Creating a Wellness Plan for your Child Care Facility

1. Creating a Wellness Plan for your Child Care Facility

2. Why do Child Care Facilities need Wellness Plans? A Wellness Plan is a set of statements around the specific practices promoted at your program. The day-to-day practices of your program play a key role in helping children develop healthy eating and physical activity habits. Adapted from The Nemours Child Care Wellness Policy Workbook

3. Defining your policies • Defining a program’s policies around day-to-day practices can: • Communicate core values and principles regarding healthy habits to child care providers, to current and potential families and to the community. • Help child care providers and families act as role models for children by practicing healthy habits themselves. • Help guide those teaching children about the importance of these healthy habits. Adapted from The Nemours Child Care Wellness Policy Workbook

4. Use Strong Language to Support your Policy • Use words like: • Shall, Will, Must, Have to, Insist, Require, Comply, Enforce give clear guidance and leaves little room for ambiguity or misinterpretation. • Weak language leaves room for multiple interpretations as to how the facility would enforce the policy or handle a situation. Words like: may, can, could, should, might, encourage, suggest and urge are vague, unclear and potentially confusing.

5. Steps for a Successful Wellness Plan Adapted from Healthy Bites, Wisconsin DPI

6. 1. Assessment • Use the Quick Start Guide on the CACFP website to get a picture of your current program and to prioritize areas that need improvement. • The Quick Start Guide will lead you step-by-step through the process of identifying areas that need the most attention and help you see that you are already doing a lot to promote a healthy environment.

7. Assessment – Quick Start Guide • The Quick Start Guide is broken into 7 sections: • Meals • Breakfast • Snacks • Lunch/Supper • Physical Activity • Nutrition Education • Eating Environment • Parties/Celebrations/Fundraising • Wellness Team • Staff Wellness

8. Wellness Plan Quick Start Guide

9. 2. Plan • Using the results of the self-assessment, prioritize the areas that need improvement. • Ask yourself questions like: • What area or areas do we want to address? • What do we hope to achieve with the plan? • Who will be responsible for this task? • Who or what might stop us from achieving our desired outcome? • What steps will we take to achieve our desired outcome? • What is our timeline and how will we measure our progress?

10. Plan • Also ask: • Is the plan worth it? • Yes means you believe achieving your desired outcome will have positive effects for children, families, staff, and your business. • Is the plan concrete, specific and measureable?

11. 3. Implement • Start implementing the changes that you have identified as necessary or desirable. • Begin with those changes that are easiest to implement. • Take your time but don’t be afraid to push yourself past your comfort zone! Work at a pace that is comfortable for you, your staff and your facility.

12. 4. Evaluate • Repeat assessment to understand whether your policy and program changes were effective. • Assessment tools are available and they can direct your program toward additional opportunities for improvement. • Wellness Child Care Assessment Tool (WellCCAT) http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/resources/upload/docs/what/communities/WellnessChildCareAssessmentToolForResearch.pdf

13. Wellness Child Care Assessment Tool

14. Overview of Wellness Plan Requirements • There are 6 basic areas to include in a Wellness Plan: • Wellness Team • Nutrition/Feeding Environment • Nutrition Education • Physical Activity • Staff Wellness • Wellness Policy Evaluation

15. Establish a Wellness Team • Before you begin creating your wellness plan, identify and form a team of individuals to assist you. • Wellness Team may include: • Teachers/ Caregivers • Food Service Staff • Parents/ Guardians • Board members • Community health care professionals/ local Registered Dietitian • Extension Educator • A team of 3 or more people, depending on the size of your organization, will make conducting the assessment easier.

16. Nutrition/Feeding Environment • Meals • Guidelines for all meals served • What type of foods are available to the children? • Children should not have access to vending machines. • Breastfeeding • Guidelines for breastfeeding mothers. • Training for proper handling and storage of human milk. • Environment • Safety/Sanitation • Employee roles models • Parties/Celebrations • Guidelines for foods used during birthday parties or holiday celebrations. • Fundraising • Regulations for food items/goods sold for fundraisers.

17. Nutrition Education • How do you implement nutrition education in your child care facility? • Nutrition education activities planned. • Nutrition education offered to the parents. • Nutrition promotion through posters, newsletters, flyers, etc…

18. Physical Activity • How much physical activity do the children receive each day? • Physical activity is not denied as a form of punishment. • Children participate in structured physical activities.

19. Staff Wellness • Staff members receive training on nutrition, physical activity, food safety, and program guidelines. • Food options for staff. • Wellness opportunities, such as, health screening.

20. Wellness Policy Evaluation • The leader of the Wellness Team designates the responsibility to ensure the facility is in compliance with the guidelines in the wellness plan. • Policy language will be assessed every year and revised as needed. • Use an evaluation tool to assess your wellness plan.

21. Ideas for your Wellness Plan

22. Example of a Child Care Wellness Plan

23. Resources

24. Questions? Brittany Dale Indiana Department of Education Wellness Specialist bdale@doe.in.gov Phone number:317-234-2375 Toll Free Phone number: 1-800- 5374-1142 ext.42375