Parent Tips Healthy Easter For Kids and Family

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Beware Easter over eating.  Easter is expected to generate $1.82 billion in candy sales and is second only to Halloween in candy consumption. Dietitians warn that eating five candy Easter eggs (the average given to most children), plus the other candies usually included in the basket, could see youngsters doubling their recommended calorie intake for a week. You could see your child’s weight increasing by several pounds within days. The recommended daily calorie amounts are around 2,000 calories a day for an average 11-year-old boy and 1,500 for a girl, but many could be eating up to 10,000 calories over the Easter period. Plan your calorie burning kid play now.

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For parents worried that their children might eat too much Easter candy, some experts suggest adding non-edible items to Easter baskets: book, crayons, movie passes,  sports cards, kids' videos, colorful stickers, markers, chalk, stuffed animals or balls.

 

 

Children aren’t the only ones at risk. Easter candy can knock your healthy eating plans right off the bunny trail, too. Chocolate might be the biggest culprit, because it is so high in fat. For someone seeking fat loss this Easter season, perhaps the worst thing to find in their basket would be a chocolate treat like the Palmer Chocolate Bunny (2.5 oz.). The recommended serving size is 1 package (71 grams), which will cost an astounding 360 calories, 20 grams fat (31% Daily Value), 12 grams saturated fat (60% Daily Value), and 46 grams carbohydrate (15% Daily Value). And you face the additional challenge of eating only one.

 

 A healthy alternative to consuming chocolate eggs can be to join in the hunt for colored eggs. One solution this Easter is to join in the Easter egg hunt with the kids. According to calories per hour, a 170 pound woman will burn approximately 116 calories in 30 minutes of hiding Easter eggs, and another 154 calories in just 30 minutes of egg-hunting. So, hop to it. Have some active fun

Orgin Easter Traditions & Food Favorites

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  • Hot cross buns were among the earliest Easter treats, made by European monks and given to the poor during Lent.

 

  • Pretzels were originally associated with Easter. The twists of a pretzel were thought to resemble arms crossed in prayer.

 

  • Passover is celebrated with karpas (a green vegetable, usually parsley) and bitter herbs

 

  • The German word “to mourn” (grun) is very similar to the word for green (grÜn). So in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Austria, Hungary and much of Germany, Easter is GrÜndonnerstag: a day to eat spinach and salad.

Security Software Reviews For Parents and Teachers

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Cyber Bullying Resource: Security Safety Software Reference

Proactive informed parents are the best deterrent. The security concerns have spawned an industry of touted “software solutions.” At best software tools are reinforcements for your personal child safety campaign. 

Software tools generally focus on two major tasks: tracking and monitoring internet usage and filtering or blocking certain forms of internet access.  The following chart provides a comparison of the features of some of the more prominent programs available but is not a Kamaron recommendation.


the more prominent programs available but is not a Kamaron recommendation.

Product/Price

Features

Evaluation

CyberPatrol from SurfControl
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$39.95 (12 month)
$59.95 (24 month)
Discounts for future subscriptions and for bulk purchases (5 or more licenses)

·         Records all web surfing activity
·         Sends email report.
·         Provides site and program blocking and time restrictions.2

·         PC Magazine Editor Rating of 4 (out of 5).
·         Reviewers note its susceptibility to overriding, especially on outbound IMs.

CYBERsitter
 
$39.95 for a single computer, with discounts for additional computers.  No subscription fees.

·         Records all web surfing activity and IMs.
·         Sends email report.
·         Provides site and program blocking and time restrictions.2
·         Blocks Social Networking sites such as MySpace and FaceBook.

·         Five time winner of PC Magazine’s Editor’s Choice Award.
·         Some minor Windows interface difficulties reported.

Safe Eyes
 
$50.00  per year for up to three computers.

·         Records all web surfing activity and IMs.
·         Sends email report
·         Provides site and program blocking and time restrictions.2
·         Blocks P2P file sharing.1

·         Winner of PC Magazines Editor’s Choice Award
·         Some trouble with URL filters blocking legitimate sites.

Allume Sustems Spycatcher
 
$30.00

·         Beats others at detecting and blocking spam
·         Activate Parental Controls

·         Consumer Reports reviewed.
 

1Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing programs allow direct downloading between end user computers, without the safeguards of a mediating website.  P2P programs are used primarily to share music and video files, but can be used for any kind of computer data.

2Program blocking capabilities include both programs installed on the computer and programs accessed online (e.g., video games and gambling programs).  Time restrictions capabilities include both limiting the amount of time spent online in a given period (e.g., per day or week) and limiting access at certain times of the day (e.g., between 1:00 and 6:00 a.m.).

THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE

This seeming cornucopia of solutions may be deceptive, however.  CNet reports that the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />US Justice Department cast doubt last winter on the notion that software alone is adequate protection.  And Anne Collier, editor of NetFamilyNews.org, argues on the StaySafe.org website that Web 2.0 (cyberspeak for the new generation of internet involving multimedia, mobile access, multidirectional communication, and user-driven content) defies control, and reliance on software to keep our children safe is a partial solution at best.

GetNetWise.org offers a helpful Online Safety Guide that provides general tips for kids, teens, and families, then breaks specific suggestions down into age groups with three-year spans. 

www.kamaron.org and Kamaron Resource Center

 

Easter Food Fun Facts: Candy Flowers Internet Shopping

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  • Historic first: nearly 13% of Easter purchases were made online this year.

 

  • Worldwide, the Cadbury's Creme Egg is the most popular variety, with more than 300 million made each year.

 

  • Americans love chocolate — 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies are made for Easter baskets.

 

  • Most of us eat the ear off the chocolate bunny first.

 

  • Easter and Passover account for 18% of the floral purchases made for holidays.

 

  • 16 billion jelly beans are made for Easter each year.

 

  • If all the Easter jelly beans we eat at Easter were laid end to end, they would circle the globe nearly three times.

 

  • Marshmallow PEEPS (baby chicks) outsell jelly beans. More than 1 billion were produced last year.

 

  • Easter egg decorating was brought to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />America in the early 1700s by Germans who settled in Pennsylvania.

 

  • Ninety million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced each year.

 

  • Chocolate bunnies should be eaten ears first, according to 76% of Americans.

 

  • Adults prefer milk chocolate (65%), to dark chocolate (27%).

 

 

Easter Business Retail Facts

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More Americans will be celebrating Easter this year, helping the retail industry bud and burst into full bloom. Nearly nine out of 10 women and eight out of 10 men plan to celebrate Easter. Apparel, candy, and food sales will be strong and online Easter sales will hit historic highs — up 23% from last year.

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More than half of the $14.4 billion Easter budget will be spent at discount stores. More than one-third, approximately $5.2 billion, of Easter shopping is likely to be spent in department stores. Online Easter sales will edge over the 12% mark for the first time. At nearly 13%, this represents over $1.8 billion dollars in online holiday sales.

 

Easter is the second most important candy-eating occasion of the year for, according to the National Confectioner's Association.

 

Candy, food, gifts, and cards are on most peoples’ lists, with over half of Easter budgets going here.  The earlier Easter date caused many stores to have their colorful Easter merchandise on display right after Valentine’s Day. More Easter shoes and Easter bonnets will be filling the shopping baskets than last year. Over 40% of shoppers told researchers they plan to purchase apparel for the Easter holiday. The 2007 big spending demographic groups (spending more than $140) are those living in the Northeast and young families with children and Easter baskets to fill.

About The Easter Holiday

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Easter is the annual festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the principal feast of the Christian year. It is celebrated on Sunday on varying dates between March 22 and April 25 and is therefore called a movable feast. The dates of several others ecclesiastical festivals, extending over a period between Septugesima Sunday (the ninth Sunday before Easter) and the first Sunday of Advent, are fixed in relation to the date of Easter.

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Connected with the observances of Easter are the 40-day penitential season of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at midnight on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday; Holy Week, commencing on Palm Sunday, including Good Friday, the day of the crucifixion, and terminating with Holy Saturday; and the Octave of Easter, extending from Easter Sunday through the following Sunday. During the Octave of Easter in early Christian times, the newly baptized wore white garments, white being liturgical color of Easter and signifying light, purity, and joy.

 

The Christian festival of Easter probably embodies a number of converging traditions; most scholars emphasize the original relation of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach, from which derived Pasch, another name of Easter. The early Christians, many of whom were of Jewish origin, were brought up in the Hebrew tradition and regarded Easter as a new feature of the Passover festival, a commemoration of the advent of the Messiah as foretold by the prophets.

 

References include Funk & Wagnalls, World Almanac

Humor: Business Starting Salary Story

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A story is told about the negative impact of an “entitlement” attitude in job candidates..

Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Person asked the young MBA fresh out of Harvard, “And what starting salary were you looking for?”

The candidate said, “In the neighborhood of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package.”

The HR Person said, “Well, what would you say to a package of 5-weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years – say, a red Hummer?”

The young candidate sat up straight and said, “Wow!!! Are you kidding?”

And the HR Person said, “Certainly, …but you started it.”

About Jelly Beans – Could Circle The Globe

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Jellybeans Could Circle the Globe

Americans consume 16 billion jellybeans at Easter, many of them hidden in baskets. If all the Easter jellybeans were lined end to end, they would circle the globe nearly three times.

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Jellybeans did not become an Easter tradition until the 1930s. They were probably first made in America by Boston candy maker William Schrafft, who ran advertisements urging people to send jellybeans to soldiers fighting in the Civil War.

 

70% of kids aged 6–11 say they prefer to eat Easter jellybeans one at a time, while 23% report eating several at once. Boys (29%) were more apt to eat a handful than girls (18%).

 

When children were asked about their favorite Easter jellybean flavors, the big winner was cherry.  Cherry (20%), strawberry (12%), grape (10%), lime (7%), and blueberry (6%).

Business Humor and Quotes

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Humor and quotes for business communications

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A closed mouth gathers no foot.

 

 

A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours. – Milton Berle

 

 

A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

 

 

A consultant is an ordinary person a long way from home.

 

 

A crisis is when you cannot say “let's just forget the whole thing.”

Laughter Helps You Live Longer Say Scientists

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Laughter has health benefits according to a recent study. With that news in mind let’s talk about laughter's link to wellness.  A Norwegian researcher reported that laughter might help you live longer.  What he said the study determined is that adults with a sense of humor outlive those without one, based on a study of 54,000 Norwegians.

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LAUGH RESEARCH STUDY:

 

  • The greater a role humor played in their lives, the greater their chances of surviving the seven years.
  • Adults who scored in the top one-quarter for humor appreciation were 35% more likely to be alive than those in the bottom quarter.
  • Study took into account health, age, sex, lifestyle and other things that could affect survival.

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