ABSTRACT
All those of us involved in the care and education of young children have a responsibility to promote their health and well-being, a responsibility that is enshrined as one of the Every Child Matters (DfES 2003) outcomes: being healthy. Early years settings are increasingly being recognised as key agents for health promotion, for both children and their parents. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (DCSF 2008) implies a holistic approach to health promotion, empowering children with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help them to make healthy choices about eating, sleeping and keeping themselves clean. Within the EYFS principles there is also an emphasis on the promotion of emotional well being. In this chapter we focus attention on just one aspect of health promotion – healthy eating – and explore the following five areas:
Why we should promote healthy eating in the early years
What we mean by health promotion
Promoting healthy eating and the early years curriculum
Inclusion, diversity and listening to children
Developing a health promotion programme.
