There have been many reports over recent years regarding the current state of overall health in Irish children and many conversations revolve around the P.E. conundrum in secondary schools, which thankfully seems to be changing. But whether or not P.E. becomes an examinable subject the underlying issues are still there. This week I’m outlining some of the biggest and most scary issues facing Irish kids, future permutations and some things you as a parent can do to improve the health and life of your child.
Sport has a bunch of benefits for kids other than the ones that are solely health related. It develops character, bravery, enhances social skills and team ethic. It can help reinforce the benefits of structure and respect of rules in life. Most importantly though, it should allow the child the opportunity to play and learn to have fun through movement.
Recent studies have shown some worrying trends with Irish youngsters, some results are pretty evidential without the research. A recent study by DCU, published in last weekend’s Sunday Times pointed to the aerobic state of Irish teenagers and how many are ‘less fit’ than their parents and grandparents. For a long time now we’ve known that Irish children are behind other countries in fundamental skills such as running, jumping and throwing from an early age, this gap is not closing and our future leaders are getting worse, not better according to another DCU study published in 2017. There are some major future implications regarding these low levels of fundamental skills that we’ll touch on later in the blog.
Ireland, as a whole, is quickly becoming one of Europe’s most obese nations per capita and our children are not exempt from that stat. Having more clinically obese children is leading to other health issues such as type to diabetes and earlier onset heart problems. Not only is it impacting the child’s life currently, it has a huge negative impact on their future while also placing huge strain on our national health care system both in man hours and financially. But we can’t get mad at the child because they live and learn through their environment.
In the last 15-20 years the availability of processed food and ever-increasing popularity in take aways has led to an overall diet that’s lower in quality but often higher in calories. People are working longer and feel like they don’t have time to cook nutritious meals, this habit builds over time and when they become parents, they pass this habit of quick and easy fixes on to their children. Remember, it’s not just the children who are unfit, but the nation as a whole. However, unfit children will usually have unfit parents. The child’s environment is molded by fast food and low-quality nutrition. The body then craves larger amounts of this high sugar, high fat foods as they due to the physical response in the brain, thus, resulting in larger calorie totals. Remember, children grow to like the foods they are introduced to from young ages, therefore, if they are introduced to a wide variety of fruit, vegetables and other natural and high-quality foods as babies and young children they should continue to eat those foods into adulthood. Including your children in the cooking process and teaching them as they grow will help develop life skills that are priceless.
Another major environmental factor impacting our children is the rise of technology, particularly gaming systems and smart phones. Screen time is at an all-time high and kids are now playing on their PlayStation and iPhone instead of on their street. Playing with your friends now means a group game of FortNite, not kick the can. This means a few things, children are sitting more, so there’s less overall movement. Children are not outside exploring different ways to move and figuring out their bodies, leading to lower movement skill levels and finally more isolated gaming can lead to lower social skills development. When I was 10 there wasn’t a single night where me and my friends wouldn’t be out playing football but now there are zero kids playing outside, not because they don’t live there, because they do but because of these other factors.
So, what can be done about it?
Well firstly, parents need to take responsibility and have the onus placed on them. Your child’s health is in your hands and their relationship with exercise for the rest of their life will be forged in their early years. The best thing you can do is give them the opportunity to play. This means letting them explore outside and limiting their contact with technology and the time they spend on it. From e very early age encourage more crawling and rolling. As they learn to walk limit the number of restrictive toys and let them explore their movement. You can and should put them into as many sports as possible as they become of age to give them the chance to see what they like and don’t like. Not every sport is equal, the skills required for karate are different to that of hurling and both are different to swimming. Allowing your child access to all these different sports help create and develop different neural pathways and let them hone their movement skills.
But Rory, why are these movement skills so important?
Let me tell you how competency in movement impacts a life moving forward.
When you get to the age of 12-14 you start noticing the opposite gender and become a lot more self-aware around your peers. Kids are smart and will not do anything they think will embarrass them in front of a crush or their friends. They will know they’re weak or they can’t run well. When they land into P.E., they’ll come up with an excuse to get out of it. This trend will continue and by 18 they are completely removed from exercise.
So, as someone who knows the research, implications and best practices what tips can I give you?
Find as many different sports that your child is eligible for and bring them along.
Let them play in playgrounds, many of which are designed to increase creative play and strength.
Base diets of nutrient rich foods like fruit, veg, high quality protein and natural carbohydrates.
Limit the amount of screen time for the child.
It all sounds simple on paper, but real life is another story however, for the sake of your child’s health and well-being I’m sure you’ll find a way.
Rory.