Take the Healthy Family Challenge!

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The Healthy Family Challenge implemented by Mid-America Head Start was a six-week program that encouraged Head Start families to track children's dietary and physical activities in five specific areas:

1. Eat MORE fruits and vegetables.
2. Eat MORE low-fat dairy foods, such as cheese, yogurt and milk.
3. Drink LESS soda and other sweetened drinks, such as Kool-Aid, Sunny D and fruit juice drinks.
4. Eat LESS fast food.
5. Be MORE active

Four Head Start centers — Clymer, Little Scholars and Metro Head Start in Kansas City, Mo., and Hawthorne Head Start in Independence, Mo. — participated in a more detailed pilot project, while other centers received general information and some materials.

Pilot Centers

The six-week program at pilot centers included the following:

• Week 0: Parents received a Healthy Challenge Calendar, along with a magnetic refrigerator clip to encourage them to hang the calendar where it could be easily filled out each day. Center directors explained the program to parents and encouraged them to participate.
• Weeks 1 through 5: Parents continued to receive weekly Healthy Challenge Calendars, along with newsletters that focused on each of the five healthy behaviors. Each Friday, parents who returned completed calendars received a prize. The prizes included insulated grocery totes; cutting boards for chopping vegetables and fruits; measuring cups and spoons; water bottles and placemats.
• Each center also hosted a "Family Fun Night" at which fun activities, healthy snacks, resources and prizes were given out.
• At the conclusion of the six-week program, parents who completed and returned all six calendars were invited to participate in a group discussion about the program. Site directors and teachers were asked to complete a brief survey to help gauge their perceptions about the program.

Program materials:

• Introductory flier about the program <General> <For Pilot Sites>
• Placemat
• Poster
• Weekly Healthy Challenge Calendar <General> <For Pilot Sites>
• Newsletters:
  • Week 1: Fruits and Vegetables - I Can Eat a Rainbow
  • Week 2: Got Milk?
  • Week 3: Rethink Your Drink!
  • Week 4: Making Meals Matter
  • Week 5: Eat Smart. Play Hard.
• Final Report

Outcomes and Recommendations

Quantitative data and summaries of the group discussions at each center were summarized in the final report. The following themes, detailed in the final report, emerged:

• The calendars were easy to complete and helped parents become more aware of what their families were eating.
• The most difficult change for families was to reduce consumption of fast food and soda or other sweetened beverages.
• Parents enjoyed the newsletters, incentives and family fun nights, and found them to be helpful.
• Parents reported some challenges and offered suggestions for improvement.
• Despite some challenges, all parents agreed they would participate in a future, similar program and would recommend the program to other families.

Based on the results of data and group discussions, some recommendations for future programs include:

• Providing more information on how to increase fruit and vegetable consumption.
• Providing more information on how to encourage consumption of low-fat milk and water instead of soda and sweetened beverages.
• Consider providing sample menu plans and cooking classes for parents and children to encourage home-cooked family meals.
• Provide more information about community events that promote physical activity and what parents can do to boost activity levels at home.
• Collaborate with site directors, teachers, family advocates and parents to encourage greater participation in the program.
• Consider a more efficient method of tracking healthy behaviors to help cut down on the volume of paperwork sent home.
• Encourage parents to share ideas and experiences with each other.

Healthy Family Challenge Partners

Funding for the Healthy Family Challenge was provided by BlueCross BlueShield of Kansas City, in collaboration with Mid-America Head Start; Mid-America Regional Council; Nutra-Net, Inc.; University of Kansas Medical Center; and University of Missouri Extension's Family Nutrition Education Program.