Health and Well-being in Early Childhood

Dr Janet Rose is currently a Principal Lecturer and Programme Leader in Early Education at Bath Spa University. A former teacher, she has also worked in a range of early years settings, worked with children ‘at risk’ and ran sensory integration workshops for 0-3s for many years both in England and abroad.  She has worked closely with the National College of Teaching and Learning and led training for a number of Local Authorities and professional organisations around the country.  She is the author of various publications, including a co-authored book on The Role of the Adult in Early Years Settings.  She is currently developing two research projects (Attachment Aware Schools and Emotion Coaching) which focus on supporting children’s behaviour and well-being.Louise Gilbert’s background is in health and education having trained as a teacher and a nurse, and worked in health promotion before becoming a university Senior Lecturer in childhood with a special interest in child development and health. She has numerous publications with a focus on sustainable health and well-being. Louise has also contributed to the development of professional training programmes, delivered keynote speeches and run workshops for multidisciplinary and specialist groups working with children. With Janet Rose, she designed and delivered the first UK Emotion Coaching research project, which applied an interpersonal neurobiological approach to support sustainable, community-wide, cross-disciplinary promotion of children′s well-being and resilience. Val Richards is a Senior Lecturer at Bath Spa University. She is a member of the Education Studies department and currently leads and teaches modules on Health, Education & Behaviour, Adolescent Development, and Learning. Her main discipline is psychology, specialising in developmental psychology, adolescence, health psychology and teaching and learning. She has also taught Food and Nutrition and Childhood Studies at both Higher Education and secondary school level and was subject leader for Studies of Childhood at Bath Spa University. Her research has focused on gender-related behaviour and attitudes and, more recently, issues concerning transitions from primary to secondary school. She has recently co-edited a book on Bridging the Transition from Primary to Secondary School.

This book approaches the subject of health and well-being in a multi dimensional manner. It addresses the subject from biopsychological, psychoneurobiological and ecological systems models to bring together wide-ranging evidence on what matters to young children′s physical, social and mental well-being. It is a comprehensive book that will be of use to early years professionals concerned with how to understand, promote and support families and young children in developing resilience, self-esteem, physical health, emotional stability and relational strength. From brain structure and its processes to nutrition, attachment, emotion coaching, systemic factors - economic and social - affecting well-being, this book covers many fundamental and interrelated themes. Several features including Mindful Moments ensure that the reader takes time to reflect on the content and its implications as well as providing summaries, further reading and resources. Added to all of this, it is an enjoyable read.

• IntroductionBrain developmentBrain processes in health and well-beingThe stress response systemNutrition in health and well-beingAttachments and early relationshipsEmotional development and regulationActive LearningEmotion CoachingResilience and Building Learning PowerEconomic and social factors affecting health and well-beingEarly intervention in health and well-beingConclusion: sustainable health and well-being