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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2014)
Tribal Head Start children, parents start year of learning, working together By Lori Jay-Linstrom, Parent Involve- ment Coordinator Don’t forget to submit your Siletz Tribal Head Start application for the fol- lowing locations: Lincoln City, Siletz, Salem and Portland. It is never too late to send in your application as we accept them all year long. Please remind your friends and fam- ily members who may have a child who turned age 3 or 4 by Sept. 1, 2014, to submit their applications too. Our Head Start program has immediate openings in the Lincoln City and Siletz classrooms, and no one on the waiting list for the classrooms in Salem or Portland. All of our Head Start locations have started off with a bang! Everyone is so excited about our students attending classes. They will be learning so many new things and will have fun doing so. The 2015 Nesika Illahee Pow- Wow Committee once again is hav- ing a logo contest for the upcoming pow-wow in August 2015. All Siletz Tribal artists are encouraged to submit a pow-wow themed logo. The winning logo artist will receive a cash prize of $250 and a professional banner with the logo. The winning artist will have his or her logo highlighted on Nesika Illahee Pow-Wow flyers and merchandise. Please submit your artwork to the Cultural Education director’s office at the Siletz Tribal Community Center or mail it to Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, Attn: Pow- Wow Logo Contest, P.O. Box 549, Siletz, OR 97380-0549. All entries must be received no later than March 2, 2015. Royalty Crown Proposals The 2015 Pow-Wow Commit- tee is now accepting proposals for 2015-2016 royalty crowns for Miss Siletz, Junior Miss Siletz and Little Miss Siletz. Proposals for a crown are required to include art design, size of the crown and a bid for the crown or crowns of your interest. Propos- als can be submitted for individual crowns, two crowns or you can sub- mit a bid for all three crowns. Crown proposals must be turned in to the committee no later than March 2, 2015. Proposals should be sent to Siletz Pow-Wow Committee, P.O. Box 549, Siletz, OR 97380-0549. If you have any questions, con- tact Buddy Lane at 800-922-1399, ext 1230, or 541-444-8230. Siletz News • We have had our first Parent Com- mittee meetings and the parents elected their Parent Committee officers and their Policy Council representatives. Not only will our children be busy learning new things, so will a lot of our parents. Courtesy photo Siletz Tribal Head Start students in Lincoln City get ready to make pumpkin shakes. Head Start is a comprehensive pro- gram designed to support the individual By Nancy Ludwig, MS, RD, LD, Siletz Tribal Head Start Nutritionist Attention Siletz Tribal Artists • We are completing our 45-day requirements for our students, which includes hearing, vision and develop- mental testing for all children. Then we will move to our 90-day requirements for physicals and dental examinations. development of children and promote their school readiness skills. This focus If you would like to be involved in our program but don’t have any children attending, please call me at 800-922- 1399, ext. 1376, or 541-444-8376 to see how you can support Head Start. Preschool nutrition is a family affair Nesika Illahee Pow-wow 8 should help our students be ready when it is time for their transition into kinder- garten and the public schools. As part of my role as a consultant nutri- tionist to Siletz Tribal Head Start, I offer information for families. This segment addresses the most common questions. why does Head Start offer family- style meals? The structure of mealtime is set up using guidelines that have the adults con- trolling what is served, when and where it is served so healthy foods are served in a safe and encouraging environment. The setup encourages children to step into their responsibility of whether they choose to eat what is served and how much they eat. Aren’t preschool children too young to know what they need? The Head Start model helps children monitor their own intake. It is important that adults encourage children to eat in response to hunger and fullness. It is important that children have nutritious choices to select from, but the adults don’t know how fast the children are growing. Some days, children need to eat more food than on other days. In other words, they need to eat or not eat according to their own internal cues. Trusting them to do so helps them develop good eating habits. How can I support my children best around meals at home? Family meals at home can create a posi- tive environment where children can feel safe. Not only can it continue to empower children to honor their hunger cues, but children who eat family meals also do better in school and get in trouble less often. This may be because of the bonding that occurs while conversing at the table. Also, children watch what you eat and do. You are serving as a role model whether you like it or not. So think about what you want them to learn through your actions. How do I know how much food to serve? Portions are suggested at school but children have the opportunity to eat less or have additional servings. Some of the learning that happens at mealtime November 2014 includes learning to share and how to divide the total amount of food into the number of children at the table. Mealtime is also about developing the coordination to serve themselves. How do I encourage my child to try new foods? It often takes many times (even as many as 20) for a child to be exposed to a food before they are ready to try it. They are still watching you and if it is a food you want them to try, watching you eat it is meaningful. After all, you aren’t gagging or getting poisoned. You might want to describe the food, such as flavor or texture, to peak their curiosity. These kinds of discussions also are encouraged at school. It is useful to avoid the judgments of good and bad behaviors, such as “Look how good your sister is because she eats the broccoli.” Forcing or coercing chil- dren to eat often backfires. It matters less whether they eat it today than that they learn to eat well for a lifetime. I have been told that my child is above the 85% weight vs. height. I’ve been referred to a doctor. why? This statistic is a red flag or indicates a possible risk factor to health care provid- ers. Measurements between the 85 th and 95 th percentile are associated with the risk of becoming overweight. This brings up an awkward subject leading to the question, “Is my child get- ting fat?” Maybe yes, maybe no. Statistics are not all perfect. They are screening tools that prompt us to look into the situ- ation further. We must also use common sense and good judgment. Mathematically, it means that your child is growing heavier faster than he is growing tall. This might change naturally because children don’t grow proportion- ately through growth spurts and your child might have gained weight in anticipation of shooting tall. It is important to look at this number over time, not just once. How does a health care provider follow up regarding my child’s weight? Apparently we don’t all do the same thing. I find it as an opportunity to put this number into perspective. I follow up with a series of questions that look at eating behaviors, activity and family patterns as well as the types of foods and beverages that are being consumed. In essence, the same questions are important for all people. The reason behind the questions is to determine whether food intake isn’t being regulated well. The theme I listen for is the link between internal appetite cues and the choice to eat or stop eating. Whether you are hungry or full is an appetite cue. Many times children are encouraged to eat for external reasons, such as “Don’t you like this? I made it just for you,” “We always eat birthday cake to celebrate,” “If you want to get down from the table, you need to finish your dinner,” “This is so delicious I can’t stop eating it,” “If you do your homework, I’ll give you a cookie” and so on. These external prompts teach children to eat for reasons other than hunger. People with healthy weights naturally regulate their intake. Sometimes adults undermine this natural ability without meaning to. what can I do to get my kids to eat right? When adults are clear about the divi- sion of responsibility around eating, they support children in developing healthy eat- ing habits while they take a long-term view. This brings us back to why Head Start offers family-style meals at school. Adults control what is served, when and where it is served so healthy foods are provided in a safe and encouraging environment. This helps children step into their responsibil- ity of whether they choose to eat what is served and how much they eat. In this way, adults help children learn from their decisions in a safe environ- ment while developing healthy habits for a lifetime. Siletz Tribal Head Start offers my time to support family nutri- tion over the telephone (503-588- 5446). Please contact me if you have nutrition concerns about your Head Start child.
