BOISE - The Department of Health and Welfare says one in three children in Idaho are overweight or obese. The Healthy Childcare Initiative was approved by the Boise City Council to try and curb that number.
Starting July 1, day cares and other child care facilities in Boise will be required to provide a certain amount of physical activity and healthy eating. It also limits screen time and requires providers to have a private area for mothers to breastfeed.
"A lot of centers are raising their rates because of some of the changes from the initiative," said Theresia Muli, who is the owner of Born to Succeed in Boise.
TJ Thomson is the Boise City Council member that spearheaded the initiative.
"When I approached this I didn't want to have heavy fines or loss of license because this is to do a good thing," said Thomson.
He says there will be no fine if a center doesn't meet the guidelines. However, the information will be made available for parents to help them in their search for a facility that's right for them.
"So as a parent you're already looking at things like cost and location and hopefully quality, but now in Boise you'll also have a health score," said Thomson.
The score will be posted on www.boisechildcare.com.
"Parents have the tool to use that or not use it, but I think they will," said Thomson.
The web site is already live, but reports won't be posted until October 1 after compliance officers have made all their visits. In the meantime, the city has been trying to get everyone ready.
"Since January we've been providing training free of charge to all the child care directors," said Thomson.
Muli says it has been a good step for Boise, but says with more requirements it's still presenting a difficult hurdle for some child care providers.
"A lot of us feel like we're going to find a lot of people doing child care underground because they will not want to be within the city guidelines," said Muli.
The free training for providers will run until July 1, when compliance officers will start checking day cares and other child care facilities in Boise.
