Question

Outline an appropriate health teaching plan for the School-Age child.

Answer 1

AGES & STAGES

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Teaching Health Education in School

A comprehensive health education pro­gram is an important part of the curriculum in most school districts. Starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school, it pro­vides an introduction to the human body and to factors that prevent illness and promote or damage health.

The middle years of childhood are extremely sensitive times for a number of health issues, especially when it comes to adopting health behavior that can have lifelong consequences. Your youngster might be exposed to a variety of health themes in school: nutrition, disease prevention, physical growth and development, reproduction, mental health, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, consumer health, and safety (cross­ing streets, riding bikes, first aid, the Heimlich maneuver). The goal of this ed­ucation is not only to increase your child's health knowledge and to create positive attitudes toward his own well-being but also to promote healthy be­havior. By going beyond simply increasing knowledge, schools are asking for more involvement on the part of students than in many other subject areas. Children are being taught life skills, not merely academic skills.

Most experts concur that education about issues like alcohol abuse is most effective if it begins at least two years before the behav­ior is likely to start. This means that children seven and eight years old are not too young to learn about the dangers of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, and that sexuality education also needs to be part of the experience of elementary-school-age children. At the same time, positive health behavior can also be learned during the middle years of childhood.

Health education programs are most effective if parents are involved. Par­ents can complement and reinforce what children are learning in school dur­ing conversations and activities at home. The schools can provide basic information about implementing healthy decisions—for instance, how and why to say no to alcohol use. But you should be a co-educator, particularly in those areas where family values are especially important—for example, sexu­ality, AIDS prevention, and tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use.

Many parents feel ill-equipped to talk to their child about puberty, repro­duction, sex, and sexually transmitted diseases. But you need to recognize just how important your role is. With sexual topics—as well as with many other ar­eas of health—you can build on the general information taught at school and, in a dialogue with your youngster, put it into a moral context. Remember, you are the expert on your child, your family, and your family's values. Education seminars and education support groups for parents on issues of health and parenting may be part of the health promotion program at your school.