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.