When it comes to exercise for young ones… they’ve got to move it, move it

THE husband and I might not have kids, but we sure do spend a fair amount of our time in the company of little people.

Among the young ones in our lives are three cuties aged one, three and five who live next door and who visit at least once a week without their parents. I emphasise this because visiting without their adults means we have the sole responsibility of keeping them entertained in a fun, yet balanced, manner.

At the top of their list of demands are usually the two Ms, marshmallows and movies.

And while it might be incredibly tempting to appease them with some sugar and plonk them down to watch Moana, there’s another important M that must be added to the mix – movement.

So, when the adults relent and we end up watching the production, you’ll often find us jumping up to dance and sing along to one of the catchy tunes.

Of course, it can get exhausting keeping the little ones entertained, and that’s another reason to be looking after your own health. Remember, children learn more from what we do than what we tell them to do, so we have to display good, healthy behaviour which they can mimic.

However, if you have found yourself wondering where children get all their energy from and wished that they would just sit still for a minute, the recently released South African 24-hour movement guildelines for birth to five years makes interesting reading.

They might even surprise you because who even thinks about the amount of movement a newborn should be getting, right?

The research, presented to a group of early childhood development practitioners at last week’s HealthNutz Symposium, includes guidelines on physical activity, sitting behaviour, screen time and sleep requirements for 0 to five-year-olds.

Overall, some of the most important takeaways from the symposium were that getting enough sleep was essential for the development of young children; recreational screen time should be limited and when sitting, children should be engaged in stimulating activities which promote development.

When it comes to movement, babies under a year-old need to get at least 30 minutes of movement a day (including tummy time), while toddlers aged one and two need up to three hours of movement, doing a range of physical activities, including some energetic play.

Preschoolers, aged three to five, should be getting three hours of physical activity, of which 60 minutes should be energetic play.

The guidelines for sitting suggest that, rather than allowing children to engage in screen-based activities, parents or caregivers should read to children, tell stories or sing, draw or play with puzzles. Importantly, the guidelines suggest zero screen time for children under two and a maximum of an hour-a-day for three to five-year-olds.

During sitting time, children should not be strapped into a seated position unable to move for more than an hour.

While sleep requirements for children at different ages may differ, the common factor is the importance of establishing a sleep time routine and bedtime habits. Babies aged birth to three months need 14 to 17 hours of sleep a day, while those aged four to 11 months need 12 to 16 hours a day. In both instances, this includes day-time naps.

Toddlers require 11 to 14 hours of good quality sleep, including naps and at this stage you should be starting to establish consistent sleep and wake-up times.

And by the time the child reaches preschool age, they should have set sleep and wake-up times, getting 10 to 13 hours of good quality sleep, with most of it being at night time.

There’s more incredibly useful information in the report than I can cram into this column, so I’ll be posting more tips and information on my blog, www.editedeating.co.za

For more, see @editedeating on social media.