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Why
Active Living Initiatives Are Not
The Answer To Combat Child Obesity
We were recently contacted by a reputable Active Living
Organization in Alberta who insisted that our philosophies
were inflammatory statements with sweeping generalizations.
Despite the fact, that we have never mentioned any single
organization responsible for the failures of active living,
the statements from this organization were clearly inappropriate,
tactless, defensive and primarily subjective in nature with
no credible resources or evidence to substantiate their
position.
We immediately and diplomatically addressed the issue with
very credible evidence to support the facts on why active
living is not the answer to combat child obesity. Moreover,
an elaboration on why it is imperative for physical education
curriculums to change across Canada to better address the
health needs of children.
The statements posted on our website are based on a rational
and reasonable investigation of the status of PE support
and curriculums offered to pre-adolescents and adolescents
in Canada. We revisit and review the data every second year,
and we consistently see PE programs that fail to instill
and develop the individual abilities in children that are
necessary to maintain good physical health throughout their
lifetime. We review the majority of PE curriculums implemented
by the Boards of Education of each respective province and
the qualifications necessary to become a PE instructor.
This includes some (but not all) special and membership-based
programs.
As of 2008, we will no longer be reviewing any membership
programs that focus on social and active living initiatives.
The reasoning is based on studying literally decades of
implementations of these decisions which have only lead
to poor results and limitations for children as they age.
The limitations of such approaches to combat childhood obesity
may also, in part, have contributed to the problem over
the years. Motor skills such as speed, strength and power
which are integrated with cardiovascular abilities have
consistently shown to improve long-term health in both children
and adults. Yet an extremely large percentage of curriculums,
including those encompassed around active living, fail to
properly address or incorporate effective training methodologies
into their structure.
Simply put, schools which only implement generalized active
living programs do not instill and develop the individual
abilities in children that are necessary to maintain good
physical health throughout their lifetime. Governments have
invested hundreds of millions of dollars into these programs
to increase physical activity among youth and the general
public. Despite these government initiatives, and since
the inception of such programs, children are more obese
today than ever before. Culture is a huge factor, and physical
activity is only one component of the "get healthy
equation", something active living advocates still
need to wrap their heads around. But despite lifestyle,
physical activity curriculums are just not giving children
the transferable skills they need in the first place.
Regardless of any inclusion criteria assessed, children
that graduate from social and active living programs have
extremely little or no comprehension of these essential
mental and motor skills that should be ingrained in their
daily lives. Although we agree that such programs may increase
a child's overall knowledge of diverse activities to increase
physical activity, the statistical data indicates that children
do not transfer this knowledge (actively or otherwise) into
their late teens and early adulthood to positively affect
their health.
Active living programs also do not correlate with gross
demographic variables like income and occupation across
Canada, which are influential indicators on physical activity
into early adulthood and beyond. In addition, there is no
scientific dynamical evidence on the long-term health benefits
of these programs. The dynamical relationship between leisure
and health has never really been studied due to the enormous
quantities of variables involved. However, we don't really
need the studies or an analysis to validate the long-term
results. We have the first hand evidence from the plethora
of programs implemented in the 70's 80's and 90's. We know
what happened to the majority of these children and their
behaviors as they grew into adults. An abundance of references
below elaborate more on the limitations of social and active
living programs as well as the complexities of child obesity
which are far reaching beyond the narrow scope of such programs.
Whether education is a provincial mandate or not is irrelevant.
Provincial and Federal governments across Canada (who ultimately
decide what children learn) have a terrible track record
in the implementation, training and execution of effective
physical education curriculums, programs and instructors.
A simple test we have designed for grade 6-8 students across
the nation reaffirms that Canadian children (at any age)
know very little about their bodies and lifelong practical
exercise strategies. The worst part is that the teachers
often have less practical knowledge than the children.
The majority of research touting the benefits of active
living to prevent child obesity has been either too small
or inconclusive. This story (from the inception to termination)
for such a multitude of programs, has been told for decades.
Unfortunately, each successor has continued to either ignore
or poorly address the changing needs of children and teens
for almost 40 years. The truth is that the big health picture
is bleak for Canadian children if more than 90% of schools
do not improve their current programming.
This is the reality…governments perpetually make the
same mistakes in physical education at the cost of children's
health, and you don't have to look far to see the evidence.
The obesity rates continue to soar every decade, in every
province, in part due to the short comings of Physical Activity
programs that are not progressive and have trouble co-existing
with the technological era and fast-paced work environments
in our society. This is part of the reason why more than
a very large percentage of the Canadian public does not
exercise, contributing to the growing obesity epidemic which
is presently costing Canada billions of dollars per year.
So what's the solution? There is no simple answer, but the
focus must remain on progressive programs that advance children's
health. Curriculums designed to create exercise environments
that only mesh with sport or competition have isolated several
groups of children who are uncomfortable, uncoordinated
or lack the athletic ability to enjoy these events. Active
living programs are also typically designed around involving
multiple individuals to achieve a specific physical activity,
which creates a mindset that a buddy system or group is
always necessary to engage in these events. Moreover, a
plethora of school-based programs still emphasize non-locomotor
and manipulative skills for physical education which are
very poor indicators in maintaining long-term health. Effective
locomotor skills that allow children to maintain and increase
their physical activity levels on an individual basis are
the complement so desperately needed in our physical education
system.
The day we better equip children with the critical tools,
knowledge and skills that are transferable into their teenage
and adult years, is the day we will begin to reverse the
epidemic of child obesity.
Article Author: Susan McHilley
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