The negative effects of air pollution are fairly well understood by the majority of people in the community. As an adult, you can accommodate your actions to reduce your exposure to poor air quality. You can adjust your living situation to improve the air quality of your home. Or you can choose to live with the consequences of the poor air quality in your home or workplace. But children don’t have the understanding about air quality that is necessary in order to change their behaviors. Children generally don’t have control over their living conditions. If the quality of the air around them is full of naturally-occurring or manmade contaminants, there is basically nothing that the child can do about it.
And yet, children belong to one of the groups most seriously affected by inadequate or poor air quality. Children’s bodies are still developing. Their lungs are growing and experiencing changes. Children typically play hard, exert themselves more and inhale a greater percentage of air pollution when exposed to poor air quality.
Negative Effects Suffered by Children
What Can You Do To Protect the Health of Your Children?
Because children are often exposed to higher levels of environmental pollutants when they are at play outside, you can try to schedule outdoor time when air quality is at its best. You may try to decrease the amount of exertion that is being used when levels of air pollutants are high.
In your own home, you will have greater control. Finding the sources of air pollutants within your home is the first step; decreasing and controlling those pollutants will be the next. If someone is smoking, maybe they can smoke outside or open the windows to ventilate. If there are pets in the home or chemicals that seem to affect the children, those things might be removed or replaced. Increasing ventilation, when outside air is of a high quality, can also be an effective way to improve the air quality within the home. Installing air purifiers in areas of the home where the children spend the most time may also be an effective way to improve the health of the children. As adults, it is our responsibility to protect the health of the children in our care.