ORANGE COUNTY VOICES : HEALTH : How Parents Can Build Physical Fitness of Kids

The headline a few weeks ago read “Most O.C. Students Fail Physical Fitness Exams.” The story behind the headline may be even more disappointing to anyone concerned about the health and fitness of the community’s youngsters.

Fitness development through specific exercises like sit-ups is only a small part of the physical education of children. The larger part includes developing fundamental movement skills and practicing these skills in games. These skills include throwing, kicking, catching and striking balls forcefully and accurately, as well as controlling one’s body during movement.

Last February, the State Department of Education launched a seven-year campaign called “Healthy Kids, Healthy California” to improve the quality of children’s health and fitness. Assessing fitness achievement--fact-finding--was the first step. The low scores recorded demand immediate action.

Children increase their fitness when they perform exercises, practice skills, dance and play for sufficient lengths of time on a regular basis. The failure of so many students to achieve health fitness standards when their scores are compared to national norms reflects lack of opportunity for active play at school and at home.

State law requires that elementary school-age students participate in 200 minutes of physical education every two weeks. But few school districts in California offer quality instruction in physical education. In most, the classroom teacher must plan activities and teach physical education along with reading, language arts, math, science, social studies, health, music and art.

Not only is it difficult to prepare good lessons in so many subjects, but many teachers lack knowledge in physical education. College students preparing to be teachers are not required to take a course in how to teach movement skills.

In a quality physical education experience, children explore, practice and refine movement skills that they incorporate into games, sport and dance. Insufficient equipment that doesn’t allow children to practice is in itself a limit to physical education instruction. In academic classes, like reading, one textbook per student is provided. The phys ed teacher is frequently expected to teach movement with one or two balls and ropes for the entire class.

Decreasing a child’s play opportunities also contributes to low fitness scores. In many neighborhoods, sidewalks and parks are unsafe. Heavy traffic makes streets unsafe for children on bicycles. A shortage of money to hire supervisors prevents children from using school playgrounds before school starts. And in the interest of time and safety, parents drive their children to school.

So, like adults, children no longer use their muscles for transportation or manual labor. Most adults would rather be bicycling in the hills than pushing a lawn mower. For many of them aerobics or jogging has replaced physical work as a means of maintaining a healthy level of fitness. But for children, crowded neighborhoods and a faster pace in life has restricted rather than expanded their natural fitness activity--play!

Children will become skillful, fit and maintain their fitness through lifelong participation in physical activities when they are taught movement skills joyfully and lovingly.

What can adults do? They can contact the Legislature to support AB294 that would require professional physical education teachers at elementary schools. They can also let school boards know their concern over the lack of quality physical education instruction. When giving gifts, they should choose toys such as balls, hoops and skates that promote active play. They can set an example by exercising. And if you have children, let them walk to school (with friends and older children or relatives), exercise and play with them, send them to school dressed in shoes and clothing that permit exercise--and turn off the television.

In Santa Ana, the community is taking action to increase children’s active play. Mark Davis, the principal at Diamond Elementary School, provides balls, jump ropes and supervision for youngsters waiting for older siblings to be dismissed. And the Parent Teacher Organization at Jefferson Elementary School has raised $18,000 to purchase a complex play structure that promotes social and physical skills.

What action will you take?