The following message about bullying comes from Nicholas Garlow with HealthBeat, a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Bullying can be verbal, like name calling, social, to affect reputations and relationships, or even physical, which hurts someone or their possessions. It can happen anywhere, and to anyone.

We can help kids understand bullying by talking to them about it and teaching them how to stand up to it safely.

Erin Reiney, a public health specialist at the Health Resources and Services Administration says, “If a youth is being bullied, we really need to encourage him or her to talk to a trusted adult and not keep feelings insides. It’s important for a youth to tell somebody about the bullying in order to feel less alone.”

Children, parents, educators, and communities can learn how to take action against bullying and prevent it from happening by going to stopbullying.gov.

Learn more at healthfinder.gov.

More and more you see young children been pushed in carriages or riding in a car, while playing video games and watching movies on hand-held, digital devices.

Yes, it keeps them entertained. It also helps with eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity.

Yet, pediatricians and other child development specialists are warning about the excessive viewing and playing of video and computer games at the expense of needed daily physical activities and developing social skills that come from interacting with other children in community activities.

The commonly held belief is that children need a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activities each day.

According to a number of recent studies, many school-age children spend hours each day on their home computers and hand-held devices in non-academic activities. One such study, in the journal Pediatrics, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, looked at the value of active video games as a way of making a child more active. The outcome of this research is no surprise…no, children were no more active while playing an active video game.

Dr. Tom Baranowski,  a professor of pediatrics at the Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital commented,”If Mama brings a video game home, can she expect that her child will get more physical activity, and the answer is, as far as we can tell, no. Parents who want to have their kids to be more physically active should enroll their children in school-based sports teams, and other kinds of physical activities.”

Computers and hand-held devices are here to stay and that is not a bad thing. We just need to decide how much time each day is a reasonable amount of time for our children to spend in recreational use on these digital wonders.

From time to time, “Can Do” Street features a guest post by someone who provides a service or product that might be of interest to parents and teachers of children 3-7 years of age.

We do not endorse or recommend, we just share information.

We welcome guest posts from parents, teachers and professionals who work with young children and their families. We also will feature guest posts from book companies and others wanting to provide sample products at no cost to our readers.

The following guest share is by Sara Dawkins, an active nanny as well as an active freelance writer. She is a frequent contributor of nanny service. She can be reached at saradawkins61ATgmail.com.

How to Teach the Importance of Sharing

It’s always a big debate when you’re trying to decide if you’re going to hire a nanny to watch over your child or if you’re going to place them in a daycare setting. Each option has distinct advantages and disadvantages, especially the different character traits your child will learn.

Having a nanny watch your children gives parents more flexibility with work schedules and a certain piece of mind knowing that your child isn’t being exposed to different illnesses and bad behavior.

However being a nanny you realize quickly that because the child you’re watching isn’t surrounded by other kids their age that it’s important to teach them as soon as possible how important the act of sharing is.

The trick to teaching kids how to share is to make it fun!

1. Share constantly

Get out two different toys and give one to the child and keep the other one for yourself. After playing with them for a little while ask if they want to play with the one you have.

If you go out for ice cream get a different flavor than they do and then ask if they want to try a bite of yours. Go out of your way to share with them whenever you can so that they learn that this is good behavior to mimic.

2. Express appreciation

Whenever the child swaps a toy with you express gratitude for their selfless sharing, even if you prompted them to share something. Getting them to understand how rewarding it is to share things with other people will help them want to continue to share.

3. Compliment frequently

Anytime they share something with you, even if it’s only a story or they just want to show you what they have, compliment them on their wonderful ability to share. Try to use the word “share” somewhere in the compliment so that they associate the behavior with the act of sharing.

As soon as their parents get home each night compliment the child’s sharing to them also. Reinforce good behavior as often as possible.

4. Donate old toys

Coordinate with the parents a day that you can take them to donate old toys. As they begin to outgrow certain toys or books start collecting them and then take the kids to a place that accepts donations. Having them go with you will give you a chance to show them that their old toys will become someone’s new toys. You can talk to them about how other kids may not be as fortunate as they are, and explain to them how they’re helping these children by sharing their stuff.

5. Pick certain toys to share

When friends are coming over to play let the child pick out a few toys that they can put away and then let them know that all of their other toys have to be shared with friends. This will help them feel like they’re not giving up everything to others.

Being in a role model position gives the perfect opportunity to teach young children the act of sharing. The younger you start teaching kids about sharing, the better, and it’s important for parents and nannies to work together as a team to teach the children about sharing.

This year, look for more new educational vocabulary building matching games as well as more math games and more games courtesy of our friend across the pond.

You will find the new educational games in the club house. The educational games will continue to be under games. The new games from greyolltwit software are also in the club house. Just click on the balloon that says… more games.

We are now producing a series of new,short animated videos entitled, ” What Do the “Can Do” Kids Say About…?

The video content focuses on getting children to think about what they would do about such every day issues as sharing, eating right, being kind, telling the truth, helping a friend,  behaving appropriately in the classroom, and in the playground, personal hygiene, table manners and party manners, taking care of a pet, respecting others.

We will post a new video each month beginning in early spring.

So, stay tuned for more new programs, games and blogs!

Even young children can take part in the custom of making New Year’s resolutions.

Making resolutions  is a great way for a family to come together to talk about behaviors that need changing or activities that need doing.

According to a few child psychologists and psychiatrists that have written on the subject, parents need to buy into what a young child says he or she wants to work on in changing a behavior or in taking on a new activity. Experts caution that the younger the child the more he or she will need parental support and guidance to make his or her resolutions happen.

One of the ways the experts recommend to include your child in making resolutions is to sit together as a family and go around to each family member and ask what he or she would like to do differently in the coming year. Ask your young child what he or she would like to change, to do differently. Make sure that what your child wants to change is realistic, that he or she has the physical strength and emotional stamina to do it and, most importantly, it would be good for your child to do.

Once your child decides what he or she wants to work on, help him or her to develop a plan that you both can work on together to make his or her resolutions happen. Break the plan into easy steps. Let your child know what you will be doing to help him or her to reach each goal.

All the experts agree on the following :

• The best way to help your child make his or her resolutions happen is to make your own resolutions and keep them. When children see parents sticking to resolutions, they are more inclined to stick to their resolutions.

• Making and keeping resolutions builds a child’s self-confidence and self-esteem.
• It gives children a sense of accomplishment to be successful at keeping resolutions

Good Luck with those family resolutions.

Happy New Year From all of Us on “Can Do” Street!