An Innovative, Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Promoting Child Health: The Reggio Emilia Approach and the Ecological Approach to Family Style Dining Program

The Reggio Emilia approach is an international example of high-quality early care and education programs and this article offers innovative, practical strategies in which Reggio Emilia-inspired educators can link this approach while implementing the research-based EAT Family Style Dining program to foster a positive mealtime environment and promote better health for children. The EAT Family Style Dining program presents childcare providers with the knowledge and skills needed for promoting children’s development of healthy eating behaviors while engaging families and communities. Children and adults eat together during mealtime and children serve themselves and select their own portions. This practice is recommended by the National Academy of Medicine, USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program, and Head Start. The EAT Family Style Program, developed by an interdisciplinary team of nutrition and early childhood researchers, is composed of seven different lessons that address specific strategies for promoting family style dining

“Great Job Cleaning Your Plate Today!” Determinants of Child-Care Providers’ Use of Controlling Feeding Practices: An Exploratory Examination

Background National early childhood obesity prevention policies recommend that child-care providers avoid controlling feeding practices (CFP) (e.g., pressure-to-eat, food as reward, and praising children for cleaning their plates) with children to prevent unhealthy child eating behaviors and childhood obesity. However, evidence suggests that providers frequently use CFP during mealtimes. Objective Using the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2011) benchmarks for nutrition in child care as a framework, researchers assessed child-care providers’ perspectives regarding their use of mealtime CFP with young children (aged 2 to 5 years). Design Using a qualitative design, individual, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with providers until saturation was reached. Participants/setting Providers were selected using maximum variation purposive sampling from varying child-care contexts (Head Start, Child and Adult Care Food Program [CACFP] e-funded centers, non-CACFP programs). All providers were employed full-time in Head Start or state-licensed center-based child-care programs, cared for children (aged 2 to 5 years), and were directly responsible for serving meals and snacks. Main outcome measure Child-care providers’ perspectives regarding CFP. Statistical analyses performed Thematic analysis using NVivo (version 9, 2010, QSR International Pty Ltd) to derive themes. Results Providers’ perspectives showed barriers, motivators, and facilitators regarding their use of mealtime CFP. Providers reported barriers to avoiding CFP such as CFP were effective for encouraging desired behaviors, misconceptions that providers were encouraging but not controlling children’s eating, and fear of parents’ negative reaction if their child did not eat. Providers who did not practice CFP were motivated to avoid CFP because they were unnecessary for encouraging children to eat, and they resulted in negative child outcomes and obesity. Facilitators as an alternative to CFP included practicing healthful feeding practices such as role modeling, peer modeling, and sensory exploration of foods. Conclusions Training providers about negative child outcomes associated with CFP, children’s ability to self-regulate energy intake, and differentiating between controlling and healthful feeding strategies may help providers to avoid CFP

“Great Job Cleaning Your Plate Today!” Determinants of Child-Care Providers’ Use of Controlling Feeding Practices: An Exploratory Examination

Background National early childhood obesity prevention policies recommend that child-care providers avoid controlling feeding practices (CFP) (e.g., pressure-to-eat, food as reward, and praising children for cleaning their plates) with children to prevent unhealthy child eating behaviors and childhood obesity. However, evidence suggests that providers frequently use CFP during mealtimes. Objective Using the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2011) benchmarks for nutrition in child care as a framework, researchers assessed child-care providers’ perspectives regarding their use of mealtime CFP with young children (aged 2 to 5 years). Design Using a qualitative design, individual, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with providers until saturation was reached. Participants/setting Providers were selected using maximum variation purposive sampling from varying child-care contexts (Head Start, Child and Adult Care Food Program [CACFP] e-funded centers, non-CACFP programs). All providers were employed full-time in Head Start or state-licensed center-based child-care programs, cared for children (aged 2 to 5 years), and were directly responsible for serving meals and snacks. Main outcome measure Child-care providers’ perspectives regarding CFP. Statistical analyses performed Thematic analysis using NVivo (version 9, 2010, QSR International Pty Ltd) to derive themes. Results Providers’ perspectives showed barriers, motivators, and facilitators regarding their use of mealtime CFP. Providers reported barriers to avoiding CFP such as CFP were effective for encouraging desired behaviors, misconceptions that providers were encouraging but not controlling children’s eating, and fear of parents’ negative reaction if their child did not eat. Providers who did not practice CFP were motivated to avoid CFP because they were unnecessary for encouraging children to eat, and they resulted in negative child outcomes and obesity. Facilitators as an alternative to CFP included practicing healthful feeding practices such as role modeling, peer modeling, and sensory exploration of foods. Conclusions Training providers about negative child outcomes associated with CFP, children’s ability to self-regulate energy intake, and differentiating between controlling and healthful feeding strategies may help providers to avoid CFP

Head Start and child care providers’ motivators, barriers and facilitators to practicing family-style meal service

This paper presents a qualitative investigation of the motivators, barriers, and facilitators for practicing family-style meal service (FSMS) from the perspective of 18 child care providers serving preschool children in Head Start (HS), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) funded, and non-CACFP child-care centers. Providers were selected based on maximum variation purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews were conducted until saturation was reached. Provider responses were systematically coded using thematic analysis. HS and CACFP providers reported being motivated to practice FSMS because it created pleasant mealtimes, opportunities to role model healthy eating, and healthful child development. CACFP and non-CACFP providers reported not using FSMS because it was resource intensive, messy, and seemed to violate CACFP policy. HS and CACFP providers offered suggestions to overcome these barriers. They suggested that FSMS eventually becomes easier with practice, children can self-regulate their energy intake, and teaching children self-help skills during play time can avoid messes during mealtimes. Findings from this study have implications for programming, policy, and research

Engaging Parents to Promote Children’s Nutrition and Health: Providers’ Barriers and Strategies in Head Start and Child Care Centers

Purpose: Using the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics benchmarks as a framework, this study examined childcare providers’ (Head Start [HS], Child and Adult Care Food Program [CACFP] funded, and non-CACFP) perspectives regarding communicating with parents about nutrition to promote children’s health. Design: Qualitative. Setting: State-licensed center-based childcare programs. Participants: Full-time childcare providers (n ¼ 18) caring for children 2 to 5 years old from varying childcare contexts (HS, CACFP funded, and non-CACFP), race, education, and years of experience. Methods: In-person interviews using semi-structured interview protocol until saturation were achieved. Thematic analysis was conducted. Results: Two overarching themes were barriers and strategies to communicate with parents about children’s nutrition. Barriers to communication included—(a) parents are too busy to talk with providers, (b) parents offer unhealthy foods, (c) parents prioritize talking about child food issues over nutrition, (d) providers are unsure of how to communicate about nutrition without offending parents, and (e) providers are concerned if parents are receptive to nutrition education materials. Strategies for communication included—(a) recognize the benefits of communicating with parents about nutrition to support child health, (b) build a partnership with parents through education, (c) leverage policy (federal and state) to communicate positively and avoid conflict, (d) implement center-level practices to reinforce policy, and (e) foster a respectful relationship between providers and parents. Conclusion: Policy and environmental changes were recommended for fostering a respectful relationship and building a bridge between providers and parents to improve communication about children’s nutrition and health

The differential impact of early father and mother involvement on later student achievement.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of early parenting on later parental school involvement and student achievement. The sample, pulled from the first and second waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics – Child Development Supplement data set, consisted of 390 children ages 2–5 at time 1 and their families. Fathers’ and mothers’ participation in five dimensions of early parenting behaviors were assessed at time 1, while later parental school involvement and student achievement were assessed at time 2. Although early paternal and maternal parenting behaviors were not directly related to later student achievement, differences were revealed in the pattern of relationships between early parenting and later parental school involvement for fathers and mothers. In addition, fathers’ later school involvement was found to be negatively related to student achievement while maternal school involvement was found to be positively related to student achievement. These findings provide partial support for the hypothesized differential relationship between fathers’ and mothers’ early parenting and later student achievement

The quality of maternal secure-base scripts predicts children's secure-base behavior at home in three sociocultural groups

The secure-base phenomenon is central to the Bowlby/Ainsworth theory of attachment and is also central to the assessment of attachment across the lifespan. The present study tested whether mothers’ knowledge about the secure-base phenomenon, as assessed using a recently designed wordlist prompt measure for eliciting attachment-relevant stories, would predict their children’s securebase behavior, as assessed by observers in the home and summarized with the Attachment Q-set (AQS). In each of three sociocultural groups (from Colombia, Portugal, and the US), scores characterizing the quality of maternal secure-base narratives elicited using the word-list prompt procedure were internally consistent, as indicated by tests of cross-story reliability, and they were positively and significantly associated with the child’s security score from the AQS for each subsample. The correlation in the combined sample was r(129) = .33, p < .001. Subsequent analyses with the combined sample evaluated the AQS item-correlates of the secure-base script score. These analyses showed that mothers whose stories indicate that they have access to and use a positive secure-base script in their story production have children who treat them as a “secure base” at home. These results suggest that a core feature of adult attachment models, in each of the three sociocultural groups studied, is access to a secure-base script. Additional results from the study indicate that cross-language translations of the maternal narratives can receive valid, reliable scores even when evaluated by non-native speakers

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Modeling rare gene variation to gain insight into the oldest biomarker in autism: construction of the serotonin transporter Gly56Ala knock-in mouse

Alterations in peripheral and central indices of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) production, storage and signaling have long been associated with autism. The 5-HT transporter gene (HTT, SERT, SLC6A4) has received considerable attention as a potential risk locus for autism-spectrum disorders, as well as disorders with overlapping symptoms, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Here, we review our efforts to characterize rare, nonsynonymous polymorphisms in SERT derived from multiplex pedigrees carrying diagnoses of autism and OCD and present the initial stages of our effort to model one of these variants, Gly56Ala, in vivo. We generated a targeting vector to produce the Gly56Ala substitution in the Slc6a4 locus by homologous recombination. Following removal of a neomycin resistance selection cassette, animals exhibiting germline transmission of the Ala56 variant were bred to establish a breeding colony on a 129S6 background, suitable for initial evaluation of biochemical, physiological and behavioral alterations relative to SERT Gly56 (wildtype) animals. SERT Ala56 mice were achieved and exhibit a normal pattern of transmission. The initial growth and gross morphology of these animals is comparable to wildtype littermate controls. The SERT Ala56 variant can be propagated in 129S6 mice without apparent disruption of fertility and growth. We discuss both the opportunities and challenges that await the physiological/behavioral analysis of Gly56Ala transgenic mice, with particular reference to modeling autism-associated traits