The Importance of Healthy Eating and Exercise for Children

A healthy diet and the right amount of exercise is important. It can greatly affect a child's education if they are not being looked after properly. A poor diet can lead to lack of concentration and difficulties with learning and memory, as the Society of Neuroscience has recently revealed: “that diets with high levels of saturated fats actually impair learning and memory.” the foods that are most affordable and easiest to prepare are the ones lacking in vitamins and minerals essential for a child's development. One vitamin that is excellent for a child's concentration is vitamin B. Vitamin B deficiency has been proven to have effects on “impaired memory, higher levels of anxiety, confusion, irritability, depression, and inhibited mental performance.” therefore a poor diet will lack in vitamin B and decrease a child's concentration. If a child is poorly concentrating then they will not learn as much resulting in lower grades. These foods that are lacking in nutrients are also not very filling, if they are hungry than they can not concentrate. The daily mail says “They can't concentrate properly because they haven't eaten, sometimes for days, and are tired and stressed.”. These children are malnourished and so the only thing that the children will focus on is the next time they eat, instead of their learning. Inside education says that “A child who can concentrate on learning and not on their hungry stomach has the power to stop the cycle of poverty through education.” Lack of exercise also affects a child's education, with obesity on the rise children should be exercising more and eating more healthily. Some chronic diseases come from a child's lack of physical movement, and can cause problems in later life. The US national institutes of health states that “physical inactivity is a primary cause of most chronic diseases.” an example of a chronic illness that is caused by lack of physical activity is type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is when the “where the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin or the body's cells don't react to insulin” type two diabetes is often linked with obesity, which will occur if a child has a poor diet and lack of exercise. Diabetes affects a child's ability to learn and concentrate as diabetes UK states: “Diabetes can affect a child’s learning because it can cause difficulties with attention, memory, processing speed and perceptual skills if it’s not managed.” this affects their overall quality of education as they are not focusing properly and therefore will not learn effectively. A type two diabetic should see their doctor two to four times a year and these appointments may be scheduled into school-time, taking time out of the child's learning. Lack of exercise as a child can greatly affect their life in the future with diseases like heart disease and cancer is becoming more of a risk. Science news states that “Even healthy children as young as 9 years old can start to show an increased risk of future heart problems if they are physically inactive.”

There are many things that schools and practitioners should be doing to promote healthy eating and exercise. Practitioners can promote regular exercise by doing PE lessons, either once a week or more than once. It is important that schools have PE lessons as there are many benefits. These include: “healthy growth and development”, “prevents sleep deprivation”, “helps in relieving stress and anxiety”, “physical education makes an individual flexible and happy” and allows students to focus and concentrate more. PE lessons allow children to develop as they are building up their motor skills and abilities through the PE lesson as well as building social skills, communication and language skills. It is good practice to make the PE lessons fun so the children do not relate PE with bad experiences, children who associate PE with bad experiences often exercise less as an adult. Practitioners and schools should have a set outdoor play time for the children so they get to run around and let off steam, they should also provide equipment for the children to use, for example: skipping ropes and footballs. They can also provide lunchtime and after school clubs to allow the children to have an array of activities to try and develop with. Another way practitioners could promote development is through PSHE lessons about healthy eating. If the practitioner sits down with the children and explains that in order for their body to work they need to feed it right and make sure they look after it then the child may start to understand that they need to eat right. It also means that children have an understanding of nutrition from a young age allowing them to make better decisions in the future. Most settings provide a healthy lunch option for families who pay for hot food, meaning that the children get to have a hot nutritious meal at least once a day. They also have a milk and fruit time helping to develop their bones and also eating one price of fruit a day. Most schools also encourage parents to pack a healthy lunch for the children and not one full of processed foods and additives. Families that cannot afford to feed their children should be given free school meals and access to breakfast clubs so that the child can concentrate on their learning and they have had something sustainable and healthy to eat that day allowing them to grow and develop. Schools should also have care plans for children who are allergic or intolerant to things, so that the staff know what they can and can not give the child and what to do if there is an emergency.

The practitioner at a setting is responsible for making their own policies and procedures. But a department for education policy is the Food in Schools Policy. In short it is what schools should be providing for their students and it states that “they should have a written policy by the end of the 2013/14 school year.” schools should be providing healthier food options for their students that is low in fat, sugar, salt and high in fibre. An example being vegetable lasagne with hidden vegetables in the meat sauce and whole wheat pasta sheets. They want to see every part of the school working together to help the children become healthier by doing things like: providing healthy foods, helping children learn about food, and educating older children on how to cook healthy nutritious meals. In the policy there are rules for the school meals, these include things such as: rice and pasta must be available at least once a week, fried foods should not be served more than twice a week, fish should be available once a week, at least two portions of vegetables should be available per meal and milk/ water should be available everyday. Food must also be provided for any child with dietary needs such as: religion, culture, disability and allergies. The foods that are sold at schools should be healthy and nutritious, so they should not sell things such as chocolate bars or fizzy drinks. An example of how this policy has affected a setting is Little dreams nursery in Aberdeen and their healthy eating policy. Little dreams think that mealtimes should be quiet enjoyable times to talk with friends and enjoy the food. So they have an adult sitting with a small group of children to enable this to happen. The setting provides lunch and keep the salt, sugar and additives low. As it says in their policy: “Salt, sugar and additives are kept to a bare minimum.” they give children with allergies or dietary requirements allergy cards so that all staff members are aware of their needs. As stated in their policy: “All children have their own allergy cards for snack / lunch times detailing any allergy, dietary requirements so that all staff are fully aware.” in summary little dreams nursery promotes healthy eating and takes caution with allergies. Through the use of this policy the nursery is promoting healthy eating.

Every child needs a routine, they need routines as they help with time management skills, as kidspot say: “Routines can help children understand time and time management.”. There can be many routine that a child completes daily. Mostly to do with exercise, these include: walking to and from school, this promotes physical activity as the child is walking instead of going to school in a car. Playtimes, the child has a daily allocated time for them to go and play/ run around, the school provides equipment for the child to play on and with. Walking home from school, the child goes on a walk instead of sitting in a car. There are also daily routines that promote healthy eating. Like a snack time, where the children are encouraged to have at least one piece of fruit and a drink of either milk or water, this make sure they at least have one of their five a day. Their parents will promote eating three meals a day, unless they are in poverty. The three meals should be healthy and it will get the children into a routine of when to eat. There are pros to all of these routines like the child getting at least one hour of exercise per day and the child eating at least three balanced meals and one snack of fruit and milk. But there are cons. The cons are limited but they include: when walking home from school some routes may be too dangerous or the family is unable to walk home. The child and their family may not be able to afford three balanced meals a day and a fruit snack. Or the child may have a health condition. These routines help support the child's understanding of a healthy meal and the proper amount to fruit to eat, it also makes a fun and interesting way for them to get some exercise into their day.