"Today's kids can't keep up with their parents. An analysis of studies on millions of children around the world finds they don't run as fast or as far as their parents did when they were young.

On average, it takes children 90 seconds longer to run a mile than their counterparts did 30 years ago. Heart-related fitness has declined 5 percent per decade since 1975 for children ages 9 to 17.

The American Heart Association, whose conference featured the research on Tuesday, says it's the first to show that children's fitness has declined worldwide over the last three decades.

"It makes sense. We have kids that are less active than before," said Dr. Stephen Daniels, a University of Colorado pediatrician and spokesman for the heart association.

Health experts recommend that children 6 and older get 60 minutes of moderately vigorous activity accumulated over a day. Only one-third of American kids do now.

"Kids aren't getting enough opportunities to build up that activity over the course of the day," Daniels said. "Many schools, for economic reasons, don't have any physical education at all. Some rely on recess" to provide exercise.

Sam Kass, a White House chef and head of first lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move program, stressed the role of schools in a speech to the conference on Monday.

"We are currently facing the most sedentary generation of children in our history," Kass said.  The new study was led by Grant Tomkinson, an exercise physiologist at the University of South Australia. Researchers analyzed 50 studies on running fitness — a key measure of cardiovascular health and endurance — involving 25 million children ages 9 to 17 in 28 countries from 1964 to 2010.

The studies measured how far children could run in 5 to 15 minutes and how quickly they ran a certain distance, ranging from half a mile to two miles. Today's kids are about 15 percent less fit than their parents were, researchers concluded."

(link)

I bet Rob Ford's kids are more fit than him...

Another thought I just had re: this - A generation ago, more kids had physically demanding chores to do. Mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, delivering papers on a bike, etc. Today, if you suggested an 8-year-old use a lawn mower, in some circles you'd be accused of child endangerment. Yet that is when I started mowing my family's lawn. And there was definitely no motor-assist. And so many people have snowblowers, leaf blowers, etc., that there's no need to enlist young muscles.

Another thought I just had re: this - A generation ago, more kids had physically demanding chores to do. Mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, delivering papers on a bike, etc. Today, if you suggested an 8-year-old use a lawn mower, in some circles you'd be accused of child endangerment. Yet that is when I started mowing my family's lawn. And there was definitely no motor-assist. And so many people have snowblowers, leaf blowers, etc., that there's no need to enlist young muscles.

Good point.  Also, as kids we had more freedom.  On a summer morning, I would take off and not be seen by mom until I came home for lunch.  In between, I was riding bikes and climbing trees and trying to keep up with the older kids.  I had to pedal hard to keep up with the older kids when they tried to lose me.  Sometimes on a dare I climbed way too high in a tree, but had to find the strength to get myself down (or fall).

Now, if you just let your 9-year old run free you'd be accused of neglect.

Sometimes I look at what's in the cart ahead of me in line at the grocery store and I have to shake my head - and we wonder why kids are overweight?   "Food shopping" is now "questionable foodlike products shopping".

I'm not the only one who does this??? YAY!!!!

 

Are you kidding? We are nothing on these forums if not judgemental.

We had gym class every day in school all the way through high school. I have the emotional scars to prove it. Now you only need I think one year in middle school & one semester in high school. And we watched plenty of TV, but we spend hours & hours outside, until our moms yelled at us to come in for dinner or bedtime. Which kids don't seem to do much any more. And of course there is the food. Remember "pizza day" in the school cafeteria? EVERY day is actually pizza day now. And all the snacks with their fat and sugar and HFCS, blah blah blah.

I like to think we are the good kind of judgemental. 

One of the reasons kids aren't outside running around is that they are doing "organized" activities, among them are sports, so there is some hope.