Update: My son is eating vegetables!!

Summer is the best season for fresh food. So many different and delicious fruits and vegetables are available, fresh from the garden. I am extremely fortunate to live next to people who have a garden, so large and successful that they cannot eat all they produce. In the past they have kindly shared their excess with me and my family. This year, as they are becoming too old for the shoveling and weeding, I have become their laborer in exchange for an even larger share of the bounty. Besides sitting down to a salad of fresh lettuces, spinach, carrots, and cucumbers, we are also harvesting peas (three different kinds), green beans, zucchini, raspberries, strawberries, potatoes, shallots, cilantro, basil, parsley, thyme, and dill.

But most amazing of all is my son's interest. As you may know from my book or a previous blog, my son does not usually show much interest in fresh fruits and vegetables. But this summer he is. He goes next door to the garden when he is hungry and picks some strawberries and raspberries. He is picking and eating snap peas, snow peas and green beans, stuffing them in his pockets. He searches for cucumbers and loves their flavor and crunch. He also loves to pull carrots from the ground, rinse them with the hose and eat them right then and there. Actually, all of these foods he eats at the garden. Once they are on the table, even if they are still raw and untouched by slicing, cooking or saucing, he doesn't show much interest.

So I am all smiles as he munches away, and my wonderful and generous neighbors are totally welcoming and supportive of his interest as he nibbles away at their garden. As I think back, my daughter never ate a tomato until she tried one freshly picked in our yard. She loves them now and even eats them from the store and served at the table. So no matter where you live, grow something--cucumbers and tomatoes grow well in pots, lettuce doesn't' take much room, and potatoes grow underground beneath their green leafy tops (kids love digging for these in the late summer). If you can't grown foods at home, visit a local farm that sells to the public or visit a farmers market. Most vendors give out samples and it is amazing what kids eat when it is a sample.

Enjoy the rest of the summer. I am looking forward to the harvesting of tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, onions, apples, Asian pears, plums, more zucchini, and grapes. And I can't wait to see what my son will be eating then.

Screen Time Most Often a Detriment to Children's Health

This past week, the National Institute of Health and a nonprofit advocacy group called Common Sense Media presented the results of a study on media use and children's mental and physical health. They chose 173 studies from 1,800, from 1980 until present, that met the study's criteria. They concluded that "In a clear majority of those studies more time with television, films, video games, magazines, music and the Internet was linked to rises in childhood obesity, tobacco use and sexual behavior. A majority also showed strong correlations — what the researchers deemed “statistically significant associations” — with drug and alcohol use and low academic achievement."

Will this finally stop the debate? We now have long term scientific evidence that too much media time leads to undesirable characteristics in our children. Either from content or just sitting around too much (most likely both) our children are not benefiting from the vast majority of their screen time. We also know from many other studies that children who eat at least 3 meals a week with their family, with no other distractions such as radio, TV, or reading materials, eat healthier in and out of the home, have better grades, are less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, and have better self esteem.

So why can't we turn off the TV and actually talk to each other? Why can't we eat together? If a child has time to watch 45 hours a week of media, they certainly have time for a family meal. Make it a priority to have at least 3 family meals a week. There is no financial cost to this. You will actually save money now and in the future. Individual servings of frozen or boxed foods are expensive, usually loaded with salt or fat, and are each cooked separately. One family meal eaten by everyone saves food and power costs. Having the whole family in one room means that the lights in all of the other rooms are off, as are electrical media gadgets, TVs and computers. In the long run you can save money on health care, avoiding fees to doctors, nutritionists, counselors, psychologists and therapists.

If you don't know what to talk about, there are several products that help families learn to have conversations at the table. But to avoid that cost, just ask each person at the table to recount one really good or even one really unpleasant moment of their day. Once everyone gets used to talking, dinner conversations can be fun, educational, and give you invaluable insight into the lives of those you live with. (If that seems too controversial, just talk about the food.) Watch what happens when there is no screen distraction in your home. I believe you will be amazed.