Children’s physical and emotional health: Kindergartens play a particularly important role

The physical and emotional health of kindergarten children in Lithuania is deteriorating. One of the main reasons for this is the overestimation of the importance of preschool education. Meanwhile, specialists say that it is in kindergartens that the foundations of both physical and emotional health of children are laid, and parents who ignore this can do their children a disservice.

Some children attending kindergarten get sick only once or twice a year, while others spend more time at home than in educational institutions, being sick or fearing even minor illnesses. However, even more frequent minor illnesses should not be a reason not to send your children to educational institutions.

“We still constantly hear that parents do not send their children to kindergarten because they catch various diseases from other children when they go there. However, there is nothing wrong with a child getting a runny nose a few times a year. When taking a child to kindergarten, natural immunity is formed, which will be necessary in later life as well. This is especially important, because statistics show that vaccinated children are decreasing”, says Stasė Ustilaitė, associate professor of the Faculty of Pedagogy of Vilnius College.

According to her, kindergartens contribute to improving the child’s physical and emotional health and solving various health problems.

Today, pre-school educational institutions are guided by the principles of inclusive education and aim to meet the individual educational needs of each child, therefore, individual nutrition plans can be made for children, and the help of educational support specialists can be provided.

Health is deteriorating

Recently, the Ministry of Health together with the Institute of Hygiene presented an overview of the indicators of the annual health check-up of children attending Lithuanian educational institutions.

According to her, the health of preschool children in Lithuania is deteriorating. In 2022-2023, only 85.6 percent could participate in preschool education activities without various restrictions. of children.

The data show that certain indicators, such as body weight and dental health, are stable or slightly improving, but some trends warrant close attention from both parents and health care professionals.

In 2022, 0-6 years. age children who attended educational institutions mostly suffered from diseases of the respiratory system, as well as diseases of the eyes, digestive system, and skin.

S. Ustilaitė states that the frequent occurrence of some diseases is partly to blame for too little attendance at kindergartens.

“90 percent children who start attending kindergartens start to get sick more often. The rest get sick less often because they have brothers or sisters at home. If they don’t have contact with other children at home, they don’t develop immunity. When we talk about the physical health of children, preschools are very important for them, just because of their immunity. Of course, in the end, the child will still need to go to school and he will get immunity there, but it would be much better to get it as early as possible”, says the specialist.

According to specialists, it is normal for preschool children to get sick 3-8 times a year, because children’s immunity is still forming and is fully formed only around 11-12 years of life. Therefore, if children do not attend preschool, they are more likely to get sick after starting school.

“There is no panacea to prevent children from getting sick, but it is important to create the right conditions for immunity to do its job. For this, children’s physical activity, healthy diet, activity and rest hygiene, being outside in any weather, hardening, and a safe emotional environment are important. This is exactly what preschool education institutions pay a lot of attention to today, and the aim is to ensure the unity of child care and education”, says S. Ustilaitė.

Emotional immunity is forgotten

She emphasizes that it is often forgotten that pre-school institutions are important in the development of not only the child’s physical, but also emotional health. Almost a tenth of preschool children are diagnosed with mental and behavioral disorders today.

It has been noticed that the number of children for whom special health recommendations regarding participation in educational activities are indicated during the health check-up has been increasing for the third year.

Recommendations vary in different age groups, but for the most part 0-6 years. special health recommendations of doctors for children of the age of 20 are recorded due to speech expression disorder.

People without children or parents whose children do not attend kindergartens often still imagine that kindergartens provide only a kind of childcare function. Today, such a belief is completely wrong, says Stase Ustilaitė. According to her, kindergartens play a very important role in teaching children to recognize, name and manage their emotions.

“Finally, the relationships with other children, the long-term, permanent, safe emotional connection of the child with the teacher, play and other experiential activities are very important things in strengthening the emotional health of children. The more time children spend socializing, the better social skills they develop. Therefore, preschool institutions play a huge role in children’s mental health”, the docent teaches.

Press release