Nutrition and Fitness for Young Children

Nutrition and Fitness

I truly believe that children who are taught to live a naturally healthy life through nutrition and physical fitness are more likely to carry on this lifestyle through adulthood.  Because of this and the rise of obesity in our nation, it is extremely important that teachers and families promote physical activity among children, beginning when they are young.  Not only will physical fitness help children to live a healthier life, it can also help them to master important developmental skills. 

Here are five reasons why physical fitness is important for young children:

• A child’s early years are a critical time for the development of gross and fine motor skills.  Gross motor or locomotion skills develop to help a child move from one point to another, crawling, rolling, walking, running, skipping, etc.  Fine motor, or manipulative skills develop as a child learns to use their hands and   feet: kicking a ball, throwing, zipping, catching, pouring, etc..  Children must be allowed the chance to develop these motor skills so that no developmental delay occurs (Goodway and Robinson, 2006). 
•     Beginning the pattern of physical activity in a child will last through adulthood.  By learning that physical fitness is a natural part of life; children are able to develop a love for activity that they can continue through life. This can reduce their chance for obesity. 
• Physical activity promotes muscle development in children.  By doing fun exercises with make-shift dumbbells, pretending to be a chair, or doing lunges, children can develop and strengthen their muscles to help them to be more successful in play, sports, and to fight obesity (Goodway and Robinson, 2006). 
•   Physical activity can help a child to develop directional concepts: up, down, over, under, etc.  Young children are learning where objects are in relation to one another.  Physical activity can help children learn by doing.  For, example throwing a ball over a table, crawling under the table.
•   Physical activity can help children to develop cognitive concepts such as counting, environments, body-parts, colors, following directions, etc (Schilling and Kelly, 2006).  Moving can help children to learn, for example, jumping on the yellow square 10 times helps a child to learn a color, shape, and an amount. 

If children are not given the opportunity to be physically active, they will not have the chance to develop properly physically.  Motor skills would be underdeveloped, balance, hand-eye coordination, and muscle and bone growth would be hindered.  Children would also be at greater risk for obesity if not physically active, increasing their chances for health risks and decreasing self-esteem. 

Adults are the ones that have the power to encourage a love of physical activity within children.  This can easily be done by making physical fitness fun with games.  Playing tag with a child encourages them to run, giving a great cardio workout and helping to develop balance and locomotion.  Playing catch with a child encourages hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills as a child squeezes and reaches to throw and catch.

This time together also helps to form bonds and sustain relationships between children and adults.  According to Robertson, “All children want to feel capable, successful, and confident” (2013, pp. 278).  Physical activity can help a child to accomplish all of this through healthy development. 

-          Goodway, J.D., and Robinson, L.E., (2006, March). Skipping towards an active start:        promoting physical activity in preschoolers. Beyond the Journal: Young Children                      on the Web. Retrieved from:  http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200605/GoodwayBTJ.pdf

-          Schilling, T., and Kelly, A. M. (2006). Tots in action ON and BEYOND the playground.                YC Young Children, 61(3), 34-36. Retrieved from:             http://search.proquest.com/docview/197671473?accountid=14872

-          Robertson, C.  (2013). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (5^th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Cengage Learning. 

 

Healthy Food and Nutrition

Healthy Food and Nutrition

There is no doubt that nutrition plays a rather large role in the overall health, developmental growth, and energy expenditure for each child (Robertson, 2013, pp. 228).  Due to fast-paced life styles and the high-fat, low- nutrition foods that are readily available many children are not receiving the nutrition that their bodies need.  Making sure that your child or student is eating the right amount of macronutrients and micronutrients will help to make sure that they are on the right track. 

Macronutrients are made up of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.  These nutrients give us energy and help our bodies to grow (Robertson, 2013, pp. 229).  Young children require many carbohydrates as they grow, for example: the lactose in breast milk provides carbohydrate energy for infants (Robertson, 2013, pp. 229).  In children, carbohydrates are needed to fuel the muscles, allowing the fat and protein macronutrients to help the body grow.  Fats also provide children with fatty acids, cushioning for the organs, and helps to regulate their body temperature and metabolism (Robertson, 2013, pp. 230).  Proteins are necessary for the building of cells and tissues in the body. 

Micronutrients consist of water, vitamins, and minerals.  It is speculated that children are receiving more micronutrients than in the past due to the enrichment of many processed foods and daily vitamins taken (Robertson, 2013, pp. 225).  Micronutrient deficiencies can harm a child’s development such as dental caries (cavities) or a deficiency in iron.    Fruits and vegetables can be a great source of micronutrients for children. 

Getting your child or student to eat healthy foods can be quite a challenge due to picky eaters, time constraints, or a lack of available/affordable healthy foods.  Because of these challenges, it is ever more important that we do what we can to establish healthy eating habits within our children at an early age.   A child who has knowledge of and a want for healthy food is more likely to carry on through life with healthy eating habits.  Teachers and parents can help children to accomplish this by providing good food selections and by modeling positive food practices (Robertson, 2013, pp. 330). 

Another great way to promote healthy eating with your child or student is to cook healthy food together.  Here are three great and healthy recipes that your child or student may enjoy:

o       Banana Milkshake (UI, 2012)- Blend together 1 cup of low fat milk and 1 sliced banana.  The milk contains vitamin D, calcium, and healthy fat; all critical to bone growth.  The banana contains potassium that regulates body nerve impulses and maintains the rhythm of the heartbeat.  Let your child enjoy pushing the blender buttons, counting as they push!

o       Rainbow Ribbons w/ pretzel sticks (UI, 2012)- Cut fruit and veggies of all colors.  Place in “rainbow order” red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple onto a thin pretzel stick and enjoy.  The fruits will contain high levels of vitamin C and or vitamin A improving your child’s immune system, sight, and membranes in the body (Robertson, 2013, pp. 233).  This also provides a great lesson on colors!

o       Green Eggs and Ham ( UI, 2012)- Cook scrambled eggs adding milk, green onions, green peppers, and/ or spinach.  This is a great way to sneak in a green, leafy vegetable providing your child with vitamin A, K, B, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium.  With a list this long of nutritional value, why not try this fun recipe.  This is a great snack when reading Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham!

Cooking with your child creates many wonderful learning opportunities for shapes, numbers, and colors.  Allowing your child to help by pouring, stirring, rolling will help them to develop a love of cooking.  Most importantly remember to enjoy this meal or snack with your child, modeling that you enjoy healthy food as well!

References

-Robertson, C.  (2013). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (5^th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Cengage Learning. 

-University of Illinois. (2012). Food for thought: ideas for parents and preschoolers. University of Illinois Board of Trustees.  Retrieved from: http://urbanext.illinios.edu/foodforthought/  

CPR and Choking Emergencies

CPR and Choking Emergencies

            When caring for young children, the need for CPR can arise at any time.  By being properly trained and well prepared, parents and teachers can overcome life-threatening emergencies.  I will outline two possible scenarios: one involving a child choking and the other involving CPR.  I will also discuss why advanced planning matters and other steps that we all can take to be prepared. 

The first scenario occurs at school during lunchtime.  A child is choking on a bite of a string cheese.  With two teachers in the classroom, one teacher immediately checks the child’s breath and airway.  The second teacher calls the office to get extra help, notify the parents, and to call 911 if the child is not breathing.  Both teachers remain calm so that the child and other children in the classroom remain as calm as possible (Roberston, 2013, pp. 179). 

If the teacher assisting the child is unable to “swoop out” the object from the airway, and the child is conscious, she will begin the Heimlich maneuver if the child cannot cough, breath, cry, or speak.  By wrapping her arms around the child’s waist, she makes a fist with one hand and places it thumb side just above the child’s navel.  Then, grasping the fist with the other hand, the teacher makes quick, upward thrusts attempting to remove the blocking cheese.  If the child becomes unconscious, being CPR.  This should continue until the child is breathing or until emergency personnel arrive.

          The second scenario occurs at school on the playground.  A three-year-old boy was just found unconscious on the ground.  The first teacher reacts immediately checking the child for injuries and breathing (Robertson, 2013, pp. 179).   She shakes the child’s shoulders to see if the child is responsive but they are not.  The second teacher calls for help and instructs the office to call 911.  The first teacher begins CPR if the child is not breathing and does not have a pulse. This begins by gently tilting back the child’s head and placing the heel of her hand on the lower half of the breastbone, between the nipples (Robertson, 2013, pp. 182).  She then performs thirty compressions, after that two rescue breaths.  This is performed until the ambulance arrives or the child regains breathing and consciousness.  The other teacher should be ready to administer CPR in case the first teacher becomes tired. 

Having plans set in advance and having the proper training are our best bet when it comes to saving the life of a child.  Any parent, teacher, or caregiver that is responsible for a child should have first aid and CPR training so that they know exactly what to do in case of an emergency.  CPR and first aid procedures and regulations tend to change so it is important that one stay current with their training. 

Prevention planning against choking includes cutting up food into small bites and making sure that toys are too large to fit into a child’s mouth (Robertson, 2013, pp. 105).  Teachers can be prepared when outside by having their cell phones or walkie-talkies so that 911 or the school office can be contacted when there is an emergency.   Having first aid kits on hand and CPR posters posted in the classroom also help teachers to stay prepared.  The front desk or school office should also always have contact information for each child, including emergency contact information in case parents cannot be reached (Robertson, 2013, pp. 178). 

Closely watching our children and being aware of their safety is always the best way to keep them safe.  However, accidents and emergencies do happen.  Making sure that you are prepared will give you peace of mind as well as the power to potentially save a life. 

References

-          Robertson, C.  (2013). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (5^th ed.).Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Cengage Learning. 

Emergency Preparedness: Natural and Human Generated Disasters

Emergency Preparendess: Natural and Human- Generated Disaters

            Many possible diasters, natural or human-generated, can pose great risk to all of us at any given time.  While your children are at school, it is important that you feel that your children are safe in case disaster were to strike.  Here are examples of how the school where I teach would handle the threat of a tornado or the threat of an intruder.  Hopefully you can learn from these examples how to be better prepared at your home or school in case a disaster were to occur. 

            When stroms are called for in the weather forcast, our head secretary begins listening to our weather advisory radio.  In the event that a tornado warning is issued we must get everyone in our building to a safe place.  During a tornado, structural damage and the breaking of windows creates great risk to everyone’s safety.

Our “safe place” during a tornado is an interior room that has no windows and is on the lowest level of our building.  Luckily, our school has practiced mitigation, taking the steps that we need to be prepared for this kind of situation (Robertson, 2013, p. 197).  Once every month, we have practice tornado drills in which the whole school quickly retreats to this room and teachers account for each child.  In the closet of this room we have stored a battery powered radio, flashlights, first-aid kit, and materials to keep the children occupied.  Everyone also brings their cell phone so that we may contact the outside world incase we become trapped inside the building due to the tornado. 

Knowing how often tornados occur in our area and practicing our response to one is the best way to stay safe during this kind of disaster.  Tornados can certainly prove to cause injury or

to be fatal.  Please practice tornado drills often and find your safe place so that you and your children can have the best chance of enduring a tornado unharmed. 

Due to the recent, horrific shootings in Conneticut, we are reminded of the gruesome capabilities of human beings.  My school has always taken precausions to protect teachers and students from intruders (locked entrance doors and cameras).  However, this event has shown that even people that have a relationship with the school can intend to cause harm.  It is vital that schools practice intruder drills, how to respond the event that a person enters your school and intends to do harm.

Should someone unwelcome enter into my school, our director or secretary announces over the intercom “Sister Angela is needed in the office”, before dialing 911.  When teachers hear this, we automatically lock our classroom doors, turn out the lights, and move the children to the back of the classrooms or hide them in our closets.  It would be best if the children are out of view of the intruder. 

The intent of the intruder may be to harm someone on location, or to take a child.  If the intruder does shoot or harm someone in any way, it is vital that first aid kits are present in each classroom and that teachers are certified in first aid and CPR.  Teachers must also do their best to stay calm, reassuring the children that they will be okay and safe (Robertson, 2013, p. 199). 

To keep families connected to us during times of potential threats or disasters we have begun to use “Dean 
 Alert”.  This program sends emails, texts, and calls to parents alerting them to the conditions and status of the disaster and the reaction of the school.  It may send the message for example, “the children at Angela Hall have been evacuated to the Yellow Room due to a tornado warning”.  You may find this kind of program to be helpful keeping your school connected with the families of the children that you care for. 

-          Robertson, C.  (2013). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (5^th ed.).        Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Cengage Learning. 

 

Safety Practices and Policies for Young Children

Many infants and toddlers today are splitting much of their time between school/daycare and home.  A huge responsibility that falls upon parents and teachers/caregivers is to make sure that the children in their care are safe.  Many potential hazardous situations and safety threats can exist in the home or school such as illness, indoor environment, outdoor environment, toys, and the increased mobility of the child. Effective safety practices and policies that are set and carried out are the best way to ensure the safety of our children.

            Let’s face it, children get sick.  Their exposure to common illnesses such as the cold, pink eye, or stomach viruses increases as they are exposed to more children and more environments.  It is important that parents and teachers work together to help decrease the spread of illness by setting polices and practices such as washing hands before entering and leaving a classroom and keeping a sick child home from school.  Infants and toddlers are orally fixated and could put anything and everything in their mouths.  Teachers must make sure that toys and surfaces are cleaned in the classroom to prevent the spread of germs. 

At the school where I work, policy states that if a child has a fever over 99.5 degrees parents are called to pick up the child.  Also, if a child vomits or has two or more bouts of diarrhea they are sent home.  Even though this may cause inconvenience to the parent policies such as this are critical in reducing the spread of illness.

 Looking out for the safety of children requires that we take a look at the environment in which the children live and play, both inside and out.   Inside many safety threats can reside such as burns from hot water or stove, water in the bath tub, electrical outlets, and poisons such as house hold cleaners.   Parents can reduce the risk of injury to their child by always attending to their child in the bath, keeping cleaners locked up, and keeping the handles of pots and pans away from the child’s reach (Robertson, 2013, p. 94).  At school, policies should be set to cover all electrical outlets, keep the hot water temperature set at 120 degrees or below, and make sure that all of the indoor equipment is safe and in good condition. 

Outdoors children face risk involving motor vehicles, large bodies of water, poisonous plants, outdoor equipment, etc.  When it comes to motor vehicles, parents can keep their children safe by making sure that the child is contained in the proper car seat in the rear seat of the car.  Children always need to be monitored and attended to when around streets, large bodies of water, plants and animals (Robertson, 2013, p. 142).  Schools can enforce a policy that removes damaged playground equipment and replaces broken fence to ensure the safety of children on playgrounds.  

Inside and out, toys can pose hazardous to infants and toddlers primarily through choking or suffocation.  It is important that parents and teachers check to make sure that toys are “age appropriate” before giving them to a child (Robertson, 2013, p. 105).  Small objects smaller that 1 ½ inches in diameter are not safe for infants and toddlers because they are capable of getting caught in the child’s throat and may cause them to choke. 

Schools can follow policies that ban small objects from infant/toddler classrooms and that require schools to check recall lists to ensure the safety of children.  

            As young children begin to gain mobility, crawling and then walking it is extremely important that they are closely supervised by parents and teachers.  Falls pose as a great risk for young children, whether they are climbing up stairs, on furniture, bumping into objects, or tripping as they walk or run.  Parents can make sure to install toddler gates and restricting children’s access to potentially dangerous areas of the home.  My school follows a policy that requires a teacher to never leave a child unattended on a changing table.

            By working together, parents and teachers can greatly reduce the safety risks that all children are faced with.  Making safety practices and policies fit into the routine of our daily life helps to maximize their effectiveness.  Keeping our children safe from illness and hazards inside and out can help to ensure their bright futures. 

Robertson, C.  (2013). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (5^th ed.).