The key messages from Dr Suzanne Zeedyk and John Carnochan’s videos both focus on how important it is for brains to develop from such a young age. The brain development in the first 3 years of a child is essential to ensure each child grows relationships with the people around them and know which way to response to them.  It is important as teachers to consider the excitement or on the flip side, worry, of early year brain pathway as it defines the way our brain will function in adulthood. Such as a child who is being put in a situation to witness domestic violence within their household, the child;s brains is having to learn how to cope with threatening behavior, which means they are unable  to learn in any other way. This can lead to children having high levels of stress hormones such as Cortisol as they are having to learn to adapt to the environment they are living in. A stressful home life can influence the children in many negative ways such as poor development of life skills, relationships and can have a large impact on inequality.  As teachers, it may be difficult for us to have that 1 to 1 strong bond with children if they have not built any close relationships with family in their early years. By having a lack of engaging contact and spending quality time with parents, this can have a negative impact on the children when they begin to enter the classroom for the first time. To ensure good brain development it is essential that to at least the age of 3, the child has some relationship with an adult, which may just be simple as smiling to the child. By ensuring this, it means there will be consistent good links with the teachers, which will allow them to feel confident of their presence in the classroom.

Reflections gathered from the Sugar Crash video, the importance of sugar was shown and how it can have a negative influence on not only children but adults also. The effects of sugar can increase many health related diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart disease and decreases the life span among us. Through the video, by being shown the amount of both added and hidden sugar in foods, it is a real eye opener as a trainee teacher, as it explains the figures in the rise of Child Obesity within our society today. As teachers it is essential to encourage exercise in our gym lessons or after school classes, to ensure these levels of child obesity drop rapidly rather than rise. Other activities such as walk to school week and healthy tuck is another effective way to encourage children to take note of the levels of sugar they are consuming, and that having a treat is acceptable as long as they are able to have a balance with physical activity to burn it off. We must have a positive impact on the children ourselves to play the lead role in inspiring children to have healthy food and routines in their childhood, to ensure this continues onto adulthood and encourages good eating habits within the children.