1. Is it September Yet?
2. July on the Cheap
3. Do Kids Need Sports Drinks?

Introduction:

Hello Foothill Families,

 Last issue I wrote how my kids had been counting the days until summer vacation began.  This issue, I am the one counting the days for it to end!  I exaggerate, but not entirely.  I have not found my groove this summer and the result is an unsettled feeling much like kids must experience with unscheduled freedom.  Just back from a week in the mountains, my laundry won’t quit, the kids aren’t registered in any classes, and we’re between swim lesson sessions.  I try to do something as a family outside of the house each day, but I’ve also got work to do at home.   My work requires quiet and that’s not easy to come by these days.  How do I deal?  I’m craving something outside my comfort zone, a bit wild: cut my hair super short?  Run in the Pasadena Marathon?  Redo the kids’ rooms?  Not productive perhaps, but kinda fun!

 What I really need to do is settle into summer by planning fun activities without setting high work expectations.  With a very full July calendar, there is no excuse.  Since summertime is the best season for doing things on the cheap with our families, this issue focuses on fantastic offerings by our community and local businesses.   Though the weather’s been cooler than usual, the issue of sports drinks and kids is a hot weather topic I’ve researched into an article I hope you will find informative and useful.   

 Exciting change is coming to the website next month.  It will have a new look that is both cool and sophisticated like our Foothill Family Readers.  As for getting out of my comfort zone?   I’m almost a yes on the marathon, have paint chips taped to the walls in the kids’ rooms, and decided that getting too far from a ponytail isn’t wise.   Well, it’s a start.

 See you around town!   

 Lori

 Lori@foothillfamilysgv.com

July on the Cheap 

Everyday this month is filled with your choice of free and low cost activities, programs, and events.  Summer is the time our Foothill community rolls out its best.  From reading programs to concerts, movies, and theater, it’s all here. 

 Libraries are dialed into story times and book-centered events.  We’re all familiar with our own town’s library, but comfy and close as we Foothill communities are, look into neighboring towns to see what they’re up to.  “Catch the Reading Bug” is the shared theme this summer, but each library sets its own program agenda.  Puppet shows and hands-on interactive performances are favorites such as Gigi and Mike’s Sing-Along & Music Club July 17 at Monrovia’s Recreation Park.  This one is especially fun because you bring your picnic dinner and blanket to enjoy before the singing and toe-tapping begin.  Arcadia Library is the only one to host Valentine’s Traveling Nature Class this summer.  This hands-on animal experience is very popular so arrive early July 26th to get a good spot.  Live Oak Library is adding a little “Kitchen Chemistry” to their agenda on July 16 with Professor Zany which promises to be gooey, slimy, and smoky!  Check out all of the local library listings or the daily calendar for more.

 Independent bookstores keep right up with the libraries.  Vroman’s in Pasadena and Hastings Ranch, Sierra Madre Books, and Blue Chair Books events are regularly featured at FoothillFamilySGV.com.  This month Sierra Madre Books is having a hootenanny on Sunday the 20th with Dorothy and Charles Chase Folk Music Culture and Education.  Attendees are encouraged to bring a song to sing and an instrument to play.  Add kids and this is sure to be a rip-roaring event as well as a chance to check out this new bookstore.  Vroman’s Pasadena is having a starry storytelling outside the store!  Bring the kids in PJs for stories, stars, and s’mores.   The kids can learn to compose music at Blue Chair Books in Glendora Saturday, the 19th.  They have many programs for toddlers through teens that are worth checking out.

 If you haven’t made it to one of the concerts or movies in the park, be sure to take the family at least once.  You’ll be glad you did.  Even if the thought of packing a picnic and getting everyone out the door is overwhelming, grab something on the way or eat first and bring easy snacks to make it special for the kids.  Most of the concerts are geared to please the entire family, but the Children’s series each Wednesday evening at Pasadena’s Levitt Pavilion is just for the young set.  If you have a dinosaur crazy kid at your house the Mammoth Follies on July 16th at 7pm will keep them learning and laughing with an 11-foot tall T-Rex among other extinct characters as they guide a musical trip through history.  If you miss the drive-in experience most of us enjoyed as kids, the movies in the park are the next best thing.  Put PJs on the kids and pre-pop the corn as you laze on a roomy blanket together to watch a family friendly flick on the big screen.  Arcadia Library’s Outdoor Amphitheatre features Shrek the Third at 8pm on July 22nd and Glendora is showing Surf’s Up on July 16th, Nancy Drew on July 23, and Flushed Away on July 30.

 Venture to Occidental College for its funny twist on traditional folktales without props, costumes, or sets.  Enjoy “Han Solo and Gretel” outdoors at the Remsen Bird Hillside Theater Thursdays through Saturdays until August 23.  $6 for kids, $9 for adults.   Seussical The Musical is at Covina Center through August 17th.  Everyone’s sure to enjoy the Grammy nominated music which is quite the mix of pop and blues, R&B and blues performed by your favorite Dr. Seuss characters like Cat in the Hat and Horton the Elephant.  From $15-$34.  Or, see the Young Performers’ Production for a limited time at $10-$17 a ticket.

For the older kids, Citrus College’s Summer Conservatory is performing Les Miserables Saturday and Sunday July 25th and 26th.  What a great and inexpensive way to introduce your child to musical theater.  Tickets are $10 for students and $12 for adults.  Saving the best bargain for last is the free performance of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” at Sierra Madre’s Memorial Park Bandshell.  Southern California Lyric Theatre performs Shakespeare in a way that appeals to kids.   Saturdays through July and August 2 at 7pm.

Do Kids Need Sports Drinks? :

Sports drinks are a huge hit with our youngest generation.  They’ve all but taken over in school lunches, at sports practice, and even at birthday parties.  What’s cooler to a kid than guzzling a neon rainbow of colors with names like “Arctic Shatter” and “Xtremo?”   As for juice bags, boxes and soda, they are so last year.  

 What do we parents think of this new kid on the beverage scene?  If you’re like me, you may not have had much say on whether your kids drink the fluorescent concoctions.  I haven’t bought a single sport drink in the past year, yet my kids, including my preschooler, have consumed quite a few.   For a variety of reasons I’m not pleased.  One is the blue post-baseball game spill in the backseat of my van.  No doubt it was a cool and cloudy day, not too sweat-provoking.  Another issue I have is those drink-mustaches that don’t come off their little faces.  Now, I love a Kool-Aid grin as much as the next parent, but sport drink mustaches don’t scrub off for a scary length of time.  If you think I’m overreacting, this last one is sure to gross you out.  Let me just say my 4-year old left a post-soccer game bathroom deposit that was a frightening Gatorade blue!  

 Seriously, I am concerned about the artificial make-up of these drinks, the sugar content, and the fact that my children are not exercising to the extent of an adult athlete for whom these drinks are intended.  Though I can’t imagine forbidding a post-game or party sport drink treat, lines do need to be drawn and kids need to be taught to make healthy choices.  With a little digging around in the research, there are definitely two schools of thought on the appropriateness of sports drinks for kids. 

 Sports drinks typically have two-thirds the sugar of soda, fewer calories, and are enhanced with vitamins and minerals.  Groups like The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a joint venture between Bill Clinton and The American Heart Association, have pushed for healthier school beverage guidelines which has resulted in the displacement of sodas altogether on certain school campuses.  Sports drinks, bottled waters, and juices are healthy alternatives.

 However, health advocates and nutritionists want sports drinks banned altogether from schools. They say sports drinks are not appropriate for sedentary students because they contain significant amounts of sugars and other sweeteners and they have a lot of calories.  The high fructose corn syrup that many contain has been linked to increased obesity rates.  They also contain excessive amounts of salt.  20 ounces of Gatorade contains almost 12% the recommended daily amount for ages 14-18.  The Institute of Medicine reported in April of last year that the electrolytes, energy, and hydration sports drinks provide may be needed by student athletes, but only recommends them after an hour of vigorous exercise and at the discretion of coaches.  And, according to the Center for Weight and Health at U.C. Berkeley, “Water is the best drink for children during the school day and at most sports practices.  Children don’t need the extra electrolytes and minerals that sports drinks may provide.” The state of Connecticut is the only state so far to have passed legislation barring sports drinks and enhanced waters from schools.  A few states allow them only in sports education areas.

 This topic is hotly debated by the trade group that represents the major manufacturers of sports drinks.  Bottlers argue that sports drinks are lower in calories, portion sizes are capped, and they are necessary for the student athlete, hydrating and replacing necessary electrolytes lost through sweat.  The National Alliance for Youth Sports agrees.  Sports drinks do indeed “make the grade” for active kids because their light flavor and sodium encourage them to drink more than they would plain water to stay hydrated.  Water earned an “Okay, if it’s the only drink available,” because it doesn’t have electrolytes and flavor so kids don’t drink enough to replace what they lose in sweat.  Fruit juices, fruit drinks, and soft drinks are in the “Falls Short” category because they don’t have the right amount of electrolytes and contain too much sugar, which causes stomach upset.  Carbonation discourages drinking and also causes stomach upset.  Drinks in this category include those with the word “sport” in the title or a sporty scene on its package.  Dr. Jacki Berning, PhD.,R.D., nutrition consultant for NAYS says “It’s important to understand that some beverages are fine for meal time, but what’s best at meal time often don’t deliver what kids need when they’re active.”

 Despite the controversy, if it makes parents more nutritionally aware, it can only be a good thing.  Certainly it can’t be denied that sports drinks have a place in certain kids’ diets.  Whether we choose sports drinks for our kids or not, our kids know we are paying attention to food and drink choices and they learn from this.  It may be a stretch, but I like to hope our healthy choices will influence healthy choices in our kids.

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