Sesame Street, Childhood #Obesity and the First Lady? #Sweepstakes

Happy Memorial Day, my American friends! This long weekend, I'd like to share with you a couple things...You want a quick sneak peak? Well, we're going to talk about Sesame Street and then how you can win a trip to take your little one to have a meal with the First Lady, Michelle Obama! Let's start with Sesame Street but don't forget to keep reading for all the juicy details!

LOL, the name of this reminds me of the post I did on Little Women, Big Cars. Little Children, Big Challenges is Sesame Workshop's newest initiative. Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street. The goal of this program is to help children increase their self-awareness, boost self-esteem, develop their character, and learn to deal with everyday road bumps like sibling rivalry, resolving problems, understanding their own abilities and bullying. Not only that, but it also helps to encourage parents and role models to help their children become more resilient to day to day issues.

It debuts this week with a new anthem, “What We Are”, performed by Elmo, Rosita and Gordon Perform Live with the Quantico Marine Corps Band and Matt Rogers, Host of Lifetime’s Coming Home. Check it out below. It's rather catchy and I think you and your children will be singing along to this in no time!
I loved it. It promotes the ever important message of never give up and to push on, get stronger...something I feel we could all use a bit of. We all have to deal with good and bad things at some point in our lives and sometimes it's earlier, sometimes it's later. So, it's a really good idea to proactively start to teach children how to cope so that they can be better prepared in the case that anything happens. The awesome thing about this program is that it will be launched as a multiyear, bilingual (English/Spanish) program and it touches base not only on lighter events but also on more serious topics such as bullying, having divorced or incarcerated parent(s), and more.

Free multimedia resources will be available to all families raising preschoolers. They will be distributed to the military through partnerships with Military OneSource, the Military Child Education Coalition and the USO and to the general community through parenting, child-care, health, and education programs, social work organizations, counselors and psychologists, and bullying prevention organizations.

Visit the Sesame Street for new online resources for Little Children, Big Challenges will feature the anthem along with new interactive tools for children and families. Download Sesame’s Free Feel Electric! app for school-aged children for your Apple iPod, iPhone and Android devices to help build their resilience.
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Photo from ChooseMyPlate.gov

This is going to be a change of pace but as most of you know, kids are getting more and more obese these days. That's only going to lead to more diabetes and comorbidities as they grow up. However, you can help, you can change this by stepping forward and providing healthy meals for your children. There has never been a better time too with this new initiative from Epicurious, First Lady Michelle Obama, the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture. Jump in and help out with the 'Let's Move!' campaign.

Think you can cook? Can you step up to the challenge? Join in a nationwide recipe challenge to promote healthy lunches.

Details:

The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge & Kids' "State Dinner" invites parents (or legal guardians) and their children, ages 8-12, to create and submit a recipe for a lunch that is nutritious and delicious. All entrants have the chance to win a trip to Washington D.C. and the opportunity to be invited to attend a Kids' “State Dinner” at the White House in August with Mrs. Obama, where a selection of the winning healthy recipes will be served.

Pretty neat, right? All you have to do is create a healthy lunch recipe with your 8-12 year old, submit it for your chanceentered to win a trip to have a meal in the White House with the First Lady, Michelle Obama! Did I mention, she will also be trying out your recipes??

Tips: You'll want to create a recipe that is healthy, affordable and of course, yummy. Use the nutritional guidelines of the USDA’s site, ChooseMyPlate.gov, to guide your recipe, making sure they meet the healthy criteria and represent each of the food groups. You can put them all in one dish or separately as individual parts of the lunch. So, that means you should include fruit, veggies, whole grains, protein and low-fat dairy foods.

This awesome sweepstakes is open to the US states and territories. The prize is just too cool. How often do you get flow out to DC to meet and eat with Mrs. Obama, in the White House? This would be the story of a lifetime! Your chances are pretty good too. 56 winners (1 from each of the 50 states, plus the U.S. Territories, D.C., and Puerto Rico) and a parent or guardian will be drawn for this amazing adventure that includes your flight, hotel, and of course, your White House meal with the First Lady!

Winning recipes will be chosen by a panel of judges that includes Tanya Steel (editor-in-chief of Epicurious), Assistant White House Chef Sam Kass, USDA & Department of Education representatives, and a celebrity chef. The winning recipes will be compiled into a FREE downloadable and printable e-cookbook available to all. This cookbook will also feature nutritional analysis, and photos and drawings of the recipes.

Submit your recipes until June 17 via one of the following methods:
1) Online
2) Via mail to: “The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge c/o Epicurious.com,” 1166 Avenue of the Americas, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10036.

Then mark your calendars for July 16 because that's when winners will be notified. The White House Kids “State Dinner” is currently scheduled for August 2012. For more information and contest rules, visit here.

Good luck!

Disclaimer: Please view my full disclosure, TOS, and privacy policy. Please take the time to enter my other giveaways while you're here.

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                                                         Until next time,