Healthy Eating

Mum becomes training facilitator after enthusiastically attending a healthy lifestyles MEND 2-4 course at her local children’s centre and getting her son to start eating vegetables.

Starting point and evidence of need

The family was booked onto a MEND 2-4 course as mum was struggling to get her son to eat vegetables of any kind. 

The local indicator shows 8.7 per cent of reception children in the county in 2007 were measured as obese. Health visitors were promoting the MEND 2-4 healthy lifestyle course for families. The children’s centre offered to run this course from 3 June – 29 July 2010.

Work undertaken

Mum and son attended the programme at the children’s centre which provided a safe environment for MEND 2-4 active play, snack time, crèche and adult learning sessions over the ten-week period. Two qualified mobile crèche workers were used to provide experienced crèche care for children while adults received information on healthy lifestyle choices for the whole family. The programme was such a success for the family that the child’s habits changed almost immediately. The programme taught this mum about the importance of being consistent when approaching meal times and the sessions were fun for all the family so her child loved coming along.

This mum was very enthusiastic in taking part in the sessions and encouraging towards the other families. After discussion with the MEND 2-4 facilitator she asked to contact the local MEND 2-4 programme manager through the children’s centre to ask to attend the MEND 2-4 training in London so she could go on to facilitate the course in the local area.

Outcome

This mum had great success with her son following the sessions. She went on to attend the two-day training course in London to become a qualified MEND 2-4 facilitator. The mum has just begun running a course at a children’s centre locally and is very much enjoying doing so.

Why was it successful?

This local mother found new part-time work running the course locally and her family are being healthier. She is now contributing financially to the household and her son can be involved in the sessions she runs.