Chlidrens’s health and well-being
My name is Chloe, I have been a qualified nursery nurse for a number of years now (Certificate in Early Years, Level 4), and would like to share some of what i have learnt about childrens development through this blog.
Defining health and well-being varies depending on where you come from. For example, a child living in Zimbabwe-a country currently experiencing an AIDS epidemic and famine, might be considred healthy by local community because he or she is free from disease and nourished. In the developed world, however, most people would not be comfortable thinking on such narrow terms.
In the United Kingdom, we are bobarded daily with advice on staying healthy, what we should and should not eat and drink, how much excercse we need, and how to tackle stress in our lives. All of this information often leaves parents struggling with questions about their children’s health. Will my child develop well if i go back to work? Is my child eating the right food? These concerns about their children’s health are not without good reason. The foundations for physical, social and emotional health are built in the early years, and it is far more effective to make sure that those are well-established than to cure ill health later in life.
Health is not easy to define, as individuals have different ideas about what health means. In 1984 the World Health Organization defined health as:
the extent to which an individual or group is able, on the one hand, to realise aspirations and satisfy needs: and, on the other hand, to change or cope with the environment. Health is therefore, seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living: it is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resouces, as well as physical capacities.