Parental engagement

Working with parents/carers is an important part of school life. In relation to food, this relates to the child’s health and wellbeing, the food and drink they consume and what they learn. Engaging parents/carers with your whole school food ethos enables them to better understand your culture and values, as well as potentially supporting them to become learners.

Of course, many parents/carers also have fantastic experience, skills and knowledge that can be utilised to support your school, from helping create a garden space and teaching children about growing plants, to running cooking and tasting sessions about different ingredients and dishes around the UK and world.

This area includes resources on:

• Eating more vegetables
• Breakfast
• Eat well
• Healthy lunchboxes
• Healthy hydration
• Physical activity
• Sleep

Support for parents/carers of younger children

Why do we need to eat vegetables?

Vegetables contain vitamins, minerals and fibre. Vitamins and minerals have lots of different jobs in the body and we need them to stay well. Fibre helps waste food move through the body to keep our digestive system healthy. Different vegetables contain different vitamins and minerals and amounts of fibre - this is why it is important to eat a variety of different vegetables.

Why do children often refuse vegetables?

Young children are often naturally cautious about new food and it can take many attempts to get them to try something different. It can be even more difficult with vegetables because they are less sweet than fruit and some types, such as broccoli and cabbage, have a naturally bitter taste which young children are more sensitive to than older children and adults.

Why do we need to get young children to keep trying vegetables?

Eating habits developed at an early age can follow on into later life. This means that the preschool years are an important time for children to explore and experience a wide variety of vegetables (and other food) to set them on the right course for eating well as they grow up.

What can we do?

Although it’s not always easy, there are lots of things you can try that have been shown to help young children learn to like vegetables. Start by taking a look at our Learning to love vegetables information for some practical tips.

Helping your child become more familiar with different vegetables by looking at pictures of them, learning about how they grow and are served, can make them more likely to try and enjoy different vegetables. There are lots of activity ideas below that you can use with your child. Read our Parent/carer information sheet to see how these activities can be used.

For more information about feeding preschool children, click here.

Reviewed 28.01.22