THERE have been myriad stories about the need for children to become more active.
But despite all the talk, this year's Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card found that there has been no improvement observed in the physical activity levels of children and youth (5 to 17 year olds). A mere 5 per cent meet the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines.
The Report Card is the most comprehensive annual assessment of child and youth physical activity in Canada. AHKC works with its strategic partners to develop and disseminate the Report Card. The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa works with an interdisciplinary group that includes top researchers from across Canada, to ensure that the Report Card includes the most up-to-date evidence about physical activity for children and youth.
One of the big issues is the family car. Kids are being driven everywhere; 62 per cent of Canadian youth use only inactive modes of transportation to get to and from school. And yet, we say we want them to be more active. Well, here is a simple solution. Have them walk or bike to school.
The trick is to teach them how and to encourage all the kids in the neighbourhood to travel together. Walk to the school yourself and determine the safest route. Then walk with your kids and hopefully other children from the area. As you walk, talk about how to cross the roads, the importance of staying on the sidewalks and why this is the best route to take. Then have them lead the way and you follow. Soon they are easily able to negotiate the way themselves and they are getting exercise twice daily.
"By driving our kids to and from their destinations, we may be robbing them of an important source of physical activity, and contributing to lifelong unhealthy habits," says Dr. Mark Tremblay of AHKC. "Active transportation presents an easy, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to increase physical activity levels among children and youth, and its benefits are significant. In fact, if we encouraged our kids to walk for trips less than a kilometre, they could bank an additional 10 to 15 minutes of physical activity per trip!"
Another easy solution is to encourage outdoor play. I went for a walk in our local park the other day. It was a school holiday and the weather was sublime. The playground was busy. But I noticed that it was busy with toddler and preschoolers with adult supervision. There were no school-aged children.
The park should have been a-buzz with children and youth playing pickup softball or soccer. They should have been running, jumping and rolling. Where were they? I have no idea but I worry that they are home, sitting in front of one screen or another while adults worry about their lack of exercise.
Open the door, show them the way to the park, give them balls or skipping ropes and let them play.
One reason we tend to drive our kids everywhere is because they have busy, active schedules and so do we. The solution is to reconsider the schedule.
Does your child need to be out every evening of the week? If you discover you haven't had a meal at a table for two weeks, you need to re-evaluate.
Have your child choose fewer activities and there will be time for actual exercise. They can walk home from school because they aren't heading to soccer, baseball, dance, pottery, drama and art classes.
Our children need to move, they need to be physically active and it's up to their parents to make it happen.
Kathy Lynn is a professional speaker and author of Who's In Charge Anyway? and But Nobody Told Me I'd Ever Have to Leave Home. If you want to read more, sign up for her informational newsletter at parentingtoday.ca.
