How do you get kids to eat their vegetables? This Mercer medical student has some ideas
Antonizo Odoms glanced at a food tasting booth near the entrance to Mulberry Market in Tattnall Square Park and asked his daughter, “What is hummus?”
Zaris Odoms, a fifth-grader at Alexander II Elementary School, scrunched up her eyebrows and replied, “I don’t know what hummus is.” She wasn’t sure if she wanted to try it.
Behind her, a handful of Mercer University medical students assembled tasting cups filled with orange bell pepper slices and scoops of the Middle Eastern chickpea dip for visitors at the weekly farmers market to try. Dozens of students had walked over with their parents after school on Wednesday for the kickoff of Mercer W.E.S.T. @ Mulberry, a collaboration between the neighboring elementary and medical schools to encourage families to walk, eat, shop and talk at the market.
“We were trying to figure out a way to promote healthy eating and exercise for the kids and the families there,” said Ashley McNeal, the second-year medical student who designed the community health project. “We figured a great way was to partner with the market right across the street.”
Macon exceeds both state and national averages for diet-related illness. Over 40 percent of adults in the city reported they were obese or had high blood pressure in a 2018 report by City Health Dashboard. About a third of adults and 20 percent of 10- to 17-year-olds throughout Georgia are obese.
When principal Walsetta Miller learned about McNeal’s proposal, she thought it would be the perfect partnership. Health plays a central role in the magnet school’s curriculum, which incorporates lessons about wellness and nutrition into many of its courses.
Fifth-grade students recently created public service announcements to inform their classmates and parents about the importance of healthy eating and exercise. Kindergarteners bring home goodie bags with jump ropes and pedometers at the beginning of the year and older students tend a fruit and vegetable garden in the school’s back yard. Even students’ homework agendas are filled with healthy tips.
Fifth-grade teacher Julie Baima worries that her students will be the first generation not to outlive their parents if they don’t adopt healthy habits at an early age.
Children seem to spend more time watching YouTube or playing video games on the couch than ever before, Baima said. Families also often fail to eat enough fruits and vegetables, she added, opting for convenience rather than nutritional value.
“We try to get the families involved and make sure that they understand the benefits and the importance of children eating healthy and exercising,” Baima said. “That impacts not just now while they’re in school, but it also leads to a healthy lifestyle, hopefully for the rest of their life.”
Alexander II parent Suzanne Hobby-Shippen was thrilled when she learned about the event at Mulberry Market. She brings her two sons to Tattnall Square each week, since it’s walking distance from her house.
“You come here and you get to try new things and you meet new people and you get new ideas and there’s all this healthy food,” Hobby-Shippen said.
She likes to try the different recipes the vendors share to encourage her kids to taste new fruits and vegetables. Her sons, Michael and Benjamin Shippen, especially enjoyed a banana, strawberry and peanut butter snack they tried recently.
Hobby-Shippen hopes exposing her kids to locally sourced food will help them to establish good habits for the rest of their lives. She didn’t have to twist Michael’s arm to convince him to eat his pepper and hummus sampler.
“My mom already made the peppers with hummus,” he said. “I’ve tried it, like, a million times, and I love it.”
Samantha Max is a Report for America corps member and reports for The Telegraph with support from the News/CoLab at Arizona State University. Follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/smax1996 and on Twitter @samanthaellimax. You can also join her Facebook group. Learn more about Report for America at www.reportforamerica.org.
This story was originally published March 21, 2019 at 4:51 PM.
