What does it mean to be a “good eater,” and how can we support children and youth to eat well? Whether you’re a parent or caregiver feeding kids at home, or an educator who wants to promote healthy eating at school, you’ve probably thought about these questions.
This was the focus of a webinar, hosted by Farm to School BC and co-facilitated by myself and Nicole Spencer, a Vancouver Coastal Health Authority dietitian. Participants learned about the value and power of providing opportunities for kids to explore foods, free from pressure. They also considered the roles adults and children each have with feeding and eating , and that sticking to these roles honours children’s natural ability to trust their bodies, while fostering a lifelong positive relationship with food.
Applying theory to practice is sometimes harder than it appears. It requires some “unlearning” to break free from the negative ways diet culture sets us up to think and talk about food.
We looked at real-life scenarios, shared examples of supportive language, and highlighted a variety of tools, resources, and lesson plans designed to support practice. The final portion of this jam-packed webinar featured lively discussion on many hot topics.
At the end of the session, we invited participants to share their most significant takeaways. Their responses were compiled in a graphic (called a “wordle”), as above. As you can see, there was so much rich learning!
Whether you’re a caregiver, educator, or health professional, there’s bound to be information in this webinar to build your confidence in helping kids develop positive eating behaviours and attitudes. If this is of interest to you…good news! The webinar was recorded for your viewing convenience; you can access it on YouTube here.
If you don’t have 53 minutes to watch the entire thing, check out this breakdown of what was covered and when:
- 3:45 - What is healthy eating?
- 9:36 - Roles for adults and children around feeding and eating
- 18:23 - Opportunities in the school setting
- 22:43 - Resources and tools to support healthy eating at school
- 30:05 - Summary and Q & A
For more information, see these related resources and posts:
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