2025 Volume 33 Issue 3 Pages 188-198
Objective: External instructors conducted a food-education program using the Sapere Method in childcare facility classes for two- and three-year-olds. This study examines issues related to health education and promotion by surveying the parents of children who participated in this program, with a focus on changes in food-education activities and children’s likes and dislikes at home.
Field activity: In the three years from 2020 through 2022, a total of 684 children from 21 childcare facilities in K City in Kinki region, participated in six annual sessions of a food-education program. Each fiscal year, a questionnaire survey of parents was conducted before and after the program; 523 parents responded before the program, and 452 parents responded after. Among the 386 first year participants, 221 responses were evaluated by before and after comparison design.
Assessments: Parents responded that 416 (93.5%) of their children enjoyed the taste class; 352 (79.1%) became interested in food and cooking; 320 (74.2%) wanted to help with meal preparation; and 158 (35.5%) were less picky after the program. In addition, 358 (80.4%) of the parents responded that the program gave them greater awareness of their children’s sensibilities, and 437 (98.2%) answered that they hoped childcare facilities would continue to offer the program in the future. The group of parents with increased awareness of their children’s sensitivities reported that they had more frequent and enjoyable conversations with their children. Among that group, food-education activities at home, such as shopping and meal preparation with children, increased following the program, and the number of disliked vegetables decreased.
Conclusion: Parents considered that the program at childcare facilities had increased their children’s interest in food, and almost all of them requested continuation of the program. Through increasing parents’ awareness of their children’s sensibilities, we can expect to improve food-education activities and children’s likes and dislikes at home.
