Reaching Adults through Kids

Working parents have added pressures of time constraints that make it difficult to prepare healthy meals for their kids. To address these needs the Kenton County Cooperative Extension Services Nutrition Program Assistant partnered with the Community Learning Coordinator to provide the seven part Healthy Choices for Every Body series at a local elementary school. 

While the students were getting their own nutrition lesson, the parents were learning the importance of increasing meal-planning practices, consider healthy food choices for feeding the family and learning new ways to creatively add more fruits and vegetables to each meal. At the end of each lesson the families were able to practice hands on experiences together preparing healthy recipes that were provided by the nutrition assistant.

According to data from a national reporting system, as a result of this series 88% of participants showed improvement in one or more food resource management practices such as, cooking more dinners at home, planning meals before shopping, and making a grocery list. Also 100% of participants showed improvement in one or more diet quality indicators such as eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking less regular soda.