With Rising Numbers Of Overweight Children, It’s Time To Share The Facts With Parents
The key to supporting healthy homes by engaging with parents is respect and, as far as possible, a non-judgemental attitude
In August 2016 the UK government report ‘Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action’ was released. It revealed that one in five children are already overweight or obese before they start school, and that only one in 10 children aged two to four meets the UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines for this age group.
The early years is recognised as a crucial time in children’s development and the importance of starting as early as possible in a child’s life to embed the knowledge and habits of a healthy lifestyle is obvious. Much of this will come from a child’s family life. However, with more and more two-year-olds accessing free education there is an opportunity for early years teachers and practitioners to influence, support and promote healthy habits through their everyday work, not only with children but also with their parents.
Practitioners and teachers generally have daily contact with families from when a child starts at a setting right through to the end of Reception, and with it a unique window of opportunity. A particular focus on Reception comes with the latest initiative from Public Health England. As children start a new phase of education, Reception class teachers will receive new ‘Our Healthy Year’ resources from Change4Life, designed to coincide with the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP).
Our Healthy Year includes a teaching toolkit containing ideas and activities to promote healthy eating and physical activity referenced to the EYFS and Early Learning Goals. It also includes take-home resources and ideas for working alongside parents to promote a healthier lifestyle.
Engaging with parents
However, just as every child is unique so is every parent, and this needs to be at the forefront of practitioners and teachers’ minds. Key to engaging with parents is respect and, as far as possible, a non-judgemental attitude, working from the premise that all parents want the best for their children.
Every parent will have their own parenting style and will vary in their attitudes to physical activity and body weight, some of which will be influenced by social or cultural factors. There are economic considerations, too, and the knowledge of parents about healthy lifestyle to consider. More general factors such as parents’ own level and/or experience of education, English as an Additional Language or work commitments can all affect attitudes and their willingness, confidence or ability to engage in school life.
It’s important, then, that practitioners and teachers use as wide a variety of methods and activities as possible in order to reach and involve the greatest number of parents.
Use existing opportunities
• Use Prospective Parent information or Welcome to Reception meetings to talk about promoting healthy eating and physical activity, and discuss the NCMP.
• At parents’ afternoons or evenings offer parents a chance to meet with a health professional or school nurse to discuss the results of the NCMP or healthy lifestyle issues. You could even organise a short presentation repeated at regular intervals.
• Invite parents to assemblies where children share what they have learnt about healthy eating and physical activity.
• Posters and school newsletters are a great opportunity to give or pass on information. Change4Life often sends out posters and leaflets throughout the year with the School Fruit and Veg scheme. Check out the Eatwell Guide and look at portion sizes.
Use parents’ skills and talents
• Ask parents for healthy recipes and send home a weekly suggestion in the newsletter or collect them together to make a school recipe book. This can be particularly successful with recipes from around the world.
• Introduce half-termly cooking classes or demonstrations for parents to show others low-calorie or healthy-option recipes.
• Start up a cooking or gardening club for children with parent helpers.
• Ask mums or dads to come in and demonstrate/coach a sport, skill or playground game with a small group or class.
• Try ‘Walk While You Wait’, where parents and children lap the playground at the beginning and end of the day, or a 10-minute exercise class for parents at drop-off.
• Help to organise a parents’ social evening with game show-style challenges, a ballroom dancing class or ‘old school’ disco, or start a parents’ sports team.
Linking home and school
Talking about healthy food and physical activity can be woven into many projects and activities within any setting. Sharing storybooks, shopping or cooking in the role-play area, counting or using money in maths sessions, planting and growing outside, learning about our bodies or senses – the list goes on.
Anything that links activities or knowledge taking place in the setting to a wider context is beneficial to children, as it allows them to see what they have learnt applied in real-life situations. It also makes parents aware and can influence their choices and behaviour. Activities are best kept to those that are naturally part of everyday life, as anything too time-consuming or costly can exclude many families.
Encourage parents to think about their family’s food, planning meals and lunch boxes by suggesting they… • Play the ‘What’s in the fridge’ game and identify what types of food they have, how much is healthy, where it comes from and how it grows.
• Use the Eatwell Guide to compare meal and portion sizes.
• Go to the supermarket together to see how many different fruits or vegetables they can identify and name.
• Try a fruit or vegetable they have never eaten before!
• Use the Change4Life Sugar Smart app to see how much sugar their favourite drinks or foods contain.
• Talk about a food-themed storybook being read in class, such as Jack and the Beanstalk or The Gingerbread Man. Teachers could send a set of discussion questions home – see here for inspiration.
Final thoughts
With so much focus on weight and obesity the wider benefits to children and adults of healthy eating and exercise are often overlooked. When speaking to parents talk also about the improvements to concentration, health and fitness, sleep and the building of social skills and confidence. Highlight too the guidelines for older children and adults so that the whole family is involved.
REGULAR FEATURES
Why not plan in weekly events to raise awareness of healthy eating? These four examples are often most successful when adopted by the whole school/setting, and can quickly establish themselves as a routine part of both home and school life
1. Meat-free Mondays When families can try vegetarian dishes; perhaps send home some starter recipes to make it easy.
2. Fishy Fridays With the recommendation that children and adults eat two portions of fish each week, this would be a good start.
3. Turn-it-off Tuesdays This might prove the beginning of a less sedentary lifestyle as laptops, iPads and TVs are turned off for a set time to make way for something different and more active.
4. Wash-a-car weekend Physical activity doesn’t only mean sports and games. Many everyday tasks, such as cleaning, gardening and even running up the stairs, count towards the recommended three hours, and children love to help.
Christine Dukes and Maggie Smith are early years consultants, authors and area SENCos.
