Fall is in the air and here in the South, school has

already begun. As many of you prepare to send your children back to school soon, there will probably be some major adjustments to your schedules and daily routines. Of course, the focus of KBA is to promote good nutrition and awareness of infectious diseases but have you thought about how we become more susceptible to diseases when we are not getting enough sleep or how a lack of sleep affects your child’s academic and athletic performance? According to the National Sleep Foundation (2013), school-aged children (ages 5-10) need about 10 to 11 hours of sleep per night and teens (ages 10-17) need between 8.5 and 9.25 hours of sleep per night.

As children grow older, it becomes more difficult for parents to monitor their actual sleep patterns but research has shown that children from elementary age to college students who experience sleep

loss perform more poorly in academics and athletics (Curcio, Ferrara & De Gennaro, 2006). In addition, Sadeh, Gruber, and Raviv (2002), discovered that a lack of sleep is also correlated to behavioral problems.

Children who experience a lack of sleep are more accident prone, have weaker immune systems, thus making them more susceptible to infectious diseases and less responsive to flu vaccinations, have higher rates of depression and anxiety and may even experience growth problems (Teel, 2013). A lack of sleep can also increase one’s risk for obesity and diabetes (Teel).

As you prepare your children for the coming school term, make sure they are getting the

sleep they need for optimal academic performance and to increase their ability to stay healthier in the coming year.

By Renee Sullivan, M.A., CCLC Kids Be Aware, Co-Chair

KIDS BE AWARE, INC. August 2013

Volume 3, Issue 6

Our Mission and Vision

The Mission of Kids Be Aware is to unite the community in which we serve, to support parents in educating their children to lead healthier lives. By developing the whole person (body, mind, and soul) through education, Kids Be Aware will promote individual wellness among our peers and those of our children in a fun and engaging way.

The Vision of Kids Be Aware is to enable children to grow and develop the whole person through proper nutrition, physical activities, and healthy lifestyles.

Table of Contents

CEO’s Corner ............... 2

Highlights ......................... 2

Featured Articles:

Healthy Recipes ............. 3

Body Wellness................ 4

........................................... 5

Is your child getting enough sleep?

CEO’s Corner...

The current need of this organization is to get a new location up and running and resume our activities. Together, we can raise disease awareness among children and parents.

I thank you in advance for your support and hope that you find it in your heart to help us decrease health disparities among our children. We strive to bring better life to all and we work hard everyday to accomplish this.

“Teach me about health so that Tomorrow I may teach others” Together we can!

Cheers and Peace to You!

Jeannette Bryant, CEO Kids Be Aware, Inc.

Howdy!

Many things happened this past couple of months and I’m very thankful to have a team of dedicated women who work along side me every single day. I just want to take a minute and say thank you to my terrific board of directors and advisor for all they do to help this organization grow.

We have opened our doors recently and have had a series of set backs but one thing I learned in life is that, no matter how hard things get, the secret is to keep moving along regardless of the difficulties that lie ahead.

As we continue to move forward and abide by the regulations, we have come to realize that although we are not a childcare center, we are classified like one. In other for parents to trust that we will carry the torch of educating their children, we have decided that we will have to get a childcare license that is issued to school age programs like ours to run our activities more smoothly.

In doing this, we will have to relocate our facility to a brand new location that meets ADA regulations and that can get a childcare license. This requires us to have a center with an outdoor space and handicap accessible bathrooms.

As the representative of the organization, I will be center hunting with Cummings properties to secure a brand new location. This Friday, I will be looking at locations and hope to bring good news to the board soon.

We are eager to partner with organizations all around town whose mission and vision is in line with ours. While we are pleased in the many milestone of our organization, we are working hard each day to better our program and to reach out to the community to let them know that we are a helping hand and we are here to help the success and health of our children.

We have faced many rough patch as we work towards opening our center but we are working around it to find better ways to sustain our organization. Ever since we took over the Cummings properties space back in March, we have been faced with tremendous challenges and because of these challenges and resistance, we have come to learn new ways in helping us become successful.

We hope that as we move away from these challenges, we will accomplish what we have been working for.

We are the healthy alternative for your children. Keep us in mind.

We are seeking NEW Enrollment!

We are seeking Volunteers for various roles.

Contact us and Volunteer!

“We strive to partner with

schools, churches, and

organizations to focus on the

health and well-being of our

children”

Page 2 KIDS BE AWARE, INC.

Healthy Recipes for children Fire Roasted Chile and Garlic Chicken Burgers The easiest way to make a burger healthier is to sub out the beef with

chicken in order to skip out on the saturated fat. This recipe adds tons of flavor with the roasted chiles, and piles on more with the garlic. Simply leave out the bacon to go easy on your waistline and you’re good to go. Use a multi-grain or whole wheat bun to make it a complete meal. http://bembu.com/healthy-dinner-recipes

Paleo Curry Meatballs The curry sauce on these gives them a unique flavor

that’s unusual in the world of meatballs. These are dairy free for all of you Paleo enthusiasts, and they end up as a healthy option even for those that aren’t following the Paleo diet. If you’re looking for low-carbs you can make a meal out of them, and if not you can balance these out with some nice whole wheat pasta or a baked potato. http://bembu.com/healthy-dinner-recipes

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili No taco shells needed to

enjoy this chili. It uses chicken instead of beef so you’re getting all of the flavor you’d want, but without worrying about added fat from ground beef. The beans are there, as you’d expect, but you may want to add some bell peppers to get some more veggies included. The corn and beans are your carb source. Overall a hearty meal you can eat with a fork. http://bembu.com/healthy-dinner-recipes

Page 3 KIDS BE AWARE, INC.

Cha Cha Bowl

The bright mix of colors makes this a great dish to whip up when you have company over, and no one will suspect that

you’re passing off healthy food on them. The ingredients are all freshly made, and retain their healthy status by not being cooked. The rice and beans supply some good carbs, the chicken is the protein adder, and there are yummy veg-gies like zucchini. The healthy fats from the avocados mean you’ll feel full and fight body fat.

http://bembu.com/healthy-dinner-recipes

Getting into the Swing of School Schedules

Like any parent across America, getting your child ready for school can mean a sudden interruption to summer fun and like most of us, this can mean juggling everyone’s schedules in order for children to get to and from their school.

There have been many discussions by well meaning people about how best to get ready- from buying supplies early, to layaways, making sure your child has the basics is truly all the child needs. Apart from having paper and pencils, crayons and erasers, the supply lists continue to grow despite the economic difficulties. While we at KBA assure you that all parents face these and similar challenges, there is one area we can offer some sound advise- devising a

schedule that may help eliminate the morning rush around that often takes place on school mornings. The first thing we as parents can consider is how best to plan ahead. Is it possible to lay school clothes out and to pack lunches together the night before? Additionally, we as parents know from previous experience, that all children need immunizations, and perhaps physicals, so why postpone it until the week before school starts? Early steps can really help decrease the stress out of last minute rush.

For those of you who have access to the internet, we would like to share some basic hints that other parents have found useful from other parents:

Use night before when the school and work day is over to plan for the next day:

1. Use the afternoon to permit children and parents to share their day, have a snack and relax a bit before heading into homework.

2. Lay put clothes and pack lunches the night before.

3. Parents, ensure an adherence to stricter sleep schedules- children in school need sleep for school.

Additionally, some parents plan to get up before their children on school mornings and sticking with the new schedules will take work until everyone gets into the swing of things. We realize that parents who work schedules that are different from their children’s school schedules, it may benefit these parents to permit all of the family to contribute to a smoother running household.

Posting a visible schedule of tasks and chores can help to accomplish this. Within approximately two weeks, a hectic schedule often becomes routine, and as everyone works together, parents and their children become more at ease with the return to school.

We at KBA, wish everyone a safe school year! Here is to all the wonderful things we will learn!

Susan Ruiz, Chair Kids Be Aware, Inc. References:

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/lifestyle/family/parebts-in-action-getting-on-the-back-to-school-schedule

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130527192411AAwDgSl

Body Wellness

Page 4 KIDS BE AWARE, INC.

References:

Curcio, G., Ferrara, M., & De Gennaro, L. (2006). Sleep loss, learning capacity and academic performance. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 10(5):323-37.

National Sleep Foundation (2013). How much sleep do we really need? Retrieved on August 15, 2013 from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need

Sadeh, A., Gruber, R. and Raviv, A. (2002). Sleep, neurobehavioral functioning, and behavior problems in school-age children. Child Development, v.73(2), pp. 405-417.

Teel, P. (2007). If Your Child Has Problems, It May Due to Lack of Sleep.Psych Central. Retrieved on August 17, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/if-your-child-has-problems-it-may-due-to-lack-of-sleep/000897

Is your child getting enough sleep? (cont.)

Page 5 KIDS BE AWARE, INC.

We are on the Web!

Visit us at: www.kidsbeaware.org

Page 6 KIDS BE AWARE, INC.

KBA Board Members

Jeannette Bryant CEO kidsbeawarenow@gmail.com 781-354-2701

Tiffany Henderson Treasurer donald_and_tiffany@yahoo.com 678-431-6543

Susan Ruiz Chair susan.ruiz@waldenu.edu 301-302-4215

Teresa Godley-Chase Co-chair Teressa.godley-chase@waldenu.edu 240-515-4222

Renee Sullivan Co-Chair renee.l.sullivan@gmail.com 478-718-1306

Regina Rainey Board Member reginarainey@ymail.com 864-303-2151

Kids Be Aware, Inc.

P.O Box 2173

Woburn, MA 01801

Monthly Highlights

“We strive to partner with schools, churches,

and organizations to focus on the health and

well-being of our children”

We are looking for Volunteers.

All volunteers must submit to

a Cori/Sori Check before

working with children. Visit

our website or come in our

location and start volunteering

today!

Kids Be Aware, Inc

Being relocated. Stay

tune for more to

come.

We welcome any donations to help us with the

expansion of our program

To donate to our organization please use this link:

http://www.kidsbeaware.org/donate