I recently sat down with Carol-Lynn Parente, Executive Producer of the 130 Emmy Award winning preschool show (no, I’m not jealous…really) Sesame Street for an informative talk about their new content and how parents are able to extend that learning with their children.

Sesame Street is quite busy these days introducing their new STEM curriculum for this season.  As you know, STEM addresses science, technology, engineering & math. Even though STEM is all around our children in the real world, it’s quite a large endeavor to deliver this type of content to a preschool audience in an appropriate fashion!

One of the reasons that makes it so challenging is that while comedy is often utilized as a means of grabbing the childrens’ attention, it’s a difficult balancing act when you’re taking on such heavy subject matter like STEM within that same comedic segment.  But in the end, “Penguins and Chickens are always funny” so you’ve gotta find a way.

[See Angela’s interview with Carol-Lynn Parente on PBS.org]

The Sugar Monsters (otherwise known as my kids overloaded on the sweet stuff)—that’s what I’m afraid of on Halloween. They get moody, act crazier than normal and then crash…hard. It’s as if they are addicts—seriously.

So, what’s a parent to do? Cut them off cold turkey? We’ve all heard about those kids who hide candy under their beds because they’re never allowed sweets. Giving them free reign over the candy bag doesn’t seem like a great strategy either–have you met the sugar monster yet?

I’m focusing on children here, but of course, this isn’t only a pint-sized problem. I have to admit that I’m not immune to the temptation: When that Twix bar taunts me with its mere presence, sitting on the counter with the rest of the leftover candy, it’s difficult not to succumb. And don’t even get me started on that big bag o’ candy in the girls’ room that seems to whisper my name whenever I’m near it.

So how do we strike a balance between enjoying enough candy to ward off feelings of deprivation without having to face down the scary sugar monster? When it comes to the kids, I like to refer to the “Golden Rule” of parenting, as presented in Ellyn Satter’s book, How to Get Your Kids to Eat, But Not Too Much: Parents are responsible for what is presented to eat and the manner in which it is presented. Children are responsible for how much or even whether they eat.

What does that mean in a practical sense? We keep candy to a minimum in our house throughout the year. It’s something they’re exposed to outside of the home—at birthday parties and of course, Halloween. Instead, we give them lots of natural sweet treats, which helps broaden their palate and mindset on what constitutes a “sweet.”

Such sweets include:
– Fresh fruits (my daughter has said, “Cherry candy tastes nothing like a real cherry!”)
– Fig or ginger cookies
– Animal crackers
– Raisins and dried cranberries
– Dark chocolate covered raisins
– Dark chocolate and peanut butter
– Homemade cookies (whereby we control the ingredients)

Try not to judge us here, but on the day of Halloween, we let the kids eat essentially what they want, with perhaps a cue or two from us if it looks like they’re not slowing, when it’s obvious that they should. They’re pretty good about stopping though, especially because they’re not used to eating like this. And for the next two days, they’ll have a piece (or two) of candy as their sweet at dessert time. Then we “relocate” the candy (out of sight, out of mind) and see if they ask for it. At the end of the week, the requests are almost nil, so we throw it away.

This removal trick works for adults, too. While my husband and I are pretty strong-willed when it comes to sweets (myself probably more so than my husband), it’s always helpful for it to be out of arm’s reach. It’s also a huge help that our supply of snacks for trick-or-treaters never includes our favorite candy. We’re strong, but not that strong! 🙂

Some families have put their trick-or-treat booty (as well as their leftover candy) out for the “Halloween Fairy,” who replaces it with a present, like a small ThinkFun game, which is a clever idea. Of course, every child is different and every family is different. Just remember to celebrate the holiday with no guilt—make it about the act of dressing up, going out in your neighborhood and visiting neighbors, and less about the actual candy.

Let’s see your Child’s Halloween Photo!

Simply LIKE us on our Facebook fanpage and email a non-professional photo (of your 3 month to 8 yr old) to Angela@AngelasClues.com. The winning photo will be chosen on Halloween – October 31st.

The winner will receive $50 worth of Super Why & Blue’s Clues merchandise and have their winning photo posted on the Angela’s Clues website (your contest entry will serve as permission to post the photo).

All decision making will be final & entirely up to the discretion of our Fearless Judges: Mr. Willy Wonka & Miss Veruca Salt:

I don’t judge the people who do, but for young children especially, I really just don’t think it is necessary.  I can’t imagine there’s a worksheet out there so good that it could ever replace a real experience.  Your child can learn letters, numbers, shapes and colors in the environment all around him.  He can learn to read by looking at books and being read to.  He can learn numeracy by grouping and counting buttons and beads.  He can learn geometry through building with blocks and spatial perception through puzzles and games. Besides being unnecessary, it’s boring and I don’t believe in making learning boring for convenience or efficiency.

I want my children to grow up smart; but I also want them to be well rounded, well-read, engaged, active, thoughtful and interested in learning new things, and I just don’t think workbooks and drills will get them there. From the ever-expanding section of workbooks at Barnes & Noble, I realize many will disagree with me, and that’s O.K.

We’re interested in hearing your thoughts/views on this. As always, feel free to comment below.

In a previous blog, I’ve talked about the influence TV has over how and what children eat. Research shows that not only are kids susceptible to food advertising, but they also try to model what they see on their favorite shows. This is especially true if they really like the character.

This research is very important to me—not simply because I create TV programs, but more importantly, because I’m a mother. It’s why I’m always very careful about what Super Why and the Super Readers say and do, as well as what foods they’re shown eating. For instance, when I go about designing a season of episodes for Super Why or the new Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, I’m very vigilant that we’re not celebrating someone’s birthday with cupcakes and cake all the time, or going out for ice cream after Super Why wins his baseball game.

Instead, we’ve focused on writing compelling stories that show positive food messages because the impact of modeling good choices on kids’ TV is priceless. Take one of my favorite Super Why episodes, called “Healthy Hansel,” as an example.  We turned the classic story of Hansel and Gretel on its head by showcasing how grumpy and unhappy the witch is because she lives in a candy house. But what if she lived in a house made of fruits and vegetables? Spoiler Alert! Super Why changes the story and we save the day. The witch learns how great she feels when she eats fruits and vegetables and drinks water. This episode is fun and silly, but it teaches an important lesson. Our preschool home viewers get to practice literacy skills while also learning about the benefits of fruits and veggies!

I also do what I can at home to help my children become media literate and savvy. I want them to learn to question what they watch on television. If they’re watching a commercial, I urge them to ask themselves questions like: What does the company want me to buy? Why do they need a brightly colored cartoon animal to sell it to me? If it’s a show, what is the message? Why do they want the characters to eat cake, cookies and ice cream all the time? And once that program is over, if my kids have an incredible urge for a sugary treat, there’s no better time to point out the sheer coincidence that their choices are similar to those made by the characters from TV. It’s usually then, that I’ll have my girls put on their aprons to create their own dish, which is fun to prepare and even healthier to eat.

Should Math be presented to boys & girls differently?

Not really. I have always believed each individual had his or her own strengths, weaknesses and learning style, but it isn’t gender specific as far as I can see as a teacher.  I do think that whenever you can, the teacher should relate whatever math topic is being studied to a real-life situation to add context to what might look, to some, like an arbitrary step-following process.  So, I guess if that means you are talking to a single-sex classroom an example that asks how many different outfits can be made might be more effective with girls and an example of how many different baseball batting orders you can come up with for boys. But I think there are enough gender-neutral examples a teacher could use that wouldn’t be in danger of highlighting or perpetuating stereotypes.

That said; a book recently caught my eye in the bookstore, called Math Doesn’t Suck by former Wonder Years child actor and now mathematician, Danica McKellar . I found myself giggling out loud in the bookstore as I read and I actually learned (or remembered) a few things about a few math concepts that just sort of get rusty in adulthood.  The book is 100% geared toward girls, and I don’t know if there is an equivalent out there for boys, but if you have a girl who is math resistant, you should check it out.  It certainly couldn’t hurt.  I bought it for my daughter.

related articles:

The Myth of the Math Gender Gap – Time

Mind the Gap – Pysch. Today

No Gender Gap in Math – Scientific American

Growing up Italian, I quickly learned that family dinners were very important-it didn’t matter where I was or what I was doing. If I called home to hint at eating at a friend’s house on a Sunday, it’d be met with ”That’s nice, but rush on home now for some macaroni with gravy. Everyone’s here. C’mon.” And God forbid I visit my grandmother and not eat something! “What’sa matter? You sick or something? Here, just eat a little something” as half a loaf of Italian bread would be shoved in front of me.

I was taught from a very early age that food is love, but I know now that linking food with love, or any emotion (guilt, happiness, sadness, or anger), for that matter, is the root of emotional eating. And I want to make sure that I don’t pass this type of thinking onto my own girls.

The truth is, it’s really easy to create negative eating behaviors in children. Even something that on the surface might seem to benefit your child—trying to get him to finish his veggies, for instance—can backfire. In a study of families of 142 kindergarteners, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, discovered that “regardless of socio-economic status, marital status, or sex of the child, the overriding mealtime goal of the majority of parents of young children is to get children to eat more during meals.” In fact, 85 percent of parents tried to get their children to eat more, often using strategies such as pressure (“When I say eat, you eat!”) and reasoning (“Want to try the beans? I made them the way you like them.”).  Very rarely were children restricted in their mealtime intake.

The result of such tactics: Kids often overeat. With my own kids, sometimes I find that even though they say they are hungry at dinner they want a snack five minutes later.  What we have tried to do is to combat that by not having the snack as an option.  We will go out of our way to make sure we offer something for dinner that my girls like, offer something sweet for dessert and then that’s it.  What we have found is that, like any “habit”, they stopped asked for a snack right after dinner after about a week.

Children have an innate capacity to regulate their energy intake. They know how to listen to their bellies and they know when they’re full.  So, when we as parents pressure our kids to eat more or to eat to show their respect or love for us, we’re teaching them to override these signals. Instead of pleading, pushing or prodding our children to eat more, we need to teach them to listen to their own bodies—that means eating only when they are hungry and stopping when they are full. If our kids learn this and we help reinforce this important lesson, they’ll have avoided a major obstacle to healthy eating.  So next time you’re tempted to plead, “just three more bites,” stop. Instead, respect your child’s ability to gauge his own hunger and fullness signals. In fact, many adults could learn a thing or two about healthy eating from our kids.

In an interview for The Fred Rogers Oral History Project, Sara Lindey, Ph.D. asked me “Are children today happy to play in a cardboard box or have times changed?”

I believe that YES, kids today are happy to play in a cardboard box and should.  Imagination and play is very important for kids.   My shows celebrate imagination and enriching play for preschoolers – but on television it looks different.  Because the way kids learn from television is different than they way they learn from play.

In my research, I have found that kids learn more from television and have a longer attention span for all things visual.  In order to extend the learning in their every day play, we need to show our stories in as visual a way as possible.  So, on television, the cardboard box can be a box but then morphs into the space ship kids are pretending it to be (with lots of rich galactic vocabulary and actions) and then back to the cardboard box.

Scaffolding the play this way gives kids wings – and they soar into learning!  Watch the interview from The Fred Rogers Oral History Project, entitled “Imagination & Attention” right HERE.

What’s the most common change a parent would like to see take place in their school?

I can’t speak for other parents, but if I had to speculate, it would probably be better communication between parents and teachers.  Of course, this is asking a lot of our teachers because there just isn’t any time built into the school day for it. And in many cases, the classrooms are so overcrowded that it is hard to be in touch with everyone after hours.

I do think that teachers who do communicate with parents regularly do themselves a big favor in the long run.  Teachers who offer to communicate through E-mail are becoming more common, which is a step in the right direction.  If your child’s teacher does, please remember to be respectful of his or her time and only E-mail when you have a real question or concern about your child.