Contact: Mara McGinnis, 716-645-2626
[email protected] http://www.buffalo.edu/news
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The following tips include expert advice from faculty and staff members at the University at Buffalo designed to help parents prepare for the back-to-school season and upcoming school year.
For more information or to schedule an interview, contact the faculty and staff members at the phone numbers listed.
MAKE SCHOOL SHOPPING A LESSON IN MANAGING MONEY
Back-to-school shopping provides parents with an opportunity to teach their children to be educated shoppers, says Arun Jain, Samuel P. Capen Professor of Marketing Research and chair of the Department of Marketing in the University at Buffalo School of Management.
Because children are influenced by advertising and peer-group pressure, Jain says they need to be taught to ignore brand names and to look for products that meet their needs at the best possible price. Jain offers the following additional tips:
-- Give children a budget and help them set priorities. When it comes time to shop for back-to-school, families should sit down, figure out how much money there is to spend and make a list of exactly what items are needed in order of importance.
-- Do not buy all items during one trip. Stores tend to put items on sale selectively.
-- Do not buy all items in one store. Compare prices across stores and do not forget that factory-outlet stories offer good quality at attractive prices.
-- Do not ignore thrift or consignment stores; young children outgrow clothes quickly.
-- Do not be taken in by "sale" slogans. Frequently, advertised prices are discounted from a fictional recommended retail price.
-- Avoid giving in and spoiling children on items like $200 sneakers because it doesn't prepare them to make smart shopping choices as they get older.
-- Remember that the cheapest price is not always best if a child does not like the item or if the item is of poor quality and will have to be replaced.
-- Buy seasonal items (scarves, gloves, boots, etc.) early instead of waiting until they are needed because consumers may end up paying a higher price when they are in season.
Reporters wishing to interview Jain may reach him at 716-645-3214 (office), 716-633-5932 (home) or via e-mail at [email protected]
CHILDREN WILL EAT LUNCHES THEY MAKE THEMSELVES
Children who make their own lunch are more likely to eat it than if their parents make it, according to Janice Cochran, certified dietitian and nutritionist with the University at Buffalo Student Health Center and UB Living Well Center.
"Parents are the gatekeepers when it comes to their children's meals, but they can't force them to eat foods they don't like," says Cochran. While parents should supervise children when they make and pack their own lunch, they should "let children determine what they like and what they will eat."
She warns parents not to forget the importance of breakfast. "Anything, even if it is just a glass of juice, is better than nothing."
Cochran offers the following tips on school lunches:
-- Don't forbid foods. "If a parent says to the child, 'No ice cream at lunch,' then that is what they are going to want at lunchtime," she explains.
-- Make it fun by making lunches together. When it comes time to pack lunches, parents can make their lunch while the child makes his or her lunch. "Parents model behavior," says Cochran. "They should try to make it a fun activity, rather than a chore."
-- For younger children, make it easy. Peel oranges, cut up apples and cut sandwiches into shapes. Bite-sized foods are easier to eat and are more likely to be eaten.
-- Try to mix textures, like crunchy and soft. For example, if including pudding or yogurt, also include pretzels or crunchy vegetables.
-- Do not be fooled by pre-packaged, ready-to-go lunch kits. "Not only are they expensive, but they have no fiber and high amounts of sugar, fat and salt," says Cochran, describing them as "store-bought, fast-food meals."
-- Be careful with perishable foods. When packing perishables, include an ice pack or a frozen juice box to keep them from spoiling.
-- Avoid soda and try to buy juice drinks that are as close as possible to 100 percent juice. "Even if a juice drink is fortified, it is not as nutritious as real fruit juice," says Cochran.
Reporters wishing to interview Cochran may reach her at 716-829-3316 (office), 716-875-9773 (home) or at [email protected]
RETURN TO SCHOOL BRINGS INCREASE IN COLD VIRUSES
With the return of children to the close confines of the classroom in the fall comes an increase in the incidence of upper-respiratory-tract infections (URIs) -- the common cold.
Timothy Murphy, M.D., says children experience two to three times the number of URIs -- 6-8 compared with 2-4 -- per year than the average adult.
And, notes Murphy, professor of medicine and microbiology and director of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, children who live in households with smokers experience more severe URIs.
Other "cold facts" offered by Murphy include:
-- Realize that it is impossible to prevent all upper-respiratory-tract infections. In fact, he explains, it would not be a good thing to prevent them all. "The exposure to different viruses allows a child to develop an immune response which offers protection from infection by similar viruses in the future, " he says.
-- Avoid the overuse of antibiotics, which have absolutely no effect on viral infections such as the common cold, according to Murphy. "Unfortunately, URIs are the most common reason for which antibiotics are prescribed and they unnecessarily create a number of problems, including the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria."
-- Be aware that a "strep-throat" infection, which may be difficult to distinguish from an upper-respiratory-tract infection, does require antibiotic therapy. If a child has a high fever and a severe sore throat, he or she should be examined by a doctor.
-- Cold viruses are transmitted by direct hand-to-hand contact from one person to another. Frequent hand-washing and covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue will help prevent the transmission of a cold virus.
-- Murphy advises that children with chronic respiratory illnesses, such as asthma, receive an annual influenza ("flu") vaccination. Influenza, he explains, is a more severe infection than the common cold. The vaccine is approximately 70 percent effective.
-- Do not believe the myth that if a child gets "chilled" in the cold weather, he or she will catch a cold. According to Murphy, studies show that people who are chilled are no more likely to catch a cold than those who are not chilled.
Reporters wishing to interview Murphy may reach him at 716-862-3303 or at [email protected]
OPEN LINES OF COMMUNICATION WITH TEACHERS
It is important for parents to have an open line of communication with their child's teachers before problems arise, according to J. Ronald Gentile, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology in the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education.
"Often parents and teachers only meet when a child is having problems, which may make the meeting emotionally charged and uncomfortable," notes Gentile.
He explains that open parent-teacher communication is especially important if the teacher has an innovative teaching method so that parents understand what is going on in the classroom and why.
Gentile says parents can facilitate open communications with a teacher by:
-- Scheduling regular meetings, including one early in the year before any problems arise, so that parents can let the teacher know their beliefs and concerns.
-- Encouraging the teacher to share his or her beliefs and concerns as well so that parents and teachers can try to reinforce each other's goals.
-- Making a list of questions before each meeting so you do not forget important topics.
-- Immediately informing the teacher of any problems at home that may be affecting the child.
Reporters wishing to interview Gentile may reach him at 716-645-2467 (office), 716-688-5925 (home) or at [email protected]
MATH HOMEWORK: PARENTS MAY THINK THEY'RE HELPING, BUT. . .
Douglas Clements, professor of learning and instruction in the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education, warns that parents should not be "suckered" into doing their child's mathematics homework.
"Parents often do most of the conceptual work and believe the child understands it, but really the child just followed procedures," says Clements, who specializes in mathematics instruction.
"If parents do their child's work, it fosters a lack of responsibility in the child," he explains.
He notes, however, that parents still can show an interest in their child's homework by:
-- Concentrating on how your child thinks about the problem by asking him or her what strategies they use to solve it. "If it is simple computational algorithms, as homework often is, ask how they know the strategy works and if they can estimate the answers," he says.
-- Asking the child to draw diagrams or pictures to illustrate why the strategy works.
-- Showing the relevance of the homework whenever possible by relating it to what parents or other adults do in their work or daily life activities.
-- Looking into mathematics workbooks with fun activities and games to help with learning at home. Some helpful resources Clements suggests are: "Math for Smarty Pants" and "The I Hate Mathematics Book," both by Marilyn Burns; "Beyond Facts and Flashcards: Exploring Math With Your Kids," by Jan R. Mokros, and "Family Math" by Jean Kerr Stenmark, Virginia Thompson and Ruth Cossey.
Reporters wishing to interview Clements may reach him at 716-645-3158 ext. 572 (office), 716-689-3788 (home) or at [email protected].
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE STUDY: THE YOUNGER THE BETTER
"While it is never too late to undertake foreign-language study, the best time to begin is during childhood, especially before adolescence," says Mark Ashwill, director of the World Languages Institute at the University at Buffalo.
He says parents should:
-- Encourage children to begin studying a second language as early as possible.
-- Contact the child's school to see what kind of foreign-language programs or classes are available, including electives offered during after-school hours.
-- Be aware of foreign-language software, private tutors and study-abroad programs that are available.
-- Use the Internet as a source of information on programs and classes available locally and nationally for elementary and secondary-school students.
Ashwill adds that, according to educational research on languages and linguistics, in addition to learning another language, the possible benefits derived from early foreign-language instruction include improved overall school performance and superior problem-solving skills.
"It enables children to discover other ways of expressing themselves, of viewing the world and of better understanding their own culture," explains Ashwill. He adds that knowledge of a second language also ultimately provides a competitive advantage in the job market.
Reporters wishing to interview Ashwill may reach him at 716-645-2292 or at [email protected]
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