Home daycare offers a warm, family-like environment for little ones – but does it provide enough get-up-and-go? According to a new report released from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), young children in home daycare are not likely to be getting enough physical activity.
A small study that measured physical activity among 2- to 4-year-olds in home daycare found that when children were not napping, most of their activities were sedentary. On average, 264 of their 330 daily minutes (excluding nap time) were inactive. The children got about 36.5 minutes per day of light physical activity, 14 minutes of moderate activity and 18 minutes of vigorous or moderate-to-vigorous activity.
Until more research or guidelines are available, parents of children in home daycare should ask caregivers what kinds of physical activity their children are getting on a daily basis.
