A healthy baby code

It’s true that the solution to adult problems tomorrow depends on large measure upon how our children grow up today. Maximum of the physical and mental health issues caused to people are somewhere related directly or indirectly to their childhood nutrition and habits.

Let’s time travel back to the point of time when the baby is in the mother’s womb. A healthy diet maintained by the mother helps the baby to grow healthy. Surveys have proven that the baby’s intelligence can be grown when it’s still in the womb by intake of food rich in Omega 3. The baby’s concentration power can be increased by listening to soothing music. A stressful mother is likely to affect her baby’s emotional development and IQ. It’s highly important not only to have knowledge of baby care after giving birth, but also during the pregnancy.

The fastest rate of learning is in infancy. It’s essential to understand what a child needs to develop into a healthy adult. Home environment and parenting influences a child’s health by shaping diet and physical behaviors. A child learns what he sees and hears during the formative years. If a child is brought up in a family with parental fights or divorce issues, he is going to face an emotional crisis or not having faith in relationships. In a happy family, a child learns about love, care, sacrifice, compromise, helping, etc. which helps later in his life. Kids, whose parents encourage exercising and eating healthily, are more likely to be active and healthy eaters in the future. Not providing access to fruits and vegetables or discouraging to play outside leads to obese and lethargic children. In order to promote healthy behaviors in children, parental role modeling and conducive environment is essential.

Apart from the haven of safety, a kid is also influenced by the external environment. It’s important on the part of adults in the kid’s life (relatives and teachers especially) to distinguish between media appropriate for kids and adults. Also as adults they should listen and respond to their concerns; wishes and needs, ensuring services remain focused on children. Engaging kids in games and activities that makes them use their brains in a smarter way is an effective way to increase their intelligence.

As children constitute a large proportion of the Indian population, they represent not just India’s future but are integral to securing India’s present. The Indian Government should form policies that make public institutions as a healthy environment for children to develop. ‘Being proactive’ and ‘solution oriented’ (both at home and Government level) can accelerate to provide a stronger, healthier, immune India – the kind that India requires at the earliest. 

(P.S. This blog post is an entry for Indiblogger contest- An Immune India from Dabur. )