Promoting A Healthy Environment For Children Education Essay

The proportion of children living in poverty grew from 1 in 10 in 1979 to 1 in 3 in 1998. 30% of children live in poverty in the UK

The UK has one of the worse rates of child poverty in the industrialized world

Source: www.endchildpoverty.org.uk June 2007

The majority of sleep experts advise parents to abruptly withdraw their attention at bedtime-with no mention of teaching a child self-soothing skills. But many parents are looking for help after having shared their bed or assisted their child to fall asleep for months or even years. When children are abruptly expected to fall asleep without any assistance it sets the scene for the all too familiar nightly bedtime battle.

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If parents consistently ignore their children’s anguished pleas for attention, after weeks of tears and tantrums, children will eventually begin to fall asleep on their own. But in the same amount of time, parents could have avoided the battles-by teaching their children to relax themselves to sleep while gradually and systematically decreasing their attention.

Routine helps establish many aspects of healthy living & good ways of life and good behaviour. Even the smallest structure is necessary in day-to-day life.

Children want and even need routine and there are lots of ways to get them going byestablishing a schedule that works for al the family.

There are so many positive side effects for starting to use strong routines for children.

Children do not have a lot of control in their lives and it gives them a sense of organization, steadiness and comfort. This helps develop healthier behaviour and a sense of personal control.

Doing things like bathing and brushing teeth as part of morning or nighttime routines can help establish good personal hygiene and health habits. Having built in chore time somewhere in the week or day, having them help pick up at the end of dinner or tidy up the house at the end of a day of playing establishes responsibility and work ethic.

Mealtime

When it is time to eat it is a perfect time to start good habits. Eating habits, particularly. Always eat breakfast, Lunch and tea, but at set times and with structure for children so there are no surprises and the length between eating isn’t so great that hunger takes over the family. That can lead to irritability or impulse snacking and dinner wrecking.

Set standards for when snacking can take place and what kinds of foods are eaten. Don’t indulge or give in for food whenever a child wants something. The results should always be equal good eating and good eating habits.

Mealtimes are a good time to instil family into the children. Always try to find some time to sit down together, preferably at a table, to talk and eat. Also, have children help get dinner started, set the table and clean up afterward to plant a bit of responsibility.

A1

My role as an Early Years Practitioner would be to assist with the promotion of health and well-being of children and help maintain a healthy environment for children. I may be responsible for organising a room and making sure that policies and procedures are being followed and recorded. I would have to cater for their needs as young children; developmentally, physically and socially. This would be ensure that I am promoting and maintaining a healthy environment for all children. It is also important that you learn by experiencing and learning from the experiences of others.

In my role I would have to plan and provide a caring and stimulating environment that is appropriate for individual children and enables children to reach their full potential and to work within the Children Act and local guidelines, legislation and standards and ensure that Child Protection policies and procedures are adhered to at all times. I would have to plan and prepare exciting play opportunities that meet the children’s developmental needs and stimulates their learning.

I would also participate in supervision and staff development processes in support of promoting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and environment and to undertake training as appropriate to meet any changes in standards or appropriate legal requirements as required. In reviewing and reflection of any issues is an important aspect of a practitioner and to review where, why, how, when, etc.

The reflective cycle as developed by Gibbs allows you to think about what you have done, how well it went, get feedback from others and consider alternatives.

The reflective cycle is broken down into 6 units

1. Description -what happened

2. Feelings

3. Evaluation

Analysis

conclusion

and finally ‘Action plan’ – what will you do next time.

The practitioner should also evaluate their own learning and performance.

This can be done through ‘Professional development’ and discussions with the line manager and other practitioners.

For example:

Share examples of your practice – discuss

Get ideas of other practices

Visit other practices and observe, discuss.

Make sure you keep up to date with current practices

Articles in magazines, books, training, etc

In house or external training

Additional qualifications, etc

Observe children / observe other practitioners

Planning Childs next steps

Try new things

Trial and error is also an important reflection and to review how things happen. But in all cases, the safety of children is paramount.

Experience is the most important issue and to understand that as an new ‘trainee’ or new ‘nursery nurse’, you don’t know everything. That you learn by experiencing and learning from the experiences of others.

I would also have to keep in touch with new initiatives that are promoted and keep on top of new legislation.