Cultivate Our Healthy Children

Just like a piece of white paper, children are easily affected by the environment. As information flows quickly nowadays, innocent children are bombarded by advertisements and sponsored promotion of innumerable unhealthy foods by all kinds of tactics through the media; they gradually accept them as part of their diet. Meanwhile, some children are obsessed with electronic or internet games, which deprive them of their time for physical exercise. It is always true that a person’s lifestyle stems from childhood. Unhealthy eating habits, coupled with a lack of exercise, result in ill health. The outcome is: in their forties, they go blind or receive dialysis every two days because of complications from diabetes; in their thirties, they are put on medication for life because of  hyperlipidaemia, hypertension, or they even die of cardiovascular diseases. We want to see nothing like this.

Prevention is better than cure. Only with the correct attitudes towards life can our next generation live healthily. They should live out our health advice and stay away from factors of ill health and obesity.

Every year, around 140,000 children are enrolled in pre-primary institutions in Hong Kong. These institutions, just like the children’s families, are responsible for nurturing the children’s growth. They play a key role in instilling into the children the proper attitudes towards life, nurturing a healthy next generation and fight obesity. The institutions can work on the following four aspects:

1. Formulation of health-related administrative measures

If healthy lifestyle is to be supported and promoted in an effective and sustainable manner within the school environment, pre-primary institutions must put in place a comprehensive school policy on healthy eating and physical activity. This can establish a feasible and concrete objective for supporting a healthy lifestyle as well as to provide for a firm, positive foundation of life. To this end, pre-primary institutions can refer to the Department of Health’s ‘Nutrition Guidelines for Children Aged 2-6 Years’ and ‘Physical Activity Guide for Children Aged 2-6 Years’ in order to formulate the policies’ scope, content, evaluation and assessment measures that befit the circumstances of their school, with a view to improving child health initiatives.

When it is time to formulate health-related administrative measures, a school may assign a task force comprising its headmaster/headmistress, teachers, parent representatives (e.g. PTA members), etc. to do so. They will be in charge of formulating and implementing measures in relation to diet and physical activity; they will also make annual reports regarding health policies and other measures to teaching staff, catering staff and parents. Moreover, they will organise meetings, surveys, interviews and other functions to examine the policies in question and their implementation status. The school may also arrange support and training to staff concerned as appropriate.

2. Provision of a healthy campus environment

In order to promote a sustainable healthy lifestyle, schools must examine the age, nutritional requirements, nutritional values of food, skills development and physical activity needs of their pupils in order to foster a favourable campus environment that encourages healthy eating and active living.

Schools may refer to guidelines for nutrition and physical activity when designing healthy lunch menus and snack recipes for pupils. Schools should provide wholesome a diet and an adequate amount of water every day as well as prohibit the promotion of unhealthy food within the campus. Meanwhile, schools should set a fixed number of hours for daily physical activity for pupils.

3. Design of health-related teaching activities

A pre-primary education of high quality should indeed be comprehensive and well balanced. By designing health-related teaching activities for children, we not only give them the relevant knowledge and concepts, but also develop their survival skills and impart to them the proper values and a positive attitude. From the contexts of ‘healthy diet’ and ‘physical activity’, children understand what they need for body growth, and thus brush up their self-care ability. They need a positive attitude and good habits that last for ever.

Schools may include nutritional topics in their curriculum and physical activity designs so that they can teach children the importance and practice of healthy diet and skills of choosing healthy foods. The teaching activities can involve topics like ‘regular and balanced diet’, ‘drink more water’, ‘vegetables and fruit’, all to be combined with physical activity elements, so that children can learn in a relaxed and pleasing atmosphere.