Exercise and healthy eating - Christina Cherry

The combination of exercise and nutrition …..

Diet and exercise are two of the most important building blocks for a healthy life. A child who moves a lot burns energy and strength, which they can only regain through a balanced diet. Diet is fundamental to health and well-being. Nutritional behavior is a central part of a healthy lifestyle, it is learned and educated essentially in the first 10 years of life. Here is the community for children and the Learning on the model is very important, i.e. through observation and imitation. Most children try what is eaten in the community.

For us as a movement kindergarten, healthy nutrition is very important. For this reason, we also received the certificate with the plus point nutrition in April 2013.

11.1 Principles of healthy nutrition in the day care center

In the first years of life, a child is shaped in its nutritional behavior. Diet influences the physical and mental development of children. Children need to be introduced to healthy eating and drinking habits at an early stage to ensure this development. Even in infancy, children have a feeling of satiety and can assess whether they are full or hungry. With a view to preventing overweight, it is important that parents and educators trust children’s self-regulation. Help children learn to eat, whether by helping them cook, sow and harvest food, or by setting the table.

It is becoming increasingly important to teach the children a healthy lifestyle. This applies to both the parental home and the kindergarten. A healthy diet is necessary for such a way of life, since it provides the body with important nutrients. Fruits and vegetables contain many vitamins and fiber, meat provides iron, fish supplies iodine and water distributes the vital substances in the body and is the most important part of the diet. A balanced and therefore healthy diet should not be dispensed with, since the diet influences mental and physical development.

Due to the close interaction of body, movement, health and nutrition, a separation is neither possible nor sensible. These areas of education should be integrated into everyday life to enable children to enjoy quality of life, performance and well-being. Health risks such as diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and cardiovascular diseases must also be prevented through healthy eating and exercise.

"Health is not a condition that is or is not there, but a balance between physical and mental well-being, which has to be re-established in daily life."
(World Health Organization 1986)

11.2 Parents’ house and day care center hand in hand

11.2.1 Parents and educators as role models

The parents lay the foundation for a balanced diet and impart the first knowledge, skills and experience relating to eating and drinking. They shape their children’s attitudes and eating habits. However, the earlier and longer a child in the daycare center and the more meals they eat there, the greater the importance of experiences in the daycare center.

The day care center – the “second home” of the children – takes on an essential part of the educational tasks. It even offers particularly good conditions for health-promoting measures. Preschool age is an ideal time to positively influence children in their eating behavior. The influence of the educators is particularly formative due to their role model function. The group size and meals together act as positive reinforcements for what the children experience and experience in the context of nutritional education measures.
In order to feel comfortable in the long term, children should discover the joy of a healthy lifestyle as early as possible. Proper nutrition is an important basis for this. For us (day care center) this means: in close coordination with the parents to create favorable framework conditions that enable the children to have an optimal healthy diet – to "create" a partnership for healthy growing up. Health-preserving and promoting nutritional behavior in children can only be built up and consolidated if parents and day care center pull together. This requires a mutual exchange of information and close cooperation. At the registration meeting, the parents are already informed about the nutritional concept practiced by our day care center.

The following points are addressed:

What kind of breakfast do we offer??
When are sweets okay?
What belongs in the lunch box?
Which foods are undesirable to bring with you?
What should there be for breakfast together??
What drinks are there in the day care center?

11.2.2 Food culture and rules

Eating together and the table culture open up many areas in which children can actively participate in the preparation of food and the organization of food intake. They start taking responsibility for their own eating behavior early on and strengthen their social skills. They experience independence, participation and responsibility and can thus mature into self-confident personalities.

Although children cannot yet generally know and assess what is healthy for them or is good for them, childlike curiosity enables comprehensive access to healthy eating culture.

Parents and educational professionals must therefore offer a variety of foods, emphasize their health benefits and guide them to a balanced diet. Children develop this balance and diversity when they can increasingly independently and responsibly devote themselves to various tasks in food preparation and intake.

The children learn to take care of duties, to take responsibility and to adhere to rules: they pay attention to hygienic measures such as washing hands, laying the table, pouring drinks, handing out the food, clearing the table and cleaning, rinsing or dry the dishes, …

Meals together require consideration for others and compliance with rules. The meals in the daycare center are also an important social meeting point for the little ones. You don’t just go to the table to eat. At the table, the children can wonderfully discuss events, make plans, make arrangements, exchange information or just have fun. This creates a pleasant atmosphere that increases children’s appetite and enjoyment while eating. It is not for nothing that many parents are surprised that their children often eat more or try new things in company with other children. If, on the other hand, meals are reduced to “satiety”, the social functions that are important for children are neglected.

Food is a bridge between body, nature and society. Working together and dealing with our food culture strengthen the sense of belonging and the independence of the children.

11.3. Sensory and experience-oriented nutrition education

Feeling good all around, being healthy and fit is a question of nutrition. It is not for nothing that it says: "Eating and drinking keep body and soul together!" It is not just a matter of satisfying hunger and thirst and providing the body with all the necessary nutrients through the right selection and preparation of food. Eating and drinking is also an experience for the senses and is good for the soul. The sight of a beautifully laid table and a nicely arranged meal, the delicious smell and taste of the food, the pleasant feeling in the mouth and stomach as well as the crackling and crackling sound in the ear when the food is chewed and swallowed: all of this appeals to our senses.

11.3.1 Sensual perception

When eating and drinking, our children do not primarily listen to the head, but to their feelings. The food has to look appetizing, smell delicious, feel great and taste good. When you have eaten it, you should feel completely comfortable. A balanced, wholesome meal that does not meet these requirements is not well received by children.
Children need to have fun eating so that they enjoy it. And it’s fun to have meals together where the children can talk, laugh, listen and enjoy, a lovingly laid table and a harmonious atmosphere.
Children want to become independent and do tasks like the “big ones”. Every small successful step in this direction is a special experience and motivates to continue learning. All the steps in everyday life need to be learned: handle cutlery properly, smear bread and topping, cut fruit and vegetables, prepare a small meal, help with cooking and baking, tablecloths, decorating and clearing, pouring drinks for yourself and others, pouring yourself take the right amount of food or give it to the neighbor, wash dishes, dispose of garbage. With these and other tasks, the children learn to take responsibility for themselves and others. Self-esteem and social behavior are encouraged.

Children learn more through what they experience and experience with all their senses than through the theoretical transfer of knowledge.
A potato tastes very different when you see where it grows, harvesting and preparing it yourself, than when it is served as a mashed potato.
We strive for a healthy diet for children. Through positive experiences and experiences with eating and drinking, we reach our goal faster than through pure knowledge transfer.

11.3.2 Child nutrition education

Nutrition education activities should not be one-off or irregular events, but should accompany the children through their daily lives. The children come to us with very different experiences and requirements on the subject of nutrition. For this reason, day-to-day kindergarten offers a variety of options for sensory, experience and action-oriented nutrition education, e.g. before, during and after meals, playing, reading aloud, praying, singing, playing music, dancing, gymnastics, walking, painting, handicrafts and celebrating. Only through holistic nutrition education can children be motivated to adopt a health-oriented diet.

The following topics are very important to us on the way to healthy nutrition education. Experience, experience and learn the children

something about the origins and origins of the most important foods,
something about growing fruits, from planting to harvesting,
about different foods and their peculiarities,
something about preparing food and what is important when working in the kitchen,
how our body processes food,
that there are healthy and unhealthy foods,
that not all people have enough to eat,
how important it is to help and share with others and much more.

The areas of education and the desired goals always go hand in hand with the promotion of:

social competence (communication skills, values, willingness to help, willingness to cooperate, assumption of responsibility)
personal competence (self-esteem, independence, problem solving ability, motivation and endurance, emotionality)
methodical competence (recognition of meaningful connections, differentiation of perception experiences, application of knowledge, imagination and creativity).

11.3.3 Presence of the plus point nutrition in the facility

When getting to know the day care center, the pedagogical concept draws the parents’ attention to the plus point "healthy eating".
"Optical signals" illustrate to parents and children the importance of healthy nutrition. In the entrance area and in the group rooms there are collages, posters and the food pyramid, which are worked out, designed and updated with the children.

The facility also provides literature to parents. In a small "reading corner" or by borrowing materials, parents have the opportunity to deal theoretically or practically with the topic of "healthy eating". Copies, recipes, e.g. prepared for the children with a healthy breakfast are available in the cloakroom to take away. Suggestions, ideas or recipes from the parents are also taken into account and gladly accepted if they contribute to a balanced diet. This gives inexperienced parents the opportunity to try out new things and collect "healthy recipes" to prepare with their children at home.

11.3.4 Parent work for nutritional education

In order to shape the children’s nutritional behavior positively, the cooperation between daycare center and parents is essential as well as mutual support is extremely important, taking into account the different cultures of the families.
The personal conversation, as well as written information (which should be concise but still detailed), are an integral part and should always be given to the parents.
Parents’ evenings are held at regular intervals in which theory, but above all the practice of “healthy eating” is taught, for example during joint cooking evenings, because parents should also enjoy with all their senses, benefit from the healthy, balanced diet and ( if necessary).
The topic is updated through regular further training of the employees, which is passed on to the parents through parent letters as well as parent evenings.
In addition, nutritional experts are invited to the facility at regular intervals, who can give families neutral and competent answers to all questions about child nutrition, and who can also resolve any discrepancies about the "correct" child nutrition.
With the quality standard, there are clear templates for the selection of food and drinks, which can serve as help and guidance for parents.
Communication with parents and relatives is essential, here the interest or contact with the parents should be sought and maintained in different ways, for example by:

A parents’ café where the children bake for the parents.
“Taste samples” of the dishes prepared by the children in the facility can be taken home by the children.
The lunch menu and the healthy breakfast are displayed in the cloakroom.
The parents are involved in the preparation and implementation of projects and activities such as summer parties, carnivals, healthy weeks, etc..
On a pin board, parents are given information about campaigns on the topic of “healthy eating”, which is visually interesting with photos, posters, recipes, etc. and is continuously updated.
We speak directly to the parents in the bring-in or pick-up phase if there are any questions about the child’s eating and drinking behavior. The employees are also open to requests or questions from the parents.

11.4 Our daycare center as a learning place for eating and drinking

Fit from head to toe means feeling good all around, being healthy and flexible. It’s not just about satisfying hunger and thirst. It is therefore very important to us in our facility to create an appealing, cozy atmosphere in which the children can have their meals. The children usually have the opportunity to have breakfast in small groups during the free spin. Occasionally e.g. on birthdays the whole group has breakfast.
The breakfast area is located in a corner of the room so that the children are not disturbed by the group events during breakfast. For table decoration e.g. Candles, flowers, etc. when tableclothing and clearing away, the participation of the children is part of our concept. The children get a plate and a mug and after eating they put it on the sink to clear the table for other children. Once a week this takes place healthy breakfast instead, either a cereal is prepared by the facility or the parents bring food (list) with them, which are then prepared with the help of the children. However, eating together and the table culture open up many areas in which children can actively get involved in food preparation and food intake design. In our facility, the children start taking responsibility for their own eating habits at an early stage, thus strengthening their social skills. You experience independence, participation and responsibility. In the community, everyone enjoys preparing food. On the remaining days, the parents are responsible for the children’s breakfast bread, which should be varied, healthy and lovingly prepared. Basically, sweets, chocolate rolls, etc. energy-containing drinks are not desirable. Should the children bring unhealthy food from home anyway, to get they an alternative from the establishment. To satisfy the craving for sweeteners, wholesome sweets such as Dried fruits, trail mix, honey breads, diluted juices … are offered.
For celebrations and celebrations, we will make exceptions in kindergarten (the birthday cake, a dessert and much more is allowed as well as a grill sausage). Drinking is also important for the children, the drinks are provided by the daycare. So the children don’t need to bring drinks from home. The facility provides water, apple spritzer and tea. The children are motivated and reminded to drink several times during the day (during meals, before the morning circle, after exercise, etc.). The drinks are always visible and accessible to all children.
Lunch is delivered to the facility, the meal plan is on the group door, so children, parents and educators can find out in advance what is available. The meal consists of a balanced, child-friendly main course and dessert. The food takes place at group level and is always accompanied by 2 teachers. The children should have fun eating, try them, but do not have to eat them if they do not like something. The children are always asked to try and motivated. It tastes better in the community and things are sometimes tried that are not touched at home. The calm, cozy atmosphere is just as important at lunch as at breakfast. The table is set by the children and educators. We start the meal with a table prayer or a song and end the meal together. In the afternoon, the daycare center offers a snack. So there is fruit, raw food, yogurt, crispbread, rice waffle and of course enough drinks.
It is more successful in the long term to strengthen the child’s resources through the support of own activities, experiences, games of all kinds, motivation, joy, pleasure and well-being than to point out deficits and to act with bans.

"Nutrition is not the highest in life, but it is the breeding ground on which the highest can flourish or spoil"
Max. Oskar Bircher-Benner