Nutrition/ malnutrition is a topic of particular interest to me. I live and work in a town where many of the citizens are at or below poverty level. They are not able to provide their children with the proper nutrient that are needed for their healthy growth. Many are overweight because they only have access to fast food because it is cheap and they can get a lot more for their money. Many rely on their children’s school’s to provide their children with free lunches, which are also not the healthiest despite the countries attempt to make them. Many children are also going to bed hungry and not sure of when their last meal will be. I know that I have a few students in my class where they do not have enough money to eat dinner. Or one particular child lives in a house with multiple families and shares a bedroom with his mother. Whenever they do have food, the other families eat it before they can.
One part of the world in which I sought information is India. This country has many issues regarding low birth weights and both iodine and vitamin A deficiencies. Many newborns are being born with very low birth weights causing a higher rate of SIDS. They are also getting PEM or protein energy malnutrition. Some disorders from PEM are irritability, hair discoloration, and growth failure. Although the children I work with are not this severely malnutrition, it is still difficult to think about children the age of my students suffering like this.
The information that I have obtained about India will help me take a greater appreciation for what I have and how fortunate my students are to be in the program I work with. The mothers are also taken care of in the Early Head Start program, making sure they are getting the proper nutrition to help their unborn child strive. India needs a program similar to this to help them help end some of the problems such as the low birth weights. This will affect my future work by having a greater appreciation for what the parents of my students do for them. Although they may not be feeding them the proper food, it is the best they can do with what little they have. It makes me open my eyes and want to help the children in India more.
References
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/434445/nutrition-problems-in-india
Jacqueline,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your insight into nutrition. It is such an important issue concerning our children today. It saddens me that many children in our country rely on school lunches for their meals because they are unable to eat at home.
Thank you for your post.
Felecia
The Head Start programs have been under scrutiny in the political arrea for years; however, has value offering developmental experiences for children and education for supporting families. Health and nutrian is a huge part of the mission and is so needed when we talk about the war against poverty. As a former Head Start teacher, I have seen students hoard food from the lunch and snack tables; to sneak home because they don't know if they are going to have food when they get there. The program I worked for provided about 2/3's of the child's meals and helped parents get services from the local food bank. A nation like India, could truly benifit from the Head Start example.
ReplyDeleteNutrician plays such an important part in child development. According to Berger (pg. 226), in poor nations malnutrition accounts to one-third of childrens deaths. As you stated, it is cheeper to eat unhealthy foods which can lead to obesed and other health issues. As a elementary teacher, I always worried about malnurition effecting childrens ability to concentrate in school. I my loacal school district, breakfest and lunch programs are provided as well as healthy snacks midmorning to assist in meeting the needs of the elementary students.
Resources:
Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers