Developing your own secret language; feed your kid's brain; big bear quiz; adventures in Massachusetts
|  | Sunday, November 28, 2021 | | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY JUPITERIMAGES, GETTY IMAGES | | By Rachel Buchholz, KIDS AND FAMILY Editor in Chief
My house is devoid of snacks. My husband, you see, does all the shopping, and to avoid too much stress-eating over the past year and a half, our family has been relying on fistfuls of cashews and granola bars when we're having a not-so-great day. It got so bad that a colleague mailed me a box of Fritos, Reese’s, and Nutella so I would stop yelling so much during virtual meetings.
But our family’s pandemic stress-eating is not uncommon. A 2020 survey found that more than 25 percent of us have gained weight during the pandemic, in part due to overeating; another published in October revealed that parents have found it incredibly difficult to manage their children’s eating habits amid all the pandemic stress.
That makes sense. It’s so much easier to toss nagging children a bag of chips while you’re navigating a Zoom call, or to order another pizza because your WFH routine just. never. stops. But the trend has experts worried: Healthy eating habits are developed very early in a child’s life; when those are derailed, it’s hard to get back on track.
“We’re a year and a half into this—it’s not just a blip in children’s lives now,” says Leslie Frankel, associate professor of human development and family studies at the University of Houston and author of the 2021 study. “I do think it will have impacts on children’s eating habits.”
This past weekend notwithstanding, experts have some advice on getting kids back on the apple cart:
• Redefine mealtime. The classic advice for developing healthy eating habits is to eat together around the dinner table. Um, yeah, right. Instead, think about other ways you can share healthy food together, like at snack time instead. Find more expert tips in this article about pandemic stress-eating in families.
• Let kids do the cooking. These kid-friendly recipes for poached pears, hummus, and West African mafe will give them ownership of their food—and that makes it taste much more delicious. You can also show kids these STEM tricks while they’re cooking.
• Rename food. Berries and sweet potatoes become “smart” food. (Check out other foods that’ll boost your kid’s brainpower.) Misshaped tomatoes and cucumbers become “so-ugly-they're cute” food. Asparagus and broccoli become “tiny trees.”
Anything to engage kids more with the food they’re eating is a win, experts say. But I’m still kinda wishing my husband would come home with some cookies now and then.
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 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY JESSIE CASSON / GETTY IMAGES | | Ghaki! Any newcomer to our family gatherings would’ve been confused by this word. Ghaki was our word for “granddaddy,” something that stuck after I garbled the correct pronunciation as an 18-month-old. But many families have their own secret language, and researchers even have a word for it: familect. And turns out, having words and phrases unique to your family can be good for kids. “When people speak the same language, it creates a sense of family and unity,” Georgetown professor Deborah Tannen says. One brood in this article about familect—and how your pack can develop its own—uses ozee-chicken for “don’t worry”; another says whoa-whoa instead of “horse.” Got some of your own? I’d love to hear about the unique phrases and words your own family uses.
Kids and vaccines: Though rare, your child has a greater chance of developing a heart inflammation after a COVID-19 infection than from the vaccine itself, a review of medical studies finds. Myocarditis after the vaccine is rarer and usually milder than the cardiac complications from COVID-19, pediatric cardiologist Matthew Elias tells Nat Geo. That includes multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a serious condition that can occur two to six weeks after an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in about one out of 3,200 infected children, even if the infection was mild or asymptomatic. | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREA MARZORATI, ADOBE STOCK | | | Big bear quiz! Feeling a little sleepy after all that turkey? You’re not alone—brown bears have been feasting for months getting ready for their big winter snooze. Have kids take this quiz to see how much they know about these massive-but-supercute creatures. Want more bears? Check out this Nat Geo puzzle collection, which includes Kermode bears, giant pandas, and Denali National Park—plus tons of non-bear stuff. | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY SETH KAYE, COURTESY OF ERIC CARLE MUSEUM | | | Eric Carle Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts. Parents and kids alike love The Very Hungry Caterpillar and were saddened to hear of author Eric Carle’s death this past May at the age of 91. “Picture books are often a child’s first introduction to art,” says Courtney Waring, director of education at the Eric Carle Museum (pictured above), who is quoted in our article about fun trips that unlock kids’ love of art. At the Carle, original works by the author / illustrator are displayed along with exhibits devoted to other picture-book artists. If you can’t get there right now, though, you can always just open a familiar book, and begin: “In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf …” | | | |
 | PHOTOGRAPH BY SHANNON HIBBERD / NG STAFF
| | Feed your kid’s brain. If you have some Turkey Day leftovers, consider using them for science instead of dinner. These experiments featuring foods like pumpkin seeds, carrots, and squash (the kids above are making a light bulb) will teach children STEM lessons as well as a little history trivia about what folks were really eating in the fall of 1621. (Want to blow kids’ minds? Carrots were eaten … but they weren’t orange!) Or, nourish their brains with some fun knowledge nuggets from the Nat Geo Kids book Brain Candy.
Wildlife watch. As part of our commitment to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world, the National Geographic Society funds Wildlife Watch, an investigative journalism project that reports on wildlife crime and exploitation. By covering critical topics in the illegal wildlife trade, this project shines a light on the commercial-scale exploitation of wildlife and other valued resources, identifies weaknesses in national and international efforts to protect wildlife, and empowers institutions and individuals working to save at-risk species. Learn more: @InsideNatGeo.
This newsletter was edited and curated by Rachel Buchholz, with David Beard and Monica Williams. Have a healthy and a sane (as possible) week ahead. | | | |
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