Size Acceptance/HAES people, critique my letter!

[rivka]

Alex's nursery school newsletter this month brought the news that "Bolton Hill Nursery will be the recipient of a free nutrition education program - Food Is Elementary - for preschool and elementary school students. [...] The Food Studies Institute is devoted to changing the health destinies of children through proper nutrition and education. The curriculum is designed to create a positive experience of plant-based (fruits, veggies, grains) foods and food preparation that is fun, hands-on, and sensory-based."

Well, that sounds nice, but I read Junkfood Science, and it's made me skeptical of "nutrition education" as it tends to be offered in schools. So I looked up the Food Studies Institute and found this description of the lessons.

Now I am writing a letter to the parent and Board member who is listed as a contact person for the program. I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions people may have, especially from a Size Acceptance/Health At Any Size perspective and/or an "I know preschoolers" perspective.

Here's the letter:

Hi [name redacted],

I saw in the Bolton Hill newsletter that the "Food is Elementary" program is going to be offered at Bolton Hill Nursery this fall. I'm [Rivka], and my daughter Alex is in the Yellowbird room. I looked at the foodstudies.org website, and I have a few questions about the program.

Generally speaking, could you please give me an idea of how the program as described on the website here:
http://www.foodstudies.org/Curriculum/LessonSummaries.htm
will be adapted for nursery school kids?

Some parts look great to me, like the lessons about exploring different fruits, veggies, and whole grains, and doing hands-on cooking in the classroom. But I'm concerned about whether the curriculum gives kids messages that fats, sugar, and refined grains are "bad."

The lesson summaries mention teaching children that fat will clog up their arteries and that they should count fat and sugar grams in food. I'm assuming that this will be adapted, given that most of our kids are still learning to count at all! But given that fat is an essential dietary requirement, and that it's recommended that preschoolers get 25-35% of their calories from fat, I'm worried that there might be confusion if the children are taught that fat will make them sick.

Could you also please give me a sense of whether the curriculum will teach that some foods are "good" and other foods are "bad?" We try to avoid such judgments in our family, because I think they lead to an unhealthy, dieting-oriented mentality. I am particularly worried about introducing those concepts in nursery school, because children this age are such concrete thinkers and tend to see things in strict black and white.

Finally, are there any messages in the program that it is bad to be fat/overweight/obese, or that children should try to avoid becoming fat? As you may know, dieting and body image problems are becoming more and more common in children, and are now appearing in the early elementary years. I would be very concerned about my child being exposed in school to messages about the importance of restricting weight gain, especially at a time when she is growing so rapidly.

Again, it looks as though the curriculum has many segments that are highly positive and offer the kids opportunity for fun exploration. I'm hoping that you can put my mind at ease about these other elements!

I can be reached at this e-mail address, or at [phone numbers]

Thanks very much,
[Rivka]

Comments

[naomikritzer]

That program actually looks very cool to me, and I like the fact that when they talk about fat, they're always talking very specifically about dietary fat and the ways that it can harm your body if you eat too much of it, not about fat bodies.

Molly got taught about the food pyramid but they skipped over (or she tuned out) the part about how the grains on the bottom level should be WHOLE grains, and she kept insisting that I should let her eat all the white rice and pasta she wanted (sans sauce or veggie) because, after all, they were GRAINS and grains were on the bottom of the food pyramid.

The core of the program seems to be preparing and tasting a bunch of delicious yet healthful foods full of ingredients that a lot of kids (not mine and not yours, but many) won't usually have anything to do with.

I think my concerns, if my daughter's preschool were doing this, would be the following:

1. The food labels project is going to be a lot harder to do with preschoolers. Is it going to be skipped over (which would be fine, I think) or simplified into something useless or misleading?

2. How will they manage the food prep? Are you going to let the preschoolers use knives? If not, how will you engage the kids enough that they will be excited about trying some fairly challenging foods? (Even my adventurous children are not wild about curry.)

3. Will you send home recipe sheets so that parents can follow up by making some of these foods at home, if our kids are particularly enthusiastic about something?

4. Will you please warn my child in advance that the "sushi" you'll be making will not have raw fish in it? Because she is going to be SO MAD when she's promised sushi and no tuna is involved.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

That program actually looks very cool to me, and I like the fact that when they talk about fat, they're always talking very specifically about dietary fat and the ways that it can harm your body if you eat too much of it, not about fat bodies.

I think the program could be either cool or not-cool. I want to get direct confirmation that they don't include any messages that children should try not to get fat, and that they don't categorically label foods as "good" and "bad." If they don't, that takes care of most of my concern. But I'm especially afraid that simplifying the curriculum for preschoolers will mean making categorical judgments about foods.

Will you please warn my child in advance that the "sushi" you'll be making will not have raw fish in it? Because she is going to be SO MAD when she's promised sushi and no tuna is involved.

Hee! I could see this being an issue with Alex too. When she hears sushi, she thinks "nigiri" - and a big slab of raw salmon. I suppose they could do tamago safely, and that wouldn't disappoint her, but given that they're trying to discourage dietary fat they probably won't.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

The problem with the 'fat is bad' message is that it leads many people to eat a diet extremely high in carbohydrates - and while those are not bad in themselves, they are bad for the growing number of diabetics.

And my body does not make a great distinction between whole grain and refined carbs.