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FACE Family Circle Kit Instructions

The purpose of the FACE Family Circle Kit Instructions is to provide FACE parent educators direction and step-by-step guidance in preparing for and carrying out the FACE Family Circle Kit sent to each program. Please review the following items prior to delivering the FACE Family Circle Kit with families.

Title:Eating the Rainbow!

Format:Presentation and Family Activity

Intent:

  • Promote healthy eating
  • Empower parents to make healthy choices for themselves and their children in order to have short and long-term benefits.

Targeted Ages of Children:All ages

Parent Educator Resources:

  • Feeding Older Babies and Toddlers (Foundational Curriculum, p. 1323-1326a)
  • Eating Issues and Nutrition Tips for Educators Using My Native Plate (Indian Health Service,
  • Developmental Topics: Nutrition, Parents as Teachers Tool Kit Card #12.
  • Change Your Diet (American Indian Health and Diet Project,

Parent Handouts:

  • Feeding Your Baby Solids (Foundational Curriculum, pp. 1327-1328)
  • Helping Your Baby Learn to Feed Himself(Foundational Curriculum, pp. 1329-1330)
  • Tips for Making Mealtimes Pleasant and Healthy (Foundational Curriculum, pp. 1331-1332)
  • Avoiding Food Fights (Foundational Curriculum, pp. 1333-1334)
  • Directions for My Daily Food Plan(Foundational Curriculum, pp. 1335-1336)
  • My Daily Food Plan(Foundational Curriculum, pp. 1337-1338)
  • My Native Plate: An Easy Way to Help Your Family Know How Much to Eat (Indian Health Service,
  • Build a healthy meal (United States Department of Agriculture,
  • Kid-friendly veggies and fruits (United States Department of Agriculture,
  • Be a healthy role model for children (United States Department of Agriculture,
  • How to Use the Nutrition Facts Label (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition,
  • Lyrics for “Apples and Bananas”

Materials:

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  • Pocket folders
  • Stickers of fruits and vegetables
  • Paper plates
  • Magazines with pictures of healthy foods
  • Scissors
  • Glue sticks
  • Hole puncher
  • Yarn
  • Computer and projector
  • Rez-Robics for Couch Potato Skins (YouTube.com,

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Documents:

  • FACE Family Circle Task Sheet
  • Group Connection Sign-In Sheet
  • Group Connection Feedback Form
  • Group Connection Observation Tool

The following instructions for the Eating the Rainbow FACE Family Circle is a recommended process. You may incorporate child development and parenting information as appropriate.

Preparation for FACE Family Circle:

  1. During a team meeting discuss the family circle.
  2. Use the FACE Family Circle Planner to discuss the content and format. Decide if it is appropriate and/or desirable to include center-based families. If including center-based use the optional age-appropriate handouts.
  3. Use the FACE Family Circle Task Sheet to assign tasks for all team members.
  4. You can present this FACE Family Circle alone as part of a series. Mealtime Fun will be the second in the series.
  5. Distribute flyers about the family circle to parents and, if appropriate, throughout the community.
  6. Consider child care arrangements: During the parent discussion portion of the FACE Family Circle, children could have some food related experiences in another room.
  7. Story time could include books such as Eating the Rainbow or Badger’s Fancy Meal.
  8. The DVD, Herschel Rabbit inNutrition could be shown.
  9. Teach children the songs like “Apples and Bananas”.

Recommended Process During FACE Family Circle:

  1. Welcome
  2. Greet families at the door and handout name tags. Have families sign in and put their name in a jar for door prizes.
  3. Share with families that this meeting will be an overview on nutrition.
  4. Explain the format of the meeting which will be a video, discussion, parent-child interaction, and book making using paper plates and pictures of healthy foods.
  5. Invite parents and children to decorate a folder with stickers of food until everyone has arrived.
  6. Encourage the parents to name the foods as the child places the stickers on the folders.
  7. As children put stickers of food on the folder and create the nutritional book with their parents they are discussing and learning about healthy foods.
  8. Discussion
  9. Show the first 30 minutes of the video, Rez-Robics for Couch Potato Skin to get parents to start thinking about nutrition and fitness. This is a comedy featuring two prominent Native American actors/comedians: Elaine Miles (Northern Exposure and Smoke Signals), and Drew LaCapa the comedian who calls himself, “300 Pounds of Love”.
  10. You may want children to go into another room where nutritional activities are planned.
  11. Ask parents for their thoughts on the video clip.
  12. History of Native American nutrition and current food practices:
  13. Facilitate a discussion about parents’ knowledge and thoughts about traditional nutrition.
  14. Ask what types of food they ate when they were children.
  15. Ask how their parents prepare food traditionally.
  16. Share the information on Native American diet using the resource Change Your Diet and any additional information that you have.
  17. Show the section on history of the Native American diet from the Rez-Robics for Couch Potatoes DVD. (This section is at 35.55 minutes, and is about 3 minutes long.)
  18. Benefits to eating healthy:
  19. Ask parents to share some of the benefits of eating healthy for themselves and their children.
  20. Share some of the following benefits if they aren’t mentioned: lower risk or control of diabetes, lowering blood pressure, healthier heart, lower risk of some cancers, weight loss or maintenance, feel better physically and emotionally, self-esteem, more energy, able to be active, shiny hair and skin, able to do more as a family, longer life expectancy.
  21. Nutrition needs for adults and children:
  22. Pass out the MyPlatehandout.
  23. Ask what parents notice about the handout.
  24. Use the handout Avoiding Food Fightsto discuss servings and portions
  25. Children need smaller portions of the same food groups.
  26. A serving for a child is considered 1 level tablespoon of each food for every year of the child’s age.
  27. Toddlers need to eat every three or four hours because he has a high energy level, but also doesn’t have a very large stomach.
  28. Strategies to improve nutrition in adults and children:
  29. Ask parent for ideas and strategies they use to eat healthy in their family.
  30. Add strategies they don’t mention.
  31. Understand nutritional labels: Help parents understand how to read a nutritional label using the handout How to Use the Nutrition Facts LabelReading labels can help parents reduce fat and increase fiber and nutrients in their diets and that of their children.Discuss with the families the nutritional label information.
  32. Serving size.
  33. Calories and calories from fat.
  34. Nutrients.
  35. Ingredients list. Try to avoid products that have more than 5 ingredients.
  36. Be prepared:
  37. Ask parents how they keep fruits and vegetables on hand?
  38. How do they get their children to eat more fruits and vegetables?
  39. Keep fruits and vegetables in the house with in easy access.
  40. Take healthy lunches and snacks with you when you go out.
  41. Don’t buy your fuel where your vehicle does.
  42. Ask parents if they buy fruit at the gas stations or do they go for the chips?
  43. It costs more and is often high in fat and calories with little nutritional value.
  44. Balance your diet:
  45. Ask ways their family balance their diets?
  46. Focus on fruit and vary your veggies.
  47. Eat lean protein.
  48. Get calcium rich foods and make half your grains whole.
  49. Eat food:
  50. Ask the parent’s what does this mean?
  51. Many processed foods are made with chemical additives.
  52. Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
  53. Eat wild food when you can.
  54. Cut back on salt.
  55. Ask parents to share what kind of spices they use to season their food.
  56. Use spices to flavor foods instead of salt.
  57. Save sweets for special occasions.
  58. Ask parents when it would be ok to eat sweets.
  59. Drink water: Water is better for you and cheaper than juice or soda pop.
  60. Pass out the Build a Healthy Mealhandout and facilitate a discussion on how parents can use these messages in their daily lives. Ask parents to pick a tip to start with.
  61. Use the handout out Be a healthy role model for children and ask parents to pick one tip they will focus on to share success or barriers at the next FACE Family Circle.
  62. Parent-child interaction
  63. Rationale. Tell parents why these activities are important.
  64. Parents are their child’s first teacher about healthy eating and are responsible for helping their children make healthy food choices.
  65. Parents are shaping a healthy next generation when they teach nutritional values.
  66. Healthy eating habits established early in life are essential for maximum lifelong healthy.
  67. Children learn from watching their parents.
  68. By the age of five, children have established life-ling eating habits.
  69. Food for a Day Book:
  70. Describe the activities, including directions to be given to parents.
  71. Give each parent and child four paper plates (one plate for the title of the book, one plate for breakfast, one plate for lunch, and one plate for dinner).
  72. The back of the plates will be used for pictures of two snacks. Ask parents to work with their children to punch two holes in the side of the plates and tie them together with a piece of yarn to create the pages of the book.
  73. Look through magazines and food advertisements for pictures of healthy foods to cut out.
  74. Glue the pictures to the corresponding meal of snacks.
  75. Observation. After the book making activity:
  76. Ask parents to notice which pictures their child chose to put in their food books.
  77. Why do parents think the children choose those particular pictures?
  78. Which healthy foods did their children pick?
  79. Teach parents and children the Apples and Bananas song to sing together.
  80. Closing summary:
  81. Ask for final thoughts and unanswered questions. What will they take away from this meeting?
  82. Share
  83. Children will eat the foods they have had positive association with.
  84. Parents are responsible for what their child is offered to eat and for where and when it is presented. The child is responsible for what and how much he eats.
  85. Food should not be used as a bribe, comfort, threat or reward. Don’t pressure a child to eat when he is not hungry. These cause children to focus on external cues rather than internal cues such as hunger to direct their eating.
  86. Parents are role models for their children. Research has shown that parents who have diet high in fruits and vegetables have children who consume these same fruits and vegetables. Remember your children are watching what you eat.
  87. Ask parents to follow-up by using the parent handoutsDirections for My Daily Food Plan and My Daily Food Plan to record how they meet their nutritional needs each day. Ask parents to share their results at the next FACE Family Circle.

E.Remind parents to bring their folder to the next session. Give the date if it’s known.

Follow-Upfor FACE Family Circle:

  1. Review the Group Connections Feedback Forms
  2. Record attendance in Penelope using the Group Connections Sign-In Sheet
  3. Complete the Group Connection Observation Tool
  4. Successes and Challenges: Be sure to write down your successes and challenges and complete the Documentation portion of the Group Connection Planning Guide and Record.
  5. Share details with your TA: We love hearing from you about how you’ve engaged families during the FACE Family Circle! Please do not forget to take photos and be sure to have families sign a FACE Release Form.