Hello, welcome, pull up a seat! The Parents’ Jury has decided to enter the blogosphere and we’d like to invite you to join us.
So, who are we and why are we venturing into blogging territory?
First, a little about us. The Parents’ Jury has been around since 2004. We’re an online network of parents, carers and grandparents who want to change and improve the nutrition and physical activity environments of Australian kids. In other words, group of concerned people who want our kids to be healthy and active!
As to the contributors to this blog, we have a multitude of guests lined up to share their views, but alongside them will be us Corrina and Angela, the staff of The Parents’ Jury. One of us is a parent, one is not. One is Australian, the other hails from the Emerald Isles. One of us could live on mushrooms; the other thinks brussel sprouts are delicious.
However, there are two things we have in common. One is a love of coffee, specifically skinny lattes. The other is a passion in helping you use your voice to advocate for change. These may seem mutually exclusive, but trust us when we say one fuels the other.
We’re hoping this blog will be interesting, informative and create discussion. Most important to us, we want it to discuss concerns important to you.
Some topics we’re considering include looking at the food served in school canteens or childcare, the right age for a child to begin walking to school without a parent, pester power in the supermarket, how early should a child decide what vegetables they should be eating and is the food industry using social media to target your kids?
Because we’re member led, our key concerns reflect your concerns. And it’s all to work towards a major goal – for Australia to have healthy children. And, with almost one in four kids considered overweight or obese, it’s more important than ever that we seek change.
Whether it be joining us and answering our polls, using our tips to advocate for change in your school or childcare centre, sharing your advice with other parents, signing a petition, reading our Facebook posts (or lurking on our page) even following us on twitter, it all matters. Your thoughts and views contribute to the collective voice of The Parents’ Jury.
We know you’re all very busy people and time is precious. And this is primarily why we’re online. You can spend as much or as little time giving your opinion or suggestions. We also (try) to make sure any call to action we ask of you takes less than 2 minutes to do. Our polls usually have only 3 or 4 questions. And don’t worry; individual members will never be identified, unless you have specifically given your permission.
We hope you enjoy reading our blog. We’d also love to hear your thoughts on topics you would like to read about. Better yet, join us (it’s free) and use your voice. Your ideas are welcome and your words even more so!
