to food and social services, the link between social factors like income and malnutrition has been broken.
Nutrition Education programs are needed because many parents do not know their children's nutritional needs and/or do not monitor their youngsters' intake of low-nutrition foods with the results being that there children experience illness, failure to thrive physically and/or slow recovery from common physical illnesses. This point is made by Dickenson-Hazard (1994) who also informs that nutrition education not only helps children to learn more about good nutrition, it helps them to replace eating habits detrimental to health with habits that promote health. Further, Dickenson-Hazard points out that when parents are involved in nutritional education programs, they are provided with information and techniques that they can use to facilitate not only their children's health but the health of the entire family.
In summary then, there are several reasons why nutrition education is needed in early childhood. These reasons include the fostering of children's health, the remediation of conditions associated with poor nutrition, and helping both the child and the family to engage in eating and dietary behaviors that foster heath.
Objectives of Nutritional Education
Different authors have different notions of those objectives which should serve as goals of Nutritional Education during the early childhood years. For example, Rothlein (1989) feels that the primary objective of these programs should be to encourage good eating habits. Others (e.g. Friedman, 1988; Mitchell, 1989) feel that while good eating habits must necessarily be taught, the primary objectives of these programs should be the prevention of illnesses and disease as well as the remediation of conditions that have developed as a result of poor nutrition.
The objectives set for Nutrition Education can vary. For example, they can be concrete or abstrac...