St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Crookston is hosting a Parents’ Education Night in their fellowship hall at 1214 University Avenue on Wednesday, September 9, at 6:30 p.m.
Pastor Curt Peterson is coordinating the event, which will focus on healthy eating for busy families. RiverView Health Clinical Dietitian Rachel Rudolph will share practical strategies for healthy eating and tips for parents on feeding their kids healthy foods amid busy family schedules, especially as kids return to school. “She calls her presentation ‘Fueling Happy, Healthy Kids’, and it’s going to be a lot of tips and education about how to feed your kids healthy food when you have a busy schedule,” said Petewrson. “With school starting, and kids are already getting into sports and other activities, it can be real easy to just grab fast, unhealthy convenience food. So she’s got lots of advice for us about how to keep our kids healthy when we don’t have a lot of time.”
Peterson views this event as a great opportunity for everyone, especially families, to engage in healthy eating practices, such as appropriate portion sizes and variety in meal choices, while remaining committed to their extracurricular activities. “It’s open for everybody,” Peterson said. “All you need for this is to want to learn a little bit more about how to prepare healthy foods. The target is parents for kids, but if you want to brush up on your own healthy eating, you’re welcome to come, or if you’re a grandparent who occasionally needs to feed your grandkids, come and join us.”
There will be a Q&A with Rudolph after her presentation, where attendees can ask questions about diet and healthy eating in a relaxed setting. Refreshments will be provided during the event.
Peterson is looking forward to this educational event, and after the success of the internet safety event with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office last spring, Peterson and church committee members are interested in expanding this informational event series to four or six times per year. “As a church, we’ve been trying to find ways to help meet some needs in the community,” Peterson explained. “Last spring, we had a night like this with a couple of deputies from the sheriff’s office, and they talked about internet safety for kids and how to protect our kids from some people who want to do bad stuff to kids online. We know how important that is, and we’ve been brainstorming other things parents want to know. And one of the top things we heard was, ‘How do we keep feeding our kids healthy food when we’re so busy?’ And we thought that would be a great way to start out the school year, as we’re just getting back into these busy schedules.”
