Category: Big Kid

All related to kids between 5 to 11 years old

The 4 BEST Learning Apps that Helped My Toddler Read Fast
We all want our toddlers to learn to read as early as possible even as they begin to speak. And there are tons of ways on how to teach them in simple yet fast way of learning. One of them is through educational learning apps that are free to download online.

Disclosure: There are some affiliate links below and I may receive a small commission for purchases made through the links in this post, but these are all the apps I highly recommend and proven effective for my baby.

How Did We do It?

When kids begin to recognize letters and sound them out, they are already learning phonics.

It’s an easy process, with good resources, time, and patience, your little one will learn to read in no time.

Mia, my 4 yr. old toddler began to recognize letters and sounds at the age of 1 right when she started to speak and at the age of 2, she started learning phonics. Early at 3 yrs. old, she started to learn blends of letter sounds and sight words.

Now, at 4 yrs. old, she’s able to read kindergarten books and level 2 scholastic books. Resources are limitless nowadays with the internet and technology readily available for everyone to use.

As for the first-time Mommy like me, I take time to find educational apps and games from library websites for my 4-year-old toddler.

These resources helped her a lot in learning how to read at a very young age.

This is the list of resources that worked for me and for my 3 year old toddler. I hope that it would be a great resource for you to use for your little one too.

Educational Mobile/Computer Applications for Toddlers
1. Jolly Phonics

I put this first on the list because my little one started with this app and it really helped her develop her literacy with letter recognition and sounds. I started to introduce this to my toddler when she was almost 2 years old.

It is a free app best for beginner readers learning in entertaining and interactional method by using letter sounds. Phonics is easily learned by being familiar with sounds which is very useful in reading and writing. Features include letters of alphabets to read and write, actions, stories, flashcards of words and songs.

This is not only for parents but also a great tool for teachers to use for their small learners.

Download online in google play and app store. Get more lessons from Jolly Phonics here.

2. Endless Reader

After getting familiar with phonics, my baby started learning about sight words using Endless Reader app by Originator.Inc.

Endless reader offers early reading success by using sight words. Kids get familiar with the words by sight and they learn to read them in context with the adorable monster characters. The characters and the sounds that this app contain are very entertaining for early learners especially for toddler

s. The letters come alive and make sounds forming word puzzles to sentence puzzle. The entertaining animations make it best for kids to learn in fun and interactive way.

Although this is free to download online, know that it only includes a trial lesson of sight words. If you want to get access to more words for your little one to learn, you have to make purchase to unlock more words.

3. Epic

You might have heard about this app. because of its popularity in schools and among teachers. This is one of the favorite app used by educators and parents at home for their littles.

I first discovered Epic when I was doing my research online about the best learning apps to use for my daughter. This app. appeared to be one on the list of most articles I read so I downloaded it for free and upon trying it with my baby, she instantly fell in love with it.

Epic is a learning platform where reading is develop through thousands of books and videos. It offers free download online but you need subscription to be able to access all the resources for your kids.when I was doing my research online about the best learning apps to use for my daughter. This app. appeared to be one on the list of most articles I read so I downloaded it for free and upon trying it with my baby, she instantly fell in love with it.

What I love about epic is that there are wide selection of books from top selling authors. There are also audiobooks and learning videos that your kids can choose whether they are beginner readers or advanced. They can explore their interests in different fields from adventures, crafts or arts to anything there is to explore in the world.

4. ABC Mouse

Also one of the subscription based educational learning platform is ABC Mouse. There are numerous ads about this learning platform that you might see anywhere on the web and so I would assume that you are also familiar with this app.

I started using this app for my toddler just recently when we are transitioning from TK lessons to kindergarten lessons.

ABC Mouse consists of kids learning activities and lessons for ages 2-8 years old. They offer a virtual classroom and a progress tracker which can be used online or offline. Unlike epic which focuses more on reading, this app contains games and other fun activities other than songs and videos. It covers re

Lessons with ABC Mouse are easily learned by early readers like toddlers because they’re simple to understand and the lessons are laid out carefully in a manner of “step by step learning”. The transition between easy to moderate to difficult is slowly applied through the activities. Subjects include reading, language, arts, math, science, health, social studies and music.

These are my top four educational apps that so far have worked for my early reader who is 4 years old right now, and who can read kindergarten books all by herself and writes words and simple sentences.

Jolly Phonics

Endless Reader

Epic

ABC Mouse

For me personally, the best app to use are those that makes your child learn in any way while they’re on it, either doing games, playing songs or watching videos.

It should be a fun way of learning, interactive and engaging, not distracted or for them to get sleepy or bored.

Choose an educational app where you think your child develops her interests more and connects more on what he/she already knows.

I hope this would give you some ideas what to try for your kids or if you have tried some that are on my list or you have some more recommendations for other parents, feel free to leave it on the comments!
January 23, 2022
Media Smart: Helping Kids through Media Interaction

WHO IS MEDIA SMART?

Article of Sulma Lopez

The Media Smart is a Canadian nonprofit organization whose mission is for “children and youth to have the critical thinking skills to engage with the media as active and informed digital citizens.” The organization’s objective is to encourage children and teens to develop their skills of thinking in situations where the media is involved.

This organization also builds children’s confidence in themselves by showing them the proper tools to use the media and by showing them the positive side and negative side of the media.

The institution also helps parents that are struggling with teaching their children what they need to know about the media by supporting them and providing them with information and tools so they can help children with the right information on how to navigate the media and so that they do not get lost because of its influence.

This organization is focused on three main areas which are education, public awareness, research, and policy.

WHAT DO THEY OFFER?

The Media Smart organization was founded in the early 1990’s. The Organization offers in-school programs and online resources. The organization provided all the educational resources online which are free on their website which include “classroom lesson plans with worksheets, backgrounders, tip sheets, and essays, and multimedia games and quizzes.”

In other words, they provide children and teens knowledge of how to use the media properly. Some of the programs they offer is to teach children how to use the internet and it also raises public awareness of how important it is to get the right information so that they become more aware of the surroundings that they are in.

The Media Smart works with a lot of people to help them create more programs that can teach the youth to know more about the media.

HOW DO THEY HELP?

In this institution, some of the topics that they discuss are gender representation in the media. One example of this is how young girls view themselves, for instance, the popular film and television show message like being taller or thinner is better.

That is the kind of misconception that the Media Smart can help with, which is also a great resource for boys. One of the projects that they do is the awareness events which is a Media Literacy Week that is held once a year in association with the Canadian Teachers’ Federation to engage Canadians in media literacy activities across the country.

Other activities that they provide are Class Tutorials and PD Workshops, the class tutorials are for children 4th to 8th grade students to help them develop their critical thinking skills. Also to show them how to use the online and the websites in a secure way.

Some of the areas that they focus on are “online safety, authenticating online information, recognizing online marketing ploys, protecting their privacy, managing online relationships, dealing with cyberbullying”.

A PD workshop is for teachers to give them information about what they can improve in their teaching skills. The organization provides a lot of assistance to make children’s and parent’s life easy.

Their website is equipped with many resources to inform and educate children about the influences of the media that the younger generations are exposed to nowadays. It also provided advice to children and teenagers that can help them understand the message that is portrayed in the media such as movies, social media, and TV shows.

One thing that I like the most about the Organization is that they give information to parents and children to be aware of the influences of the media that most of the kids these days are engaged with.

I like the fact that the website provides information about the different programs that they offer to teach about different topics that are related to the media and that can prevent kids from being influenced by pop culture that is influencing society.

The institution’s work gives young adults the right information to help them understand the problem deeply so that they can pay more attention to what they hear or watch in movies or any other media influences.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

This Organization is helping a lot of kids understand the danger of the media.

One way to support their mission is to become involved with the organization and we can do that by donating money to the organization, by volunteering, and by supporting their work to help them grow by following the activities and events that take place in classrooms, libraries, and community groups.

Another thing that we can do is take advantage of all the resources offered on their website page and spread the information to people that we interact with. By learning all this I would definitely like to volunteer to work in the organization someday to help with the cause and give awareness to other people.

If you want to read more about current issues and articles like these read our previous post about The Effects of Technological Devices in our Lives: Concerns and Solution post.

September 10, 2020
A Student Testimony: How COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts her Life

LITTLE THINGS ABOUT ME

Article of Sulma Lopez

I come from a village called Santiago Chimaltenango in Guatemala, I am a single 22 years old and a student that is currently enrolled in Solano Community College.

I come from a working-class family and I am also Catholic.

HOW THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED MY STUDIES?

Now that I am staying at home, I am having the hardest time of my life because even though people think that staying at home is easy, that is not true.

The pandemic problem that is going on in the world right now has affected me, and my family’s lives a lot.

So far, I am having the busiest month of the year because all my classes were transferred to the online and since I was not used to it, all this online work is new to me.

Needless to say, this situation has really changed my lifestyle to the worst.

This is me taking online classes during pandemic.

I was taking four classes this semester and at the beginning of the semester all was going well but it suddenly changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, when everybody changed to online classes.

That really made a big impact on my grades because each of my classes had extra work to do such as discussions post every week, the assignment that each class gives, and including the projects or papers that I had to do.

The only class that I did not have a discussion post in is on one class which was really good because I don’t think I would have handled it well.

My biggest problem was focusing on and managing my time because I have a big family.

Everybody is staying at home due to the quarantine and to make things worse I have a little brother and niece that are always making noise.

Before the quarantine, I usually went to the library so that I could stay away from them and have my quiet time. Unfortunately, now I cannot go anymore because all the libraries are closed.

My only choice now is to stay at home and follow all the government instructions to be safe so that I do not put my family‘s or other people’s lives at risk.

It’s hard for me to get things done because everybody is talking or screaming in the background which makes it really hard for me to concentrate.

I never thought that this semester was going to be the hardest semester because of the COVID-19 and it is not that I am sick, but it is because of all that is going on in my life.

There is no work and my entire family is struggling economically and now they are always worried about how to pay the bills.

We are just like millions of Americans who work depends on every paycheck to survive and be able to pay all the bills.

One class that has affected me the most is my Political Science class which is the one I am struggling so much with because it looks like I may be failing it. I wish I knew that it was going to convert to online, I would have postponed taking it but since I did not, I had to take it.

Political science was hard being in the classroom, but I was able to manage it. Now that is online is much harder than I thought.

My professor has been giving us discussion posts and assignments each week this past month and all of my assignments were due on the same day which makes it very difficult for me to complete.

MY THOUGHTS

I am not sure what my final grade will be in that class, but I just try my best to complete all my assignments. I can honestly say that this pandemic definitely impacted my life in a negative way.

The government’s decision to put everybody in quarantine has complicated all our daily life’s routine.

But I guess the government has no choice but to do so because of the thousands of people that were dying. The quarantine made my family members lose their jobs and now it is really hard for us to pay rent for that reason.

Even though we support staying at home but without money we are taking the risk of losing everything we have such as food and a place to live.

I hope the quarantine gets over soon so that we all can go back to our normal life and go back to work so that we can get back on our feet. and I also hope that the COVID-19 can go away so that race discrimination can end as well.

I see so many people discriminate against Asian Americans because of COVID-19.

May 29, 2020
Child Obesity in Poor Latino Communities
The Hispanic population is the most affected by childhood obesity in the United States. Dissecting the issue can reveal several factors that make families in poor Latino neighborhoods vulnerable to have children that at some point in their lives will end up obese.

In the United States, this issue has been looked upon at the national level, and as such attempts have been made to resolve it. However, this aid rarely gets to Latino families living in poor communities because they face other challenges that prevent them from focusing their attention on this issue.

This evaluates some of the key factors that have been found to have the most profound impact on children’s unhealthy behavior that leads to obesity at such a young age.

Research from various sources such as Hispanic Children and Overweight: Causes and Preventions, Carlos Padilla’s interview of families in the San Francisco area and Elizabeth Villegas’s article Continued Barriers Affecting Hispanic Families’ Dietary Patterns have revealed that Latino families’ environment, as well as their level of income, and access to health care play an important role in determining if a child is obese.

This also evaluates obesity among Latino children through the Conflict perspective and a brief discussion about intervention is also provided.

SOME FACTS & STATISTICS

Latino families living in poor communities are one of the minority groups that are the most affected by childhood obesity in the United States.

Studies have revealed that Latino children in these communities run the highest risk of becoming obese, in fact, about 38.9% of Latino children are already obese (Elizabeth Villegas, 2018).

There has also been evidence that Latino children and African American children living in poor communities are more affected by this epidemic than white children (Villegas, 2018).

Latino children that are obese run the highest risk in contracting deadly diseases due to the consumption of unhealthy food that is readily available to them.

It is a problem that involves members of the community but it also something that educators, doctors, organizations, industries, and policymakers need to become aware of in order to find a way to help poor communities fight this epidemic.

For these families efforts to engage in a healthy lifestyle are hindered by many underlying factors such as their environmental conditions, employment or unemployment, and access to information and healthcare all of which need to be addressed to find a successful solution that can prevent more children from becoming obese.

KEY FACTORS CAUSING CHILD OBESITY
- Environmental Condition
When assessing the increase of obesity among Latinos families that live in poor communities; the first factor that needs to be evaluated is their environmental condition.

In 2012 Carlos Padilla and his colleagues studied the many obstacles that Latino families face that prevented them from providing their children with a healthy lifestyle. Padilla interviewed Latino parents of children from 2 to 5 years old in Mission District, San Francisco.

Parents highlighted that the main problem in their neighborhood is that there are not many grocery stores close to their homes that provided healthy food options such as fresh vegetables and fruits.

The nearby liquor stores expose children to unhealthy beverage options with big advertisements plaster on every window of the stores.

Latino parents believe that their children’s intense cravings for fast food and soda is mostly influenced by what they see on the streets.

Parents also indicated that the reason they rarely take their children to the park for some physical activity is that the parks were unsanitary and unsafe.

One parent stated that the few times that they have gone to the park, they have never seen a police officer patrolling the area.

Families attempt to divert their children from engaging in healthier behaviors becomes challenging due to the lack of resources available in their communities.
- Parents Income Instability
Day by day and even all through the night, parents work and spend less time taking care of their children. When there is not enough money to pay for bills and barely enough for rent, the least of their worry is to help their children eat healthy food.

In the article Continued Barriers Affecting Hispanic Families’ Dietary Patterns, the author Elizabeth Villegas, discussed that the main barrier that parents faced in helping their children maintain a healthy diet was the lack of time due to employment.

She also stated that this is especially true for immigrant parents who work long hours, these mothers opt to buy frozen food to feed their children or simply buy their children fast food instead, to save time.

The lack of a stable income makes it extremely hard for these families to keep their children’s weight in check, they cannot even rely on programs that are available for low-income families in their community.

According to Padilla, families who live in San Francisco cannot afford to pay the high participation fees required for children to participate in sports programs. Time constraints along with low income play a role in Latino children’s weight.
- Healthcare
Another factor that prevents Latino children from having a healthy weight is their access to healthcare or access to health information about maintaining a healthy weight.

According to the article Hispanic Children and Overweight: Causes and Preventions, out of the 47 million people who are uninsured in the United States, about one-third of them are the Latino population.

Furthermore, the few who have insurance do not use it as often as they should.

This leads Hispanic families to become uninformed about what kind of food they need to eat to keep a healthy weight. It deprives parents of the opportunity to take their children to clinics and learn about valuable resources that are available to them.

Another study found that city amenities such as medical facilities harder to access in poor neighborhoods than in middle class or wealthy neighborhoods which makes it even more of a challenge for parents to take their children to the doctor for a checkup (Hiromi Ishizawa, 2015).

While poor communities are the most in need of healthcare and easy access to healthcare facilities, they are the ones who receive the least help that is why children in these communities have the highest rate of obesity in the U.S.

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

Obesity among Latino children of families that live in low-income neighborhoods can be viewed from the conflict perspective.

The conflict perspective most commonly supported by the sociologist Karl Marx states that people’s access to important resources is not equally distributed among members of societies but instead it works for the advantage of the most powerful and the wealthy while the minority suffer the consequences.

For instance, some Latina mothers of obese children work taking care of wealthy people’s children and make barely enough to support their families, yet it robs them of valuable time that could be spent guiding their children to healthier behaviors.

Also, poor community parks are dirty and sometimes without drinkable water fountains or clean restrooms and these parks are not at a walkable distance while wealthy neighborhoods have community parks every few blocks.

Streets littered with trash, broken windows, and dirty parks increase parent’s concern about their children’s safety which prevents their children do go out and engage in physical activities.

IN CONCLUSION

With the Latino population increasing in the United States at a rapid pace, amelioration for child obesity is immediately needed.

A prominent problem that these communities face is the unavailability of healthy food at stores that are at a close distance to their residents. Liquor stores are the closest by, but they do not provide healthy food options for people in poor communities.

For this reason, these stores should be targeted to incorporate affordable healthy foods.

Moreover, parks need to be made more appealing and safer for parents to take their children out for some physical activities.

Most importantly, there needs to be more free sports programs with enough space to accommodate every child so that no one is left out and everyone can benefit.

If these programs are easily accessible, it can be time-saving for parents who have a busy schedule.

Intervention can successfully be integrated to help Latino families combat obesity if amends are made at a local level by assessing the root cause of the problem such as environmental, income, and access to health care.
May 25, 2020
Traveling with Siblings: The Pro’s and Con

#SIBLING GOALS

Photos and Article of: Carlo Barace

We may have seen a lot of travel posts of friends with photos tagging their girl/boyfriends or their whole family. Some prefer traveling alone. It is unusual to see siblings hanging out and posting photos with captions #siblings goals. I know there is an endless list of benefits of traveling with siblings, but I would just like to cite some in this article.

My elder sister, younger brother and I decided to explore Japan, our first adventure outside the Philippines.

ONLY ONE VISA APPLICATION

This was the first thing that granted us the advantage of traveling with sibs. We had our visa application through the Reli Tours branch in SM North EDSA.

Just a reminder, you can only apply for a Japan VISA via an accredited travel agency.

Since we have the same last name (obviously), we decided to have one application and the Japan embassy had no worry approving our visas, given that we submitted all the required documents.

The agency told us that even only one of us can process the application. There was no need for all of us to show personally. And I felt confident that our VISA will be approved 100% because there was no other assumption the embassy could have why we are flying to Japan other than tourism, right?

I mean, the embassy just needs assurance that the applicants will be going back to the country and what could three siblings who obviously can’t stand the winter be doing in Japan?

OUR JAPAN ADVENTURE!

Castle in Japan

SHARE EVERYTHING, SAVE MORE

We arrived in Japan and took a rest in a single-room apartment in Lahaina Yuhigaoka Condominium, which we booked before our trip via AGODA.

If you are looking for a cozy yet inexpensive hotel and having no trouble in taking a 15min-walk from one of the nearest railway stations (Namba), then this hotel is for you.

We had no problem sharing in one room because we are comfortable enough with each other. This includes savings in our advantages of traveling with siblings. Not availing another room saved us a few yens that could be traded for some delicious ramens (see it rhymes?).

Eating Ramen in Japan

Those ramens could also be shared by us, but it didn’t happen just so you know. We all love ramen and you may call us whatever you want but we are not sharing, dear. Also, we could share our other belongings like clothes, toiletries to name a few.

SAME ENERGY AND SIMILAR WANTS

From the hotel, we also just walked our way to Shitenno-Ji Temple. I believe moving by foot was the most underrated part of our tour in Japan.

Those long walks helped us appreciate more how clean the Japanese streets are, how cool the architectural designs of their houses are, how refined the residents are, and how rich their culture is.

All these tiny details, above all, were the reasons why I always have the urge to go back to Japan. I even saw a Shiba-Inu, a rare dog of Japanese origin just by strolling.

Shiba-Inu Dog in Japan

Temples and other spots could be very crowded during peak hours but because we were minutes away from the hotel, we went there as soon as the sun rose.

We had the chance to capture memories by taking pictures without you know, the photobombers.

We also had the privilege to solo the hidden Japanese garden which I consider one of the highlights of our stay in Japan. We had no problem setting our own pace because we had no other acquaintance to consider.

Again, I want to emphasize that I was with my siblings only and not with our parents. We spent a day at the Universal Studios in Osaka.

Given my parents’ age brackets (no offense meant Ma and Pa), we all can assume that no parent will enjoy the whole day walking and queuing that could last for over an hour just for a ride.

I think walking is already a part of the Japanese people. Maybe that explains why they have longer life spans.

DISCOVERING NEW THINGS

Japan Universal Studios

Traveling with siblings could also give you new revelations with your “since birth” buddies.

Only that time at the theme park I found out that it was my brother’s first extreme ride. He hates heights. And in my sister’s case, I just discovered that she was freaking afraid of heights and the dark.

We all burst into laughter when we rode a monstrous roller coaster because my sister was yelling the F-word nonstop. She even passed out a split second on-air upon reaching the summit of that one hell of a ride. That was so hilarious.

EASY TALKS ABOUT MONEY

One more important point is you can straightforwardly talk about money. You don’t have to be conscious of dividing the bills in front of them which is sometimes difficult to do with your friends.

Siblings in Japan

You could also borrow money from them easily. And if you are the lender, you don’t have to worry that they will forget since you will keep annoying and reminding them even after the trip.

SIBLINGS WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU

Speaking of swearing, have you cursed a specific place because you went there with your previous lover? Worry no more; traveling with siblings doesn’t apply here.

You can go back to any place you’ve been without feeling bittersweet or gloomy, right? As they say, you can choose your partners, but you’re left with no choice when it comes to your sibs (sarcasm inserted).

Your siblings will never leave you alone even in the most embarrassing instances. Just like this one time when we visited the Osaka Castle at night to experience the so-called Lumina Nights.

Sakuya Lumina in Japan

During our stay in Japan, the weather was very unpredictable. The sun could be filled with life during the day and then rain poured at night.

So your conclusion was right, the next thing we know was we were already running with our lives to find a shade that night.

Luckily we spotted a vending machine that offered raincoats. It was our chance to experience wearing transparent raincoats and feel like we are some characters in an Anime show.

But we couldn’t make the machine work! We had no choice but to call out for help. It’s embarrassing. But thanks to that lady resident who came for us.

Man, she couldn’t hardly understand English. We just explained it with hand signals. If there was a contest in charades, I could be a champion after our trip to Japan.

But the Japanese people were very helpful despite the language barrier. More of them came for us and helped us try to make the machine work but we had no luck.

Instead, the locals helped us to create a makeshift coat made with plastic bags. Our dreams of being Anime characters were shattered and we became Oscars of Sesame Street.

THE CON

The only thing that is bothering when traveling with siblings is the argument. The fact that siblings are too comfortable with each other, they tend to lose patience easily.

That moment when any of you start complaining? Boom! Domino Effect. The vibe will start spreading with the whole group.

Anyways, those moments are now laughing stocks when we are reminiscing our trip. Just like when we first arrived at one of the train stations, we were like first graders solving a calculus problem.

Japan Train Ride

The railway system of Japan is so advanced yet complicated. We all installed JapanTravel, an application downloadable for free in the App Store that would help us identify the best route for a specific destination.

And guess what? Sometimes, the app gave us different recommendations. Imagine the chaos it caused us, given that we were time-constraint and starving.

Of course, short temper and hunger are partners in crime. We learned the system quite fast because of those arguments at least.

We experienced a lot of challenges. We couldn’t control the turn of events but the important thing is we learn from those experiences.

With this kind of trip, siblings’ bond becomes stronger and that, I think is the most significant advantage of traveling with our “original barkada”.

It gives us better memories and a tougher relationship. We are looking forward to our next adventure in South Korea and I’m very much excited to share with you our next #siblingsgoal.

March 28, 2020
The Influence of Sports on Teenagers’ Physical Health

Adolescents are less active these days and their physical health is being jeopardized since teenagers have more leisure time but are less involved in physical activity.

Teenagers in the United States are prone to establish unhealthy habits from the lack of physical activity and sport can be the solution that can help adolescents incorporate exercise in their daily lives.

Articles from Reinfrow, Castrucci and Dohle were used to determine the influence of sport in teenagers’ health.

It was concluded that the involvement sport can help adolescents maintain a healthy weight, can reduce the likelihood of youth from becoming smokers and can increase the likelihood of healthy adulthood.

This article also discusses the functionalist perspective on the beneficial aspect of sport on adolescents’ health in society.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY?

As time progresses, societal changes emerge to disrupt the lifestyle of individuals. Different generations must find ways to adapt to newer challenges to find a gateway to a more satisfying, happier and healthier lifestyle for themselves and their families.

Indeed, teenagers during this century face numerous obstacles that can interfere with them leading a healthy lifestyle.

Teenagers are constantly presented with hundreds of options of entertainment to choose from when it comes to deciding what they want to do with their leisure time.

It comes as no surprise when they opt for entertainment that requires very little use of physical activity, such as videogames, watching television, using social media or simply hanging out with friends at parties that can potentially introduce them to drug substances.

These forms of entertainment are detrimental to teenagers’ health. For this reason, it is essential that they engage in physical activities and it is believed that sports can be a gateway to redirect teenagers to a healthier lifestyle.

Teenagers who are involved in sports are less likely to become obese, less likely to become heavy smokers and more likely to be healthier in their senior years, which from the functionalist perspective, are aspect essential for individuals’ survival in society.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The lack of physical activity can lead to teenagers’ gaining weight during adolescence which can lead to obesity. According to Reinfrow, there is a relationship between sport participation and health-related fitness.

Through a study that he and his collogues conducted, it was determined that teenage boys who participate in sports are healthier, have less body fat and lower blood pressure (2011). Depending on the sport, athletes are required to undergo extensive training that can include weight lifting, stretching, and running, all of which are beneficial for a healthy body.

Another component that can help those who are involved in sport to keep a healthy weight is the amount of time that they are required to perform these exercises. The study also suggested that sports such as baseball and football help build muscular strength and other sports such as soccer and tennis help improve cardiovascular health (2011).

Teenagers struggle the most when it comes to finding time to exercise for this reason being involved in a sport can be beneficial and motivating. It is evident that the more adolescents are involved in sports the easier it is for them to maintain a healthy weight. Not only can sport help reduce the likelihood of teenagers from becoming obese, but it also helps them avoid becoming heavy smokers.

WHAT CAN YOU DO AS PARENTS?

As parents become more aware of the unhealthy choices that teenagers are susceptible to, they encourage their kids to join athletic sports to stir them to a healthier direction and help them avoid becoming involved in substances such as illegal drugs and alcohol which can greatly increase the chance of individuals to develop deadly illnesses.

Castrucci’s conducted a study between 9th to 12th-grade students who participated in organized sports and whose answers were recorded to indicate that those involved in sports were less likely to use cigarettes compared to adolescents who were not involved in any sport (2004).

It was also found that a 26.6 percentage of teenagers who were already smokers before they had started playing sports, had control over their habit and smoked fewer cigarettes a day (2004). This study indicates that sport is demanding enough for these adolescents to decrease the number of cigarettes that they would normally smoke.

Non-smoker teenagers who become involved in sports have a higher chance of living a tobacco-free lifestyle. This study delivered an insight into how sports by increasing physical activity among teenagers have the potential in preventing tobacco consumption.

Another study revealed that the more involved adolescents are in sports their chance to enjoy a healthy adult life increases. Simone Dohle states that as people get older, they start to lose interest in physical activities and become more constrained by aged-related illnesses. He also suggests that there is a high possibility that these diseases could be reduced if a person is physically active during adolescence (2013).

This may be because during adolescence individuals can train their bodies and muscles to become accustomed to physical activities which can become a shield that improves flexibility and reduces the possibility of injuries.

It was also mentioned in the article that one significant reason why men in their 70s were healthier and more adventurous and were less likely to visit their physicians was due to the fact that they were more physically active in varsity sports when they were in high school (2013).

Similarly, he proposes that fitness test scores of individuals at adolescent age predicted their level of physical activity in their adulthood (2013). This article sport during adolescence is an indicator of healthier adult life.

WHAT SPORTS CAN DO?

Sport can be viewed from the functionalist perspective. The functionalist theory states that every part of society contributes to helping society grow and thrive.

Through this theory, sport can be looked at as a fundamental structure that integrates and promotes the social well-being of individuals. Sports can help evoke a sense of achievement and success amongst the younger population so that they can learn to incorporate these values in other parts of their lives.

Not only sport promotes a healthy lifestyle, but it also teaches important skills and values such as teamwork, the ability to work under pressure, socialization, communication, and cooperation. Sport can be used as a medium to help adolescents in society stay fit and lead a healthy life.

Most importantly, involvement in sport has the potential to keep adolescents in society from deviating and instead sports can guide and lead them to look for ways to improve their lives for survival.

Sport can help the younger population gain skills and assets that will strengthen them and help them become high-achieving members of society.

HOW DOES SPORT AFFECT HEALTH?

As society moves forward and more technological advances appear and more means of entertainment become present, adolescents will have less time to devote to physical activities.

The lack of physical activity can make a negative impact on adolescents’ physical health, for this reason, action needs to be taken to help teenagers become involved in sports which can help them leave behind their sedentary lifestyle.

Involvement in sport has been proven to be beneficial in preventing adolescents from becoming obese because sports are enjoyable and can easily become a source of motivation for teenagers to keep a healthy weight.

Teenagers involved in sports are less likely to become heavy smokers, they are more committed and more willing to choose healthy habits that can improve their performance.

It also has been proven that teenagers involved in sports are more likely to live a healthy life during their adulthood. And as the functional theory states, sport is an important structure that empowers the youth in society by instilling in them roles and skills that are essential for the prosperity and function of society.

December 24, 2019
Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm Patch 2019
Clayton Valley Farm Welcomes Mia for her 2nd Pumpkin Patch this Year!
About Clayton Valley Farm & Christmas Trees

Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm & Christmas Trees has been in the business since 1980’s. It is a family owned farm situated in 1060 Pine Ln, Clayton, California. It started as a U-Pick Vegetable in 1980 and has grown into a pumpkin farm hosting some kids activities such as field trip tours and pumpkin patch during fall and halloween season.

Open to public from October 1st- 31st, the farm welcomes visitors in the morning at 9:00 a.m until dusk at 7:30 p.m.

Things to Know Before Your Visit at Clayton Valley Farm

General admission and parking are free. Except for the kids play area which is paid per child (adults are free)

Pets are not allowed.

Cards such as credit or debit cards are accepted for purchase.

Varieties of pumpkins in different sizes and colors will welcome you upon entrance.

There’s a gift shop where you can purchase different halloween decors and displays.

There are also photo stands like “face in the hole” boards for pictorials.
Kids Pumpkin Patch Activities

The farm is truly a fun place for young children since there are lots of activities that they will surely enjoy such as the train ride, feeding animal farms, hay maze or straw tunnels and posing their best smiles in photo stand boards! But one downfall is that some of these activities are paid except for the “face in the hole” boards.

1. Feeding Farm Animals
One exciting activity that Mia surely loved at this place was feeding and petting these farm animals (goats, pig and chickens). They were caged and fenced well so it’s more convenient for kids. We just grabbed some leaves on the ground to feed the goats and watched other people feed other animals.

2. Train Ride

Enjoy a train ride for $4/person but free to infants from 12 months under. It operates from 3 p.m until dusk during weekdays and from 9 a.m until dusk during weekends.

It goes around the farm, in the garden, past the animals and into a tunnel. Mia really loved it as it made sound every time it passes through the field of pumpkins.

3. “Face in the Hole” Photo Stands
These photo stands were perfect for kids photoshoot! The colors were bright and the images looked pretty cute! Mia is still small so she asked her Papi to carry her up to the holes so she could be like other kids who were all set with their faces looking out for some pictures.

4. Hay Maze Tunnel
The hay tunnel was great for bigger kids. They were playing and running around inside and out the tunnel chasing each other. Mia went to experience it as well but it was so dusty. We went couple of times since our little one enjoyed the company of other kids.

5. Water Pumps with Tubes & Rubber Ducks

The farm has 2 different parts, the upper area where you can see the gift shop and the pumpkins (free no admission) and the lower area where you can find large play areas for more kids activities(paid). To enjoy this activity you have to pay for every child, adults were free. Admission fee for both play area was worth $15 for every child.

Although you’ll spent some dollars here, it was a great idea to enjoy pumpkin patch with the whole family.

6. Ball Return Game

An extra fun for little boys was this ball return game inside the paid area. We decided not to go inside since most of the activities here were all for bigger kids.

7. Others
There were more activities inside the paid area which kids surely loved such as:

Bean Pools

Large hay maze tunnels

Ball Launchers and Foam Blocks
8. Gift Shop/Halloween Decor Shop
Colorful gift shop full of halloween decors and fall pumpkin displays. This is also the place where you can purchase tickets to play in the large play areas.

Prices here aren’t that cheap even for pumpkins but we saw a lot of kids enjoy this place and families who were there celebrating pumpkin patch.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience, Mia enjoyed every moment we spent there. The farm was well organized from the parking to the fun areas. The staff were welcoming and helpful. There were good varieties of pumpkins too and we really liked the gift shop, little Mia was stoked with different halloween decors!

Have you been in Clayton or visited this place? Where did you celebrate pumpkin patch this year?
October 28, 2019
2nd Pumpkin Patch in Larry’s Produce: Fall 2019
2nd PUMPKIN PATCH IN LARRY’S PRODUCE

Mia’s first pumpkin patch last year was a fun experience for all of us that’s why we decided to make it as part of our family culture and an annual tradition. She had seen giant pumpkins for the first time and played in the stacks of hay and corn kernels at Larry’s Produce in Fairfield.

We are so happy to bring her there once again this year for her 2nd pumpkin patch, this time with other kids from Nurse Family Partnership!

Stacks of Hay and Pumpkins at Larry’s Produce, Suisun Valley Rd. Fairfield

ABOUT LARRY’S PRODUCE

Owned by Larry and Lisa Balestra, Larry’s Produce is known to be one of the best sources of fresh fruits and vegetable in Suisun Valley. One refreshing getaway located in Fairfield California with varieties of fresh options at an affordable price! It’s a local favorite for a wholesome family pumpkin patch experience!

The farm is open almost seven months in a year from June to December and welcomes customers from 9:00 a.m to 5:00 pm daily.

We were invited by Nurse Family Partnership to Pumpkin Patch this year, they set-up a place exclusive for the family who are enrolled in the program. They have a little activity area for kids to do some art work with the pumpkins and a food stand for every family to share with.

It was nice to see other families who were with their little kids having fun and enjoying each other’s company.

Indeed it was a perfect day! The farm has the perfect vibe for pumpkin patch with all the varieties of pumpkins in different sizes and colors. We all had fun especially our sweet dearie, Mia had a blast! She played with other little kids and enjoyed every activity with them.

Things to Know Before Your Visit at Larry’s Produce
- Remember to bring cash since they only accept cash no cards. (But they have atm machine available too for your convenience)
- Customer’s can pick up fresh fruits and vegetables from the farm so if you want to do this don’t forget your shoes.
- They provide shopping carts and wheelbarrows but it’s always advisable to bring your own bags.
- There are food trucks and food stands too available in certain times.
- Parking might be a bit busy during weekends so come early.
Kids Pumpkin Patch Activities

Activities were the same as last year except for the pyramid of hay with pumpkins display right at the center of the farm. This year they have different arrangements, it was pretty easy for kids to play and run around and for parents to take pictures of their little ones.

1. Giant Pyramid of Hay and Pumpkins

How cool is this pyramid?! It was for sure the center of attraction of the farm, the main spot for everyone’s perfect pumpkin photoshoot! Mia stood happily and full of excitement as she waved her hands for pictures, she was so amazed by its height and the pumpkins sitting on top of it.

This was absolutely a great idea since it captures the interest of more families to come back again for the next pumpkin patch!

2. Ride in An Old Farm Tractors

These old farm rides were only for displays, each was designed for pumpkin patch. We’re not really sure if they’re still working but they have stacks of hay and pumpkin displays perfect for kids pictorials!

The Nurse Partnership arranged a tractor ride for all the families who attended the activity, it went around the corn field and all the way back to the pumpkin farm. We seated at the first seat next to the driver and as we moved along Mia pointed out the big wheels of the tractor and says “wow” as it made it sound.

3. Run Around the Corn Maze

This was one of the places that families love at Larry’s farm, a perfect place to chase their little one in the corn maze! Mia didn’t have the chance to play here last year since she was very young at that time but this year she had fun!

At first she was hesitant but when her Papi (Dad) pretended to be a dinosaur and chased her in the maze, she runs as fast as she could. It was a fun play time in the corn field!

4. Corn Kernel Play Area

Another favorite spot for little kids is the corn kernel area where you can find small play tractors. Most of the little ones from nurse family partnership stayed here longer than any other activities. Kids loved swimming on top of the grains and hide their little toes and legs underneath, just what Mia did.

Each of the little ones took turns to play and ride in the small tractors. Mia waited for her turn and when she took her chance she didn’t want to let go of it until she saw the slide!

5. Climb the Hay and Slide on a Big Tube

This slide was not as slippery as an ordinary slide, it was a customized slide made from a big tube on top of hay stacks. Kids climbed the hay to reach the top and slid down to the corn kernel area.

Since our sweet dearie is so fascinated with slides at this age, this was her most favorite out of all the activities. After she had gone once, she asked for more!

6. Colors of Different Types of Pumpkins

Another

We visited 2 farms this year for Mia’s Pumpkin Patch, here at Larry’s and at Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm and Christmas Trees. I made two separate posts for each since we had a lot of pictures! But I would really recommend Larry’s Produce than the other since they have a lot fresh options in an affordable price and most of their activities are free!

This year was another wholesome family pumpkin patch experience at Larry’s Produce! This place never disappoints us, we’ll surely visit again next year!

Do you have the same tradition like us? If so where did you celebrate pumpkin patch this year?
October 20, 2019
Spring Annual Tradition: Easter Egg Hunt 2019

Happy Easter!

Since it’s spring, it’s Easter season again which means Easter bunnies are out in the garden and time for egg hunting as well!

Today we are celebrating Easter Sunday, the most important day in Christian spring celebration, wherein Jesus Christ has resurrected from the dead three days after he was crucified. In Christian belief, the egg symbolizes the resurrection of Christ while egg hunting symbolizes the hunt of Jesus from the tomb. This I believe is the beginning of the tradition among Christian families every Easter Sunday.

It’s a fun tradition that I started to do with my small family, to join a group or a small community for egg hunting. This year, we went to join the Golden Goal Soccer Club for their 5th Annual Easter Celebration in Blue Rock Springs Park here in Vallejo. This year’s egg hunt was more fun and more exciting for us, especially for my daughter since she was able to walk and run around with the other kids to pick up eggs and also join in some kiddie games.

We arrived in the park before noon. When we got there, people were already chatting in benches and some were preparing the food. We laid our blanket in the grass and made ourselves comfortable while waiting for the food.

It was windy but a perfect sunny day. Indeed, it was a busy day for the park, there were many people gathered in groups, some were birthday parties and some were big families having picnics. And there were also other groups who were Egg hunting.

As we were waiting for lunch, we got some cupcakes and juice that were served on the table for snack.

While waiting for the hotdogs and hamburgers to get ready, Mia chose to walk around with her basket and looked anywhere for eggs or bunnies.

The Egg Hunter

Our sweet dearie looking for the Easter bunny and getting ready to hunt for eggs! Yay!

So sunny that she needed to wear sunglasses to look for the Easter bunny.

“Now where is that Easter bunny? Hmmm, I must find him now that I can clearly see!” -Mia

Before the actual egg hunting, an Easter bunny mascot arrived to entertain the kids. Everyone got excited, run towards the bunny and gathered around to take photographs.

“There you are! I found you Easter bunny! High five!

For everyone to get photos with the bunny, we all lined up and waited for our turns. Mia for the first time saw an Easter bunny and she was not scared at all. She was so delighted and was so happy to have seen one!

FUN ACTIVITIES

A series of fun activities were greatly enjoyed after eating lunch. Each games was divided among toddlers, kids and adults. And prices such as colored eggs with candies were given to the ones who won the game.

1. Sack Hop

1st Batch were the little kids; getting ready to hop with their colored cartoon sacks

2nd Batch were the big kids; they were more than the little ones.

3rd Batch were the adults

2. Water Balloon

This game was what Mia enjoyed the most since it involved water and balloon. Two of her favorite things to play with. She doesn’t even want to move away the water balloon bucket!

3. Raffle

The raffle draw came last after all the games. Tickets were sold for $5 and almost 5 prices were won!

Mia and I getting ready for the actual egg hunt! Look who’s excited to hunt!

3. Egg Hunting

First in line were the toddlers and Mia was the very first one to pick the Easter eggs yay!

“I think we had enough Papi, look our basket is full!” -Mia

“Now it’s time to count them, wow these are colorful eggs!” -Mia

Our Easter Sunday was indeed a fun full experience! Each and everyone had a really great time especially the kids! Once again, it was another milestone unlock for my sweet little one. How about how did you celebrate Easter? Have you had a fun Easter egg hunt too? Please share your story on the comments!

April 22, 2019
Christmas Book of Stories: A Sister’s Love

Happy Holidays valued readers! Indeed, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, it’s almost Christmas day! It’s the time of the year again where we treasure the moments of being together with our family and friends. The best present to have is to be with the most important people we cared so much and dearly love. Today on the blog, one loving sister shared her story of love for her little brother. This story is inspired by true events happened during christmas season long time ago. First story in our Christmas book stories presents a sister’s love.

When is your most unforgettable Christmas?

           Life always brings me memories either a good one or a bad one. I have experienced a lot of good things that stayed in my memories, but there’s one negative experience that I will never forget because when it happened, it left me a scar on my heart. It was when something very unexpected happened to one of the members of my family. It affected me a lot because I just love and care for my whole family and if I can only know that a bad thing is going to happen I would rather go through that than any of them.

A few years ago before Christmas, one of my brothers got an accident when he was probably 5 years old. He fell in the chair and hit his head on a table. We were eating dinner in the afternoon, at that moment my mom and I suddenly screamed, I was sitting next to her when that happened, and I quickly got up. The next thing I saw was my brother’s face covered with blood. I got really scared I did not know what to do. Seeing my brother lying down on the floor like if he was dead was the worst experience in my life. My mom immediately got up and started to give aid to him. Then my mom told me to get some towel and used it to clean his face, but he couldn’t stop bleeding. My mom and I were the only ones at home that time and to make things worse the hospital was very far away from the village where we lived, two hours away to be exact. I felt like I got paralyzed and just started to cry for my brother. Then my mom told me to call my uncle George. Uncle George was the only one who was kind enough to help and who lived close to our house. So I called and told him what happened to my brother and he did all what he could to get to us as soon as possible. My uncle was very helpful and told us to calm down and that he was going to take care of the situation and he drove us to the hospital.

    On the way to the hospital my mom was holding my brother’s wound, hoping it would help stop the bleeding. It felt as if the road was endless because it took us forever to get to the hospital. It was getting late at night when we finally got there and my brother went to the emergency room. We had to wait in the waiting room until the doctor came to us to tell us that my brother was going to get a surgery. In that moment, I thought why him? he was just a kid; I would rather go through all that pain than him. A lot of thoughts came to my mind, I looked at my mom and the only thing I could see was the sadness in her face.

          Hours and hours went by, that just made us feel desperate because we really wanted to know how the surgery went. It took the doctors 5 hours to complete the surgery. After that, the doctor came to us with the good news that my brother was going to be fine and that he would be recovering in a couple of days. All of us were so happy to hear that and two days later the doctor discharged him from the hospital.

          Even though this memory is not a positive one, I see it as positive thing because it makes me appreciate life much more. This lesson that life gave me, taught me to never take life for granted. The feeling that we felt, that we almost lost him was the worst feeling that I ever felt in my life but the moment I saw him recover from this accident I felt like the most happiest person on earth because nothing else mattered to me than my brother’s health. Now I feel very blessed to see him grow healthy and happy but most importantly very thankful to God for giving him another opportunity to live and be with us now and let us share good moments and create good memories together. This has been the most unforgettable Christmas ever!

-Sulma Lopez

December 19, 2018