10/25/2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Feeding young children nutritious food is, of course, important. But it's only the first step in starting a child down a lifetime path of good eating habits.
With that in mind, the Michigan State University College of Nursing is undertaking a project that will not only teach young parents the proper food to serve their children, but also how to make mealtimes a more positive experience, how to react to emergencies such as choking and how to help their child make the proper food decisions.
Dubbed Nutrition Education Aimed at Toddlers, or NEAT, the project actually places professionals in the homes to work with the families.
"First we offer four in-class experiences that focus on child development, feeding and nutrition," said Mildred Omar, professor of nursing, who is heading the project. "That's followed by six months of weekly in-home visits that provide reinforcement of what's taught in the classes."
The long-term goal, said Omar, is a lifelong, healthy relationship with food.
"Research has shown that good eating habits, established in early childhood can lead to a lifetime of nutrition and a much smaller chance of the child developing an eating disorder," she said.
Some of the more common mistakes made by young parents: making children eat everything on their plate, forcing them to eat food they don't like and not making meal time also family time.
The NEAT project is funded by a three-year grant totaling $375,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services' Association for Children, Youth and Families.
The project is aimed at families who participate in Early Head Start, a federal project that offers assistance to low-income families. NEAT is partnering with Early Head Start programs throughout the state, including much of northern Michigan, west Michigan and the Flint area.
Other MSU researchers involved in the project are Gayle Coleman and Dawn Contreras of MSU Extension and Sharon Hoerr of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition.
For additional information, contact Omar at (517) 355-8360 or access the NEAT Web site at http://www.fact.msu.edu/nutritiongrants.htm#neat