Why are young children a good audience for nutrition education?
A young child is a learning sponge. At no other time in life is learning capacity so great. What we learn at this age is more likely to be remembered. Most of us can still recite nursery rhymes word-for-word even though we haven’t heard them in years. Learning is exciting and fascinating to young children, making them a delightful audience. This makes teaching young children tremendously fun and rewarding. You can literally see children experience the joy of understanding new ideas and gaining new skills. Positive learning experiences not only build positive health habits but also enhance self-esteem. Can young children understand nutrition? It’s awfully complex! Young children can learn more than you might think, and understand most of what is really important. The basic beliefs and attitudes we need in order to practice good eating habits are not all that complex, and can be easily grasped by a preschool-age child. Children can learn “trying new foods is fun,” “we need many different
