There is an aspect of preventing childhood obesity that involves lovingly and positively disciplining your child. What does that word discipline mean to you? What images come to your mind when you hear that word. For many the word discipline does not bring up good feelings or memories. For some the word may bring up images of pain or hard ship, definitely not something we want to actively take part in.

I was raised by my mother and grandmother. My mother was basically a non existent parent, there only in body. I later found out that she was challenged mentally and probably, should not have had children in the first place. My grandmother was from the school of beat the living day lights out of you first and ask questions later. I loved my grandmother dearly and she was a wonderful person with many great qualities but she was only doing the best she knew and what was also done to her.

Because my grandmother was a no nonsense, don’t take no mess kind of person, her nickname in the neighborhood was “Pistol Packing Momma”. and in her younger days would cuss, fight and shoot at the blink of an eye, she required immediate results. So patience was not her strong point when it came to disciplining her grandkids. Her meaning of disciplining was to teach you thorough spankings to do or not do something.

Although I now understand where she was coming from I choose a different route to both teach and get results. I believe that you can teach children with compassion and set limits and boundaries with the goal in mind to raise and develop responsibile kids that know right from wrong and do right.

In no way am I pretending to be a saint and act as if I never ever popped my child. What I am saying is that it was a last resort when nothing else seemed to work but thank God I had many other resources that did work. One very effective method was “Time Out”, recently renamed the “Thinking Chair”.

I thought “Time Out ” was pretty good and it worked really well for me. I don’t know how much a 2, 3 or 4 year old thinks about what they did wrong. I think they are thinking about what they are going to do once they get out of “Time Out”. The thinking about what was done should be done before being sent to “Time Out ” and explained in simple language that the child can understand so that they can see the relationship between what they did and how this behavior is unacceptable. There should also be a warning given so that the child clearly understands what that unacceptable behavior is first. Explain what will happen if that behavior happens again. Immediately following that behavior occuring, the “Time Out” should happen, along wiith a reminder of the warning previously given.

For preschoolers and toddlers the time should be no more than their age. For example a two year old should have a two minute time out. Consistentcy and follow through are key. You will find it happens less and less as the child learns that you will follow through like clock work every time and you mean what you say.

Some people ask the child to say “I’m sorry” once the time is up and they are coming out. I DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS AT ALL!!!!! It’s not the intention that I disagree with but the words. The word sorry means full of sorrow, mental suffering, pity, poor, wretched, miserable. On the other hand the word apology means to excuse oneself, atone, ask for forgiveness, make amends or make up with someone.

We have to take into consideration that the subconscious mind of the child is always listening and recording. I am sure good intentioning adults do not want to constantly fill the childs mind with “I’m sorry”. I do understand that it is done so that the child understands that what they say and do can hurt or be harmful to others and to help them to start to have compassion for others and learn about cause and effect.

We can help them to understand that by pointing these things out when they occur and consistently go over and remind children of acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

Lastly how this all relates to childhood obesity prevention is disciplining that does not consider the whole child for example their esteem and self control erode the very foundation that healthy eating habits and fitness are based on.

For more information on raising a healthy and fit kid check out a free ebook on the subject at http://www.healthykidsweightloss.com.

Long-term good health is less an accident than the result of good habits and wise choices. To enjoy good health now and in the future, youngsters must learn how to eat, exercise, sleep, control stress, and be responsible for personal cleanliness and reducing the risk of disease. In addition, they
need to be aware of what to do in an emergency and when to say “no”.

Habits that include eating nutritious foods and understanding the relationship between physical and emotional health will help your child grow up healthy. Your child’s ability to learn and the chances for a longer and more productive life can be greatly improved by developing and following good health practices.

Obesity in children is growing at a frighteningly fast rate. There are more obese children now than ever before. Parents are letting their carelessness with their own diets spill over into their children’s lives. Here are a few points to think about when trying to prevent obesity and health problems for your children. Small children are normally energetic and often require snacks in-between meals. It is most important to choose healthy snacks for your children. Raw fruits and vegetables are the best choice, as well as whole grains and nut butters, such as almond, cashew, and peanut.

Excellent teaching skills were demonstrated in the movie ” The Karate Kid” starring Jaden Smith, Jackie Chen and Taraji Henson. Teaching and parenting are things that people usually do from a place of love.  Jackie Chen’s character(Mr. Hong) tells Jaden Smith’s character (Dre Parker) that there are no bad students only bad teachers.

I understand where Chen was coming from. As teachers and parents it is our job to find out and figure out what it takes to reach our children. Relevancy plays an important and significant role in learning. It is so much easier to learn when you can relate to the subject that you are learning, even if it seems so redundant and mundane. When you can relate the subject to something that your childern experience in life there is a connection that is made which makes learning easier.

Learning this way cooperates with how our brain naturally perceives and relates to information in the first place. Your senses, sight, hearing, taste, touching and smelling are design to take in information. This information then goes into the brain and the brain then looks for similar situations  and a way to classify this information from what it already knows.

In the movie, Chen had Smith do a seemingly unrelated exercise over and over and over and over and over again for months.  “When am I going to learn Kung Fu! a frustrated Smith complained. Every day he would come to train and ended up doing this exercise where he would drop his jacket on the floor, pick it up and hang it on a hook and then take the jacket off the hook and put it on. He must have performed this move thousands of times.

What Smith did not realize was that he was doing several things. One he was helping his body to perform the moves without thinking or being conscious of them. He probably could do these moves in his sleep. We call this muscle memory in dance. We practice the steps over and over and over again so that when we have to perform them the steps are already in the body and we don’t have to think about them anymore. We can therefore begin to focus on allowing the music to move through our bodies and add flavor and interest to the moves.

In addition Smith was developing his body, making it strong and fluid at the same time. He was learning concentration and focus as well as discipline and commitment. I am sure he thought to himself many times that this is crazy and he was just wasting his time. One other powerful thing he was developing was his will.

Chen was an excellent teacher because his intentions came from a place of love, purity, knowledge, skill and experience. He taught Smith to have compassion. No matter what life brings you,you will be able to get through it no matter how hard it may seem.  He took a simple thing like putting on a jacket and built Smith’s body and at the same time taught him the moves that he would need and related these moves to his every day life.

This is truly the mark of an excellent teaching. What is your opinion I’d love to know what you think and invite your comments below.

You may ask what does Verizon Wireless and being loyal to them have to do with teaching children? What does money have to do with it you ask? Plenty!

I just spoke with a wonderful customer service representative named Juan from Verizon Wireless. I explained to him that Verizon Wireless has been my one and only wireless provider and inspite of my entire family being on ATT’s family plan I have remained loyal to Verizon Wireless all these years over 10 to be exact, probably even closer to 12.

Juan is explaining to me that the Droid X phone would only cost me $ 149.99.   I explained to him that it actually costs more because it’s only $149.99 with my $50 phone credit and the $100 mail in rebate which means that you have pay $249.99 up  front. Just about a week ago if you bought a Droid X phone online from Verizon Wireless you would get the same phone with an instant rebate and actually only have to pay $149.99. At least some one like me that had the $50 credit.

Juan did everything in his power to help me. I could hear him typing furiously in the background. He was always nice and polite, placing me on short holds several times while he checked with his superiors and yet his superiors said no. I explained that they are making it very easy for me to join my family with ATT because it feels like Verizon just wants my money and are just hoping that I don’t mail the rebate in and then they can keep my $100.00

Long story short what does this have to do with teaching children? As a dedicated educator and lover of children I am always looking out for the best interest of my children. My children are my customers and if they aren’t happy and thrilled with learning and coming to my dance class week after week then soon I would be out of business. Unlike Verizon Wireless I look at the big picture. Happy children(happy customers) tell other people about their experiences. This carries more weight than any advertising that I can do. My kids are always asking their parents is it Friday or Wednesday or whichever day is their day for dance.

Communication is king and is much more powerful with social media and mediums like blogs. I explained this to Juan.  People’s real life experiences count for something and are meaningful to other people. This is why after over 17 years of doing Pitter Patter Feet I am still loyal to making kids laugh, have fun, love learning, exercise their bodies and build thier brains and  learn the art form of dance. It is not about the money, it is about giving great value, having people feel appreciated and building happy, smart and fit kids. Word of mouth still carries a lot of weight. It is how I built my business.

VERIZON WIRELESS CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lastly, I’d like to give a big shot out and thank you to all of my many thousands of students, parents, teachers and directors over these 17 years. You are greatly appreciated and I love coming to work with you each day.

What do you think? Your thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to leave them below.

This Halloween was extra special as I ran into one of my old students. At such a young age, she is around 3 years old now, I was very surprised that she remembered me. What a wonderful surprise when I opened the door after hearing Trick or Treat and there stood MeAni. At first I recalled the face but could not remember the name. Once I was told her name it all came back to me. I remembered the school  and even her teachers.

I asked her if she remembered Ms. D’TaRelle the dance teacher and a big smile came across her face. We both were delighted as we remembered one another. I then began to name her previous teachers and her director. This may not seem like a big thing to you but it is.  The last time I had seen MeAni was some time in May or June of this year. It is now almost November and usually children don’t remember someone  they see only once a week, over that long of a time span. But MeAni did remember me.

I am convinced that she remembered me because not only did she learn new things in our dance class. Not only did we do things to build socialization and cooperative skills, memorization, balance and coordination skills. The biggest reason that she remembered me was that every time we met we had fun. Yes! people fun! We learned, jumped, skipped and galloped. Did plies and chase( pronounced plee- a and cha- se).  We learned and did Tap, Ballet and Hip Hop dances and moved all around her class room using our imaginations.

Every time I came to her school there were good times and good feeling as well as learning and MeAni remembered those feelings. She didn’t have to tell me that she remembered those feelings and experiences , her smile and body language told me everything.

What a wonderful feeling to know that you had a positive impact on a child and contributed good experiences to their lives and taught them skills that helped build brain architecture and life skills as well as brought fun and pleasure into their lives.

Remember teachers and parents your interactions and impact that you have on children last much longer than the time you spend with them directly. Please remember this when you interact with children as well as others.  Although we are not perfect we can come to work with a big smile, open heart and mind and an intention to do our best and do good. You are special and so are your students. Remember that everyday. Peace.

I had an interesting experience the other day. I was teaching at a school that I have been a consultant for since the early 90s. This school highly values education and appreciates and embraces different techniques to accomplish that goal. I was teaching their 2 1/2 to 3 year old group.

I had given them some choreography to a song from Nickelodeon’s Diego soundtrack. I had only shown the children this choreography one time  as it was very new and I just wanted to see what they would be capable of doing. So this week I started working on it again and an amazing thing happened.

I had started doing different movements to the song and the children didn’t follow me this time. They did the original steps that I had shown them the first time. Wow I said out loud you guys remember the steps that I showed you last week!

Now you may not think that this is a big thing so let me give you a point of reference. The class is a short one 20-25 minutes long. Choreography(dance steps to a song or music) is usually introduced towards the end of the class. It is done that way for a purpose because I want that to be one of the last things they remember from class.

It is done this way because usually I only see the children once a week so that’s a whole seven days that they have to remember something. And remember these children are 2 1/2 – 3 years old. I have been teaching children since the early nineties and had never had this experience before. Where I would show children in this age group  something once and they would remember it a whole week later.

So I stopped dancing with them and asked them could they do the dance by themselves. Yeeeeeeeeesssssssssss Ms. D’TaRelle they sang back to me.  So I started the music and watched. Although the counts weren’t exactly right they remembered  what movements went with certain parts of the music and also the sequence of the steps. I was truly amazed and thought about it all afternoon. Then it hit me.

This group of children I had taught from infancy or as young toddlers around 14 months until  they go upstairs to the 2 class room. Because of this experience they were accustomed to the format of the class and had been working their memorization skills before. I am sure that the fact that they loved the song had a lot to do with it too. I make sure of that because it makes choreographing a lot easier as well as the children performing it.

The main thing is that the ground work for providing a strong foundation in learning had been solidly put into place. The connections in the brain made so that furture learning in this area and similiar areas occur quicker and smoother because the foundation previously laid. It’s like paving streets so that people can get around better in a town. 

Providing experiences like this for your child gives them a head start in learning. In addition they are happy, develop emotionally, socially as well as physically and mentally. Studies have shown that happy people are less likely to get sick. So activities like these help to develop smart, fit and happy children. In addition studies have also shown that students who participate in dance out-perform their peers on the SATs by 87 points.

Please feel free to share your experiences with me. Your questions and comments are welcomed.

Today I had the most wonderful experience after one of my classess. One of my students a 4 year old boy latched on to my leg and proclaimed “I’m going with you!” Sorry J I have to go to another school you have to stay here at your school. Your parents will be looking for you at the end of the day I told him. That didn’t move him one bit still attached to my leg he persisted.” I don’t want to let go. I want to go with you!”

I looked at him fondly remembering all the times I had to sit him in the audience to watch the class until he would change his behavior. Our biggest challenge was keeping him from hitting the other students and following directions. He felt that at any time during the class he could do whatever he wanted to do. It did not make a difference how many times that I would explain that it was time to do another activity or that dance class was over he would throw the fit of life.

So on and on it went class after class, he would yell at the top of his lungs what he wanted to do and I would lower my voice and calmly explain that we use our inside voices inside the school and continued with class. Then he would throw something or hit someone and I would calmly take him by the hand and explain, ” We do not throw things or hit people when we don’t get our way. Are we going to have to sit in the audience today until we calm down or feel better.

Of course the answer would be absolutely yes Ms. D’TaRelle because (according to his actions) even after continued explanations he would still continue. After about 2 months of this and withholding his reward of three stamps after class, he started to come around. The times of his misbehavior grew further and further apart until today he is a well behaved boy 90% of the time.

There were lots of trips back to his regular class, tears and tantrums as well as hugs of encouragement and congratulations when he behaved well. It really does work to catch them in the act of behaving well. The minute you see that let them know and let them know as often as you see it.

The teachers and I were talking as they finally peeled him off of me how some children just want discipline. What I think children want is predictablity, attention,  acknowledgement and love. They need to know that you care about them enough to correct them and also accept them the way that they are.

They can feel and sense the difference when the correction is given out of anger and frustration or out of patience and love. Consistency and patience are essential during this process, it is all apart of the process of learning.

Becoming a disciplined person and learning about what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior as well as cause and effect are very helpful skill sets for children to learn. If this is done age appropriately it helps build confidence and socialization skills, two life long skills that will benefit children into adulthood.

People are really amazed when I tell them I teach Creative Movement and Dance to children from infancy to school age. What can you do with them so young they say? I can understand why they would say that looking at it from someone that doesn’t have the opportunity to be around children all day and work with them.

Hopefully after seeing  the movie “Babies” they will have a better understanding of some of the   things that all babies do and go through no matter the region or culture. This movie chronicles 4 babies from birth to when they take their first step. There is no dialogue at all, just the sounds of the babies and whatever is in their environment at the time.

In the movie we see that babies are great imitators.  Because babies are such great imitators we have an amazing window of opportunity  for future learning and growth and development. We can talk to them    as we would normally talk to  anyone else. This helps babies to learn language faster and begin speaking  earlier.

Babies can learn about their environment, their bodies and how  different body parts work and what these body parts can do. They can learn about what’s happening to them at certain times and learn about cause and effect. For instance you can explain, now it is time to eat we are going to have some peas and carrots and pears yum. Pears are outside  on a tree, remember when I showed you a tree when we were at the park.

Babies are always learning even though they cannot speak yet, they are still learning a  lot.  Their brains are building neuropathways with every experience. These neuropathways are the building blocks for future learning . They lay the groundwork so that when they experience similiar experiences in the future the foundation is already laid.

It is important to take advantage of this opportunity because children go through a pruning of brain cells that are not used. Use it or lose it definitely applies here. The prime time for this opportunity is from birth to 2 years of age. The brain is still growing and developing after this age, it’s just that from 0-2 is the best time.

Lastly children naturally dance when they hear a rhythm. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just clapping and singing can provide good music and get a baby moving. This is a fun form of expression for a baby and children in general. something that they love to do.

So remember babies can do a lot more than you think they can. I’d love to hear about what your babies are doing. Please feel free to post your comments and experiences on this blog.

People are really amazed when I tell them I teach Creative Movement and Dance to children from infancy to school age. What can you do with them so young they say? I can understand why they would say that looking at it from someone that doesn’t have the opportunity to be around children all day and work with them.

Hopefully after seeing  the movie “Babies” they will have a better understanding of some of the   things that all babies do and go through no matter the region or culture. This movie chronicles 4 babies from birth to when they take their first step. There is no dialogue at all, just the sounds of the babies and whatever is in their environment at the time.

In the movie we see that babies are great imitators.  Because babies are such great imitators we have an amazing window of opportunity  for future learning and growth and development. We can talk to them    as we would normally talk to  anyone else. This helps babies to learn language faster and begin speaking  earlier.

Babies can learn about their environment, their bodies and how  different body parts work and what these body parts can do. They can learn about what’s happening to them at certain times and learn about cause and effect. For instance you can explain, now it is time to eat we are going to have some peas and carrots and pears yum. Pears are outside  on a tree, remember when I showed you a tree when we were at the park.

Babies are always learning even though they cannot speak yet, they are still learning a  lot.  Their brains are building neuropathways with every experience. These neuropathways are the building blocks for future learning . They lay the groundwork so that when they experience similiar experiences in the future the foundation is already laid.

It is important to take advantage of this opportunity because children go through a pruning of brain cells that are not used. Use it or lose it definitely applies here. The prime time for this opportunity is from birth to 2 years of age. The brain is still growing and developing after this age, it’s just that from 0-2 is the best time.

Lastly children naturally dance when they hear a rhythm. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just clapping and singing can provide good music and get a baby moving. This is a fun form of expression for a baby and children in general. something that they love to do.

So remember babies can do a lot more than you think they can. I’d love to hear about what your babies are doing. Please feel free to post your comments and experiences on this blog.