What is caring for a child?
It relates to meeting the health, safety and nutritional needs of a child in a care by parents or caregivers.

Health relates to the physical condition of both body and mind of a person, including the social and emotional well-being of the person.

Good Health is the result of:

• Reducing unncessary risk
• Preventing illness
• Promote well-being of the individual

To create such atmosphere and environment, caregivers need to focus on:

• Safety
• Nutrition
• Health

If the three above are not present, the child will be:

• Lacking of good health practices
• Living in unsafe environment
• Having poor nutrition

WHO defitnition of Health:

Health is a state of complete social, mental and physical well-being and not merely the absense of disease or infirmity.

Being health means that the likelihood of imminent or future ill health is minimised and there is a state of mental and physical fitness.

A risk factor in health and well-being of children can come from any area of the environment:

• Physical environment
  - Mother’s health, child’s health
  - Clean, safe and healthy home
  - Safe attractive school, neighbourhood
  - Available community facilities should be attractive and safe
• Social & emotional environment
  - Relationship with parents
  - Relationship with immediate and extended families
  - Relationshp with teachers, peers, and neighrbours
  - Sense of belongings, self-esteeem/confidence to operate in the greater community
• Economic environment
  - Family could afford child
  - Economic/work status of parents
  - Economic status of neighbourhood, services available for assistance
  - Economic status of greater community services for assistance for assistance
• Cultural environment
  - Ethnicity
  - Cultural practices of family
  - Neighbourhood ethnicity and cultural practices in school, churches, neighbourhood…
  - Sense of belonging / acceptance / ethnicity& cultural practices of great community

Healthy environment is established and maintained by:
Health promotion - checking for immunization, proper hand washing & diapering techniques, providing adequate nutrition, arrange for hearing, vision and dental screening tests.

Child protection - promoting safety practices; safett seats in travel, checking toys & other equipment for hazards, providing low-risk environment

Disease prevention

Risk is a likelihood of harm or danger occuring. Knowledge of risk and risk management are effective ways to protect and prevent the chance for danger/difficulties to occur

Result of health risks:
- Illness, infection, disease, mental illness
- Developmental difficulty
- Death

Result of safety risks:
- Accidents
- Disability
- Death

Result of nutritional risks:
- Developmental delay
- Growth retardation
- Poor health and lack of resistance to infection or disease

Risk management strategies to remove risk factors:
- Health promotion
- Safety protection
- Nutritional education

To maintain well-being of children, risk must be managed properly through compliance of standards and guidelines set for child care facilities, training and staffing.

Well-being is measured by wellness, degree of activity, resiliency, proper growth, at-level development and genral vitality.

4 Basic Goals for high quality child care programs:
- Maximise health status of the children
- Mnimise risk to health, safety and well-being of children
- Utilise education as a tool to promote health and risk reduction for both children and adults
- Recognise importance of guidelines, standards, and laws as they apply to health, safety and well-being of the children(child care) E.g. Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994