Nursery World - Healthy Living: Well, well!

Setting children on the path to a healthy life should start with
supporting their well-being and capitalise on their instincts,
imagination and freedom to choose. By Pat Gordon-Smith

It may come as a surprise in this age of advanced medical knowledge and up-to-the-minute advice, but the phrase that springs to mind in relation to children's health is not new. In fact, it is very old: a handful of words attributed in the Bible to St Paul. For while current guidance has settled on three cornerstones for children's healthy living - a balanced diet, an active life, the security of loving relationships - experts also agree, and here is where St Paul comes in, that 'the greatest of these is love'.

'Attachment security is most important of all. Children's emotional well-being far outweighs any physical health issue,' says professor Sarah Stewart-Brown, chair of public health at the University of Warwick's medical school. 'We know from how we feel ourselves that if you're not strong emotionally you're more likely to be physically ill.'

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