Community cafes: Emphasizing the parent’s role in childhood health

Abstract

Despite increasing local, state, and national measures to combat childhood obesity, childhood obesity remains epidemic in the nation. Reforms in food accessibility in school lunches and the advocacy of health education to students have been largely successful measures in fighting the epidemic in schools, but increased attention must be placed on also improving the health and nutrition of student’s homes. This presentation will propose an innovative, community-based approach, titled community cafes, to extend students’ health education beyond school to the home as well. Community cafes aim to provide resources and build partnerships between teachers and parents to advocate for improved nutrition and increased physical activity for all children. The execution and logistics of these community cafes will be discussed in this session, and the presenters will provide the rationale behind holding these cafes. This session will also offer suggestions and strategies for teachers to engage parents and students alike in health education and will end with a discussion on how teachers can apply these community cafes to their own local communities.