Health: The Ultimate Treasure: common misconceptions

If your child says… “Screens only affect my eyes.”

Ask together

If phone use keeps you awake, which need is being missed?

What’s true

Excessive screen use can affect sleep and emotional well-being even when eyes feel comfortable.

If your child says… “Cleaning rubbish only makes places look nicer.”

Ask together

What happens to that breeding place when the trapped water is removed?

What’s true

Clearing containers that collect water can reduce mosquito breeding.

If your child says… “Every disease comes from someone else.”

Ask together

How would avoiding people supply a missing nutrient?

What’s true

Scurvy develops from too little vitamin C, without being caught from anyone.

If your child says… “A normal reading means nothing is wrong.”

Ask together

Does a normal temperature make the person's dizziness disappear?

What’s true

Someone's felt symptoms remain useful evidence even when measurements are normal.

If your child says… “The mosquito itself causes malaria.”

Ask together

Which enters during the bite: the whole mosquito or the parasite it carries?

What’s true

An infected mosquito carries the parasite that causes malaria.

If your child says… “Handwashing protects me from every infection.”

Ask together

What would keep a mosquito from biting a freshly washed arm?

What’s true

A useful precaution against one route may leave another route open.

If your child says… “Cowpox is just smallpox in cows.”

Ask together

Does recognising similarities between two viruses make them the same virus?

What’s true

Cowpox and smallpox have different, related viruses whose shared features can be recognised by defences.

If your child says… “Antibiotics cure every infection.”

Ask together

What can the medicine target if the virus lacks those bacterial parts?

What’s true

Antibacterial antibiotics cannot treat flu because its virus lacks the bacterial targets they act on.