CONTENT REVIEW ON CHILDREN NUTRITION
CONTENT REVIEW ON CHILDREN NUTRITION
- Drawing on your Learning Resources this week, briefly explain at least three ways in which poor nutrition puts children's health at risk. Then select three of the following nutritional factors: proteins, carbohydrates, fats, water, or any of the specific vitamins or minerals described in your text in Section 6.4. Explain how each of the factors you chose affects children's health and development.
Children are affected negatively by poor nutrition in many ways. Poor diet has the following consequences on children’s health. First it can be cause of diseases, such as obesity when a child takes more calories than the body needs. When the nutrients supplies in the body of the child are insufficient, the child does not development normally, in this cases, the child may develop rickets, and other diseases. In addition, the immunity of the children is highly compromised leading to many infections. The child mental health is also affected when the nutrients are not in the right proportions leading to poor cognitive and mental health development (The urban child Institute, 2011).
- Excessive saturated fats lead to coronary heart diseases (Cathie Robertson, 2011). Such happened when these fat lead to thickening of blood vessel in the heart that may lead to bursting of the blood vessel (SA Health, n.d). In additions, such may lead to hypertension.
- Deficiency in protein leads to stunted growth and makes children easily fatigued and irritable. Insufficient protein makes the children susceptible to diseases and poor recovery as in the case of wounds.
- Insufficient micro mineral such as calcium increase vulnerability to dental caries and poor born development in the children.
- Review pages 304–310 in your text on food as an issue of control, especially Table 8-7. Identify at least three ways in which food can be used by toddlers and/or adults as a means of exerting autonomy or control. How could you avoid the negative aspects of each of these kinds of control if you were working with young children and their families?
Children develop autonomy through food by learning to how to do things independently. Secondly, the children learn how to choose, such as refusing even the favorite foods, and thirdly, the children learn to control the environment by manipulation of items all by themselves (Cathie Robertson, p. 305).
Some of these might have negative effects, the parent or care giver has to help the child to manipulate the less harmful objects and keep close observations of the child. The child may have other problems like developing teeth that he parent or care giver must understand in the second case. The main role of the care giver is to ensure that these habits do not lead to development of disorders.
- Consider this scenario: You are currently working with 5-year-olds in a program that serves breakfast and snacks but not lunches. You have noticed that several children in your group have been bringing foods in their lunches that are mostly empty calories. You send reminder notes home to families, but they occasionally forget. Review the strategies discussed in Sections 8.3 through 8.5 and describe what you might do to ensure that the children with whom you work get a more balanced diet at lunch. Include some suggestions or activities you could offer to the families you work with to encourage them to choose foods more wisely.
The right diet is critical in children in every meal. In the case provided, to ensure that the children have a balanced diet during lunch, the snacks can have more calories to balance what is missing in the children’s lunch. I would refer the parents of farm that offer the right combinations of food.
Such would make the parents and the caregivers to have a wide choice of foods. In this case, the parents would be provided with daily supplies and in the right combinations that would ensure that the diet is balanced throughout.
References
Cathie Robertson (2011). Safety, Nutrition & Health in Early Education. 5th Ed. Retrieved on December 28, 2014, from http://www.coursesmart.com/9781133515975/firstsection?portal=coursesmart&CSTenan tKey=cengage&key=D4AF0B34386E02230164BB14CD4186D90363B51C6C29E26678 E74C2D66DD1E7EC910150C3B81519E293A7F346C4B636FC7EE004FDF275AC988 2FFAF71CCECF19158DDECB5630999C6CF4CDEF3AE905A0E8D45BFE62F5F6026 6A20954992AEC38480E30E69E0288A64380CB6D5B614DE29C47776A5C22ABB9A 286B32A44DF45019387&TenantOption=cengagebrain#X2ludGVybmFsX0J2ZGVwRm xhc2hSZWFkZXI/eG1saWQ9OTc4MTEzMzUxNTk3NS9paWk=
SA Health (n.d). The risks of poor nutrients. Retrieved on December 28, 2014, from http://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/healt hy+living/is+your+health+at+risk/the+risks+of+poor+nutrition
The urban child Institute (2011). Nutrient and Early Brain Development. Retrieved on December 28. 2014 from http://www.urbanchildinstitute.org/articles/updates/nutrition-and-early- brain-development
