Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/prioritizing-early-childhood-environmental-health-a-helpful-tool/5027324/
The environments we inhabit profoundly impact our physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being. This is especially true for the brains and bodies of developing children. It becomes crucial to ensure the environments they encounter are inspiring, healthy, safe, and contain developmentally appropriate materials and equipment. Given that many children spend a substantial portion of their weekdays out of their homes and in child care spaces, it is essential to be vigilant about environmental risks.
Environmental health revolves around the connection between individuals and their surroundings. It focuses on the relationship between people and their environment and intentionally monitors or mitigates the factors in the environment that impact health and contribute to disease. The World Health Organization emphasizes that young children are particularly vulnerable to environmental hazards due to their developing systems and behaviors. Children tend to be closer to the ground, place items in their mouths, and have a faster rate of respiration than adults. This underscores the important practice of evaluating our environments as they play a critical role in determining our health and well-being.
The Community Development Institute, with financial support from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Healthy Learning Environments grant, has developed an environmental self-assessment tool for early childhood spaces. ...