Parents

Welcome to the parents area of our website. In this area we hope to provide information that will help you support your students school experience in many ways. Thank you for taking time to visit this area of our website.

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Balgonie Elementary School Website: "The Bobcat's Den"

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 Parenting After Separation & Divorce 2015

DAILY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY 

Interested in learning about the importance of daily physical activity for youth?

• See our Daily Physical Activity area 

Quick Physical Activity Facts about Canadians

• Physical inactivity is considered to be an even greater health problem than cigarette smoking—26% of Canadians are smokers, whereas more than 35% of Canadians are inactive.
• More than two-thirds of Canadians are not active enough to derive positive benefits of healthy living and are putting themselves at risk for a number of life-threatening diseases (Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute 1998).
• Regular physical activity can reduce the risk of colon cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis. In addition, there is evidence that physical activity during adolescence may protect against later development of breast cancer in women (Heart Health Coalition 1997).
• Active students are less susceptible to stress, exhibit positive attitudes about school and themselves, are less aggressive and play better with fellow students (Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance 1992).
• In 2000–2001, four out of five Canadian youths were not active enough to meet international guidelines for optimal growth and development (Canadian Population Health Initiative 2004).
• In 1998, Canadians 15 years and older spent an average of 15 hours per week watching television compared to only seven hours per week in active leisure pursuits (Canadian Population Health Initiative 2004). Time spent playing video games by Canadian children is amongst the highest in the world.
• Children and youth who participate in regular physical activity are less likely to smoke or consume alcohol or drugs (Stephens and Craig 1990).
• Physically active people make fewer visits to physicians, have lower hospital usage and require less medical attention overall than less active individuals. A 10% reduction in the number of inactive Canadians would save $5 billion in health care costs (Rock 1998).
• Over the past two decades, the number of overweight and obese children has nearly tripled in Canada. Obese children and adolescents have a greater occurrence of hypertension, high cholesterol levels and a greater incidence of Type 2 diabetes (Canadian Population Health Initiative 2004).

Facts about the Impact of Physical Activity on Academic Performance (Information retrieved from pages 2-4 of the Alberta Education Handbook on Daily Physical Activity for Grades 1-9)

• Available data suggest that the rate of academic learning per unit of class time is enhanced in physically active students and lack of curricular time is not a valid reason for avoiding daily physical education (Shephard 1997).
• Research demonstrates that a reallocation of curricular time toward Physical Education has no negative impact on academic performance and may in fact facilitate academic performance (Mackenzie 1972, Shephard 1996).
• Moderate to vigorous physical activity favourably enhances performance in classroom functions such as arithmetic, reading, memorization and categorization (Keays 1993).
• A 2001 study of almost 8000 children between the ages of 7 and 15 years observed significant positive correlations between self-reported physical activity and results of standardized fitness tests with academic performance (Dwyer et al. 2001).
• Regular participation in physical education and physical activity is related to improved self-esteem, which in turn is related to better academic achievement, especially in young girls (Tremblay, Inman and Wilms 1998).
• Results from the California Physical Fitness Test (2004) reveal strong positive relationships between physical fitness and academic achievement (California Department of Education 2004).
• Athletic participation is associated with fewer incidences of smoking, drug use, unwanted pregnancy, delinquent behaviour and dropping out of school (Kerr 1996).
• Students who had physical education five times per week outperformed the control group in academic coursework (Shephard and Trudeau 2000).

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