A study was released today in Pediatrics. At the heart of it is the conclusion that preschool aged children are only spending a small percentage (about 2-3%) of their time in preschool doing active things like dancing, running, jumping, etc. The majority of their time is spent in sedentary activities. Be still!
What!? Still is not natural for preschool aged kids!
Any parent of young kids knows that physical activity is good--really good--for little ones. It helps them on so many levels. But it seems that so many childcare providers are so afraid of injuries (and potential lawsuits?) that they are being overly cautious and encouraging sedentary activities. Add to that budget constraints, and more and more parents insisting on children focusing on academics earlier and earlier, and physical activity is pushed aside again.
I'm trying to figure out what we (and by we I mean parents today) missed out on as kids, or feel that we were shortchanged on, that we are so compelled to push our kids so that we can live vicariously through them. Is our self-worth completely tied up in the achievements of our kids? We didn't make the team as a six year old, but by golly our child will. We didn't master a foreign language until high school, but Junior will before he's 8. Good grief, where did we lose our selves?
But I digress. The lack of physical activity makes me crazy. When my boys don't get enough excercise they get cranky. Then I get cranky. And that's not good a good combination.
I want my kids to do well academically, but I also know that there are so many benefits to play...physical benefits, interpersonal benefits, and emotional benefits. There needs to be a balance...and if kids are spending all their time sitting inside, they aren't learning how to skip and jump and...balance.
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