Parents Overestimate Childrens Fitness Levels

Tue, 24 Nov 2009
71 per cent of children are considered to be "active enough" by their parents.

However, just 1 in 10 of their children claim to do the recommended amount of exercise, so say findings of a recent survey undertaken by British Heart Foundation (BHF). Nearly 1,000 UK parents with children aged 8 to 15 participated in the survey. The BHF''Couch Kids' report shows that while the number of obese children has increased since the mid-1990s, there have been no key changes in children's physical activity levels over the last decade.

It is critical for children to undertake frequent physical activity in order to lower the likelihood of becoming obese and getting Type 2 diabetes .

Obese children are likely to also develop into obese adults.

It is vital for children get at a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity on a daily basis. This does not have to be done all in one go; it can be split into period of around 15 to 20 minutes throughout the day.

Parents play a vital role in controlling their children’s weight. They can encourage them to be fit and active by say, walking to school or playing football in the garden.

The government is investing £372m to tackle obesity and to prevent people becoming overweight . Its programme intends to set guidelines on recommended levels of physical activity for all age groups, maximise the opportunities at school for for physical activity and collect data about physical activity levels across the UK by local authorities and national governments.

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