PRE-SCHOOL PARENTS’ VIEWS ON THE NUTRITION OF THEIR CHILDREN IN OREDO LGA
Abstract
This study examined parents’ perceptions of their pre-school children’s nutrition in Oredo Local Government Area. The study population consists of 200 staff members and parents from selected elementary schools in Oredo LGA. The researcher utilized questionnaires as the data gathering instrument.
Using a descriptive survey research design, this study was conducted. The study utilized 133 respondents, including headmasters, teachers, students, and parents. The acquired data were tabulated and evaluated using straightforward percentages and frequencies.
Chapter One
Introduction
Background of the study
Diet quality is vital for appropriate growth and development in youngsters. Particularly, parents should urge their school-aged children to develop healthy eating habits, as they are becoming increasingly independent and make their own food consumption decisions. According to a study by Kranz et al., diet quality ratings decrease by around two points for each additional year of age, i.e., as children mature, the overall quality of their diet declines.
Despite various efforts to promote healthy eating, schoolchildren’s meals do not currently reach the suggested guidelines. The National Health Survey (PeNSE) revealed that Brazilian teenagers often consumed unhealthy meals (soft drinks, snacks, and sweets) and insufficient healthy foods (fruits, vegetables, and fibers). This strongly indicates the need to enhance health-oriented and nutrition education activities focused at younger individuals.
Early Childcare Centres (ECCCs) are pre-primary institutions for children 0 to 5 years old where optimal development is ensured through a stimulating environment, proper nourishment, and social interaction with attentive caretakers. When mothers work outside the home to supplement the family’s income, they provide an additional choice for child care.
The activities of Early Childcare Centres are governed by a number of policies, including the National Policy on Education, the Universal Basic Education Act, the National Policy for Integrated Early Childhood Development, and the National Minimum Standard for Early Childcare Centres.
Every year, 10 million children worldwide die before their fifth birthday. Over fifty percent of these deaths are attributable to starvation. In underdeveloped countries, 178 million children under the age of five are stunted due to poor quality meals and chronic undernutrition.
In the case of children, it is generally understood that parents/guardians are largely responsible for food procurement, meal selection, and meal preparation, and conventional wisdom implies that parents wish to provide their children with the tools essential for healthy growth and development. Parents can be a powerful positive influence (e.g., encouraging high quality, healthy choices) or a powerful negative influence (e.g., making easy, less nutritious choices, inappropriate snacking, or excessive weight gain) on their children.
limitation) on nutritional quality Early creation of good eating habits is crucial for children since, according to experts, attitudes toward food selection develop during childhood and have a significant impact in the maintenance of healthy eating habits.
Dietary practices that affect health throughout the lifespan. Therefore, an unhealthy or suboptimal diet must be diagnosed in early childhood in order to make the necessary changes to the child’s nutrition and prevent obesity.
future illness risk. A fundamental issue with this strategy is its reliance on parental perception; therefore, a parent must be able to notice when a child’s nutrition is inadequate and make the appropriate adjustments.
In the case of children, it is generally understood that parents/guardians are largely responsible for food procurement, meal selection, and meal preparation, and conventional wisdom implies that parents wish to provide their children with the tools essential for healthy growth and development.
On diet quality, parents can exert either a significant positive influence (e.g., encouraging high quality, nutritious choices) or a strong negative influence (e.g., providing easy, less healthy options, inappropriate snacking, or excessive restriction).
Experts believe that attitudes regarding food selection emerge from childhood and play a significant impact in the maintenance of eating habits, which influence health over the course of a person’s lifetime. Therefore, an unhealthy or suboptimal diet must be identified early in childhood in order to make the necessary modifications to enhance the child’s nutrition and reduce the risk of future disease.
A fundamental issue with this strategy is its reliance on parental perception; therefore, a parent must be able to notice when a child’s nutrition is inadequate and make the appropriate adjustments. Given this context, the researcher want to investigate Parental perceptions of their pre-school children’s nutrition in Oredo LGA.
Description of the problem
On diet quality, parents can exert either a significant positive influence (e.g., encouraging high quality, nutritious choices) or a strong negative influence (e.g., providing easy, less healthy options, inappropriate snacking, or excessive restriction).
Experts believe that attitudes regarding food selection emerge from childhood and play a significant impact in the maintenance of eating habits, which influence health over the course of a person’s lifetime. Therefore, an unhealthy or suboptimal diet must be identified early in childhood so that the child’s nutrition can be improved and future disease risk can be reduced.
The purpose of the study
The study’s aims are as follows:
Determine the impact of proper diet on academic achievement in Oredo LGA
Determine the impact of parents on schoolchildren’s diet balance in Oredo LGA
Determine the parental perspective on the diet of their pre-school children in Oredo LGA.
Theoretical theories
The researcher formulated the following research hypotheses for the successful completion of the study:
Good diet has little effect on a child’s academic achievement in Oredo LGA.
Good diet influences the academic success of children in Oredo LGA.
There is no perspective among Oredo LGA parents regarding the nutrition of their pre-school children.
Oredo Local Government Area parents have perceptions regarding the nutrition of their pre-school children.
1.5 Importance of the Research
This study will assess the levels of nutrition knowledge and behaviors among pre-school children in Oredo LGA. The predicted outcomes of the study will contribute to the general improvement of schoolchildren’s health status and provide insight into what constitutes adequate nutrition. This information will be helpful to other health professionals searching for methods to enhance health care.
Limitations and scope of the study
The scope of the study includes parental perceptions of their pre-school children’s diet in Oredo Local Government Area. The researcher faces a constraint that restricts the study’s scope;
a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The researcher has insufficient research material, consequently limiting the scope of the investigation.
b) TIME: The time allotted for the study does not allow for a broader scope because the researcher must mix it with other academic activities and examinations.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Nutrition
Nutrition is the science that evaluates the relationship between nutrients and other components in diet and an organism’s maintenance, development, reproduction, health, and disease. It consists of food consumption, digestion, absorption, assimilation, biosynthesis, catabolism, and excretion.
Health is the level of a live organism’s functional and metabolic efficiency. It is the capacity of individuals or communities to adjust to and self-manage physical, emotional, or social changes. In its 1948 constitution, the World
Health Organization (WHO) defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not only the absence of disease or infirmity.” Controversy has surrounded this concept due to its lack of operational utility, the ambiguity in constructing integrated health programs, and the difficulty caused by the usage of the word “complete.”
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PRE-SCHOOL PARENTS’ VIEWS ON THE NUTRITION OF THEIR CHILDREN IN OREDO LGA