Kids average over 2,000 hours in front of TV/computer per year

By Ai Lung Nguyen - April 2011.

HEALTH/TECHNOLOGY - According to new statistics released the average kid in Canada now spends over 40 hours / week (2,080 hours per year) in front of the TV and/or computer.

The 2011 annual report card from Active Healthy Kids Canada points the finger at a combination of TV, video games, Facebook, other internet websites and computer games. For the 5th year Canadian children have earned a failing grade for physical activity.

The report also points out that the ideal time for children to exercise is after school, the 3 hours between school ending at 3 PM and meal time at 6 PM, wherein they could be exercising. Instead the average Canadian kid spends only 14 minutes of that time doing moderate or vigorous exercise.

Only 9% of boys and 4% of girls meet Health Canada’s recommended minimum of one hour a day of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per day. Of both sexes only 7% are getting the recommended amount of daily exercise.

44% of kids meet the one-hour guideline three times a week and 80% get half an hour of exercise.

Ottawa spends less than $10 million a year on exercise programs, with real dollars per capita half of what they were in 1986. 72% of parents say their kids don’t have access to after-school programs that encourage physical activity. Its no wonder our children are as fat as Stephen Harper.

When polled 75% of kids said they would like to be doing some kind of physical sport after school, but are not able to because there is either no program or the programs available are too expensive.