NEWS FROM THE BREAKFAST NOOK
Your kids might not be as addicted to chocolate frosted sugar bombs as you think:
"Move over tigers and leprechauns, breakfast cereal doesn't necessarily have to be sweet for kids to eat it. A study conducted by Yale University researchers found that many children, when given low sugar cereals, enjoyed them and ate a better breakfast when they didn't eat the sugary alternatives."

So buy that granola with a clear conscience!

IN OTHER FOOD NEWS
You parents might not have the effect on your children's eating habits that you think:
"A new study released last week found that parents' influence over kids' eating habits isn't all that strong after all. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health examined the findings from 24 studies exploring the link between parental eating behaviors and those of their children; the results were quite mixed, and ultimately they showed a weak association at best. Moreover, the resemblance between parents' eating habits and their kids' has weakened over time. (The studies covered the years from 1980 to 2009.)
The authors posit that other influences -- everything from media and peers to schools and government dietary guidelines -- have assumed increased influence over young people's eating habits."

There's still nothing wrong, of course, with eating right, getting exercise, thus modeling good behavior as much as you can, and thus...as the author notes...hoping some of it sticks.

I KNOW SOMETHING YOU DON'T KNOW...
That is, people with lower incomes are far more perceptive than the rich and well-off when it comes to what others are thinking and feeling:
"Wondering why your fat cat boss seems so clueless about why you don’t want to work extra shifts during the holidays? It could be because he can’t understand the dour looks you keep throwing his way.
Upper-class people are less adept at reading other people's emotions than their lower-class counterparts, according to a new study published in the journal Psychological Science.  “We found that people from a lower-class background – in terms of occupation, status, education and income level – performed better in terms of emotional intelligence, the ability to read the emotions that others are feeling,” says Michael Kraus, co-author of the study and a postdoctoral student in psychology at the University of California, San Francisco."

I found that very interesting because I believe strongly that when it comes to people with Moebius Syndrome--persons who can't, through facial expression, after all, show THEIR feelings very easily--still they are very good at figuring out what others are thinking.  I believe this is because we know our limitations, and work to overcome them; hence we sharpen our skills of observation when it comes to others.

But then this article also made me think this:  how many persons with facial difference or with Moebius Syndrome do you know who are RICH????

I can't think of anyone. So maybe that's powered up our observations skills, too!

"Whatever you do or dream you can do - begin it.  Boldness has genius
and power and magic in it." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe