Families, Food, and Fun
For children to develop a healthy lifestyle, parents and school officials must set positive examples and take proactive steps to help. In response to this need, the “Families, Food, and Fun” program was created to help combat obesity among children and adolescents in local schools.
“The program provides parents and children with the opportunity to try healthy recipes – they truly ‘learn by doing,’” says Stephanie Diehl, a Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) family and consumer sciences agent from Rockingham County.
The “Families, Food, and Fun” program is a free afterschool program involving parents, grandparents, and children. In the past year and a half, the program has been conducted in four schools where more than 50 percent of the children receive free or reduced-price lunches. For five sessions, families participate in hands-on learning that teaches them the importance of good nutrition, regular physical activity, and the basics of cooking.
“Only with the collaboration of a community team involving VCE, Augusta Medical Center, Blue Ridge Area Families, Food, and Fun Food Bank, the local schools, and community volunteers is a program of this scope possible,” says Diehl.
More than 150 parents and children have participated in the program. As a result, parents have reported reading labels more often, making healthier food choices, eating more fruits and vegetables, and having more family meals. The children who participated also achieved numerous successes. For example, among the children there was a 50 percent increase in choosing a healthy variety of foods and a 40 percent increase in physical activity awareness.
One of the children in the program announced in the principal’s office, “My mom is only cooking healthy foods now.” When asked if she liked the foods her mom was now cooking, she replied, “Yes, but I’m just glad that she is cooking for me now!”