Health literacy education strategies for parents and children

Health literacy involves understanding information about an individual's health in order for one to make informed decisions and know how they can take care of themselves.it is therefore very important for both children and their parents to be health literate. People who are not health literate can have a problem especially when it comes to taking instructions from doctors .this is because they might not know or understand these instructions and how they can best take care of their illnesses. For those parents who are not health literate they can be educated on the topic. They have to be helped to ensure that they are health literate. Parents can be educated on health topics through various ways. First of all parents can be guided by doctors on where they can get health information. Doctors and nurses can provide them with names of books, magazines or sites they can visit where they will get to read and understand various health topics. They can also be provided with videos which contain health topics for them to go and watch at home. There can also be some conferences organized where health specialists are invited to address parents on health topics. These conferences are aimed at imparting health literacy to parents. Through these conferences the parents are also advised on how they can understand health information which they read. They are also guided on how they can put this information into use when they are faced with situations tat require such knowledge. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals are now working towards ensuring that health information is easy to understand. This is because if parents can get access to health information and understand it then they can use it easily in their lives and those of their children and live healthier.

Books

Parents should be guided on books that are health related and developmentally appropriate for their children. Personally I can talk to parents regarding books that are going to be useful for them and their children; this is through giving them a list of the books they should look out for and giving them a brief summary of what is contained in the books. There are various children books about heath and nutrition that parents can be advised to get for their children these are; Dinosaurs Alive and well; A guide to good health. This book is by two authors Laura Kransy Brown and Marc Brown .this book contains a colorful and bright dinosaur that provides kids with a blue print to good heath. Some of the topics on the book include nutrition, fitness and exercises. Another book is The Amazing Milk Book written by Paulette Bourgeois, Catherine Ross and Susan Wallace. The book gives a description of the chemistry of milk its nutritional value, how it is produced as and used as a component of cheese and other foods.it contains a lot of humor and anecdotes.

Breast milk and formula

Feeding infants cane is quite a challenge. There are others who say feeding infants on formula is easy however research shows breast feeding is the best way to nourish a baby. Breast milk has various advantages such as breast fed babies are resistant to diseases and infection. This is because it has anti-infective properties. The breast fed children are also rarely constipated due to the digestibility of the milk breast milk is also very nutritious as it contains proteins, minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and sugars that the infant need. Formula milk also has an advantage in it is very nutritious as it contains some vitamins and nutrients needed by babies.

Allergies

The most common food allergies are milk, eggs, peanuts, and fish. Most children that have food allergies outgrow them. Children with allergies are very sensitive therefore early childhood educators should be very careful when handling them. The first step is to ensure that they are aware of any allergy that a child might be having. Secondly they should be aware of anti-allergies they can use on the child incase they take these foods without knowledge .finally they should ensure that children with allergies avoid as much as possible eating foods they are allergic to.

This resource is very important to teachers, parents and children as it gives information on health and nutrition. Parents can be bale to get meal plans and recipes which they can use to prepare healthy foods for their children. Teachers can get to prepare learning activities which they can use on children to enhance their knowledge on health and nutrition. Children can get to read on healthy foods on the site.