Taking Play Seriously

This was a fantastic, thorough article (11 pages) on the extensive research that has been done regarding play and its importance at all stages of our lives from childhood into adulthood and the detrimental aspects (some vitally important) of being deprived of free, creative play. "Play, in their view, is a central part of neurological growth and development — one important way that children build complex, skilled, responsive, socially adept and cognitively flexible brains." In addition to the role that play has in preventing obesity, there are so many more benefits to this activity and it is one that is inate. New York Times Feb 17, 2008

Childhood Obesity Linked with Mother's Weight

I recently came across an article in the Pediatrics journal 2005 that is worth revisiting. The most important fact noted by the research is th following: "The results showed a significant relationship between the mother's pre-pregnancy weight and the weight of her child. The greatest determinant of a child's weight was the mother's weight during the one to two month period immediately prior to her pregnancy. If a woman's BMI placed her in the overweight category prior to her pregnancy, her child was three times more likely to be overweight by the age of seven than the children whose mother was normal weight." So, it is very important prior to pregnancy to get to within a normal BMI level and maintain it especially right before you are considering pregnancy; this is not only to your benefit as a mother-to-be, but even more important is gift if health that you can give to your baby even before he or she is born... priceless!