Many parents might have fond memories of walking or biking to school and want the same for their children. However, there is a lot that goes behind the scenes to make that possibility both safe and fun! The Creating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC) team works with schools in the Kingston City School District to make these opportunities for physical activity as well as nutrition happen.

One such school that the CHSC team works with is Edson Elementary School, which has an active Wellness Committee dedicated to creating healthy opportunities for their students.

A major focus of this Committee has been to make routes to school safer for those walking, rolling, and biking through a approach. SRTS is an approach that encourages active transport to school through improving infrastructure, enforcement, safety education, and incentives to promote walking and biking. Edson Elementary has made huge strides in promoting Safe Routes to School through policy, systems, and environmental changes that ban cars from parking in pedestrian pathways to fun events like school-wide walk and roll to school days. Of course, having supportive leadership is key to success. The school’s principal, Kathy Lowell, is an avid cyclist herself and prioritizes safe walking and biking education and promotion.

Read below to learn more about each of these exciting activities and important changes!

Walking School Bus

The Wellness Committee set a goal to start a walking school bus, which simply put, is a group of students walking to school with one or more adults- kind of like a carpool, but without the car! Students who live within a half a mile from the school are designated walkers and are not provided with bus transportation. There are many designated walking students at Edson and some walk nearly everyday rain or shine, while others are frequently driven. The wellness committee identified many reasons to start a walking school bus, including increasing attendance rates, helping students get the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity, helping students focus and have better academic achievement, reducing traffic congestion, environmental reasons, and creating an overall culture of walking. Walking in a group helps increase visibility of pedestrians and promote a sense of comradery.

There were some safety concerns that needed to be addressed before launching the walking school bus, including the morning traffic congestion that leaves little space for pedestrians to walk safely. Now that some of these concerns have been addressed, the walking school bus will be piloted two times this school year, with the hope that next school year it can run on an ongoing basis!

Infrastructure Improvements

Infrastructure improvements are key to creating safer streets and making walking and biking an easy choice. Officials from the City of Kingston met with Edson parents and school authorities to address concerns they had about the safety of pedestrians during heavy traffic congestion times. Currently, there are a limited number of sidewalks leading to Edson, which can lead to students walking on private property to avoid cars. To address this, Mayor Noble issued an executive order to add more signage that indicates no parking or standing during school hours. This has significantly improved the traffic congestion, making it safer for walking students. Long term goals include designating non-driving areas through painted striping and new sidewalks.

Safety Education

The Creating Healthy Schools coordinator and Edson Wellness Committee brought bicycle safety education to Edson students with an amazing assembly featuring the YMCA Bicycle Program 

manager who taught the second and third grade students about the importance of wearing a helmet. The assembly culminated in two brand-new bicycles being raffled off to two lucky students, free helmets, and healthy snacks for all!

Walking Events

To celebrate their hard work towards creating a walking school bus and the city-wide efforts at making Kingston’s streets more walkable, the Edson Elementary School wellness committee held a walk to school day celebration on April 22 (Earth Day!).

While the school typically celebrates the National Walk and Roll to School Day in October, they had to get a little creative because of the Dietz Stadium renovations. Working with the City of Kingston’s Parks & Recreation Department and the Kingston Police Department, the event starting location moved to Forsyth Park in April.

Students were buzzing with excitement as they gathered at the park on a crisp, sunny morning. One student even sported a metal trash grabber and trash bag to clean up as they went! Walk to School days are a great way to instill values of community and physical activity in children, all while having so much fun! This event helped raise awareness of the importance of issues such as increasing physical activity among children, pedestrian safety, reducing traffic congestion, and environmental concerns.

Want To Learn More? Contact:

Ninette Warner MS, RDN

School Coordinator, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County

nw293@cornell.edu

This work is made possible by the New York State Department of Health’s Creating Healthy Schools and Communities grant received by the City of Kingston.  The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the State.

By: Tracy Snyder, Program Manager for Physical Activity in Early Care and Education, Family of Woodstock

As a Program Manager for Nutrition and Physical Activity in Early Care and Education (ECE) at Family of Woodstock, crossing the midline is something I always look for. A child will not be able to do the simplest of tasks if not given the opportunity to cross the midline on a daily basis. 

So let us talk more about what the midline is, and how to support children doing so in their development.

The Midline. What Is It Exactly?

The midline is an imaginary line drawn from the head to the feet that separates the left and right halves of the body. Crossing this midline means that a body part (i.e., hand or foot) is able to spontaneously move over to the other side of the body.

The brain is divided into two sides, called the left and right hemispheres. There is a mass of tissue between the two, called the corpus callosum.  It contains nerve fibers that allow the two hemispheres to communicate with each other in order to coordinate learning and movement. A lack of midline crossing may indicate that the left and right sides of the brain are not communicating well across the corpus callosum.

The Midline and Child Development

Typically, children begin crossing the midline when they start reaching for toys at age 4-6 months. This skill continues to develop throughout childhood and is usually mastered at around age 8 or 9.

Bilateral movements (when both limbs are used in unison to contract the muscles, which creates force, and subsequently moves a given load) and interaction with the environment (such as caretakers playing with the child; objects being available to grasp) are important factors in trunk rotation. If a child avoids trunk rotation and/or moves the trunk stiffly as a unit, this may affect the child’s ability to freely cross the midline.

Some children may struggle to easily cross the midline. When a child shows trepidation in reaching, stepping, or looking across their center, this is known as midline crossing inhibition. This delay can be seen when a child hesitates or is clumsy when doing gross motor activities which require the arm or leg to cross over. A child who is grappling with crossing the midline will also struggle to get dressed, write, or cut with scissors.

If children have difficulty crossing the midline you may notice that they:

• Have delays in crawling
• Switch hands when working on fine motor skills such as writing or cutting
• Rotate or turn their entire body to retrieve objects on the other side of them
• Skip or do jumping jacks in an uncoordinated manner

How Crossing the Midline is Important To Growth

Reading and writing requires you to be able to smoothly and without effort cross the midline, as does completing math worksheets and navigating the recess field.  Related to being unable to easily cross the midline, children who struggle with ADHD often do not have a dominant hand, something called mixed dominance. This can also cause problems with coordination, reading, math, and attention. Another sign for possible midline crossing challenges and ADHD, studies have also shown that children diagnosed with ADHD tend to prefer sports such as soccer, track and field, and football as crossing the midline is not required for these activities.

In addition, hand dominance and bilateral integration skills are also needed to cut and to dress oneself.  Cognition develops because both sides of the brain are engaged and must work together during learning tasks, (left to right visual scanning across pages in a book, moving a toy to a basket, and noticing details on a page in their classwork).  It also benefits social-emotional development so children build self esteem while participating in activities (sports, school activities, gym class games).  Frustration and anxiety are reduced at school when children are able to participate in these activities.

Parents who notice that their children are experiencing developmental delays and show signs of mixed dominance should be on the lookout for early symptoms of other challenges.  By correctly identifying these complications, parents can quickly get the resources they need to support their child’s development.

So how do you encourage an infant or toddler to cross the midline?

• Clap hands at midline
• Move a toy across the baby’s line of vision so they have to track the object.
• Tummy time is so important!  Place toys in front of baby to encourage reaching.
• Gently take baby’s arms and hug them across their chest.
• You can have toddlers lie on their back and reach for their opposite foot.
• Give them a toy in one hand and encourage them to grab it with the other.
• To work on midline crossing skills with preschool and older children, try throwing, catching, and kicking objects.
• Blow bubbles and pop them!  Dance!
• Yoga is an excellent way to get your kids crossing over.

Interested in Learning More?

Creating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC), is a program of the City of Kingston’s Department of Health and Wellness that supports policy, system, and environmental changes to make it easier for everyone in Kingston to make healthy choices. The goals of CHSC are to improve food and nutrition guidelines in food service venues, support the planning to increase safe and accessible physical activity, and improve policies and practices to support physical activity and improved nutrition in schools and early care and education centers.

If you are an Early Care and Education Center provider that would like to learn more about this fantastic program, contact: 

Tracy Snyder, Program Manager for Nutrition and Physical Activity in ECE

tsnyder@familyofwoodstockinc.org

(845) 331-7080 ext. 157

In 1928, President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed a National Child Health Day of observance on May 1. In 1960, it was changed to the first Monday in October. While it’s not an official holiday, many schools and hospitals take part in celebrating the day.

“The health of the child is the power of the nation”
Before the 20th century, children were often treated- medicinally, intellectually, and socially- as mini-adults, despite having vastly different needs. It wasn’t even until the mid-1800s that the first children’s hospital was founded. These early hospitals went as far as providing clothing and food to children in need, which significantly reduced the number of children suffering from chronic, preventable medical conditions. The official slogan for National Child Health Day is “the health of the child is the power of the nation,” reflecting that the investment into children’s wellbeing benefits the entire society.

Social Determinants of Health
Health is a complex issue, and being in a state of overall good health isn’t always up to an individual. Many things affect health that are beyond an individual’s control. The “social determinants of health” are the conditions in which we are born, live, work, learn, and play. There are obvious conditions that affect people’s health- like not being able to afford nutrient-dense foods, healthcare, and/or housing due to economic instability (living in poverty).

There are other, less obvious, conditions that affect one’s health and quality of life. Access to quality education and school environments play a huge role in the health of children, starting with early childhood education all the way to higher education. Those who do not finish high school are more likely to develop chronic health problems like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and depression.

Healthy People 2030
Supporting preschool-aged children to be developmentally ready for school and increasing the number of students who are proficient in math and reading are two of the goals of “Healthy People 2030,” a US Department of Health and Human Services framework aimed at improving the health and well-being of all people- read more about that here!

Simply educating and encouraging children to eat healthy and get enough physical activity won’t eliminate health disparities. Instead, it’s important to use strategies that reach entire communities and populations through long-term, sustainable, systems-wide changes. This means, instead of focusing on one-time events, like a health fair, it’s more effective for a school or organization to adopt a policy that changes behavior long term. This could look like a school adopting a policy that provides school breakfast after the bell in the classroom so that more children are able to fuel their bodies at the start of the day.

Other effective ways to encourage equitable health outcomes include changing the way a school system works or its physical environment. The farm-to-school movement connects school districts with locally grown produce and farmers by changing food purchasing practices and providing farming/gardening education in the classroom. This system change could lead to an environmental change of building school gardens. These changes have a lasting impact on the health and wellbeing of not only students, but also their families, teaching staff, and the broader community.

Ways to observe/celebrate

• There are SO many ways you can observe National Child Health Day! If you want to celebrate with big picture thinking, check and see if the important child in your life (child, grandchild, niece/nephew, etc.) has a school wellness committee or PTO that you can join. These committees can help spur systems-wide changes to benefit the health and wellbeing of all children.
• Of course, it isn’t up to you alone to change the system! If you want to celebrate by doing something with the children in your life, consider some of the following:
• Get outside! Go for a walk, play in the park, dig in the dirt, do some yard work (‘tis the season to be raking leaves- or shoveling mulch 😉).
• Cook together! Cooking with kids doesn’t have to be elaborate. Even having a child cut some green onions into a salad using safety scissors, or adding spices to a soup can be a great way to learn about food and cultural traditions.
• Turn off the TV! Have a screen-free evening and try a family board game night instead!
• Take this time to make healthcare appointments! Is your child up to date with their physical? Teeth cleaning? Vaccinations? Here’s your reminder to make sure!

Do you have other special things you like to do to honor your kid’s health? We’d love to hear more! And if a child you love goes to Kingston City School District, you can reach out to Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s school health coordinator to get more information about joining/starting a school health and wellness committee. Nw293@cornell.edu 845-340-3990 ext.347