Schools are increasingly seen as the hub of efforts to promote the health and well being of our nation's children.
Prevention is the theme.
If we want to address serious health and social problems, we must confront them when they are small, before they become unmanageable. We must give children the skills they need to grow into healthy adolescents and productive adults. In addition, many Americans, especially our youth, are engaging in more risk behaviors that threaten self-esteem, harm health, and increase the likelihood of illness, injury, and premature death. These risk behaviors are usually established during early childhood, persist into adulthood, and are interrelated, contributing to poor health, education, and social outcomes. To counter these risk behaviors and to promote healthier behaviors among adolescents and adults, we must start by teaching our children.