Good habits are usually established early on in life and affect the subsequent choices a person makes.

Unfortunately, bad habits are too.

Richmond County Schools hosted a wellness event for the kindergarten students Tuesday at Raider Stadium. The event got high school students and the community involved in helping the kindergartners to form healthy and active lifestyles.

“It’s great for the kids to be able to interact with the adults who are modeling subjects they’ve been taught in school,” said Mineral Springs Kindergarten teacher Miranda Jones. “It’s a whole life lesson.”

She explained that her class first did some line-dancing activities and then had a fruit smoothie before sampling some fresh fruit. It was then on to cheering with the cheerleaders and getting some healthy food body-painted on themselves.

“It’s really for their whole minds and bodies,” she said.

Hailie Lyerly of Jones’s class described what stuck out in her mind as “the thing that spins around.”

Children formed a big circle to play with a multi-colored parachute which they lifted in the air and walked under while it collapsed on them.

Kindergarten student Savannah Cassidy of Rohanen Primary said she especially enjoyed cheering with the cheerleaders.

Wild About Wellness Program Coordinator Brenda Mitchell said the event is part of a larger partnership entitled “Operation Healthy Kids/Fit Together” between FirstHealth of the Carolinas, the local health department and the school system by promoting healthier eating choices and increasing physical activity among younger students.

“The primary goal is to help children make healthier choices about food and beverages and to teach them how to be more physically fit,” Mitchell said. “The earlier you can get to working on issues the more positive the results will be.”

Director of Community Relations for First Health Richmond Memorial Amy Hamilton said the Operation Healthy Kids program has three objectives.

First, is to integrate healthy eating and physical activity messages into regular classroom instruction through the use of proven, age-specific interdisciplinary curricula.

Second, is to increase the number of children and parents provided with healthy eating and physical activity messages at local doctor’s offices.

Finally it is to encourage healthy eating and increased physical activity among as many children in the region as possible through a social marketing campaign designed to track and provide rewards for healthy behaviors.

“I think this is a great activity to get the kids thinking about wellness early,” said Richmond County Board of Education Chairman Bruce Stanback. “It’s just so important to try to encourage kids to eat healthy and be active. We try to stress that in our after school programs as well. I think the earlier that we teach them how to eat well and exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle, the better off we’ll be.”

Every kindergarten through third grade class in Richmond County receives nutrition and physical activity information, a curriculum called “Take Ten,” which can be incorporated into the standard daily course of study in a variety of ways.

“The nutrition curriculum, ‘Food For Thought,’ actually explains to kids why some foods are better for you than others and encourages children to try new foods,” Mitchell said. “Using the physical activity curriculum ‘Take 10,’ teachers are seeking ways to incorporate 10-minute blocks of physical activity into other activities throughout the day.”

Richmond Senior High Senior Fontella Watkins had a long, but fulfilling, day at Raider Stadium.

“I’ve been out here since 8 o’clock, just really trying to encourage kids not to smoke,” she said.

She and about a half dozen other students wore anti-tobacco product shirts and demonstrated the results of smoking to the youngsters with props like “Mr. Gross Mouth, a model of a smoker’s mouth complete with rotten teeth and bad breath.

“I think they know better now,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of kids pointing and saying, ‘Eew! That’s nasty!’ and saying they’re going to get their parents to quit smoking. I think we’ve done some good.”

Richmond County Farm Bureau President Chris Yaklin operated a booth to discuss how food is produced with his daughter Molly Stutts.

“We’ve given them examples of where food comes from, like talking about meat, not just as a food group, but showing them it comes from cows, pigs and chickens,” he said. “We actually talked about their lunch. The bread being from the grain food group, and the cheese from dairy because it’s made of milk ... The biggest thing is we want the kids to see food not just as something in the grocery store, but something that is produced by a farmer.”

Fairview Heights Kindergarten teacher Mary Weatherman emphasized the fact these lessons can’t be learned in one day, but is a continual learning process.

One that the people who work with these children can help them to learn.

“One way we can do it is by setting a good example for them,” Weatherman said. “When we bring snacks to school, we should bring fruits instead of candy, water instead of sodas. These kids learn by example.”