Who is responsible for making sure my child is physically literate?
“Mom, I want to learn how to play team sports,” my 12-year-old son confided in me recently. My tween had been dabbling in a variety of activities throughout his childhood but he’d never shown an interest in team sports.
“I want to play soccer,” he went on. “It looks like fun and I want to play a sport with other kids.”
I nodded, digesting his request.
“But do you think I could play?” he went on. “I mean… I’m 12 and I’ve never played soccer… like actual soccer,” he said. I could hear uncertainty creep into his initial enthusiasm.
“Sure, why not?” I replied. “You know how to run and kick a ball. Yes, you’ll have to learn certain skills and rules, but you have a good foundation in movement skills.”
He nodded and smiled. Later that day we found a local week-long half-day summer camp open to all abilities and he couldn’t wait to get started.
The night before the camp, I could sense my tween’s excitement and trepidation. He triple-checked his gear and asked if he’d be the only one new to soccer. I tried my best to reassure him, feeling a little apprehensive myself, but my initial encouragement proved true. By day two of the camp, the coach was asking him if he’d played soccer before. When my son answered “Nope!” the coach suggested he play on a team. What a boost to his confidence!
Now, my tween isn’t an athletic prodigy by any means, but over the years various individuals have helped him develop a solid foundation in fundamental movement skills, also called physical literacy. If you’re wondering who helped my tween develop these movement skills and who has had the most impact on learning movement skills, keep on reading.
In this article, I’m going to look at who has the biggest impact on our children’s physical literacy and answer the important question: who is responsible for making sure my child is physically literate?
What is physical literacy: A quick primer
When talking about the concept of physical literacy, I like to start with the word literacy. Literacy involves reading and writing skills. These important skills start to develop in infancy and take many years of practice to fully develop.
Physical literacy is the “reading and writing” of movement. In other words, physical literacy “encompasses the skills, confidence, and love of movement to be physically active for life.” Just like reading and writing, physical literacy begins to develop early on and takes a long time to fully develop. What’s most important to know, however, is that just like reading and writing, physical literacy is crucial for healthy child development. Yes, just as important as reading and writing. When children have good physical literacy, they are healthier and happier. They even do better at school.
Who is responsible for my child’s physical literacy?
Let’s go back to literacy skills. When it comes to learning to read and write, teachers play a big role in passing on that knowledge to children once they go to school. In Canada, provincial elementary schools have a minimum of 100 to 120 minutes focused on literacy skills each day. However, outside of school, or before children go to school, parents play a key role in helping their children learn literacy skills. This is why organizations like the Public Health Agency of Canada encourage parents to read picture books [PDF] to their children throughout the early years of childhood development and beyond. There are other people that play an important role in children’s literacy too: daycare providers, preschool teachers, extended family, friends, librarians, and children’s book authors.
But what about physical literacy? According to PHE Canada [PDF], provincial elementary schools across Canada have physical education classes with daily physical activity requirements of 20 to 30 minutes per day, or 120 to 150 minutes a week. What this means is that depending on the school, the teacher, and the type of recess play children engage in, kids may or may not be getting the recommended minimum of 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity at school. There are definitely efforts to ensure children are moving more at school, but unfortunately there’s a lot of sitting. What this means is parents shouldn’t depend solely on teachers and schools to ensure their children are developing physical literacy for healthy child development. Just like reading, parents play a key role in their child’s development of physical literacy and movement skills, especially in the early years.
And like reading, there are other people that play an important role in helping children develop physical literacy. According to Sport for Life [PDF], “Developing physical literacy in our children will take the combined efforts of parents/guardians, day-care providers, school personnel, community recreation leaders and everyone involved in the Canadian sport system. Each has a role to play if we are to be successful.” My 12-year-old had teachers, coaches, community recreation leaders, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and friends help him develop physical literacy. A team effort makes a big difference!
At the end of the day, however, Sport for Life goes on to say that “ultimately the responsibility for developing a physically literate child rests with parents and guardians. Just as parents and guardians ensure their children are in learning situations that result in them having the ability to read, write and do mathematics, they must also ensure their children develop physical literacy.”
So if we go back to the question “Who is responsible for making sure my child is physically literate?”, the answer is parents and caregivers. If you’re a parent or guardian reading this article, you might be nodding your head in approval, or perhaps feeling overwhelmed, maybe even defeated… I get it. Raising children isn’t easy and it’s a big responsibility, but it’s also incredibly amazing and rewarding especially when we come alongside our children to move, play, learn movement skills and lead healthy lives together.
If you’re looking for the best way to raise a physically literate child, check out this physical literacy recipe and three-part series:
Part 1: The sure-bet recipe to raise kids who love (and will want) to get active
Part 2: The recipe to get kids moving—for life
Part 3: How to get your kids to spend more time moving with a simple recipe called physical literacy
Be a physical literacy role model and advocate!
Our kids watch us and mirror our behaviours, for good or bad. When we make movement and play a part of our lives, our children do too. As a mother of five kids, who range from toddlers to tweens and teens, I’ve experienced this first hand. When I role model being physically active and practice my movement skills, my kids follow my lead (yes, even my teens!). Sometimes that means we’re moving together, or going on a family walk, hike, or bike ride, but other times my children find their own activity.
When my children aren’t with me, I make a point to advocate for them and their well-being. Whether that means ensuring that they’re moving at school, while participating in sport programs or in other fun activities, I help ensure that I’m setting them up to develop physical literacy. How do I do that? I ask questions!
PHE Canada [PDF] encourages parents to “ensure that physical education is an integral part of [their] child’s experience” by asking the following questions:
- Is there adequate time in the school curriculum for physical education?
- Is the teacher delivering the program qualified and enthusiastic?
- Is the school fully delivering the physical education curriculum?
- Am I supporting my child/children in a wide variety of physical activities that are motivating and fun?
- Am I ensuring that my child/children have unstructured active play with family and friends?
Sport for Life also has a helpful Parent Lobbying Kit [PDF] (pages 31 to 34) that helps parents ask the right questions to make sure their children are receiving quality physical activity programs at pre-schools, schools, community recreation, and sport organizations. Be sure to check these great resources out.
Don’t forget to have fun!
Going back to literacy, learning how to read and write is much easier when it is fun and engaging. The same goes with physical literacy and leading an active lifestyle: embrace learning, try new things and, most of all, keep it fun!
