Back to School Tips: Nutrition, Sleep, and Screen Time for Kids

Nutrition and Healthy Eating

• ⚠️ Alarming CDC data shows over 61% of children get more than half their daily calories from ultrapocessed foods.
• 🎯 One in three kids have pre-diabetes, linked to junk food and chronic illnesses.
• 💡 To combat convenience, parents can make healthier options more accessible for lunches and snacks.
• 🔍 When reading food labels, focus on pronounceable ingredients, sugar content, and minimal ingredients.
• 🌱 Prioritize whole foods over chemicals found in processed snacks.

Fun and Engaging School Lunches

• 🥪 Make lunches exciting by using cute shape cutouts for sandwiches and cheese.
• 📌 Utilize fun picks instead of normal forks to make eating more engaging.
• 📝 Including notes in lunchboxes can make children feel thought of and excited.
• 🍎 Ideas like fruit shish kebabs or 'ants on a log' can make healthy snacks more appealing.

Establishing Sleep Routines

• ⏰ Implement earlier bedtimes in the 2-3 weeks leading up to school to ease the transition.
• 😴 While children may resist initially, their bodies will regulate with consistent earlier sleep.
• 🧘 For parents, consider magnesium supplements or topical magnesium gels/lotions to aid relaxation and sleep.
• 🦵 Magnesium can also help with growing pains in school-aged children.

Screen Time and Cell Phones in Schools

• 📱 While cell phones can be beneficial for parental communication, especially with after-school activities, they can be a significant distraction in the classroom.
• 🚫 Some states, like Arkansas, are implementing laws to ban student cell phone use in public schools due to these distractions.