Parenting Matters

Parenting Matters
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 525
Release: 2016-11-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309388570

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

Food Literacy

Food Literacy
Author: Helen Vidgen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2016-04-14
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1317483022

Globally, the food system and the relationship of the individual to that system, continues to change and grow in complexity. Eating is an everyday event that is part of everyone’s lives. There are many commentaries on the nature of these changes to what, where and how we eat and their socio-cultural, environmental, educational, economic and health consequences. Among this discussion, the term "food literacy" has emerged to acknowledge the broad role food and eating play in our lives and the empowerment that comes from meeting food needs well. In this book, contributors from Australia, China, United Kingdom and North America provide a review of international research on food literacy and how this can be applied in schools, health care settings and public education and communication at the individual, group and population level. These varying perspectives will give the reader an introduction to this emerging concept. The book gathers current insights and provides a platform for discussion to further understanding and application in this field. It stimulates the reader to conceptualise what food literacy means to their practice and to critically review its potential contribution to a range of outcomes.

Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies

Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2011-10-31
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309210283

Childhood obesity is a serious health problem that has adverse and long-lasting consequences for individuals, families, and communities. The magnitude of the problem has increased dramatically during the last three decades and, despite some indications of a plateau in this growth, the numbers remain stubbornly high. Efforts to prevent childhood obesity to date have focused largely on school-aged children, with relatively little attention to children under age 5. However, there is a growing awareness that efforts to prevent childhood obesity must begin before children ever enter the school system. Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies reviews factors related to overweight and obese children from birth to age 5, with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behavior, and recommends policies that can alter children's environments to promote the maintenance of healthy weight. Because the first years of life are important to health and well-being throughout the life span, preventing obesity in infants and young children can contribute to reversing the epidemic of obesity in children and adults. The book recommends that health care providers make parents aware of their child's excess weight early. It also suggests that parents and child care providers keep children active throughout the day, provide them with healthy diets, limit screen time, and ensure children get adequate sleep. In addition to providing comprehensive solutions to tackle the problem of obesity in infants and young children, Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies identifies potential actions that could be taken to implement those recommendations. The recommendations can inform the decisions of state and local child care regulators, child care providers, health care providers, directors of federal and local child care and nutrition programs, and government officials at all levels.

Kid Food

Kid Food
Author: Bettina Elias Siegel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2019
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 0190862122

In Kid Food, nationally recognized food writer Bettina Elias Siegel (New York Times, The Lunch Tray) explores the cultural delusions and industry deceptions that have made it all but impossible to raise a healthy eater in America. Combining first-person reporting with the hard-won understanding of a food advocate and parent, it presents a startling portrayal of the current food landscape for children -- and the role of individual parents in navigating it.

Nutrition and Oral Health

Nutrition and Oral Health
Author: Gerry McKenna
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 84
Release: 2021-09-24
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 3030805263

This book explores in depth the relationships between nutrition and oral health. Oral health is an integral part of general health across the life course, and this book examines nutritional and oral health considerations from childhood through to old age, with particular attention focused on the consequences of demographic changes. Current knowledge on the consequences of poor diet for the development and integrity of the oral cavity, tooth loss, and the progression of oral diseases is thoroughly reviewed. Likewise, the importance of maintenance of a disease-free and functional dentition for nutritional well-being at all stages of life is explained. Evidence regarding the impact of oral rehabilitation on nutritional status is evaluated, and strategies for changing dietary behaviour in order to promote oral health are described. Nutrition and Oral Health will be an ideal source of information for all who are seeking a clearly written update on the subject.

The Parent's Guide to Childhood Eating Disorders

The Parent's Guide to Childhood Eating Disorders
Author: Marcia Herrin
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2002-02-06
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9780805066494

A successful new approach to treating eating disorders in preteens and teens, from a nationally renowned expert in the field. In a society where eating disorders are rampant, it often takes special awareness and vigilance to raise children who will come to the dinner table free of the modern food-related phobias: fear of being fat, fear of excess calories, and obsession with physical appearance. Emphasizing a nutritional approach to treatment, The Parent's Guide to Childhood Eating Disorders will prove to parents that effective solutions can begin in the home with a reasonable investment of time, effort, and love. This groundbreaking guide includes information on: - spottng early warning signs - normalizing eating and exercises - dealing with school, friends, sports, and camp - knowing when to seek professional help - avoiding a relapse As an expert in eating disorders, a former anorexic, and the mother of two teenagers, Dr. Marcia Herrin speaks with rare authority and understanding. The Parent's Guide to Childhood Eating Disorders takes readers step-by-step through the healing journey that Herrin makes with each of her patients. This important new addition to the literature is a warm, accessible guide that all parents concerned about eating disorders will turn to for practical and reassuring information.

Children’s Food Practices in Families and Institutions

Children’s Food Practices in Families and Institutions
Author: Samantha Punch
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 105
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317985958

This book brings together recent UK studies into children’s experiences and practices around food in a range of contexts, linking these to current policy and practice perspectives. It reveals that food works not only on a material level as sustenance but also on a symbolic level as something that can stand for thoughts, feelings, and relationships. The three broad contexts of schools, families and care (residential homes and foster care) are explored to show the ways in which both children and adults use food. Food is used as a means by which adults care for children and is also something through which adults manage their own feelings and relationships to each other which in turn impact on children’s experiences. The book examines the power of food in our daily lives and the way in which it can be used as a medium by individuals to exert power and resistance, establish collective identities and notions of the self and to express moralities about notions of 'proper' family routines and 'good' and 'healthy' lifestyle choices. It identifies inter-generational and intra-generational differences and commonalities in regard to the uses of and experiences around food across a range of studies conducted with children and young people. This book was published as a special issue of Children's Geographies.

Infants and Children

Infants and Children
Author: Laura E. Berk
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 1524
Release: 2022-06-25
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1071895125

Now published by SAGE! A best-selling, chronologically organized child development text, Laura E. Berk’s Infants and Children: Prenatal Through Middle Childhood, Ninth Edition is relied on in classrooms worldwide for its clear, engaging writing style, exceptional multicultural and cross-cultural focus, first-rate coverage of developmental neuroscience, rich examples, and long-standing commitment to presenting the most up-to-date scholarship. Renowned professor, researcher, and author Laura E. Berk takes an integrated approach to presenting development in the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social domains, emphasizing the complex interchanges between heredity and environment and offering research-based, practical applications that students can relate to their personal and professional lives. The Ninth Edition’s extensive revision strengthens the connections among developmental domains and brings forth the most recent scholarship, representing the changing field of child development. Infants and Children: Prenatal Through Middle Childhood, Ninth Edition is a briefer version of Infants, Children, and Adolescents, Ninth Edition offering the first 13 chapters for child development courses that do not cover adolescence. Included with this title: LMS Cartridge: Import this title’s instructor resources into your school’s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don’t use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site. Learn more.

Diet Quality

Diet Quality
Author: Victor R. Preedy
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2013-06-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 146147339X

Diet quality is a broad term that encapsulates both perceived and actual practices, personal preferences and cultural diversity. Measuring dietary quality can be problematic and includes investigating food types, the number or size of portions or their frequency. Diet quality may also be related to the type of food being ingested, snacking and other eating habits. Manufactured beverages and fast food may also be included as well as microbiological quality and attempts to improve single food items such as meats or vegetables. In this book, Diet Quality: An Evidence-Based Approach, Volume 1 all of the major facets of diet quality in relation to health outcomes are covered. This important new text includes methods for determining diet quality while adopting a holistic approach to impart information on the major areas of concern or knowledge. Chapters link in measurable indices of health such as obesity, pregnancy outcomes, cancer and cancer outcomes, and mortality. This book represents a diverse set of subject matters and seeks to fill a gap in the literature at a time when there is an increasing awareness that well being is associated with the qualitative nature of diets. Contributors are authors of international and national standing and emerging fields of science are incorporated. Diet Quality: An Evidence-Based Approach, Volume 1 is a useful new text designed for nutritionists, dietitians, clinicians, epidemiologist, policy makers and health care professionals of various disciplines.