Page 6 - Jupiter Spotlight - January '21

Page 6, Jupiter Spotlight
Commissioner’s Update

Make Fitness A Priority winning Parks and Recreation Department facilities and • Carlin Park is a great place to visit the beach, play
programs. The county operates 110 parks and recreation some tennis, or have a small family picnic, and now offers
By County Commissioner facilities, including athletic facilities, campsites, trails a free, new “Functional Fitness” program outdoors for
Maria Marino and beaches, as well as two water parks. These parks adults and seniors. See the calendar and register at:
One of the highest include more than 8,000 acres of land for residents and https://discover.pbcgov.org/parks/Lists/EventsCalendar/
priorities for our visitors to explore, offering more than 50 miles of trails. EventDispForm.aspx?ID=1017.0.2020-12-07T13:30:00Z
community in my view The county expands its reach in offering programs &Source=https%3A%2F%2Fdiscover%2Epbcgov%2Eor
is to expand and enhance accessible to all residents through public/private partnerships g%2Fparks%2FLists%2FEventsCalendar%2FGeneralCo
our parks and recreation with nearly 500 teams, leagues, service clubs, agencies, mmunity%2Easpx&ContentTypeId=0x0102007E5E79B
systems for the health and homeowner associations, neighborhood groups, schools, C7D09B14D9EBE35EF456801ED.
well-being of our children companies and nonprofit organizations. Whether you are • Infrastructure Sales Surtax dollars funded a recent
and families. This has interested in having your child play in a league sport, enroll renovation of Juno Park’s playground on Ellison Wilson
become even more critical in a summer camp, or just increase their time outdoors, there Road.
given the gravitation to is a wide array of options in our community. • Small groups of volunteers are getting outdoors to
remote learning and working over the past year. Getting Here are just a few of the exciting happenings in Palm help clean our county public park beaches with an eye
outdoors and being active is extremely important for Beach County parks in District 1: toward eliminating discarded plastics that wash ashore,
mental and physical health, and research has shown that • The Gardens North County District Park is meeting contributing to a healthy environment while enhancing
students perform better scholastically when their days the need for additional multipurpose fields for soccer their own physical fitness. Friends of Jupiter Beach has
include time for recreation. and other field sports. A partnership of the City of Palm regularly scheduled small group cleanups for youth,
Recent studies performed by UNICEF, the British Beach Gardens with Palm Beach County brought this to family and individual participation. You can obtain more
Journal of Sports Medicine, and sporting marketing fruition. Phase 2 of the project will include a state-of- information at https://friendsofjupiterbeach.org/.
surveys have revealed some startling statistics: the-art indoor recreation facility and will be constructed • County Parks’ staff produced several videos for you
• The United States ranks last – 38th out of 38 rich through a public/private partnership between the city, the to enjoy at home, featuring yoga, animal encounters,
countries in the physical health of our children, and 32nd county and a not-for-profit foundation. workouts, DIY activities and more. Check out all the
out of 38 countries in mental health and well-being • Limestone Creek Park, one of our oldest neighborhood videos on PBC Parks TV (youtube.com).
• Children in the United States ranked 47th out of 50 parks, just received a basketball court expansion with new As an athlete since my youth and a professional golfer,
countries in fitness backboards. Resident input will help finalize plans for I know first-hand how physical activity enriches our
• Ninety-three percent of children in the United States native landscaping. health, our quality of life and stimulates learning, and I
are not active according to CDC physical activity standards • West Jupiter Recreation Center plans to host JTAA look forward to developing additional programs to help
• Sixty-two percent of all children in America cannot basketball and volleyball youth sports programs this our children, families and seniors stay active.
afford to play sports winter with additional COVID-19 protocols in place. Please contact me with your ideas and let me know
• Inactivity leading to major physical and mental health • North County Aquatic Complex has worked closely how I can assist you. You can reach me at (561) 355-2201
issues is dramatically higher in low-income families with youth swim and dive teams, master swimmers, water or by email at mmarino@pbcgov.org.
We can help change these statistics for the better by aerobics and public participants to allow safe continued
getting the word out about Palm Beach County’s award- activity at the pool, allowing for fitness and achievement
in aquatic sports.
How To Motivate

Unmotivated Kids

By Jim Forgan, Ph.D.,
School Psychologist
“Just do it,” as Nike
says, is catchy but most
people don’t become
highly motivated
by a picture and an
inspirational saying. If
that worked, I would not
hear from parents, “My
child is unmotivated and
lazy.” Why are some kids
so difficult to motivate? Does your child get too much
screen time or is it the absence of recreational programs
due to COVID? Does your child have a developmental
problem? Maybe it’s just that many kids in our area live
in the land of entitlement.
Start at home if you want your child to be a
motivated self-starter. Give your child age appropriate
responsibilities rather than doing tasks yourself just
because it’s easier as compared to nagging your child.
Kids feel better about themselves when they feel like they
are contributing to the family. Regardless of your child’s
age, start now. Ask yourself, “What am I doing for my
child that he or she needs to do for him or herself?” Make
a short list and then have a sit down to discuss your child’s
new responsibilities.
Most parents try to motivate their child using incentives
including toys, screen time, or events such as a play
date. While that works for some children, other kids are
motivated by either prestige, power, or praise.
If your child is motivated by prestige, then reward
him for a job well done with a best kid award to put on William Kwamena-Poh, Tomorrows Hope William Kwamena-Poh, Tomorrows Hope
the refrigerator, a public compliment in front of friends,
or something that makes him feel prestigious. If she
is motivated by power, give her choices. “When your
work is done, you can do this or this. Which one do you
prefer?” Or say, “When the work is done, you get to pick
the restaurant for dinner.” If praise motivates your child,
lavish authentic verbal praise upon him. If he had great
behavior at school, verbally praise him and then place
a praise note in his lunchbox so the praise encourages
another great day. Motivating kids occurs in small steps
and motivators change with time. Check out Rick Lavoie’s
book, The Motivation Breakthrough.
Dr. Forgan and associates test kids for ADHD/ADD,
dyslexia, gifted, learning disabilities, and processing
problems. Call (561) 625-4125 or visit JimForgan.com.