5 Tips to Help Kids Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

Child eating lunch
Kindergarten children eating lunch outdoors smiling to camera

As a nutritional epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I know that healthy eating in childhood and adolescence is important for optimal growth and brain development. A healthy diet can reduce the risk of serious health conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure that can start in childhood. Fruits and vegetables are part of a healthy diet. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend eating a variety of fruits and vegetables every day.

However, as a mother of two young children, I also know that it is not always easy to get children to eat fruits and vegetables. Many children are not eating enough. In fact, many children as young as 1–5 years of age are not eating fruits and vegetables every day, according to a new CDC analysis. Here are five tips to help you get more fruits and vegetables into your child’s diet:

  1. Choose fresh, frozen, or canned. Frozen and canned fruits and vegetables can be just as healthy as fresh options. Look for frozen vegetables without added sauces, or choose fruits canned in 100% fruit juice and vegetables with “low sodium” or “no salt added” on the label. Frozen and canned options are longer lasting, may save you money, and can be a quick way to add fruits and vegetables to your kids’ meals. For example, you can add frozen berries to plain yogurt or add canned vegetables to a soup.
  2. Keep the kids involved. Studies show that involving children in meal prep is a good way to develop healthy eating habits. Here are some ways to involve younger and older children in meal prep:
    • For younger kids–start simple with something like a yogurt parfait or a healthy snack. Kids can find and place items in the grocery cart. They can also help with measuring, placing items in a bowl or serving dish, or mixing.
    • For older children–they can look up and choose recipes, make shopping lists, and even help keep track of ingredients in the store or online. They can help with cutting, chopping, peeling, or cooking on the stove. Remember that some skills may require supervision. For a free, simple way to get started, check out these kid-friendly Look and Cook Recipes from USDA’s MyPlate.
  3. Plan and pack ahead. It’s no secret that parents are busy, and it feels like our kids are always on the go! One quick and easy way to help your children eat more fruits and vegetables is to have pre-cut fruits and vegetables available in easy grab-and-go containers. You can even designate an easy-to-reach kid’s shelf where they know to go for these healthy snacks.
  4. If at first you don’t succeed, try again. It’s normal for your child to refuse some foods at first, but repetition is the key.  Especially when it comes to vegetables. The more kids are exposed to familiar and unfamiliar options, the more likely they are to eat them. In fact, experts believe it can take more than 10 tries before kids get used to a new taste. Exposure can start with looking, touching, smelling, or reading about new fruits and vegetables.
  5. Bring healthy snacks to share at school parties and events. Children can consume up to half of their daily calories at school. This includes class birthdays, holiday parties, and special events. Snacks are also often provided at after-school and extracurricular activities. When it’s your turn to bring a snack, think about skipping the sweet treats. Instead, choose healthy, easy, and tasty options. Instead of sugar-sweetened beverages, try 100% fruit juice, low sodium vegetable juice, or water. Instead of sweets and baked goods, try yogurt parfaits with fresh fruit, raw vegetables such as carrot sticks with a low fat dip, fresh fruit served in cupcake wrappers, and fruit kabobs.

For more information and resources about healthy eating habits for children at every age, please visit the Life Stages page at www.myplate.gov.

Dr. Adi Noiman is a nutrition epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a mother of two young children.

Making Drinking Water Fun! With a Healthy Hydration Event

SPOTLIGHT: Pope PTA (Puyallup, Wash.)

This blog post is part of a series authored by local PTA leaders who received a Healthy Hydration Grant, sponsored by Nestlé Waters North America. They share practical advice and lessons learned from planning and hosting their events.

“Try new things ‘cuz they might taste good!” was the jingle I sang from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood as the masses of students taking their water breaks approached the water coolers. The signs on the water coolers piqued their interest as they realized they had a decision to make: Which flavored water recipe would they try first?

Being able to host the Healthy Hydration event was a much-needed boost to our school’s morale, as the beginning of the school year has proven to be a challenge. Our school building is being renovated and expanded this school year, so we are currently displaced to an aging building elsewhere in the district that has led to a host of changes for the students, staff and school community. The announcement of the event generated a lot of positive buzz around the school and the administration was very supportive.

National PTA selected our PTA to receive the grant funding in October, so we had to hit the ground running immediately to plan and execute the event to make sure it happened in November, which is Healthy Lifestyles Month. We attended an online training webinar and scoured National PTA’s website to use their online toolkit.

We also took advantage of our Washington State PTA membership benefit at FedEx to print off any and all materials. We wanted to be sure to reach ALL of our families, so we made sure to translate any customized letters we wrote into Spanish with the help of a Spanish-speaking PTA volunteer.

We ran the Healthy Hydration event in conjunction with our already planned fun-run fundraiser. We decided that a two-day event would work best for our school to limit classroom distraction.

On Day 1, we set up the sugar-beverage education table, a table to hand out free Nestlé water bottles to all students, and a recycling station with recycling infographics. We used the customized banner that came with our grantee kit to have students sign their names as a pledge to drink water. This event ran during the students’ lunch recess.

On Day 2, we ran the fruit-infused water stations during the fun-run event. We used the three recommended recipes: Strawberry & Basil, Cucumber & Mint, and Blueberry & Orange. While the students took their mandatory water breaks, we encouraged each student to try a new recipe each time, as they got to vote on their favorite with the conclusion of the run (Spoiler Alert: the winner was Strawberry & Basil!). At the end of the day, each student took home the recipes they tried to encourage our school families to lead healthier lifestyles.

Take Action


Authored by Victoria Treffry, Pope PTA Co-President in Puyallup, Wash.

Disclosure: Nestlé Waters North America is a Proud National Sponsor of National PTA and a Founding Sponsor of National PTA’s Healthy Lifestyles Initiative. The local PTA spotlighted in this blog was a winner of a 20192020 Healthy Hydration Grant, sponsored by Nestlé Waters North America. The author was not compensated for this blog post and the author’s opinions are their own.

 

Stay Healthy and Happy During the Holiday Season

Cold and flu season is once again upon us, as is the time of year when family gatherings and holiday celebrations are plentiful. This holiday season, make sure that illness doesn’t keep you and your family from enjoying your celebrations to the fullest.

The National Parent Teacher Association and Lysol want to ensure children and families have a fun, safe and healthy holiday season by providing easy and effective tips to help curb the spread of cold and flu.

  1. Get vaccinated: Getting your flu shot every year is the first and most important step to help prevent the flu. The CDC recommends that everyone six months of age or older, especially those at high risk, get their flu vaccine every season.
  2. Cover your mouth and nose: Cover your mouth or nose with a tissue, or use your elbow, when you sneeze or cough to avoid passing germs to others through the air.
  3. Clean your hands often: Wash your hands often with soap and water to get rid of germs that may be picked up throughout the day.
  4. Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces: Clean and disinfect commonly touched surfaces at home, school and work, especially when someone is sick. Lysol Disinfecting Wipes kill up to 99.9% of germs, including those that cause cold and flu!
  5. Stay home when you’re sick: If you follow all of these habits and your children still get sick, make sure to keep them home from school (and stay home from work) to avoid passing illnesses to others!

Enter the Teach2Win Sweepstakes for the Chance to Win Lysol Disinfecting Wipes for Your School!

Tell your school administrators and teachers! To curb the spread of illness in classrooms during cold and flu season, Lysol is selecting 250 winning teachers to receive 50 canisters of Lysol Disinfecting Wipes for their school! To enter Teach2Win and for a chance to win, all teachers have to do is pledge to teach their students a Healthy Habits lesson in the classroom.

Visit Lysol.com/Healthy-Classroom to enter and for official rules. Entries must be submitted by Feb. 27, 2020, and winners will be selected March 1, 2020. No purchase is necessary to enter. Make the most out of this holiday season by practicing healthy habits!


Ferran Rousaud is the Marketing Director for Lysol. Lysol is a Proud National Sponsor of National PTA.

Snack Duty Made Simple

(Sponsored Post) Many school snacks of today would have been hard to imagine even just 10 years ago.

When I was growing up, most products available on campus were synonymous with indulgence. I vividly remember my mom helping with school fundraisers … I couldn’t wait for the bake sale!

A lot has changed since I was a kid.

Today, the items available to our children at school still taste delightful—but the products’ nutritional content has drastically improved for the better.

The Vegas Family enjoying post-snack time activities

This is all because we’ve raised the bar for foods and beverages sold to students on campus. Since 2014, the USDA’s Smart Snacks in School Standards have put in place nutrition guidelines for snacks and drinks sold in vending machines, school stores, snack carts, á la carte lines and in-school fundraising, as well as for products served at celebrations and events.

As a parent, I couldn’t be more thrilled. Knowing that my school is prioritizing the health and well-being of my kids is incredibly important to me, so when I need to bring in snacks for parties or fundraisers, I want to be sure that I’m supporting the efforts of my school. As a busy mom though, I don’t have the time (or the math know-how) to calculate percentages of sugar and sodium while zipping through the supermarket aisles or while frantically placing an online order in between baseball innings.

That’s why I worked with Amazon Business to create the Healthier Generation Store, which features hundreds of products that meet the Smart Snacks standards. So if you need to order 30 (or even 300!) snacks for that end-of-year school party, check it out. In the wise words of my six-year-old daughter, it’s “easy-peasy lemon squeezy”.

Set up your PTA’s free Amazon Business Account to access business-level pricing and easily shop for all your PTA needs. Tie your school’s Amazon Smile account to your business account to maximize your donations.

The product assortment is growing by the day, so leave me a note in the comment field about what products you’d like to see added to the store!

Register your PTA and shop for Smart Snacks today!


 

Elizabeth Vegas serves as the director of business sector strategies at the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. She’s a tired mom of two awesome kids who consistently waits until the last minute to get most things done.

Bullying: It All Comes Down to Culture

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In my elementary school years, I was badly teased, excluded and ridiculed. Almost every day I would come home from school crying, feeling defeated, crushed and not wanting to return.

Only the constant support and encouragement of my mom and dad got me through it all. The strength that I ultimately gained through the process of overcoming the bullying inspired me to create my own bullying prevention presentation, which combines music and messages of bullying prevention, positivity and encouragement.

So far, I have performed my assembly at over 350 schools and 150,000 children nationwide. My newest project, a free Bully Prevention Video Package, is currently being used in over 2,700 schools, representing more than 1.6 million children.

School Culture

According to Dr. Kent D. Peterson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, school culture is “the set of norms, values and beliefs, rituals and ceremonies, symbols and stories that make up the ‘persona’ of the school.” During my school years, there were some personas that put me in a great mood all day, and some that left me appalled.

A toxic school culture is detrimental and leads to an intolerance and unhappiness among all students and administrators. A healthy school culture is what turns a mediocre school into a great school, and a great school into an EXCEPTIONAL school. Here are some characteristics of EXCEPTIONAL SCHOOLS that I have observed and that parents should insist upon.

Top Four Characteristics of Exceptional School Cultures

  1. Positive/uplifting leadership—Encourage your school’s principal to be invigorated, inspired and invested in the spirit and demeanor of everyone in it. Culture trickles down from the top. 
  1. Mutual respect—Establish mutual respect. This is the key to opening critical doors to conversation and understanding about difficult topics, such as discipline, etc. among parents, teachers and students. 
  1. Display students’ artwork—Get those bare walls decorated with students’ colorful artwork. Seeing their own creations displayed inspires students to be more imaginative and more invested in their school community. 
  1. Strong and positive rapport between staff and parents—Develop good relationships between your school’s faculty and administration and families. A seamless transition between a student’s home and school life happens best if parents and administrators communicate well and stress similar values in each place.

More of What I’ve Learned About Culture

  • Disciplining works. Condescending tones DO NOT. In my experience, when an adult speaks to a child in a loud volume and/or with a condescending tone, the child either doesn’t listen and puts up a wall, or becomes timid and retreats inside their shell.
  • Become a safe space for them. When children retreat inside their shell, it is more difficult to help them because they won’t necessarily open up to you the way you need them to. Let them know that they always have a safe space in you. Then, back that up by actively and genuinely listening.
  • Focus on the DO’s, not the DON’T’s, and be their example. I attribute the success of my assembly to two things. One, my age, and therefore my ease of connecting with students. Two, my emphasis on the DO’s instead of the DON’T’s. My experiences show me that children want to make the best and healthiest choices, but they can’t always do that unless they see it being practiced all around them. Tell them, but more importantly, show them, what to do through your own behavior.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is: kids will be kids, but they all want to be better. It is our responsibility, as leaders, to help them become the best of themselves. A thoroughly positive school culture will do that, not only for the students, but for the entire school community.

It’s so easy to say we’re going to do something, but it takes something completely different, a true investment of time and talent, to actually do it. Many of the schools I’ve visited hit the nail on the head already, establishing good, safe school cultures, but the majority have not. Help make YOUR school truly exceptional. With more and more examples of excellence, we can make safe, welcoming schools the rule.


Lizzie Sider is an 18-year-old singer/songwriter, recording artist and Founder of the bullying prevention foundation, Nobody Has The Power To Ruin Your Day.

National PTA’s School Meals Update

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My name is Chelsea Smyth and I’m a registered dietitian. I am also the current school meals fellow for National PTA and have been working closely with the 25 National PTA Healthy School Meals Grantees to help as they work to improve nutrition in their schools.
In celebration of National PTA’s Healthy Lifestyles Month, I want to highlight five common school meals issues that many schools face, and the solutions our grantees have pursued. Maybe you’ll want to try one of these ideas at your school!

Issue 1: The Cafeteria Isn’t Inviting or Doesn’t Support Healthy Messaging or Behaviors.

School-aged children are at the age when they form dietary preferences and habits and the cafeteria has the ability to promote healthy or unhealthy food habits. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the healthy choice is always the easy choice.

Many schools identified that the cafeterias were unwelcoming and the items on the service line needed to be rearranged to encourage healthy behavior. We have five PTAs who are going to be updating their cafeteria with murals of healthy choices. Another four PTAs are rearranging items within the service line to make the healthier choice the easy choice, such as placing white milk before flavored milks and adding grab-and-go fruits and vegetables to the beginning and end of the service lines.

Issue 2: Poor Meal and Menu Quality

Working on meal and menu quality can be an opportunity to advocate for healthier, tastier menu items and food preparation practices that improve students’ enjoyment of mealtime. Updating the school meal menus was the most popular task that our Healthy Schools Meals grantees set out to accomplish.

Nine PTAs are going to be conducting taste tests with students and families to gain feedback for new menu items. These taste tests are planned to occur in the cafeteria, the classroom and after school events. We even have a PTA in New Jersey that is going to have a Top Chef-style competition utilizing produce grown in their school garden. The winning recipe will be featured on their school lunch menu.

Issue 3: Negative Family and Student Perceptions of What is Being Served

Increasing parent and student perceptions and knowledge of the school meals program can help increase participation and support. Communicating to students and families all of the all great work our PTAs are working on is a key component to the School Meals Grants.

My favorite example of improve school meals communication is happening in a local PTA in Wisconsin, where students will be making videos highlighting their school lunch program and nutrition, which will be shared on the school’s social media channels.

Issue 4: School Nutrition Staff Need Updated Training and Equipment

If food service teams don’t have proper training or up-to-date equipment, it is difficult for them to provide students with healthy, tasty school meals.

To fix this issue, six PTAs are implementing new salad bars in their schools. Several PTAs chose to purchase new water dispensers to provide student with clean, fresh water as a beverage alternative, some of which feature a water bottle counting feature to tally how much water that the students are distributing. We also have one PTA that has provided training to the food service staff on preparation and food presentation techniques.

Issue 5: School Wellness Policies Don’t Enforce Serving Healthy Food to Students

Ensuring local and district wellness policies promote strong nutrition standards, provide students with adequate time to eat and limit the sale of unhealthy food items can help make healthier food choices the easier choices.

We have several PTA grantees who are working to improve their school wellness policies. These PTAs are going to work with the school-level and district-level administration to create healthier environments for their students. A common theme among these PTAs is ensuring that students have adequate time to go through line and eat their meal.

healthy-school-mealsThese are just a few highlights of the plans for the Healthy Schools Meals grantees. Do you see something that you would like to learn more about? Is there a strategy that you would like to try? Check out the School Meals Leaders Guide at PTA.org/SchoolMeals or email Programs@PTA.org for more ideas and information on how to organize a school meals team, evaluate your current school meals program and make important changes to improve your child’s nutrition.

 


Chelsea Smyth is a registered dietitian who is currently works in the clinical setting. She is pursuing a master’s degree in public health from George Mason University and hopes to combine her nutrition background and public health degree to work towards obesity prevention.

For Food Allergies, a Halloween Appeal: Go Teal!

View More: http://marciaannedesigns.pass.us/fare

From classroom parties and Trunk-or-Treats to ghosts and goblins knocking on your door, Halloween puts snacking front and center. But for youngsters on restricted diets, the holiday’s focus on foods they can’t eat puts a big damper on trick-or-treat fun.

One in 13 U.S. children has a food allergy. That’s about two kids per classroom. For many, just touching the wrong food causes hives and the smallest taste can be life-threatening. Other students have different health needs that require a special diet, including diabetes, celiac disease and many digestive disorders. Like every other child, these children deserve a fun, inclusive Halloween.Print

Join the Teal Pumpkin Project to make Halloween happy and safe for all children—including those who can’t eat a chocolate or candy treat.

Why teal? Teal is the color of food allergy awareness. When you display a teal pumpkin (or a Teal Pumpkin Project sign), you’re letting kids and their families know that you have non-food goodies to share.

View More: http://marciaannedesigns.pass.us/fareLaunched by Food Allergy Research & Education in 2014, the purpose of the Teal Pumpkin Project is inclusion. Here are the benefits:

  • You don’t need to choose between offering either snacks or trinkets, so long as the food and non-food treats are kept in separate bowls.
  • Toys and prizes won’t go to waste, since they’re popular even with kids who love candy.
  • Some of these kid-friendly items are useful as well—such as glow sticks and glow jewelry that make trick-or-treaters easier to see at night or Halloween-themed pencils and erasers that come in handy as spare school supplies.

View More: http://marciaannedesigns.pass.us/fareWhether your pumpkin comes from a farm or a craft store, painting it teal combines creative play with a lesson in empathy. Decorating a teal pumpkin or coloring an activity sheet reminds kids that while some classmates may not be able to eat some candies, we can include them in the fun by offering treats that are safe for them. We can trick-or-treat others the way we would want to be treated.

The 2016 goal of the Teal Pumpkin Project is for at least one home on every block to stock up on non-food treats and welcome all trick-or-treaters with a beautiful teal pumpkin. We hope this Halloween,  children with food allergies and other restrictive diets will spot a teal pumpkin on your doorstep or in your school Halloween festivities, and smile.

For more info—including links to free resources to help create a happier, safer Halloween for all—visit TealPumpkinProject.org.


Lois A. Witkop is Chief Advancement Officer for Food Allergy Research & Education. She is proud mom to two teens and is a parent member of the Robinson Secondary School PTSA in Fairfax, Va.

Tips You Need to Keep Kids Safe Online

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Keeping your kids safe in the age of continuous internet access and social media is tougher than ever these days. My wife and I work in information security, but even we struggle to keep up with evolving technology, so staying safe online is a frequent dinner topic in our family.

With new websites and apps coming out every day, it’s easy to see how parents can feel a little overwhelmed. So what can you do to keep your kids safe? The biggest step is to start with a conversation. And the good news is, there’s an online tool to help!

The Smart Talk is a fun and simple way to develop tech ground rules with your kids. Developed by LifeLock and the National PTA, the interactive website enables families to create personalized technology ground rules together by discussing key online safety topics. These include safety and privacy, screen time, apps and downloads, texting and calling and social media and respect.

After agreeing on healthy limits together, your family will end up with a personalized and official family agreement that you can print, sign and post in your home for quick reference and revise throughout the year.

Our family recently had The Smart Talk, and there were many lessons learned all-around. Here are a few tips that may come handy when you have a safety tech talk with your kids.

Tip 1: Talk, don’t lecture

Lecturing kids about online security works about as well as lecturing them about putting their socks away. They just tune out, hearing only, “Blah blah Internet blah blah chatrooms.” But when you’re able to have an actual conversation with your kids, and get on their level, they can begin relating what they do online and what their friends do online to the issues they hear about in the news.

Tip 2: Help your kids understand that the internet is not private

This false sense of privacy can lure kids into revealing far more than they should, with potentially devastating results (such as harassment and bullying, possibly even leading to assaults and suicide). Talk to your kids about what privacy means and remind them that anything shared over the internet or over a smartphone has the potential to be made public. Tell them:

  • Social media accounts can be seen by others
  • Text messages and “selfies” can be copied, forwarded and shared
  • Information can be accessed on an unlocked device or broken into and posted freely on the internet
  • Location data, commonly made available by devices, can reveal where the photos were taken or where they are located at that moment

Tip 3: Treat safety in the digital world the same as safety in the real world

When our kids are online, they’re connected with the entire world. Would you let your kids bring home random people off the street or from the shopping mall? Into your home, into their rooms? Of course not. Similar to how you teach your child to be self-aware in a mall, movie theater or amusement park—your kids need to learn safe behaviors in the online world.

Tip 4: Help your kids understand that anyone can pretend to be anything on the internet

With social media, video game chatrooms and other remote chat tools, strangers can become familiar, even though your child has never actually met them. Kids need to understand that people they meet online could be someone other than who they say they are. Teach your kids that unless you’ve met someone in person, they are a stranger. Any time a stranger attempts to convince your child to meet up unsupervised or share private information, your child should assume that’s not a nice or safe person.

Bring this lesson to life with a game: Ask your kid to list all of the things an alligator would say to convince a duck that they should meet up in the swamp at night. Then, connect the alligator’s motivations with a fraudster online that is trying to lure your kid into sharing information. It sounds silly, but such a game can help drive the point home.

Tip 5: Sharing is good until you share too much

You’ve seen the websites and apps that ask you to share your name, home address, age, birthdate, phone number and more. Kids grow up learning that sharing is caring, but what happens when sharing information could leave your kid vulnerable to identity theft?

When it comes to sharing sensitive information, teach your kids that the best answer is no answer. Your kids should also know that a majority of sites don’t need all of your sensitive information. Most times you don’t need to add all your private information. Have your child use their favorite movie character as their name and profile pic. Children are clever, creative and motivated. Give them a nudge and they’ll take it from there.

Remind your kids that their friends need to be safe online too. Kids are stronger when they’re looking out for each other, when they understand the problems and have a mindset to protect themselves.

Visit TheSmartTalk.org to learn more about having a conversation about these key ways to stay safe online.


Joe Gervais is the father of five children and the security communications director at LifeLock.

Is Your Child’s School Healthy?

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As a parent, there are many factors to consider when assessing your child’s school…teacher/student ratio, curriculum, facilities, location and more.

These are all undoubtedly critical components to a quality education, but have you considered whether your child’s school is a healthy school?

What does it mean to be a healthy school? Take a look at my daughter’s school, Hillcrest Elementary, where I serve as PTA president. Hillcrest was recently named one America’s Healthiest Schools by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

With the help of the Alliance’s Healthy Schools Program Framework, my daughter’s school is now serving healthier meals and snacks, getting students moving more, offering high-quality physical and health education and empowering school leaders to become healthy role models.
Why does being a healthy school matter? Healthy kids learn better. Not only that, but when kids have access to quality physical education and healthy meals, behavior also improves and attendance rates increase. Now that’s something that ALL parents can support!

It takes a village to ensure our children form these healthy habits early. From parents to teachers and food services staff, we all have a role to play in building a healthier generation.

lunch-at-hillcrestAt Hillcrest Elementary, the big changes started with teachers and staff. Physical education teacher Tina Birgen led the charge, coordinating walk or bike to school days, ensuring the availability of various healthy menu choices in the cafeteria and engaging staff in nutrition and exercise challenges.

Hillcrest Elementary also emphasized the importance of family involvement in becoming a healthy school. Parents were not only invited to attend activities with our children, but our PTA played in active role in supporting the school’s efforts. From publicizing events to giving teachers stipends to purchase jump ropes or other healthy incentives, we collaborated to build an environment focused on health and wellness.

When parents are involved, the cycle of success continues outside of the classroom. Our PTA supports teachers in providing healthy opportunities for students and staff, and then teachers support the Hillcrest PTA. This results in stronger parent-teacher relationships and healthier habits at home!

Hillcrest students and staff have demonstrated drastic improvements physically, mentally and socially. Through goal setting and proper wellness education, we have improved physical fitness levels, eating behaviors, self-esteem and overall wellness knowledge. All of this, because we—parents, teachers, students and community members—worked together and supported one another in this essential cause.

There are many ways you can get involved in the health and wellness efforts of your child’s school, including joining your local PTA and asking your community’s leaders for support to make healthy changes in schools.

Ready to join the movement to ensure every school becomes one of America’s healthiest? Find out if your child’s school is enrolled in the Healthy Schools Program and get started today!


Trish Matson Buus is PTA president at Hillcrest Elementary School in Brookings, S.D.

How to Protect Your Child from Sudden Cardiac Arrest

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To commemorate Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) Awareness Month, National PTA has invited Michele Snyder, executive director of Parent Heart Watch, to share how you can protect your child and raise awareness. 

I was recently interviewed by The Today Show and was asked if there were any positives that have come out of the loss of my 17-year old daughter Jenny to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). At first, it felt like a ridiculous question. How could there possibly be anything positive that comes out of the unexpected death of your seemingly healthy child?

Parent Heart Watch Members Gather at the 11th Annual Heart to Heart in 2016

Parent Heart Watch Members Gather at the 11th Annual Heart to Heart in 2016

After some thought, however, I knew my answer. There was a silver lining—the incredible people I have met while healing from this tragedy. Most of them are members of Parent Heart Watch, an organization dedicated to protecting youth from SCA and preventable sudden cardiac death. They are parents who have lost a child to SCA, parents with a child that survived SCA or living with a heart condition, healthcare workers, school personnel and others—all advocates who work tirelessly each day in their local communities to prevent this from happening to other families.

We know that sudden cardiac death can often be prevented and as a parent, you can advocate for your child’s safety by taking the Prevention Promise and using the Take 5 to Stay Alive toolkit to protect your child.

Here are the five promises:

  1. Determine any risk factors that are already present in your child’s life
  2. Become educated on prevention strategies like early detection and being prepared in case of an emergency
  3. Advocate in your community
  4. Review your school’s cardiac emergency response plan
  5. Talk to your doctor

Each promise comes with the tools and resources necessary to support your efforts. Take 5 to Stay Alive is easy and available now at ParentHeartWatch.org.

Don’t look back and regret that you didn’t take the time. It’s a matter of life and death.


At the 2013 National PTA Convention & Expo, the members adopted a resolution calling for public schools to develop emergency response plans that include summoning help, performing CPR and using automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to save lives threatened by sudden cardiac arrest. The resolution also calls for education about the importance of purchasing and maintaining AEDs and ongoing CPR-AED training in schools. In addition, the resolution advocates for legislation that would fund placement of AEDs in every school, while providing immunity for people who use the lifesaving devices in good faith. Read the resolution.


Guest blogger Michele Snyder has been executive director of Parent Heart Watch since September 2010. In 2008, Michele and her husband Bob lost their 17-year-old daughter Jenny to sudden cardiac arrest. Since that time, Michele has dedicated her life to protecting other families from this tragedy.