We try to encourage healthy eating at nursery, but at collection time parents arrive with sweets and fizzy drinks. What shall we do?
No matter how laudable a nursery’s policies, they will never change behaviour and attitudes unless they are done in partnership with parents. First, figure out what the problem actually is. How many parents are doing this, and why?
For people to really get a message, we need to say it in several different ways. So think about a campaign that supports healthy eating but allows for a few treats. Starting a project with children is good because they are the best educators of their parents. Use it as the subject for your newsletter. Get a poster and put it where parents look. Invite a nutritionist to your parents’ evening. Another person to invite is a dentist who can talk about tooth decay.
Parents are just the same as us, they do not like to feel patronised or backed into a corner. Finding a route to engage is the best way forward.
Answered by June O’Sullivan, chief executive of the childcare charity and social enterprise, the London Early Years Foundation
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