Participate in October’s Celebrations and Help Promote Children’s Health
Risky behaviors among youth ages 10-24 are responsible for most of the leading causes of death, illness, and disability in the United States. Violence prevention, environmental safety, personal safety, responsible decision making, respect for others, effective communication and refusal skills are just some of the important issues teachers and parents promote when trying to keep children healthy and safe. Research has shown that long-term healthy behaviors are more likely to be adopted by children than adults. Therefore, it is imperative that children start learning about healthy choices at an early age.
October presents many opportunities for schools and communities to promote life long healthy behaviors among children. First and foremost, October is Children’s Health Month. This year’s theme, promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is Promoting Healthy School Environments. To celebrate Children’s Health Month, EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection and Environmental Education (OCHPEE) is planning a series of webcasts throughout the month of October on topics related to healthy school environments including: an overview on safe and healthy school environments; information on how to design healthy high performance schools; information on chemical management in schools; and a summary of the Healthy School Environments Assessment Tool (Healthy SEAT).
Within October, there is also National Health Education Week (NHEW), an event sponsored by the National Center for Health Education (NCHE). This year’s premise is Healthy Kids: Creating Safe Communities and Schools and will be celebrated October 16-20. NCHE has developed a variety of materials for schools, parents, public health professionals, and organizations to promote safety in communities and schools nationwide. The materials include classroom lesson plans and parent/teacher resources. In addition, to highlight local NHEW 2006 celebrations, NCHE will be sponsoring a contest featuring successful school and community efforts.
Moreover, October 9-13 is National School Lunch Week (NSLW), which is honored by the School Nutrition Association (SNA). The NSLW website offers tools that can be used to get the most out of NSLW and Vote for School Lunch, which gives students a chance to vote on their favorite lunch entrées. Five entrée choices that research has shown to be most popular have been transformed into election candidates and will be campaigning for votes. Voting will take place at http://www.voteforschoollunch.org/ until October 6 and the winner will be announced on October 11. SNA has created celebratory Vote for School Lunch menus that allow bringing “the candidates to the students’ plate” and will be promoting the candidates to students, parents and the media, and helping them to understand the benefits of eating lunch.
Additionally, SNA is promoting a Vote Contest, in which schools can share what they are doing to celebrate Vote for School Lunch and in return win prizes for students and the school. Those who participate will also have the opportunity to have their event, idea, or vote covered in School Foodservice & Nutrition. Entries can be sent t SNA, Vote Contest, 700 S. Washington St., Suite 300, Alexandria, VA, 22314 or faxed to (703) 739-3915.
For further information on Vote for School Lunch and National School Lunch Week, please contact SNA at servicecenter@schoolnutrition.org or (703) 739-3900.
To sign up for one of Children’s Health Month webcasts, send an email (with the date of the webcast in which you would like to participate) to EPA's contractor ICF International at chm@icfi.com. And to learn more about National Health Education Week, please send an email to ray@nche.org.
Source: EPA website, NCHE website, SNA website