You can't open the newspaper without seeing another story about how our children just aren't active enough.
The most recent report is from Active Healthy Kids Canada. They used their annual report card to compare our results with those from other countries.
We did not fare well.
The older the child, the lower the amount of physical activity. This is despite the fact that 95 per cent of parents report that there is ready availability of pools, arenas and parks. So, it's not because there is no place to play.
When we talk about child activity, we are really focusing on free play in addition to organized sports. In a ParticipAction press release, president and CEO Elio Antunes says: "It could be tempting to think that: 'My kid plays soccer so he's active enough,' or 'My child gets what she needs at school.' These things are important, they do count - however it's not enough.
"If we just thought twice about jumping in the car for trips of less than one kilometre or encouraged our kids to go outside more often where they are naturally inclined to move more without even thinking about it, our kids would be more active overall."
So we know that our kids are simply not active enough. We know that their health is likely to suffer if we don't allow them to get out and play. What can we be doing? What is the problem? We have created a culture of fear. We are afraid to let our children out of our sight or the sight of a qualified supervisor. So, organized sports fit the bill. They are taken to the sports venue, and either the parent stays and watches or they know that the coach will be with them the entire time. So they get some exercise in a safe environment.
And there is nothing wrong with that, unless it's the only exercise your child is getting. In my book, But Nobody Told Me I'd Ever Have to Leave Home, I write: "We run the risk of making children's play so organized, supervised and academic that the value of play gets lost. Children have always played - and it's not instead of learning and growing, it's actually how they do it. Play is the essence of childhood. And because it brings alive our curiosity, exploration and passion, play is something we should continue throughout our lives.
That's play. In all play we see children learning multiple skills and having fun doing it."
If we want our children to play, to get away from their screens and become active, we need to both encourage it and permit it.
On a beautiful spring day after school the parks should be ringing with the sound of kids playing. We should hear laughter and shouting. We should see kids throwing and kicking balls, pick-up games of soccer or softball breaking out or climbing equipment alive with children scrambling up and down like little monkeys.
All too often what we see is little kids with nannies or parents but once they are school-aged they virtually disappear from public play spaces.
Instead of giving kids a mix of organized and structured activity and free play we have dropped the free play component.
We need to street-proof our kids, teach them how to walk to the playground. We need to organize the kids in the neighbourhood to walk together and play together. We need to let them go and play.
A group of three or four eight-year-olds who know the rules of the road, who know the safest route to the playground can head off to play and they will benefit. So let's street-proof our kids so they know how to walk from home to school or the playground and then let them go and play.
Kathy Lynn is a professional speaker and author. If you want to read more, sign up for her informational newsletter at parentingtoday.ca.
