User talk:Cds6847

With children spending a majority of their time in schools, it is critical that healthy behaviors and habits are developed at home and then continued throughout their school day to ensure they reach optimal health. According to the Missouri Coordinated School Health Coalition, “nearly 4 out of 10 Missouri children and teens are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight (Missouri Coordinated School Health Coalition, 2007).” This can be caused by a variety of issues ranging from an unhealthy diet to a lack of adequate physical activity. Steps have been taken to begin correcting these issues at school, but they are still a work in progress. School wellness is a community responsibility, so how can parents get involved to strengthen their children’s health as well as that of the overall school environment?

Each school is developing varying wellness programs to meet their individual needs, but in general there are several actions parents can take to be more engaged in the process. Heather Reed and Jan Lewis, from the California Department of Education, say that parents either identify as visible or less visible, but that both can play a role in their children’s school health (Reed & Lewis, 2008). Visible, more active parents can support their schools current policies and help to advance them. To get started, parents should know the current policies, ask questions, use that as a platform for the projects they want to implement, and promote furthering school wellness practices and policy (Action for Healthy Kids). This may seem like an immense amount of work to most parents, but through these steps active, visible parents can make an enormous impact on helping shape, develop, and ensure enforcement of health promoting policies in their children’s schools. To begin with, the areas best focused on are those mentioned in the initial national acts- nutrition education and guidelines, physical activity, and health promotion.

There are many less time-consuming ways for all parents to still be involved however. Parents can reinforce the healthy behaviors and programming schools are trying to impart to their children. Talking to their children about what they ate for lunch can be a great start. When discussing lunch, parents should “guide [their] child away from fast food, a la carte foods or vending machines unless these options offer healthy sandwiches, salads or milk (Missouri Coordinated School Health Coalition, 2007).” In regards to establishing healthy eating habits, parents can also pack their children healthy snacks or lunch. The Missouri Action for Healthy Kids provides a list of ideas that parents can consult for snacks. They also point out that “healthy eating and activity can improve attendance, energy levels, participation, school behavior, test scores, and academic success (Missouri Action for Healthy Kids, Snacks).” Parents can also support physical activity within the schools by advocating for recess periods before lunch, physical education and activities built into the curriculum, and school sports.

All parents can also play an active role in engaging in school wellness by giving their children the foundation of healthy behaviors at home as well. Suggestions from the Missouri Coordinated School Health Coalition include: Being a role model, limiting screen time, being active as a family, starting each day with breakfast, drinking more water and milk, and giving positive rewards for healthy behavior (Missouri Coordinated School Health Coalition, 2007). If parents introduce these healthy actions into their homes and support them at school, their children will grow and learn in an environment where healthy living is the standard, not just something to aspire to. It is crucial that parents and schools work together to make school wellness programs an effective reality.

Missouri Action for Healthy Kids. (n.d.). School wellness policies 101. Retrieved from http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/storage/documents/parent-toolkit/parent-leadership-series/wellnesspolicyvfinalx.pdf

Missouri Action for Healthy Kids. (n.d.). Snacks for happy, healthy kids. Retrieved from http://www.healthykidsmo.org/services_community/SnackGreatforClassroomPartiesTooAFHKMO09.pdf

Missouri Coordinated School Health Coalition. (2007, October). Missouri families eating smart and moving more. Retrieved from http://www.healthykidsmo.org/resources/missouri_families_healthy_eating.pdf

Reed, H., & Lewis, J. (2008, October). Enhancing parent involvement in school wellness: Beyond fundraising and flyers. Retrieved from http://norcalheal.cnr.berkeley.edu/docs/HReed_Parent_Involvement_slides.pdf

USDA. (2011, December).Local school wellness policies: overview and action steps. Retrieved from http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/lwpoverview.pdf

Welcome
 Hello and Welcome to Wikiversity Cds6847! You can contact us with questions at the colloquium or me personally when you need help. Please remember to sign and date your finished comments when participating in discussions. The signature icon above the edit window makes it simple. All users are expected to abide by our Privacy, Civility, and the Terms of Use policies while at Wikiversity.

To get started, you may


 * Take a guided tour and learn to edit.
 * Visit a (kind of) random project.
 * Browse Wikiversity, or visit a portal corresponding to your educational level: pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, non-formal education.
 * Find out about research activities on Wikiversity.
 * Explore Wikiversity with the links to your left.


 * Read an introduction for teachers and find out how to write an educational resource for Wikiversity.
 * Give feedback about your initial observations
 * Discuss Wikiversity issues or ask questions at the colloquium.
 * Chat with other Wikiversitans on #wikiversity-en.
 * Follow Wikiversity on twitter (http://twitter.com/Wikiversity) and identi.ca (http://identi.ca/group/wikiversity).

You do not need to be an educator to edit. You only need to be bold to contribute and to experiment with the sandbox or your userpage. See you around Wikiversity! --Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 19:46, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Subpages
Your talk page is typically used for discussions with other users. You might want to create a separate page for your assignments or other personal work. For example, you might try User:Cds6847/Healthy Kids for the content above. Let me know if you have any questions. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 19:48, 5 February 2014 (UTC)