Lose Weight, Get Fit, Win Big

        The annual Treasure Valley Weight Loss Challenge, presented by Ladd Family Pharmacy and benefitting St. Luke’s Humphreys Diabetes Center, kicks off January 7.   Cash prizes are awarded to the top three men and top three women who have the biggest percentage of weight loss—$3,000 to 1^st place, $1,500 to 2^nd place, and $500 to the 3^rd place winners.

        Receive fun nutrition and exercise tips each week via email and attend monthly physical challenges and motivation meetings to help keep you active and focused on your weight loss goals. Final weigh-in is on June 7, 2012.

        Individuals sign up, weigh in, and pay a $50 registration fee on January 7 at the St. Luke’s Humphreys Diabetes Center,

1226 River Street in Boise. For other registration options that continue January 8–22, full Challenge details, rules, and entry forms, visit hdiabetescenter.org or call 331-1155 ext. 32.

Lifelong Learning 

        The Boise School District’s 2012 Winter Community Education classes will begin January 30 and run through March 22. Classes are led by volunteer instructors and offer the opportunity to explore a wide variety of topics. You can find classes that focus on parenting, ADHD, family nutrition, travel, gardening, home improvement, music, meditation, and even some parent/child creative classes.

        Classes are held during evening hours at Timberline High School, Hillside Junior High School, and West Junior High School.

        Registration for Community Education Winter Session begins January 6. To view a complete listing of course offerings and to register online, visit www.boiselearns.org, 854-4047.

Discovery Market Opens this Month!

        The Discovery Center of Idaho received a grant of $50,000 from the Fred Meyer Fund to totally recreate its Young Discoverers’ grocery store into “Freddy’s Discovery Market.” As one of DCI’s favorite exhibits for two- to eight-year-olds, the all new Freddy’s Discovery Market promises to be a wonderful resource to engage young hands and minds in exploring their world.

        The new Freddy’s Market will support the development of early learning principles such as social interaction, critical thinking, motor skills, literacy, and early math skills. For more information visit the Discovery Center of Idaho website at www.dcidaho.org or call 343-9895.

Teaching Children About Finances  

        Here are some tips from Pamela Yellen, author of the New York Times bestseller Bank on Yourself: The Life-Changing Secret to Growing and Protecting Your Financial Future. 

•    Allowances are a great idea, as long as they are tied into chores. The earlier children learn basic financial principles, such as the exchange of goods and services for money, the better. Nothing builds a child’s self-esteem faster than self-reliance. Children as young as age 4 can benefit.

•    Children earning an allowance should use the “40/30/20/10 Savings Rule.” Forty percent of their earnings can be used for spending, 30 percent should be set aside for short-term savings, 20 percent for long-term savings, and 10 percent for donating. If children sort their money into these categories every week, they will develop responsible lifelong money-management skills at an early age.

•    Teach children the difference between needs and wants. The key is in helping your children understand the difference between a “need” and a “want.” Hold regular family night discussions with the whole family during which you go over the family budget and review where the money is going.

•     Teaching by example is critical. If you tell your children one thing, but do another, they will catch on very quickly. Explain how there are things you’d like to buy that you decided to forego and why. And always look for things you can do as a family that cost little or no money, to create experiences and lasting memories.

Outdoor Book Awards  

        The National Outdoor Book Awards (NOBA) recognize the best in outdoor writing and publishing, past and present. The Secret Lives of Backyard Bugs by Judy Burris & Wayne Richards recently won in the Children’s Category. This wonderfully illustrated nature guidebook is designed for children from 8 to 13 years old, and is the perfect companion to help them identify and learn about bugs right outside their back door.

        Another winner in the Children’s Category is To Market, To Market by Nikki McClure. The story that unfolds in the book is about a bustling farmers market. A young boy and his mother shop for apples and cheese, and salmon and greens. As they go about the market, the farmers explain how they grow the items they sell—and the skill and work involved.

        For more information about the National Outdoor Book Awards, and for a listing of winners in other categories, visit www.noba-web.org.

Solutions for Parenting Problems  

            In Dr. Riley’s Box of Tricks: 80 Uncommon Solutions for Everyday Parenting Problems, clinical psychologist Douglas Riley shares his strategies for getting a child’s attention and correcting their bad behavior for good. Using unique reverse psychology techniques, Dr. Riley tackles issues like:

A messy room
Solution: Instead of grounding children to their rooms, ground them from their rooms until they can keep their spaces neat. 

Rude table manners
Solution: Have a fancy dinner at home; award points for good table manners. Whichever child has the most points at the end wins a prize. 

A child who hogs the bathroom
Solution: Create a new chore schedule: whoever spends the most time in the bathroom has to clean it.

        Dr. Riley’s Box of Tricks gives parents the tools they need to get their kids back on track and proves that with a little bit of humor and a lot of love, a child’s most challenging habits can disappear.