The Education Of Smart School Snacks towards the Ability of Choosing Snacks at Preschool Children in IKI PTPN VII Way Galih Kindergarten, Tanjung Bintang, Propinsi Lampung

Abstract

Preschool children are the golden age period. The Indonesian Ministry of Health (2014) revealed that around 40%-44% of snacks hawkers in children’s school do not fulfill the health requirements. Snacks consumed in schools are very risky due to biological and chemical contamination which can damage the health of children. Risks can pose long term and short term effects on the health of the preschool children. Parents together with their children choose unhealthy snacks within their school premises. The study aimed to test the approach of education of smart school snacks towards the ability of snacks selection among preschool children. This study utilized quasi-experimental research design with one group pre and post-test without control a group. A total of 75 preschool children were chosen as participants utilizing total sampling. The instrument which was used in this research is international standardized observation. To analyze the data, Mc Nemar test was implemented in this study. There were 47 preschool children (62.7%) who chose kinds of unhealthy snack before the education of smart school snacks is given, meanwhile, those who chose healthy snacks were only 28 children (37.3%). This means that there is alteration and difference after the intervention of smart school snacks is given towards preschool children’s ability in choosing snacks as well as the increasing degree of preschool children’s ability in choosing healthy snacks which is 65.34%. There was a significant difference about the ability in choosing healthy snacks at preschool children before and after the activity of smart school snacks education with the significance p = 0.000. According to the result, the education of smart school snacks was very important for preschool children to establish their behavior and also to prevent harmful impacts of consuming unhealthy snacks at early stage.