Little Voices for Healthy Choices

Teach a Kid to Fish has recently received a grant for $20,000 from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to design and implement pilot program to provide NAP SACC trainings, incorporating environmental policies and integrate 54321Go! healthy living messages and resources at five childcare centers in Lincoln.

NAP SACC is a research-tested intervention designed to enhance policies, practices, and environments in child care through the following ways: improving the nutritional quality of food served, amount and quality of physical activity, staff-child interactions, and facility nutrition and physical activity policies and practices and related environmental characteristics. The five child care centers chosen for this pilot project were Aspen Child Development, Southeast Community College Child Development Center, University of Nebraska Lincoln – Children’s Center, and Trinity Infant and Child Care Centers (which has two locations).

Each of the five sites have already completed the self-assessment tool and participated in the action planning meeting, where they set two to three goals in the nutrition area, as well as a couple of goals in the physical activity area. Some examples of their goals include the following: offering nutrition and physical activity education opportunities to the parents on a monthly basis, offering vegetables at least one time per day, creating a specific written nutrition and physical activity policy that will be followed and available to the staff and parents, serving meals family style, displaying posters, pictures, or books about physical activity and nutrition in every room of the child care center, and serving skim milk to children ages 2 years and older. We are working with each of these centers to help them meet their goals by January of 2012. In addition, the staffs at the five child care centers are participating in five training sessions, where nutrition and physical activity education is taught, over the course of the next three months. We are happy to report that the directors and staff at each of the sites are highly motivated and concerned about their children’s health and well-being. Many of these centers have already made positive changes in regards to their nutrition and physical activity environments and are well on their way of meeting all of their goals and excelling using the NAP SACC program.

In the US, 74% of children ages 3-6 are in some form of child care. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation publication, “Preventing Obesity In The Child Care Setting: Evaluating State Regulations”, Nebraska ranks with an overall grade of C- when it comes to healthy eating and physical activity in both child care centers and homes.

Currently, 24.4% of children ages 2-5 are either overweight or obese. The early childhood period is a critical time for growth and development and healthy eating and active play can help prevent later obesity.

Lincoln has approximately 140 child care centers and many more children are cared for in licensed homes throughout Lincoln.

The potential impact of this project on improving the health of the Lincoln community is large due to the ability to reach out to several populations- early childhood professionals, children as they are forming early health habits, and families.

The Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAP SACC) program is a research-tested intervention designed to enhance policies, practices, and environments in child care by improving the:
• nutritional quality of food served,
• amount and quality of physical activity
• staff-child interactions
• facility nutrition and physical activity policies and practices and related environmental characteristics

The three key objectives of the pilot project, which will emphasize and incorporate the 5-4-3-2-1-Go! Message (Daily guideline of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, 4 servings of water, 3 servings of low-fat dairy, 2 hours or less of screen time, and 1 hour or more of physical activity a day.) throughout are:

1) Five Lincoln child care centers will understand the importance of and incorporate strategies for healthy eating and physical activity habits used by staff and children and develop environmental policy changes through the utilization of a nationally recognized nutrition and physical activity self-assessment tool (NAP-SACC).

2) Each child care center will have integrated within the training sessions, the use of a 54321Go! toolkit for child care centers, with programming, print resources and activities focusing on each of the messages. Child Care centers that have completed the NAP SACC trainings and the 54321Go! activities will earn a Little Voices for Healthy Choices recognition.

3) Participants will be provided information for family involvement so wellness practices will be incorporated not only into staff and children’s lives, but also into family life as well through utilization of 54321Go! resources.

For more information on this program contact Karla Lester, M.D. at info@teachakidtofish.org.