ECE facilities are a trusted source of information about what’s best for children. Families value and need your guidance to sort through all of the information they get about raising young children. Engaging with families about healthy eating shows them you care about their children’s wellbeing and helps them make the healthiest choices they can as caregivers.
Application Documentation
In your REACH Child Nutrition application, you will upload documentation of meeting the family engagement evidence-based practices along with offering healthy foods, using healthy feeding practices and including child nutrition in the facility’s policy.
| REACH Application Documentation | Go NAP SACC Evidence-Based Practices |
| Please provide one example of a resource (print or digital) the facility uses to engage with enrolled families about healthy eating for toddler and/or preschool-aged children. Please describe a conversation that a teacher or administrator has had with families about the importance of healthy eating. What best practice(s) or key topic(s) were shared? How did this conversation build on families” strengths, values, or concerns? | CN 44 Education for families on child nutrition covers a variety of topics about healthy foods and beverages for children and ways to help children build healthy eating habits. |
Tips for Your Documentation
- Upload one resource. It can be a screen shot of a resource or social media post, or a pdf or word document the facility has shared with families.
- Make sure the resource you provide as an example shares fact-based information and guidance that aligns with best practices and comes from a reputable source.
- Provide details in your description to “paint the picture” of the conversation between the teacher/administrator and families. Be sure to describe how the facility makes information about healthy eating relevant and meaningful to families.
- Resource and conversation should have been shared in the past 12 months.
Recognized Program Example
Here’s how A Safe Place described a child nutrition conversation with a family in their program on their REACH application:
“A family in our Threeschool classroom asked what kinds of foods were being offered at the center for the children and what should their child be eating. The teacher explained to the child that we follow the guidelines of the CACFP and the different components we offer. The parent asked what should their child be eating. The teacher said, I think it would be helpful to get you some resources about nutrition. The teacher provided the parent with the healthychildren.org article about nutrition at different ages of childhood. The parents was thankful and said they would review it to see if their child was getting adequate food at school.”
Other Resources
See the resources below for great examples of relevant, fact-based information to share with families.
This resource from the USDA is part of the Nibbles for Health series. It is available in English and Spanish. CACFP participating facilities can order print copies and all facilities can download each of the 12 newsletters here.
This resource is one from a great series from Healthy Eating Research. It can be found at their website or in the Child Nutrition section of the Go NAPSACC Tips & Materials library under Feeding Practices.
REACH Recognition 
3 thoughts on “Child Nutrition Family Engagement”