Moore Abbey Kildare
Photo: Flickr / Amor Lucis Family fun, bluebells and forest trails
Getting out into nature is always a welcome activity for the children, particularly in an age where being glued to smartphones or Netflix is becoming all the more common.
The whole family could go to Moore Abbey in Kildare for Easter Monday to enjoy a walk, stroll or run in the woods as the native Irish bluebells bloom.
On Monday April 22 from 2-5pm, Monasterevin Tidy Towns are organising a family fun day sure to engage all involved.
Gather family and friends together for a photograph and make special memories in giant picture frames located around the forest trails. Music, games and refreshments and a lot more surprises are in store.
Organisers say: “This event promises to appeal to all ages from the young to the young at heart. There is a strong possibility for young members of the community to spot two of our indigenous animal species, Mr Fox and Mr Rabbit.”
Kids close to highways suffer stunting
Young children who live close to a major roadway are twice as likely to score lower on tests of communications skills, compared to those who live farther away from a major roadway, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of California, Merced.
Moreover, children born to women exposed during pregnancy to higher-than-normal levels of traffic-related pollutants – ultra-fine airborne particles and ozone – had a small but significantly higher likelihood of developmental delays during infancy and early childhood.
The study appears in Environmental Research.
“Our results suggest that it may be prudent to minimise exposure to air pollution during pregnancy, infancy, and early childhood – all key periods for brain development,” said Dr Pauline Mendola an investigator in the Division of Intramural Population Health Research at NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the study’s senior author.
Nutritious food equals good mood
Children in households with uncertain access to nutritious food are twice as likely to have low self-esteem and less likely to believe they can make healthy choices, new research shows.
Uncertain access to enough food can starve a child›s self-esteem and confidence in making healthy life choices.
Children living in households with food insecurity have double the risk of low self-esteem compared with their peers living in homes that always have good access to nutritious food, according to joint research by the University of Alberta and Edith Cowan University in Australia.
“Food insecurity is a real concern, a big public health concern,” said community nutrition researcher and registered dietitian Rosanne Blanchet. “We’re seeing that food insecurity is affecting children’s mental health and that can have long-term consequences. It affects their life chances.”