How often do we drive by a child-care center and see children outside actively using playground equipment and having a good time? Well, not as often as we used to, based on a study by Copeland et al. (doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-2102). The investigators extracted data from focus groups involving almost 50 child-care providers from more than 30 different centers and learned that fear of injury, combined with financial barriers of purchasing safe playground equipment, and parental pressures to focus on academics are reducing the extent of physical activity in these centers.
Lack of physical activity can certainly add to one’s risk for excess weight gain even when young, and the authors provide some interesting data and discussion as to what their findings suggest. While no one can fault the desire to have safe child-care environment and a learning environment that promotes school-readiness, when do the risks of being too cautious and academic outweigh the benefits of physical activity for young children? This article will make you think and perhaps get you to contact your local child-care centers to see just how much physical activity is being promoted, and whether you need to advocate or help them rebalance the mental and physical activities that lead to overall health and wellbeing in toddlers and preschoolers. Let us know whether your local centers echo the findings in this study via our e-letters or Facebook page.
