Practical Research-based Information from the Nation's Leading Universities
Helping Families Fight Childhood Obesity
First Lady Michelle Obama recently unveiled a national campaign to combat childhood obesity. The campaign draws attention to the critical role that parents play in helping their children be healthy and fit. Here are just some of the many resources available through CYFERnet aimed at helping parents understand the importance of family meals and the relationship between families eating together and preventing childhood obesity.
What's for Dinner? Creating Family Connections
This archived webinar highlights strategies for helping families connect, starting with mealtime. Through this webinar you can learn about the importance of family meals and the relationship between families eating together and childhood obesity, and how to increase opportunities for families to eat together more often.
Family Table Topper
The Family Table Topper encourages positive family talk by suggesting questions to facilitate discussions about family values. The “topper” encourages the discussion of the day’s events for each family member and ideas for praising each other's accomplishments.
Meal Time in Less Time
This University of Idaho Extension curriculum teaches individuals how to plan meals, shop to save time and money, and prepare healthy meals using time-saving procedures. It is designed to be taught in three one-hour sessions. Meal Time in Less Time consists of a CD with PowerPoint slides, script, handouts, instructor's advertising materials, and participant evaluations. Information on ordering the curriculum is provided.
Tips for Parents — Ideas to Help Children Maintain a Healthy Weight
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides research-based information on how parents can help their children maintain healthy weights.
Family Mealtimes Teach Good Nutrition
Regular family mealtimes have become one of the chief casualties of over-scheduling. When families don't make the mealtime connection, children can suffer nutritionally and emotionally. This resource from Parenting 24/7 shares strategies families can use to teach their children good nutrition.
Research Spotlight Article: Regular Family Dinners Offer Benefits to Modern Families
The image of a happy family sitting down to a relaxed, healthy meal is iconic and idyllic. Some families observe this ritual regularly, while others think of it as a relic from a past time when lives were less hectic. Two land grant university researchers have investigated the potential benefits of family mealtimes on children and come up with statistics that indicate that families that dine together tend to have healthier, more well adjusted children.
Busy Families and Mealtime / Las comidas en familia
This fact sheet explores the value of mealtimes to the family unit and offers suggestions for making the most of this time spent together. Available in English and Spanish through Extensión en Español.
Healthy Food Can be Fun/Diviértase al preparar alimentos con sus niño
Mealtime can be an important family sharing time. This fact sheet provides tips for involving children in planning, shopping for and preparing meals. Available in English and Spanish through Extensión en Español.
Families, Food, and Fitness
eXtension’s Families, Food, and Fitness Community of Practice provides resources and tools designed to help families make informed decisions about healthy eating and physical activity by providing them with evidence research based information and interactive learning opportunities. This virtual educational environment is targeted to families with young children.
Breakfast — Don't Leave Home Without It!
We have often heard it said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, yet 35-40 percent of all Americans skip breakfast. Many parents allow their children to leave for school without breakfast. The first meal of the day is called breakfast because it breaks the fast that has lasted ten to twelve hours, since the last meal eaten the day before, usually dinner.
Childhood Obesity: What Families Can Do Together
This website presents nutrition, physical activity, and weight-management tips for families. It includes a free online video game for children about healthy eating and activity choices. Available in English and Spanish.
Local CYFAR Program Spotlight: Shape Up, Family Style in South Dakota
Native American dance is the centerpiece of powwows, a popular cultural event on reservations and elsewhere. A CYFAR program in South Dakota capitalizes on assets such as the popularity of native dance when working with families at risk for obesity and diabetes.