Rosalee Brown
MANY CHILDREN in Jamaica start attending school at four years old, while many spend their earlier years in day care and transition to pre-basic school. The influence at this stage is no longer only family, but peers, media and adults outside the home.
Many children commute for long hours, so their eating style, pattern and the contents of their meals are influenced by their parents' busy lifestyle. Growth at this stage is slow, but steady, with increase in food intake being constant. These years are still important developmental years and the same care taken in the pre-school years in providing nutritious foods should be maintained.
Because families are usually rushing in the mornings, breakfast should be carefully thought out as it is vital for the healthy start of the child's day, and provides energy and other nutrients after a long night's fast. To make breakfast time less tense for all parties concerned, ensure that children retire early and are well rested. Make breakfast quick, easy and nutritious, building on good habits instilled from the pre-school years, allowing children to have some choice with parents maintaining control. Breakfast can include porridge, cold cereals, blended milk/soy-based drinks, small sandwiches, in some instances it can be packaged to be completed while these children commute in family cars. Older children can assist with their breakfast, but should be supervised, with parents providing nutritious breakfast items.
Some schools provide breakfast services for children, and parents, through the parent-teacher associations, should have a say in foods which are provided through these programmes to ensure that children are being fed with wholesome nutritious foods. School breakfasts should not be just the items available from tuck shops such as sodas, juices, cookies and chips.
Children's lunch boxes should also be filled with nutritious options. Children are often just as busy as their parents, with assignments, projects and deadlines. They often do not have time to stand in long tuck/lunch lines and may therefore forgo lunch. Parents should be aware of these problems and provide viable, nutritious options for these busy children.
Many schools provide a cooked lunch for children. Cooked lunches in the public schools are funded by the Ministry of Education and are nutritious choices. Tuck shops offer other options such as patties, hot dogs and pastry items. They also offer many unwholesome lunch options, including high-sodium, dehydrated soups (cup soups).
INFORMED DECISIONS
Because parent's control over lunch is limited, children must be given opportunities to make informed choices at school, based on lessons taught by their parents about healthy food habits. Parents should also ensure that dinners are nutritious. Many children will go home to prepared meals and do not have to commute for long distances, but for a vast majority of children, long hours are spent commuting and meals are prepared by equally tired parents after this long commute. Many parents resort to snack foods at this stage, much to the delight of many children, or use popular fast foods for dinner.
Parents must remember that in spite of the constraints and life pressures, they are investing in the health and well-being of their children, and therefore must carefully plan how this can be achieved. Pre-preparation, sharing of responsibilities between father, mother and older siblings, bulk cooking, one-pot meals and casseroles can be a saving grace in these times.
Rosalee M. Brown is a registered dietitian/nutritionist who operates Integrated Nutrition and Health Services; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.
