Pre-school teachers and parents are important role models for establishing healthy dietary habits in children. It is essential for parents and pre-school teachers to be aware of the negative effects of including sweet food in a child’s diet. In addition, it is crucial for adults to show children a healthy way to celebrate, as this can lead to the child being able to substitute sweets with other, healthier food when celebrating as an adult. In our research, we looked at the attitude of parents and pre-school teachers towards including sweets and sweet drinks in birthday celebrations. We wanted to find out what types of food are most commonly included in celebrations in kindergarten and at home. We also wanted to determine who decides what type of food should be included in kindergarten birthday celebrations.
A total of 50 parents and 43 pre-school teachers participated in the research. When it comes to celebrations in kindergarten, we found that fruit and water are the most common, while sweets are also available sometimes. When celebrating at home, children are most frequently served cake, fruit and juice. The findings were encouraging, showing that pre-school teachers and parents are using healthier ways to celebrate with less sugar. Parents feel that food is not an important part of celebrating in kindergarten and that other activities matter more. Pre-school teachers usually discuss the food to be included in the celebration with the parents or compile a list of food that parents may bring to kindergarten. Based on the analysis of results we can conclude that kindergarten celebrations are organised with a good deal of innovation. The most common activities include singing birthday songs, dancing around a cardboard cake, making presents for the birthday child and eating (fruit, water and a few sweets). At home, children have access to more sweet food and drinks; however, parents make an effort to serve healthy food (e.g. fruit, nuts) in addition to sweets. The parents are very happy with how birthdays are celebrated in kindergarten and want to show children a healthy way to celebrate. This increases the likelihood of children developing a positive attitude towards healthy food and avoiding excessive consumption of sugar in future celebrations.
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