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Belgian kids near bottom of international physical activity survey
Belgium places near the bottom of a worldwide ranking on the daily exercise habits of young children, write various media based on a report by the University of Leuven, Ghent University and the Scientific Institute of Public Health.
The report compares the situation in 38 countries, and shows that while pre-schoolers in Belgium easily get more than 180 minutes a day of physical activity, this number peters out as the children get older. Only 6.5% of the country's six- to nine-year-olds have one hour a day of moderate to vigorous exercise, and as few as 2.4% of teenagers reach this norm.
The findings also reveal that Belgian girls pull the average down, with seven to eight times less daily physical activity than boys. "They are involved in fewer sports, and tend to move around less on the playground," says University of Leuven exercise expert Jan Seghers, one of the researchers.
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Am not surprised. My children attended Belgian primary and secondary. The "playgrounds" were asphalt, nothing much to do but stand or run, if there was a basketball hoop it was broken and no proper balls to use, and gym was oftentimes running around the block. Admittedly there were no obese or fat children in their classes so that is a plus. They had swimming lessons once a week which was a joke. Suggest they scrap the swimming lessons (learning to swim should be up to the parents to teach or pay for lessons) and make the school playgrounds more interesting. The playground WCs were always falling apart and dirty. Note: school was in a well to do neighborhood and education was good. Downside was poor outdoor/gym activity.
Our school is in Flemish countryside and the children do at least one hour of physical exercise a day (lunch break), plus swimming lessons, plus PE, plus 'sport after school' activity. I know for a fact that the Flemish invest in the sport activities at school. One has to consider where children go to school and what the infrastructure is before one signs children up.