by Matthew Shong

When we look back on our childhood we think of the times we were playing on the playground creating memories with friends that will last us a lifetime. To most people who look at this it would appear that this is what a physically healthy child looks like. Being able to engage with kids around the same age group using their motor skills to create experiences; However, this is not everything to being physically healthy and having a good well being. In a report by EDI Health [2] they describe physical health and wellbeing as a “Children’s gross and fine motor skills, physical independence and readiness for the school day.”(H.E.L.P 2019). These are things like independently getting ready for the day, the ability to understand if the body is readily available to learn (not tired or sleepy), and things like being able to understand that they have a dominant hand to use things like pencils and erasers in the classroom. So what happens when this does not happen and we have kids who are not physically healthy? What factors are in play that hinder a child’s well being before they even have a chance to understand what it means to be healthy?

Are Children Born Physically Healthy and With Good Wellbeing?

Most of the time children are born healthy and can become physically healthy through childhood development but there are certain factors that harm the chances of this happening before the child can even be born! First we need to understand what happens in pregnancy. In pregnancy the fetus is able to gain the required nutrients through the placenta which develops during pregnancy and gives the fetus all the nutrients to turn from a fetus to a child; However, if the person in pregnancy decides to consume any type of teratogen (a harmful substance to children, but is a normal substance to adults) can severely hinder the developmental process to the child. A teratogen can look like anything that seems normal to us in a day to day lifestyle. Things like coffee, sushi, alcohol, and cannabis are extremely common to find in adulthood and having them seems like a normal occurrence but are things that can genetically mess with a fetus.

Can we stop this from happening?

The good news is that we can have plans in play that stop this from happening in the very beginning! If the environment is not filled with added stress and anxiety with things like low-income, addiction, and so forth can help the external factors of development. When the child is born things like parenting style, controlling of temperament, and behaviours both from the parents and the child can help develop a child in ways that help physical health and well being. When a child has all of this then they are able to become physically healthy with a good well being which then turns the child into being ready for a normal school day with fine motor skills and the ability to become physically independent!

Why Should I Care?

This is happening all around us without us even realizing. For me I grew up in the area called Burnaby Lake in Burnaby B.C where my first initial thought just by looking around the neighborhood is that this place is filled with kids that seem relatively physically healthy, with not alot of external factors like poverty having a hold over most of the families.  Looking at the EDI Scale, my partial understanding was correct. Burnaby Lake is one of the lowest neighbourhoods in terms of being vulnerable to being less than ideal in physical health and well being. In total, of the 247 children that were in the School district that were physically unhealthy and had not a great wellbeing, Burnaby Lake had 23. If you looked a little deeper tho in terms of the average Burnaby lake actually scored higher than the school district due to its low amount of people who are actually vulnerable. Burnaby Lake has a total of 158 vulnerable people and if 23 of them are unwell physically and well being wise then you have 15 percent of the people falling into this category. Compare this to the school district with 1753 vulnerable people and 247 total people being unwell then you get 14%. So in terms of the physical and wellbeing scale we are actually higher than the neighbourhood average.

 Where Do We Go From Here?

Now that we know how communities are affected in terms of neighbohood value compared to my community of Burnaby Lake, how do we teach kids how to be ready for the days ahead that will lead them to being physically healthy and having a good well being? We can take things that we looked at like picking up a pencil. This is a “Small object: Pick up a small object with fingers (bead, coin, M&M candy, popcorn) and hide it in your hand. Then pick up another then another, while still holding all in your hand.”(Admin, 2016) This teaches the skill of using the hands to contain things that can help in certain sports. This is important in the future because it teaches the person how to hold multiple things and the feeling of multiple things while doing different tasks. This is important for getting the next generation ready for school and for life because if they are not ready for the days or do not know how to use their motor skills then things for the next generation will be extremely hard to do in all facets of their life.

References

[1] Admin, K. S. W. (2016, November 27). Manipulation. Kid Sense Child Development. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/fine-motor-skills/manipulation/

[2] Human Early Learning Partnership. EDI BC. Early Development Instrument British Columbia, 2016-2019 Wave 7 provincial report. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia, Faculty of Medicine, School of Population and Public Health; 2019 Nov. Available from: http://earlylearning.ubc.ca/media/edibc_Wave7_2019_provincialreport.pdf