Physical activity for sedentary kids
Common knowledge would suggest that children are always on the go. But a recent study says that children are actually sedentary 73 to 84 percent of the time that they are awake.
According to fitness.com, the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) released the country’s first ever physical activity guidelines for toddlers. Basically, the guidelines state that all children aged four and under should be moving more and sitting less throughout the day. Here below are the details.
Under one year old: A child’s activity is needed several times daily.
The activity encouraged for children under this age group is usually interactive, “floor-based” play. With adult supervision, these activities can include but is not limited to, tummy time, pushing and pulling, reaching, grasping and crawling.
Age one to four: A child’s activity is encouraged for at least three hours per day.
For this age group, variety and repetition are essential keys. During the day, encourage the kids to different environments and allow them to develop movement skills such as running, dancing, playing in wide open spaces, or simply climbing stairs.
Age five: A child needs at least one hour of “energetic play” per day.
Children by this age should be used to spending around 60 minutes worth a day of high-energy level tasks like skipping, riding the bike, running and hopping. It is important to note that all these mentioned are mere minimum recommendations and that the more activity and time a child spends moving about in a day, the greater benefits he will reap in his life.
About a kid spending too much time in front of computers or doing other sedentary tasks, it is highly important for a parent, not only to encourage their children to go out often and play, but to also limit the amount of time their kids spend on “screen time.”
For the sake of enumeration, sedentary behaviors are those that require minimum movement such as sitting or lying down for hours in a day. Common examples of such for children are: using computers, tablets, smart phones, playing video games, watching television or movies, sitting in strollers, high chairs, etc.
According to the research, here are some guidelines parents can follow to help eliminate a sedentary lifestyle for their toddlers:
Children should not stay seated for more than an hour at a time.
“Screen time” for children below two years of age is not recommended.
“Screen time” for children two to four years old, should be limited to less than one hour per day only.
Training these kids young about being active and minimizing sedentary time will hopefully create positive health habits for themselves as they get older. A parent doesn’t have to go out and force his kids to join every sport out there—it can be as simple as going outside to explore the neighborhood instead of watching that hour-long show on the Internet or TV.