Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government

Meggitt (2001:4) also recommends thebasic needs of babies and children forachieving and maintaining healthy growthand development as being,‘protectionfrom infection and injury; shelter, warmth,clothing; access to health care;intellectualstimulation; praise and recognition ofachievements; social contacts; security;cleanliness; fresh air and sunlight; loveand consistent and continuous affection;sleep, rest and activity; and food’From her own review of the researchliterature, Meggitt lists the aspects ofchildren’s lives that affect their healthas being‘genetic factors, pre-conceptual factors,antenatal factors, perinatal factors,nutrition,infectious diseases, housing,income, accidents, emotional and socialfactors, lifestyle – social and personalhabits, environmental factors, andgovernment policy’ (Meggitt 2001: 9-10).The articles of the United NationsConvention on the Rights of the Child (UN1989) also stress many health and safetyissues and the view of protection fromharm in the Convention has a widerinterpretation than that referring to childabuse as defined in the UK (Home Office,DoH, DES, Welsh Office 1991). TheConvention,like the Children Act 1989,recognises children’s own views andwishes as important – in other words theirpersonhood is acknowledged..Mayall (1996) re po rts on a study of (5 to 9ye a r-old) childre n’s own management ofo rd i n a ry health mainte n a n ce and note st h at children have tended to be theo b j e cts of health ca re ; their opinions havef re q u e nt ly been ‘d ow n g ra d e d’ by healthp ro fe s s i o n a l s.Yet childre n , she assert s,also ‘a c q u i re health-re l ated kn ow l e d g et h rough info rmal learning at home…t h ey use their kn owledge to pro m o te theirown we l l - be i n g, in the co ntext of and ini nte ra ction with social and phys i ca lfe at u res of their env i ro n m e nt’ ( Mayall 1996 :30 ). Ch i l d ren are act i ve ly part i c i p ating inthe mainte n a n ce of healthy life s tyles (theirown and others). Pri d m o re and Ste p h e n s’(2000) rev i ew of the child-to - c h i l da p p roach to health education (albeit withre fe re n ce to older children) also showsh ow this appro a c h , which is in ope rationin more than eighty co u nt ries wo rl dw i d e,a c kn owledges children as act i vep a rt i c i p a nts in health promotion andm a i nte n a n ce of healthy life s ty l e s.While the children on whom this reviewis focused are younger than those citedabove, Post & Hohmann (2000:203)provide guidelines which are relevantto children aged under three.‘Infants and toddlers in group care haveno choice about being in childcare. Eachpart of the day, however, presentsopportunities for choices and decisionsthey can make…what to hold, look at, orwhether, how and how long to participatein an activity…Making these choices anddecisions on a daily basis and being ableto change their mind from one day to thenext tends to give children a sense ofcontrol over their day.’106 EDUCATIONAND SKILLS B I RT H T O T H R E E M AT T E R S