Daycare InactivityIs your child a victim of daycare inactivity? This should be a concern to all parents and a question that should be asked. The legal requirements are slim even as the numbers of obese children are sky rocketing. Most caregivers are not required to be trained in physical education and do not have accurate resources to teach it. Therefore they do not. As a physical educator and owner of a child sport and recreation gym, I am worried about our nation's youth. This can be life threatening to children. Just because the childcare provider offers outdoor play, does not mean your child is learning movement skills or engaging in vigorous play. Starting a child at a young age, teaching them structured physical activity and the core competencies to understand movement, are the steps that lead to a physically active lifestyle. Stated in a report by Monash University an article titled,Constraints and Facilitators for Physical Activity in Family Day Care, "this does not mean that children will naturally engage in an ideal range of physical activities in outdoor environments." Taggart and Keegan (1997) "I found children in centers rarely engaged in the fundamental movement skills of kicking, catching or striking, while the dominant behaviors were climbing, jumping and running." Very consistent with other research which found that "balls and bean bags for throwing, using a bat/racquet, and kicking activities were not commonly (18%) provided at early childhood centers"(Schiller & Broadhurst, 2002), and that "equipment commonly requested for purchase by preschool teachers would not facilitate fundamental movement skills requiring object control" (Sonenstein, Gates, Schmidt & Bolshun, 2002). The National Association for Sport and Physical Education recently published physical activity guidelines for children from birth to five years of age. These guidelines provide parents, caregivers and administrators with some direction as to the quantity and quality of movement experiences that will meet children's needs. Due to the lack of quality physical education programs, I created Gymtrix. Gymtrix is a curriculum series of DVD programs that meets the National Association for Sport and Physical Education requirements. It uses every day items you can find around your home or in a day care setting and teaches the movement and skills for specific age groups; eye-hand coordination, eye-foot coordination, balance, jumping and agility and more. Gymtrix starts at age 6 months and continues to age 11. It is important for parents to be aware of the curriculum your child is involved in and to make sure that the childcare provider is enforcing a structured, quality program. Even on days that it is raining and weather doesn't permit--indoor physical activity is critical. As a concerned parent, you must be involved in your child's health for their future. When parents become involved, things change. Do it for the kids!
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