We Can!™ Resources for Parents and the Public

This page contains resources that offer practical tips and tools on how families can help prevent childhood overweight and maintain a healthy weight by making smart food choices, increasing physical activity, and reducing screen time.

Helpful Resources: These tip sheets and supplemental tools for parents can help your family plan and prepare healthier meals.

• NEW!!! U R What U Eat Flier (PDF): This colorful two-page handout about nutritious foods is the product of a collaboration between We Can! and national partner Action for Healthy Kids. It's an easy-to-read chart with vibrant colors and graphic images to help children understand which types of foods are nutritious and can be consumed freely (Go), which ones they need to eat less often (Slow), and which ones they need to eat least often (Whoa).
• We Can! Parent Tips: Making Healthier Food Choices (PDF): This resource presents simple tips to help you plan and prepare meals and snacks to help your family get the most nutrition out of the calories consumed.
• We Can! Parent Tips: Healthier Eating While Saving Money (PDF): This resource helps you create a food plan that focuses on choosing healthier foods while saving money.
• Food Comparison Chart (PDF): Use this chart to learn how healthier choices can save you calories and money.
• Grocery List Template (PDF): Print this sheet before a shopping trip and use it to help you pick healthier items for your family.
• Weekly Meal Planner (PDF): Use this tool each week to help plan healthier meals for your family.

 

Families Finding the Balance: A Parent Handbook Parents can help their family stay in energy balance with this handbook, available in English or in Spanish. It offers practical tips to help parents help their families find the right balance of eating well and being physically active to maintain a healthy weight.

 

Here are other We Can! Program Materials that are available from the We Can! program to help parents and the public.

• We Can! Parent Tips: Healthy Families, Healthy Weight (PDF)
• GO, SLOW, and WHOA Tip Sheet (PDF)
• Portion Distortion Quiz (PDF)
• Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculator and Charts
• Estimated Calorie Requirements by Gender, Age, and Physical Activity Level (PDF)
• Healthy Recipe Substitutions (PDF)
• We Can! Reduce Children's Screen time Log (PDF) See more screen time reduction resources in the Live It section
• We Can! Fit in Daily Physical Activity Form (PDF)
• We Can! Try Tips to Eat Well and Move More (PDF)
• We Can! Tips to Eat Well and Move More Tracking Sheet (PDF)
• We Can! Poster - Who Can Make It Happen?
• We Can! Wristband
• We Can! Refrigerator Magnet

 

There are also great resources available to parents from the National Institutes of Health.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov

• Aim For a Healthy Weight
• Portion Distortion Web Site
• Portion Distortion Slideshow
• Recipes for Healthy Eating
• NHLBI Diseases and Conditions Index: What Are Overweight and Obesity
• NHLBI Your Guide to Physical Activity and Your Heart (Also available in PDF format)
• Hearts N' Parks

 

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) http://www.niddk.nih.gov

• Healthy Moments as Heard on Majic 102.3: An audio-series of 1-minute tips, featuring Dr. Griffin Rodgers, with information on how to prevent and control diseases that are within the mission of NIDDK.
• Weight-Control Information Network
• Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Across Your Lifespan - Helping Your Child - Tips for Parents: English | en Español
• Helping Your Overweight Child

 

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) http://www.nichd.nih.gov

• Milk Matters
• For strong bones...for lifelong health...Milk Matters!:
  English | en Español
• Milk Matters with Buddy Brush Coloring Book:
  English | en Español

 

National Cancer Institute (NCI) http://www.nci.nih.gov

• Body and Soul

 

We Can!™ is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.