120917 active families

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feature

Actve Families

Get your kidsmoving

I

magine youre sitting on a soa next to a good

buddy watching Saturday aernoon sports.

Youve taken in a ootball game and now youron the 13th hole o a PGA gol tournament. Te

cofee table is littered with empty pizza boxes and

pop cans its pretty much weekend lie as usual.

Parents need towalk-the-walkto keeP kids active


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Suddenly your riend looks at you and says,

Hey! Your really out o shape, man. You

better start jogging or something, and cut

down on the atty oods or youre going to

have a heart attack.

How do you think youd react?

Now imagine the person on the otherend o that soa is your son or daughter,

and youre the one trying to motivate him

or her to get active and start eating right.

What do you think your chances are i they

cant remember the last time you walked

anywhere except maybe to the ridge to

rummage around or another snack?

Fact o the matter is, unless parents are

walking the walk, swimming the swim,

tossing the ball, biking the bike and so on,

onto the basketball court, or onto the walk-

ing trail anywhere that gets kids moving

the health and social consequences are

going to be severe or amilies and commu-

nities.

Recent studies show that 50 percent o chil-

dren get less than three hours o active play

per week, and that 63 percent o their reetime is spent being sedentary. On average

kids are getting more than seven hours o

screen time per day. So i your child is av-

erage he or she is at risk.

Te plethora o screened gadgets rom Vs,

to computers, to smart phones has grown

exponentially and in inverse proportion to

the amount o active play time or kids and

amilies.

Active play is serious business

that kids cant do without

theres a better than average chance that

their kids wont be either, and the efects o

a sedentary liestyle on children are seri-

ous and pervasive.

Marc Faktor, Manager o Health Promotion

& Resource Development with the Physical

Activity Line says parents actions speak

way louder than words when it comes get-

ting kids moving.

A lot o research out there has shown that

parents behaviours are signicantly corre-

lated with their childrens behaviours, he

said when asked by Student Success aboutthe importance o parents as tness role

models. I our parents are spending the

majority o the day in ront o screens and

not promoting activity, the children are go-

ing to think thats the norm.

Increasingly indicators are telling us that

the norm is out o whack in Canada, and

that unless parents step up to the plate, or

Another trend is parents desire to struc-

ture their childrens time. Parents want the

best or their kids and seek structured op-

portunities or them to learn and develop

intellectually. And or saety reasons they

want to know where their kids are and what

theyre up to. Parents are busy themselves

and have to plan where their kids will be

and with whom.

But with their days mapped out rom morn-

ing to night kids are more and more oen

missing out on the benets o spontaneous,

active play. Says the Active Healthy KidsCanada web site www.activehealthykids.ca,

Unortunately, the structure and demands

o modern Canadian lie may be engineer-

ing active play out o our lives.

It goes on to say, Researchers agree the de-

cline in play over the past 50 or 60 years has

been consistent and substantial.

Play is serious business, though. Te ben-


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ets o play include: improved motor unction, cre-

ativity, decision making, problem solving, social skills,

and cognition. Kids who dont engage in active play are

more likely to ace decits in those areas.

Parents who are squeezing play out o their kids sched-

ules need to be aware o the benets that might be lost.

Tey are missing the act that physical activity is totally

essential to help develop a childs mental perormance

and capabilities, and it really does improve a childs cog-nitive perormance, Mr. Faktor said.

So what should parents do?

Te key is nding something that is un, Mr. Faktor

said. Teres so many diferent sports and activities

out there that I guarantee that each child will nd their

niche.

Tere are lots o resources online or in the community

parents can turn to or ideas. I you want to talk to a

Certied Exercise Physiologist, a great place to start is

the Physical Activity Line at 1-877-725-1149. Te ser-

vice is ree, providing guidance to help you become

more physically active, overcome your barriers and stay

motivated.

Remember, it all starts with you, the parent. Tat doesnt

mean you have to start pumping iron or running mara-

thons. Mr. Faktor ofered a ew examples o ways par-

ents and kids can get active.

Pair screen time with active time. For every hal-houryour child is out playing with riends or you, walking

the dog or kicking around a soccer ball he gets an allot-

ment o screen time.

Segment screen time into hal-hour or hour chunks,

then insist on some kind o physical activity between,

either in the orm o play or perhaps helping out with

some chores around the house.

Do some quick exercises during commercial breaks

when you and your children are watching V: push

ups, sit ups, squats, jumping jacks. Tat will keep your

childs metabolism rom slumping into the resting state.

For more ideas parents can go to HealthyFamiliesBC.

ca, where theres inormation about breaking down bar-

riers to physical activity. Te act is, everyone can t in

some orm o physical activity as little as 10 minute

intervals, two or three times throughout the day is

a great way to start, says a page titled Whats stopping

you?v

Parents have a leadership role to play when it comes to physical activity, and un-less they join in the fun with their kids some children will slip into sedentary hab-its. And sometimes, especially if you are changing routines that have already been

established, playing that leadership role is going to require bit of tough love.

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