The best way to ensure your child has a healthy lifestyle is to be a role model to your child.

Children learn from copying the behaviours of those they see around them. As a parent, or adult who is in close contact with children it is important that the behaviours they see and copy are positive.

As a role model allow your child to see adults:

• Eating fruit and vegetables at snack time.
• Being involved in active play and physical sessions
• Participating in family mealtimes
• Modelling skills such as throwing, jumping, balancing and sharing
• Food shopping and preparing food
• Enjoying being active and having fun

As a role model encourage and support children by:

• Encouraging them to learn to eat a variety of foods.
• Praising them when they try a new activity or food.
• Talking to them about food and making healthy choices.
• Encouraging them to play with others.
• Involving them in food shopping, food preparation and mealtimes.
• Helping them to find activities they enjoy and to understand the importance of moving.

Do it together:

If we are trying to change children’s behaviours then it is important to do it together.

Remember it only takes a little to achieve a lot and it is easy to introduce healthy eating and activity behaviours into routines so that they become part of your everyday life.

Take a look at Startwell’s web site which gives more hints, tips and information about keeping healthy and active together.

Helping children to eat healthily and be more physically active in their early years is very important for their health. This establishes healthy lifestyle behaviours that they can continue to use in their older childhood and into adulthood. Startwell wants children to eat well, be active and achieve more. 

The Startwell programme is based around 8 key characters and their messages to help early years settings, parents and health professionals create a healthier environment for our children and families. Your child will learn about these characters in nursery to help them develop healthy lifestyles.

You can find out more about the Startwell programme and lots of activities to help you and your child eat well and be more active on their website: https://www.startwellbirmingham.co.uk

Featherstone Nursery School has achieved the Startwell Award.