“We found several previously unreported barriers that meant kids had to stay inside, including inappropriate footwear such as flip flops and inappropriate clothing for the weather,” said Dr. Copeland. In some child care centers, if one child in the group shows up without a coat on a chilly day, she noted, that means the whole group has to stay inside. Even more surprising to the researchers was the fact that the child-care staff members said some parents appear to intentionally keep their children’s coats (or send children without coats) so they’d have to stay inside, which staff attributed to parents’ concerns about the child getting injured or dirty, or a having a cold that may be exacerbated by cold weather. Just as in the case of barrier to physical activity in school age children, preschool teachers also reported pressure to teach students "academics" was interfering as well.
"Playground surfacing or 'mulch' was also a concern of day care staff” said Dr. Copeland. “Many said that the kids eat the mulch, or use it as weapons, or it gets caught in their shoes. It also requires constant upkeep. It’s certainly not something that we had anticipated as an issue, but judging by the amount of and intensity of the discussions among child care teachers, it really is.”The study presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 5, was conducted at 34 child care centers in Cincinnati.
Additional information can be found at www.cincinnatichildrens.org.