With the ongoing issue of childhood obesity, we need to find ways to reduce it that are not only beneficial to overall health, but engaging for both children and their parents. One of the many interesting strategies to incorporate healthy eating in children includes the use of family backpacks, a “self-contained set of learning activities” that have been designed to educate parents and children in the wide array of fruits and vegetables that can be integrated into the diets of young children. Research on family backpacks have encouraged parents to reinforce better eating in their child’s or children’s home environment as well as develop habits that could become second nature to a child. Parents that learned something from the family backpacks were able to role model healthy eating at home, which contributes to reinforcement of good eating habits at home. The general consensus of the backpacks is that were claimed to be “interesting and enjoyable” (Hong et al., 2017). The hope for these family backpacks is for them to be part of early childhood education so they can be accessible in school districts.
Another method to incorporate healthy eating into the diets of children could simply be researching new things to get a child interested in eating more fruits and vegetables. There are tons of websites at our fingertips that can take parents right to the information they need to better the diets of their children. One website in particular standouts that stands out in encouraging children to eat well utilizes Sesame Street to convey the message. Eating well includes a variety of videos, articles, printables, and storybooks that parents can use with their child/children that can make make healthy eating enjoyable.
Overall, reducing childhood obesity is not only done with physical activity, but can be most effective with the incorporation of healthy eating.
References
Eating Well. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/eating/
Hong, Jisoo, Bales, Diane W., & Wallinga, Charlotte R. (2018). Using Family Backpacks as a Tool to Involve Families in Teaching Young Children about Healthy Eating. Early Childhood Education Journal, 46(2), 209-221.