Opening Speech at the Children in Scotland Conference

Our title today is GIVING OUR CHILDREN AN APPETITE FOR LIFE?And an appetite for life – means a healthy appetite for food.  But something has been going wrong. �
If we take just one figure – one in five Scottish toddlers are overweight by the time they reach their third birthday.

his suggests that we are not only getting it wrong from the beginning we are storing up more ill health and unhappiness than we realise.
 Some of you will have seen reported last week the heart stopping statistic that there are more overweight people in the world today than seriously malnourished ones.

That obesity statistic highlights our increasing discomfort with food – particularly in Anglo Saxon countries.  

Yet there are other affluent societies, which have not fallen prey to obesity in the same way – notably many of our  European neighbours – and it is from them that we will be hearing today.

So today is not about breast beating about what has gone wrong, much less who is to blame – it is altogether more ambitious – it is about learning from others, identifying opportunities close to home – and hopefully inspiring you to go back to your workplace and take some calculated risks. �
 

Because  this is a big challenge rather than a small one. Gifting to  the next generation the easy relationship with food and eating that has eluded  so many of our generation  – will require  more far-reaching change than simply changing what we eat.

In short swapping burgers for salads and offering free fruit will not be enough.

So whilst we should all welcome the Executive guidance about food in pre-five establishments ….

Our ambition today is to go further. To focus not just on what is eaten – but also on how it is eaten.

If you take nothing else home from today – remember that it’s not just what we eat – but how we eat that’s important.

Because how we now eat seems to lie at the heart  of our recent problems with obesity.  

Consider how – almost unnoticed during our lifetimes ‘production line catering’ – has become the norm, both at home and in the nursery.  And here we stand apart from the countries like France  where food is not just a fuel. In France Eating is above all a social experience.

Yet here Family mealtimes are a thing of the past in many households, and in pre school services also  the emphasis is often on the production line approach ie “getting children in and out of the dining room as soon as possible”.

Consequently young children are too rarely given a chance to enjoy eating as a fun and social, communal experience in a relaxed environment.

Our kids pick up our fast food “approach to eating” very early.  

Just as busy parents snatch a sandwich on the run, kids at nursery typically rely on their own wee private lunch box.

But it does not have to be like this.  

Why do our kids not learn about preparing food at nursery? in other words More dough and less play dough.  

As we will hear today all over Europe kids spend the morning making their own lunch – kneading dough, shelling peas, dousing fish in  flour, mixing fruit and yoghurt. All it requires is a change of mindset.

Given the school curriculum gets more and more crowded as children grow up all the more reason to start early when cooking is only competing with play, songs and stories – not all the rest of the 5-14 curriculum.

You, our great, but underpaid and under-recognised pre-five staff have already done great things in terms of childrens’ play. Let them bring that imagination to healthy eating.

Perhaps we could start with dreaming up ways to ensure every child drinks enough water.

Think about your ambitions for the youngsters you work with. Whatever the strides you have made in encouraging imaginative play over recent years. How much of this is wiped out if the children then feast on a lunchbox of Dairylea Dunkers, Monster Munch, a Coke and a Mars bar.

No point in being the best play leader in the area – if that is the eating habits they are developing.

And is it really realistic to leave the full responsibility for  developing healthy eating habits to the home and hard pressed parents? I know as a busy working mum I will struggle to spend time in the kitchen with the twins. It the TV, the manufacturers  and the high st are all going to be our enemies when it comes to good food habits  – lets at least make our pre five services our main allies. Systemic change will means involving children more in the planning and preparation of their own food. More consideration of the time spent eating; the importance of food being a shared experience with peers; the quality of the dining environment; and the positioning of lunch in the pre-school or school day.  

There is a big agenda out there.

 For my own part I thought a few months ago I was simply agreeing  to chair a conference. But what I have learned already has really  made me think about how we should approach “eating” in our home.  

I realise I am going to have to learn the patience to let the twins eat at their own pace.  Not easy.  

How much will let them get involved in preparing meals?  Am I willing to adjust my plans, my days to accommodate as many family mealtimes as we can manage?

I started with the challenge of growing obesity. But paradoxically the answers you will hear today are  about putting the pleasure of eating back at the heart of childhood. So can I urge you to approach the day with an open mind. To be willing to think big.