Last year we heard some stunning news in the form of a national report card on physical activity for children and youth in Canada. As it turns out, our kids were doing pretty poorly with an overall grade of D and failing marks in the subject of Overweight and Obesity.
On May 25th, the second annual report card was released and the news isn't any better. Our kids still have a failing grade in Overweight and Obesity and have gotten (slightly) worse in the areas of Screen Time, Organized Sport Participation, Unstructured Sport Participation, Families Ensuring Kids Are Active, and Family Physical Activity.
There was some good news in that promising grades were given to two new indicators: Neighbourhood Safety and Support (B) and Proximity to Parks and Playgrounds (B-). However, the overall picture remains the same.
A key outcome in this report was the disparity between parents' perception of how active their kids are versus the children's actual physical activity levels.
“Between 80% and 90% of parents feel that their children get a “good” amount of physical activity whereas, in reality, we know that less than half of Canadian children and youth meet the minimum daily physical activity requirements for healthy growth and development,” said Dr. Mark Tremblay, Chair, Active Healthy Kids Canada.
“We also know that parents and caregivers can help establish healthy patterns of physical activity by being active themselves but only 36% of parents regularly engage in physical activity with their children.”
Three main recommendations came out of the report that, if acted upon immediately, can positively impact physical activity outxomes:
- Inform Canadian parents and caregivers about the importance of unstructured physical activity and “play” and help families re-establish active time together.
- Step away from the screen and exchange sedentary TV and computer time for physical activity.
- Establish quality health and physical education classes and school-based daily physical activity policies in all provinces.
To learn more about the report card, click here.
