Excerpts 

Healthy movement behaviours support young children’s physical, mental and social development, and shape lifelong habits. These habits include engaging in physical activity, reducing sedentary screen time and obtaining sufficient sleep, including naps.

National 24-hour movement guidelines for children exist in Canada, with recommendations on physical activity, sedentary and screen time and sleep.

Nevertheless, only 13 percent of young children in Canada are meeting these guidelines.

Over one million young children (aged birth to five years) in Canada attend child care, spending most of their weekday waking hours in these settings. The number of children enrolled in child care is projected to rise with the rollout of the national Early Learning and Child-Care Plan, which comes with reduced fees for parents.

Child-care settings play an influential role in healthy movement behaviours and early childhood development, offering a unique and primary environment for supporting these behaviours — and a prime location to enact movement guidelines. Despite this, discrepancies remain in the quality of child care across Canada, and only the Northwest Territories and British Columbia specify a duration of required physical activity in their regulations.

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While guidelines are important, simply introducing new guidelines may not be enough to effectively improve healthy movement behaviours in child care.

Rather, combining guidelines with professional development designed to enhance educators’ skills and confidence to provide movement opportunities may help effectively put guidelines into practice.

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