Welcome to the Forgotten ECE, the show where before and after school educators
summer camp and PD staff and CYWs have a place where they are seen, heard and valued.
I'm your host, Jamie Wakeler, and I'm so excited you're here.
Welcome you beautiful people to the next episode of the Forgotten ECE.
I'm so incredibly happy that you tuned in.
How is everyone doing on this glorious day?
And by glorious day, I obviously mean whatever glorious day that you're listening to this
on.
I hope it's spectacular for you.
The Wakelers over here are getting over the plague.
The third maybe.
I don't even know.
The days are all blurring together.
The nights are longer than they have to be.
And I feel kind of like crap.
On the positive side, I mean, I think I'm at the end of it, but oh, it's been rough
and the kids, ugh, gross.
I hope everyone else is staying super healthy.
And if you're not super sorry, shout out to Emergen C because a friend and coworker of
mine told me to try it and it's actually been working.
Find it at your local Walmart.
This is not a plug.
It's just we got to stick together.
Okay, we got to know what works.
Being sick has actually reminded me a lot of the pre-COVID days.
Let's take a walk in history.
Do do do do do.
Four years prior.
Isn't it crazy?
It's been four years and actually almost to the day.
Anyways, pre-COVID days, when we felt like this, we would go to work.
I mean, you could feel like you were hit by a truck and so that'll work.
It was pretty bad.
And when you tried to call in, you'd get that wonderful phone message.
How sick are you?
Okay, okay, okay.
So if I cover you to lunch, can you come in?
Bless their souls.
I understand now what it's like to be short staffed from an administrative role.
I mean, I know I knew back then what it was like to be short staffed as another educator
in the center, but from an administrative role, it also sucks.
And neither is going to work sick.
So really it's a loser situation.
Anyways, enough of the chitter-chatter.
Let's get into why we're here today.
I thought we could talk about nutrition in our school age program, mostly because I just
started eating, so let's get into it today.
Also because it's super important.
So why is it important though?
Thinking about nutrition in your before and after school programs.
It kind of looks different depending on what your program is.
It could be that you provide the snacks for before school or you provide the snacks for
after school or in your full day programs.
Or what's also super common is that it's a big lunch and that you have a big lunch policy
to go along with that.
So families have to provide snacks for before and after school.
And that looks a lot different now because a lot of factors, which we'll get into.
But why is nutrition important within before and after school programs?
A huge nutritional support.
Children need adequate nutrition to fuel their growing bodies and brains.
Healthy snacks help ensure that children receive essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals,
which are necessary for growth, development, and overall health.
You know this stuff.
I know you know it.
Also energy levels.
These snacks that we can provide for them or that they get provided from their house,
especially, are high nutrient rich snacks and can help stabilize blood sugar levels,
provide a steady source of energy throughout the day.
Oh my gosh, have you ever, you know, not ate and felt that energy drain?
It sucks for adults.
So obviously it sucks for children too.
And all you can think about is how hungry you are.
Oy.
A huge one that should be talked about more than it is is addressing food insecurities.
Children in school age before and after school programs start feeling those insecurities
on whether or not they can eat healthy, whether or not their family is going to afford healthy
food, or whether or not they are eating the proper food.
Or worse, this is when eating disorders can start.
I mean, God forbid, but it does.
It happens.
Okay, seriously though, research suggests that children as young as six or seven years
old can develop an eating disorder.
How disgusting is that?
According to the Ontario Child Health Study, which surveyed children and adolescents aged
four to 16 in Ontario, approximately 1.5% of children reported symptoms consistent with
an eating disorder.
That is insane and so disheartening.
These children, they're so young.
They should be met with this crap already.
And this leads into creating a positive environment for food and healthy eating by providing healthy
snacks in your programs.
You create a supportive environment that prioritize children's health and wellbeing, fostering
a positive learning experience for all participants and providing those healthy snacks within
these programs play a crucial role in supporting the children's health.
It also reinforces the importance of nutrition as a foundational component of comprehensive
out of school time education.
Honestly.
Can you just think with me for a second?
How hard life is now for children.
Let's just sit with that.
Not only do they have to deal with bullying like we did, they also have to deal with it
on the phones and constantly 24 seven.
Now I mean, I know, I know that eating disorders were around when I was a kid.
I understand that it's not like it's a new factor, but they're happening so much earlier
now and why?
Why is this happening?
Lots of factors.
Media, more use of...
God, TikTok and YouTube for children who are so freaking young.
I mean, we'll have an episode on technology in the classroom.
I think there's a spot for it, but oh my gosh, children are just getting eaten alive by these
ads and advertising and each other, the worst each other about what is perfect and what
is right and how their body should look.
Oh my gosh, I'm going off another tendon.
Okay.
Let me get back to where I was.
So nutrition itself is also crucial during, before and after school hours because it increases
energy levels in children, which will help them get through the rest of the program.
It also increases their mood.
Well, it can impact their mood significantly and emotional wellbeing.
Trust me.
I know when I'm angry, I am angry.
You can't deny it either.
I understand what that's like.
Did you know that research has shown that nutrient imbalances can contribute to mood
swings, irritability and behavior problems?
No way.
But on the other end of the spectrum, consuming a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables,
whole grains and lean proteins can support emotional stability and mental health.
Oh my goodness.
So how can we solve it?
By offering healthy snacks within these programs and caregivers can also help too by providing
snacks for their children.
But that brings me onto the very important next topic of this, grocery prices.
Not every center, actually probably a lot of centers and I'd be interested to hear who
does and who doesn't, provide before and after school programs with snack.
My center does.
The children who are in before and after school programs get snack.
They don't have to bring it themselves.
We provide it, which is great.
And I think honestly it's how it should be, but I'll get into why.
Hold on.
Hold your horses.
I know it costs money.
Hold on.
Grocery prices are insane and I'm preaching.
I know I'm preaching.
Grocery prices are through the freaking roof.
How are they so much money?
How is a head of lettuce?
Let's be honest, a head of lettuce, so much money.
Anyways, families are experiencing poverty more than they have before.
And we know collectively that the healthy food is not always the cheapest.
Unfortunately.
So I don't know how that's still backwards, but it is.
So we can go ahead and teach families and send families home these big lunch requirements
of how they should be sending healthy food to preschool or to, sorry, to school age.
How they can be sending health, how they should be sending healthy food to before and after
school programs.
But it's not always going to happen.
After lunches, it's hard.
It's so hard to afford this.
And children are always hungry.
It's not a bad thing, but they are.
So if you cannot provide them a healthy snack at your center, it is important that you have
a snack cupboard or a snack bowl that they can grab from with some fresh fruits or some
grains and something sustainable that they can have at the end of the day.
Not only is food getting more expensive, but families also are busy.
I understand that we live in a busy, fast paced world, but we are in the prime of convenience.
I was just listening to, it was an older video, the class I teach about how fast food is on
the rise and obesity is on the rise and now places are trying to be all walk friendly.
And I get it, but that was 2008.
And where are we now?
Has this happened?
No, instead, grocery prices are skyrocketing.
People are driving everywhere and we're still in the middle of a climate change crisis.
Something has got to give.
But the point was that children need to be taught how to make healthy choices and children
need to be taught how they can be independent in that factor.
So looking at how you can implement that in your program is cook with them.
Do cooking experiences, have them measuring out the ingredients, crack the eggs.
I mean, they are school-agers.
They can definitely do this.
They can pick the recipes, make snacks together.
That's huge.
What if you did it once a week?
That's not too consuming.
And then children get to eat something super yummy that day that they have the satisfaction.
Also what if you put some effort into how to educate the families?
And that was not a step.
I don't think you're not putting effort in.
I'm just saying, I know how tiring it is to put effort in always, but there's some, I
have some really cool ideas that would be kind of interesting if you try just saying,
for example, what if you provided a family cook night for the children?
What if you invited their families to the center and you cooked together as a whole?
Or provided some nutrition education workshops for the families?
Brought in someone to talk to the families about nutrition and how to make healthy meal
planning and how to read labels and portion control.
Wouldn't that be a great idea and a great family engagement?
You can also send home nutrition resources, informational materials, and notes, newsletters,
recipes.
I had, oh, okay.
Storytime.
Four years ago, actually, oh my gosh, almost to the date, I had planned this incredible
March break with my coworker and shout out to you.
We had planned this incredible March break where kids were going to, it was called, it
was a food week.
Can I think of what it was called?
I don't know, but that's going to bother me.
Chef's week.
Anyways, okay.
Children gods.
Each child, when they signed up, they got an apron.
That was part of it.
And then we're going to decorate the aprons one day.
Each day, instead of order, we had lunch catered to us.
Each day, instead of having lunch catered, we were going to make our own food.
How incredible.
Prepare our own snacks.
And at the end of the week, they were to bring in their favorite family recipe and we were
going to provide them recipes of what we made all week.
And that was that, that was their whole week was this incredible cooking and goodness.
Oh, that makes me sad.
We put so much effort into it and paid so much money for groceries.
Anyways, it was incredible.
It was absolutely, it was supposed to be the most amazing thing.
And obviously it didn't happen because COVID, but it's still a great idea on how to get
your schoolagers involved in this process and how to get them positive views on food
and nutrition and get them interested in what they're doing.
You can also offer taste tests and food experience by organizing your families to come in and
try new food.
What if you put out new fruit or new, new meals that they might've not experienced before
and then get everyone to try a little bit.
Like that'd be super cool.
You could use these opportunities to introduce families to a variety of flavors, textures
and cultural cuisines and encourage them to incorporate their foods.
These foods story into their meals and snacks.
Oh, you can engage families in a gardening and food activity.
You can grow your own food at the center.
What if you started right now a garden?
Hear me out.
It is almost spring.
This is when you start, you know, tilling the land, doing the gardening thing.
But how cool would it be if you establish a school or community garden where families
can learn about growing their own fruits and vegetables and herbs.
You can host a gardening workshop or do a harvest celebration or even on a smaller scale,
you could just have a garden at your center that you get food from for your school ages
that they can pick themselves and then cook.
You can also reach out to your community partners.
This is also a huge one because it takes a community to raise a child.
It does.
And the more you work with your community partners, A, the better you get to know them.
B, the better relationship you have with them.
And then C, the more you get to utilize their services.
So you can collaborate with local health organizations or food banks or even nutritional experts
to offer additional resources and support to families.
I am on a parent council at my kid's school and we hosted this most incredible event.
And I know it's not really school.
Well, it is school age because it's not a school.
Anyways, we can adapt it and have it at a childcare center for sure.
It doesn't even just have to be with your before and after school community.
Everyone, but oh my gosh, your before and after school kids can help plan it.
It would be incredible.
What we did was have different foods from the different cultures with which were in
our, in the school community.
So we had local restaurants who specialize in those kinds of foods.
Give food, obviously we paid for it, but give food, we got funding for it.
Give food and we had this huge cultural night where everyone got to meet everyone and they
played bingo and they had a meet, they had to check off the boxes and bingo and the bingo
cards were something like meet someone who speaks a different language.
You meet someone who's born on South Africa or meet someone who's born in Australia or
anything like that.
And there was a whole bunch of boxes and you had to meet all these people to fill in your
squares and then once you go bingo, you get to put your name in for a prize.
But anyways, the point of this was the food was delicious.
Oh my gosh, it was so good.
We provided all the food and the families got to eat it and they enjoyed it and food
can have such a positive comforting feeling around it, a celebration.
Food really brings people together, especially certain cultures and it could be done, it
could be done that way at your center.
You could utilize it in a way that would bring people together.
Yes, but not least you could lead by example by modeling healthy eating habits, behaviors,
attitudes within these programs.
You can show them what it's all about.
We know children learn by seeing and doing.
Serve the nutritious snacks and meals, prioritize water as the beverage of choice, create a
positive food environment that promotes enjoyment, variety and moderation.
Encourage your staff members or encourage your before and after school educators, your
partners to be positive role models for healthy eating and engage in open dialogue with families
about the importance of nutrition, about children's health, about well-being.
By implementing these strategies, before and after school programs can effectively promote
good nutrition to their community, to the families and empower them to make healthier
choices to create a supportive community environment where nutritious eating habits are valued and
prioritized.
If you're lucky enough to be one of those centers that provide food for their children
in before and after school programs, the snack, make sure that you're doing it in a family
style dining by arranging the seating around the table and have children sit together.
Not only does it promote social interaction and communication, but it also provides that
sense of community during meal times.
Don't forget to offer choices and don't be upset if children choose something that
is not everything.
Make sure that you understand that children have preferences and that it's their job.
It's your job to empower them and it's their job to make those choices.
Create a welcoming atmosphere.
Designate an area in the classroom for eating.
It has to be clean.
It has to be comfortable.
It has to be inviting and make sure it has an age appropriate table where make sure the
children are using plates and cutlery.
Make sure they have cups for water.
Also it's a great time to teach mindful eating to encourage children to pay attention to
their hunger cues, to understand when they're full, to enjoy the flavors and the textures
of food and engage in pleasant conversations.
They don't have to scarf down their meal.
This isn't their last meal.
There's lots of food.
Make sure in their conversations that you're having with the children while you're eating
that you're incorporating the importance of nutrition education, that you're incorporating
the importance of nutrition, that children are understanding and hearing about healthy
eating habits and food groups and portion sizes.
The food guide just came out, a brand new food guide, which is incredible and it was
outdated so it's great to hear.
Maybe post that in your classroom.
Maybe have that out when you're eating or have it out before you're eating and have
children engage in the conversation about what's for snack today or what they'd like
to see on the menu.
Celebrate food and cultural diversity.
Embrace the diversity by incorporating foods from different cultures and culinary traditions
into the menu.
Wouldn't that be incredible if you could try a new thing once a month or every couple
weeks?
Bring in a new fruit.
Like the only one that's coming to my mind is dragon fruit because I love dragon fruit,
but it's a weird looking fruit on the outside and for someone who's just walking by, maybe
they don't want it.
But there's so many foods out there you can incorporate and provide positive reinforcement.
Children should be praised for making healthy food choices.
They should be praised for trying new foods.
I'm not saying you have to punish them because do not punish them when they don't want to
try it, but it's also a big milestone when they do.
I really, really want to stress the importance of making these environments positive because
the last thing you want is children to have negative associations with eating.
And I'm not saying this is going to work 100% and I'm not saying all these ideas you have
to go leave this podcast right now and go do all of them, but it wouldn't hurt to try
one or two and it might surprise you.
It's our favorite time.
Question and comment.
Woo!
Applause.
Claps.
Isn't that the same as applause?
Claps, applause.
Drum roll?
I don't know.
Anyways, I'll stop.
An old friend and colleague of mine reached out.
I will call her Sherry.
And Sherry, oh I worked with Sherry a long time ago at a nice little center.
That's where I started my career.
And Sherry was there at the beginning.
Anyways, hi Sherry, shout out to you.
Sherry wrote, I'm so glad you started this.
As someone who has worked in the before and after school program for the past several
years it's just great to hear someone speak out about how important our job is and not
just the FDK program.
She also asked to hear about the importance of documentation.
So that will definitely be a future topic for us.
Thanks so much Sherry for listening.
Thanks so much everyone for listening.
If you have questions, comments, concerns.
If you just want to chat, please hit me up.
You know where to find me.
And honestly it's been a thrill.
So thanks so much for listening and have a beautiful night.
Bye.
Thank you.
Amazing listeners for your support.
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Again thank you so much and happy learning.