Discusses tips for food-service staff for providing healthy, yet enticing camp menus. Provides a list of rules for preparing food that kids like, and suggests focusing on basic foods. Discusses cooking meats, preparing salad dressings, presenting food, providing vegetarian and meatless choices, and promoting healthy snack choices. (CDS)

Presents information to help parents understand asthma. A major misconception is the idea that asthma only occurs periodically. In reality, it is a chronic condition that needs ongoing treatment, rather than treatment only when there are symptoms. This misconception can lead to the asthma controlling the patient instead of vice versa. A sidebar…

Describes causes of overweight and obesity in children; cites research linking good nutrition and a child's capacity to learn; includes six Web-based links to resources to help principals and teachers reduce the serious problem of overweight and obese children. (PKP)

The McComb School District in Mississippi is supporting the fundamental needs of all students and has achieved outstanding results. The challenge of turning around the struggling school system into a successful school is discussed.

Older veterans often use both the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Medicare to obtain health care services. The authors sought to compare outpatient medical service utilization of Medicare-enrolled rural veterans with their urban counterparts in New England. The authors combined VHA and Medicare databases and identified veterans who were…

How much "junk food" is too much? This question is difficult to answer, because it depends on the health and weight status of the child. If the child already has a weight problem, then this type of snack should be more restricted than for a child without weight issues. In this article, Dr. Ludwig states that, as a general rule, parents should not…

Sensitive and responsive caregiving is associated with better cognitive and language outcomes. Using the longitudinal data set from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, this study asks how changes in the sensitivity of both mothers and caregivers from 6 months to 6…

More than 53 million children and 6 million adults in the United States spend their days in elementary and secondary schools. Reducing environmental risks inside these buildings is critical to maintaining the public health. Almost all of New England's children will spend a large portion of their childhood in school. To help children stay healthy,…

Childhood obesity is on the rise across the country and in North Carolina, with four times as many children exhibiting signs of obesity now as they did 20 years ago. The costs in terms of medical expenses are staggering, with one estimate putting the cost to North Carolina at $16 million a year. Some North Carolina legislators have expressed…

In order to be competitive in today's world, it is necessary for North Carolina to have a well-educated workforce. Quality schools, including effective leadership, excellent teachers, and improved academic standards and rigor, are a significant factor in these endeavors. However, good schooling starts well before a student ever steps foot into a…

Samuels & Associates, a research and evaluation firm based in Oakland, California, organized the National Evaluation and Measurement Meeting on School Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies, held on May 6 and 7, 2004 in San Francisco. The purpose of the meeting was to develop consensus regarding measures and tools to evaluate school-based…

Clean water, proper sanitation and good hygiene form a solid foundation for a student's health education. This activities guide is designed to enable teachers to take an active role in making a real difference in the lives of children and their families. Its 40 pages are filled with engaging ways to impart an understanding about how common…

Youth smoking and physical inactivity are significant public health issues, with implications for both health and education stakeholders, as school-based policies and programs have the potential to reach a broad population of youth to address these issues. Knowledge exchange tools designed around comprehensive school-level data collection systems…

The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological responses of long-term hospitalized children when exposed to live music. Twenty-one paediatric patients at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, London, between 3 months and 14 years of age, took part in the study. They were all long-term patients with cardiac and/or respiratory…

Child- and family-serving programs such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) design and conduct interventions to improve the health of their clients through better nutrition. But these programs present a significant opportunity to improve physical activity levels in the preschool population as well,…