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Veggies That Kids Like

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One of the toughest moments in parenting is getting kids to eat vegetables. I have witnessed so many stories.  I’ve seen children cry just because someone asked them to eat their carrots. I saw one kid fall out on the floor because someone placed produce on the plate. I have even seen children weep as they eat vegetables and confess that they like it!

I’m not too sure I understand all of the reasons for resistance, but I do know that vegetables provide the vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, antioxidants, fiber and water to help us stay healthy.

If you can’t get your child to eat sugar snap peas, here are a few ideas to help meet the challenge. But first I must warn you, it takes tough parenting and a few clever ways to approach eating vegetables.

  1. Collect recipes or ways to season the favorites. One of the reasons why children don’t like to eat veggies is because they don’t taste good. Preparing broccoli with sesame seed oil, garlic and soy sauce can turn tastebuds into broccoli lovers.
  2. There is a better chance of getting kids to eat veggies when they are hungry. Try placing vegetables on the plate before other foods and encourage them to take a bite. A little stir-fried zucchini with tomatoes, onions and basil might win them over.
  3. Adding vegetables to their favorite dishes may go unnoticed. Cauliflower can be minced to resemble rice. Mixing this rice-like cauliflower into rice dishes with a little curry powder, protein and onions can slip past their tastebuds.
  4. If a child does not like raw spinach, try it sautéed with garlic and olive oil — in soups, or added to casseroles. The important point is to get them to try a vegetable several ways before we accept that they really don’t like it.
  5. When all else fails, try roasting root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes; and cruciferous vegetables like Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli. Using infused olive oils, balsamic vinegars, and herbs such as basil, rosemary, and Italian seasonings make culinary delights.
  6. Take kids to the grocery store and let them pick a vegetable. When they participate in the process, they are more likely to try something new and form an opinion.
  7. Giving them a variety of fresh produce can get them eating vegetables regularly. Beets can be a tough sell, but roasted with a little olive oil brings out the sweetness, and I have seen kids eat with passion. Raw beets have that earthy flavor but shredded in a salad, it tastes great!

I have been working with kids in schools for more than 15 years and I have seen the opinions of children change when they have experienced great tasting veggies. It takes creativity, patience and a few cooking techniques to engage them. Over the years, I have been surprised to see how great tasting veggies become a part of their diet. Oh, and don’t forget to show them that you eat vegetables too!

Pamela Williams writes from Southern California

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Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

Understanding ADHD

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ADHD or Attention Deficit/Hypersensitivity Disorder is a relatively new diagnosis that caught our attention in the middle to latter part of the twentieth century. People who were impulsive, hyperactive and had a hard time focusing were diagnosed with ADHD.

In the early history of ADHD, most thought that it was a problem among children and that they would grow out of it. However, about 4.4 percent of the adult population are ADHD. Among this group, 62 percent are males and 38 percent are females. Among non-adults, about 5 million children from ages 3-17 years old have been diagnosed with the disorder.1 

Is the incidence of ADHD increasing? Researchers think so. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitors the occurrence of ADHD and one survey entitled, The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), compared data from 2003 to 2007. The parent-reported data showed that there has been a 7.2 percent increase over the four-year period.

Why the increase? Based on the surveys, researchers are not too sure. However, here are a few suspects:

• Because ADHD has a more precise definition, researchers and health professionals are better able to identify ADHD.

• More children are exposed to compounds such as toxins and pesticides. These exposures may play a role in increasing ADHD.

• Researchers report that the umbilical cord that supplies much needed nutrients to the unborn baby, can carry pollutants, industrial chemicals, pesticides, residue from cigarettes and alcohol. The Environmental Work Group examined the umbilical cords of ten newborns born August and September of 2004. Within the sampled umbilical cord blood, “They found pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline and garbage.”2 Researchers also reported that 287 chemicals were detected in cord blood and of this number, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system. The outcome of this exposure has not been extensively studied.3

• Some researchers suggest that television watching for ages 1 and 3 may lead to attention problems at age 7.3 Another study conducted in 2010 suggests a connection between attention problems and television watching and video gaming among children, teens and young adults.4

• Artificial food colorings and certain foods such as milk, chocolate, wheat, corn, legumes and others may also trigger attention problems in some children.5

There are other possible causes of ADHD and there is no easy answer. However, if those with ADHD work alongside physicians, dietitians and other health professionals, perhaps the problem of ADHD may be lessened or perhaps resolved.

Pamela Williams writes from Southern California.

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Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

A Persistent Bother

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I’m dealing with insidious plant life in my yard. We have a new variety that has crept under the pool enclosure and fills in every available inch of soil. Plus the old regulars. This morning I took time to pull weeds from the backyard while the ground is saturated with recent rains. I’ve tried chemical spray (good for — months, ha!), yearly mulch, and regular pulling, to little avail. Weeds just keep returning. A never-ending process when one lives in a warm year-around climate. Yet I do find a certain satisfaction from yanking those pesky plants and viewing the short-term results. Therapy?

My small grandson begs to walk the yard and visit the flowers. Last week when I started to pull some weeds, I began instructing him on the difference between flowers and weeds. He would like to pull up both plants. After all, both have flowers and fruit. Unfortunately, it is easy to dislodge flowers when one starts attacking the pretender weeds that live among the desirable plants.

There seems to be a lot of “weedy” people in the world. Ones that I wish didn’t exist or could magically disappear. Self-absorbed, cruel, or those who seem to have no contribution in existence yet suck the resources and energy from others. More importantly, could we lose those dangerous or painful nettle/thistle-people that hurt when you get too close? Maybe even the ones that are like stick-tights and you can’t shake them no matter what you try to do?

On the up side, I wish I had the weed-kind of persistence, resilience, or genetic fortitude. Sometimes I’ve made mistakes when pulling weeds. Leaves and stems can appear to be very similar. My husband thinks the heart-shaped leaves of the invasive air-potato vine to be very pretty. Weeds can sometimes produce flowers, fragrance or become tamed into something useful. I am very fond of “Beauty Berries,” found wild along parks and roads with stems of close-packed berries that turn purple in the fall.

Weeds even exist among the people who claim to be God’s people. The weeds grow in our families, communities, churches and countries. Jesus talked a lot about his kingdom in Matthew 13. He said that in God’s kingdom, there is an “enemy” that has planted or sown weeds among the good plants. And when God’s workers get aggravated with weeds and want to remove them, Jesus said, “No.” Because it’s easy to dislodge the good plants when you pull up the weeds. “Let them both grow together until the harvest” (Matthew 13:30, NIV). Jesus will instruct the harvesters when it’s time. But I will continue to pull the weeds in my yard.

Questions for personal journaling or group discussion:

1. What motivation do you believe, drives us to want to “weed-out” people?

2. Is there a place for disciplinary action in God’s kingdom?

Karen Spruill writes from Orlando, Florida.

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Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

Pulling Weeds

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Weeds! Weeds are the miserable bane of every gardener’s dream. I know firsthand; I’ve been up to my elbows in them lately. We’ve taken off on two separate occasions this summer, and even though we were only absent for a week each time, I was shocked when we returned. We live in an area with amazing soil, and it looked like a jungle had replaced the clean plot that we had planted just weeks before.

“A sower went out to sow his seed…and some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it” (Luke 8:5, 7, NKJV).

Recently, after a particularly frustrating session of pulling so many of these stubborn weeds, I began looking at this parable that Jesus told so long ago. It’s still applicable to my spiritual life (as it has always been). Christ explains the parable of the sower and the soil later in Luke 8, and I found it amazingly accurate in how it depicted my spiritual walk…especially when the path has gotten weedy.

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11).

“Now the ones the fell among the thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”

I certainly can’t relate to the part about “riches.” I’ve never been wealthy, so the “pleasures of life” that naturally come with riches haven’t been a struggle; however, the “cares” have (at times) done a number on my spirituality.

I’ve discovered that the more worried and concentrated I become about what is happening around me, the less tangible I feel God’s presence in my life. It’s an easy trap to fall into…forgetting that life is about more than merely just making it through the day. The weeds of worry and care can often choke the spiritual life right out of me if they are allowed to take root and grow.

Pulling weeds is an arduous task, and when it comes to the spiritual garden of my life, I can’t pull them alone. I’ve got a Friend who’s an excellent gardener though…and I often call on Him to help me clear the path so that the fruit of righteousness can grow in my life. He spoke the parable, and He knows how to take care of the weeds in my life.

Michael Temple writes from North Dakota.

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Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

A Future Without Me

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I did it. I did it? I DID IT?! I DID IT!!!! I just passed the oral defense of my dissertation proposal! I can’t believe it! If you’re not familiar with the process (which I wasn’t until a few years ago), here’s how it works. A doctoral student, (in this case, me), learns everything possible there is to learn about a subject, comes up with questions about the topic that, up until now, have remained unanswered, and then the doctoral student comes up with a project that will answer one or more of those questions. Make sense? (Yeah, I don’t get it either)

You can only imagine the things that were going through my head as I embarked on a journey that I didn’t quite understand. These thoughts included, but are not limited to:

  1. How is it possible that I made it to this point in the program without having learned anything?
  2. Is it possible that I’ve gotten dumber?!
  3. What would REALLY happen if I packed up my car and me and my puppy ran away forever?
  4. Who do I think I am?! I’m not smart enough to do this!

I don’t know if you can tell, but the underlying all of those thoughts is my worst enemy, anxiety. I can safely say that I’ve spent the better part of the last month afraid. Like hiding under the covers afraid. I prayed and asked others to pray for me, but my fear seemed to consume me most of the time.

Until one day, earlier this week when I found a devotional book that I had long been ignoring: Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young. I opened it up and on that very day, the topic was anxiety. The very first sentence blew me away (meant to be read as if Jesus were speaking): “Anxiety is a result of envisioning a future without me.”

I know that Jesus wanted me to find that devotional on that particular day to read that particular sentence. That experience is nothing short of a miracle for me. I wish I could say, I never felt afraid again, but I did. But each time anxiety came over me, I’d remember to think of Jesus being at my side, carrying me through whatever situation was scaring me. I thank God for speaking to me so clearly!

“When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” (Psalm 56:3, NLT).

Note: In writing this, I want to make sure that I’m very clear about the nature of anxiety. For some people, it’s a very real, debilitating disorder that can’t be cured by reading a random sentence in a long lost devotional book. If you are one of those people, please seek out help. Jesus made therapists too, you know.

Jael Amador writes from New York, New York

The post A Future Without Me appeared first on Answers for Me.

Read more at the source: A Future Without Me

Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

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