Canada’s children are in real trouble, if recent studies are to be believed. The older ones getting out of high school are weak in math and English.
Their younger brothers and sisters have poor lifestyle habits which, if continued, could put them at risk of serious illnesses as adults.
This last piece of bad news was contained in a report of Canadian children aged six to 12 released recently by the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Canadian children as a whole graded C for being physically active and for their intake of junk food. They got a D on their exposure to second-hand smoke, and failing grades on their diets.
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Nearly one in three children involved in the study aren’t getting the minimum amount of activity needed to develop cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength and flexibility.
There was no breakdown into rural and urban, but undoubetdly some of the children surveyed were from rural areas, and these findings will help to lay to rest the myth that a rural lifestyle is necessarily a healthy one.
Instead of playing outside with friends, the study found that on average children watch television for 2.4 hours per day; while this may not seem like a lot, consider that this is on top of six or seven hours, five days a week, in the classroom.
Exposure to second-hand smoke appeared to be the main concern of the study. Not only are more than half of Canadian children exposed “to more than 4,000 chemicals, many of which are known to be harmful to humans,” but “these children are learning by example to take up smoking when they reach their teen years.” By age 15, 29 percent of teens smoke regularly.
As a mother, I am as concerned about the fact that children got failing grades for their diets: only 28 percent were found to eat mainly whole grain breads and cereals and only 20 percent get recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables.
This report is an indictment of family life in Canada.
Someone must look further to see why the study results are as they are. Is it because of poverty, of moms and dads too busy to have time to create a safe and healthy home environment? Is it laziness, lack of knowledge? Is it a largely rural or a mainly urban situation?
The problem has been identified, but unfortunately we can do little about it until we know the cause.
