Health in the Highlands
Your Appalachian Guide to Healthy Living
3 Must-Do Steps for Parents Prior to the School Year
How Parents Can Support a Happy, Healthy Child
For most children, the start of a new school year can be a stressful yet exciting time. Students get one step closer to graduation but have a lot of new material to learn. They often make new friends but also face many social challenges along the way. Paired with health concerns over the lingering pandemic, it can be a lot for parents to think about. Here are three must-do steps before sending your children back to school:
1. Schedule an Annual Check-Up
Ensuring your child is happy and healthy is crucial to their success in the classroom. Their overall wellness goes beyond the scope of just physical health. Since the pandemic, feelings of stress and anxiety have risen, placing a higher importance on your child’s mental well-being in addition to their physical well-being.
We are the only pediatric clinic in the area that has an integrated behavioral health
team onsite every day of the week. We have a child psychologist and social worker
to help navigate especially now since the pandemic and the awareness of mental health
issues with our kids has been brought to the forefront of medicine.
Today, many doctors place an emphasis on preventative care. A great way to ensure your child’s health throughout the school year is to make sure they’re up to date on all vaccinations. As noted by the CDC, influenza, chickenpox, measles, polio, and tetanus vaccines are among the most common school-aged children should receive. Therefore, an annual wellness check-up should be a top priority for all parents.
2. Teach Proper Hygiene
Teaching your children proper hygiene is a great way for them to practice good habits. As germs can rapidly spread, parents should teach their children to frequently wash their hands for 20 seconds using soap and water. This will not only protect your child from germs, but their peers and family as well.
Germs can spread when someone touches a surface or object and then touches their face. Educating children with ways to prevent the spread of germs can help them remain healthy throughout the school year.
When children are not able to wash their hands, use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Parents can double check the label of the bottle to ensure it meets this requirement. Sending your children to school with travel-sized bottles of hand sanitizer will allow them to clean their hands after touching commonly used surfaces such as tabletops and door handles.
3. Create Healthy Dietary Habits
A healthy diet can benefit the overall health and well-being of your child. Skipping meals, including breakfast, can have a negative impact. Not eating anything in the morning can make your children feel tired during the day, which can affect their overall performance and hinder their learning.
Ideally, food should be from the periphery of the grocery store and not come in packages.
Processed food is high in sugar, salt and other additives and can negatively influence
a child’s ability to learn and focus.
The USDArecommends several ways to increase healthy dietary choices for your children. This can be as simple as offering your child more variety in their meals. Making healthy snack choices that are all natural, such as an apple or orange, can also help supply the energy their body needs to have a great day. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that children between the ages of 4 to 8 years old drink five cups of water per day, whereas those older should have seven to eight cups.
These three simple steps can ensure your child is happy, healthy and ready to take on the new year!