Free play is game or imaginative activity that is freely chosen, age-mixed, and minimally competitive.   It is the kind of play that arises spontaneously when kids gather; the “here we are in the vacant lot with nothing but a piece of string and five bottle caps so what do we do now” kind of play.  Adult organized activities like soccer games or kit-building projects aren’t bad, they just aren’t free play and aren’t the kind of fun that gives children the most benefit.  According to Stuart Brown, a leading expert on play who once studied seriously disturbed people who commit crime, not having the opportunity for free play in childhood is often part of the life story of maladjusted individuals.  Play is a “state of mind,” says Brown, “an absorbing, apparently purposeless activity that provides enjoyment and a suspension of self-consciousness and sense of time.”  Get rid of play, and you’ll measure a quickly rising level of stress and negative outcomes.  The move in some schools to replace recess with academic time threatens to chip away at a mid-day free play period that stimulates creativity, learning, and brain functioning, and in the long run will work out poorly for the schools that try it.

Maybe you’ve let family fun slip off of the list because your family budget is looking worse than the national budget, or because stress and time have given you a case of “fun amnesia.”  If that’s the case, then you’ve noticed that dull haze that develops during the day, and those instances where you realize that you can’t remember the last time you laughed out loud.  It’s probably time to inject fun back into your family’s environment.  But where to start?  Maybe trying to remember the kind of free play fun you found when you were growing up.  Did it involve digging figurine-sized tunnels in a vacant lot and filling them with water?  Was there a “craze” that played itself out with the kids in the neighborhood, like a loosely organized, grand masters handball tournament?  Maybe the best afternoon you had involved looking for evidence of a fairy visitation among the bushes in your backyard from the night before, or making yarn ghosts.  Getting the picture?  The best ingredients for a recipe for free play fun involve an attitude of curiosity, some room to explore, and a measure of freedom from adult direction.  This is what Stuart Brown and other researchers have found sets the stage for mind-healthy play.  You may also notice that this type of activity builds on itself naturally, organically, and doesn’t require progression toward an end goal.  Achievement, if present in the activity, is part of the play and not a means to an end.  Why does this kind of play tend to occur outdoors?  Perhaps because there are less restrictions outside of the house.

Are you still having difficulties finding ideas to initiate family fun play?  Try some of these fun-starters, being mindful that once the kids are involved, managing their choices during play needs to be avoided:

• Set up some toys or figurines around a tree or in strategic places in the yard and ask the kids to show you what the figurines would do if they came to life.
• Make a paper boat out of paper and tape, put some water in the tub, and ask if the kids can make one.
• Bring out a ball and make a “rule” about what each person has to do with the ball while walking across the yard.
• Snow day?  Have a “migloo” building contest, that is, a miniature igloo building contest.
• Make snow angels, but finish them off by making some pans of colored water with food coloring and “paint” the wings of the angels.

By now, you’ve probably got the picture that once children are given permission to use their imaginations and really trust that they have the freedom to do so, they will come up with some great ideas on their own.  If all of this focus on play doesn’t seem like serious business, consider the following facts about play and the thinking brain described by Gwen Dewar, Ph.D..  It is theorized that play helps stimulate the secretion of BDNF, or Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor, a chemical essential for brain cell health.  Play enhances divergent thinking and problem solving, as measured by research that tested children on these types of problems following free play.  We could go on for a few more pages describing research into the benefits of play, but that would keep you from getting out of the chair and out the door with the kids.  Need more inspiration to keep your free play activities happening on a regular basis, take a look at Stuart Brown’s book synthesizing his research in this fascinating area, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul,.

Medicare paid $94 million for artificial feet in 2010, according to research conducted for The Associated Press. That was nearly $35 million more than in 2005, even though in 2010, Medicare covered about 1,900 fewer such prostheses.

It works out to a 58 percent cost increase over five years.

Artificial feet represent a tiny slice of the $550 billion Medicare spends on health care for 49 million older and disabled people.

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Carbohydrates are in such a lot of food these days. We probably dont even realise half the time how many we should or shouldnt be eating. Im not saying there is anything wrong with carbohydrates.

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I am into my fourteenth week of existence. Mom is into her second trimester. My teeth are formed in the gums. I cannot bite, that is for a later date. I have these long string- things that, when I am born, will be called intestines. But, for now, they are moving themselves from the cord that holds me to my mother into me by a miraculous plan.

In these cords are strange things that look like hairs. They are called villi, and will help with movement of meconium, or faeces, when I am born. My pancreas is also secreting insulin, although I do not need it yet.

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Theres a word for this: denial. And theres a good example of how it can affect family decision making in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. [

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Its easy to pick on the New York Times. Theyre the big guys. Without fail, however, every time the big guys pick on one of the little guys, in this case organic food, someones gonna get a proverbial wedgie. The New York Times recently published an article entitled, Organic Agriculture Might Be Outgrowing Its Ideals, calling into question the sustainability of the sustainable food movement. Interesting. Specifically called out was the growing of organic tomatoes in the Baja Peninsula, and of course, the blogosphere went wild.

The we want organic and we want it now mentality has led to an upswing of Mexican workers making use of their deserts to provide us with the crops we demand. Vot

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Could sodium laureth sulfate be to cosmetics what BPA was to plastic water bottles?

The public interest group Environmental Defence is hoping so, launching the latest phase of its Just Beautiful campaign with a new ad warning consumers about chemicals in makeup and beauty products.

The 60-second commercial from the Toronto-based agency Open, entitled “How To Look Pretty Without Poisoning Yourself,” depicts a game show contestant who has to find one among an array of a cosmetic products that does not contain toxins or cancer-causing chemicals.

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Netflix took a lot of flack last summer after announcing it was raising its prices and splitting its streaming and DVD plans. Still, my husband and I had been customers for quite a while and we loved the ease and value of the service, so we decided to stick with them. Not only do we enjoy having access to thousands of movie selections between the two options, but our kids love it, too.

All of my boys know how to choose streaming movies on our computers and XBOX, including our 2-year-old. We keep an eye on what theyre watching and make sure theyre only choosing from the childrens menu, but they love the freedom of being able to watch an episode of Backyardigans or Power Rangers Samurai on a whim.

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In an interview last week, a top aide to Mr. Benkirane, Mustapha Khalifi, speaking in a personal capacity, confirmed media reports that the prime minister would support an initiative to allow abortions in cases of rape and incest.

Mr. Khalifi, subsequently appointed the communications minister, said in an interview that the government should push ahead with a proposal, drafted by the social and family affairs minister in the previous government, Nouzha Skalli, to address the steep rise both in illegal abortions and in the number of unmarried mothers caught in the poverty trap. Read full post…

Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Disease

When breast cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes, many doctors believe that removing several more nodes provides better treatment.

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A few weeks later, most people will wonder what went wrong. Instead of beating the bulge, we’ll beat ourselves up for failing once again.

Louise Foxcroft, author of the new book ‘Calories & Corsets’, which looks at the history of dieting over 2,000 years, says the new-year diet plays into our feelings about shame.

“Most people have over-indulged over Christmas — they’ve eaten too much and they’ve eaten too many rich foods,” she says.

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Rewards

You dont have to pay your kid to make her bed, but psychologists agree that a reward system, or positive reinforcement, can go a long way toward motivating your child to do his or her chores. Rewards can take the form of privileges, such as television time, video games, time on the phone or internet, etc.

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