Lunchbox Chatter

Program Description:
Lunchbox Chatter is a series of 5 newsletters for parents of preschool children. The purpose of the newsletters is to provide parents/guardians with information and ideas for packing healthy lunches. The newsletters contain general guidelines for including all the food groups in appropriate portions, food safety tips, simple and quick tips, a grocery shopping list template, and sample lunch box "menus." The benefits of including each food group and healthy choices within groups are described in each newsletter. Other feeding issues addressed include dealing with picky eaters and limiting juice. Each newsletter is accompanied by a mini-poster for children to color or do the activity which reinforces the concept in that newsletter.

Program Objectives:
Parents or guardians will —

1. Read Lunchbox Chatter newsletters about packing healthy lunches.
2. Learn new information about nutrition and/or food safety.
3. Increase confidence in their lunch packing skills.
4. Increase the health value of the lunches (more fruit, vegetables, low-fat dairy and whole grains).
5. Implement strategies to make packing healthy lunches easy and quick (e.g., menus, simple and quick tips, shopping list).

Child care professionals will —

1. Read Lunchbox Chatter newsletters about packing healthy lunches.
2. Adopt strategies to communicate to parents/guardians, using the Lunchbox Chatter newsletters, the importance of packing nutritious lunches.
3. Use the mini-posters in the classroom/home to begin the discussion of healthy eating with young children (food variety and identification).

Program Audience:
Lunchbox Chatter is designed for parents whose children attend child care and pack their children's lunch.

Program Impact:
A pilot study was conducted in 2006/2007 where about 60% of parents reported at least one change in lunch packing practices after reading these newsletters sent home weekly by the child care sites.