke is a very serious and life threatening condition, and knowing the signs can save a life. Someone suffering heat stroke might appear flushed, out of breath, confused or irritated, begin vomiting or get a sudden headache, and might not be sweating even though they are in the heat. If you suspect a child or adult is suffering heat stroke, contact 911 immediately, get them into a shaded area, and begin cooling them down using fans, ice packs, or cool water. Learn more about heat stroke here.

Protect Skin to Reduce Bug Bites

Summer is a great time for exploring nature. Exploring new areas means encountering new insects and critters, many of which are harmless. Using insect repellent, tucking pants legs into socks, and wearing closed shoes are effective and easy ways to reduce bug bites. Try not to scratch bug bites if you get them, and use topical creams or gels to relieve irritation. If you discover a tick on a child or adult, remember the tick has most likely burrowed into the skin and you will need medical assistance to remove it. Learn more about preventing and treating insect bites here.

All of us at Minute Menu hope you enjoy a fun and safe summer!

Have a summer activity you really enjoy? Share it with us in the comments section below.
References:

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning by Mario Vittone; Herald Tribune Online; 2013.

Sunscreen: How to Select, Apply, and Use It Correctly; Centers for Disease Control report; 2002.

Drink Water Instead of Soda or Juice; http://www.chalkcenter.org .

Dehydration; KidsHealth.org .

Heatstroke; MayoClinic.org

Avoid Bug Bites; Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Additional Resources:
Flood Safety; National Weather Service

Water Safety; TeensHealth; KidsHealth.org

Heat Stroke: Symptoms and Treatment; WebMD.

Warning Signs and Symptoms of Heat-Related Illness; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Three Ways to Get Picky Eaters to Try New Foods

We all know how much kids love trying new foods, right? Anyone who has spent time negotiating with toddlers to get something green and healthy in their mouths can attest to how difficult it can be to introduce children to new fruits, vegetables, and other foods. Still, there’s hope. All you need is a little imagination and determination.

Minute Menu is dedicated to helping you provide nutritious meals to children, and we have some ideas for getting picky eaters to venture outside of their culinary comfort-zone. While no single technique will work for every child, we have found that three popular methods seem to bring the most success.

1. Be Sneaky

You can sneak veggies into any pasta meal – even macaroni and cheese. Try including one or a combination of the following in your next pasta dish: peas, green beans, carrots, green onions, colorful bell peppers, tomatoes, or mild herbs and spices. This also works well for rice meals, soups, stews, and sauces (with diced or blended additions). Mix small cut apples or other fruits into salads, oatmeal, cereal, pancakes and homemade breads.

The sneaky method is great for children who tend to need repeated exposure to a specific food before embracing it, even if they start off by picking out the additions.

Bonus tip – If you offer an obvious fruit or vegetable with the meal, kids are less likely to suspect you’ve hidden something new in their favorite dishes.

2. Try Dips

Sometimes kids are more likely to try a new vegetable or fruit when offered with a moderately sweet or creamy dip. Some dips can be healthy in their own right. Try blending your own vegetable dip using Greek yogurt, or experiment with guacamole or different types of hummus. Serve these with whole grain crackers, baked chips, or raw veggies for a double-win.

Helpful hint – Keep an eye on kids when serving sweet or creamy dips. Sometimes the vegetable becomes simply a vehicle for eating more and more dip, which negates the benefits of eating the new, healthier food.

3. Offer Choices

Allowing a child to choose from a selection of new vegetables, fruits, or other foods has been a successful method for many parents and caregivers. Mixed vegetable dishes like stir fry or mixed fruit dishes like fruit salad can offer a range of new choices combined with familiar ones. Over time children will become more adventurous if they are allowed to select their own toppings for familiar dishes such as pizza, salad, burritos, tacos, or even sandwiches. Topping options can include:  vegetables, tofu, protein sources, beans, or spices and herbs.

Bonus tip – Encourage kids to try new toppings and additions by eating those items yourself in front of the child.

Do you have a successful method for getting picky eaters to try new foods? We’d love to hear it! Leave a comment below. Together we can help improve a child’s nutritional choices.

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish? There are many to choose from: turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and candied sweet potatoes. While all of these are yummy foods we look forward to all year long, they probably are not the healthiest of menu items. This Thanksgiving you can explore delicious and healthy alternatives or additions to your Thanksgiving menu.

Thanksgiving and Harvest Festivals Around the World

One way to engage children in trying new foods and exploring new cultures is to look at harvest festivals, similar to Thanksgiving, from around the world. Harvest festivals traditionally celebrate the first, and sometimes the last, crops of a season. Although the dishes vary by region, they tend to focus on grains, vegetables, and fruits. Let’s take a look at some Harvest Festival activities and recipes:

• The Apple and Grape Festival in Australia celebrates wine and fresh produce. It features traditional apple-related dishes along with multicultural dishes, fireworks, parades, and the popular grape crush.
• The Harvest Festival in Britain belongs to a long historical tradition and can be viewed as a precursor to the American Thanksgiving. Activities related to Harvest Festival can easily double for Thanksgiving fun.
• The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in slightly different forms in China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Along with fireworks, food, and family, children celebrate this festival by wearing masks and parading with paper lanterns. Here are some directions for making paper lanterns and paper masks.
• Ch’usok, sometimes known as the Harvest Moon Festival, is celebrated in Korea. The festival celebrates ancestors, family, and the harvest. Fish, vegetables, and grains are primarily consumed along with a special rice cake called a songpyon. Ch’usok is celebrated with activities such as tug of war, a special form of wrestling, music, and dance. Recipes for dishes often found during Ch’usok can be found here.

Although many dishes associated with Thanksgiving are best enjoyed in moderation, there are many healthier options available. How about some pumpkin soup or quinoa stuffing? Find more healthy recipe ideas here.

However you celebrate the holidays, Minute Menu wishes you a safe and enjoyable season!

Ah, Fall…the weather gets cooler, leaves start to turn on the trees, and adults and children start to cough, sneeze and sniffle. It’s that time of year many childcare centers dread – the time when colds, flus, and other illnesses start making their way through our staff and student population. Why not turn this into an opportunity to teach children healthy hygiene habits? Quick lessons on handwashing and containing coughs or sneezes can be fun and educational – and children will take this information back to their homes. Following the tips below might help reduce the spread of sickness at home, at daycare, and at school.

Teach Proper Handwashing with Songs, Videos, Games and Posters

Teach children to sing the “A-B-C” song or the “Happy Birthday” song while washing their hands with soap. Proper handwashing significantly reduces the risk of catching and spreading everything from colds and flu to eye infections, but often children don’t wash their hands long enough or in the right way. Proper handwashing should last about 30 seconds and include the fronts and backs of the hands, as well as the nails. Remind children to use a clean towel or paper towel to dry their hands – dirty towels can spread germs and bacteria.

Check out this short video and song created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help kids remember to wash their hands, or this videoinstructing kids on how to wash and dry their hands properly. The CDC also offers hand-washing fact sheets, posters and stickers that centers can download and display in bathrooms or eating areas, and hand out to children and parents. Visit the Handwashing section of the CDC websitefor more information and materials.

The website scrub club also has several games, songs, and cartoons that encourage proper handwashing.

Cover that Cough

Many of us were taught to cover our cough or sneeze with our hands, but that can actually spread germs. If a child sneezes or coughs in her hand, she can transfer germs to everything she touches. Encourage children to turn away from people and to cover their cough or sneeze with their elbow or sleeve at the shoulder. Encourage children to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer whenever they use a tissue to wipe or blow their noses – another opportunity for germs to spread. This poster from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and this poster from the Minnesota Department of Health are great reminders to display in centers.

Additional Resources

When children or their friends and family get sick they may have questions about doctors, germs, and sickness. The following are several age-appropriate cartoons and books that can help with discussions about these topics:

Arthur’s Knee– (Season 2, Episode 14) The second half of episode 14 revolves around Arthur cutting his knee and needing to see a doctor. Topics include: infections and how the body works to protect against “germs.”

The Magic School Bus: Inside Ralphie, A Book about Germs by Joanna Cole and B. Degan – Available as both a book and an episode of the television show- Season 1, Episode 03.

The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor by Stan Berenstain

Germs Are Not for Sharing by Elizabeth Verdick and Marieka Heinlen – Intended for toddlers

Have you ever tasted a Fuyu persimmon? If not, try this delicious and healthy little treat now while it’s in season (September – December). This fruit is so delicious that the Greeks actually named it “fruit from the gods”. And yes, it is THAT good! Not only is this exotic fruit delicious, it’s packed with nutrition and low in calories, too. The Fuyu persimmon is a great snack for growing children, dieting adults, and well, everyone!

Preparing and Eating the Fuyu Persimmon
Fuyu persimmons are easy to prepare and to eat. Just wash the outside, remove the leaves, slice, and enjoy! Eating the fruit raw is the best way to get all of the nutrition, the easiest and fastest way to prepare them, and arguably the most delicious way to eat a Fuyu persimmon! I prefer it raw served with a slice of cheese. As an added bonus, the Fuyu persimmon just so happens to be a creditable snack on the food program!  Click here to see a video called “How to eat a Fuyu Persimmon – Tips and Preparation.”

More Fuyu Fun!
Fuyu persimmons can also be used in baking breads, cakes, puddings, jams, and more. Click here to see some of the ways Martha Stewart uses persimmons.

Fun Fact: Persimmons are more common in some parts of the country than in others. Did you know that Indiana has an entire Persimmon Festival every year!?

Have you ever had a lychee fruit? These delicious little fruits are packed full of vitamin C and many other important vitamins and nutrients. But most importantly, they are delicious! Click here to read more about the lychee fruit and to see a picture of it on the USDA website.

Serve More Fruit, Less Juice. Fruit can be a fun and delicious way to improve nutrition in children’s diets, and you have the chance to change the lives of children in your very own community by serving more fruit. We challenge you to pick a fruit to serve at snack, and to serve fruit instead of juice at meals. Eating the actual fruit, instead of just drinking the juice, ensures that children get ALL of the nutrition of the fruit, and less sugar! Click here to read “Tips to Help You Eat Fruits” on the ChooseMyPlate.gov USDA website.

Start Your “More Fruit” Campaign. Find and share some fun recipes that the kids will go bananas over! Start by searching for recipes submitted by providers on the ChildCareInfo.com website. Recipes created by kids themselves can be found using the Healthy Snack Finder on the Kids Teaching Kids website.

Print a cute flyer that you can display on the wall. Get some inspiration from this kid-friendly flyer on fruits and veggies from ChooseMyPlate.gov. You can see a list of flyers available for download here.

Start a vegetable garden with the children! Children love to be involved, and studies have shown that children are more likely to try new fruits and vegetables when they participate in planting and growing them! Start a small garden with easy-to-grow vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers, and lettuce. The KidsGardening.org website is a great resource for planning and maintaining gardens for kids.

Share Your Results and Inspire Others. Start a social media account for your day care home (if you haven’t already) and post your pictures of healthy eating on your social media page(s). You will inspire others and potential parent customers will be impressed when they see your page!

You have the power to improve the health of children in your very own community by launching a campaign to serve more whole grains in day care homes and centers!  And what better time than now since September is National Whole Grains month!  Eating at least one serving of whole grains daily can help lower the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, and can help maintain a healthy body weight.  Barley, wheat, Bulgar, rye and oats are all whole grains that can be incorporated into a healthy diet. Some whole grains are even gluten-free , such as buckwheat, corn, millet, quinoa, and rice. Start training providers now to ditch processed foods and start serving more whole grains!

Click here to check out some whole grain recipes with demonstration videos with cooking tips for making whole grains easy to prepare AND taste great!

Click here for a quick refresher on whole grains on the Whole Grains Council website.

Here are some ideas for your campaign:

Email

Use your power as a sponsor and keeper of email addresses to start an email campaign.

• Pick a new whole grain each week or month, and feature it
  • Include links to popular recipes with whole grain as an ingredient. (Hint: Click here to read a blog about inserting professional-looking hyperlinks in emails.)
  • Include an image of the whole grain or a prepared dish made with whole grain, or link to an image of the food on a blog or website.
• Ask providers to email pictures, recipes, or descriptions of their whole grain dishes, and publish them in your newsletter.
• Share the science behind the whole grain; email providers a link to the “What is a Whole Grain?” page of the Whole Grains Council

Social Media

• Ask providers to email pictures, recipe, or descriptions of their whole grain dishes and feature them on your social media page.
• Post recipes and pictures of the foods you wish to promote on your social media page.
• Post a link to the ChooseMyPlate.gov Facebook page and suggest that providers “like” their page.
• “Like” the Whole Grains Council Facebook page and “share” their posts.
• And if you don’t have a social media page for your sponsorship – get one! It’s a great way to connect with providers.  Click here to learn how your business can benefit from social media marketing.

US Postal Service Mail

• Mail the “10 tips to help you eat whole grains” flyer from the gov website to providers, or include it with training materials. Click here to print the flyer in color. Click here to see the full list of available flyers.

Website

• Dedicate a section of your website to information about whole grains.
• Provide links on your website to other resources for learning more about whole grains.
• Don’t have a website?  Get one!  You don’t have to be a computer genius to create your own website; easily make a free website on weebly.com.

Training

• Show samples of whole grains. (Seriously, what does buckwheat even look like?)
• Give tips for purchasing and preparing whole grains. For example, where can you find the best price when purchasing whole grains?
• Hand out recipe cards, and challenge providers to try at least one of the recipes.
• Ask providers to share photos, experiences, and tips of their own by email or on social media.
• Demystify nutrition labels – click here to learn how to identify whole grain products.

Want to serve a food that kids love, and that is healthy? Looking for an easy-to-make food that is packed with protein so that you stay full for longer?  Try quinoa!

Quinoa, pronounced “KEEN-wah,” is a small, grain-like seed that can be used as a substitute for rice or pasta, mixed into salads, and eaten plain or with a little cheese on top. Quinoa is a WHOLE GRAIN, naturally gluten free, and is a complete protein because it contains all nine essential amino acids.

The best part? Quinoa is easy to make…and delicious! You can cook quinoa in advance, and use it throughout the week. Just store it in the fridge and serve it at multiple meals or mixed into other foods. Quinoa can be cooked in a pot on the stove or in a rice cooker. (See the package for exact instructions.)

Click here to check out some quinoa recipes on the Healthy Kids Challenge Blog.

Click here to see a recipe for a quinoa, black bean, and corn salad submitted by an 11-year-old on the Let’s Move website!

Click here to see a recipe for grilled chicken and avocado quinoa pilaf, or click here to read Tips to Help You Eat Whole Grains on the USDA ChooseMyPlate.gov website.

Click here to read more about the health benefits of quinoa on the Whole Grains Council website.

Once you discover how deliciously diverse quinoa can be you’ll want to add it to everything!

And don’t be fooled by small packages of flavored quinoa, they are more expensive and unnecessary – get the big bag (check Costco) or buy it in the bulk section of your grocery store for the best price.  You can season it yourself by using broth to cook it instead of water, by adding garlic or onion to the pot, or by adding other seasonings and veggies you like.

Don’t forget to take pictures of your delicious quinoa creations and post them on your social media page for parents to see!  And tag Minute Menu on Facebook because we want to see your creations too!