Canadian Report Sounds Alarm on Kids

Calgary Herald – October 01, 2008
By Rachel Naud

Parents -- it's time to go back to the basics.

Our high-tech super-structured life isn't working.

In fact, it's failing our children.

A 2008 report card issued by Active Healthy Kids Canada, a charitable organization and advocate of physical activity for Canadian children and youth, issued children an F in physical activity.

"Based on prevalent data that we have in Canada, 90 per cent of Canadian children are not meeting the current physical activity guidelines," says Rachel Colley, research co-ordinator for Active Kids Canada.

The data utilized to issue the grade came from a survey conducted by the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyles Research Institute (CFLRI).

The CFLRI collected pedometer data on a sample of approximately 6,000 children and youth age five to 19 across Canada, measuring the number of steps kids take in order to assess their activity levels. By examining rates of participation in organized and unorganized physical activities both in and outside of school, the pedometer data found that most children and youth are far below recommended activity levels.

"We know if someone is active and is getting 60 to 90 minutes of activity a day, which is what kids are supposed to be doing, they should be getting an average of 16,500 steps," says Colley. "The average amount of steps children are getting is around 11,500."

It's no surprise with competing factors such as video games, cellphones, computers and TVs, that children are opting for high-tech downtime instead of participating in sports or activities -- which is why Active Kids Canada also issued children an F for the amount of screen time they're getting.

"There are guidelines put out by Health Canada about how much screen time and TV time kids should be getting and kids are far exceeding those guidelines," says Colley. "Kids are getting an average of six hours of screen time every day and on weekends it's more, with seven hours."

Although those statistics may not be shocking to some, what some might find surprising is that another contributing factor as to why kids aren't getting the amount of exercise they need is because children have forgotten how to play.

Or rather, parents and society in general aren't letting them.

Residential streets used to be the venue of choice for an impromptu game of soccer or hockey. However, in recent years municipal bylaws have been put in place to restrict road hockey, cycling and skateboarding in public areas. In fact, 96 per cent of the major municipalities in Canada have at least one bylaw that is restrictive to physical activity for children and youth.

But it's not just the law kids have to fight for fitness; they have to get past their parents.

"Physical activity is being engineered out of our lifestyles and part of that are parents' perceptions of safety," says Jason Bostick, active living specialist for the Calgary Health Region.

For instance, parents don't allow their kids to walk or ride their bikes to school anymore because they fear for their children's safety. And forget about sending kids down the street to the playground -- parents are opting instead to enrol them in structured, organized sports and activities.

"There's a real desire to go back to the basics," says Colley. "In the good ol' days, kids used to be active without even trying. They would play outside when they got home from school and make games up. It's too bad adults are imposing such a structured conscious approach to exercise on their children."

Not that organized sports are a bad thing -- it's just that they alienate the children whose parents can't afford or simply don't have the time to enrol them in often-expensive extra-curricular activities.

That's why both Bostick and Colley suggest parents start kicking it old school.

"Create unstructured play and allows kids to take the lead," says Bostick. "You don't have to join a club or league. Understand that when kids go to the backyard or across the street to the schoolyard, they're creating their own activities."

"We want to empower those families who can't afford to put kids in hockey," adds Colley. "To think of more creative ways to foster an environment where kids can play in a free way."

Colley says programs across Canada are also promoting free activity by supporting active commuting wherein groups of children are walked to school by a volunteer or teacher.

Because children and youth are going through critical growth stages, they need 60 to 90 minutes of activity a day to develop their minds and bodies. And although the 60 to 90 minutes can be broken down into several 10-minute increments throughout the day, the benefits of exercise go beyond weight control.

"Physical activity is strongly associated with preventing risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes," says Colley. "We used to see these health problems later on in life but now we're seeing problems earlier and earlier."

Children's mental health can also benefit from daily exercise.

"It helps reduce depression," says Bostick. "Exercise helps with stress, moods and there are also social benefits. Activity is social so it's a good way to develop social skills and help with self-confidence."

And parents with couch-potato children can't use a "do as I say, not as I do" approach when it comes to fostering physical activity at home. They have to practice what they preach when it comes to raising active kids.

"Parents have to take the lead and set the example," says Bostick. "There's a lot of role modelling going on with younger kids. Seeing their parents active, or being active with their parents, is critical."

Colley also suggests parents who want to raise fit kids take a leadership role when it comes to making exercise part of the house rules.

"Parents have to remember their roles as the ultimate decision-makers," says Colley. "This includes policing the amount of screen time their kids are getting. They can't be afraid to set guidelines."

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