The Effect of Simple Suppers, A Family Meal Program, on The Relationship between Children’s Food Preparation Skills and Their Involvement in Meal Preparation

Examine the relationship between children’s food preparation skills and their involvement in meal preparation with their caregiver among families participating in a Head Start family meals program (Simple Suppers). Simple Suppers is an 8-week family meals program tailored to low-income caregivers and their preschool age child(ren). The study design is a single arm pre- to post-test, and the intervention is occurring during the 2019–2020 school year (fall, winter, and spring sessions) at 3 Head Start sites. Caregiver lessons focus on overcoming family meal barriers (i.e., meals on a budget, time saving strategies) through interactive group discussions and goal setting. Child lessons focus on age-appropriate food preparation skills through experiential learning. Children’s food preparation skills are assessed via a 9-item questionnaire. Questions are situated on a 4-pt Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree (1pt); 4 = strongly agree (4pt)). Child involvement in meal preparation is assessed with a single item scalar question (0–7 times per week). Pearson correlation was used to examine the relationship between child food preparation skills and involvement in meal preparation. Significance was set at P < 0.05. 19 families completed data collection for the fall session. 55.6% were low-income according to federal poverty guidelines, mean (SD) caregiver age was 37.6 (12.1), 94.7% were female, and 84.2% were non-Hispanic Black. Mean (SD) child age was 3.4 (0.5) and 47.6% were female. There was a significant association between the change in child food preparation skills and the level of child involvement in meal preparation with their caregiver (r = 0.62, P < 0.01). Preliminary data from this study demonstrate that children’s food preparation skills influence the extent to which they are involved in preparing family meals with their caregivers. USDA NIFA CYFAR.