Learning to Listen: How Coaching Changed Feeding in Child Care

In child care, teachers often decide when a child should eat, even if the child is already full or hungry. This study looked at whether coaching could help teachers better notice and respond to kids’ real hunger cues. The program, called CELEBRATE Feeding, ran for six months in eight centers located in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Researchers watched two classrooms per center before the program started and again after it ended. They used a special checklist that rates 21 different ways teachers can support healthy eating, such as giving gentle reminders to eat or stopping a child from forcing themselves to finish a plate. Each item is scored on a scale of 0 to 3, with 3 meaning the best practice. The scores from all items were added together to give a total possible score of 63 for each room.

After the coaching, the average score rose from about 38 to nearly 46, a change that is statistically significant. Almost every aspect of the feeding environment improved; only one item stayed about the same. Three items showed especially strong gains when a strict statistical correction was applied, meaning the changes are unlikely to be due to chance. The biggest jump came from teachers offering gentle prompts to help children eat, such as saying “Would you like another bite? ” instead of pushing food onto plates. This change alone increased the overall score by more than one point on average, a clear sign that small, supportive actions matter. Overall, the coaching helped teachers create classrooms where kids could better understand their own fullness and hunger. By listening more closely, educators can foster healthier eating habits that last beyond the child care setting.

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