Food and Children Mental Development

   Written by: Muhammad Arif Rahimi

Over 9 million children are enrolled in the schools of Afghanistan and every child is an individual, with special social, emotional, intellectual, and physical qualities.  Some of them are very intelligent in school lessons but others have problems.

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some students and a doctor about this issue.

Tamim says: “I am a seventh-grade student. I could learn a lesson one day but I forget it the next day and due to this issue, I failed in mathematics, history, and geography.”

Zainab says: “I am a fourth-grade student and I am very lazy and do not have an appetite to eat. When the teacher teaches me, I could not learn it and if I learn, I forget it soon.”

Sulaiman, a seventh-grade student says: “If I do not eat good and enough food, I could not learn well. I have more problems in the English language. If the teacher asks me a question, I could not reply it. I am afraid of the exam and I think that I would fail.”

Doctor Homayoun, a nutritionist at the ministry of public health of Afghanistan says: “inactive children could not learn well analytic subjects and mathematics and they get bored very soon. They always want to play instead of learning these subjects. The weakness of the brain not only makes the students to be lazy in school lessons but it causes them to escape from school too.”

What do students think about the foods that are useful for mental development?

Rawzatullah says: “I am in the first position of my class. I always eat beans, vegetables, meat, potatoes, rice, dried and fresh fruits, and these foods keep my mind fresh and I could learn my school lessons well.”

A mother of 6 children, Palwasha says: “I always prepare good foods for my children. When they go to school, I cook cookies for them or giving boiled eggs and milk at breakfast and I cook them different foods for lunch and dinner and they are very intelligent students.”

Hidayatullah, a fifth-grade student says: “My parents pay attention to my food. They encourage me to eat different varieties of foods and give me fresh fruits from our garden for eating in the break time at school and I eat food about 6 times a day.”

Doctor Humayoun says: “children should eat proper and different kinds of foods. These foods include 1: grains: wheat flour; corns; rice; potatoes and others. 2:  beans: pea; mung; lentils. 3: any kind of meat and eggs. 4: dairies. 5: vegetables. 6: fresh fruits and 7:  fats. The children should eat at least the mix of 4 of these foods in her/his daily food.”