Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/201075
6A Daily News – Tuesday, October 29, 2013 Vitality health & fitness What's the harm in Halloween candy? By Tracy Grant The Washington Post This week, I offer you a few mini-bites (shall we call it "snack size" to honor the upcoming holiday?) of pressing parenting issues. Let them eat candy Halloween is two weeks away. That glorious night of princesses and pirates and pumpkins. Of Kit Kats and Skittles and Snickers. Except, of course, when dentists start campaigns to buy back candy, activists lament about childhood obesity and neighborhoods band together to offer healthful, wholesome trickor-treat snacks. Can we please, just for one night, let kids be kids? Let them stumble home with sacks almost too heavy to carry, laden with sugary snacks that they will then barter over with siblings. ("How many Milk Duds do you want for that full-size Butterfinger?" Let's face it; we all remember the houses that gave full-size candy bars when we were kids.) Yes, as parents, we should impose limits. (Two pieces on Halloween; one piece a night after that; anything that's still hanging around by Thanksgiving gets donated or dumped. That always worked in our house). But even Michelle Obama has been known to have a milkshake and fries. And surely all that walking around the neighborhood counts as exercise, right? I know that in some corners this will be viewed as parental heresy, but what is Halloween if we take away all the treats? Harried parents The well-respected Pew Research Center came out with its report on how parents spend their time last week. I was struck by the title: "Parents' Time With Kids More Rewarding Than Paid Work — and More Exhausting." Most specifically, I was struck by the placement of the apostrophe. The report looks at the division of labor between mothers and fathers, how moms and dads spend time with their kids and what aspects of that time they find most fulfilling. It divided child-care into four categories (physical, educational, managerial and recreational) and did the same with household tasks (cooking, cleaning, repairs and management) and then examined whether moms or dads spent more time in each category. The conclusion: Parents are exhausted. But nowhere in the 12-page report is there a nod, a mention, even a footnote about single parents. I understand that comparing gender roles is a key component of this report. But I still wanted to cry with frustration for the moms who don't have a dad in the house to spend 3.9 hours a week doing repairs or 2.2 hours a week doing recreational activities with the kids. My heart bled for the dads out there who have to take on the 3.8 hours a week of managerial responsibilities for child care that in "normal" households fall to mothers. Parenting is exhausting under the best of circumstances. Doing it alone is more than doubly so. "The Reason I Jump" This slim little book, translated from the Japanese by "Cloud Atlas" author David Mitchell, should be on the nightstand or Kindle of any parent of an autistic child, any parent who knows an autistic child or any parent who has ever wondered what it would be like to have an autistic child. It's the memoir of 13-yearold Naoki Higashida, who has autism. He wrote it painstakingly by spelling out words on a Japanese alphabet board. In each short chapter, the boy attempts to answer the questions he perceives others have about him. Read it and weep. Good night's sleep cleans out gunk in brain By Alicia Chang Associated Press When we sleep, our brains get rid of gunk that builds up while we're awake, suggests a study that may provide new clues to treat Alzheimer's disease and other disorders. This cleaning was detected in the brains of sleeping mice, but scientists said there's reason to think it happens in people too. If so, the finding may mean that for people with dementia and other mind disorders, "sleep would perhaps be even more important in slowing the progression of further damage," Dr. Clete Kushida, medical director of the Stanford Sleep Medicine Center, said in an email. Kushida did not participate in the study, which appears in Friday's issue of the journal Science. People who don't get enough shut-eye have trouble learning and mak- ing decisions, and are slower to react. But despite decades of research, scientists can't agree on the basic purpose of sleep. Reasons range from processing memory, saving energy to regulating the body. The latest work, led by scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center, adds fresh evidence to a long-standing view: When we close our eyes, our brains go on a cleaning spree. The team previously found a plumbing network in mouse brains that flush- es out cellular waste. For the new study, the scientists injected the brains of mice with beta-amyloid, a substance that builds up in Alzheimer's disease, and followed its movement. They determined that it was removed faster from the brains of sleeping mice than awake mice. The team also noticed that brain cells tend to shrink during sleep, which widens the space between the cells. This allows waste to pass through that space more easily. Though the work involved mouse brains, lead researcher Dr. Maiken Nedergaard said this plumbing system also exists in dogs and baboons, and it's logical to think that the human brain also clears away toxic substances. Nedergaard said the next step is to look for the process in human brains. In an accompanying editorial, neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro said scientists have recently taken a heightened interest in the spaces between brain cells, where junk is flushed out. It's becoming clearer that "sleep is likely to be a brain state in which several important housekeeping functions take place," she said in an email. The study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. In a statement, program director Jim Koenig said the finding could lead to new approaches for treating a range of brain diseases. Don't be spooked by candy By Samira Kawash Special to The Washington Post Across the nation, parents like me are bracing for the annual sugar rush known as Halloween. I've got pounds of mini-treats to pass out to neighborhood goblins and ghouls. But many parents struggle to balance our kids' mania for sweets with a nagging feeling that all that candy can't be a good thing. Everybody knows: Candy rots kids' teeth. Candy ruins kids' dinner. Candy makes kids fat. Any and all sugars will pitch the fragile child into a lifelong battle with diabetes, obesity and heart disease. But a lot of this worry about children and candy isn't about candy at all. It is about whether children have a right to their own pleasure. Consider the lollipop, the ultimate symbol of children's innocence. The sweet lollipop is a few licks from the illicit, and Lolita with her bright-red candy on a stick is just the beginning. Search online for an "all-day sucker," and you may find a kid in a candy store — or accessories for an X-rated bachelorette party. Children's candy pleasure is unabashedly sensual, and that is part of adults' problem with it. That could explain our abstinence approach to candy's perceived dangers. The focus on restriction suggests that there's no such thing as "safe candy." We make rules about how much of a child's Halloween haul may be retained or consumed. We bar candy from school vending machines. We prohibit children from entering drugstores after school without a parent. We inspect their bedrooms and lockers for signs of illicit candy-eating activity — as well as illicit drug activity, illicit smoking and anything else kids might be doing illicitly. In the early 1900s, children had a lot more independence and more opportunities to buy and eat candy on their own. Instead of restricting treats, the reformers of the time used an approach that looks more like "scared straight" tactics. Stories and poems about candy lands seduced children, then terrified them with the horrible consequences. The 1950s brought the dawn of the "child-centered" family: Parents' job was to make their children happy and keep them safe, away from polio germs and communists. Most people didn't see any problem with children eating candy. Games such as "Candy Land," with its harmless sugarcoated characters, encouraged kids to dream of mountains of treats. And there were plenty of treats to be had — not just candy but new super-sweet convenience foods. In the postwar era, kids were less likely to take their own pennies to buy jelly beans and licorice sticks, as they might have done in the 1930s and '40s. Instead, sweets came through the door in Mother's grocery sack filled with Frosted Flakes and Oreos. Candy was what kids loved, but only so long and so much as parents provided and approved. Today, when obesity is widely viewed as the biggest threat to children's health, every kid is at risk from the dangers of unlimited sweets. Public policies focus on removing candy and soda from children's reach and substituting "safe" alternatives such as apple juice and granola bars, which, despite their virtuous wrappers, aren't all that different from the "bad" treats they replace. The gentle tolerance for children's sugar excesses that made Frosted Flakes one of the best-selling cereals in postwar America now verges on child abuse. And the notion that children might, as a century ago, be capable of self-regulation and self-control is notably absent from the passionate debates about how to protect them from food. It might be better to assume that, when it comes to candy — and much else — children are people, too. Instead of treating kids as fragile, helpless, stupid creatures who will perish if we don't swaddle them in layers of social and emotional padding, we could treat them the way adults like to be treated: as intelligent beings with a strong drive for autonomy and respect. Kids need our wisdom and our knowledge. They need to learn from us what good food looks and tastes like, and how to take care of their bodies. They need to understand media and advertising's power to persuade and distort. But we should give them the freedom to learn to be themselves. Sure, kids will make mistakes. But the worst thing that will happen if my kid goes crazy with her Halloween candy is that she'll get a tummy ache. Which might actually be a great way for her to learn, on her own, the all-important Halloween virtue of moderation. Red Bluff Businessman's Bible Study (RBBBS) Join us!! Learn how to Operate and Grow your Business using Christian Principles Learn to be a More Effective Christian and Businessman Network with other Christian Businessmen Non-Denominational Inaugural Meeting: Monday, October 21, 2013 7:15 - 8:00 a.m. No Cost FREE Coffee will be served. Need a Physician? Doctors who listen ... Doctors who care. A FREE SERVICE PROVIDED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE Call toll free 888.628.1948 www.redbluff.mercy.org 331 Elm Street, Red Bluff RSVP 530-736-6775 A Retirement Community for the Active Senior Citizens EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY Tehama Estates provides the best living environment available to active seniors in Red Bluff, CA. We will show you ways to stay involved in the care of loved ones, and work with you to maintain the highest quality of life. 1/2 OFF first month rent! ◆ Independent Living ◆ Private Apartments ◆ House Keeping Services ◆ Three Nutritious Meals Daily ◆ 24 Hour Secure Environment ◆ Warm & Friendly Staff ◆Recreational Programs ◆Scheduled Transportation ◆Private & Formal Dining Rooms 750 David Avenue, Red Bluff • 527-9193 MOULE'S TEHAMA COUNTY GLASS for Fireplace Glass 515 Sycamore St., Red Bluff • 529-0260 FREEDOM FROM DEBT! Find out how U. S. Bankruptcy Law can help you-For a free consultation call Attorney J. C. Olander at 530-824-0288 Offices in Corning and Redding mail@jcolander.com A federally qualified Debt Relief Agency under 11 U.S.C. 101(12(A))