August 31, 2011 - Are your kids ready for the rigors of learning? Children have to be well-fed and rested in order to gain the most from their time in the classroom. Unfortunately, appreciable numbers of kids head to school without the basics they need to excel. Drooping eyelids prevent students from keeping their educational goals in sight, and a growling stomach can drown out the sound of learning. The Lakeshore News offers parents a few tips to help them prepare their kids for that first bell-and every one thereafter.

Dr. Beth Orlowski, D. O., a pediatrician with the Rochester General Medical Group who practices in Newark, says parents should start out by helping their kids shake off the habits developed during the lackadaisical summer days.
“Summertime, everybody’s on their own little schedule,” Orlowski says. “I try to encourage the parents, two weeks before school starts, to try to get back into a routine.” That routine must include bedtimes that allow kids to get the sleep they need. “I prefer that they get a good 10 hours of sleep,” Orlowski says.

An appreciable number of US kids don’t get the sleep they need. Studies by the National Sleep Foundation, a non-profit that supports sleep-related research, have revealed that 27 percent of American kids spend less time than they need in healthy, regenerative sleep. Evidence is piling up that the condition contributes to poor academic performance. “They just can’t concentrate as well in school in the morning if they’re not getting a good amount of sleep,” Orlowski explained.

The foundation reports that lack of daily, effective rest can contribute to irritability, anxiety, and depression, and other conditions. It also compromises the body’s immune system, and might indirectly lead to obesity. Many factors can keep kids from getting the sleep they need, Orlowski says, starting with the busy schedules today’s kids often follow. School-age children, particularly as they grow older, tend to spend more and more of their after-school time on sports, homework, or other activities, pushing their bedtimes farther and farther back.

Moreover, some of those after-school activities might impede a child’s ability to sleep after he or she has hit the pillow. Researchers are studying whether the use of video games, computers, or cell phones before bedtime might decrease the user’s ability to sleep soundly.

If you’re not sure whether your kids are getting the sleep they need, you might talk to them about it, and to their teachers-a teacher can spot a child’s drooping eyes and difficulty attending to lessons.

OK, now that your kids are up, washed, and dressed, what’s next? For most kids, that should be breakfast. According to the American Dietetic Association, breakfast is extremely important for children and teens, providing an early-morning boost that can prepare students for learning. A joint Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital study found that children who regularly ate breakfast scored higher on standardized tests, exhibited better classroom behavior, and were more focused than those who skipped the meal. Children who started their days with breakfast have averaged a whole letter grade higher in math than those who didn’t get that important early-morning source of energy. Those who started their days with breakfast were also found to consume healthier diets and lower amounts of saturated fats and other unhealthy substances, and to have lower body mass indexes-an important indicator of the future risk of obesity.

Unfortunately, not all kids head off to school with something good in their stomachs. A variety of conditions can conspire to send children out without an early-morning meal, from poverty to the difficulty of getting a child or adolescent out of bed. “They’re just having enough time to get themselves dressed and out the door to catch the bus,” Orlowski says.

Parental habits can add to the problem, Orlowski says. In essence, if you don’t see any value in breakfast, your kids probably won’t, as well. If you are in doubt as to whether your child functions well without breakfast, ask his or her teachers how well they do in class, particularly before lunch. Orlowski says that kids who have trouble paying attention, concentrating, or grasping concepts in class or are disruptive might be suffering from the lack of a good breakfast.

Let’s say you want to send your kids out the door with the nourishment they need to do well in school. How can you do that in the midst of hectic school mornings? To begin with, breakfast doesn’t need to be a complicated meal. Parents and their kids can choose from a variety of foods for an early-morning repast, though professionals agree that the meal should include foods rich in whole grains, fiber, and protein, and be low in sugar. “A bowl of cereal with some fresh fruit, I think, is an excellent breakfast,” Orlowski says.

Breakfast advocates suggest that parents prepare as many of the ingredients as possible the night before, and draw their kids into planning menus, so as to help them accept the meal and its importance.

Some parents might be able to meet their kid’s needs for early-morning meals while avoiding the hassle of providing them at home. Hannibal Central School District Food Service Manager Debbie Richardson says she and her staff provide low-cost or free breakfasts to about 365 students each day classes are in session under the School Breakfast Program, a national meal program funded by the US government and the state.

Any of Hannibal’s students can sit down to breakfast at the beginning of the school day, Richardson says.  The balanced meals include combinations of breads, fruits or fruit juices, and proteins, and exclude high-sugar foods. There is even something Richardson calls a “Hannimuffin.”

“It’s an egg and a cheese on a whole-wheat English muffin,” she says.
Students whose families meet Federal income guidelines can qualify for free breakfasts, Richardson says.

Now that your kids are fueled and ready for class, you might help them on with their backpacks. Upon hefting those packs, some parents might be tempted to ask, “What the heck have you got in there-bricks?”

Studies have shown that students of all ages can shoulder as much as 20 percent of their own weight as they head off to school. “The high school kids often have heavier packs, with books and such,” Orlowski says. If you weigh in at 150 pounds, think about hefting a 30-pound bag filled with a laptop, textbooks, pens, gym clothes and other items onto a bus, into school, and up the stairs to class.

Several websites that cater to parents have suggested that backpacks that are overloaded or improperly used might contribute to shoulder and lower back pain or injuries in children and teenagers. While a search of the literature revealed a mixed view of the risks overloaded backpacks might present, parents might be well to pay attention to how much their children carry around with them, and how they do it.

The American Academy of Orthopedics suggests that parents make sure their kids use backpacks that, unlike shoulder bags, can distribute loads evenly to both shoulders. Even students who are using backpacks should avoid overloading them, and distribute their loads as evenly as possible.

“I actually recommend that they take some of the books out and they actually carry some up front, and the rest of them in the backpack,” Orlowski says.
If they can, students should carry their books and other materials in wheeled bags, Orlowski says, thereby avoiding the risk of carrying overloaded bags throughout the day.

Now that your child is out the door, it is time to breathe a sigh of relief and head off to work. Then it hits you: the school doesn’t have your work number! School officials advise parents to make sure their children’s schools have up-to-date emergency contact information and lists of their health problems, physical limitations, allergies and medications. ###