Nutritional Values of Meals Provided By Day Nurseries To 3-5year Children - Essay Example

Research Proposal Nutritional Values of Meals Provided by Day Nurseries To 3-5year Old Children Nutritional Values of Meals Provided By Day Nurseries To 3-5year Children A Case Study. Introduction Day Nurseries are centres were children who have not yet entered formal schooling, essentially, 5yrs and under are nurtured. These centres play crucial roles in a childs development by caring for the child when the parents, either due to work or other reasons are not present to attend to the child. In addition to attending to childrens basic needs, day nursery centres organise activities that help stimulate childrens physical, emotional, intellectual and social growth. Moreover, most importantly, they help children explore individual interests, develop talents and independence, while at the same time building self esteem and learning to get along well with others in the society. However, helping children grow physically, emotionally and intellectually cannot be achieved without the proper nutrition, through balanced and healthy meals. It is an undisputed fact that proper nutrition is a significant factor in the growth, development and overall functioning of a child. Good nutrition provides the energy and nutrients essential to sustain life and promote physical, social, emotional and cognitive development. Also, good nutrition is critical to optimizing each child’s potential for success. Therefore, meeting childrens nutritional requirements throughout the childhood years is essential to full intellectual and emotional development. Problem Statement Infant years is perhaps, the most challenging and crucial part of human existence, however, due to the increasing demands of modernisation, parents are often incapacitated in providing the parental care and attention their children requires at this crucial period. Childcare or day nurseries therefore constitute the only alternative. Unfortunately, with the increasing commercialisation of the child care business and the increasing profit orientation, there are increasing concerns about the type and quality of care provided for children in these centres. Gone are those days when caring for the children was out of passion, todays child care centres are in it for the profit. This realisation calls for a critical look at the quality of care that children in these centres receive. Since proper and healthy meals and by extension good nutrition is a vital aspect of a child growth and development, this study intends to look into the nutritional values of meals provided to children between 3-5yrs old in child care centres. Objectives of Study The objective of this study is to look into the quality of care provided to children 3-5yrs old in day care centres with the intention of assessing The quality of meals the children receive The nutritional value of the meals the children receive, the primary interest shall include energy content, fat, salt content etc., portion or sizes of the meal, types of food, fresh, cooked, fried or processed. The difference between children receiving poor nutritional meals and those receiving good nutritional meals, as represented by prevalence of food allergies, obesity and other health conditions. Thus, the importance of good nutrition in the development and growth of children within this age bracket Research Hypothesis The nutritional value of meals provided for children 3-5yrs old in day care centres, though, varies from one nursery to the other, largely depends on the size of the centre, the number of children been handled and whether the centre is for-profit or non-profit. Small centres with less number of children and non-profit nurseries are more likely to provide healthy, qualitative and nutritional meals for their children compared to large centres, with large population of children and for-profit centres. Literature Review The importance of good nutrition via healthy and qualitative meals and snacks to the growth and development of children has been the subject of several studies and literatures. The development of healthy eating patterns from an early age has been documented to prevent diseases later in life and also supports a lifetime of sound health. For example; it is believed that many chronic diseases with modifiable risk factors; obesity, high blood pressure etc can be prevented if the right eating pattern is followed from childhood. Besides preventing disease and ensuring good health, good nutrition during the early years of life have also been shown to optimise childrens potential for success later on in life. Thus, meeting nutritional requirements throughout childhood is essential to full intellectual development. Infact, Research documents that undernutrition affects children’s behaviour, performance and overall cognitive development. Children require sufficient energy and essential nutrients each day to develop emotionally, physically and intellectually. Even mild undernutrition and short-term hunger constitute barriers to child development. However, since most children within this age group spent some or most part of the day in day care centres, much attention has been focused on the quality of meals provided by these child care centres and what implication this holds for the development of children. In this regard, Cleveland and Krashinsky (2001), carried out a study to determine the quality of care provided by different types and sizes of day care centres, as represented by the quality of meals, personal care and learning-reasoning skills. Their results indicated that commercial centres are disproportionately represented amongst the lower quality class and non-profits are disproportionately represented amongst good quality class. Though, there were both poor quality and good quality in non-profit and for-profit centres. Research Methodology The primary source of data for this research shall be information gathered from interviews conducted and visits to several local day care centres. The operators and workers of different nurseries will be interviewed for the types of and content of meals provided to children. This shall provide first hand information about the quality and nutritional values of meals provided in the different day care centres. By comparing the food quality of different day care centres and also the food quality of the nurseries with the recommended daily allowance of vital nutrients, inferences can be drawn about the nutritional value of meals provided by nurseries. However, secondary data from previous researches will also be made use of, to provide a better understanding of the concept at hand and to provide a wider data set which ensures accurate result. On ethical grounds, approval for the study shall first be sought from the relevant Institutional Review Boards. Confidentiality will be assured and personal information will not be collected. Also, participant shall be made to sign a formal consent form indicating their willingness to provide information for the study. On sampling, a convenient sample of the local nurseries will be taken, ensuring that all types of day care centres; non-profit, for-profit, government owned etc are adequately represented. Data Analysis The data collated from the interviews and visits to the sampled nurseries will be analysed qualitatively to ascertain the nutritional values of meals provided in different day care centres, whether this is sufficient and if there is a relationship between the type of day care centre and the nutritional value of the meals provided. Implications This study is very important, as it will establish the sufficiency or otherwise of the proliferating day care centres in adequately nurturing the young population of this country entrusted to their care. It shall also seek to establish if there is any link between type of day care centre and the quality of care they provide, this information will greatly aid parents in choosing the best nursery for the children. References Child Nutrition (2001). Child Nutrition: A Focus on Preschool Guidance for Early Care and Education Programs. Connecticut State Department of Education Cleveland, Gordon and Michael Krashinsky (2001). The Quality Gap: A Study Of Non-profit And Commercial Child Care Centres In Canada. Division of Management, University Of Toronto, Scarborough. Nutrition Connections (2004). Providing Nutrition Education for Families with Limited Resources: Annual Report. University of New Hampshire, Cooperative Extension. World Health Organisation (2004). Global strategy on diet, physical activity and health. World Health Report, 2004. Yeoman, Barry (2003). Unhappy Meals. The Foundation for National Progress, January/February 2003 Issue. Read More