Sports and Fitness

Julia Sneden wrote: Here are some ideas to engage slightly older children. The same principles pertain: keep a healthy ratio between passive (as in watching videos or TV) and active activities (ones in which the child must use more than his receptive senses; things that involve his body as well as his mind). For older children, I'd suggest being sure you have playing cards, board games like Parcheesi, checkers, chess, and backgammon, and some sports equipment on hand. Editor's Note: At Camp Gray, all 3 grandchildren made pj pants, including our grandson, using our sewing machine. more »

Unlike more cosmetic markers of aging, such as wrinkles and gray hair, sleep deterioration has been linked to such conditions as Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and stroke, a Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience has said. Walker warns that the pills designed to help us doze off are a poor substitute for the natural sleep cycles that the brain needs in order to function well. "Don’t be fooled into thinking sedation is real sleep. It's not," he said. more »

Rose Madeline Mula writes: Every weekend, cousins, aunts and uncles-all well-intentioned-would nobly try to help me overcome my abject terror of the deep (hey, it was up to my knees!) by trying to teach me to swim. They all invariably employed the same method. Each, in turn, would coax (spelled d-r-a-g) me, screaming, into the frigid water, force me over onto my stomach and absolutely swear they would not let go of me. But they always did. And I would sink choking and panic-stricken to the bottom-only two feet down, but the bottom, nevertheless. more »

Text of Introduction: This act amends the Workers Compensation Act to prevent employers from setting varying footwear and other requirements based on gender, gender expression or gender identity. As a result, for example, this act would prevent employers from requiring select employees to wear high-heeled shoes. more »