Why Is Child Development Important?

Children can thrive and be healthy from their earliest years, starting with their mother’s health before she is pregnant. Positive experiences in childhood provide children with the foundation to build a sturdy brain structure that supports a wide variety of skills and learning capabilities throughout life.
Why is Early Health Important?

The biology of health describes how experiences and environment influences “get under your skin” and interacts with genetic predispositions.

“Early experience is literally built into our bodies for better or worse.”

The physiological adaptations and disruptions that result can affect learning, behavior, as well as physical and mental well being. Science says:

Early experiences are ingrained in our bodies and create “biological memories” that guide development.
A significant amount of adversity or toxic stress can cause damage to the body’s stress response system. It can also affect the architecture of your brain, cardiovascular system, immune system, and metabolic regulatory systems.
These physiological problems can continue well into adulthood and cause permanent impairments in physical and mental health.

The Three Foundations of Lifelong Health

Research has shown that there are three fundamental foundations to lifelong health, which can be found in early childhood.

An environment that is stable and responsive to change. These interactions provide young children with safe, loving, and supportive relationships with adults. They help them develop adaptive abilities that encourage learning and well-regulated stress reactions.
Safe, supportive, physical, chemical, or built environments. These places provide safe, healthy exploration for children, as well as opportunities for their families to make social connections and exercise.
Sound and appropriate nutrition. This includes eating habits and healthy food intake.


Supporting Health through Community and Caregiver Capacities

Family members, early childhood program staff and neighborhoods are all important in ensuring children have a healthy start to their lives. Three categories can be used to identify the caregiver and community capabilities that allow adults to strengthen child health foundations:

It takes time and dedication. This covers the time and quality of care given to children by caregivers and the way communities accept and assign responsibility for child safety and health. It also covers how communities implement and enforce regulations and legislation that affect child well being.
Institutional, psychological, and financial resources. These include caregivers’ financial and psychological resources, their physical and mentally healthy, and their ability to provide care for their children. The availability of community services, organizations, and support structures that promote healthy development for children are also crucial. These include schools, child care facilities and parks.
Know-how and skills. Their ability to support children will depend on their education, training, interactions, and personal experiences. Similar to the above, communities’ political and organizational capacities affect their ability create systems that work for families and children.

Programs and policies that improve health outcomes

Every policy and program that has an impact on the lives of children or their families can be used to improve your lifelong health.

“People like to think that children’s health and wealth are the greatest assets of a nation, but until these ideas are implemented we won’t be able to make society a better place.

Policies and programs in both the public as private sector can be beneficial to children. They increase the capacity of caregivers, as well as the community where they are raised. Relevant policies include legislative or administrative actions that have an impact on public health, child and early education and child welfare, child welfare, early interventions, family economic stability and community development. Private sector policies can help strengthen families’ abilities to raise competent, healthy children.