This is a topic of great concern for me. When your children show up to school hungry, they do not receive the same education as the other students. Their mind is focused on what they didn’t have for breakfast and will I have any dinner tonight. So when this issue starts at an early age their little bodies are underdeveloped and delayed making life a struggle. All children need to eat healthy to be happy and successful. Children should not have to go hungry!
Nutrition/Malnutrition in Asia
Asia is home to more than two-thirds of the 148 million children who are under 5 years and underweight for their age (Nutrition, 2009, p2). Asia still accounts for nearly half of the world’s deaths in these young children (Nutrition, 2009, p2). Childhood malnutrition can lead to growth stunting, poor cognitive development, and delayed motor development (Nutrition, 2009, p2). Programs can be set up to assist and manage malnutrition through insuring clear water supply, health education for healthy diets, and improve access to healthy food (Nutrition, 2009, p3).
Healthy food will always be in my classroom and offered to any student who has not eaten breakfast. This will ensure that each child has had something to eat to start their day off energized. Each child should be afforded the appropriate nourishment to have a successful day at school.
Nutrition Advocacy. (2009). Clinical Nutrition News, p1-8. Retrieved from
http://anhi.org/learning/PDFs/Clinical/Abbott%20Clinical%208.5x11b.pdf
Thank you for choosing this topic! Hunger in the developing nations affect children greatly. We know that children are the ones who suffer when food is scarce.
ReplyDeleteWatching a popular daytime show, Ellen, I learned that children in the US are going hungry too! In some public schools children are taking ketchup packets home to make soup for weekend meals! I was sadden to know that in the US today there are children going to bed hungry.
I support feeding children. As a board member of a non-for-profit organization that sponsors the Child Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), I am part of a movement to subsidize meals for children in family day care.
Here is a video link about what we do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzbsFxC7AfU&feature=player_embedded
This is a difficult topic! I sometimes see commericals on televison asking to donate money for clean water or for food. For several years, I did not think this was real. I thought it was some sort of scam. I had to do an undergraduate research paper on a similar topic and was amazed. Great post!
ReplyDeleteTachanda
Childhood hunger is such a problem. Even in the US. It breaks my heart that a person as helpless as a child has to bear the burden of not knowing where their next meal is coming from. We also always keep plenty of food in our classroom because no child is their best if they are hungry.
ReplyDeleteYou made some very rapid points. Often times many educators assume that children are eating at home when the truth of the matter is, some children only eat when they are present in school.
ReplyDeleteMalnutrition will result in delayed growth. An undernourished child tries, but often times will have short attention spans and learning problems. They are also prone to frequents illnesses. According to recent studies, breakfast show that children all ages benefit from nutritious breakfast and they tend to have better attention spans than those that skip breakfast.
smw.15.org/smw15/TRCC-website/Life%Span/PowerPoints/LS-04.ppt
Malnutrition is such an important topic. Children many times do not receive adequate nutrition in the home even in industrialized nations such as America. Instead of donating money to specific organizations, how do you feel about more "grassroots" ways to teach people how to sustain themselves? This would be done through providing adequate tools,and enough education. I'm not sure the feasibility of something like that.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best gifts that I ever received was from a supervisor. In lieu of giving Christmas presents to all the managers in my department, she purchased a water buffalo through Heifer International in our names. They are a wonderful organization that provides animals and training for specific communities throughout the world.
Maybe as a class we could all buy a share of a specific animal for an underprivileged area of the world...
https://secure1.heifer.org/gift-catalog
This is an interesting yet sensitive topic. It saddens me deeply to see so many people especially children going without food. I think its great that you have food for the children who didn't have breakfast. Sometimes being an educator means more than simply teaching.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your articles. This is truly a great read for me. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles.
ReplyDelete