Building Strong, Fit & Healthy Families

There are so many easy and quick energy medicine and energy psychology tools for families to use every day, incorporating them– just like brushing our teeth and bathing– can make a difference between feeling ok, good or feeling GRRREAT! 

Stress is often tips the scale for young people, causing what might be dormant familial tendencies and weaknesses to manifest themselves in disease. Tweens and teens are under tremendous pressure today from a variety of issues, and are particularly at risk. 

Guidance counselor Julie Halpern, health teacher Tim Tolve, and two middle school teachers successfully started a Yoga after-school club at . Tolve invited me to co-teach a module on stress. My role that day was to explain and demonstrate to the students easy to use hands-on tips to de-stress and regain a sense of peacefulness and calmness. 

School social worker Peter Green attended one of the classes and was particularly interested in the idea of using the energy of your body as medicine to calm yourself down, and to gain emotional freedom from issues just by tapping your fingers on certain acupuncture points. The students had fun, were engaged and involved in trying out new skills for handling their stress. I was invited back in the spring; asked to address on the topic of Stress and Wellness and to work with our sixth graders at Rye Middle School to help them learn life skill tools for dealing with stress, especially related to academics.

Helen Gates, Director of Marketing and Community Impact at the recently invited me to attend a Cross District Wellness meeting.

Helen’s idea to work collaboratively with other districts originated from an Activate America Coalition meeting held in October. She said, “There is a wealth of talent and experience among our parents across school districts on health related issues and we felt convening a meeting would allow a forum for sharing all these great ideas”.

Topics discussed at this initial meeting focused on programs that have had a positive impact and feedback from students, teachers, school administrators and parents in the community.

A few of these include:

• The Walking School Bus program, launched last year in Rye under Safe Routes to School (SRTS) initiative-parents and children walk to school as a way to increase physical activity. Side benefits are: better for the environment; more economical.
• Wellness Nights-program started last year in Mamaroneck/Larchmont District-parents and students are invited to school to participate in: physical fitness activities, games like “Nutrition Detective,” Sugar Shock demonstrations, seed plantings
• Edible School Gardens launched in Rye
• Website entitled Healthy Kids Healthy World created by Jen Dorf and Jill Lankler from Mamaroneck/Larchmont District is an informational website containing various health topics for families that district parents can access for advice.
• Since 2006, the Rye Y has provided over $30,000 in school wellness grants to fund innovative health and wellness programs across 3 school districts.

Health administrator Abby Carrel-Thomas presented information about the Port Chester school district which conducted a study on student asthma and obesity, as it related to absenteeism and budgetary costs. A follow-up study after wellness programming was initiated to address these issues and showed a decrease in absenteeism among the participating students with these health issues. This resulted in the Port Chester School District implementing additional wellness programming to continue to positively impact the students in their school district.

Choosing a pro-active approach by initiating small changes at home and supporting your school’s wellness committee initiatives are key ways that you can make a difference. Success in life is more than academics and sports. Without health, there is no freedom to achieve the grades, goals, or dreams of success and happiness.

I look forward to participating in the endeavor undertaken by the Cross District Wellness Committee. Joining hands and working together so that we might make an impact on transforming the well-being “in spirit, mind and body” of our kids, families and communities is my intention for the New Year!