Back-To-School Health Checklist

No matter what the age of your child, starting school for the first time or going back in the new year is an important time in their life. So help give them the best possible and healthiest start to the school year by following these simple but important tips.

Reduce first-day anxiety
Many kids get anxious at the start of the school year: there’s the stress of making new friends, the pressure they put on themselves and the extra workload as they go up a grade.
● Encourage them to be friendly: If there are new kids in the class, encourage them to break the ice and talk with them.
● Help them to get involved: Try sport, music or drama club. The more active they are, the better they will fit in.
● Talk over the school day with them: It will help to isolate any problems.
● Get help early if they’re having trouble: School counsellors and teachers can help.

Provide enough fuel for the brain
Teach them good eating habits now and you will set them in good stead for life.
● Breakfast should include cereal, fruit, milk or the extra protein of baked beans.
● Snacks and lunch should include fruit, flat bread with vegetable fillings, raw carrot or celery sticks, and dried fruit and nuts.
● Encourage them to drink water rather than soft drinks.
● Fruit juices are high in sugar and low in fibre.

Get their immunisations
Immunisations may be of enormous benefit as they help prevent potentially fatal diseases.
Before starting school:
● It’s time for a booster of the vaccines received when your child was a baby.
● The vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, together with polio, should be given. Get the booster against measles, mumps and rubella as well.
● At 12 years, your child should receive a booster of the chicken pox vaccine
and a booster against hepatitis B.
● At 15, it's time for the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine booster.

Preventing backache is all in the bag
Inappropriate school bags can lead to distortion of the spine and rounding of the shoulders.
● Encourage your kids to leave heavy books at school.
● Encourage them to clean out their bags.
● Use a backpack. The shoulder straps must be over each shoulder and packs should have compartments so they can spread the load.