Health in Early Education

Learning Resources

Required Resources

Course Text:

• Safety, Nutrition, and Health in Early Education (5th ed.)
• • Chapter 6, “Basic Nutrition in Early Childhood Education Environments” (pp. 212−250)
  • Chapter 8, “Providing Good Nutrition for Diverse Children” (pp. 290−330)

Note: Peruse the following Web sites and online articles. You will need to refer to these resources when completing your Discussion and Application Assignment.

Web Sites:

• Fruits and Veggies: More Matters

  http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/

• USDA Healthy Meals Resource System: Nutrition Education

  (This page provides links to several helpful Web sites on child nutrition and fitness.)

  http://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/resource-library/nutrition-education

• University of Illinois Extension: Food for Thought: Ideas for Parents of Preschoolers

  http://urbanext.illinois.edu/foodforthought/

• USDA Food and Nutrition Service: State Agencies Administering the Child Nutrition Programs

  http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Contacts/StateDirectory.htm

Articles:

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000, November). Nutrition and overweight. InHealthy people 2010 (2nd ed.) (Vol. 2). Retrieved fromwww.healthypeople.gov/2010/Document/pdf/Volume2/19Nutrition.pdf
• Bellows, L., & Anderson, J. (2006, May). The food friends: Encouraging preschoolers to try new foods. Beyond the Journal: Young Children on the Web. Retrieved from the Walden Library Using this link: http://auth.waldenulibrary.org/ezpws.exe?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1038789371&sid=1&Fmt=4&clientId=70192&RQT=309&VName=PQD

  Content Review

  Directions:

  • Respond to each item. Each response should be concise and between two and three paragraphs in length.
  • Use MS Word to write your responses, and submit your answers to all three questions in one Word document.
  • Copy and paste each question within the document, so that your Instructor can see which question you are responding to.

  1. 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.

  2. 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?

  3. 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.