It's Never Too Early — Or Too Complicated — To Teach Children Nutrition

Offering healthy choices matters, but early nutritional education is essential for lasting impact.

- Jieun Wrigley

When my son was in preschool while we were living in Dubai, he came home one day beaming with excitement. He had just learned about dinosaurs.

"Did you know the Stegosaurus had 17 bony plates along its spine, to help manage body temperature and for protection?" He spoke with the animated energy only a five-year-old can bring to the subject of ancient reptiles. This moment sparked a delightful chapter in our home — our "dinosaur era."

A few months later, the topic shifted to space. Did you know you can remember the order of planets by saying "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Me Noodles," he recited proudly. Then came the plant cycle.

I was proud of his curiosity and his love of learning. He was clearly absorbing the marvels of science, and school seemed to ignite a spark in him. But as the year progressed, I noticed something; he never once mentioned the human body. No organs. No bones. No systems. So one evening, I asked him: "Do you know where your liver is? Or your kidneys? Do you know what they do?" He looked at me with curiosity, wanting to learn — but unaware.

We moved to Singapore in 2022, and in the time since, I've noticed encouraging steps to make nutrition a bigger part of school life. But there's still so much more we can do — especially in the early years — to connect kids with the science that matters most to their daily lives.

This feels even more urgent now, with processed foods and sugar-laden snacks and drinks so easily within reach and kids being inundated with ads and content promoting them online.

A PUBLIC HEALTH IMPERATIVE

The World Health Organisation estimates that 35 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2024, with almost half that number in Asia.

In Singapore, student obesity rates rose from 11 per cent in 2013 to 16 per cent in 2021. Chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes — once seen only in adults — are increasingly diagnosed in children.