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.
All this exhorting just does not work – as Jamie Oliver has shown us – the issue is cultural – our food preferences are part of the family and wider culture.
At Real Food for Real Kids in Toronto (my daughter works there) they now have 10,000 kids involved in daycares and kindergarten – all having real food. How did this happen?
By creating a relationship with the centre and parent staffs – by coming into the centres and working with the staff and the kids.
This wont happen because it is a good idea
I agree Rob…children and their families need to exposed as much as possible to real food. It needs to become part of their day to day lives in a true way. Funny…I was just on the Real Food for Real Kids website yesterday and called Hope. Have been trying to find something similar in Vancouver – no luck so far. I thought she might have some thoughts to help me…