Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion completely OT, but I need to prepare...

I don't know where the line is, but it's almost like the "religion" of consumerism is pushed on my kids at a time when I'm trying to teach them the opposite.

Those with Sensual OE have a far more expansive experience from their sensual input than the average person. They have an increased and early appreciation of aesthetic pleasures such as music, language, and art, and derive endless delight from tastes, smells, textures, sounds, and sights. But because of this increased sensitivity, they may also feel over stimulated or uncomfortable with sensory input. When emotionally tense, some individuals high in Sensual OE may overeat, go on buying sprees, or seek the physical sensation of being the center of attraction (Dabrowski & Piechowski, 1977; Piechowski, 1979, 1991).

Do Rewards for Reading Really Work?
By Kristina Sauerwein, LA Times
In a 1997 article published in the journal Reading Research and Instruction, McQuillan reviewed 10 academic studies on incentive programs and found that they had no effect on the habits, achievements or motivation of students.
What works, he and others say, is a �chicken or the egg� dynamic. The best way to reward children for reading is to give them more books and time to read them.
In a forthcoming study of low-achieving students at Anaheim High School, McQuillan found that teenagers embrace reading when they see adults reading for pleasure, and when they have access to books and at least 10 minutes a day of silent reading, with no tests.
The effect was so powerful that Anaheim High students lined up before class last winter after English teacher Sue Snyder bought 120 new books for her classroom. Her class was included in the study and, for three weeks before her shopping spree, she asked students what authors and subjects they would like.

In the midst of rising concerns about childhood obesity and school commercialism, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is urging parents and educators to end their school�s involvement with Pizza Hut BOOK IT! programs. The advocacy coalition wants Book It out of schools because it promotes bad eating habits, uses schools to market a corporate product directly to students, and is educationally counterproductive by undermining their interest in reading.
Any one of these issues is a serious concern,� said CCFC�s co-founder Susan Linn. �Taken all together, it�s clear that Pizza Hut�s BOOK IT! has no place in schools.�

Reaching 22 million school children in 900,000 classrooms each year, BOOK IT! is one of corporate America�s most insidious school-based brand promotions. The annual BOOK IT! Beginners program � which allows Pizza Hut to target preschools � begins next week

�BOOK IT! epitomizes everything that�s wrong with corporate-sponsored programs in school,� said Dr. Linn, author of Consuming Kids. �In the name of education, it promotes junk food consumption to a captive audience of children; turns teachers into Pizza Hut promoters; and undermines parents by positioning family visits to Pizza Hut as an integral component of raising literate children.�

Overeating by kids is the single greatest threat to their health�This is not an easy problem for parents to solve. Childhood obesity is related to lack of exercise, poor understanding of nutrition, grossly inappropriate portion sizes at restaurants and many cultural and economic factors. However, the single most important cause of obesity is emotional eating. Kids eat not only when they are hungry, but also to deal with feelings of anger, boredom, happiness, depression and a myriad of other emotions. We can�t solve the problem of overweight kids until we can effectively teach kids to avoid emotional eating...Parents of overweight children don�t understand the seriousness of this problem. They need to take aggressive actions now to avoid chronic health problems later in life. Data on the effectiveness of treatments for obese adults is depressing. Despite years of research, there is no treatment program with a long-term history of effectively treating adult obesity. This puts a tremendous responsibility on parents to teach their young children how to avoid the greatest threat to their health, dealing with emotional eating.

Reading the Fayette County Public Schools� 2008 District Wellness Check-Up, I was excited to see it included the goal of developing a nutrition policy that addresses not using food as a reward. Then I realized this same goal was in last year�s Wellness Check-Up and I�ve seen little progress since then. From my daughter�s short time at school, there have been numerous examples of food used as a reward. These include M&Ms and Sweet Tarts worksheets, pizza parties, popsicle parties, ice cream parties, and Tootsie Pops for PTA fundraising.

The FCPS Wellness Plan includes disadvantages of using food as a reward. This practice contradicts healthy eating messages and teaches that the reward food is more valuable than other foods. These rewards will often replace the healthy foods children need to grow, play and do well in school. It can lead to problems in eating habits, oral health and nutrition. It teaches children to eat when they�re not hungry with some developing the habit of rewarding and comforting themselves with food.

It is estimated that overeating is caused by emotional eating 75% of the time. Many of us have found ourselves eating for reasons other than real hunger. Once emotional eating becomes habitual, we overeat without understanding why. This can lead to more serious disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.

Despite these risks, my impression is that district leadership doesn�t think the time is right for making policies that address using food a reward. I hope I�m wrong because we can�t afford to wait any longer. The grim data on effective long term treatment of obesity means prevention is the best medicine. We have a responsibility to teach young children how to avoid the greatest threat to their health, emotional eating.
School leadership can help by implementing policies that state food will not be used as a reward. There�s no denying that teachers have a difficult challenge in ensuring classroom order and motivating students. Many teachers view using food rewards as an effective tool, as do many parents. Unfortunately, it is a tool with the serious unintended lesson that approval and acceptance comes in the form of food. This powerful food association leaves many adults struggling to break the cycle of eating to subconsciously recapture feelings of happiness. Fortunately there are many ideas for non-food rewards including words of praise, positive recognition, privileges, and prizes. Constructive classroom rewards such as extra time for playing and reading can be great ways to motivate positive behavior.
I hope more parents will quickly come to understand the problems created when food is used as a reward and school leaders will develop nutrition policies that address this issue. How often do our children hear the subtle message that food equals approval before it becomes a message that�s hard to escape later in life?