“Reading Together & Companionship”, a community event to promote healthy lifestyle through picture books
The Social Welfare Bureau has partnered with the Social Services Coordination Office of Sheng Kung Hui Macau to launch three picture books for children themed around healthy life, and hosting “Reading Together & Companionship”, a community event to promote healthy lifestyle through picture books.
The stories told in the picture books are designed for children of different ages. Amongst them are “Duels between Vitamins”, which teaches children how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet; “Secrets in the Refrigerator”, helping children to understand stress and learn the proper ways to relieve stress; and “The Magic of Wardrobes”, which encourages children to accept themselves the way they are and respect others. The community event helps to promote parent-child reading, guide the children of Macao to develop healthy and positive lifestyles and stay away from drugs. It also communicates health messages and the importance of drug prevention to children and parents, which contributes to building a drug-free community.
A trial session of “Reading Together & Companionship” was held in the Choi Kou School of Sheng Kung Hui at 3:00pm on 6th August, 2025. The session featured the story-telling of “Secrets in the Refrigerator” from a picture book, followed by interactive games played by a group of 26 students, and taking photos with Harold, the anti-drug ambassador, as token of remembrance. After the story-sharing session, the children expressed their enjoyment of the picture books, stating they had learned about balanced diets and proper stress management techniques. The children enjoyed reading the gifted picture books.
