Is your child working his or her way to high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, diabetes, colon cancer, heart disease and lower self-esteem? If they are an average Canadian child, they might well be. And it is a common situation for children in developed countries.

Health Canada reports that fewer than half of our children and youth are active enough for optimal growth and development. For girls, the figure is worse as only 38% of them (versus 48% of boys) are considered active enough. Contrast the average child’s 15 hours of television every week to their three hours of physical activity. Worse, not many parents are aware of these statistics — many don’t realize how little exercise their kids actually get.

There are two sides to the health challenge facing today’s children: low levels of physical activity and more calories consumed. This combination will prove deadly for many in the long run.

We can attribute much of the reduction in levels of activity to societal changes. Household chores have changed over the years and many physical jobs have disappeared or been replaced by machines or contracted services (think of gardening services and leaf blowers). Also, the character of the family has changed as there are more households where both parents work, and more single-parent households. This means there is often less time available for family activities. And many schools provide for less physical education in their curricula. There are also more ways to be sedate: television, video games, internet. Parents model poor fitness habits. Note of these is an excuse. Rather, they help us to understand how we have arrived at this point.

Calories are a measure of energy; weight is basically a result of the number of calories consumed compared to the number used in physical activity. Children face an onslaught of fast and junk foods, even in schools and fitness centres. These are often high in fat, or if not, are high in simple sugars, the so-called “empty calories.” Poor choices abound.

Helping kids to avoid some of the dangers they will face means helping them to be more active. There may be no better a place to start than the Canada Fitness Guides for families, children and youth. This series has long been successful in encouraging fitness and activity for Canadians, and you can get your own, free, from Health Canada by calling 1-888-334-9769. Or, download the guides from <www.healthcanada.ca/paguide> . There are versions for parents, teachers, children and youth.

Getting your child to be active should start with your own good habits. Consider walking your child to school, throwing on some music and dancing in the family room, and when they ask for a ride, suggest walking or cycling instead. Talking about beg active is also a great idea. One creative, fun suggestion is to photograph your child being active, enlarge the picture and put it up somewhere obvious to show your child how proud you are of them.

As for school-based physical activity, a Canadian program called Quality Daily Physical Education (QDPE) is an encouraging concept. Its goal is to “increase the physical education levels of Canadian children and youth, to provide them with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop a positive attitude toward physical activity that will last a lifetime.” There is even a checklist/report card you can print out to use in evaluating your child’s school and its P.E. program. It is available at <www.cahperd.ca/e/PDFs/QDPE-report.pdf>.

The overweight, inactive child is likely to become the overweight, inactive adult. This vicious circle will repeat itself, repeat itself, repeat itself… you can make the difference.

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Call-out: “The overweight, inactive child is likely to become the overweight, inactive adult. This vicious circle will repeat itself, repeat itself, repeat itself…”