Do you ever have trouble getting your kids to eat their vegetables? Well you are not alone! Sometimes the best strategy to getting your kids on board with healthy habits and behavior is to have other adults contribute to teaching them.
This can be true of school work, sports, and even eating. Which is why Bundles of Energy teamed up with a local area school to develop the Earth-Inspired Cooking Club.
This is not just any cooking club, it is a program teachers can build right into their classroom time, and help kids discover the benefits of whole foods from nature, filled with flavour and while encouraging kids as they establish healthy eating habits for life.
So why consider this for your child’s school? Consider this:
Stats Canada says that about 59% of adult Canadians are either overweight or obese, which is a rate that has tripled in the last 25 years. Currently, 26% of Canadian children age 2-17 are overweight or obese, and predictions state that 70% of 35-44 year olds in 2034 will be overweight or obese.
This is why action is important NOW. And recent studies suggest that most parents are blind to their kids’ expanding waistlines, which means more should be done as a community to fight childhood obesity.
So what can parents do? Parents might start with school lunches. Studies show that kids lunches are usually full of junk: most don’t contain fruit or vegetables, and oftentimes they’re full of sweets, chips, and deli meat sandwiches that don’t provide the nutrients kids need.
But what about providing kids with the tools THEY NEED to start making healthier choices now, learning how to cook NOW, and providing them with the skill set they need to be healthy and happy later on in life?
Bundles of Energy developed a Cooking Club Curriculum in conjunction with Green Learning Academy, a private school in Calgary. We wants to take these lessons to schools across Alberta.
The lessons consist of:
- Learning objectives that fit with the Alberta curriculum
- Recipes to make, including age-appropriate snacks, desserts, and meals. Kids get to safely participate in food prep with accommodations for ANY allergy.
- Nutrition focus on specific ingredients with easy-to read tables on where the foods come from, why they’re good for your body and where you can get it.
- Suggested supplemental activities that teach kids to be more connected to the food they eat; including meal planning, creating recipes, learning about local food production, etc.
- Kids give class ratings and complete surveys to assure top-quality, kid-approved recipes.
Are you an educator or parent interested in bringing this program to your child’s school? You are the movers and shakers of your schools. Health and wellness should prevail, and these programs are affordable and can be worked into any educational budget. Easy, gentle shifts are all that are needed to make YOUR school the healthiest it can be!
For more information, contact [email protected]
