Keeping Kids Healthy Twitter Chat

Keeping kids healthy is a daily concern for parents and educators. Sometimes it feels as if every decision we make, from food choices to hygiene to helping them manage their emotions, can impact children’s ability to thrive. Especially at this time of year, when winter colds and viruses are still circulating and it’s hard to stay active,  it can be challenging to make sure that kids develop and stick to healthy habits both at home and at school.

That’s why we’re devoting our February Teacher Alliance Twitter chat to the topic of “Keeping Kids Healthy at Home and School.” Parents, educators, and interested professionals are welcome to join in to share tips, questions, and resources to help families stay healthy and happy year-round.

On Thursday, Febuary 19 at 8 p.m. EST, The Family Dinner Project (@FDP_Tweets)  will be joined by co-host Allison Howe, MPH of DontPanicMom.com (@DontPanicMom) to discuss strategies for keeping kids healthy and carrying positive habits between home and school. Participants in the chat will be entered to win one of two signed copies of Dr. Anne Fishel’s acclaimed new book, Home for Dinner. You can follow along with the chat and participate using the hashtag #fdpteachers.

During the chat, we’ll cover topics such as:

• Common challenges faced by parents and educators in keeping kids healthy, physically and emotionally
• How parents and schools can coordinate efforts for healthier kids, and in what areas it’s especially important to do so
• How schools and educators can encourage families to take a more active role in promoting kids’ health
• How establishing family dinner routines contributes to healthier kids (and adults!)

And much more!

If you are new to Twitter chats, no worries! Here are some guidelines for participation:

1. If you have ideas for questions or topics to be posed during the chat by Allison Howe, MPH and The Family Dinner Project, please submit them to Laura Easley, Family Dinner Project team member, at lme465(at)harvard(dot)edu no later than Monday, February 16.
   
2. On February 19 at 8 p.m. EST, log in to Twitter using your computer or mobile device. Your Twitter account must be public in order to participate; tweets from private Twitter accounts cannot be shared.
3. Our moderators, @FDP_Tweets and @DontPanicMom, will pose questions using the hashtag #fdpteachers. Each question will be numbered “Q1, Q2, Q3…”
4. To respond to the questions, simply type your response in the form of a tweet beginning with the letter “A” and the corresponding question number (“A1, A2, A3….”) and end each tweet with the hashtag #fdpteachers.
5. Select responses will be retweeted by @FDP_Tweets.
6. To see the entire chat, enter #fdpteachers into the #Discover bar on your Twitter homepage, and select “All” to view every question and response in the chat.
7. Another way to view the entire chat is to use www.tweetchat.com alongside your Twitter account. Enter the #fdpteachers hashtag into TweetChat, and view all questions and responses in a livestream format.
8. Winners will be chosen from the chat participants and tweeted out by @FDP_Tweets and @DontPanicMom during the event.We hope you’ll join us on Thursday, February 19 for this very exciting online event!