Exercise Bill Aims at Health of Youngest Students | Southern Education Desk

A bill filed by a state representative would require physical activity for children two and older in daycare.

The legislation is aimed at producing healthier, better educated youngsters.

 

Toddlers at Volunteers of America's Head Start Program

Alexis Bright’s daughter turns two in May – she also has a son who soon will be a year old. Bright says obligating daycares to promote an active lifestyle is good for her children. 

“Yeah, I think it gets the blood flowing and pumping it faster and that allows them to pay attention more, because they’re ready to focus. They’ve done what they wanted to do – they’ve had fun and now they’re focused and they’re up and ready. Just like when we’re tired in the morning, when we get going we’re ready for the day – so I think it’s a good thing. I’m excited.”

State Representative Patrick Williams introduced the bill. It would institute a minimum of an hour per day for each child in a daycare facility, and no more than one hour per day in front of a TV or computer screen. Williams says the bill is aimed at making kids healthier.

 

“We all know about the national epidemic of childhood obesity. And it’s just my position that, if we start earlier, we can actually address this issue. And it’s about moving, it’s about being active, even at a pre-K age.”

 

Williams is correct that obesity is a national issue, but it also has a distinct regional character. 2010 data from the Center for Disease Control shows that six of the states with the most obese adults in the country are in the South.

 

Antoinette Hoard is the executive director for the Volunteer of America program, Early Head Start. She says something has to be done.

 

“I know here, for the children that we serve, and we serve about 120 kids a year, ten percent of them are obese, that we get from their doctor diagnosing them as being obese. So about ten percent of them are.”

 

Hoard says that relying on legal mechanisms to ensure that kids exercise is a step in the right direction.

 

“Ball tossing, playing the drums, running. You think of all the things that you can do, just running around in a circle – hula hoops – anything to keep them up and moving. Those children in this age group are learning, so you’re also fighting obesity at the same time if you get the children up and doing physical activity. You’ll see drastic increase in their physical and gross motor.”

 

Emily Williamson is the director of the child development center at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She’s read Representative Williams’ bill – she says it might help.

 

“Currently at our center, we serve a ten hour day. And an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon is our typical standard. So I don’t find that that’s asking an exceptional amount.”

 

Still, she says laws come with their own set of problems.

 

“That sets up a need to have it regulated and someone to regulate it. So I don’t know if that’s not adding another layer of regulation to what a childcare provider’s already required to do. As far as this is going to be one more thing the state has to monitor.”

 

Despite such concerns, Alexis Bright holds out hope that the bill can help her son.

 

“My child has asthma – my son. So it will also strengthen his lungs and get him to learn how to exercise his lungs – make them stronger, healthier as he gets older. Maybe he might even outgrow it. So I think it’s excellent for children with health problems – it might make a difference in small things and it might help them outgrow it, if they can get more physical.”

 

Representative Williams’ physical activity bill is one way of addressing obesity in the South – and does so at an early age.

Other states such as Arkansas, where thirty-percent of high school students are either overweight or obese, are working with the Center for Disease Control to find ways to improve physical fitness.