Building Healthy Families
The Building Healthy Families initiative, which provides health, nutrition and fitness programs, as well as education and resources, for community members of all ages, has been a successful JLSN program since 2007.
Healthy Parents education program Speaker Dr. David L. Katz of the Yale School of Medicine with one of the families attending an event.
Parents are the foundation for building a healthy family. This year JLSN continues the Healthy Parents education outreach in partnership with Stepping Stones Children's Museum in Norwalk. JLSN will provide parents and caregivers in the community with the knowledge and skills to create a healthy lifestyle for their families through a series of hands on education programs held at the museum. Topics will include purchasing and preparing healthy food on a budget, incorporating exercise into everyday life and promoting healthy habits at home and in public.
Healthy Kids
With obesity and diabetes rates soaring among young children, providing education about the importance of good nutrition and healthy habits is a priority for every community. JLSN will reach out to agencies and partners in the community to develop programs and activities for children from infants through teens. The popular annual Kids in the Kitchen events incorporate educational programming in four topic areas: nutrition, exercise, adult programming, and topical arts and crafts projects and games.
Kids in the Kitchen is an initiative launched by the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) in 2006 as a League-wide initiative designed to help communities address the urgent issues surrounding childhood obesity and poor nutrition. The goal is to provide children and their families with the tools they need to make nutritious eating choices with the belief that the education of children is the first step to making lasting change in the reversal of current childhood obesity statistics.
