Why Canadian children are becoming physically inactive (ft. @humanecities )
Channel: More Than Transit
Date: 2023-04-20

Public spaces, from parks to recreational facilities to natural areas, are crucial for children's cognitive, physical and mental development. However, the absence of such spaces in many communities has accidentally imprisoned children and hindered their development. 

In a CBC Learning Curve and ParticipAction report published in 2022, there was a huge dip in the level measuring how active children were. Sure the lockdown was mostly to blame, but when the outdoor environment has nothing but car-dependent suburbia and pedestrian-hostile infrastructure, I bet no kids want to be “outside and stay active.” 

This video was done as a collaboration with @humanecities. Alex also made a video about natural parks in Calgary, Alberta that you should check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uODVLn58u6U&lc=UgwFlGwiBJd-AR4-OYp4AaABAg.9oe6ykqPlYd9oe7fAnc_-1&ab_channel=humanecities 

This video was filmed safely, regarding children's privacy and safety under Bill C-30 and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) of the Government of Canada, YouTube's COPPA laws and Saskatchewan's Children and Family Services Act. No children were involved or recorded in the making of the video. 

Links to the sources used in the video: 
About ParticipAction: https://www.participaction.com/the-science/children-and-youth-report-card/
ParticipAction's report: https://www.participaction.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-Children-and-Youth-Report-Card.pdf
CBC News's Report: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/participaction-report-card-kids-physical-activity-1.6605940
CBC News's Learning Curve series: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/learning-curve-sedentary-kids-1.6460033
Government of Canada's report of children's activity: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/being-active/children-physical-activity.html
Globe and Mail's article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/only-1-in-8-canadian-kids-get-enough-exercise-report-says/article4189297/
Active Healthy Kids' report 2018: https://www.activehealthykids.org/2018/10/16/how-active-are-american-youth-new-findings-from-the-2018-us-report-card-on-physical-activity-for-children-and-youth/
Human Kinetics journal: https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jpah/15/s2/article-pS328.xml
City of Calgary's inclusive playground: https://www.calgary.ca/parks/inclusive-playgrounds.html

Other resources to check out:
"Happy City" by Charles Montgomery: https://a.co/d/aUVy9sQ
"Walkable Cities" by Jeff Speck: https://a.co/d/gk0x76f
"Strong Towns: A Bottom-up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity" - Charles Marohn (from Strong Towns): https://a.co/d/iuAoOEd
(All links here were from Amazon for references, please consult your local bookstores or libraries to shop locally)
Prairie Design Lab Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/prairie-design-lab/id1534441757
Strong Towns Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-strong-towns-podcast/id369032477

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:25 Statistics
1:24 "Shockingly" similar statistics from 12 years ago
1:57 The reasons - backstory
2:13 Reason #1: Inadequate public spaces
3:37 Reason #2: The functions of the public spaces
4:30 Impacts on Children's health
5:21 There's a way forward
6:02 @humanecities 's part
7:55 Conclusion
8:26 The ending quote


Copyright-free images used in the video:
Image by WikiImages from Pixabay 
Image by Sepp from Pixabay 
Image by Mark Thomas from Pixabay  
Image by Pexels from Pixabay 
Image by Scott Warburton from Pixabay 

Music used in the video:
"Tokyo Music Walker - Your Little Wings" is under a Creative Commons (CC-BY 3.0) license
Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://bit.ly/bkc-little

My social:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@morethantransit 
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@morethantransit
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morethantransit/
Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/WQJrNVh2MJ

If you find my content to be helpful, feel free to check out my Patreon and Buy Me a Coffee for a small donation. I highly appreciate any amounts you chip in!
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/morethantransit
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/morethantransit