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Obesity 2005 Families can help fight the scourge Simply because OC Family Magazine’s year-long editorial initiative on diabetes and its tie to obesity expired with 2004, that doesn’t mean obesity is no longer an issue (see our back issues regarding Defy Diabetes at ocfamily.com). Obesity remains the greatest health challenge facing American families. A new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies urges a coalition of families, schools, communities, industry and government to be involved in bringing good health to overweight children. “ We must act now and we must do this as a nation,” says Jeffrey Koplan, vice president for academic health affairs at Emory University in Atlanta. He is former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and chaired the committee of experts that prepared the report following a request by Congress. “ (We) all bear responsibility for changing social norms to better promote healthier lifestyles,” he says. Among the recommendations: • Schools develop nutritional standards for food and beverages served on school grounds. • Schools expand the PE period so students have 30 minutes of moderate to physical activity each day. • Food, beverage and entertainment industries develop and implement guidelines for advertising and marketing to children and youth. • Parents provide healthy foods in the home and encourage physical activity by limiting TV, video games and computer time to less than two hours a day. • Community organizations and local governments implement programs that enhance nutrition and physical activity. As with all child-rearing, the lessons begin in the home. The report suggests that parents, among other things, stock healthy products, particularly vegetables and fruits, to be used as snacks. The study, “Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance,” was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; and others. poll for parents Wristbands, jewelry and school What are your thoughts about what is appropriate, and not appropriate, for students to wear to school? This poll question arises from a decision in Florida late last year when more than two dozen high school cross country runners were disqualified for wearing yellow wristbands. The school district ruled that the wristbands were jewelry, and were not permitted. The wristbands, popular from elementary school through college, serve as a fundraiser for LiveStrong, the component of the Lance Armstrong Foundation that provides information to cancer survivors. The Tour de France champion won the international race six times after battling testicular cancer. Send your thoughts to us about dress, dress codes, uniforms, jewelry, free dress (meaning a child can wear virtually anything that is not revealing), and the like, to ocfamily.com Provide your name, city of residence and telephone number. (We don’t print telephone numbers.) We’ll run the best responses in our Letters department. more on obesity Child feels as bad as he looks Rather than simply feeling bad for your obese child, know that he is hurting inside. A study that asked severely obese children hundreds of questions concludes that “the most widespread consequences of childhood obesity may be psychosocial.” The report that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association rated 106 children ages 5-18 on their physical, emotional, school and social well-being. These children rank their quality of life on a par with those who have been diagnosed with cancer. The conclusion seems to indicate that obese children miss more days from school than the median not only because of health issues, but because of feelings about self. Some 1-in-7 American children is obese, according to the study. emerging sons Hanging on to the fast-growing child “Raising a Son,” (Don Elium and Jeanne Elium, 3rd Edition, Celestial Arts, $14.95, 336 pages, 2004). Without testosterone, there would be no man; without testosterone, there would be no grief. That is part of the message of “Raising a Son,” by marriage, family and child counselor Don Elium and writer Jeanne Elium. As much as we read and know about the complexity of a woman’s body and her ability to bring a life into the world, the complexity of the young man’s physical changes are equally striking. And that is the balance the authors try to strike: There is a reason that your boy changes from that sweet little thing to that tempestuous, aggressive teen. It is more than getting hair under the arms. So treat them with kindness and firmness. As a veteran Boy Scout leader suggests: “Boys want to know three things. One, who’s the boss? Two, what are the rules? And three, are you going to enforce ’em?” “ Raising a Son” then gets into the details of explaining the rules of engagement. Perhaps the words of a father speak to the patience a parent needs to show as the boy becomes a teen becomes a man: “When he came out, he was a miracle. No matter how hard it gets, I think of that moment, and my commitment to my son returns.” It may take no more, on a rough day, than opening a photo album and pulling out the day-of-birth photo, or some photo like the one on the cover of “Raising a Son” toddler at the beach, picking at his behind. This is about parenting a son into adulthood, so the book instructively shows a young man on the back cover, sprawled in his muscle-bent way on the beach. He may, at some point, think he knows the way, but the authors will remind you, chapter by chapter, that you need to be the point person. There are specific chapters to specific years: “Catch-Me-If-You-Can Years (birth to 7); “I’m-On-My-Way…” (8-12); “Mr. Cool Years” (13-17); and “The Graduate Years (18-29). Already, I can see that my oldest son, ready to turn 11, is vastly different from only a year ago. The speed in which he is growing up is speeding up. Books such as this help the parent keep pace. By Craig Reem A call to action: beyond Janet Jackson ABC runs racy commercial before game In the big shadow of the Janet Jackson breast-baring incident, ABC mindlessly ran a commercial promoting one of its shows just before kickoff of the Nov. 15 “Monday Night Football” game. The network apologized the next day and the FCC expressed “disappointment” over the airing. Viewers and the National Football League also complained about the spot, which shows the Philadelphia Eagles’ Terrell Owens and actress Nicollette Sheridan in an empty locker room. She suggests he miss the game and jumps, naked, into his arms. She is a star in the ABC show, “Desperate Housewives.” Call to action: OC Family Magazine is seeking letters to the editor regarding the spot. Did you and your children see it? Was it appropriate? Was it not? What do you suggest now occur, such as a fine? For background: Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction’’ at February’s Super Bowl halftime show when Justin Timberlake ripped off part of Jackson’s outfit, exposing her right breast to a TV audience of some 90 million resulted in a fine against CBS by the FCC. Megan’s Law Update, upgrade on registry Joel Steinberg, who recently finished serving a prison sentence for killing his 6-year-old daughter because she was staring at him, could be living in your neighborhood. Would you want to know? You can soon find out from your own home computer, thanks to recent reforms made to Megan’s Law, the nationwide registry of sex offenders, created to inform the public about sexual predators living in their communities. The law, in effect since January 1997, is named after Megan Kanka of New Jersey who was raped and killed in 1994 by her neighbor, a twice-convicted sex offender. The state Assembly voted late last year to extend Megan’s Law in California for another seven years, retaining the $5 million federal funding for the program and to expand access to the national criminal registry of more than 80,000, by posting sex offenders’ information on the Department of Justice website. Previously this information could only be viewed by going to local law enforcement agencies and accessing it from a CD-ROM. Or, for $10, concerned parents could conduct a telephone search for two registered offenders. Under new revisions effective this year, home addresses will be listed online for those convicted of the following offenses: lewd act with a child under the age of 14, crimes involving force or fear, two or more sex crime convictions in separate trials, and sex crimes which involved violence. The majority of registrants don’t fall into these categories and their residences will be listed by zip code only. “ It is a significant and landmark piece of legislation because it will now allow access to sex offenders’ information via the Internet, 24/7, specifically with the ability to get the exact address of the most serious sex offenders in California,” says Orange County Assemblyman Todd Spitzer of the 71st District. “It will allow us to see who these people are with the pictures, it will allow us exact addresses so we can educate our children about where sex offenders are living in our communities. “ Megan’s Law before was good but it’s clearly unparalleled now in terms of the amount of information the public will have in order for us to protect our families, our communities and specifically our children.” While the deadline for posting the information is July 2005, it appears that the site may be ready as early as this month, according to Chris Orrock, press secretary for Spitzer. - By Kimberly A. Porrazzo FAMILY FINANCE check 21 for consumers The federal Check 21 law that went into effect last October now requires all banks to convert paper checks to digital images. The implications for both consumers and banks are still emerging. What is clear, however, is that amendments for improving the system are already being written. The Consumers Union, a nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, recommends these guidelines about Check 21 for banking customers: • You won’t be able to get your original paper checks back, because your bank will no longer have them. Checks you write will clear sooner, increasing the risk that a check will bounce if funds are not in the account when you write the check. Don’t write a check unless the funds are already in the account to cover it. • Check 21 creates a new kind of paper copy of an electronic image of a check. This special kind of copy is called a “substitute check.” Only a substitute check can be the legal equivalent of the original check, and only a substitute check triggers your right to recredit of disputed funds. A regular copy of a check does not carry these same protections. If you ask for a copy of a check, your bank may send you an ordinary copy instead of this special kind of copy that triggers legal rights and protections unless you ask for a substitute check. • Consumers will get new rights for some electronically processed checks, but not for others. When a so-called “substitute check” is provided to a consumer, Check 21 gives the consumer a right to have funds of up to $2,500 recredited to the consumer’s account in 10 business days if the check is paid twice, paid for the wrong amount, or otherwise paid in error. • For more information about Check 21, see “Banks Will No Longer Return Original Cancelled Checks,” posted by the National Consumer Law Center, at:http://www.consumerlaw.org/initiatives/check21.shtml. HELPING HAND United Together Teen program enhances healing and growth For months, Lisa didn’t tell anyone not her parents, not her friends. Instead, the secret was hers, as well as a young man’s. Such silence is not uncommon for victims of sexual assault, particularly if they know and trust their assailant as Lisa did. Like most victims, Lisa, who pondered all the things she “could have” done, blamed herself. “ I could have screamed. I could have not gone. I could have been more forceful and assertive,” says the 17-year-old South County teen who was sexually assaulted when she was 14 years old by a boy a year older. “I didn’t know I’d been taken advantage of. I felt like I was stupid and I was easy.” A sense of inappropriate guilt represents just one of the difficult challenges facing survivors of sexual assault, says Victoria Dominguez-Ashimine, who works with a team of professionals that assist teens and young women through emotional and psychological recovery. Ashimine, a marriage and family therapist, founded Girls United Together for Strength (G.U.T.S.) in 1997 with seven girls who wanted to form a self-advocacy group for young women. The Tustin-based center, aimed at empowering, educating and helping people to grow beyond their experience, offers an array of programs. Counseling and support groups, for example, are offered to teens and young women who have been raped, sexually assaulted or molested. The organization also networks with other assistance groups to provide expanded programs, including self-defense classes taught by Project Get Safe and low-fee individual counseling provided by CSP. In addition to sexual assault programs, G.U.T.S. offers support groups for depression and anxiety, self-harming behaviors, drugs and alcohol abuse and one dedicated solely to raising self-esteem. All programs, some of which include activities and trips, are structured to enhance both healing and growth. “ You can’t fix what happened,” says Lisa. “But you can go back to feeling normal about yourself and look at it with a better perception.” Girls United Together for Strength can be reached by calling 714.730.0838. FAMILY NEWS BITES READER QUERY ON OBESITY Perhaps following the lead of OC Family Magazine’s August Cover Story on obesity, Sports Illustrated recently wrote about a program in Connecticut that emphasizes the benefits and joys of exercise through sports and games many played before the school bell rings. This is one community’s answer to the raging obesity epidemic in America. Are there schools in your area that are trying innovative ways to get their students on track to a more fit life? If so, please let us know at: ocfamily.com, and we will explore doing comparable stories in the future. COLLEGE DEBATERS SPEAK WELL Orange Coast College’s speech and debate team finished fourth recently at the Cougar Classic Speech Tournament at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa. Amy Pham earned first place in novice persuasion, and David Sinatra finished fifth in novice parliamentary debate. Nicolle Carpenter won a silver medal in senior informative speaking. Other medals were earned as well. COX CONNECTS DAY As part of its Cox Connects Day, a partnership program with Cox Communications and the Boys & Girls Club, more than 50 Cox Communications employees, family members and club volunteers recently turned out to spruce up the Irvine Boys & Girls Club facility. The group painted much of the 20-year-old facility’s interior. Cox also presented the club with a $1,500 check to support programs that inspire young people to realize their full potential. $150,000 FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION The Discovery Science Center’s seventh annual Quest H20 Gala, attended by more than 300 supporters of science education, has raised $150,000 for the center’s operation. More than 225,000 students, teachers and guests visit the Discovery Science Center each year and more than one million have visited since its opening in 1998. Reported and compiled by OC Family Magazine staff |
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