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Daily Herald Staff
Writer
Posted on October 28, 2002 |
Ever since
Anthony Zavala could walk, he's been on the move.
The Cary boy, now
21/2 years old, spends hours each day turning somersaults, walking
on a low balance beam, jumping on a trampoline, catching a ball
or otherwise being active.
"We don't want
to be sitting around all day watching TV. We want to be active,"
said Anthony's dad, David Zavala, who is gymnastics director
at the Buehler YMCA in Palatine and lets Anthony use the equipment.
More kids should be
like Anthony, according to the National Association for Sport
and Physical Education, which for the first time this year released
exercise guidelines for children age 5 and younger. The association
says babies, toddlers and preschoolers need to spend up to two
hours every day in active pursuits.
Parents might assume
their kids are meeting that goal, or even exceeding it. But
researchers found that perception can be off, with parents failing
to realize how much time their little ones spend in car seats,
strollers, bouncy chairs, exersaucers and playpens, or watching
TV and playing video or computer games.
"The numbers
showed that children were getting less activity in their lives
and parents seemed to think they were very active," said
Jane Clark, chairman of the kinesiology department at the University
of Maryland and head of the task force responsible for the guidelines.
For children this
young, the type of daily physical activity matters little, the
group said. It should be fun for the child - anything from climbing
on a toy to chasing a friend, bouncing a ball or riding a tricycle.
All that exercise
isn't intended to create a platoon of pint-size Jane Fondas
and Jack La Lannes. But getting an early start will lay the
foundation for a lifetime of physical activity, help kids learn
motor skills and might even foster brain development, the association
says.
"If you don't
start out in a life of physical activity, then you're not likely
to end up in a life of physical activity," Clark said.
Getting an early start
Starting physical
activity at a very young age could keep your baby from joining
the growing ranks of overweight children, Clark said. Heavy
children have a greater chance than their slimmer peers of becoming
overweight adults with an increased risk of ailments including
heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Slightly more than
10 percent of children aged 2 to 5 are overweight, a figure
that's increased from about 7 percent since a decade ago, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Clark and other exercise
experts say one reason more kids are overweight is because they're
spending too much time in sedentary activities instead of running,
jumping, hopping and skipping. Until now, however, efforts to
set exercise goals have focused on older kids, not on young
children more likely to spend the afternoons snoozing than playing
on swings.
Movement is great
for kids, but pediatrician David Geller hopes the new guidelines
don't overwhelm parents.
"Parents may
feel if they're not giving their kids the recommended 30 minutes
or 60 minutes, they're doing something wrong," said Geller,
who works in Bedford, Mass., and is a clinical instructor of
pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
Geller said parents
shouldn't necessarily time how long their kids exercise, but
should try to incorporate activity into everyday life.
"If you integrate
it into a child now, it will become more natural later,"
said Geller, an adviser to babycenter.com.
Unfortunately, not
enough parents and care-givers stress the importance of exercise,
said Rhonda Clements, one of the authors of the exercise guidelines
and a professor of movement sciences at Hofstra University in
New York.
"There's a huge
tendency to neglect the child's movement capabilities,"
she said. "Too many children are developing bad habits
very young, where instead of going outdoors and engaging in
physical activity, they are sitting in front of TV screens and
computer screens."
Not only do parents
have to encourage activity, they have to be active themselves,
she said.
"If a parent
isn't physically active, the child will not be physically active,"
said Clements, who also is president of the American Association
of the Child's Right to Play. "I detest parents who are
using strollers through the shopping malls. We're giving children
the wrong values."
Common sense activity
In the name
of cleanliness, some parents avoid putting their babies down
to wriggle on the floor. Those children are missing an opportunity
to move freely, experts say.
"It's just common
sense," said Kim Olczyk, a Deer Park woman who started
taking her daughter, Olivia, to a Gymboree tot activity class
when the child was 3 months old. "They've got to get some
physical activity. They've got to be on the floor and learn
to roll around."
Now 7 months old,
Olivia attends sessions at My Gym, a kids fitness center, where
she works on somersaults, sitting and standing.
"I can tell a
huge difference," Olczyk said. "Initially she was
very slack when she did it and now she's stronger."
Another parent, Alla
Zilber, believes that children who began movement classes while
in diapers were more advanced than their peers later on, both
physically and socially.
The Vernon Hills mother
of three children under 4 years old became such a believer in
the importance of activity that in August she opened a My Gym
outlet in Schaumburg. My Gym offers classes for kids aged 3
months to 9 years that incorporate singing, dancing, gymnastics
and games.
"They jump, they
bounce, they do rolls. For a child, that's exercise," she
said. "I mean, you couldn't get a 2-year-old to do a step
class."
At Lifetime Fitness,
kids as young as 3 years old can take cardio, boot camp and
"KickFit" classes with drill work focusing on speed,
power and agility.
"I don't really
look at it as they're exercising. It's more they're being an
active child and establishing good behaviors," said Jill
Mitties, program development manager for Lifetime, which has
locations in Algonquin, Bloomingdale, Schaumburg and Warrenville.
Fitness on a budget
While formal classes
are fine, parents don't have to sign their kids up or spend
a lot of money to provide opportunities for exercise.
For example, Clark
said parents could make "indoor" balls with old pantyhose
or wadded up newspaper and tape.
Clements suggested
simply taking a walk or heading to a playground.
"I'm amazed at
those kids who never want to get dirty," she said. "Children
should wear play clothes and not be afraid of getting dirty."
Sydney Nemtuda, 3,
and her 5-year-old brother Nick, get the best of both worlds,
taking classes at Lifetime Fitness in the morning, then spending
much of the afternoon running around their Algonquin home.
"From the moment
they get home from school, from 3 o'clock until about 6:30,
they're outside playing," said mom Caroline Nemtuda. "They
have a lot of energy to burn."
She keeps the kids
active both for the immediate benefits and to instill good lifetime
exercise habits.
"It's so they
know there are other things than watching TV and being a couch
potato," Nemtuda said.
There's an added bonus
to all that exercise, too.
"They're really
tired when they go to bed," Nemtuda said. "Which is
a wonderful thing."
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