Children's Food Campaign's Parent Ambassadors. Credit: Sustain
Children's Food Campaign's Parent Ambassadors. Credit: Sustain
We are very pleased to have recruited an extraordinary group of parents and carers from different backgrounds, with rich and varied experiences.
Through the Children's Food Ambassador Programme, we will work on the issues that are most important to parents and carers.
Parent of 2 year old
"I am the parent of an energetic 2-year-old boy. Due to my public/global health background, I have always been interested in food and nutrition, yet the challenge of feeding a young child still took me by surprise. The food environment, the cost of food, the clever marketing and the many other factors that are out of our control as parents have at times made parenting more difficult than it should be. I see the Children's Ambassador Programme as a way to share my experiences and advocate alongside other parents and caregivers for change. Our children deserve better, and I hope that through the Programme we can push for the policy changes needed so that eating healthier is cheaper, easier and accessible for all families."
Parent of 8 year old twins and 12 year old
"As a mum of three boys, I'm always competing with the demands of a busy life and providing my family with healthy nutritious meals. I love to cook and what I feed my family is really important to me. I find the most challenging part is One of my twins has ADHD and Autism, which brings about additional challenges around food. I would like to see schools and local high street environment offer a wider choice of affordable unprocessed healthy food options to help me feed my family when we are outside of the home. With a career that began as a children’s dental nurse and oral health promoter at King's College NHS Trust, where I witnessed the adverse effects of modern diets on children's health, I now work in public health in my local borough, maintaining a strong drive to create a healthier food environment for all. As a proud Ambassador, I aim to work with Sustain to drive government action for bold societal changes, ensuring the next generation enjoys better health and a longer, healthier life. "
Parent of 6 year old
"I have been in the food industry the last 14 years, working mostly in contract catering. I am a single parent to almost 6 years old boy. Becoming mum showed me how challenging can be putting healthy and nutritious food on the table. I pursued my passion for public health and the last year I graduated from BSc Human Nutrition. I work as a Chef Manager in a primary school in one of most deprived areas in UK. I am passionate about accessible, cost effective and nutritious food for all, regardless of the post code."
Parent of 6 year old
"I'm the proud parent of a wonderful 6-year-old who has just finished Year 1 and is ready to take on the world. I've spent the majority of my career in the food and beverage hospitality sector, and I currently serve as the Deputy CEO of a not-for-profit school meals company based in Liverpool. Good, healthy food has always been a passion of mine, and I feel fortunate to be in a position where I can share this passion with others. Through my work and my daughter’s experiences at school, I’ve witnessed firsthand how a healthy, nutritious lunch can significantly enhance educational outcomes and overall well-being. I am deeply committed to reducing the barriers that prevent children from accessing hearty and nutritious meals throughout their school journey. This commitment led me to the role of Children’s Food Ambassador. I firmly believe that children deserve much more than what the current school meals offer, and I am dedicated to pushing for the changes needed to make this a reality.
Parent of 8 year old
"As a full-time firefighter I try to stay in good condition, and following a family health issue, I began, along with my wife, to take an interest in nutrition and its role in protecting us. This led to the realisation of how poorly our society deals with food, specifically sugars and processed foods. Inspired by our 8 year old daughter we have lobbied the local council to try to make improvements regarding how the education sector present food, and they are looking into the feasibility of making changes to certain approaches. I hope that through lobbying and sharing of individual experiences we can inspire improvements to the nutritional field that is available to children in this country. "
Parent of 4 year old
"I am the co-founder of Munch CIC, where we develop and deliver sociable and interactive food education sessions around food labelling, fibre, five-a-day, a towards plant-based ethos and sustainable nutrition. As parents, all we want is for our children to be happy and healthy, to be able to thrive and succeed, we do everything we can to achieve this but often it just feels impossible. All my knowledge and professional practice as a registered nutritionist (RNutr) went out the window when my son was about 18 months old and became a “fussy eater,” I had no idea how to make him eat healthy food and it was very distressing. I became a Children’s Food Ambassador because I am passionate about children’s health and giving all our children the best possible start in life. "
Parent of 10 and 12 years old
"I am a dedicated educator, social entrepreneur, and parent. My unwavering passion for children's well-being and health has led me to join the Children's Food Ambassador Programme. Having worked in fashion for many years, I transitioned to being an educator and community organiser; through which I have actively worked to promote better nutrition and food security in communities – organising food cooperatives, community fridges and pantries, and facilitating family-focused cooking clubs. Being part of this programme is a natural extension of my commitment to fostering positive changes in society, and I am excited about the opportunity to further advocate for brighter and healthier futures for children and communities."
Parent of a 9, 12 and 14 year old
"I am a Health Improvement Lead in the Children & Families Team at Public Health, Suffolk County Council and I am currently working in Public Health and taking the lead in Children's Healthy weight focusing on a whole system approach across Suffolk . Throughout my career I have worked in early years and community development and have always valued giving children the best start in life; recognising where access is not equal and how to change this. As a mum of three, I am deeply invested in children's food. I enjoy cooking and helping my children explore new foods. I am really interested in the ingredients we find in shop bought foods and would like to support changes in manufacturing to raise the quality and labelling of cheaper foods, to better understand what we are eating . I am also aware of environmental challenges, such as limited access to supermarkets and the flood of fast foods on my children’s route to school. As an ambassador, I want to improve children’s access to affordable, nutritious food and push for changes in national policy. "
Parent of 3 and 9 year old
"I am a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Agri-Food Systems at Bournemouth University and currently seconded to the Wales Centre for Public Policy as an ESRC Policy Innovation Fellow. I am the parent of a 9-year-old neurodiverse child and 3-year-old daughter. The cost of food, clever marketing of energy drinks and the many other factors that are out of our control as parents have made educating children about healthy eating more difficult. I see the Children's Ambassador Programme as a way to share my experiences of guiding two children with very different personalities, and advocate alongside other parents and caregivers for change. Our children deserve better, and I hope that through the Programme we can push for changes in the policy-design mechanism and achieve accountability and transparency within the UK's food system."
Parent of 13 and 15 year olds
"I am the parent of two teenage boys. I have always worked in the food industry and have been involved in community projects for several years. I am also a school food governor to help improve school food. I have always been passionate about improving food choices for everyone and joined the local Food Partnership to be involved in this. When my children joined secondary school I was shocked at the food choices available and brought this to the parent council and the school. I'm hoping through this programme we can raise awareness and concern for the poor quality food our children are eating for it to be finally taken seriously and changes being made to policies to make healthy food more accessible to families."
Parent of 5 year old
"I want to help the fight against holding the government and the food industry accountable for their lack of food standards and targeted marketing. I believe that all our children deserve the right to have access to healthy, nutritious food, that making these choices should be easy, so that we can bring up a generations of happy, healthy children. I have 12 years of experience working in education within mental health settings and background in fitness instructing, counselling sport and exercise science . I set up Food and Mood Education to highlight to the younger generation about the impacts of food on their mental health. With a 5 year old son, this work feels even more crucial to change the future of our food system. I am proud to be an ambassador for the Children's Food Campaign."
Parent of 9, 12 and 14 year olds
"My background is in communications and marketing, but having children and a picky eater led me to a career change to working in food. I run two recipe blogs, sneakyveg.com and cookveggielicious.com, and work as a community chef in Cambridgeshire, cooking with surplus food and teaching cookery lessons. I became a children's food ambassador due to my experiences with picky eating and navigating the world of ultra-processed toddler snacks. Now, as my children grow older, new challenges like the pressure to buy energy drinks and poor secondary school lunch options have emerged. I hope to see clearer guidelines on the nutritional value of children's food, a ban on energy drinks for children and teenagers, and significant improvements in school food provision."
Parent of 13 year old
"I have dedicated over two decades to the Early Years profession, initially as an Early Years practitioner and eventually progressing into a management role. Throughout my career, I've effectively launched several innovative initiatives in the Oldham area. Presently, I work as a Play, Learn & Grow (PLG) Coordinator for HomeStart Host and the Oldham School Readiness team. In this capacity, I engage with numerous families in both home and school environments."
Find out more about the Children's Food Ambassador Programme and joining our incredible group of parents.
Children's Food Campaign: Better food and food teaching for children in schools, and protection of children from junk food marketing are the aims of Sustain's high-profile Children's Food Campaign. We also want clear food labelling that can be understood by everyone, including children.
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