Don and Kathy Harn have had a huge impact on the lives of hundreds of children through their role as foster parents.

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Did you know you can boost your child’s immune system by simply adding certain foods into their diet?  Here’s Shari Steinbach with some easy ways to make a big difference in your child’s health.

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Teachers at Mulick Park Elementary in Grand Rapids are participating in the WOOD TV 8 Teacher Wish List Campaign.  Here’s a look at how the campaign is impacting their school and how Amway is playing a big role!

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When have you felt most understood by another person?

What about this experience helped you feel this way? I’m hoping that you’ve experienced this lately because it can be a very valuable quality in our relationships.

In my line of work, I get to spend time with quite a few couples. And so often the focus of our work together turns to the importance of listening. Usually there are complaints in this area—either a partner not feeling heard or understood, or feeling disconnected and unknown by the other. So much of feeling understood and connected in our relationships can begin with working on our own abilities to truly listen to another person. Listening actually requires effort and it’s something that we can develop more with practice.

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To help keep the sniffles and sneezes away, shop for nutrient-rich foods and beverages.  Important nutrients to support a healthy immune system include vitamins A, B6, C and E, and potassium, zinc, and magnesium.  Live and active cultures in yogurt also pack a punch, as well as folate found in 100% orange juice and spinach.  Load your Meijer shopping cart with these immunity heroes to help maintain good health and check out the great NuVal scores:

1. 100% Orange Juice and Oranges – NuVal score 100
2. Avocado – NuVal score 89
3. Spinach – NuVal score 100
4. Tomatoes – NuVal score 96
5. Garlic
6. Bell Peppers – NuVal score 94
7. Sweet Potatoes – NuVal score 96
8. Grapefruit – NuVal score 99
9. Eggs
10. Cultured Yogurt
11. Oatmeal – NuVal score 57
12. Whole-Grain Bread
13. Almonds – NuVal score 76
14. Salmon -NuVal score 87
15. Lean Beef – NuVal score 32

Immune Boosting Meal Plan

Breakfast:
• Oatmeal with Sliced Almonds and Dried Cherries
• Orange–Yogurt Poppy Seed Muffins (recipe below)
• ½ Grapefruit
• Green Tea

Lunch:
• Lean Roast Beef and Tomato Slices on Whole-Grain Bread
• Pepper Strips
• Fat Free Milk
• Michigan Apple Slices

Dinner:
• Salmon Fillet
• Sweet Potato
• Tossed Green Salad with Cucumbers and Yogurt Ranch Dressing

Snack:
• Guacamole with Diced Tomatoes and Whole-Grain Chips

Yogurt-Orange Poppy Seed Muffins
Makes 16 muffins

2/3 cup Meijer butter or margarine, softened
1 cup Meijer sugar
2 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup Meijer orange juice concentrate
1 tbsp. grated orange peel
1 tsp. orange extract
2-2/3 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tbsps. poppy seeds
1 tsp. Meijer baking soda
1 tsp. salt

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the yogurt, orange juice concentrate, orange peel and extract. Combine the dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture just until moistened. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400°for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Also don’t forget to visit your Meijer pharmacy to protect your family throughout cold/flu season:  Walk in immunizations are guaranteed Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or visit during a scheduled clinic (check for dates/times at www.meijer.com/pharmacy).  Flu shots are $24.99 and each participant will receive a Meijer 2011 Health Planner with over $80 of coupons.

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Over 500 teachers from around West Michigan have posted wishes at woodtv.com/teacher wish lists.    Now, it’s our turn to grant these wishes!  If your family or business can grant a wish I encourage you to do it!  It’s easy.  Log on to www.woodtv.com and search teacher wish lists.   Select the community where you live and review the items teachers in your neighborhood schools are requesting.   Then, grant a wish or two.  It’s as easy as buying a few boxes of markers or a canister of animal crackers.   It’s really all about helping teachers help our kids!   Let me know if you and your family are out granting wishes!  I’d love to hear about it!

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For those of you who have been thinking of me as I sent my daughter off to kindergarten this week—thank you for your well wishes! The transition has gone well so far for my family—we’re taking it one day at a time.

I’m wondering more about the transitions that your families have managed this past week; for those of you who have school aged children, but also for those of you whose occupations gear up this time of year. What things have worked well? Which areas need some extra TLC? I’ve enjoyed exploring how families operate with transitions and would love hearing from you.

One thing that has struck me this past week is how important it is to be able to accept support from people around me in times of transition. For me, this means truly relying on others—from our fabulous child care provider and wonderful teachers that care for my children, to families that assist mine with transporting children to and from school. And I’ll add that my system of support even includes some local restaurants that have supplied meals to my family this week when I realized that cooking a meal was just too much to include in the day!

Sometimes it can be difficult to depend on others. Perhaps we have developed the idea that strength equals independence. We don’t want to be weak. We may have learned these ideas from the families in which we grew up, and even from the culture around us. Maybe we’ve been let down in the past and we’ve learned that we can’t consistently count on other people. I challenge you to take a look around you and examine who you depend on. Are you allowing yourself to be an “island”—or are you open to creating and relying on some bridges of support? It can be as enriching and gratifying to receive support as it is to give it, but it can require some setting aside of our own patterns and being open to what others have to share with us.

For more information on behavioral health issues, or to seek assistance, go to www.pinerest.org

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The Teacher Wish Lists program  is in full swing and I’ve had the joy of visiting schools around West Michigan interviewing teachers about what their needs are this school year.   Our Teacher Wish Lists include over 225 teachers from districts around West Michigan.  The needs are great-everything from winter coats and boots to snacks and staplers.   I’d love for you to take a minute to review the lists.  Click on the Teacher Wish Lists logo on our site, select your city and look through the wishes teachers in your community have put together.  If there’s something your family would like to donate, e-mail the teacher directly and arrange a time to drop off your donation.    I know whatever you can donate would be greatly appreciated by our teachers!  Also, take a photo of your donation and post it on my Facebook page.  I’d love to showcase families around West Michigan making a difference in the lives of kids!

Thanks for all you do and  for helping our teachers-help our kids!

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With children heading back to school, and families reorienting themselves to this routine, I’ve seen an increase in parents who are sorting through this transition in therapy.

Lately, I’ve spent time with parents who are preparing for the stress that comes with managing their households during the school year. Increases in anxiety, frustration, stress, along with feeling more overwhelmed that what is normal are common issues for primary caretakers in families this time of year.

We’ve been focusing lately on transitioning children–launching them into the school year successfully–now it’s time for me to share a couple of insights for parents. Here are some tips that will help you begin your fall in a way that leaves you feeling good about yourself.

• Get organized: Having a master family calendar is a helpful way of avoiding over booking and double booking activities, which increases stress levels. Combine children’s school calendars and your family’s social calendar into one that the family can review together.

• Take care of yourself: In order to stay healthy, remember the essentials: enough sleep, adequate exercise and good nutrition. Take a closer look at each of these areas of your life. Is there an area that can use extra attention or improvement? Do you know what the first steps to improvement are? Begin implementing some of these changes as your children head back to school and your calendar changes a bit. Taking care of yourself is the first step in being able to take care of your family well.

• Remember your passions: With an upsurge of commitments, it’s easy to feel like you are operating on autopilot. Remember to ask yourself: what gives me passion and energy? Allow yourself the time and thought to explore this. How might you incorporate some of these things into your day or your week? Accessing joy and allowing yourself to “play” will help replenish the energy that can so easily be absorbed into the daily routine.

For more information on behavioral health issues, or to seek assistance, go to www.pinerest.org

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Sophia’s turns four this weekend and has been pumped all week to bring a birthday treat to school for her friends. Gone are the days of cupcakes, ice cream or cookies for birthday celebrations. At Sophia’s school they request that parents bring “healthy treats” to share. Hmmm….healthy and treats don’t really go together in most kid’s mind, so I knew convincing Sophia that there was a better choice than the pink and purple cupcakes she was eyeing at the grocery store was going to be tricky.

Of course I waited until last minute, so yesterday at the eleventh hour I remembered that I needed to bring something today. Crap! I didn’t want to be the store-bought cupcake mom….oh wait, I can’t bring cupcakes…..double crap! So as I’m racking my brain to think of something healthy, tasty and creative, I remembered that Sophia likes trail mix, so decided to take a stab on making my own. Note to all moms, this was surprisingly the easiest thing I ever made and looks like it took more time than it actually did. From house to store to house to the baggies, the whole thing took about one hour and that included Sophia tagging along which always adds more time.

Below is a recipe I came up with. Sophia had a sampling last night and loved it, so it’s also kid approved!

Sophia’s Birthday Treat Snack Mix
3 cups of pretzel goldfish crackers
3 cups of teddy grahams
3 cups of cheddar bunnies
1 ½ cups of raisins
1 ½ cups of M&Ms

Mix up all the ingredients in a bowl and portion into snack size Ziploc baggies. The recipe fills 15 bags.

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