Whether It’s Homework or TV, Fewer Children Are Exercising

Midriff bulge afflicting little Tommy or Susie? A study shows that more American children are overweight than ever--and, if you ask them, homework may be to blame.

The study by the International Life Sciences Institute, based on a poll by Louis Harris & Associates, found that fewer than one in four students in grades four through 12 exercise every day. More than half of those children blamed a lack of time . . . and too much homework.

But ask their parents for the reason and the answers were quite different: Two out of three said children are couch potatoes because they are uninterested in calorie-burning activity or prefer the sedentary stimulation of TV, video games and computers.

“Daily physical activity for children needs to become a priority for parents equal to that of buckling seat belts,” said James O. Hill, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and chairman of a nutrition project supported by the institute.

Hill said parents also need to demand that schools make recreation part of the daily schedule.

According to the study, 14% of children ages six to 11, and 12% of adolescents--those from 12 to 17--are overweight. That is up from about 5% to 7% in both groups during the 1970s.