Article from Daily American
VICKI ROCK
Daily American Staff Writer
11:28 p.m. EDT, April 4, 2012
SOMERSET-— Alisha Black can see a difference in children's attention spans before and after recess.
"Sometimes it's a big difference," said Black, lead teacher for the Pre-K Counts class at Maple Ridge Elementary School in Somerset. "Some really need to burn off the energy."
Linda McDonough said children need exercise.
"It builds up their bodies and stimulates cognitive development," McDonough said. She is the director of early childhood education for the Head Start program through the Community Action Partnership for Somerset County, Tableland Services. "Children also need different kinds of activities: quiet and sedentary, and loud and gross motor skills active. These activities are needed for physical and cognitive growth."
The state requires Head Start and Pre-K Counts programs to have 45 minutes of play in a six-hour day. Those 45 minutes do not have to be in a block of time; the time can be divided through the day.
About 75 percent of preschoolers in the U.S. spend most of their days in child care centers and they are only active about 2 percent to 3 percent of the time, according to a recent study published in the journal Pediatrics. Dr. Kristen Copeland, a pediatrician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, said her research team found three main societal barriers to exercise: concerns about the children injuring themselves while at play; financial constraints that limited some centers' ability to purchase playground equipment; and a growing emphasis on academic learning over unstructured physical play time.
"Children develop mastery of gross motor skills — climbing, throwing and catching ball, skipping and learning to control their bodies — on their own at an early age, and these skills aren't taught in school," Copeland said in the article. "And children who are most comfortable with these skills show more self-confidence and have better peer relationships than children who don't."
McDonough agrees that in some cases there is pressure on preschools and elementary schools to stress academics. Some have cut recess time and gym classes.
Some parents believe that only boys need physical activity and that girls are content playing indoors. Dr. Pooja Tandon, a pediatrician and researcher at Seattle Children's Hospital, said her team's study shows that preschool girls are 16 percent less likely than boys their age to be taken outside by their parents to play. The study, published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, also shows that children who are cared for at home are more likely not to play outside. About 42 percent of those who don't regularly attend a child care center don't go outside to play daily.
"I think girls in general can be more content with sedentary stuff," McDonough said. "When I was growing up, even in high school, girls were not allowed to play full-court basketball or to climb the ropes in gym. It's great how times have changed. We encourage all parents to get their children outside to play."
Article from Daily American
