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Community Corner

Laguna Beach Moms Talk: Is Your Family High?

On fattening chips and energy drinks, that is.

Addictive chips, high-energy drinks and staying in touch with kids at college all raise questions.

Early on in parenting, I realized many of the other parents knew things I did not. I also found out I could always learn more. But often, a quick answer from another parent gave me the best solution. So let us know if you have answers or sources for the questions out there.

Is your family high on fats? What? Well, not exactly, but researchers Daniele Piomelli and Nicolas DiPatrizio of UC Irvine tell us why we can’t eat just one chip or one French fry. They say, “Fats in foods trigger chemical responses that drive us to eat more.” According to Piomelli and Di Patrizio, “Natural, marijuana-like chemicals in the body, called endocannabinoids, are produced when fats are tasted, and they drive that urge to keep munching.”

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Got a teen who runs on premium? If you wonder why he insists on high-energy drinks when the rest of the family runs on regular drinks, the book You: The Owner’s Manual for Teens by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz, explains how  energy drinks work with teens.

They cover a whole range of other issues, too, starting with a typical teen list: “Having cool clothes, making it through the math test tomorrow, staying zit-free, making the soccer team and unlimited texting plans.” Then they counter with topics like “Freaking Out,” “Teen Wasteland,” “Sleeping Duty” and “Weighty Issues.”

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In the process, they also cover a lot of ground on “how to get more sleep, improve the skin’s appearance and health, figure out whether it’s love, and making decisions about drugs and alcohol.”

How in touch should you be when your kids go off to college? The I Connected Parent book tells you “how to stay close to your kids in college, and beyond, while letting them grow up.” But they warn, “All of our instant communication makes that less likely to happen.”

They give examples of over-connectedness leading to low autonomy where the student needs a nudge to get things done and make decisions. He or she may also have a sense of entitlement, not viewing their parents as independent creatures with lives of their own.

Authors Barbara Hofer and Abigail Moore advise, “The opportunity to communicate around the clock from texting to Facebook, fueled by our cultural expectations to interact immediately, can stress the bonds in any normal parent/child combination. Too much contact with parents hobbles students who are trying to reach adulthood.”

Is cooking for the family bringing you down? Maya Angelou, poet and literary legend, invites you into her kitchen and comes up with Mixed Up Tamale Pie, Santa Fe Chile, Shepherd’s Pie, and All Day and All Night Corn Bread in her book, Great Food, All Day Long. Her motto is “cook splendidly, eat smart.”

As fall approaches, how will I get my kids back on schedule? That transition from sleeping in to rising early should be started now. Begin by slipping in some light scheduling, so that first morning will not be quite so painful. Slot in a pattern: Monday, beach day; Tuesday, library day; etc., on through to open time on Friday. If bedtimes have slipped further and further out, start reeling them back in, planning morning activities that involve getting out and getting going. 

Quick picks for things to do:

. Exploring Biodiversity Hike, August 9,  9-11 a.m. A slow and easy hike over rocky and uneven terrain. For ages 12 and up. California Native Plant/Wildflower Hike, August 13, 8-11 a.m. Learn to identify native plants. For ages 12 and up.

Festival of the Arts Jr. Art Exhibit and Youth Art Education Days. The Junior Art Exhibit is on daily through Aug. 31, and the Art Education classes are happening now through August 26 for ages 7-12. 11 a.m.-noon.

Rodin’s Figures at Laguna College of Art and Design. Now through September 23.

Bugs Bunny at the Symphony. Sat., August 6. Orange County’s Pacific Symphony and Bugs at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Irvine.

Orange County Fair. Ends August 14. 

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