Canadian kids get 'D' letter grade for overall physical activity in report card
Canadians are dropping the ball when it comes to ensuring their kids are getting enough exercise.
A new report card issued by the non-profit organization ParticipACTION is giving kids across the country a “D” letter grade for overall physical activity.
That’s a decline from the last survey done in 2020, which gave Canadians a D+.
Only an average of 28 per cent of young people are meeting the physical activity recommendations within the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth.
For kids aged five to 17, that’s an accumulation of at least 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity.
The 2022 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth attributes much of the decline to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, there was a sudden and drastic shift in the ways kids could access physical activity opportunities,” reads the report.
Activities like playing with friends, in-person physical education classes, sport competitions and recreation programming were all stalled by public health measures.
The number of youth playing organized sports decreased in 2022 to just 57 per cent.
Seventy-three per cent of local sports organizations temporarily closed due to COVID- 19.
One out of five of these organizations may not recover without emergency support according to the survey.
TOO MUCH SCREEN TIME
COVID-19 also increased sedentary screen use, the report suggests.
Only 18 per cent of kids meet the Canadian 24-Hour Movement recommendations of no more than two hours per day of recreational screen time.
“The pivot to virtual learning and calls to stay at home transformed kids' screens from an indulgence into a necessity for education and a default for leisure-time behaviour creating even greater concerns for the many ways that screen time adversely impacts healthy movement behaviours and overall well-being,” reads the report.
As a result, Canadians dropped from a D+ to a F.
SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT
While the country’s grade for overall physical activity decreased, there were signs of improvement in other categories.
Active play, which is non-organized or unstructured leisure activities, increased from a failing grade to a D-.
“A remarkable feat considering the strain many families experienced during the peak of the pandemic,” states the report.
Active transportation to get to and from places increased from D- to a C-.
Forty-six per cent of parents indicated through the report that their children either solely commute actively to school or commute partially in an active way.
The report card makes a number of recommendations for improving Canadians grades in all categories.
Those include better public messaging about the importance of exercise, more studies into Canadians’ exercise habits, and exposing children to a variety of different sports, or "sport sampling," as opposed to early sport specialization.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.