My 9-year-old is cramming himself full at breakfast, encouraged by his teacher to eat a good breakfast during this week of AIMS testing. It's fuel for the brain, he says.
This morning, it was pancakes, bacon and a pear. My friends' kids are insisting on bacon and eggs, oatmeal and cheese omelets. (How come they don't eat like this all school-year long?)
Sawyer, who's in third grade, says that it seems to be working. He's finding the AIMS test to be "easy to medium," apparently nothing he can't handle with a belly full of breakfast.
But just to make his teacher nervous, he wore his favorite shirt on the first day of testing. It says, "Did I mention I have Attention Deficit Disor - OOOOH SHINY!"
Karina Bland is raising her 9-year-old son in Tempe with a lot of love, humor and support from her friends and family. A longtime journalist covering child welfare and education issues for The Arizona Republic, she blogs about raising good kids.
My kids are young and the
My kids are young and the only meal I'm guarateed they eat really well is breakfast, so we always do a pretty hearty one. I've noticed that they rarely ask for snacks during the morning and I think it's because the food sits with them until lunch. I imagine it's the same as kids get older.Smart teachers for pushing it so hard!
Brooke Romney is an unbalanced mom of three young boys who constantly has too much to do, and too little time. She writes the Mom Beat column for The Gilbert Republic.
Sorry, off topic, but WHERE
Sorry, off topic, but WHERE did you get that t-shirt? My (almost) 14 year old daughter would LOVE it!
My kids have never eaten
My kids have never eaten better, too. Scrambled eggs, ham and OJ. My son added waffles, too. He was still wanting more. I'm not letting them take cookie snacks either, although my son did grab some on the way out, swearing he'll eat the Goldfish (which have 4 g of protein per serving and less than 1 g of sugar) first.
I told the kids that I wanted them to be full on protein this week - didn't want them to deal with growling stomachs in the middle of a test. I should do this more often, but I don't. Time is an issue. This week, I'm up extra early so that I do have time to crack a few eggs instead of making the kids pour their own cereal.
I need to get better at this. :)
Arizona Moms Editor Yvette Armendariz shares stories about raising her kids and tips for busy parents in her Time-starved (goddess) Mom blog. She and her husband are raising two children, ages 8 and 11.
My son is eating like a
My son is eating like a champ too! The teachers are really inspiring them. My son's teacher is also giving them peppermints to suck on while taking the test, and told them that peppermint has been scientifically proven to boost test scores!
On a side note....How do think that another kid in school, who battles ADD or ADHD, would feel seeing other kids wearing that shirt? Particularly in elementary school, I can see an 8 or 9 yr kid feeling pretty awful about it. ADD is not fun, nor funny, to them and that shirt certainly has a mocking tone. I, personally, would not permit my child to wear such a shirt to school (and no, I don't believe that we should follow our kids around, laying our coats over rain puddles for them...As adults, I think that everyone should "lighten up" and not take things so seriously, but I think that we can give elementary school kids a few years of sensitivity, because most kids diagnosed with ADD are diagnosed around this age, and it may be very new to them, trying to handle being seen as "weird").
"Only a life lived for others, is the life worthwhile" - Albert Einstein
Not to worry, Optimist. My
Not to worry, Optimist. My son was diagnosed with ADHD last year. We don't treat it as weird or something to be ashamed of but just a part of who he is. Yes, he has to deal with the tough parts of ADHD, but it also means he's energetic, imaginative and creative. He has a wonderful grasp on ADHD and often explains it to other kids. The shirt actually was his idea. He begged my friend who is a graphic artist to make it for him for his 9th birthday.
jmg, you could order a shirt by emailing Amy at flyerg@cox.net.
Karina Bland is raising her 9-year-old son in Tempe with a lot of love, humor and support from her friends and family. A longtime journalist covering child welfare and education issues for The Arizona Republic, she blogs about raising good kids.
Yes, I imagined that your
Yes, I imagined that your son was ADD and probably felt pretty fine with the diagnosis, enough to joke about it. I was thinking about the OTHER ADD kids in his class or on the playground, who are still trying to figure out what ADD means to them and would have their feelings hurt, seeing their condition the focus of a joke. My son has OCD and it's really "trendy" to joke, "oh, I'm soooo OCD", for every weird personality quirk. It just seems that when so many people think that ADD is overdiagnosed and think that it is over accepted by parents who can't handle their kid, that such jokes make it tough for the conditons to be taken seriously - it's such an uphill battle already. Just food for thought...
"Only a life lived for others, is the life worthwhile" - Albert Einstein
Good point, Optimist. I
Good point, Optimist. I should have thought of that. I don't usually let Sawyer wear T-shirts to school anyway. I make him wear collared shirts even though there's no dress code just out of respect for his teachers and to differentiate between work and play clothes. Plus, Sawyer said the kids didn't "get" his shirt, although the teachers loved it.
Karina Bland is raising her 9-year-old son in Tempe with a lot of love, humor and support from her friends and family. A longtime journalist covering child welfare and education issues for The Arizona Republic, she blogs about raising good kids.
I do the same thing...my
I do the same thing...my kids' school does not have a uniform, but my kids wear polo shirts, button up, or striped "t-shirts" ala Target. They have a few Spiderman and Sponge Bob shirts, but we save them for weekend play. It just feels like sending them to school in character shirts, is free advertising for somebody!
Anyway, my son's teacher has also taken this opportunity (in addition to the reg stuff) to teach the kids about the food pyramid, and how all foods are made up of either protein, carbs (simple and complex) and fats. My son is now asking, "do pretzels have protein, mom?" and similar questions. He's now checking food labels and it's been so much easier to get him to try something new, in order to please his teacher! He thinks it's so neat that his only homework was to plan a balanced menu. Dare I say, that we've found something good about standarized testing?!!! LOL.
"Only a life lived for others, is the life worthwhile" - Albert Einstein
Now back to breakfast....my
Now back to breakfast....my youngest has been sick all week, but still eating like a pro. My 8 (almost 9 year old - this Monday!) has been doing a great job of eating too. We like frozen blueberries the best. They last longer in the freezer as apposed to the refridge. They just eat them straight from the freezer.
I have liked the fact there has been no homework this week. My oldest has been so happy just playing after school and reading. I so wish it was like this all the time. Better quality time instead of harping on her to do her homework and figuring out when it is going to get squeezed in.
KarilouMomof2 is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Tempe. Her daughters are 9 and 6.
I've also noticed that my
I've also noticed that my son is eating better this week--and paying attention to it (though he's not much of a morning person).
I agree--it would be great if all of us attended to breakfast this much every day, as it actually seems to create a nice arc for behavior the rest of the day.
I feel a bit guilty that it takes a standardized test batch to ensure we get fueled up on something besides Pop-Tart and/or coffee, but I'll have to work through that.
Hand me the milk. And the peanut butter, please. :)
I love that shirt!
I love that shirt! Actually, I'm biased because I made it for Sawyer. In fact, he has been begging me for months to make him that shirt. I saved it for his birthday, which was a pirated-themed party. I found a "treasure" chest at Michaels and filled it full of stuff that was shiny. You gotta love a kid who has a challenge like ADD and can make light of it.
sure, fine, whatever