At diddi dance we recently conducted some research into adult’s awareness of the amount of physical activity their child should be engaged in. Shockingly 93% of adults were completely unaware that children under the age of 5 should be physically active for at least 3 hours a day!
Looking into adult’s perspectives on children’s exercise, we uncovered that over a third of Brits (34%) believe that children under 5 years old should be getting only 30 minutes of physical activity a day. What’s more, one in seven (14%) believe that young children don’t need to exercise because they run around enough as it is.
With tackling childhood obesity a high priority for the government, action is required to ensure children are getting enough exercise, and that parents understand how active their children should be.
Here Anne-Marie, the founder, gives us her advice and tips on achieving this.
– Why do you think it is that parents underestimate how much exercise children should be doing each day?
3 hours a day sounds like a lot yet that guideline of 3 hours includes light activity such as walking and playing as well as more physical play such as running, skipping and jumping. As a parent myself it’s easy to think that toddlers are on the go so much anyway they don’t need any extra activities or exercise.
– It seems that it’s hard to break habits when it comes to exercising – why do you think it is that we’re a nation that has such negative attitudes towards exercise?
I don’t think we necessarily have negative attitudes, we as a society have just maybe slipped into easier habits in life. Our aim at diddi dance is to help set children’s habits and lifestyles before the age of 5 rather than have the issue of trying to break bad habits later in life. If we can help toddlers see exercise as fun then they are more likely to lead a physically active and healthy lifestyle into adulthood.
– What tips would you give to busy parents on getting their under 5 active?
Anything that means they’re on their feet, walking when you might have put them in a buggy if its a short journey (and you’re not in a rush) or putting on their favourite song at home and having a boogie together. However not all parents have the confidence to act foolish at home or outdoors so finding a great local pre-school activity like diddi dance is perfect.
– So what are the benefits of a dance class?
Dance not only helps with fitness, co-ordination and rhythm it also helps with social skills, communication and interaction. It helps develop a child’s creativity and spacial awareness and is a fantastic confidence booster. We love seeing our diddi dancers blossom in our sessions.
To book your diddi one into a FREE trial click on the contact us page for your local diddi dancer and lets get moving!
