The P.E.I. Healthy Eating Alliance is frustrated by a two-year wait for the province to turn healthy living guidelines for daycares into a full-fledged policy.
‘It has to come up for review, and we’re just not at that point yet.’— Carolyn Simpson, Department of Education
The Healthy Living Policy for Preschoolers was developed in 2008, but still exists only as a set of guidelines.
Alliance president Jennifer Taylor would like to see the government taking stronger action.
“[A] set of nutrition/activity guidelines are more likely to be implemented fully if they exist as a policy as opposed to a guideline,” said Taylor.
Some daycares have implemented the guidelines.
Kathy Phelan, who runs the Morell Early Childhood Centre, help to write them, and she finds she is making different choices when shopping for her lunch menu.
“We started using whole wheat bread all the time instead of having white bread for the children,” said Phelan.
“Instead of having ice cream we give the children frozen yogurt, low-fat frozen yogurt. And also, yogurt itself that was something that wasn’t big on my menu and now I find we do serve the children yogurt quite a little bit.”
Physical activity mandated
In addition to suggesting healthier foods, the policy mandates physical activity time for children.
But the government has not adopted the document as law, and Carolyn Simpson, early childhood development and kindergarten manager for the province, said there are no immediate plans to do that.
She is hoping daycares will take the initiative on their own.
“What we’d be looking at would be the best possible outcome for children. So if that’s the fit, wonderful. But it has to come up for review, and we’re just not at that point yet,” said Simpson.
Taylor said making the policy law is the only way to get every childcare centre to change.
In the meantime, the alliance is offering a workshop for early childhood educators on the healthy food portion of the policy. That workshop is scheduled for May 20.