It’s that time of year again, children are heading back to school. As you and your child transition back to school, we've pulled together diet-free back-to-school resources to support you and your student.
School Letters for Parents and Guardians
Have you seen our downloadable, customizable school letters that we made with the National Alliance for Eating Disorders? Unfortunately, diet culture shows up in schools, because schools are a part of our larger culture. Teachers, parents, and school administrators are not immune to diet culture messages. These letters are ready to support you when you need to send some information explaining the harm of dieting and weight focused messaging. Just download, customize one of these letters, and advocate! These are the perfect diet-free back-to-school resources to have on hand!
5 letters:
- Introductory Letter to Your Child’s Teacher - Want to be proactive? At the beginning of the school year, use this letter to introduce yourself to your child’s teacher and tell them a bit about your nutrition and food philosophy.
- Letter regarding School Weigh-Ins - Have this letter on hand if your school conducts student weigh-ins.
- Letter regarding a Harmful School Assignment with Diet Culture - This letter will help if a school assignment includes calories, weight, or good/food bad food messaging.
- Letter regarding Food Police in the School Cafeteria - We often hear about adults in the cafeteria telling a child how and what to eat their lunch. This letter will explain that you’d like your child to be in charge of the order in which they eat their lunch and how much they eat.
- Letter requesting your Child Opt-Out of An Assignment - Does your child have a history of an eating disorder? And/or do you feel strongly that your child needs to opt out of an assignment? This letter is to help you request that your child opt out of an assignment that may be potentially harmful.
Diet-Free Classrooms
In addition to our letters, there are many other diet-free back-to-school resources to support diet-free classrooms.
- Let’s Make Our Children’s Classrooms and Activities Free From Diet Talk This free downloadable handout is great to share with teachers, coaches, troop leaders, and school administrators -- anyone who is helping teach and care for children. The handout lays out how weight-focused comments can be harmful and the evidence for the risks associated with dieting.
- Please Don't Teach My Kids to Diet: 5 Resources to Give Teachers and Schools This blog post is an oldie-but-goodie. It provides ideas on how to work with educators around these important topics and 5 resources to support you!
Nutrition Education
We believe nutrition education needs to be developmentally appropriate and free of diet culture. These podcasts and blog posts provide information on supporting your school and children's teachers towards this goal.
- School Nutrition and Health Curriculums with Sarah Ganginis
- Early Childhood Health with Educator Shawna Daniels
- A School Nutrition Lesson: The Edible Parts of a Plant
- Nutrition Education for Kids
are packed with information about how to support your child in their activities this fall, and important addition to your diet-free back-to-school resources.
- Eating Disorders and Athletes with Shane Jeffrey
- Nourishing a Dancer’s Mind and Body with Monika Saigal
- Sports Nutrition for Kids and Teens with Leslie Schilling
- Hydration Essentials
Middle, High School, and College Students
Do you have a teenager? The teen years are full of transitions, boundary-pushing, social media, and independence. These podcast episodes provide you with many perspectives on how to support your teen as they transition back to school.
- Parenting Middle and High Schoolers with Michelle Icard
- Helping Your Child Transition from Home to University with Alison Crossley
- Boundary Setting and Parenting Your Teen with Signe Darpinian
- Caroline, Ellie, Miriam, and Izzie - Perspective from Our Kids!
- Social Media Wellness for Kids and Teens with Ana Homayoun
- Fostering Positive Body Image in Teens with Dr. Shelley Aggarwal
Packing School Lunches
Back-to-school means back-to-packing lunches! Neither one of us love this job, but we try to keep it simple and quick. We have tons of resources to support you in taking the dread out of lunch packing!
- Purchase our E-book - Your Ultimate Guide for Stress-Free Lunch Packing
- Dreading School Lunch Packing? Tips for Getting the Job Done
- Lunch Packing with Teens and Tweens
- Three Easy Back to School Lunches
- What’s for Lunch
- 15 Minute Lentil Ragout
- Make These Easy Baked Beans to Simplify Your Lunch Packing Routine
- Our Favorite Lunch Packing Supplies
Kids Podcast Series by Age Level
Do you have questions about feeding your child of any age? We have you covered! Listen to our Kids Series! This series is 4 podcast episodes where we answer listener questions about feeding kids.
We hope the transition back to school is a smooth one! Do you have diet-free back-to-school resources that you love? Or questions for us about feeding kids and teens? We'd love to hear from you!
Leave a Reply