St. Louis Front Page - Not Just For KIDS!

Not Just For Kids!
features news, fun activities and places to visit in the Metro St. Louis area for the entire family.

Historical Children's Festival
ST. CHARLES, MO, (SLFP.com), April 9, 2003 - No matter what your age, there will be something of interest for you at the Historical Children's Festival Saturday, April 19, at First Missouri State Capitol State Historic Site in St. Charles.

The event is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the historic site, located at 200-216 South Main St. in St. Charles.

The family-oriented event is free and open to the public. Activities will include bread stringing, candle making, butter churning, writing with quill pens, cow milking and storytelling. Historical games and toys will be featured, along with costumed re-enactors. A fur and trapping exhibit will be on display. The first Capitol will host a free open house.

First Missouri State Capitol State Historic Site served as the meeting place for the state's first legislators from 1821 through 1826. Today, the governmental chambers and dry goods store have been restored to their original appearance.

For more information on the event, call the site at (636) 940-3322 or the Department of Natural Resources directly at 1-800-334-6946 (voice) or 1-800-379-2419 (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf). For more information about state parks and historic sites, visit the Web at www.mostateparks.com.

Tips for More Active, Healthy Kids
MARSHFIELD, Wis, (PRNewswire), April 6, 2003 - In support of National Public Health Week, April 7-13, focusing this year on overweight and obesity, Marshfield Clinic health experts recommend these tips for better health among children and teens.

"Increasingly, trends show Americans of all ages are adopting sedentary lifestyles and poor eating habits," stated Charles McCauley, M.D., a Marshfield Clinic cardiologist and founder of Marshfield Clinic's Healthy Lifestyles Initiative. "The American Public Health Association (APHA) believes it's the biggest problem facing kids today and our experts agree."

Health professionals at Marshfield Clinic offer the following tips for young people:

Slow down on fast food: Limit fast food to one time a week and don't supersize.
Get physical: Walk or do something (anything!) for 30 minutes at least five days a week.
Turn it off: Turn off the TV and computer at least one hour a night and do something fun on your own or with others.
Say no to soda: Limit intake of soda and fruit juice and drink water or milk instead.
Say yes to fresh: Eat five servings of fruit and vegetables a day. A serving is one piece or one cup cooked.
Portion your snacks: Don't eat from the box, bag or can. Pour out a serving and stick to that.
Count on calcium: Teens need 1,300-1,500 milligrams of calcium a day. That could come in the form of milk or vegetables like broccoli and other appropriate food choices.
Embrace iron: For optimum brain and body performance, teenage girls should embrace a well-balanced diet that contains iron-rich foods.
Aim for fitness, not thinness: Don't skip meals. Eat healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. Not everyone is made to be thin -- but we can all be fit.
Indulge once a week: If there's something you crave, eat it once a week, but in moderate portions. Anticipate it and make it special.

Marshfield Clinic is helping to lead the way toward good health through better nutrition and fitness. Two years ago, Dr. McCauley began the Healthy Lifestyles Initiative that led to the development of a community-wide coalition that promotes the health of people living in the Marshfield area. The coalition is intended to be a model for communities across the country. Marshfield Clinic is the largest private group medical practice in Wisconsin and one of the largest in the nation.

Psychiatrist Stuart Goldman, M.D., Children's Hospital of Boston

Stuart Goldman, M.D., Co-Director of the nationally recognized Mood Disorders Program and Director of Medical Education in Psychiatry at Children's Hospital Boston, discusses how to talk to your children about war. Newstream Video (Quicktime Movie: Cable, DSL, T1)

Parents Should Talk to Their Children About War
BOSTON, Mass., (PRNewswire), March 26, 2003 - Children's Hospital Boston offers a special program to help guide parents, caretakers and teachers, in deciding how to manage children's exposure to media coverage, and talk with children about the media messages they are receiving, as well as provide practical, age- appropriate responses to children's many questions.

Following the 9-11 tragedy, Psychiatrist Stuart Goldman, M.D., Co-Director of the nationally recognized Mood Disorders Program and Director of Medical Education in Psychiatry at Children's Hospital Boston, took a leadership role in crafting the institution's official response to the community and the media on how to help patients and families cope with the tragedy.

With the U.S. Department of Defense's renewed use of "embedded media" traveling with military units and the around-the-clock reporting available from all-news cable networks, media coverage of the war in Iraq will give Americans unprecedented front row seats to the frontlines.

Goldman cautioned viewers about the increased chances that children might be exposed to disturbing images from the battlefields or closer to home as America steps up its homeland security measures. In addition, many of these children were born after the previous Gulf War, and these images and words are new to them. The dilemma of how to deal with these media messages is new to their parents also.

Parents, caregivers and educators should take an active role in managing children's exposure to media coverage of Iraqi frontlines. "During these uncertain times, it is important to reassure children by engaging them in open discussions and providing age-appropriate responses to questions," explained Dr. Goldman.

Dr. Goldman consults widely with parent groups, Parent Teacher Organizations, teachers and school administrators on a range of childhood psychiatric issues, including how to talk with children about tragedy, terrorism, and war. He has appeared on several local and national TV and radio segments. He is also a parent of three children.

Beetles Take Over Butterfly House
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), March 9, 2003 - The second in a series of five "Spectacular Spineless Species" exhibits is on display at the Butterfly House.

As the cockroach exhibit scurries out of sight at the end of March, the diverse world of beetles takes center stage. The beetle exhibit, which runs through May 31, features live animals and little-known facts about the world's largest group of insects.

The Butterfly House is also offering a series of education programs featuring beetles. Educators are invited to attend a teacher workshop on Saturday, April 19 at 9:30 a.m. Reservations are required and registration is $10. An adult lecture will be presented on Saturday, April 26 at 2 p.m. It is free with admission but requires advance registration. A children's class on Saturday, May 10 at 9:30 a.m. is also free with admission but requires advance registration.

Exhibits yet to come in "Spectacular Spineless Species" are sticks and mantids on exhibit from June 1 through July 31; caterpillars from Aug. 1 through Sept. 30; and spiders and scorpions from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30. For more information, see Butterfly House.

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