After-School Programs: Article Analysis

There is an abundance of support to provide daily physical education in our schools. First Lady Michelle Obama (2010) stated that she will lead a national initiative to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. In her initiative, she mentioned the intervention of increasing physical activity to change this epidemic (Obama, 2010). In fact, Healthy People 2020 has objectives to increase the portion of the America’s private and public schools that require daily physical education U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2011). There is also a national

Becoming increasingly more active is vital to combating and reducing obesity in children. Healthful, fitness habits, then, must be jumpstarted at institutions where all American children spend mandatory time, such as in a child’s school; evidently, “normal weight children get 16 more minutes of

More parents than ever these days are working outside of the home. This means that when the school bell rings, many children are left unsupervised and with no where to go but an empty house with no supervision. Not only that, but some parents are also struggling to provide adequate after-school care. Either they cannot afford the monthly payments of a daycare, or the programs are just simply not available to them. (Ansell, 2004).

Physical activity has not only physical benefits. It also has a very big impact on social-emotional and cognitive aspects of child’s live. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “The development of a physically active lifestyle is a goal for all children. Traditional team and competitive sports may promote healthy activity for selected youth. Individual sports, noncompetitive sports, lifetime sports, and recreational activities expand the opportunity for activity to everyone. The opportunity to be active on a regular basis, as well as the enjoyment and competence gained from activity, may increase the chances that a physically active lifestyle will be adopted.”

Physical activity also has benefits for children's social and emotional development and cognitive development. These benefits include being part of a team and making friends through group sports, which have a major impact on social and emotional development. The effect of obesity on children is closely linked to many bad health habits such as diet, smoking and drug use which in turn can affect a child's academic performance (Goran et al., 1999). Physical activity, if encouraged at a young age, can reduce the likelihood of children developing these behaviours and focus on their academic performance and cognitive development. As children in this age range are in their fundamental development stage, it is important that educators and parents alike, teach children about the importance of physical activity at a young age in order to prevent health and social well-being problems in their adult years.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Increasing physical activity among youth is an essential component of the broad strategy needed to curb the obesity epidemic” (CITATION). The AAP goes on to encourage different forms of physical activity, whether it’s joining a sport, taking part in extracurricular activities or even participating in gym class and to start this routine from childhood. When experimenting to see the impact that sports and extracurriculars made on a person’s health, they stated, “Our findings supports previous research demonstrating sports were related to substantially lower risk of both overweight/obesity and obesity” (CITATION). While other factors play a big part in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, childhood is a crucial point because that’s when the body is nurturing, which is why there should be more budgeting towards helping those who are unable to

This study analyzed the physical activity levels (PA), moderate-vigorous physical activity levels (MVPA), BMI, and waist circumferences (WC) in 202 (53% male; 47% female) children annually from ages seven to ten. These figures were kept track of in the subjects because “The aim of the present study was to use

Obesity in school-age children is a problem in North Carolina. “North Carolina is the 23rd most obese state in the United States for children www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/Data/Texts/Quick%20Facts.pdf – 31.4% of youth in North Carolina are overweight or obese” https://www.healthiergeneration.org/...childhood_obesity/.../north_caroli... (Child Obesity Rate). There is a mandated physical education requirement for school-age children attending public schools in North Carolina. The North Carolina State Board of Education Policy Manual states “that every kindergarten through eighth grade student should be engaged in at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily” (Recess and Physical Activity). In spite of being clearly stated in policy and described in detail, many of the school-age children in North Carolina are still suffering from poor health. Based on the above information and recent research, the North Carolina State Board of Education needs to revise their policy on physical education. The new policy should state that school-age children in North Carolina “should participate every day in 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity that is enjoyable and developmentally appropriate”. By increasing school-age children’s physical activity to 60 minutes a day, the obesity rate of school-age children in North Carolina will reduce.

The United States is a staggering thirty percent of the world’s obesity; that percentage could be reduced up to 10% if elementary aged kids participated in a sport; so be active SPC! (Janssen). One issue with elementary kids playing an organized sport is that most schools do not offer school sports until the middle school ages (6th-12th grade). Starting a sport at an early age not only is an advantage to being better at the sport when a child is older, it also increases the chances of going to college (Lindholm). High school athletes are more likely to attend college because of sports, starting sports earlier is better because they get a head start (Mandic). Elementary students playing sports opens up room for improvement.

The purpose of the study in the article Recess Physical Activity Packs in Elementary Schools is to see how incorporating fitness equipment impacts student activity during the 150-minute recess time. The researchers also wanted to determine the perception of teachers and principals. From a total of 4 elementary schools, 12 participants were selected. Of these 12 participants, there was one male teacher and three female teachers. From the students, there were two female students and two male students. Four principals were the last selected, they were all female. Purposeful sampling was the technique used to select all of the participants.

Although school sports or organized sports teaches children lessons in life to be successful human beings, the most important reason that children should play sports is to be healthy. When children are school sports or organized sport teams, they are going to get the exercise that they need to get healthy and stay healthy. “An increase in physical activity has many health benefits: it lowers the risk of obesity, coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, hypertension, and osteoporosis”. (Collard, 2008) Exercise teaches children to be physical fit, but also teaches children that nutrition is also important. Child obesity is on the rise in the United States. In today’s society we lead very busy lives and it is convenient to stop at fast food restaurants between work, home and sporting events to pick up dinner. Also, there are a lot of entertaining shows on television that children are interested in watching. We can help our children become healthier by leading healthy lifestyles as a family. Exercising is important to keep children fit and healthy to prevent injuries. Injuries can happen to healthy children

Physical activity is essential for children; therefore sport participation has many physical benefits for youths (Willox, 1994). In the United States there is a very unhealthy trend of physically unfit children going on. According to a recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health seven out of ten kids in our nation are out of shape and the incidence of obesity has increased by more than 50 percent among America's children and teen since 1976 and continues to grow at a staggering rate (Metzel & Shookhoff, 2006). When children participate in sports activities they get some of the exercise they need to improve their quality of life and can help prevent children from becoming obese. Physical activity regulates obesity because it increases energy expenditure, suppresses appetite, increases metabolic rate, and increases lean body mass (Willox, 1994). Even though regular physical sport activity has been shown to improve physical fitness, it can also help in preventing many different health problems down the line that youths who participate in sports are more likely not to develop than youths who do not participate in sports. Women who participated in organized sport and fitness programs as

One program assessed the physical activity in terms of adolescent health. They compared traditional and enhanced PE programs in schools. In the tested group, traditional,

“There are approximately forty nine million children and youth, ages 6-17 living in the U.S.” (“Making the Case” 1). Children need care while they are in the initial stages of growth and development. Whether this care is provided by a mother, father, sibling, or other guardian, a child needs to be loved. When children turn a certain age, the care of the family is added to by caregivers in another institution. While attending school, children are shown care for the duration of the day by teachers, mentors, and other aids. This is a productive time for the children’s development because they are being nurtured in a well rounded, safe environment. This environment provides initial academic

Obesity is the condition of being seriously overweight. It is now considered a global health epidemic by the World Health Organization (2000) (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010). Physical activity is important to children in the middle childhood age group because a staggering amount of children have become overweight in the last few decades and teachers play a role in preventing obesity by becoming a positive role model,