HOPE

HOPE. It is defined as ‘the feeling of what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best; to want something to happen or be true and think that it could happen or be true.’ Hope is optimism; it is positive energy that things will work out for the best. For children and families dealing with childhood cancer it is hope that keeps them moving forward. And it is hope that gives them strength and courage.

In the spring of 2014 some of our students were looking for a way to support and stand with fellow students and members of our community who have been impacted by childhood cancer.  We have had a number of students who are childhood cancer survivors, and unfortunately we have lost some members of our community to childhood cancer.  The students that I spoke to were well informed, passionate and determined to make a difference. Needless to say they were incredibly inspiring. The piece of information that continues to stand out the most for me is that in the United States, more children die of childhood cancer than any other disease. And yet, all types of childhood cancer receive only 4% of the U.S. federal funding for cancer research. That conversation in 2014 became an idea and that idea has now become an event. Through our efforts as a school community we are hosting our 3^rd Annual St. Baldrick’s Event at West Genesee Middle School tomorrow to raise awareness, raise some money and have some fun all in an effort to help fight childhood cancer.

Our staff, students and their families have generously made contributions to #TeamWildcat over the past three years. This year twelve of our staff members and three of our students have stepped up to grow their hair for the past several months and will have it shaved off tomorrow. This year we are honoring a beautiful 3 year-old named Addi who is battling stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma. Addi lives in Florida and members of #TeamWildcat are also part of “Addi’s Army”.

Please support #TeamWildcat and “Addi’s Army” in any way that you can and help us make a difference in the lives of children across the country. The day will come when we will be able to cure all types of cancers. In the meantime, we will continue to work to raise awareness and help to spread HOPE to not only the children and families impacted by childhood cancer, but for all of us. It’s all about “The Power of WE!”

Here is the link to this year’s event: https://www.stbaldricks.org/events/WGMS

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Email: sdunham@westgenesee.org

Little Things Matter

In schools we focus a great deal of time and attention on academic endeavors; reading, getting homework done, studying, organization, and prioritization of work. All of those are incredibly important and part of the foundation for being successful as a student and lifelong learner.

As educators and as parents we also need to start thinking more explicitly about other factors that have an incredible influence on our student’s ability to be successful; nutrition, sleeping habits and their daily schedules. All three factors work in conjunction with one another to either help or hinder the performance of our young people as students, musicians and athletes. What we know for sure is that students who are hungry or lack nutrients, students who are dehydrated or students who are tired cannot learn or perform to their full potential.

Nutrition

There has never been a time when we have had so much information about food and the impacts of what we put into our bodies has on us. Despite this incredible amount of knowledge, many of our kids go through an entire day without consuming real food. They eat, but they are eating a great deal of manufactured and processed food that isn’t giving them the nutrients that their bodies need. There are some terrific books on this subject that will really get you and them thinking: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, 100 Days of Real Food by Lisa Leake, and Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss.

A really good resource on nutrition is this terrific blog from OCM BOCES on heart healthy kids: https://ocmbocesis.wordpress.com/2016/02/16/heart-healthy-kids/

Another excellent source of information is the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The link below is to several National Nutrition Month handouts and tip-sheets.
http://www.eatright.org/resource/food/resources/national-nutrition-month/nnm-handouts-and-tipsheets-for-families-and-communities

Food is only one part of the conversation. Way too many of our kids are drinking large quantities of soda and Gatorade instead of water, and the majority of them are dehydrated. In addition, many of them have no idea just how much sugar they are consuming or the impacts that it has on their body systems. In a 20 oz bottle of Coke there is 65 grams of sugar! A 20 OZ bottle of Gatorade has 34 grams of sugar! Anything in small doses is reasonable, but when the drink of choice of many of our middle school students is laden with sugar we all need to take the responsibility of informing them and limiting their intake of high sugar drinks. In the case of Gatorade very few of them are actually involved in strenuous physical activity which requires them to replace important electrolytes. Many of them think that they are and believe that they need it – it isn’t a need, that’s just good marketing! Drink your water!!

Sleeping Habits & Busy Schedules

Sleeping habits and busy schedules go hand in hand. We have our children involved in more extracurricular activities than ever before. Between dance studios, travel teams, indoor facilities and local community groups we can have our kids involved in something 8 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Some nights it can be two or three activities back to back to possibly back. Our kids then get home later, get to bed later, and do it all over again the next day. As a result, many of our students arrive to school in the morning tired. They are not tired because its 7:40 AM, they are tired because they are not getting enough sleep.

I’ve read it before that sleep is like food for the brain. During sleep both our body and brain recharges themselves and gets them ready for all of the challenges that await us the following day. Sleep impacts our learning and memory, our emotions and behaviors, and our overall health. Yet the total amount of sleep that children and adolescents are getting is continuing to decrease. Think about how we feel when we don’t get enough sleep as adults; we are moody, cranky, unmotivated – certainly not ready to perform or learn. Add to that lack of sleep the incredible amount of social, emotional, physiological and physical change happening in our middle school students and we have a recipe for disaster. Parents and students need to make getting enough sleep a priority. Put away the screens earlier and as adults we shouldn’t allow our kids to bring their devices to bed with them. Instead, grab a book. Research shows that they will actually sleep better.

The over-scheduling leads to late nights, which leads to lack of sleep, which leads to rushing out door with a poor breakfast, which leads to…you see the pattern. We have choices in all this. In the busy schedules we create, school needs to be priority number one with everything else a distant second. It isn’t easy, but by setting priorities, establishing limits, and saying no we are establishing the framework for setting our kids up for success. Getting enough sleep, staying hydrated and eating a healthy, balanced diet are all incredibly important and powerful factors in setting our kids up for success in everything that they do. Let's not overlook the little things that really matter.

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Email: sdunham@westgenesee.org