Play time Katie Roberts finds out about getting kids active from Mumsnetters and Facebook users…
THE BTHA recently teamed up with the Loughborough University Institute of Youth Sport to research active play amongst primary school children as part of its Make Time 2 Play campaign. The Active Play Report measured children’s activity levels and examined the views of 2,000 parents on the issue. Over a quarter of parents admitted their children get just 30 minutes or less of physical activity per day, while one in five dads and nearly one in six mums would like to improve their skills in encouraging their children to actively play. We asked some users of Mumsnet
and Facebook whether the findings reflected their experience and if they
MAY 2012
felt they needed help in getting their children active. Of those we spoke to, over three quarters (77 per cent) said their children engage in the government’s
Suepirblybilt tells ToyNews: “I’d say that my five year-old certainly gets enough physical activity on school days – it’s a lot easier to encourage that level of activity when other
My five year-old gets enough physical activity on school days – it’s a lot easier
to encourage that level of activity
when other children are involved. Mumsnet user Suepirblybilt
minimum requirement for physical activity of an hour a day, while eight per cent said they usually do and 15 per cent said their children didn’t reach the requirement.
children are involved (she’s an only child). In fact, they don’t need much encouragement.” Mercibucket adds: “Mine do a lot of sports to get them out of the house
and running round, and I love it when friends come round and they play on the Wii cos at least it’s more active than telly, but we don’t use toys much – bikes, scooters, outdoors badminton (big success that one), those wailing ball things and that’s about it.
“Now I think about it, it’s mostly sports that they do.” When we asked Mumsnetters whether they felt they needed help in knowing how to encourage their children to play actively, results showed that just 13 per cent said they did – a similar number to that in the BTHA’s research – while 87 per cent said they didn’t need any help at all.