Parents have a huge influence in supporting children to make positive health choices. It can often be difficult to know which health messages are correct, and which sources of health information are reliable and trustworthy. The leaflet below provides you with the most up-to-date Irish health guidelines for children, issued by both the HSE Department of Health.
KEEPING ACTIVE
Supporting and helping your child to be physically active is one of the most important steps that you can take to maintain and improve their health, whatever their age or ability.
Being physically active is a core component of good health and wellbeing. Physical activity is essential for physical, psychological, emotional, and social health, and should be seen as part of everyone’s daily lifestyle, whether young or old. By supporting and encouraging children and young people to take part in physical activity we can help them to develop good habits, which will prove invaluable throughout their lives.
The National Guidelines on Physical Activity for Ireland recommend that children and young people should be active at a moderate (heart is beating faster than normal, breathing is harder than normal) to vigorous (heart is beating much faster than normal and breathing much harder than normal) intensity for at least 60 minutes a day every day. This should include muscle-strengthening, flexibility and bone-strengthening exercises three times a week (Department of Health, 2009). 60 minutes a day can be accumulated by doing a number of shorter sessions during the day.
Key Resources
- Tips on how to improve children’s activity levels
- The START campaign aims to support families to take small steps to eating healthier food and becoming more active
- Health Promotion
- National Physical Activity Guideline
EATING WELL
Healthy eating is about getting the correct amount of nutrients – protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals that you need to maintain both good health and a healthy weight. In order to help with our food choices, the food pyramid guide is used. Foods that contain the same type of nutrients are grouped together on each of the shelves of the food pyramid. Following the food pyramid will guide you towards the right balance of nutritious foods within your calorie range.
While the food pyramid can be used as a guide for children over 5 years, it is important that children eat according to their growth and appetite.
Key Resources
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Sexual wellbeing is defined as a good balance of emotional physical and social wellness in relation to sexual health and is linked to your overall general health. Children experience many physical and emotional changes during puberty.
Children will receive Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) throughout their
whole school life. At primary level, RSE aims to help children learn about their own development and about their friendships and relationships with others. This work will be based on developing a good self-image, promoting respect for themselves and others, and providing them with appropriate information. The role of parents and carers is to be open to discussion of your child’s questions at home.
By talking, age-appropriately, about these issues from an early age, you will be reinforcing what your child is discussing at school, watching on TV, talking about with their friends or reading about in books and magazines. You will also be preparing them for secondary school.
Talking with children about relationships and sexual wellbeing can help children to:
- Build strong and positive relationships
- Develop emotionally
- Stay safe
- Delay the age they first become sexually active
Key Resources
- There are a wide range of publications on Health Promotion (under the search publications tool bar) on relationships and sexual wellbeing for primary aged children.
- My Sexual Health
GENERAL HEALTH FOR PARENTS
The Keep Well Campaign is aimed at showing people of all ages how we can mind our own physical and mental health and wellbeing by adding healthy and helpful habits to our daily and weekly routines.
The campaign is focussed on five main themes:
- Keeping active – keeping active and being outdoors, even during the winter, is important to help physical and mental health and wellbeing.
- Staying connected – staying connected with people, addressing isolation, supporting volunteerism and initiatives that support personto-person connection is important to our wellbeing.
- Switching off and being creative – switching off and being creative or learning something new, getting back to nature and finding ways to relax can help our general wellbeing.
- Eating well – by nourishing our bodies and minds, we can develop a better connection between the food we eat and how we feel and positively impact our physical and mental wellbeing.
- Minding your mood – equipping people with information on where to go if they need support. This will also be linked with the local community helpline to ensure that people can access the support they need.
Key Resources
MINDING YOUR MOOD
The emotional wellbeing of children is just as important as their physical health. Good mental health allows children and young people to develop the resilience to cope with whatever life throws at them and grow into well-rounded, healthy adults.
It is amazing and rewarding to watch your children grow, and to learn to be independent, but parenting isn’t always easy, particularly if you think your child is unhappy or if you are worried about their behaviour. Minding your own mental health and adopting good self-care is something that we should all prioritise. A new video-based mental wellbeing programme called Minding Your Wellbeing is now freely accessible
Key Resources
SELF CARE FOR PARENTS
As we raise our children and juggle everything else in our busy lifestyles, we can forget to mind ourselves and “self care” can become lower down the priority list. Self-care allows us to check in with how we’re feeling and look after ourselves. It should not been seen as a luxury but rather an essential part of our lives.
Key Resources
- Minding Your Wellbeing. Five 20 minute videos sessions.
- The Five Ways to Wellbeing are simple actions to practice each day to maintain or improve our mental health and wellbeing.
Drimoleague National School 