Ontario launches strategy to get kids moving
The City of Niagara Falls is on the same page with the provincial government’s new strategy to encourage youth to be more active and healthy, says Mayor Jim Diodati.
“We recognize that there’s a lot of issues with childhood inactivity because of technology, where they’re now, instead of spending hours playing outside, spending hours in front of screens — TV screens, computer monitors, and computer devices,” he said.
“As a result, we’re dealing with record levels of childhood obesity, childhood diabetes, and lots of other ailments that shouldn’t be happening. We’re having kids with hardening of the arteries. It’s sad.”
New research indicates fewer than half of children ages six to 12 eat vegetables at least once a day, while 43 per cent spend at least three hours of sedentary screen time every day.
Those are just two of a number of statistics that Minister of Children and Youth Services Michael Coteau rang off during a visit to Niagara Falls this week to promote a new provincial strategy aimed at getting more youth outside and active.
He was at the Gale Centre to launch the Ontario Middle Years Strategy to help children ages six to 12 adopt healthy behaviours and boost self esteem.
According to the provincial government, Ontario has more than one-million children in that age bracket.
As part of the announcement, students from Notre Dame Catholic Elementary School played a game of ball hockey in the parking lot of the Gale Centre.
In addition to Coteau, St. Catharines Liberal MPP Jim Bradley, Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates and Diodati attended.
In what the provincial government calls “the middle years,” children experience a burst of brain development, establish healthy habits and attitudes, and a boost in independence.
The Gearing Up strategy, said Coteau, will help families and caregivers better understand the opportunities and challenges facing this group of young people through the use of new indicators of wellbeing and research on child development.
“A child’s middle years are an influential, crucial time,” he said.
“Our strategy supports families and all adults working with children in being actively involved in their children’s lives so that children are set on a trajectory to be well-rounded and productive adults.”
For more information, visit ontario.ca/middleyears.
Diodati said he took note of a comment made during this week’s event by former National Hockey League player and coach Steve Ludzik.
“He said, ‘the worst thing I could imagine when I was a kid is my mother telling me, Steven, come in — I didn’t want to go in, I wanted to stay out,’ and I totally understand and relate to that.”
Diodati said the new provincial strategy “dovetails perfectly” with current and future city initiatives.
“We’re building and rebuilding a record number of parks — 10 this year, 10 next year, where in the past we would do one or two per year,” he said.
“We’re also connecting communities with trails. We’re building connected communities, and we’re making it easier to get there by way of walking, or riding a bike, going through a trail. We’re going to try to interconnect the communities, the parks, by these trails, and encourage more activity.”
Diodati also pointed to a new rubberized fitness track at the Gale Centre; outdoor exercise equipment being installed at trails; investments in tennis and basketball courts; and a plan to have more cycling lanes on roads.
“All new arterial roads are having bike lanes, and we’re turning the city of Niagara Falls into a bikefriendly community, so people can be encouraged to ride their bike, but do it in a safe way that’s not going to interfere with vehicular traffic.”