Articles by Harvey Howard on ArticleSnatch.com

What Should Kids Be Eating for a Healthy Diet?

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:20:51 -0400

Childrenâ€™s food habits start young. In fact, the majority of these habits and preferences for children are well established by the time the child is 5 years old. So if the child is already eating unhealthy food by that time, it is going to be even more of a struggle as they older. To get their kids started on the right path, some parents use a food grinder to make their own baby foods. That way, the parent knows exactly what is in the food they are serving their child from a young age. As they get a little older and begin eating solids, children should start right away eating whole foods and fruits like apples, oranges, and bananasâ€”although bananas are a heavy food, and you donâ€™t want to feed your young child more than three bananas a week. In terms of whole grains, parents should make sure to give their children enough complex carbohydrates, in pastas and breads, as well. Whole grains breads are better than white breads, and brown rice is better than white rice. Itâ€™s really about getting rid of empty calories where you can, without eliminating any food groups altogether. **End Summary** Topics: healthy diet]]> kids]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more physical health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. What Should Kids Be Eating for a Healthy Diet?

What Effects Can Diet Have on Behavior?

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:13:09 -0400

The effect that diet has on children is huge. The amount of sugar and different chemicals that we parents put into our children these days is phenomenal, and that can create different allergies that your child might not otherwise have. When it comes to the types of food parents pick out, the more whole, natural foods you feed your children the more your child is going to have a balanced central nervous system. Loading kids up with colors, dyes, and other processed chemicals just gives their nervous system more to interact with and puts them at risk in the long term. So less is better when it comes to feeding your kids processed foods. Overweight children are becoming a crisis in our culture. There is a lot of research on the effect of being overweight, both in terms of development of diabetes, heart conditions, and clogged arteries. You are even seeing kids with high blood pressure at 12 years old now based on diet, which is why I explain to parents that they should be putting thought into the foods they put on their childâ€™s plate. **End Summary** Topics: behavior]]> diet]]> healthy diet]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more physical health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. What Effects Can Diet Have on Behavior?

Benefits of Multi-Age Activities

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:08:03 -0400

Multi-age activities help socialize children so that they are able to balance their social and emotional differences. These group activities also help kids learn to work more cooperatively together, not just right now but also as they continue growing and maturing in the future. People sometimes donâ€™t realize how important this is. But in reality, multi-age activities address some of the emotional development issues in children that are important in life and society as we grow up. The older we get, the more important it is to understand cooperative functioning and also to respect each otherâ€™s differences and strengths. Multi-age activities can help children get to this point, by exposing them to groups they may not otherwise get the opportunity to work with. Within these groups, children get the chances to take on different rolesâ€”such as being the oldest in one particular group, and the youngest in a different set of kids. When experiencing these different roles, boys and girls are allowed the opportunity to behave differently than they may otherwise behave in a group of children who are all their age. This is going to help them down the line, as they mature, in terms of their emotional development. **End Summary** Topics: activities]]> kids]]> multiage activities]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more physical health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. Benefits of Multi-Age Activities

How to Get Rid of Negative Behaviors

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:01:48 -0400

When you are looking at extinguishing established negative behavior, rather than punishing children, you can instead remove them from the situation where they want to be. Whether you are at the mall, the store, the car, or at the gym, parents are encouraged to take their child who is not behaving appropriately to a lobby or other room, where they can still watch what is going but are not able to participate. Or worse yet, at My Gym, parents can take their child to a room where they can shut the door, watch through the mirror glass, but the child is really starting to feel quarantined or isolated. Additionally, short consequences work better with younger children than longer consequences. For example, time out is basically a minute a year. For a three-year-old, time outs that are more than three minutes are not as effective as time outs under three minutes. Another option parents have is to remove their child for something like 30 seconds, let him ocalm down, and then re-enter the original environment after talking about what behaviors are going to be expected. After going back in, if everything is good, then thatâ€™s great. **End Summary** Topics: kids]]> negative behaviors]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more mental health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. How to Get Rid of Negative Behaviors

What are the Gender Differences in Education?

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:55:43 -0400

Obviously, any differences mentioned are very generalized differences, because when it comes to playtime and education, girls are boys are more similar than they are different. However, there are some noticeable differences in the boys and girls that we see here at My Gym, no matter the age. Awareness Usually, girls seem to be much more aware of each other than the boys. While the girls in the My Gym classes are communicating with each other and playing, the boys might be crashing into each other and throwing things at each other. So it is that awareness, both spatially and of the other children in the same room, that we notice at an early age in girls that we do not see in boys until they get a little older. Activities Here at My Gym, we see that girls who are 4 to 6 years old are much more into the gymnastics apparatuses than the boys. While the girls are having fun checking out the various apparatusesâ€”bars, beam, etc.â€”the boys will be throwing things at each other and crashing into each other. They have the most fun doing this. **End Summary** Topics: Education]]> geneder differences]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more mental health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. What are the Gender Differences in Education?

What Are the Benefits of Social Exposure?

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:50:26 -0400

When you are putting your child in a gym setting, there are going to be multiple benefits in terms of the social exposure they are going to get from that. You can expect that you kid is going to talk more, they are going to know their numbers better, they are going to be able to act more appropriately, and they will know how to take their turns when playing with others. These are all things that kids enrolled in a program like My Gym are learning through the different activities and games we play. Some gym programs, like My Gym, have a circle time. At ours, we let the children introduce themselves every day, so they get used to saying their names and introducing themselves in public. And in general, they start getting used to the idea of just being involved more with big groups. They are gaining confidence by doing this every class, and thatâ€™s going to stick with them as they get older. So thatâ€™s one way that gyms allow kids to express themselves. **End Summary** Topics: benefits]]> social exposure]]> social exposure]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more mental health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. What Are the Benefits of Social Exposure?

What Are the Normal Differences Within the Same Age Group?

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:03:07 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. Here he discusses why parents shouldnâ€™t overreact if their child is taking a little bit longer to master certain skills. Within groups of children who are the same age and have roughly the same abilities, it can be amazing to see the differences in terms of when each child is able to accomplish certain tasks. One of the biggest examples of this is in regards to when kids start walking. Children can typically begin walking anywhere from 7 months of age all the way up to 15 or 18 months of age. And to be completely honest, by age 3 nobody can tell who was an early walker and who was a late walker. These are just developmental differences that everyone accomplishes on their own timelines. However, what parents do not want to do is to start worrying if they donâ€™t think their child is progressing in certain skills, like walking for example, as fast as his peers might be. **End Summary** Topics: kids]]> normal differences]]> taking longer]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more mental health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. What Are the Normal Differences Within the Same Age Group?

Behavior Management in Children

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:58:27 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. Here he discusses how to handle behavior management in your child. Behavior management is something that starts right off the bat with children. A typical parental mistake that many people make is letting their kids do anything they want until they get older, and then attempting to set limits down the road. By that point, it is too late. By the ages of three or four it is already late, and by the time a child reaches 6 years old, it is over. Researchers commonly talk about the idea that 80% of a childâ€™s personality and development is formed by the time he is 6 years old, and that is important for parents to keep in mind when it comes to behavior management issues. **End Summary** Topics: behavior management]]> behavior management in children]]> kids]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more mental health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. Behavior Management in Children

Importance of Variety in Children's Sports

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:28:59 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. He takes the time to explain why it is important for children to try out multiple different sports while they are young. When kids are still at a young age, I believe it is better for them to explore multiple sports than to get stuck doing only one thing. That is for a lot of reasons, but mainly it is because children need the chance to develop broader experiences in life so they can make better judgments and decisions down the road. Allowing them to explore different sports during their youth is a great way to expand their horizons. Parents need to let their kids try hockey, lacrosse, soccer, basketballâ€”they should try it all. Because honestly, if your child is naturally athletic then he is going to excel at all the sports. **End Summary** Topics: children"'""s sports]]> kids sports]]> variety]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more physical health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. Importance of Variety in Children"'s Sports

What Are Age-Appropriate Behaviors in Children?

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:19:32 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. Here he explains how to tell whether or not your childâ€™s behaviors are appropriate. Children of different ages should not be expected to exhibit the same behaviors. What is perfectly normal for a 2-year-old, for example, may be wildly inappropriate for an older child. It is important to take this information into consideration when determining when to start working with your child on mastering certain behaviors like sharing, taking turns, and overcoming separation anxiety. Sharing When we are working with 1 or 2 year olds, one of the things we are working on the most is sharing. You can talk about sharing at an earlier age, but they will have a hard time grasping the concept if they are too young. For example, a child may have just seen a block and not even known it was there 30 seconds ago, and now all he knows is that he just wants the block back. **End Summary** Topics: age appropriate]]> behaviors]]> kids]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more mental health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. What Are Age-Appropriate Behaviors in Children?

Family Fitness Tips

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:14:06 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. Here is explains how parents can get their kids to enjoy being physically activity. If you want to get your kid active in fitness, the way to do it is by being active yourself. The more a family engages in group walks, bike rides, or other fitness activities as a unit, the more a child is going to see that behavior and want to model it. For an emerging, developing family, group fitness outings are an important part of an overall healthy lifestyle. Children see how their parents feel about fitness, and because they absorb everything, they will notice that. So, for example, a mom may take her child to soccer practice and instead of sitting down or just watching, she may decide to jog around the field while the kids are practicing. I have seen this happen. And the message that activity sends to the child is that fitness is important. **End Summary** Topics: family fitness]]> family]]> fitness tips]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more physical health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. Family Fitness Tips

The Importance of Building Confidence in Children

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:08:09 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. He takes the time to explain why parents should encourage confidence in their children. It is critically important that parents take every step to help their children gain confidence in themselves. That plays out in so many ways as children get older. When children have confidence, they feel like they can trust their instructors, they can trust their environment, andâ€”most importantlyâ€”that they can trust themselves to handle whatever situation may arise. Itâ€™s common for us to see children who have far more skills, but donâ€™t believe they are capable because they have lower confidence. On the other hand, there are others who will not perform as well and who may not have the specific skills yet, but will throw themselves into any situation and believe they can do it. It is that confidence issue that determines so much of a childâ€™s experience and future at a very early age. Confidence is a major issue we work on at My Gym. **End Summary** Topics: building confidence]]> children]]> kids]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more mental health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. The Importance of Building Confidence in Children

How to Choose a Children's Gym

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:02:28 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. Here he spills the secrets to a childrenâ€™s gym that fits your needs. There are any number of things that parents should be on the lookout for when selecting a gym for their child. When talkig about the main considerations, you are going to want to check out the gymâ€™s staff, the structure of its classes, and its equipment and safety considerations, among other issues. Staff Parents are going to want to look at the friendliness of the gymâ€™s staff and instructors. It is important to see for yourself how they interact and relate with the children, and whether they are building relationships with those children. Is there only verbal instruction, or does the instructor offer a hands on experience? For younger children especially, a hands on experience is best. Class Ratios The ratio of instructors to children is important as well. When you are starting to get more than 1:10 or 1:12 you are way off the mark. **End Summary** Topics: children"'""s gym]]> gym]]> kid]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more physical health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. How to Choose a Children"'s Gym

How to Make Exercise Fun for Kids

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:56:49 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. Here is explains how parents can get their kids to enjoy being physically activity. Getting older children to enjoy physical fitness starts off with turning whatever activity they are practicing into a game. Here at My Gym, most of the activities we do are hidden within some kind of game. So the kids just think they are playing a fun game, and they donâ€™t even realize that they are exercising at the same time. One great example of that is something we do here called the snowball war. We are throwing snowballs at each other and having a great time. But what the kids donâ€™t realize is that they are also working on their hand-eye coordination at the same time. Of course, we arenâ€™t telling them they are practicing a certain skill, because if you just told a kid to stand in one spot and throw a ball at a target for hours he wouldnâ€™t have any fun at all. **End Summary** Topics: fitness]]> fitness fun]]> kids]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more physical health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. How to Make Exercise Fun for Kids

What Are Developmental Milestones in Kids?

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:50:59 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. In this article he outlines a few of the major developmental milestones for children. First and foremost, parents need to have some flexibility when it comes to developmental milestones. Too often, parents get wrapped up in the specific skills their child is able to do at a young age, and the truth of the matter is different kids will pick up these skills at different ages. In general, parents need to calm down, stop worrying so much, and just let the child be. Typically, the biggest of these milestones that parents focus on is walking. For example at My Gym we have a child who is what you would call a â€œscooter.â€ That basically means he is up and moving around, but he isnâ€™t crawling on all fours or walkingâ€”he is just scooting on his bottom with one leg in front of him. **End Summary** Topics: developmental milestones]]> kids]]> milestones]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more physical health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. What Are Developmental Milestones in Kids?

How to Reinforce Positive Behaviors in Children

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:44:17 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. When it comes to reinforcing positive behaviors as a parent, what you want to do is identify when the child does a behavior that you desire and immediately praise him. You can draw attention to them in connection with the positive behavior, which will lead the child to make a direct association between his or her behavior and the positive reaction. Time wise, children are not good with delayed responses, which is why this positive praise should be given as soon as the behavior is observed, since they connect best with immediate responses. Especially with younger children, the abstract reason is not there yet. Everything in their eyes is entirely concrete. So for example, if they clap their handsâ€”and letâ€™s say that is a desired behaviorâ€”and you jump up and down and clap your hands and mimic their behavior and cheer and smile at them, then they will see that reaction, think that it is a good thing, and do the original behavior again. **End Summary** Topics: positive behaviors]]> positive behaviors]]> children]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more mental health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. How to Reinforce Positive Behaviors in Children

How to Choose a Fitness Program for your Child

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:54:55 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. Here he discusses how parents can find the right fitness program for their child. When parents begin looking for a fitness program for their child, there are a number of factors that should be taken into consideration. Some questions parents may want to ask themselvesâ€”as well as the instructors working at the programâ€”include: Does the program address different areas of childrenâ€™s developmentâ€”in terms of physical and emotional development? Does the program have a variety of challenging activitiesâ€”such as a climbing as well as tumbling? Are kids having the opportunity to be in different body positionsâ€”i.e. are they developing more body awareness of themselves in the process? Is there a happy sense about the activities that are going on? Do the instructors seem engaged with the children? Have the instructors learned the childrenâ€™s names? In the instruction, do all children feel like they are being encouraged? Are children praised for doing their best for trying, or is there a sense of failure with their attempt? **End Summary** Topics: exercise]]> fitness program]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more physical health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. How to Choose a Fitness Program for your Child

How to Develop Readiness in Children

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:49:18 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. Here he explains how parents can help develop readiness in their young children. The best way to develop readiness in children is to keep exposing them to the building blocks that they need to grow. If you continually put these building blocks in their lives, these activities and challenges in front of them, they will be ready for it when the time comes. They will see these challenges and look forward to tackling them. People commonly ask me, when is the best time to enroll their child in a gym? I say, as soon as possible. I say this because theyâ€”the childrenâ€”are watching. They are listening, even before they are wobbling, to what is going on around them. And when you put a child in a gym, that means he is getting to experience other kids, being put into different positions, doing all these fun things from a younger age. **End Summary** Topics: children]]> how to develop]]> readiness in children]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more mental health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. How to Develop Readiness in Children

How Can Healthy Competition Help Children?

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:43:09 -0400

Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Childrenâ€™s Fitness Center in New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. Here he explains how a bit of competition can actually help children in the long run. Healthy competition is one major way to help children accomplish a little more than they thought they were capable of. Whether this is in athletics, academics, or nearly any other area of life, participating in competitionâ€”and feeling positive about the outcomeâ€”gives children the self confidence they need to push forward and continue striving to do their best. For example, when a child sees someone else accomplishing a particular activity that he believes he can do as well, he will go after the goal. This is what competition is all about, no matter the age, and it is also one of the ways healthy competition helps push kids forward. It encourages them to continue trying until they can accomplish a specific skill or activity. At fitness centers like My Gym, we reinforce the positive, as well. **End Summary** Topics: children"'""s gym]]> fitness]]> gyms]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Harvey Howard is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an Expert guide or more mental health articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. How Can Healthy Competition Help Children?