Most US kids aged two to five get little exercise
Argentina Star (IANS) Wednesday 16th December, 2009
Most American children aged two to five years don't get enough physical activity and are overexposed to TV.
A study of about 300 home-based childcare providers by Oregon State University's (OSU) Stewart Trost sheds light on both positive and negative aspects of family day-care providers.
Trost, who directs the obesity prevention research core at the new Hallie Ford Centre for Healthy Children at OSU, said a big concern was TV exposure in such a young age group.
The providers surveyed were caring for infants aged up to five years, and two-thirds of providers said they had the TV on most of the day.
The American Academy of Paediatrics recommends no more than two hours of TV per day for children for the two to five age group, and discourages TV viewing for kids younger than two years.
While many providers (78 percent) reported offering more than an hour of time for active play daily, 41 percent said children sat for extended parts of the day.
'Would you withhold fruits and vegetables from kids who misbehave?' Trost asked.
'All the research shows that restricting physical activity makes children more, not less, likely to misbehave. So it's not even an effective means of punishment,' he added.
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