Public Health and Primary Care

Background/Why is This Important

Physical activity and healthy eating in the early years (0-5 years old) are important for healthy child development and for setting the stage for lifelong healthy behaviours. Daycares, preschools and other early years settings can provide environments that support healthy living for children and families. The Healthy Families BC Policy Framework and the BC Physical Activity Strategy both identify the early years as a key area of focus for improving healthy eating/food literacy and physical activity/physical literacy among BC families.

What Actions Have Already Been Taken

"Appetite to Play" was developed as a province-wide approach to support providers in promoting and encouraging healthy eating and physical activity within early years settings (daycare centres, family-based daycares, preschools, parent participation programs, or after school daycares). Child Health BC is leading the implementation of the Appetite to Play initiative across BC in partnership with Sport for Life Society, Childhood Obesity Foundation, BC Recreation and Parks Association and the YMCA of Greater Vancouver. The initiative was initially funded by the Ministry of Health through the BC Alliance for Healthy Living, and since April 1, 2019, Appetite to Play transitioned into a sustainable cost-recovery model.

Key implementation supports include:

An interactive Appetite to Play website featuring healthy eating and physical activity recommended practices for providers, such as self-assessment and planning tools, tips/ideas, recipes, games and activities.

Training initiatives for early years providers to enhance their knowledge, skills and confidence in providing environments that support healthy eating and physical activity, using multiple modalities.

Where Are We Now?

The Appetite to Play website was launched in September 2017. In April 2018, a healthy eating e-learning module and a physical literacy e-learning module were added to the website. The online resource continues to be updated on a weekly basis with new activities, games, recipes and tips for early years providers to promote healthy eating and physical activity in their settings.

Regional training and in-person workshops began September 2017. The aim is to train 70 regional trainers across BC. By the end of March 2019, a total of 88 regional trainers were trained across BC, and in turn, they delivered 195 local in-person workshops across the province to a total of 2,328 early years providers. In-person workshops continue to be delivered across the province.

In order to increase reach across the province, Appetite to Play also offers online workshops to early years providers. Over 200 early years providers have been trained in the Appetite to Play workshop through this training modality.

Marketing and communications activities are include outreach via BC health authorities and provincial early years organizations/groups, as well as on social media (Twitter , Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram.)

We are currently working on a new training module for early years providers that focuses on outside play and risky play in collaboration with Dr. Mariana Brussoni ( January 2021).

The health and well-being of BC’s children and youth is critical to the current and future well-being of the province. While BC is often considered the healthiest place in Canada, the health and well-being of our children and youth has not been consistently measured and monitored.  
 
In 2013, the Provincial Health Officer (PHO) and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) issued the Child and Youth Health and Well-being Indicators Project: CIHI and B.C. PHO Joint Summary Report. The report identified a suite of 51 modifiable indicators, across five dimensions, for which data were collected and analyzed to define and track child and youth health and well-being in BC. Indicators are evidence based and reflect a population's health approach.  

What Actions Have Already Been Taken?

Building on the Indicators Project, Child Health BC partnered with BC’s Office of the Provincial Health Officer (OPHO) to develop the report Is "Good", Good Enough?  A Report on the Health & Well-Being of Children and Youth in BCIs "Good", Good Enough?  A Report on the Health & Well-Being of Children and Youth in BC that examines the current status of child and youth health and establishes a baseline to continue monitoring their health into the future. Contributors from across BC helped analyze the data and determine key findings for each of the indicators.  
 
Is "Good", Good Enough? A Report on the Health & Well-Being of Children and Youth in BC is the first report of its kind in Canada. It contains BC-specific data, related literature, discussions and recommendations that can inform decision-making around the development of policy, programs and services aimed at improving the lives of children and youth in BC. Overall, the Report found that the health and well-being of children and youth in BC is reasonably good, particularly when compared to other jurisdictions in Canada. However, some indicators are stable and not showing improvement, meaning that a portion of children and youth are continually left behind in health and wellness. Additionally, for many indicators, there are substantial disparities based on sex/gender and geography.

Where Are We Now?

In partnership with the BC Center for Disease Control and The Office of the Provincial Health Officer, Child Health BC is currently working to refine and update the previous 51 indicators and create new indicators particularly around youth mental wellness for the next version of the report. A specific focus will be placed on validating the updated indicators with provincial youth advisory committees for their lived experience perspective The audience for this updated report will be policy makers who can use the findings to inform priorities, policy, and programming.

The new version of the report is anticipated to be released in 2026 

Background/ Why Is This Important?

Supporting the healthy development of all children in British Columbia is a collective effort, requiring collaboration between a variety of health, social health, social, education, research and community organizations. The BC Healthy Child Development Alliance (the Alliance) grew out of the 2004 Healthy Child BC Forum as a partnership of organizations that share a common interest in supporting healthy child development in the province. 

What Actions Have Already Been Taken?

The BC Healthy Child Development Alliance's role is to provide leadership in, and be a resource to, the development and implementation of policies, strategies and preferred practices that support healthy child development. Child Health BC serves as the secretariat for the Alliance.

More than 40 organizational members work together through the Alliance. Notable projects include:

Social & Emotional Development for Infants & Toddlers - The Alliance developed a provider training toolkit and supporting materials focusing on healthy social-emotional development of infants and toddlers. The materials have been incorporated into provincial resources and programs such as Growing Together Toolkit, Healthy Families BC, GP Practice Support Program Child & Youth Mental Health Module, and Family Resource Programs.

Appetite to Play - The Alliance led the development of Appetite to Play, a provincial approach to support providers to promote and encourage healthy eating and physical activity environments within early years settings.

Where Are We Now?

BC Healthy Child Development Alliance activities are ongoing. Members meet bi-monthly to share resources, build connections across agencies and with ministries, and discuss opportunities to collaborate on promoting healthy child development. Members determine priority areas and form working groups to complete project work.

A major Alliance initiative launching in May 2021 is the Feelings First campaign. This is a 13 week campaign, involving close to 80 organizations, which will introduce important concepts around Social and Emotional Development (SED) in the early years, to parents and caregivers across British Columbia. The goal of this project is to develop and distribute engaging messages to the audience that will build awareness on what SED is and of its importance to early child development.  Through sharing engaging content, some of the core themes that will be disseminated include: general SED awareness, parent-child connection / relationship building, language and communication and stress management.n content.

What is Social and emotional development and why is it especially important in the early years?

Social and emotional development (SED) in the early years, sometimes known as infant and early childhood mental health, is the developing capacity of the child from birth to six years of age to form close and secure adult and peer relationships; to experience, manage and express and full range of emotions; and to explore their environments and learn – all in the context of family, community and culture (Cohen, Oser & Quigley, 2012). 

Decades of research shows that the first six years of a child’s life are crucially important for determining long-term health, academic achievement and social and emotional well-being. This is a period of rapid brain development, when brains are most readily influenced by the quality of a child’s environment and relationships. Thus, efforts to promote social and emotional development in the early years can have a cascading effect, with benefits multiplying as a child grows.

How are children doing in British Columbia?

In British Columbia, children’s wellbeing across the province are being tracked by The Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) at the University of British Columbia. Their Early Development Instrument (EDI), a questionnaire that is completed by kindergarten teachers throughout the province for all students, measures five areas of early child development that predict adult health, education and social outcomes. With regards to social and emotional development, the EDI assesses children’s capacity for respect and responsibility, self-confidence, and prosocial and helping behaviours, and also assesses their challenges in SED, identified with hyperactivity, inattention, aggressive, anxious and fearful behaviours. Over the years, the EDI data shows an overall downward trend in children’s wellbeing, particularly in the areas of social competence and emotional maturity. BC’s children are starting school with increasing vulnerability to poor mental health, social and academic outcomes.

What actions are being taken?

Given the impact of early childhood experience on lifelong mental health and well-being, it is important to promote awareness and capacity building regarding social and emotional development needs of infants and young children (0-6 years) for families and caregivers in British Columbia.

The following initiatives have been launched by Child Health BC and the BC Healthy Child Development Alliance (the Alliance), a cross-sectoral coalition of more than 50 organizations that share a common interest in supporting healthy child development in the province.

A training toolkit and materials was developed for providers that focus on healthy social-emotional development of infants and toddlers. The materials have been incorporated into provincial resources and programs such as the Growing Together Toolkit, Healthy Families BC, the GP Practice Support Program Child & Youth Mental Health Module, and Family Resource Programs.

A public message campaign, Feelings First, ran in mid-2021 to raise awareness of the importance of fostering social and emotional development (SED) in the early years. These messages were specially developed for parents and caregivers and included concrete actions that they could take. Distributed through several social media channels, the messages garnered over 1.5 million views. More info here.

Currently, CHBC and the Alliance are developing a project with the goal of increasing the capacity (knowledge, value, confidence, behaviour) of parents, caregivers, and early years providers to promote social and emotional development with 0-6 year old infants and young children in British Columbia. 
 

KidCareCanada Announcement

Child Health BC now houses a wealth of video resources from KidCareCanada Society, an organization that focused on empowering parents to raise their children to be socially and emotionally healthy. We are very excited to continue to offer their evidence informed video library and resources on social and emotional development, and are thrilled and honoured to be stewards of this great work.

With almost 200 videos in the library, topics range from postpartum depression, to the role of new fathers, to language acquisition, and Baby Massage. These videos are all provided free of charge to parents and caregivers. These videos takes the science of Early Childhood Development and brings it to new parents in a visual format that is easy-to-understand, quick to watch, and evidence informed.
 
Child Health BC through Appetite to Play will continue to promote these wonderful resources so watch out for future posts on this fabulous content for parents!

See link to KidCareCanada.

Child Health BC, Perinatal Services BC and the Ministry of Health are proud to have co-developed a series of trusted resources for parents and caregivers across British Columbia. These long-used materials have been thoughtfully updated using the latest evidence-based information to ensure they remain relevant, accurate, and supportive of families' evolving needs in the area of pregnancy and child development.

Grounded in current research and best practices, these resources are designed to offer clear, practical guidance to help parents and caregivers navigate a wide range of challenges and stages during pregnancy and in a child’s life. Through this collaboration, our goal is to continue providing reliable support to families across the province. 

Baby’s Best Chance (BBC) 

Baby’s Best Chance: Parents’ Handbook of Pregnancy and Baby Care is a comprehensive guide designed to support families from early pregnancy through to the baby’s first year. It covers a wide range of topics including prenatal care, labour and delivery, postpartum recovery, infant care, feeding, and early development. It provides evidence-based information and practical tips to support healthy pregnancies and informed parenting. This resource is widely used by healthcare professionals to reinforce key health messages and support family-centered care.

Please see the 2024 version here: Baby's Best Chance: Parents' Handbook of Pregnancy and Baby Care | HealthLink BC 

Toddler’s First Steps (TFS)

Toddler’s First Steps: A Best Chance Guide to Parenting Your Toddler continues where Baby’s Best Chance leaves off, offering guidance for parents of children aged 6 months to to 3 years. It includes information on developmental milestones, nutrition, sleep, safety, behavior, and emotional development. TFS supports caregivers through the toddler years with a focus on promoting positive parenting practices and healthy child development.

Please see the 2024 version here: Toddler's First Steps: A Best Chance Guide to Parenting Your 6-to-36 Month-Old Child | HealthLink BC 

Child Health Passport

The Child Health Passport is a record booklet given to parents and caregivers to track a child’s growth, immunizations, and key developmental milestones from birth through early childhood. It serves as a communication tool between families and healthcare providers, supporting continuity of care and encouraging active participation in a child’s health and development.

The latest version is here: Child Health Passport. 

Safer Sleep for My Baby

Safer Sleep for My Baby is a public health booklet that provides clear, practical guidance to reduce the risk of sudden infant death (SIDS) and other sleep-related causes of infant death. It outlines safe sleep practices such as proper sleep positioning, sleep environments, and the importance of avoiding risk factors like smoking. This resource is used by healthcare professionals to educate parents and caregivers on creating a safe sleep space for infants.

Latest version is here: Safe Infant Sleep