Health, Nutrition and Safety Reviewer

The 12 rights of the Children

1. Every child has the right to be born well
2. Every child has the right to a wholesome family
3. Every child has the right to be raised well and become contributing
members of the society
4. Every child has the right to basic needs
5. Every child has the right to access what they need to have a good life
6. Every child has the right to education
7. Every child has the right to education
8. Every child has the right to be protected from danger
9. Every child has the right to live in a productive environment
10. Every child has the right to be cared for in the absence of their parent or
guardian
11. Every child has the right to good governance
12. Every child has the right to freedom and peace

5 Levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

1. Physiological Needs
- The biological requirements for human survival. Without these needs,
human body cannot function optimally. Maslow considered
physiological needs the most important as all the other needs become
secondary until these are met.
- Example of this are: air, food, drink, shelter, sleep, clothing and
reproduction

2. Safety Needs
- People want to experience order, predictability and control in their lives.
These needs can be fulfilled by the family and society. This includes
emotional security, financial security, law and order, freedom from fear,
social stability, property, health and well being.

3. Love and belongingness needs

- The third level of human needs is social and involves feelings of
belongingness. Belonginess refers to a human emotional need for
interpersonal relationships, affiliating, connectedness and being part of
a group. This includes friendship, intimacy, trust, acceptance, receiving
and giving affection and love

4. Esteem Needs
- The fourth level in Maslow’s hierarchy and this includes respect, self
esteem, status, recognition, strength and freedom. Maslow indicated
that the need for respect or reputation is most important for children
and adolescents and precedes real self esteem or dignity.

5. Self Actualization Needs

- The highest level in Maslow’s hierarchy and it refers to the realization of
a person’s potential, self fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak
 experiences. Maslow describes this level as the desire to accomplish
everything that one can, to become the most that one can be.

Understanding Holistic Development of Children from the

Perspective of HEALTH, SAFETY, AND NUTRITION

Principles of Child Development

Children’s growth and development occur in at least 4 areas:
• PHYSICAL, LANGUAGE, COGNITIVE, SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL
• These areas are interrelated and make children whole persons.

Milestones Development: 3 years

• Children develop in a definite pattern and predictable sequence.

• Rate of development varies in individuals.
• Development is determined and influenced by the interaction of heredity
and environment.
 • Children are unique individuals.
• The first six years of life are critical foundation for later development.
• They are considered the critical years because this is the period when
children experience rapid development in all the areas.

Principles of Development:
• Children are active learners.
• They receive information, process these data, and use them. They are not
passive learners.
• Children learn from adults and from each other
• Children learn through active participation
• Children learn through PLAY
• PLAY is the world of young children! It touches on all the domains. It
involves all the senses. It encompasses all the intelligences.

FROM THE PROFESSIONALS:

Dr. Gail Cross (Human Behavior, Parenting, Education Expert)
• Many children today are feeling the stress that adults feel.
• In a culture that emphasizes success, children are bombarded daily to
grow up too quickly.
• Children are pressured to learn to read and count even before they can
walk; to outperform the other kids in their kindergarten class; to be self-
sufficient, productive and disciplined.
• Children who suffer the stresses of adulthood will also exhibit the ailments
of adulthood.
• Many children have blocked their learning skills because of anxiety-
promoted memory lapses and an exaggerated fear of failure.
Erika Christakis (Early Childhood Education specialist, author)
• “We are in danger of losing the child in childhood.”
• “Children’s social-emotional capabilities are strong when they have a
chance to learn through PLAY and through deep RELATIONSHIPS, and when
their developing brains are given the chance to grow in a nurturing,
language-rich, and relatively UNHURRIED environment.”
• “ADULTIFICATION is the failure to see the world from a child’s perspective.
We need to step back and see the world from a child’s point of view.
• High quality early childhood settings (whether at home or in school) should
have a mechanism to respond to children’s experiences and to channel
them into cognitive and social-emotional growth
• (On PLAY) “Children have less free time to mess around and make their own
rules. They need the time and space to learn how to PLAY EFFECTIVELY.
• They require a culture that VALUES PLAY. Increasingly, we don’t seem to have
that kind of early childhood culture.
• So much learning comes about naturally from what scientists call the
serve-and-return style of communication between an adult and young
child, which others have referred to as a conversational “duet.’

David Elkind (Child Psychologist, Author]

• Hurrying can lead to a wide-range of childhood, teenage and adulthood
crises.
• If children are offered the stresses of adulthood, they will also exhibit the
ailments of adulthood.
• One of the effects of excessive expectations by parents is STRESS.
• Stress-induced psychological problems such as depression, not getting
along with others, anxiety, crying, stuttering, and sleep issues can follow.
• “(On preventing raising a hurried child) “The most important thing is for
parents to distinguish between their own needs from those of the child.
 They often confuse the two, and that is the single most common cause of
hurrying.
• “The main thing is to watch a child carefully, and try to understand his/her
specific needs and skills.
• “If a child enjoys learning and extracurricular activities, that is great! But if
the child is struggling and resistant, it is time to back off and let him take
his own time to learn as much as he can.”