Let’s Move – The Next Kid Thing

Cooking With Kids Video Series Debuts

April 13, 2011 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Michelle Obama initiated a movement when she started her Let’s Move campaign to emphasize the importance of combating childhood obesity. Jaime Oliver embraced this same movement in his own way with Food Revolution, where he’s gone on to raise awareness of how skewed the food “system” has become and educate families about eating better.

Because I’ve become so interested in food and how it pertains to our kids, I’m always impressed when a company I already admire joins this movement. In line with getting kids to make healthier decisions, Weight Watchers, perhaps the favorite weight management program among my friends, has launched their “Cooking with Kids Web Video Series.

The Cooking with Kids video series, featured on Weight Watcher’s site, aims to bring to life “teachable moments to help kids value fresh and healthy foods to instill good eating habits at an early age.” Through this video series, Weight Watchers hopes to take kids beyond the kitchen to discuss topics like where the food is harvested, the culture behind the food and the difference between fresh food and processed. And as we’ve seen from Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, it’s clear that these are topics that many kids don’t know about.

GeoPalz Tracks and Rewards Kids’ Fitness Activities

January 25, 2011January 27, 2011 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

What do you get when you combine kids, fitness and a reward system? Kids + fitness + rewards= win, win, win.

Meet GeoPalz, an innovative pedometer for kids that tracks their fitness activities and rewards them with points, which can be used to redeem for prizes like footballs, frisbees and even bikes!

When the weather is as cold as it is on the east coast this week, the thought of playing outside is out of the question. Nevertheless, like most kids, my guy needs to expend all that energy. Fortunately for us, we have Nickelodeon’s Wii Fit, which has been a saving grace for when it’s way too cold to go out. (our review is forthcoming) But when the weather is actually bearable, we’re big on going to the park, going for walks or just playing pirates in our backyard. When we cover so much ground, especially when we were city dwellers, I’ve always wondered how much we walked.

And then, the clever minds behind Jibbitz did the legwork for us and created GeoPalz. GeoPalz was created for getting kids active, with Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative in mind.

Kids can collect a variety of GeoPalz characters to match their personalities, which can be clipped onto their belts. Each GeoPalz tracks their physical activity, which can then be recorded online www.geopalz.com where they can manually enter their steps, which are then converted into miles or “pedpointz.” All steps are converted into miles/pedpointz based on the formula of 2,500 steps equals one mile and one mile equals one pedpoint.

I love the Rock and Roll and Butterfly GeoPalz, but there are also sports, fairy and Skelanimals available. We were sent one of the Skelanimals and have had an interesting time checking it out thus far. Since snow and ice has covered our roads and streets for the past few weeks, we haven’t had a chance to fully test it out yet. We may head to the mall or indoor playground to do some playing, so we’ll give a full report when we do.

Until then, check out GeoPalz and get out and play!

GeoPalz retail for $20 and can be found at REI and select toy stores.

White House to Bring Salad Bars to 5,000 Schools

November 19, 2010 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

According to Grist.org, the White House is expecting to announce an initiative that will bring salad bars to 5,000 public schools nationwide. Underscoring Mrs. Obama’s LetsMove.org campaign for making healthier choices, this salad bar concept is sure to mix things up.

One potential obstacle to the program is the refusal of many school districts to install salad bars for food-safety reasons and because of cumbersome USDA rules governing the federally subsidized school lunch program that feeds some 31 million U.S. school children every day.

With cost, food-safety and the way some kids are conditioned to feel about veggies, I have no doubt the salad bar concept in schools will bring as much criticism as it will bring praise. I loved reading that Whole Foods partnered with a coalition that teamed with the produce industry to raise $1.4 million from customers to establish a grant program that would place salad bars in qualifying schools.

One important statistic I found while researching this topic: according to a UCLA study done in 2007, elementary schools can significantly increase the frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income students by providing a lunch salad bar.

Now, that’s food for thought.

I appreciate the idea to bring more salads to kids, but can it be executed in a way that works all around? Again, the actual announcement isn’t expected until Monday, but I’ll be watching for the official news.

Sesame Street Introduces New Gardening Line

April 20, 2010 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Last year, Michelle Obama visited Sesame Street to tout the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables. Later in the year, the First Lady cultivated her own organic garden at the White House to further emphasize the value of healthy eating and gardening.

Since then, announcing her Let’s Move campaign, which focuses on combatting childhood obesity, Mrs. Obama has made it her mission to educate families and kids about making healthy choices, including cultivating your own seeds—figuratively and literally.

So, when Sesame Street, together with Ferry Morse, introduced their new line of gardening products geared to kids, the marketplace area at the Annual Easter Egg Roll was an impeccably-timed venue to help even more kids learn about gardening first hand. The kid and I had a fun time learning how to plant watermelon seeds, or um, excuse me—wataaaahmelons.

The Muppets of Sesame Street can be seen on packets of watermelon, pepper, sunflower, pumpkin, garden beans and tomato seeds, for parents and children to plant together. The new product line also features Sesame Street-themed gardening totes complete with an activity booklet, seeds, tools, labeling stakes and stickers, a mini garden kit and a mini greenhouse with recipe card.

Sesame Street’s new gardening line is a perfect way to encourage kids to be green while going green. As part of Sesame Street’s My World is Green and Growing initiative designed to support children’s innate curiosity about nature, each product includes educational materials that teach children how fruits and vegetables begin with seeds and grow to become food for the table. Additionally, it compliments Sesame Street’s ongoing Healthy Habits for Life initiative, helping children develop healthy lifestyles they can practice forever through fun and simple every day activities. Materials include a booklet with activities for children, planting tips for parents and healthy recipes parents and children can make and enjoy together. The following items are available now:

Seed Packets – $1.99
My First Mini Greenhouse – $4.99
My First Mini Garden – $5.99
My First Gardening Kit (tote) – $10.99

“Research shows that introducing young children to the natural world is the first step towards helping them develop a caring attitude towards the environment,” said Maura Regan, Sesame Workshop’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global Licensing states.

Be sure to head to Lowe’s to grab a few gardening items for the kids. I found them at the back of the store, close to the garden center. Though I wasn’t too impressed with the plastic Sesame Street gardening tools (though, they’d be perfect for the littlest gardeners), the kits do look cool. Even if you don’t pick up the tote or kits, the seed packets are reasonably priced at $1.99. We’ve got some peppers, sunflowers and green beans to plant! Let’s hope they fare better than our watermelon seeds which didn’t make it back from DC in tact!

NKT Feature: The 2010 White House Easter Egg Roll

April 6, 2010May 19, 2010 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Egg Rolling, DJ Lance, fresh fruit and outdoor activities on the White House South Lawn? Why, yes, please.

Yesterday, around 30,000 people from all 50 states and DC made their way to the South Lawn of the White House for this year’s Easter Egg Roll. Out of luck, our family won tickets in the online lottery for this year’s event and battled the traffic—cars and people—and let the kid have a go at this Egg Rolling business.

In addition to the generations-old tradition of egg rolling, the event reflected Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative introduced earlier this year. The Egg Roll’s theme, ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ echoed the First Lady’s campaign to educate kids about making healthy choices in an effort to combat childhood obesity.

As the official welcome, as seen in the event program, described, the White House’s South Lawn was transformed into America’s Playground for the day. The Easter Egg Roll, the largest annual public event held at the White House, featured stations and activities sprawled across the Lawn, which were aimed at entertaining and educating all the kids (and even the parents in attendance.)

Healthy Activities

Aligned with the Let’s Move initiative, the healthy activities were a welcome addition to the event. We spent most of our time dancing to the fun music in the Hop to It stage. We missed out on seeing Yo Gabba Gabba which played during a different timelot, but we had the chance to see our good buddy, DJ Lance hula hooping on the Hop to It Stage.

The kid even hammed it up for Ellen Degeneres’ cameraman while dancing to DJ Tony, who just so happened to play a few of his favorite songs, one of which included Black Eyed Peas’ Boom Boom Pow. It doesn’t get any more memorable than that.

The Family Farmer’s Market was a cool area that gave kids a look at healthy eating with celebrity chef demo stations. One of the stations was the smoothie station, something that the kid adores, much thanks to one of his favorite shows. We loved the Make Your Own Garden, which not only used the White House Kitchen Garden as inspiration, but showcased some of the new seed packets from Sesame Street’s new gardening line (more info on this in a different post) We took home a watermelon seedling and hope to plant some sunflowers in the garden of our new house.

The sports station, geared to the older kids, featured demos on softball, golf, soccer, basketball and tennis. At later time slots, I heard professional athletes were on hand to offer the demos!

The performers and celebrities were quite the highlight of the day’s events. In our specific timeslot, the kid managed to sit in on Maria reading a story, with Elmo on hand to help out. Later in the morning, Reese Witherspoon, one of my favorite actresses, read to the kids as well.

Accessibility and Sustainability

The accessibility and sustainability of the Egg Roll were the two main aspects that impressed me the most. In years past, the Egg Roll was said to be reserved mainly for Washingtonians and other locals. This year marked the second year that tickets for the Egg Roll were distributed online. The White House extended this year’s event, beginning the festivities at 7:45 AM (yawn!) and an end time of 5:45 PM. Each group of 6,000 guests spent two full hours on the White House’s South Lawn. For the first time, guests from all 50 states and DC were represented at the annual Egg Roll.

As a parent who aims to be eco-conscious, I was pleased that sustainability was prevalent throughout the event. I appreciate that the event geared to teach kids how to garden, to shop at Farmer’s Markets, make healthy foods and much more. The White House said that it made an effort to minimize the environmental impact of the 2010 Easter Egg Roll. Some of the highlights include: the “greenest” souvenir egg in Egg Roll history, crafted from Forest Stewardship Council certified U.S. hardwood; goody bags made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic; the use of organically grown fruits and vegetables at the Play with Your Food station; and increased recycling and composting capabilities on the day of the event.

Winning tickets for the Egg Roll was a special thing, and one that a few of my Twitter followers and friends were sure to remind me about. As opposed to the events that we regularly attend for NKT, this wasn’t a blogger event, it was pure luck: Out of the 250,000 people who registered to attend, we were one of the lucky few. In general, we don’t win much at anything, in fact, we usually have the worst luck ever. So, even if it was an unexpected expense to travel to DC while we’re in the midst of buying our first house, and miss seeing most of our family this Spring, it was incredibly important for us to attend the Egg Roll. To experience this special event, and also to be a part of the Let’s Move campaign first hand, a topic that I try to cover as often as possible here on NKT, the White House Easter Egg Roll was a fun adventure we won’t soon forget.

Thanks for letting me share this event on NKT, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.

And here’s more information, in case you guys want to know more:

Fill the Easter Basket with These Sweet Treats

April 1, 2010April 2, 2010 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Easter is upon us, which means it’s that fun time of year when the Easter Bunny fills the kids’ baskets with loads of goodies.

Easter is second to Halloween as the most important candy-eating occasion of the year. A 2009 Nielsen survey reported that consumers were expected to buy more than 120 million pounds of candy in the week leading up to Easter.

That’s a lot of candy!

With Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution creating waves, in addition to Mrs. Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, healthier eating for kids is a topic that’s important to me and my loved ones, as I’m sure it is to all of you. Like many others, I’m learning so much from this new revolution that I’m happily campaigning by sharing here on NKT, on Twitter and to whomever will listen.

LSU AgCenter nutritionist Beth Reames suggests: “For Easter this year, think beyond the usual sweet treats.”

For kids, sometimes a new and interesting “treat” is just as good, or maybe even better than the usual sweet treats. My agenda this year for filling the Easter basket is to go beyond the candy aisle. Believe me, I love candy, especially Easter candy a little too much, which is EXACTLY why it’s important to me to put more thought into treats for the kid. There are more sweet treats than Cadbury Creme Eggs and Solid Chocolate Bunnies!

First Lady Honored with Big Help Award from KCA

March 28, 2010 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Saturday nights definitely aren’t like they used to be. This past Saturday, we tuned in to watch Nickelodeon’s 23rd Annual Kids’ Choice Awards. I love awards shows to begin with, so watching one with the kid made it much more fun. Even after the kid went to bed, I had to watch to see if any of my favorites took home the top kid honors.