As parents and educators we play a big role in helping our nation’s kids be inspired, stay on track and be prepared for a bright future. This can be a tall order in this digital world where our kids are coming of age — in a culture of consumerism, screen time and immediate gratification. Here are ten important actions you can take right now to help set up children for success.

The Top 10 Tips to Raise Happy, Self-Reliant Kids:

1. Spend twice as much time and half as much money

2. Support; don’t rescue. Encourage; don’t coddle.

3. Get them what they need but not everything they want.

4. Back up teachers and schools.

5. Take charge of media.

6. Set clear and high expectations.

7. Give chores.

8. Set and enforce limits and consequences.

9. Encourage volunteering.

10.Become a Say Yes to No parent

Visit http://www.sayyestono.org/index.html

Getting the best out of our kids will take all of us. Are you ready?

Dr. Dave

How much sleep do children need? There are individual differences, but here are the recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation:

1. Toddlers: 12-14 hours
2. Preschoolers: 11-13 hours
3. School-age (1st through 5th grades): 10-11 hours
4. Preteens: a little over 9 hours
5. Teenagers: 8 to 9.5 hours of sleep

Not getting enough sleep can actually interfere with the brain’s ability to understand what’s being said. Like a series of dominoes, a child’s capacity to learn and cope decreases. How a child is able to participate and perform in a classroom is directly dependent on how much sleep he or she got the night before. Even an hour less of optimal sleep has a negative impact.

What is a major sleep thief for kids? Besides caffeinated drinks, it turns out that electronics in the bedroom, from cell phones to computers and TVs are major sleep robbers. A child who is hyped up with an increase of adrenaline from a video game or TV program will have a hard time calming down and falling asleep. Talking on a cell phone actually increases alpha waves in the brain which are not conducive to going to sleep.

What’s the ticket to a good night’s sleep? Establish a consistent bedtime routine. Make bedtime relaxing. Avoid hard exercise, caffeinated drinks and a big meal right before bedtime. And most of all keep electronics out of the bedroom. What bedtime routines work for your child?

See our Back to School Guide for more tips to get into the school spirit!

-Dr. Dave

National Institute on Media and the Family

I remembered that vitamin D somehow is connected with calcium and that calcium is needed for healthy, strong bones, so much so that much of our milk and dairy products have vitamin D added. But I had to do some quick research to find out just how important vitamin D is.  What I found was scary: low levels of vitamin D is also linked to chronic diseases such as  high blood pressure, cancer, tooth decay, chronic pain, and diabetes, among others.  I stopped reading the list and ran outside to sit in the sun!  Because the way our bodies most efficiently absorb vitamin D is through exposure to sunlight.  It’s free, it’s easy.

And why are kids not getting enough sunlight? Too much time spent indoors in front of TV and video game screens. Kids need an active outdoor life for many reasons: Add vitamin D to the list!  See our Make It a MediaWise Summer parent guide from the National Institute on Media and the Family for ideas and add your own to help other parents.

How do you get your kids outside?

-Dr. Dave

TV can interfere with babies learning the sounds he or she needs, to form those first words and then those first sentences. A study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that not much talking was happening between parents and their six-month-olds in front of TVs. Is this a problem if it’s 10 minutes? No. Is it a problem if it’s a half hour or an hour or two hours a day? Probably yes.

Babies’ brains grow at such a rapid rate during infancy.  A rich language environment wires babies’ brains with the letter sounds or phonemes they need to be successful later in speaking, reading and writing. It all starts in infancy with the sounds they hear from those who love and care for them. When are your favorite times to talk with your baby?

-Dr. Dave

Parents on the lookout for ways to balance their children’s real world experiences with online experiences have a new videogame from national zoos and the folks who study wolves for a living.  You can take on the persona of a wolf in Yellowstone National Park and learn what it means to survive.  Wolfquest was produced to entice kids back to learning about the world they live in, maybe even to be interested in wolf conservation.

The trick is to get the balance: real world and online world. Kids will always be attracted to adventure. Online adventure is easy and fun.  Real world adventure takes more imagination, sometimes. But it will also wire into kids’ brains experiences that will enable them to make sense of the world beyond their videogame set.

So it’s summertime, make sure your kids get the outdoor time they need to build their bodies and their brains.  Some parents even pack the video game system away for the summer. If you don’t do that then try the free download of Wolfquest -  maybe it will spark a further interest in one of the our country’s most interesting predators.

How do you balance your child’s real world and online world?

-Dr. Dave