Healthy Family Home

November 2, 2009 by Leave a comment

http://www.ymca.net/healthyfamilyhome/play-every-day.html
Play Every Day!

All family members should be effective role models by participating in all of the guidelines below:

  • Moderate, fun, physical activity: try for at least a total of 60 minutes every day (which can be spread out in 10 to 15 minute intervals), and include outdoor activity whenever possible.
  • Vigorous, fun, physical activity three days a week: aim for 20 minutes total on these days and include outdoor activity whenever possible.
  • Bring adults and kids together in physical activities in order to provide opportunities for connecting and modeling positive behavior.
  • Limit screen time to less than two hours per day (television, video games, computer). Meals should not be consumed in front of a screen.

Tennis Ping Pong Play tennis ping pong with a volleyball, soccer ball, basketball, bouncy ball, etc. at a local tennis court. You could even draw a line (to replace a net) on the driveway if a tennis court is not available. Use your hands as paddles (carry it over or catch and throw, especially with the heavier ball) and follow ping pong rules. With the tennis court as the ping pong table the only exception to ping pong rules will be that you are able to stand on the ‘table’!

Dinner vacations at home For fun ask “where’s dinner” meaning where shall we eat tonight?
It could be on the porch or the patio, on the stairs or the family room floor as if an indoor picnic.
Consideration of what types of food to be served is important. With chairs and blankets make a tent and pretend you are far far away and describe what it’s like where you are and what “foods” you’re having there. Ask questions like is it sandy, hot or cold, any animals lurking around?

Park Play Day Have a community garden host a Family Garden Club. Park Play Day could include Kite-Flying, Kick-ball and Arts n Crafts. Park Arts n Crafts portion could include families making row markers for the vegetable garden.

Walking Obstacle Course Go for a family walk and every few minutes or at the end of each block perform an activity for one minute to increase everyone’s heart rate. Try lunges, jumping jacks, mountain climbers or running in place.

The Great Outdoors Search for a park or trail near your home and plan for a family hike. Pack a healthy sack lunch and make a day out of it.

Jug Catch Kids ask a grown up to help you. Cut a one-gallon plastic jug (like a milk jug) in half horizontally. Recycle the bottom half of the jug, but save the top half with the handle and keep the cap. Grown-ups cover the cut edge of the jug with duct tape. Cut and decorate a jug for everyone in the family.
Now two or more family members can play together using the jugs to toss a tennis ball or beanbag back and forth. See if you can toss and catch without touching the ball with your hands. In the warmer months try tossing water balloons back and forth. The jug can also be used by one family member, toss the ball in the air and catch it using the jug, see how many successful tosses and catches you can make in a row.

Track Your Fun Wear a pedometer (a gadget that counts your steps) and track your movement. Everyone in the family can wear them and compare steps at the end of the day. Set goals or have contests. You may decided to give out prizes for the most steps in one day or one week.

Musical Meals After family dinners (other meals), turn on music and dance, play musical chairs, or make up a family dance routine/skit that you practice a couple of evenings a week.

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Safe Kids Georgia

November 2, 2009 by Leave a comment

Safe Kids Georgia
1655 Tullie Circle
Atlanta, GA 30329
Phone: 404.785.7436
Email: safe.kids@choa.org

Who We Are

Safe Kids Georgia is dedicated solely to preventing unintentional childhood injury. The focus is on one specific problem: more children 1 to 14 die from accidents such as motor vehicle crashes, fires, drowning, poisoning and falls than any other cause.

Accidents kill one million children each year around the world and permanently disable many more. And almost all of the injuries are preventable. More than 450 coalitions in 16 countries bring together health and safety experts, educators, corporations, foundations, governments and volunteers to educate and protect families.

What We Do

Safe Kids Georgia promotes changes in attitudes, behaviors, laws and the environment to prevent accidental injury to children. In the United States, Safe Kids partnerships have contributed to a 45 percent reduction in the child fatality rate from accidental injury – saving an estimated 38,000 children’s lives. Locally, this is done thru community partnerships, advocacy, public awareness and distribution of, and education on the proper uses of, safety equipment.

How We Do It

Safe Kids Georgia depends on the support of grass roots networks in its 22 local coalitions to implement safety programs and hands-on training throughout the State of Georgia. These grass root networks work closely with law enforcement officers, firefighters, paramedics, health and safety experts, professionals, educators, parents, businesses, foundations, governments, policymakers, volunteers and most importantly, children to educate and protect families. By mobilizing communities at the local level, we provide public education programs, facilitate engineering and environmental modifications, enact and enforce laws and regulations and conduct research to drive our programs and determine the efficacy of our efforts.

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Safe Crossing Week November 1-7, 2009

November 2, 2009 by Leave a comment

Safe Kids USA and CN, one of the largest railroads in North America, are working together again on Safe Crossing Week 2009 to encourage parents, teachers, and caregivers to teach elementary school children how to safely cross railroad tracks.

In 2008, 744 people were killed and 1,372 were injured in incidents involving trains in the United States. These incidents involved either trains and people or trains and motor vehicle occupants. In 2008, a total of 22 children ages 14 and under were killed and 122 were injured in incidents involving trains.

Safe Crossing Week 2009 focuses on Teaching Safety for Life. Although parents are responsible for their kids’ safety, children can be little ambassadors for a safer community. Children pass along what they learn to their families and set good examples as role models for one another. If we want to build a culture of safety, it starts with reaching children early so that safe practices and behaviors become second-nature as they grow and develop into safe teens and adults.

This year’s innovative in-school program provides a grade level-specific railroad safety curriculum and activities. Local Safe Kids safety experts, CN Police officers and CN employee volunteers are teaching more than 50,000 students in hundreds of elementary schools and other locations across the United States, making it the largest and most wide-spread Safe Crossing Week in history.

This year, some of the nation’s leading children’s hospitals and children’s museums have come on board to hold special events to further broaden the reach of the program.

To see if your community/school is participating in Safe Crossing Week, contact your local Safe Kids coalition.

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Nov 4 – Lou Walker Senior Center Harvest Fest 2009

November 2, 2009 by Leave a comment

Lou Walker Senior Center Harvest Fest 2009
10 am to 3 pm, Wednesday, Nov. 4th
2538 Panola Road, Lithonia, GA 30058
Phone: 770.322.2900

-Flu Shots sponsored by the DeKalb Co. Board of Health
-Arts & Crafts for sale, including pottery, ceramics, greeting cards, candles, jewelry & more
-Info. booths and more!

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Atlanta Hawks Poetry Slam Contest & More

October 29, 2009 by Leave a comment

http://www.nba.com/hawks/community/Educational_Programs.html
Calling All High School Students!

The Atlanta Hawks Poetry Slam Contest is a shout-out especially to you, an invitation to your turn your thoughts into verse and speak them aloud. Enter the Atlanta Hawks Poetry Slam Contest and you could make it to the finals at the Hard Rock Café and take home a laptop computer, 32″ flat screen TV, GPS system or autographed Hawks merchandise. The top winner will also perform during the halftime of the Atlanta Hawks game on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. Don’t delay, submit your entry today. Please see the attached documents for registration information and details: http://www.nba.com/media/hawks/Poetry_Slam_Official_Rules.pdf.

The deadline is November 15th.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. The ATLANTA HAWKS POETRY SLAM (“Contest”) is open
to all high school students in grades 9-12 as of the date the Contest begins, who attend high school within 75 miles of Atlanta and who are legal U.S. and Georgia residents.

More info. on Atlanta Hawks programs for students:

www.nba.com/hawks/community/Educational_Programs.html

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Great Classes at the Oakhurst Garden!

October 29, 2009 by Leave a comment

www.oakhurstgarden.org

Oakhurst Community Garden Project
435 Oakview Road, Decatur, GA 30030
678 642-4977

Oakhurst Community Garden Project features indoor classroom space. To register, go to http://www.oakhurstgarden.org/classes.html.

Upcoming Classes:

Build a Beehive
Students will work together to assemble standard hives from an ordered kit. Instruction will also include hands on work with mounting foundations and frames. If the weather cooperates, the class
will also work with directly with the bees.
Sunday, November 1, 3-5 p.m.
$15 Garden Members, $20 non-members

Lasagna Gardening: Not Cooking, but Gardening!
This is not a cooking class or a gardening class that talks about growing ingredients for the perfect lasagna, but rather a method that requires no digging, no tilling, or removing your grass. It’s true! Join Amy Hanlder in this hands-on class to learn about a nontraditional method of layering organic matter to create a rich bed ready to plant with greens for the fall and summer veggies next spring.
Saturday, November 7, 3-5 p.m.
$15 Garden members, $20 non-members

Create a Holiday Glass Dish
Join Brenda Griffith in this all ages class as you create a 7.5 inch round glass bowl using an assortment of colors. The glass will be slumped over a mold, fired, and ultimately you will have new bowl created by you just in time for the holidays. Class will take place at Brenda’s studio at 2480 Memorial Drive. (4-9 year olds need to be accompanied by an adult, 10 and up can be dropped off.) Each session is limited to 8 participants/pairs.
Sunday, November 8, 1-3 p.m. or Tuesday, November 17, 6-8 p.m.
$35 for Garden members, $40 for non-members. Fee includes 1 bowl per
person/pair.

Cheap and Healthy Food
Come and learn techniques for saving money and eat dinner with Charli Vogt, RN, who loves doing anything that involves the kitchen. She will take you through the process of shopping, planning, preparing and eating the meal. Research has shown that you save money if you go to the store with a list. Each student will receive a grocery list, a planning form for a week of food, and recipes for 4 different meals that are easy, cheap and healthy. Plan to eat one of these meals with us. Use of the pressure cooker and slow cooker will be covered. Check out Charli’s Website: www.CharliVogt.com.

Thursday, November 12, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
$25 for Garden members, $30 for non-members

Worm Compost: The Basics of Great Worm P–P!
Learn about the benefits of composting with worms. According to the EPA, approximately 10% of the waste stream is food and over 38% of the waste stream is paper. These materials can be used as food and bedding for a worm bin. It’s easy, fun, odorless and produces a great soil additive! Class participants will learn how to house, feed, harvest and care for their own worms. Be prepared to roll-up your sleeves and make your own worm bin including the instructions and worms ready to start composting. From ages 6 and up, accompanied by a parent.
Saturday, November 14, 10 a.m.-noon
$35 for Garden members, $40 for non-members

Gluten-Free Desserts for the Holidays
Learn to make Gluten-Free Desserts that your guests will prefer over the others. Taught by Charli Vogt, RN, MN, MPH. Charli has a private practice in mind/body medicine in Decatur. Her enthusiasm for helping people be well through food is evident in her classes. Students come
back to learn again and again. In this hands-on class be ready to cook and to sample what we make. Bring containers to carry home samples, (if we don’t eat them all). www.CharliVogt.com
Thursday, November 19, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
$30 for Garden members, $35 for non-members

Winter Sowing a Perennial Garden
An innovative way to successfully start plants from seed without the expense of an extensive lightstand or even a greenhouse! Using plastic containers and the freeze/thaw cycles of winter….find out more by joining Glynis Ward in this fun and educational class. Native and
non-native perennial seeds, soil and supplies are provided, you bring as many clear and opaque recyclable containers as you would like: milk jugs, soda, water or juice bottles, plastic food tubs with lids, clear take-out “hamburger” boxes.
Monday, November 30, 7 – 9 p.m.
$20 Garden members, $25 non-members

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Upcoming Friday Free Soccer Clinics

October 28, 2009 by Leave a comment

Please note per GA Soccer rules, this clinic is is only available to children who are not registered with another GSSA Club.

Free Soccer Clinics open for boys and girls 8 years old through 14 years old, at Ebster Field for the following dates:

5 to 6:30 pm, Friday, Oct 30th

5 to 6:30 pm, Friday, Nov 6th

5 to 6:30 pm, Friday, Nov 13th

This is a great opportunity for all Decatur Rec soccer players to get some free professional coaching by Atlanta Spurs FC Directors. Just bring yourself and be ready to have some fun!

For more information, please contact Matt Holmes, 910-916-2773.

Ebster Field is on Electric Ave. off of West Trinity Place, behind the Ebster Rec. Center and Decatur Police Dept.

Please note per GA Soccer rules, this clinic is is only available to children who are not registered with another GSSA Club.

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Safe Roues to School – Stretch Your Neck (Like a Turkey) and Look, Left, Right, Left Again

October 28, 2009 by Leave a comment

From Greg White, 678-553-6543, Assistant Director of Decatur Active Living and manager of our SRTS program:

Stretch Your Neck (Like a Turkey) and Look, Left, Right, Left Again

What were you always taught about crossing streets? Likely it was “Look both ways.” But, like so much in school these days, kids are now learning something a bit different. In Pedestrian Safety Education, they learn a little chant:

STOP! Look Left! Look Right!
Look Left Again,
And Over Your Shoulder
At every road edge.

It’s pretty simple, but there’s a lot in it to help keep your child safe – and there’s much more than “look both ways.” Here’s why.

1)The Road Edge — What’s a “road edge”? It’s any place where the “walking space” meets the motorized traffic space. It could be a curb, the place where a trail meets the street, the meeting point of a sidewalk and a driveway, or the edge of a car in a parking lot. It’s important that children be aware of this change from a pedestrian-safe environment to one that is built for motorized traffic. They should be able to identify this change as an “edge” so they know what to do. Again, an edge is not just a street corner – it’s every place where we, as pedestrians, may encounter motorized traffic.

2)STOP! – Adults often forget about the “stopping” part, assuming it to be a natural thing to do. But children need to hear it over and over: the first thing they must do when they come to any type of road edge is STOP! The edge is where they need to observe, assess the situation, and make a decision about whether to move forward. It doesn’t do much good to start looking for traffic when you’re in the middle of it!

3) Look Left ! Look Right! – Many children have difficulty learning the concepts of left and right. These words may be harder for children to understand than “both ways,” but learning left from right is a very useful skill. Many teachers show children the “L” trick – when holding out both hands with thumbs at a right angle to the hand, the left hand will form an “L.” The Left Right Left chant gives young children a reason and an opportunity to practice this from an early age.

4) Look Left Again – This means look MORE THAN both ways! Traffic closest to pedestrians will be coming from the left . While looking to the right, traffic may approach from the left, so pedestrians need to check to the left again before stepping out.

5) Over Your Shoulder – It’s very important to check for turning vehicles before stepping into a street or driveway. Just like car drivers and bicyclists, pedestrians need to scan over their shoulders to see what may be coming from behind them and possibly turning into their path.

(Note: These concepts apply to bicycle-riders, too: STOP! Look left, right, left again at the end of driveways and at stop signs. )

This pedestrian skill is a fundamental one, we are highlighting this skill through our Safe Routes to School program, and we encourage you to practice it as much as you can whenever you walk with your child. To add a little fun this month, you can call it the Turkey Walk — strut like a turkey, and at a road edge, STOP!, and do a little “gobble –gobble.” Then, s-t-r-e-t-c-h your neck, look left, look right, look left again, and then over your shoulder. Once your way is clear, strut on and do it over and over again. Children need the practice, and mixing it with a turkey strut will make it just that much more memorable! (And of course, please keep reminding them throughout the year, long after this November’s Turkey Days are over!)

Filed under Decatur Parks & Recreation

Oct 29 – Save the Date: Emory’s Bike to Campus Day

October 27, 2009 by Leave a comment

http://bike.emory.edu/

Save the Date: Bike to Campus Day – Oct 29

Show support for cycling as a commuting choice by biking to campus on Thursday, October 29.

Bike Emory is encouraging everyone who lives, works, learns and plays in the area to cycle to your campus to promote the cycling culture in the community.

In the morning, riders will meet for a group ride in front of Bicycle South, located at 2098 North Decatur Road, at 8 am where free breakfast foods will be provided. A short ride will depart at 8:30 am and will take riders down North Decatur to Clifton Road.

Before the ride a $25 Bicycle South gift certificate and cycling gear will be awarded to the cyclist with the longest commute and all riders can enter to win an additional $25 Bicycle South gift certificate.

A link to the flyer for the event is HERE. Please distribute electronically to your cycling networks.

We hope to see you there!

For more details visit the event page HERE.

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Oct 29 – DeKalb co-hosts event on eating healthy for less

October 27, 2009 by Leave a comment

From the AJC:

DeKalb co-hosts event on eating healthy for less

By Shelia M. Poole

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

3:31 p.m. Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Trying to eat healthy on a limited budget?

The Georgia Coalition for Physical Activity and Nutrition and the DeKalb County Board of Health’s Office of Chronic Disease Prevention will host an open house from 10 a.m. to noon on Oct. 29 at Saint Philip African Methodist Episcopal Church’s Family Life and Administration Center, 240 Candler Rd.

The event will introduce the coalition’s “Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline”, in DeKalb. Operation Frontline is a nutrition education program.

Bren Herrera, a self-taught personal chef, will be among the speakers. She is the editor of the food blog, Flanboyant Eats.

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