New Study Finds Parents are to Blame for Sedentary Lifestyle
Did you know that 75% of all American children are enrolled in daycare centers? A new study was published this week in the American Journal of Pediatrics that finds that these daycare children are largely sedentary and are only spending 2-3% of their day doing vigorous physical activity. This is way down from the recommended levels and it means that the vast majority of American children are starting out their lives way behind in gross motor skills and in social skills. Could this be the reason for the bullying epidemic and the obesity epidemic? The researchers found three reasons for the largely sedentary lifestyle in daycare:
1. Injury concerns (Daycare providers say that parents urge them not to let the children play vigorously, for fear of injury)
2. Financial (They don't have the money to buy safe equipment and also state that the equipment that is "safe" isn't interesting or fun for kids so they don't see any reason to waste the money. That's ironic, isn't it?)
3. Emphasis on academics (Apparently parents are demanding their kids know the letters and numbers at an early age and are far more concerned about this than about making sure their kids got plenty of physical activity.)
The problem is that these children spend most of the day in school and not at home, so by the time they get home, it's time for dinner and then bedtime, so they don't get the chance to play at home either.
Think back for a minute to when you were a kid. Do you remember sitting around learning numbers and letters? Of course not. You remember riding bikes to the pool, catching fireflies, or maybe climbing a tree with your best friend. Obviously children need to read, but people have been learning to read for hundreds and thousands of years, so why do we think we need to drill this into our children's head at age 3? Why do we think we need computer programs to teach our children to read?
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