WAY TO GO EWA!!!

NEW YORK—The sixth annual Wonder Women of Toys Awards were granted in nine categories on Feb. 14. The awards, which honor achievements by women all along the children’s entertainment supply chain, were presented by networking group Women In Toys and Playthings magazine at a gala at The Penn Club in Manhattan.

Some great big kudos to our good friend Ewa Martinoff, founder & hot mamma behind Shainsware the maker of our Nutrition Tracking To Go!

She just got some much deserved recognition for her really cool innovative products. Check it out!

YAY EWA!

WE DON'T HAVE A CHILDHOOD OBESITY EPIDEMIC . . .

because children want to be overweight. I believe that we have a childhood obesity epidemic because the adults in their lives are too full of excuses to do anything about it. Thank goodness the First Lady, Michelle Obama, has brought this issue to the forefront and done so in a way that doesn't shy away from the parental responsibility that will be neccessary if we really to address the issue.

REPOSTED from Sept '09.

Let's face it, none of us launched into parenthood with the aspiration to become the "Crusher of All Dreams." The fact that 20-30 times a day we have to tell our children what they CANNOT do gets to be quite tiring. After awhile, you start giving in a little to make peace and/or to get back to work and the very important adult things that we do.

One of the places that a lot of us give in, is where food is concerned. After all, we all HAVE to feed our kids. Several times a day in fact. We all must eat! We are busy and pinching pennies and just don't seem to have time to think about something we have to do so frequently. So we give in and justify it for numerous reasons...See if any of these excuses sound familiar?

• Healthy food is too expensive.

• I just don't have time to prepare healthy foods. Eating out is so much simpler.

• They don't like vegetables and I just can't argue about one other thing today - I've picked all my battles!

• I don't want them to call me out as a hypocrite . . . "I can eat whatever I want because I'm grown but you have to eat healthy because you are still growing" Hmmm...Eat as I say, not as I do!

• My kids should be learning about nutrition at school - I pay lots of money in taxes for goodness sake! And I'm sure they will use that knowledge to make good choices once they grow up.

AND the great reason that our kids are less active these days...drumroll please,

• They can't go play outside right now, the mosquitoes are too bad and there might be a pervert lurking around the corner.

Which one is your favorite excuse? I know about three that I'll cop to on any given day. I think it might be time to grow up a little.

How are we, as the adults, going to help fix the very real obesity epidemic if we don't accept some responsibility? After all, IT'S NOT PRIMARILY OUR CHILDREN'S FAULT THAT THEY ARE OVERWEIGHT OR THE GOVERNMENT'S PROBLEM TO SOLVE. Parent-UP peeps!

Sincerely,

Leslie Smith Grant
President & Mother Hen
Chickin Feed, LLC

Un-busy a little bit.
Go play WITH your kids.
Feed them less / better...

How to PLAY with your chickins!

Ok, this seems like a no-brainer... Everybody knows how to "play" right? Well, there are some ways to get more out of it for both parents and the children. I met Dr. Kelli Ritter about a year ago. She's a hip intown mom that just happens to be a specialist in "playing" with your kids. I wanted to pass along her new lunch & learn format workshops for those of you in the Atlanta area. Chick it out! AND HAVE FUN WITH YOUR CHICKINS...IT'S GREAT EXERCISE.
Effective Parenting Workshop

Fluffing the Primer

So we recently had a publisher that was interested in Chickin Feed say that they just don't "get" our book, The Primer | a useful companion for modern families. They just couldn't quite pigeon-hole it. What category does it fit into?

Well, I take all the blame. When I was looking for some way to give my family (myself) a "health makeover" if you will – I thought up the idea for the Nutrition Tracking Board. A very simple concept. If I can SEE what we need each day to be healthy and mark it off, then I will be more aware, more accountable, and make better choices. It has worked! For myself and quite a few chickins all over the planet :) Yay!

Just after we concepted the initial idea for the Nutrition Tracking Boards we thought it would be good to have some sort of USER'S GUIDE for the board...someplace you could easily reference more info on all the good things the board addresses. Like a notebook that had been assembled over the years of all the helpful information you had collected on being a good parent, building a healthy home and healthier habits.

Putting simple to digest information in one place and designing it well so that folks want to pay attention to it seemed like a great idea at the time. So we chunked (Editor Chick, Michelle Newcome's term) the book together in sections:

• NUTRITION by Nutrition Chick, Emily Harrison- the first, most important part in easy to understand terms that you can easily explain to you chickins OR yourself!
  
• BUILDING A NUTRITIOUS KITCHEN by lot's of folks– think what Martha Stewart and Erma Bombeck's love child would be like...hmmm...it's a great chapter on how Kitchen 101.
  
• RECIPES by Chef Chick, Sheri Davis – why not show people what real food looks and tastes like? This chapter breaks the meals out by meal of the day and even let's you know how many of the different food groups you are "chicking off" as you go.
• OLD SCHOOL P.E. from Coach Brookins (Head Yard Bird) gives you some great fun FREE ways to get in a little exercise.
• DRAMA-CIZE by Drama Chick, Amy Handler is perhaps my favorite chapter since it comes from the brain of a mad woman (in a good way) gives you some really fun, creative ways to exercise your funny bone, imagination and body at the same time
• GETTING EVERYONE ON BOARD gives you tips to try and deal with the other folks that influence your lives because we all have to live with other people...
• RESOURCES is a handy little chapter that lists some of our favorite places to get more information on some of our favorite subjects that help you build a healthy life.

WHAT'S not to get? Our customers seem to get it.

We had it posted on amazon for a bit. Five Star Reviews on Amazon...

So, the original Primer is going fast...Our first edition is dwindling. If you'd like a copy they are available at a few stores and online @ www.chickinfeed.com. Hurry up Peeps! Get 'em while they are hot :)