Taylor receives 2015 Jayne
Albrecht Scholarship Award
Jayne Albrecht was the Siletz Tribal Head Start teacher in Salem for many years
until October 2013 when she left because of illness. She later passed from cancer.
Jayne was well-liked by her students, parents and co-workers.
A memorial scholarship fund was established through the Confederated Tribes
of Siletz Indians by Jayne Tienken, Teacher Jayne’s mother, in her honor. The $1,000
scholarship is administered by the Tribal Education Committee and strengthened by
various fundraising activities throughout the year by Ms. Tienken.
Seven students submitted essays on their education plans. The Education Com-
mittee then read and screened the anonymous essays.
The committee selected an essay written by Katrina Taylor of McKinleyville, Calif.
Katrina is the daughter of Keith Taylor and the granddaughter of Agnes Pilgrim.
She is a student at The College of the Redwoods who is pursuing an associate’s degree
for transfer to a four-year university.
We are proud to acknowledge Katrina Taylor as the recipient of this scholarship
and hope we are able to offer this scholarship again.
File photo
Keith Taylor (left) and Agnes Pilgrim (right) join Katrina Taylor as she accepts the
Jayne Albrecht Scholarship, which was presented at the Siletz Tribal Restoration
Pow-Wow in November 2015.
Science tells us family dinners are great for body, brain and spirit
By Nancy Ludwig, MS, RDN, LD, Head
Start Consulting Nutritionist
In my role as a consultant nutritionist
to Siletz Tribal Head Start, I offer infor-
mation for families. The family dinner
remains an important key to health. This
article is extracted from drgreene.com/
perspectives/science-tells-us-family-din-
ners-are-great-for-body-brain-and-spirit/.
Additional support and information
can be found at The Family Dinner Project –
thefamilydinnerproject.org/conversation-2/
conversation-starters/. Check out the easy
stew to take the pressure off preparation.
Sitting down for a nightly meal turns
out to be fantastic for the brain, the body
and the mental health of all family mem-
bers. Nearly 100 scientific studies over
the past 20 years back up this speculation.
Here are some highlights of what sci-
ence tells us about the many benefits of
regular family dinners.
Brain food
Did you know that for young children,
dinnertime conversation boosts vocabulary
even more than reading aloud to them
at bedtime?
Young kids learn almost 10 times as
many rare words at the dinner table as they
do from listening to storybooks. And kids
who have a large vocabulary have an early
leg up on learning to read.
Young kids also can get a boost to
their math skills at dinner. A very recent
study found that talking about math to
preschoolers – “Eat half your broccoli,
Mathilda” – can improve their math skills.
For older kids, having regular family
dinners is an even stronger predictor of
high grades than doing homework, playing
sports or doing art.
Good for the body
Home-cooked meals, as compared to
restaurant or take-out foods, are lower in
calories, fried foods and soft drinks, and
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higher in fruits, vegetables and nutrients.
So it’s no surprise that kids who eat regular
dinners are less likely to be obese.
I was happy to learn that these benefits
continue to pay dividends even after our
kids leave home and take charge of their
own meals. Kids who had regular family
dinners grow up to be young adults who
continue to eat more fruits and vegetables
and have lower rates of obesity.
To reap any of these weight-related
benefits, the TV should be off during din-
ner. In one study, American kindergartners
who watched TV during dinner were more
likely to be overweight by the time they
were in third grade.
TV has a double whammy effect – the
watching of food ads makes us eat more
and we’re more apt to eat mindlessly with-
out paying attention to our own sense of
fullness if zoning out in a front of a screen.
Some studies also have found a con-
nection between regular family dinners
and the reduction of some medical symp-
toms, such as asthma.
Researchers attribute this benefit
to two aspects of family dinners: First,
sharing a meal reduces everyone’s anxi-
ety, which can have a positive impact on
asthma symptoms.
Second, dinnertime gives parents a
chance to check in on a child’s symptoms
and medication compliance, and then
make a course correction if needed.
Good for the spirit
A pile of studies have found a strong
connection between teens who have
regular family dinners and a reduction
of high-risk behaviors such as smoking,
binge drinking, marijuana use, school
problems and precocious sexual activ-
ity. This connection is more important
than church attendance or good grades in
predicting lack of substance use and teen-
age pregnancy.
In one large study of Minnesota teens,
researchers reported that regular family
dinners were associated with lower rates
February 2016
of depression and suicidal thoughts as well
as higher self-esteem.
It’s not just that mealtime prevents
high-risk behaviors – it also promotes
positive ones. In a New Zealand study,
frequency of family meals was strongly
associated with positive mood in teens.
Other researchers have found that teens
who share regular meals with their parents
have a more positive view of the future.
What’s so powerful about
family dinners?
Simply put, it’s the most reliable time
for families to connect and check in with
each other about the day’s activities.
Earlier generations may have had other
options – chatting with each other while
pulling up potatoes in the fields or stitching
quilt squares side by side on the porch. But
today when teens are asked when they are
most likely to talk to their parents, dinner
is the most common response.
When kids talk to their parents, and
better still when they feel connected to
them, they are less likely to engage in
risky behaviors. Or if they start to, their
parents may be able to intervene before
these behaviors get going.
Dinner is a daily ritual that takes us
away from the hubbub of everyday anxiet-
ies and can be a stress reliever for kids as
well as parents.
Of course, there is nothing inherently
magical about dinner. The real power lies
in the quality of the relationships around
the table.
The most important ingredient for a
great family dinner is a warm atmosphere
where everyone is invited to talk and to
listen. If family members sit in stony
silence or berate one another, family din-
ner won’t confer positive benefits. Merely
sharing lasagna isn’t going to transform a
tense or hostile parent-child relationship.
But we all have to eat. So dinner keeps
popping up night after night, offering an
opportunity for families to share a story,
a joke, a challenge from the day. Dinner
offers a daily possibility to build a sense
of connection that can extend beyond the
dinner table.
Hearty Stew
2 pounds stew meat (beef, pork,
buffalo, venison, etc.)
5 carrots, sliced
1 large onion, diced
3 stalks celery, sliced
1 28-ounce can tomatoes
½ cup quick cooking tapioca
1 whole clove
2 bay leaves
Salt & pepper to taste
Trim meat. Put all ingredients in
a slow cooker. Mix thoroughly. Cover
and cook on low 12-hours (high: 5-6
hours).
Stew is also good with sausage
meatballs (could even mix raw mix-
ture with uncooked rice prior to form-
ing balls).
The vegetables above hold up
well for the long cooking time. Feel
free to add small potatoes – whole
with skin. You might want to experi-
ment with other vegetables in the last
hour or two of cooking time.
Applications are
available for Siletz
Tribal Head Start
If you have not sent in an appli-
cation for your child to attend Siletz
Tribal Head Start, it’s not too late.
Call 541-444-2532 or 800-922-1399
to request that an application be sent
to you.
Applications also are available on
the Tribal website (ctsi.nsn.us) and at
the Siletz, Salem and Portland area
offices.