The messenger is as important as the message

I have long been an advocate of a using role models to instigate food changes and inspire action with kids  -  this is the basis of the Food Savvy Kids strategy that Claire and I have established.

Last week we were paid  the ultimate compliment.  In the final end of year examination for Level 1 NCEA Home Economics (our national examinations), students had to analyze how Claire’s work on It’s My Turn to Cook Tonight and her work on Small Blacks TV show had influenced teenagers eating. Wow – we were stoked – 4 credits which could make up to 50% of their external grade!!

The examination assessment  90960 Demonstrate understanding of how an individual, the family and society enhance each other’s well-being is posted on  http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/exams/2011/90960-exm-2011.pdf

As with all communication to children, especially those of  food and nutrition, it has become apparent that the messenger, i.e who and how messages are delivered, are as important as the message. In fact you could debate that if the messenger isn’t relevant to the children then no message will get through at all.

I am looking forward to building up a big team of teen food role models in a teen cooking/job program we release next year. Watch this space….

I want my children to be totally food savvy by the time they leave home.

While they are at home I typically make around 70% of their food choices. Like most mothers, I am the ‘nutritional gate keeper’ – I do the shopping, decide what most the meals are and stock the pantry with foods I want them to eat. But when they leave home it will be a different story.

I want to give my kids every advantage I possibly can – so that means making them food savvy…

Food savvy means knowing what a good food choice is, appreciating how much we need to eat, understanding a bit about what makes us eat and being able to cook some basic foods.

I think most kids don’t have adequate skills to know enough about food to take good care of themselves. We only need to look at the number of children who are overweight to realize something is wrong in most Western countries.

So I decided I wanted to do something about it – I am just doing the finishing touches on my new book – love life food kids. This is a book especially for parents, it will help you build well adjusted kids with great self esteem, who have developed enough personal responsibility and skills to equip them to make good food choices – for their lifetime.

love life food kids will inspire you to take action – I look forward to sharing it with you in the next couple of months!

Glenda Gourley

recording

AUDIOBOOK:

Part 2: Life love food kids

A BIG thanks to all of you who voted, or encouraged kids to vote, for  Who’s Cooking Tonight? in the Readers Choice section of the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards. Voting closed yesterday and we are thrilled to say that we had 41% of the vote – the closest rival was on 20% – so looking good – BUT they still have to count all the votes from booksellers and libraries so fingers crossed we can hold that lead!!!

The results are announced at the Awards ceremony on the 18 May – so will find out how we got on in the non-fiction section then too…

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT – I REMAIN VERY EXCITED AT THE POTENTIAL IMPACT WE CAN MAKE IF WE CAN MANAGE TO WIN AN AWARD – BUT NO SMALL FEAT GETTING THIS FAR!!!!

Claire is now getting a steady flow of really cool e-mails from kids wanting more cooking tips or telling her what they think about the book or how a recipe turned out. This is great because it really encourages interactivity. Certainly with her weekly TV appearance on Small Blacks and with last weeks TVNZ  Good Morning show she is getting quite a following in NZ, but we are also excited about the number of kids from all over the place who are also reaching out.

I think this emphasizes just how much kids need someone they can relate to, share experiences with and feel comfortable asking questions when they are learning a new skill. It is part of our strategy which both Claire and I want to see develop.

We have had such great feedback on Claire’s Foodie rules that we published in Who’s Cooking Tonight? that we have put them together on a youTube. We think the foodie rules are where common sense and science collide – and they are certainly presented in ‘teen-speak’. Over the next few months we will also share other YouTube on topics like…

• what you need to know so your food won’t kill you
• shopping tips
• reading labels

Please let us know if you have suggestions for future topics…

It is exceptionally exciting to be named as a finalist in the highly prestigious NZ Post Children’s Book Award.  Who’s Cooking Tonight? is one of five  finalists in the non-fiction category. This award is for books which present well-authenticated data, with consideration given to imaginative presentation, interpretation and style.

This is an amazing honor for us. We don’t think there has been a food book to make this before so that makes it even more special.

From my perspective it feels awesome to be acknowleged by such a great group of judges in such a wonderful award. There is an additional category of Children’s Choice – so I would so appreciate if you could encourage our child to  vote on line (Thanks!!)

The full press release is available below.

(more…)