War on diabetes: An inside look

Driving home healthy habits learnt in school

Efforts to get children to lead healthy lifestyle need to be reinforced at home by parents

Da Qiao Primary pupil Joe Lee takes a free slice of apple from a canteen stall during recess. The school has put healthier options on the menu since 2016, when it joined HPB's Healthy Meals in Schools programme.
Da Qiao Primary pupil Joe Lee takes a free slice of apple from a canteen stall during recess. The school has put healthier options on the menu since 2016, when it joined HPB's Healthy Meals in Schools programme. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
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Ask nine-year-old Joe Lee what he knows about a healthy lifestyle, and he can rattle off a list of to-dos, such as "eat two servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit every day".

But when he tries to tell his parents about the healthy habits he learnt in school, they "don't really listen", said the Primary 3 pupil.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 17, 2018, with the headline Driving home healthy habits learnt in school. Subscribe