A Guide to Supporting Physical Activity at School, in the Community and at Home
You’d never hand your child a pack of cigarettes, expose them to cancer-causing chemicals or let them ride in the car without a seatbelt... but, if you’re like many Ontario parents, you may be enabling behaviour that can be just as detrimental to their long-term health.
According to the 2011 Active Healthy Kids Canada (AHKC) report—a comprehensive assessment of child and youth physical activity in Canada—only 32% of children and youth who attend Ontario public schools are getting the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day. Furthermore, six- to nineteen-year-olds nation-wide spend an average of 8.6 hours per day in sedentary pursuits (Statistics Canada, Canadian Health Measures Survey [2007-09]). These levels of inactivity have set us on course for a major health crisis but, if we’re willing to make a collective commitment to our children’s health, it’s not too late to turn things around.
To do so, we’ll need to start close to home—by making changes in our families’ habits — but we’ll also need to hold our schools and communities accountable when it comes to promoting physical activity and healthy living. Luckily, we’ve got a huge head start! Not only do most parents and educators share an understanding of the importance of healthy living, but with the release of the revised elementary Health & Physical Education (H&PE) curriculum last year (as well as a range of related school health policies in place) there’s never been a better time to help kids get active.
What’s at stake if Ontario’s kids don’t get moving?
It’s no exaggeration to say—helping our kids get active is a matter of life and death.
“We really are in trouble in terms of our lack of physical activity,” says Annie Kidder, the Executive Director of People for Education Canada—a parent-led organization that works to support public education in Ontario—“But, for whatever reason, the message hasn’t become personal enough. It still doesn’t change me.”
It’s a sentiment many Ontario parents share. We’ve all seen the news reports about the rise of chronic disease among children. Our family doctors have warned us about the shortened life expectancy that comes with obesity and about how poor dietary choices can contribute to a range of health problems. We’ve been shocked and sobered by the statistic that one in four Canadian children is overweight or obese and, yet, faced with busy lives and competing priorities, we continue to make the easy choices—both when it comes to our own health and the health of our children. We drive instead of walking. Get take-out instead of cooking. Turn on the TV instead of heading to the park.
Day by day, these choices are adding up to have a negative impact on our kids. For the first time in more than a century, today’s children may have less healthy (and possibly shorter) lives than their parents.
More and more often, obese children are being diagnosed with a range of health conditions that were previously only seen in adults. These include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, Type 2 Diabetes, sleep apnea and joint problems. Forty percent of Canadian youth already have at least one risk factor for heart disease as a result of a physically inactive lifestyle, and it is projected that, by 2014, Ontario will be spending half of all available provincial revenue—that’s more than $40 billion!—on health care.
Support Your School’s Efforts!
Tell your child’s school that you value H&PE.
How can we change these troubling statistics? Schools are the obvious place to start.
Ninety-five percent of Ontario’s kids attend public schools, and children are in school for almost half of their waking weekday hours. “We have a great opportunity to increase their activity levels,” says Margaret Good, Healthy Schools & Communities Consultant for Ophea—an organization that supports schools and communities through quality program supports, partnerships and advocacy to enable children and youth to lead healthy active lives.
And while, as parents, we tend to consider academics (like math, reading and writing) more vital to our children’s educations than subjects like physical education, Good points out that the benefits of healthy living extend far outside the gym walls. “Valuing health and physical education will have a ripple effect on all areas of children’s lives and educations,” she says. Study after study has proven that healthy students are better learners. They have better classroom attendance and fewer behavioural problems. They also display increased self esteem, positive mental health and are better able to form social connections.
“We talk about reading,” Kidder points out. “We think we’re a good example if we read ourselves. We read to our kids. Maybe we need to start thinking of physical health as one of the basics in the same way.”
Educate yourself about the revised H&PE Curriculum and other school health policies.
Last year, the Ministry of Education released a new elementary school Health and Physical Education Curriculum that takes a comprehensive approach to addressing a range of topics including physical activity, safety and injury prevention, healthy eating, substance use and mental health. It also integrates important living skills such as critical thinking, personal skills and interpersonal skills.
“We also have a daily physical activity policy for elementary schools that, if fully implemented, ensures a minimum of 20 minutes of physical activity each day,” says Good. “And, of course, we have the school food and beverage policy that includes nutrition standards for food and beverages sold in schools.”
All of these policies—combined with things like the Ministry of Education’s Foundations for a Healthy School (a framework for comprehensive school health that looks at the whole community)—put Ontario’s schools at a great advantage when it comes to supporting student health.
Still, the fact remains that, unless these policies and initiatives are implemented by schools, their effectiveness is limited. “A lot of the time, gym can take a low priority,” explains Jacqui Strachan, Parent Support and Community Development Coordinator for People for Education.
Rachel Colley, a Junior Research Chair for the Healthy Active Living & Obesity Group at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and the Scientific Officer for Active Healthy Kids Canada, has heard similar accounts of schools foregoing gym class all-together in favour of 20 minutes of Daily Physical Activity (DPA). “PE classes are about teaching physical literacy [the skills, confidence and knowledge kids need to enjoy a lifetime of physical activity] and the motor skills kids need to engage in physical education,” she says. “DPA is about increasing overall levels of physical activity. It’s very important to keep the two things separate.”
How can you help to ensure that your child’s school is living up to the promise of the health-related policies Ontario has put in place? While it’s important to recognize that the majority of teachers are doing their best to deliver quality programming in a healthy environment, it’s also essential to speak up if you see areas for improvement. Educate yourself about the Health & Physical Education Curriculum, DPA requirements, the School Food and Beverage policy and other school-based health initiatives. If you see that your child’s school isn’t implementing them fully, help to look for solutions—not only for your own child’s well-being, but for the health of the entire school community!
Push for a specialist H&PE teacher.
In a 2009 survey conducted by Ophea, 98% of educators said they needed support in implementing the revised H&PE Curriculum. This statistic is underscored by a study that suggests children spend as little as 10% of their Physical Education classes actually being physically active (Costa ML, Manske SR, Leatherdale ST. Validation of a Measure of Active Time in Physical Education. Unpublished.). What is the cause of these troubling statistics? In the vast majority of cases, teachers care greatly for student health and well-being—they just need the skills, training and confidence needed to deliver the program effectively.
The 2011 Active Healthy Kids Canada report states that only 43% of Ontario elementary schools have a specialist Health and Physical Education teacher. What this means is that, in the majority of Ontario’s schools, gym classes are being taught by generalist classroom teachers—those who have been trained in areas such as languages, sciences and math, but have limited experience when it comes to H&PE.
This doesn’t need to be the case. “A lot of universities in Canada have kinesiology programs,” says Colley. “Their graduates come out very well trained with a lot of knowledge, yet most of them end up taking a different career path.”
Tell your child’s generalist teacher about the Ophea resources.
But while having a specialist teacher might be preferable, it’s not always realistic, especially in smaller schools and communities. “This is where Ophea comes in,” says Colley, referring to the organization’s set of comprehensive resources for educators. “Ophea provides great resources and training opportunities for generalist teachers. If it’s going to be high quality and engaging for the kids, it’s too much for us to expect a generalist teacher to deliver that without support.”
This support includes Ophea’s H&PE Curriculum Resources (grade-specific lesson plans that meet the curriculum requirements) as well as DPA kits that give teachers ready-to-use ideas for fun and effective classroom activity, and inclusion resources that help support all children and youth in being physically active. The organization also provides resources on a range of health-related topics—from diabetes awareness to substance use.
“Ophea’s done the hard yards and put in the research to create evidence-based programs,” says Colley. “Their resources are practical, downloadable and easy-to-implement.”
Set an Example through Your Own Habits
Support the healthy habits your child is learning in school.
“If one of Ontario’s school-health-related policies, or some of them are implemented, but we don’t have the support of the full school community, it’s not as effective,” says Good. “It’s so important that we share the responsibility; that we see where we stand and what we each have to offer.”
If we want to have a lasting impact on the health of our children the entire school community (including teachers, parents, public health units, the sport and recreation sectors and local businesses) must work together to support healthy choices. After all, how effective can we be if parents encourage youth to get active by commuting by bike, but schools and community centres have no bike racks available? What message are we sending when we warn teenagers about the dangers of too much screen time then go right back to texting on our cell phones? How can we expect to be taken seriously when we talk about the importance of healthy eating at school, then offer nothing but hotdogs and hamburgers at local sporting events or family get-togethers?
Look at your own physical activity levels.
The Active Healthy Kids Canada Report (2011) reveals that only 15% of Canadian adults are meeting physical activity guidelines themselves. Are you one of them? If we can develop a love of physical activity ourselves, there’s every reason to expect that our children will, too.
Get out there with your kids!
According to the Active Healthy Kids Canada Report (2011) 94% of Ontario parents say that public facilities—like parks and outdoor spaces—are available in their communities. Seventy-five percent even report that these facilities are less than a kilometre from their homes and, yet, only 59% say that their children actually use them.
Family life can be busy. We rush from work and school to errands, then on to other commitments. We also have a tendency to see outdoor or independent play as a safety risk. “It used to be that children were sent to the park to play, but parents today are afraid to send kids unsupervised,” says Strachan. But when parents make the time to use public recreation facilities with their children, they seldom regret it. A trip to the park, an afternoon at a public skating rink or a dip in a wading pool is a great way to spend time together and to get everyone active.
Seek out age-appropriate facilities for teenagers.
Parks and wading pools may satisfy the elementary school set, but what about older children? “There have been some comments over the years about whether or not the facilities are meeting the needs of youth,” Colley points out. “Parks with play structures are geared toward little kids, but adolescents might prefer skateboard ramps or basketball and tennis courts.” These types of facilities may not be as easy to spot but, in many cases, they are out there. Consult with your local parks and recreation department, or go online to find out what types of youth activities are available in your area. If there’s nothing nearby that interests your teen, consider making a case to your municipality about the need for more teen-appropriate facilities.
Take Small Steps, Every Day
If the task of getting an entire province full of kids active seems overwhelming, consider this: it’s the small steps individuals take that add up to make the biggest differences. Replace an afternoon of TV watching with a game of tag, stroll to the store instead of driving, talk to your child’s H&PE teacher about how school health could be improved and you’ll be making an important contribution.
“We have a strong education system and a strong healthcare system. We’re not starting from scratch,” says Colley, who also points to the promise of the revised H&PE Curriculum. “We have an opportunity to help children create a positive relationship with physical education and sport. If we miss this opportunity when children are young, they’re less likely to develop that positive relationship.”
But if we work together today to foster a lifelong love of physical activity in our children? “I totally believe that in five years, physical activity levels will have improved,” says Good with conviction. “In 20 years, today’s children will be imparting that same knowledge upon their children. I really do believe in the power of the community to make change,” she concludes. “We all have it in us to make a difference.”
Post new comment