Helping Your Teenager Get More Sleep

Posted on October 8, 2019 by illinoispta

Teenagers need about 9 hours of sleep to function at their best, but only about 8% of American teenagers are getting the sleep they need and, according to a recent study in the Journal of Adolescent Health, more than half (59%) are suffering from severe sleep deprivation, meaning six or fewer hours of sleep most school nights. The Child Mind Institute has a Parent’s Guide to Teenagers and Sleep that covers why teens are sleep deprived, what the consequences are, and how parents can help their teen get more sleep.

The Child Mind Institute also has an article that goes into depth about how you can help your teen get more sleep. There is a lot of evidence that parents can play a critical role in helping their child set limits on bedtime, study time, and media usage, though with teenagers’ desire for autonomy, you can expect some pushback if you haven’t started these limits when they were younger. Among the things you can do to help your teenager develop better sleep habits:

Be consistent, even on the weekend (with a little flexibility)
Screens off an hour before bed
Limit the after-dinner snacking
Consider a low dose of melatonin to jumpstart normal sleeping patterns
Be realistic with their activities and don’t overschedule
Set a good example
Streamline mornings
Focus on productivity to maximize the time available to sleep
The bed is just for sleeping

Find out more about these ways to help your teen get more sleep by reading the article at Child Mind Institute and read or download their Parent’s Guide to Teenagers and Sleep.

Getting to Know Your Child’s PE Program

Posted on October 1, 2019 by illinoispta

Physical Education (PE) at school can help children build lifelong healthy habits to exercise. Illinois was the first state to mandate daily Physical Education (PE) with at least 100 minutes per week, and in 2015, Illinois adopted Enhanced PE standards. But in 2018 that requirement was cut to three days with no minimum time requirement. With the loosening of PE requirements, it is important that families know what their child’s school PE program actually includes. To help, Shape America has partnered with National PTA to create Getting to Know Your Child’s PE Program: A Parent’s Guide.

The guide provides you with 13 questions to ask about your child’s PE program and explains why it is important to ask these questions. Among them are:

Is physical education taught by a certified teacher with a degree in physical education?
Is the physical education class size similar to that of other content areas, to ensure safe, effective instruction?
Does the program provide maximum participation for every student (e.g., inclusion, no elimination games, all students active at once, developmentally appropriate activities)?
How are students with disabilities included in your physical education program?
Is physical activity—or the withholding of physical activity—used as a negative consequence when students misbehave?
Are social and emotional learning skills integrated into the health and physical education classroom?

Share the guide with your families, or use it as a basis for a program at your next PTA meeting on how your school does PE.

How to Grow Your PTA Membership

Posted on September 25, 2019 by illinoispta

Membership is what makes PTA go. Members are our volunteers and future leaders, and they amplify our voice when speaking to school leaders and legislators. Some PTAs, like many membership-driven organizations across the country, have struggled recently to grow their membership. Here are some tips and PTA resources to help you grow your PTA membership.

Register for your Local PTA Leader Kit from National PTA.This kit has a multitude of resources for PTA leaders, but the key membership item is the free Design Your PTA/PTSA Membership P.L.A.N. that walks you through developing a membership recruitment plan tailored to your PTA, school, and community and loaded with examples, questions to consider, and brainstorming prompts to help you through the process.
Register your PTA officers with Illinois PTA to gain access to the Illinois PTA Online Leadership Resources. Like the National PTA Local PTA Leader Kit, these online resources provide you and your PTA with the information you need to have a successful PTA year, including growing your membership.
Use the Illinois PTA 2019-2020 Membership Awards to guide your membership activities. Each month from September through May has a specific membership award that your PTA could win.
Not sure how to run a short-term membership campaign? Use one of Illinois PTA’s ready-to-use campaigns along with other Illinois PTA membership resource
Sign your PTA up for the National PTA School of Excellence program. PTAs participating in the program have seen improvements in family engagement and growth in membership, PTA meeting attendance, and volunteer participation. The deadline to sign up for the 2019-2020 program is October 1, 2019.
Use National PTA’s Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit to reach out to underrepresented groups from your school community.Does your PTA membership reflect the diversity of your school? The Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit can help you bring those communities in your school who may not be familiar with PTA into the fold. If you’re not sure of your school’s demographics, the Illinois Report Card can provide you with that information.
Check out the collection of One Voice Illinois articles on membership. Illinois PTA’s blog, One Voice Illinois, has been publishing for over five years now, and the archive of articles on specific topics can be accessed by clicking the links in the Categories sidebar.

ENDS Update

Posted on September 17, 2019 by illinoispta

In 2018, Illinois PTA Convention delegates passed a resolution on Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). The resolution followed years of tracking the data and science surrounding ENDS use by youth, and Illinois PTA continues to keep its members informed about new developments. Once again, e-cigarettes are in the news, with reports of pulmonary illnesses and even deaths, including one here in Illinois.

The investigations into the causes of the illnesses and deaths are ongoing, with THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) vaping juice and vitamin E acetate found in many of those THC cartridges sampled being one early area of focus. However, a recent study in the journal Radiologyindicates that vaping itself can damage lungs.

The study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania performed MRI exams on 31 healthy, non-smoking adults between 18 and 35 before and after taking 16 three-second puffs on an e-cigarette containing only “vaping juice,” a mixture of water, glycerol, and propylene glycol, the latter two being used in vaping cartridges to keep additional chemicals such as nicotine or flavorings dissolved in the cartridge.

The results of the study showed that even in non-smoking, first-time vapers with no nicotine in the cartridge, the use of an e-cigarette resulted in poorer circulation, stiffer arteries, and less oxygen in the blood. As the study’s principal investigator, Felix Wehrli, put it, “The results of our study defeat the notion that e-cigarette vaping is harmless.” Although both chemicals used in the study, glycerol and ethylene glycol, are considered safe to eat, they may not be safe to inhale.