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Healthy Menus, Healthy Venues - eating out with kids
In 2009, The Parents Jury is advocating for healthier food and drink options for children at restaurants, cafes, family entertainment and sporting venues in our Healthy Menus, Healthy Venues campaign.
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Eating Out With Kids
Eating out with children can be a great pleasure, but it can also be an awful pain. Dining out together is an opportunity to share some special family time, enjoy new food experiences and catch up on what is going on in each others’ lives. It’s also a great opportunity to give mum and dad a night off from the cooking. But on the other hand, children often play up and create havoc, service can be painfully slow and food options are often limited and predominantly unhealthy.
Sadly, the vast majority of cafes, restaurants and entertainment venues (swimming pools, bowling alleys, recreation centres, party venues, etc) offer children mainly high fat, energy dense, nutrient poor food options. Many of the foods on the kids’ menus of cafes and at other venues are already banned from school canteens across Australia because they are considered too unhealthy. So why are they still being offered as acceptable meals for children when dining out?
School Holidays
The school holidays are a time when families often eat out together more than then they do during the rest of the year. You are also likely to spend more time visiting entertainment venues whilst trying to keep children active and happy over the long holiday.
There's nothing wrong with eating pizza or fish and chips every now and again, but during the holidays when families are likely to eat out more often than at other times of the year, it becomes important to seek out the healthier options.
School holidays are the perfect time to pay extra attention to the foods available for your children when you are out and about and if you are not happy, make a point of demanding healthier choices.
Kids' Food At Restaurants & Cafes
Restaurants usually fall into one of three categories with the types of children’s food they serve. They either have a kids’ menu that mainly consists of chicken nuggets and chips (or equivalent), they offer smaller cut-price serves of regular meals, or they make no concessions for children at all.
Many parents gravitate towards restaurants with kids’ menus because they know their children will be welcome. However, this is often not the best choice for your children's health.
Tips for healthy children's dining.
Kiosks At Entertainment & Sport Venues
Entertainment venues also often have very limited options for children, with menus consisting mainly of fried foods and other fatty, salty and sweet items, confectionery and soft drink. Many will not allow families to take in their own food, which leaves you stuck with the unhealthy options.
You've told us that cinemas and swimming pools/recreation venues are the worst offenders for providing unhealthy food to children, and that a lack of fresh made-to-order food options, and the emphasis on cheap unhealthy 'value' meals most irritates you when eating at these places.
Become a Parent Champion and advocate for change
Healthy Menus, Healthy Venues Opinion Poll - Key Results
From our members' poll in December 2008, you told us:
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60% of you say you're dissatisfied with the food available to children when eating out of the home
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You named cinemas as the worst offenders for providing unhealthy food to children, with swimming pools/recreation venues rated the second worst
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Nearly half of respondents said they avoid venues that don't offer healthier options
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When choosing a restaurant, parents prioritise healthy age-appropriate children's options over the presence of playground facilities or speedy service
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You are irritated most by a lack of fresh made-to-order items at entertainment and sport venues and the emphasis on cheap and unhealthy ‘value meals'
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You showed overwhelming support (75%) for state governments to introduce catering guidelines food provision at entertainment and sport venues
Healthy Eating Tips for Parents
At restaurants & cafes:
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Help your children with their menu selection and steer them towards the more nutritious options
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Split a regular healthy meal between children
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Choose meals that include vegetables or ask for a side of steamed vegetables or salad
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If you are not happy with the options on the kids' menu, ask the chef to alter the choices to make them more nutritious
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Eg, brown bread instead of white, grilled meat instead of fried, tomato based pasta sauce instead of creamy, mashed potato instead of chips and low fat milk instead of full fat
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Don't forget to be a good role model and order healthy food for yourself too!
At entertainment & sport venues:
- Avoid meal deals and super size orders as they are usually energy dense and nutrient poor foods
- If you are concerned that there will be nothing healthy on the menu at entertainment venues, take your own nutritious snacks with you
- Take your own snacks to the movies instead of purchasing oversized packs of lollies or chips
- When planning a birthday party, choose a venue that will let you take in your own food
And remember that water is the best thirst quencher, so avoid sugary soft drinks.
Do you have a great idea for eating out healthily with children? Email us at members@parentsjury.org.au and we'll include it on our website.
Campaign Advocacy
In response to your concerns and poll results, wrote to state governments in February 2009 urging them to apply their existing school nutrition guidelines to entertainment and sport venues, which will limit the availability of high fat, sugar and salt products at these locations.
** Update June 09 **
We have so far receive responses form ministers in most state and territories, who are all supportive of our Healthy Menus, Healthy Venues campaign for healthier children’s option when dining out of the home.
- The NSW government has embarked on a “menu overhaul” at 11 sport and recreation facilities (reaching around 68,000 children per year), and is also developing profitable healthy food and drink strategies.
- The Tas government has worked with the Hoteliers Association and Restaurant and Catering Association on the ‘Kool Fuel’ award program for restaurants that offer healthy options to children.
- The WA Department of Health and Healthway are working with various sport, arts and racing organisations to increase the availability of fresh and healthy food and drink options in these venues.
- ACT has developed the Healthy Events Made Easy tool kit to provide event organisers with simple healthy tips to incorporate in planning and delivering events.
- The SA is currently exploring how to support healthy food provision in sporting and recreation settings.
- The Victorian promotes the provision of healthy food and drink in leisure and recreation centres through a variety of initiatives.
** Update Feb 09 **
We have written to Hoyts, Village Roadshow, Greater Union, Birch Carroll & Coyle and Readings cinemas advising them of the poll results (You named cinemas as the worst offenders for providing unhealthy food to children) and urging them to review their snack bars to provide healthier options for patrons. See what we sent them here.
Information & Advocacy Resources
Letter templates:
Recent research:
- Kelly, Chapman, King, Hardy, Farrell, Double standards for community sports: promoting active lifestyles but unhealthy diets (abstract only)
Surveyed parents in NSW to determine the nature of food and beverages purchased by children at community sporting venues and to determine parent's perception of the role that government should play in regulating the types of food and beverages sold at these outlets. - Cancer Council WA, School holiday attraction menu review 2 (PDF)
Compared the menus of popular WA children's entertainment venues with the state's school nutrition guidelines and the Australian Guidelines for Healthy Eating.
School nutrition guidelines:
Why not suggest to your local venue that they check out your relevant school nutrition guidelines for some menu-planning inspiration?
Visit The Parents Jury's guide to each state and territory's school nutrition guidelines.
Resources:
Good For Kids, Good For Life (NSW) and the Good Sports program have teamed up to offer a healthy eating and physical activity accreditation program for community sports clubs in the Hunter, New England and Lower Mid North Coast areas of NSW. Sports clubs in the area can achieve accreditation by removing unhealthy foods from their canteens and offering healthier choices. To find out more about the program, visit Good For Kids or contact Marc on marc@adf.org.au.
Good For Kids is Australia's largest ever childhood obesity prevention trial. The Good Sports program is an initiative of the Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) to develop safer and healthier communities.
Media release:
Australian parents demand healthy menus and healthy venues (PDF)
Kids' menus in the news:
- Kids menus - do they dumb down children's diets? - Sydney Morning Herald, 15/12/08
"It's as if we've become locked in a conspiracy that keeps so many children's diets limited, with their parents saying 'my kids won't eat anything else' and restaurants offering up the same predictable choices because they think parents won't come if they don't offer them." - Deep fryer to kids' plates - Herald Sun, 9/11/07
"Pricey restaurants chasing the family dining dollar are serving cheap, fatty, fast food to children, a Herald Sun investigation has found. Despite spending big bucks on indoor playgrounds, entertainment and kids' clubs, restaurants are skimping on quality and nutrition when it comes to children's food."
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