Youth Physical Activity

Youth Physical Activity

hi dear,

can help me to finish this assignment with good quality and be on time please?

I just need to 2 responses to the Discussions, and about 100 words for each responses.

1) According to the Youth Physical Activity: The Role of Schools, what schools can do to promote physical activity describes various activities that schools can practice to encourage students to be physically active for example: policies that support physical activity, educate parents on the importance of physical activity, motivate school staff to be physically active to be role models for students, and collaborate and invite families and local groups to participate in school-base physical activity and events that promote physical activity (Youth Physical Activity:The Role of Schools, 2009). As I reflect on my experience in elementary school we didn’t have a physical activity policy or physical activity programs. Our teacher would take all the class out to play a sport once a week and that was considered our P.E. time. Teachers didn’t get involved, they usually just watched students. I don’t remember ever having an event that promoted physical activity. I also remember that students couldn’t join a sport team until they reached 5th or 6thgrade and lower grades couldn’t participate until they reached 5th grade. I remember complaining to my parents about this, I wanted to participate and wasn’t allowed until I was in 5th grade. I felt my school did a horrible job in promoting physical activity. We did have recess but didn’t have a quality physical education class nor physical activity breaks.

2) The CDC recommends that children, aged 6-17, get at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity activity daily which includes aerobic, muscle strengthening, and bone strengthening at least 3 times per week. (CDC, 2018). This recommendation is actually doable, but I feel when not influenced by parents/caregivers and school officials, this is easy to be dismissed in this day of increased technology use and indoor activities.
Although it has been quite some time since I was in school, I do have recollections of being in 4th and 5th grade and having ample opportunities daily to run and play before school, after lunch and during daily physical education classes. However, as we advanced in grade, the requirements and opportunities to exercise during the school day became less and replaced by more academic requirements. When looking back on my high school years, I recall only limited requirements for physical activities, unless we were encouraged, or interested in participating in a sport. As a part of one of my PE classes, I joined the swim team where I learned techniques and competed for one semester. In recalling my children’s time in school, I find that they also suffered from minimal times and encouragement for physical activity. As they got older, in high school for example, they were only required to have a total of 2 years of physical education or other equivalent training/participation.
But, because we were already a pretty active family, my kids not only had a variety of activities throughout their school times/days, but also during the weekends, vacations, etc.
The decline of the school-based promotion and requirement for daily physical activity in children has the potential to not only harm the child, physically, but mentally, and academically. According to a study of the effects of classroom-based physical activity done by Donnelly and Lambourne, there is “increasing evidence for the association between physical activity, cardiovascular fitness, fatness , and cognitive function “. (Donnelly & Lambourne, 2011). One example of this was noted by the Action for Healthy Kids organization which strives to help communities, schools, and parents tools and tips to help increase physical activity in children. This organization helps in fundraising and providing grants to schools who are unable to financially support increased or basic activities in their schools. In a report from 2013, the Glen Acres Elementary School in Lafayette, Indiana, was given a $5000 grant to support a program that was initiated by a PE teacher seeking to help their kids an additional 15 minutes of activity per day. She started a project that provided for kids in all grades to begin their school day with a 15 minute light workout/stretching and sending them off to class with a positive affirmation and feeling better. The other teachers all noted improved academic performances during this trial period and she found that even the children were asking for the program and were disappointed on those days that the “Stretch & Go” program was not available. This as found to be a very beneficial program for them and I feel all schools could incorporate something similar in their daily curriculum.
Although many children today are involved in extra-curricular activities and are shuffled around by well-meaning parents, I feel this type of activity, although beneficial in the long run, may not create the type of life-long habits of being active that our children today need in an increasing sedentary world.

Thanks,