Creating a Child Health, Safety, Nutrition

Markeia Walton

EDUC 1005

April 13, 2011

Creating a Child Health, Safety, Nutrition

With the research, that I found about fitness and exercise it states that physical activity does not even have to be vigorous to yield health benefits (David Schlundt, Exercise for Mind, Body and Soul always say if parents are looking for their children to develop good fitness habits is for parents being active as well. Children are actually looking at how their parents spend their leisure time. If parents are lying around on the couch, watching movies then children are going to do the same. Children will often play video games, watching television and now children today are spending many hours on the computer. For families to help develop a good fitness habits are starting by riding bikes or walking around in your neighborhood. If the families are indoor people they could play, a video game called the Wii. The Wii games have active games for the entire family. Most of the Wii games can boost a child’s calorie burner. They also allow families to interact together as well as doing fitness fun.  

The impact on young children being overweight or obese has a highly affect on children. Children will develop a low self-esteem. You also have some parents who would talk about their own children being obsessed. Children who are obsessed are more likely to be looked at as a health issue. Because doctors are stating that obesity happens when families have a poor dietary in foods like more fats, sugar, lack of exercise and gaining weight by a critical developmental periods. Another impact on young children who are overweight can bring problems like children’s energy level drops, breathing, and sleep disorder. Parents and children today need to start focusing more on eating right rather than wondering what is on television.

Healthy Food and Nutrition

Markeia Walton

EDUC 1005

April 10, 2011

Healthy Food and Nutrition

 There are so many reason, facts, and opinions on why good nutrition and children eating habits are so important. Today we see more children eating junk food at a young age like, high sugar, sodas and candy. Children at a young age have high in sugar and starch. So if parents were to start eating right with healthy foods then the children will become better off later down the years. Children need to eat healthy and get a good nutrition meal because at such a young age the children’s bodies are growing and developing fast. With eating healthy, parents do not understand that there children are getting vitamins from the supplements also. I still recommend that parents still need to give their children vitamins. I think it is great to see adults actively helping children develop a healthy eating habit. One example would be teachers; children are at school Monday through Friday between the hours of 6:30 am until 6:00pm depending on the families work schedule. With the teachers, they can model good eating habits for the students. I know in my class we have lunch inside our classroom. We call it a family style lunch, this is where the teachers are sitting down with the children and eating the same lunch. Many of my children at the beginning of the year did not eat much. However, when I explain to them about why it is always good to try everything they all agreed. When the children see the teachers eating the schools healthy lunch they will start to nibble because they fill that if there teacher is eating this lunch it must be good.

I have come up with a few nutrition recipes that families can all prepare together at dinnertime or lunch. One

meal I thought that could be healthy for the whole family and fun to make is Taco Chip Salad. This meal also

takes only about 30 minutes or less to prepare. The taco salad is very colorful for the children to be excited

about. It also has different variety of vegetables for the children to try and is less fat. Another meal that is a

good nutritional value is Hawaiian Chicken Pizza. Children and parents can hand wash and prep the salad.

There are plenty of vegetables, dairy product and fruit. These meals are nutritionist and are a healthy start to

eating.   

Emergency Preparedness

Markeia Walton

EDUC 1005

March 25, 2011

Emergency Preparedness

Let me just say that at all the centers and schools that I have worked at all have plans for if a disasters hit or if the school was in danger. A center that I did work at previously did not have any types of disasters plans for fires, tornadoes, or even floods. I was shocked the director told me that she has all of her plans in her office. I was also concerned about the children not knowing what to do if we had a fire or even a tornado. What I decided to do for the center was to create a plan for every classroom on knowing about what to do encase of a fire. The appropriate steps to develop this plan were challenging, but I got help from all the teachers in the center. They all felt that we all needed practice for a fire drill to be prepared. As teachers, we understand that having a fire can occur at anytime. We also knew how important it was to keep our children safe. Everyone became very aware of the scenarios that could happen we also knew where to take all children. We even gave our students safety rules when we have fires.

One day our director had ask the fire department to come out to do a drill with the center. While we were playing in centers, the children heard a siren that did not sound like a familiar sound. When I told them, it was a fire the children acted quickly and got into safety mood. All the teachers knew to grab the important information in order to contact the parents. In the center, we all have a special crate that we keep important information in. Later that day we gave out brochures to our families about how to prepare their families for a disaster was too struck.  We also ask them to draw out a plan with their children about where to go and what to do in case of a fire.  

Safety Practices and Policies

Markeia Walton

EDUC 1005

Section 1

Safety Practices and Policies

After carefully reading the chapters about Safety practices and policies, I decided to focus on my discussions with having a preschool classroom. The first week of my blog I want to talk about what could be potentially hazard and safety threats in a preschool environment. My five hazardous and safety situations are: having open sockets in a classroom for students to reach, not having safety gear when riding tricycles. Another hazardous item in a class is having teacher supplies lying around the classroom for example: scissors, stapler, nail pins etc. I also wanted to discuss that broken toys in another safety threat to children.  Last hazardous situation is cleaning solutions low in cabinets for children to reach. A few measures that should be taken to prevent these hazardous threats are good examples to help parents and teachers. With safety helmets, there are many ways to prevent unsafely measures like showing the proper way to wear helmets, talking with parents and students about how important it is to wear safety helmets.

When having hot liquids in a classroom it should be in a safe spot to where children cannot reach. Hot liquids should also have a lid on the cups. It is also safe to have all your hot liquid items in the adult waiting area. As a teacher, I talk with my students about hot items and teacher items that they should not touch in class. It is all about showing classroom modeling. Having teacher supply lying around is not safe. To prevent this situation in class and home try talking with your children about teacher supply and student supply. Not looking for unsafely toys is not good in a preschool classroom. At the end of each week. It is good to have your assistant and yourself (teacher) to look around your classroom for loose nails, broken toys. Therefore, those children will not hurt themselves. Parents should do this at home as well.