The Beginnings Childcare in Hastings
Nasrin Nawa |
July 10, 2023
While adults may struggle with starting or maintaining a healthy lifestyle, infants and children in childcare centers following the Go NAPSACC program (Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care), develop healthy lifestyle habits at a young age.
“Kids don't always get to choose what they eat; adults are who choose for them, so it's our responsibility to make sure they eat healthy foods at a young age,” said Marti Spitz director of Beginnings Early Development Center in Hastings. "Go NAPSACC, walks you through what's healthy and what's not."
Go NAPSACC trains childcare providers through five simple steps to make healthy changes to their program, assessing current practices, offering training, creating action plans, reaching goals, and reassessing the health areas of breastfeeding and infant feeding, child nutrition, infant and child physical activity, outdoor play and learning, and screen time.
Alise Verhage, an Extension associate based in Adams County, worked with Spitz to create her goals in the area of nutrition and physical activity. Go NAPSACC is one of Verhage’s favorite programs because she enjoys working with children around that age and the impact it has on children’s health.
"I guess I went to Extension because I wanted to make a difference and help people improve their healthy lifestyle," Verhage said. She believes her work helps children “develop healthy habits and bring some of the practices into their homes.”
Having had her kids at Beginnings from six weeks old, Kaley Brown, mother of three, shared that, because of Go NAPSACC, they receive recommendations and advice on topics such as nutrition and physical activity, in addition to daily notes from the childcare provider about their kids' daily activities and performance. She practices the childcare advice and rules at home.
Dr. Dipti Dev, Betti and Richard Robinson Associate Professor and Childhood Health Behaviors Extension Specialist also stated that “Young children with poor diets and inadequate physical activity have an increased risk of obesity as well as diseases such as diabetes and cancer later in life.”
“Nebraska Extension is uniquely positioned to deliver programs such as Go NAPSACC to set children on a path of lifetime of good health. Guiding children to develop healthy eating and physical activity habits will help address the growing problem of obesity, diabetes and cancer in rural America,” Donnia Behrends, Food, Nutrition and Health Extension Educator and Go NAPSACC statewide coordinator, said.
Verhage said it was beneficial that Mrs. Spitz involved staff in the trainings and decision-making processes when she worked with them. Based on the training, Mrs. Spitz explained that “in Beginnings, kids are not provided with sugary drinks such as juice or flavored milk, but are always provided with water and milk.” According to her, "one- or two-year-olds learn to crave sweet drinks if you introduce chocolate milk to them."
She stated that even the childcare staff are forbidden from drinking sugary drinks around the children. "The goal is to set a good example for the children,” she said.
Lynn DeVries, an Early Childhood Extension educator in Adams County, who also serves as a teacher trainer, observed the Beginnings teachers for hours and worked with them on professional development.
"I could see them putting everything they learned into practice . . . not just writing it down and saying they'd do it, but actually doing it,” she said.
Whether it's teaching this curriculum or other classes, Ms. DeVries feels that they are making a positive difference in childcare providers' lives every day. "We are giving them resources that they can use and lifting them up as professionals,” she said. “I am thankful for the opportunity to do this."
In 2022 the Go NAPSACC trained 93 ECE professionals in 66 childcare centers and homes that provided care for 2,800 children across Nebraska. It covers 66 of the 93 counties, but all counties are covered through virtual training and technical assistance. Childcare centers can easily create an account on this website and find a Go NAPSACC training near them.