How unfit are your children? You probably haven't a clue, say experts

Published on Sunday 22 November 2009 22:12

SCOTTISH parents are unaware how little physical activity their children are getting each day, medical experts warned last night.

The British Heart Foundation found that 72 per cent of parents believe their children are "active enough" when in fact little more than one in ten is actually doing the recommended 60 minutes of exercise a day.

The charity's findings, contained in the report Couch Kids, highlights that about a third of young Scots are overweight or obese. The report claims there have been "no major changes" in activity levels in the past five years.

Andy Carver, care adviser with the charity, said: "Mums and dads need to take off the blinkers about how active kids need to be in order to keep their hearts healthy.

"Kids need to get moving more, yet we've been standing still for years. Parents have such an important role in helping and encouraging their kids to be more active by building exercise into their everyday lives, wheth-er that's taking part in team sports, playing outside with their friends or just walking to school."

Colin Waine, past chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said he was not surprised by the charity's findings and the issue needed to be tackled by all parents and wider society.

He said: "This needs activities on a whole range of things. Parents have a responsibility to make children as active as they can, but we have to look at the constraints against them. So we have to re-engineer areas around pedestrians, rather than motor vehicles, to make it easier to be active.

"Society must recognise this is a problem. Urban planners have the future task to redesign environments, but parents have the obligation to make sure that children get enough physical activity. They cannot rely on schools providing that."

A total of 940 UK parents of children aged 8-15 were surveyed for the Couch Kids report. The British Heart Foundation said urgent action was needed, such as increased provision of youth clubs, open spaces and cycle paths. The charity also wanted local authorities and the Scottish Government to work together to ensure a target of two hours of PE per week was met.

The report found that the Active Schools programme in Scotland has helped encourage healthy lifestyles at school and into adulthood.

But Mr Carver added: "While there has been good progress on integrating physical education into the school day and local sports strategies, provision is not universal or necessarily prioritised.

"Local authorities need to make sure that public health features more prominently in transport, planning and education policies. One example would be through recognising the importance of safe cycling routes and making sure children have interesting places to play."