Archive for November, 2009
A Mother’s Role is a Valuable Asset to Our Society
Chances are, you have an idea of just how important you are as a mother in your household. For instance, what if you were to go out of town for a week? Who would get the kids ready for school, take them to soccer or ballet, help them with their homework? And could you imagine the state of the house after such a length of time? As helpful as your spouse or children may be, without having Mom around to spur them through their daily chores, how often would they do the dishes or remember to take out the trash? And then there’s the matter of how they would feed themselves. Clearly, Mom, if it weren’t for you, your household would probably collapse.
My experience as a mother started long ago when I married and became pregnant with the first of my three children at the age of twenty-one. Not only is this role the basis of my work as a children’s author, inspiring me to create my children’s series, Danny the Dragon, but it also serves as the foundation of my work as a researcher, writer, and humanitarian. Believe me, this mother thing is no small job. Rather, it is a fundamental job, stabilizing the family dynamic, and a great accomplishment, the gift that keeps on giving, as your own children have children of their own and perpetuate the stable home life you yourself fostered.
Studies are more than ever showing that what parents do now will affect their children’s future. There is a study which shows that what a child eats as early as before the age of two will determine his food preferences for the rest of his life. Whether he eats his vegetables or regularly goes through the drive-thru of a fast-food restaurant in his adult life is determined by what Mom chooses to feed him here and now. Of course, Dad will have his input, but if your family is anything like mine or the average family, it is Mom who’s picking out the menus for the family and cooking it up, too.
More than that, parental involvement such as staying in tight communication with teachers, participating in school or extracurricular activities, and especially reading to your child are proven ways to ensure that children end up not only literate, but also to make more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. When you look at it, the income-earning potential of your child is determined by how often you help him with his math homework, go to those PTA meetings, and read to him before bed. Now that’s a lot of responsibility.
Now that you’ve taken a look at how your role as a mother is a valuable asset in your own home, which is a fact I’m sure you have figured out all on your own, I urge you take a look at a mother’s role in society. Typically, aside from rare exceptions, it is the mother who is charged with the responsibility for rearing children. When it comes to all matters of hygiene, cleanliness, nutrition, schoolwork, etc., it is Mom who oversees these. On a collective scale, statistics of childhood illness and disease, childhood nutrition, and children’s literacy could largely be attributed to mothers everywhere just like you and the decisions they make about their own children.
Collectively, therefore, mothers contribute largely to society as a whole, to its health, its productivity, and its wealth. They influence whether their children turn to drugs, alcohol, and crime, and so they also have an impact on more serious issues in our society such as drug abuse and criminality.
At home, you get support from your spouse, your neighbors, relatives, and children, to help you with your job as a Mom. After all, you are a valuable asset in your home and deserve their support. However, with this idea in mind, I encourage you to find ways to support other moms you know and moms in your community. Clearly, moms everywhere are an asset to our society and they deserve our support, too.
Traveling With Children – Sound Familiar to Anyone?
Many of us parents have had our share of traveling experiences with our children.
But what about if you’re traveling with a celiac child? Learn some of my tips on how to easily manage the task. In fact this is helpful advice for all parents whether your child has celiac or not! Read Tid Bits with Tina in the NFCA’s (National Foundation for Celiac Awareness) November newsletter.
Getting the Kids to Listen: Danny the Dragon Author Offers Some Tips
I was sent this lovely article written and published recently after a brief interview
by reseacher and writer Robert Bell.
I thought I’d share this with all of you
It’s time for dinner and you’ve called to your children three times so far to turn off the TV and come to the table to eat. You start using threats of coming into the living room yourself to turn off the television, to ban TV for the rest of the night, or to eat their dinners for them, but they still don’t come. Sound familiar?
But aren’t kids supposed to have problems listening to their parents? Aren’t they, after all, just kids? I asked children’s author, researcher, and humanitarian Tina Turbin, author of the Danny the Dragon children’s series and mother of three grown children, about getting kids to listen. “Teaching kids to listen can be a process, but in the end it’s entirely possible to have kids who listen to you, and in fact, this is actually how things should be,” Tina says.
Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy, the first book of the acclaimed children’s series is celebrated not only for its engaging story and captivating illustrations, but it’s praised by parents and critics everywhere for the way it demonstrates important family values such as treating others how one wants to be treated, family togetherness, and helping each other. Jimmy’s family, blessed with the magical meeting of Danny the Dragon, is truly an ideal family. Clearly, it is a family in which the children listen to their parents.
Tina says that such a family isn’t just something you find in imaginative storybooks, but it can be the stuff of reality. “It was a challenge sometimes, but our kids listened to us.” How do you get your kids to listen to you? Tina offers some tips to parents who are anxious to find out.
First of all, maintain eye contact, looking at your child when you talk to him, Tina says. Talking over his shoulder while he watches TV or calling to him from another room is not conducive to communicating effectively. Turn off the TV for a minute and kneel down to your child’s level so that you’re facing each other, Tina advises, and then go ahead and talk to him. “A hundred percent of the time, he’ll understand you much better,” she says.
Be realistic in what you’re asking him to do. “Sometimes I see parents who ask their children to do age-inappropriate things that they’re just not yet capable of, and it overwhelms them,” Tina says. For instance, your child may have trouble folding his clothes, but he may be able to match socks together and fold them. Parents also expect their children to sit still in public places for hours at a time, but children are children and need to get out and run around. Instead of ordering your young kids to do the impossible task of staying silent and still at the bank, drop them off somewhere more kid-friendly. You may just be asking too much of them.
Related to this is that you can’t realistically expect your children to listen effectively and do what you say when they’re hungry or tired. How do you get along when you’re starving or after a poor night’s sleep? If you suspect your kid is hungry, get him a high-protein snack to give him a blood sugar boost, and then go ahead and repeat your demands. He’ll be far more likely to listen, Tina says.
Next, when you offer your child choices, only give him one or two at a time because too many choices can overwhelm him. Instead of asking, “What do you want to do?” ask “Would you rather help with the laundry or set the table?”
“It’s important to be clear and give as many specifics as possible to help your child understand what you’re looking for,” Tina says. It’s not enough sometimes to just say, “Set the table.” Tell them that in the next ten minutes, for example, the table needs to be set with plates, glasses, silverware, and cloth napkins.
Set a good example in your own listening. When your child tells you something, listen to him and show that you understood him. “Sometimes I notice that parents will walk away in the middle of listening to their children to do something ‘more important’ or they won’t give any sign of having listened,” Tina says. Children are watching their parents all the time, absorbing what they see into their own behavior patterns. If you want your children to be respectful and listen, show them how you listen to others yourself.
Finally, be positive and supportive when your children do what you want. “When they do listen, say thank you or tell them they did a good job.” Aim to give your child at least one compliment on a daily basis, even if what he did didn’t go exactly as planned. “You’ll get more of what you support with positive remarks.”
Developing listening skills in your children isn’t usually an overnight task, but by following these tips Tina has to offer, you’ll find that soon there will be a recognizable change in how your kids respond to what you say, and perhaps your own family will begin to take the form of the ideal family in Tina’s Danny the Dragon children’s series.
Contest for Parents/Adults – Win a Set of Movie Tickets!
Sign up now for the Danny the Dragon contest for parents and adults and you could win a night out to the movies!
Hurry and don’t miss out! Enter at the Danny the Dragon home page.
Best,
Turn off the TV—Tips for Families
Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Even though last season’s hit shows were full of stuff you didn’t want your kids to watch or even know about, you turn on the television to find that this season’s shows are even more shocking. One of the best decisions I made years ago for myself and for my family was to cut down on television drastically.
As an author, researcher, and humanitarian, I am often approached by parents about a variety of issues. One topic that never ceases to come up is family issues such as how to promote family togetherness. As a family advocate and mother of three grown children, I speak from experience when I tell them that cutting down on or eliminating TV is the first step in strengthening the family. At first this may seem like a daunting task, but with a few simple tips, parents find it’s much easier than they suspected it would be.
First of all, there is the matter of reducing the amount of TV your family watches to just a few shows a week. In order to do this, I recommend a family meeting to discuss your goals as a family and as individuals. Then take an honest look at what everyone is getting out of television. Unless someone is a professional television critic in your family, chances are good that everyone will agree that they should watch less TV and spend more time pursuing their own goals. With a meeting like this, your kids and spouse will be much more likely to go along with their new lifestyle of less TV because they’ll understand the reason behind it.
I highly recommend implementing a service such as TiVo ® to help keep TV watching to a minimum. After deciding on the reasons for watching less TV, each family member can decide on a handful of shows to watch together as a family, plus a personal favorite or two. These will be the shows that you’ll record with TiVo ® and watch only during designated watching times—Friday nights or Sunday afternoons, for example. These should be shows that are entertaining and also enriching in some way. They don’t necessarily have to be historical documentaries, but avoid the shows which might be properly called “garbage.”
How do you stick to this reduced TV watching schedule? The best way is to come up with stimulating alternatives. Take the kids to the library or play board games. Have larger, longer family dinners at the table. Keeping everyone busy will get their minds off this missing element in their lives. I highly recommend using this time to get the kids to strengthen their reading skills and develop a strong interest in reading. Depending on their ages, read to them or have them read to you. Soon you might find that your family—gasp!—may prefer reading over watching TV.
I always recommend to parents the importance of setting a good example. If you want the kids to see how much fun reading can be, let them catch you in the middle of a book. If you want the kids to appreciate family togetherness, turn off your cell phone during family time. By diving enthusiastically yourself into activities besides watching television, you will influence your kids to do the same more powerfully than any words could.
There are so many reasons to dramatically cut down on television or to cut it out altogether. You’ll find in the end that your children will be much more likely to become avid readers and, as a result, perform better in school and in life. Instead of acting out the drama and degradation on popular TV, your kids will demonstrate the values you seek to pass on to them. You’ll also find your own productivity will increase, and oftentimes, a marriage will be sparked back to life by eliminating television. It may be a challenge at first to get used to your new lifestyle, but soon the benefits will be so rewarding that you’ll be too busy enjoying your higher quality of life that you won’t even think about the absence of television in it.
Tina Turbin – Featured in Tampa Bay Parenting Magazine!
I am thrilled to have been chosen as the Tampa Bay Parenting “Extraordinary Woman” of the month.
You can get your copy of Tampa Bay Parenting at a variety of locations all throughout the Tampa Bay area (including Publix grocery stores) or you may view it online by clicking here – flip to pages 26/27 to read the full article!
Danny the Dragon Contest – October Winners!
The Fowler family including Tyler (7 yrs old), Parker, Isabell and Peyton (4 yr old triplets), pictured above in their Halloween costumes, are the winners of the October contest as part of the Danny the Dragon Gluten-Free “Halloween” cupcake party that was hosted by Tina Turbin in Florida.
The kids will soon receive their Danny the Dragon gift basket loaded with goodies and Danny the Dragon give-aways!
I am very pleased to also share the Fowler triplets’ story. Their mother briefly shares what it has been like to raise 3 children with celiac:
Our Celiac Disease Journey started in May of 2007, the triplets were about to turn two and I was questioning the doctor about their small stature. Like most, the belief was that there were 3 of them, so it might just be their size, but at their two year check up we would run more tests if they had not gained any weight. No surprise, their two year check up came and the girls had failed to put on ANY weight in the 6 month period prior to their checkup.
At that point, we decided to see the Pediatric GI here in St. Pete who immediately thought Celiac or Cystic Fibrosis. He was pretty optimistic and we were sent home wishing for an auto immune disease. Being a mom with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Auto-immune hepatitis and Thyroid Disease (all auto immune diseases), I only began to worry about what the girls health would look like in the future. Not a promising outlook but the Celiac diagnosis was manageable and that is what we were hoping for.
Halloween 2007 we spent the majority of the day screening at All Childrens for Celiac and Cycstic Fibrosis. The girls were poked, and encouraged to sweat for their tests, so we walked the halls of All Childrens prompting them with Candy corn.
Long story short, the results were Celiac Disease and after their biopsy’s we learned their small intestines had been effected and they were no longer absorbing the nutrients they needed to grow. AHHHHHHHHHHH at last a diagnosis, now to change the diet.
My husband and I left the hospital that day and went straight to the health food store in St. Pete and began our Gluten Free lifestyle. We also have a 7 yr old soon (5 at time of diagnosis) and another son (the 3rd triplet), both who do not have Celiac, so we knew we were in for a big change.
The transition went better than expected and within 6 months the girls blood levels had balanced off and were within normal range. We finally saw the weight gain, and they were beginning to look like big kids, instead of a year or two younger than they actually were.
The girls are now getting close to being on the growth charts, and are showing signs of growth all around. We still hear that they are small because they were multiples but at least now we know it is not their diets causing it. Overall you can see they are eating more of what they like and just feeling better.
It is a big adjustment to make, but it is manageable and with the right attitude and support you can fine tune the diet so that no child is left out or feels “different” because of what they eat. My girls are sure to ask at every outing, “is it gluten free?”, and that alone puts a smile on my face.
Disney – Danny the Dragon and Sunset Park Elementary
Look at what is happening tomorrow at Sunset Park Elementary School behind
Disney, in none other than lovely Florida!
Sunset Park Elementary School, located in Windermere, Florida, welcomes author Tina Turbin to share her Danny the Dragon book with over 500 students, teachers, and parents. She will sharing her work with large groups and will talk about what it is like to write children’s books. In January, Danny the Dragon will make a return appearance when the school cafeteria celebrates “Appreciate a Dragon Day”- January 16th, so mark your calendars.
We are thankful to have stumbled upon Ms. Turbin’s character building and nutritionally themed works and can’t wait for the kids to be introduced to the delightful characters!
Sunset park Elementary
Proceeds from Danny the Dragon CD Support Good Cause
If you’ve been keeping up with me as the children’s author of the Danny the Dragon series, you’ve probably heard me talk about the new Danny the Dragon CD, which is soon to be released, containing a reading of Danny Meets Jimmy by a talented vocal artist followed by a compilation of ten original classic songs by up-and-coming composers. What’s great about the CD is that, as with the book, it can be enjoyed by people of all ages—the young and the young at heart. What’s even better, though, is the fact that the proceeds are going to a cause which is near and dear to my heart in my research and humanitarian efforts, a cause that you may not know much about—raising celiac disease awareness.
If you’re like most Americans, you probably haven’t even heard of celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder which causes an immune reaction that can affect the entire body, causing both physical and mental problems. The cause? An allergy to gluten, a component of wheat, barley, and rye.
The problem with celiac disease is that doctors don’t know much about it either. They don’t know that it affects an estimated 300 million Americans and that with a simple test, a diagnosis can be made and the easy treatment can begin—a gluten-free diet.
Many years ago, I found myself with many painful symptoms and without any answer to what the source was or how to treat it. I went in circles with doctors, nutritionists, and testing. Finally, I decided to do my own research. It became clear that the answer was an allergy to gluten. What became even clearer was how little doctors knew about celiac disease and the vast numbers of people suffering without a diagnosis and treatment.
An estimated 300 million Americans have celiac disease and only three percent of them know it. When I’m not working on the latest installment of my Danny the Dragon series or the Danny the Dragon Cookbook, I’m working hard to change this statistic by raising awareness and support for this disease that affects more people twice as many of those who suffer from Crohn’s disease, ulceric colitis, and cystic fibrosis combined.
Proceeds from the Danny the Dragon CD will go to the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center, one of the major research centers around studying and bringing awareness to celiac disease. It is one-hundred percent focused on studying celiac disease and carries out research connecting it with various other diseases which it is believed to lead to if left untreated. Its goal is to change the lives of celiac disease sufferers for the better around the world, a goal which it is actively achieving, little by little, every day.
Why is it that you and your doctors probably haven’t heard about celiac disease? Although the amount of research on celiac disease is growing, it depends entirely on the generosity of private benefactors for its funding. Without these charitable donations, there would be no way to continue this research and the efforts to raise awareness. Out of the estimated fifty autoimmune diseases that have been discovered by doctors, it is the only one which isn’t supported in its research by the U.S. government.
That’s why I support centers such as Columbia University’s Celiac Disease Center. I look forward to the release of the Danny the Dragon CD. Not only will it delight Danny the Dragon fans, but it will help support a cause that has the potential to change the lives of millions of people for the better.
Children’s Bookwatch: Remarkably Detailed Book Review of Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy
I am pleased to share a most wonderful review of my celebrated children’s book: Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy, published in the November edition of the Children’s Bookwatch from the Midwest Book Review (a highly-regarded, premier book review organization since 1976):
Danny the Dragon “Meets Jimmy”
Tina Turbin, author
Aija Jasuna, illustrator
Imagine Publishing Group
P. O. Box 1304, Dunedin, FL 34697
www.dannythedragon.com
9780980072105, $8.95
“Danny the Dragon ‘Meets Jimmy’” is a delightful, uplifting book about a boy named Jimmy who finds a very special sea shell on the ocean beach that talks to him. All his family agree it is a very special shell, even though they do not hear it talk. Jimmy is allowed to take the lovely green and white shell home with him, and there the discovery begins. Wonder of wonders, Jimmy finds his incredible shell is home to an even more incredible green dragon named Danny, who crawls out of his shell complete with red tennis shoes and yellow backpack! Last but not least, Danny the Dragon is accompanied by a smaller green creature he introduces as Skipper, his navigator. Jimmy and his family are amazed, but they happily invite Danny and Skipper to stay for supper (vegetable soup!) and to play afterwards and then to spend the night.
Danny tells Jimmy he and Skipper can shrink to crawl back inside the shell if they are sprayed with water, so they sleep beside Jimmy’s bed in their shell. Most wonderful of all, Danny tells Jimmy in answer to his question, “Where did you and skipper come from and where have you been in all your travels inside your shell?” “I will tell you some other time. For now it is bedtime. Goodnight- pleasant dreams.” So clearly there will be a sequel or maybe several to this charming tale. Page -full colored illustrations and brief story paragraphs make this totally kid friendly book even more so. Many healthy ideas are interwoven in the story, for example all the children help clear up the table and wash the dishes after dinner without being asked by their parents. “Danny the Dragon ‘Meets Jimmy’” has definite attraction and value for children age 4-8, all of whom will undoubtedly beg for the sequel and more tales of Danny the Dragon.
