Case Study

Practitioners in an early years’ setting have just enjoyed a day of in-service training offered by the local Occupational Health department. The focus of the training has been ‘healthy living in families’ and they have emphasised how the nutrition and diet are central to healthy development in children, especially in the first years. They have indicated to the early years’ practitioners that many children in the catchment area are very overweight with a seriously high number of children being obese. An increasing number of children are being referred through their GPs to physiotherapists because of poor coordination, poor muscle tone and are presenting with high levels of lethargy. They have also stressed that recent research findings of children and families in the area have shown that the majority of children in the area have little exercise with most preferring to play indoors using digital technology games and activities or watch television. They have asked practitioners at the early years centre to discuss amongst themselves how they might work to ensure that children under their care have more exercise, eat more healthily and watch less television.

Activity

Prepare a plan of action that the practitioners in one early years setting might put into effect, which will address all the issues mentioned by the Occupational Health department professionals. What barriers might they encounter and how might they overcome these?

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