Tucker et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:168 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/168 [16]. Clearly, encouragement of appropriate physical activity levels among young children is crucial in the home environment, and mechanisms to support parents to engage in activity with their children are necessary. An additional finding of this study was the providers’ perspectives that children spend a substantial amount of time in sedentary behaviours at home. While the results of this study do not come from parents, children often tell their childcare provider(s) what they did on the weekend, and participants reported that many of their charges spend a great deal of time in front of a screen (e.g., televi- sion, computer, video game). This findings is not surpris- ing given the national average for screen time among Canadian youth is 6 hours per day on weekdays and 7 hours per day on weekend days, and that 27% of 2-3 year old toddlers and 23% of 4-5 year old preschoolers engage in more than 2 hours of screen time per day [7]. Parents of preschoolers have previously reported that their children spend 1 to 5 hours a day in front of a screen and that the television is often used as a “babysitter” [37]. With the increased presence of both parents in the workforce, parents of preschoolers have reported that they are “too busy” and “too tired” to actively play with their children [38], resulting in increased time in sedentary behaviours. The high rate of screen viewing, and consequently, seden- tary behaviours, is problematic given the rising rates of childhood obesity, and efforts are needed to entice families to turn off the screens and engage in active play together. Although the present study provides a number of important findings, the limitations of this research must be acknowledged. First, it must be noted that because the intended primary focus of this research was not the home environment, and instead it was an unanticipated theme about which caregivers focussed, we may have missed asking some focus group questions that probed even deeper into this area. Secondly, the participants included a convenience sample of very eager childcare providers and the results of this study are limited to our sample. Regardless of these limitations, the present study offers valuable insights into the need for parent- caregiver partnerships and the importance of providing a supportive home environment with parents who actively play with their children. Conclusion The current study provides insightful and unique infor- mation regarding childcare providers’ perspectives about the importance of the home environment in supporting preschoolers’ physical activity participation. The results of this study highlight the need for parents and childcare staff to work together to engage preschoolers in ample activity and to communicate similar messaging regarding the importance of this health behaviour. Specifically, the examples provided by participants highlight the need for Page 6 of 7 effective staff and parent partnerships in service of devel- oping active behaviours among young children; in other words, the effort and education that transpires in the childcare centre could be lost if children go home to an environment and parents that do not support or value physical activity. As discussed above, previous research has found that physical activity participation among pre- schoolers is linked to parents’ physical activity levels (role modeling) and an activity-supporting home environment [35]. In the current research, participants acknowledged the opportunity and necessity for increased collaboration and partnership between childcare providers and parents to support healthy active behaviours among these young citizens. Acknowledgements This research was supported by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario’s Community Advocacy Grant. We would like to thank Leigh Vanderloo for her assistance with data collection and analysis and for her help in preparing this manuscript. Special thanks are extended to the childcare providers who participated in this study. Author details 1School of Occupational Therapy, 1201 Western Road, Elborn College, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6G 1H1, Canada. 2Middlesex- London Health Unit, 50 King St., London, ON, N6A 5L7, Canada. 3School of Health Studies, Arthur & Sonia Labatt Health Sciences Building, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B9, Canada. Authors’ contributions PT conceived of the study and oversaw all aspects. PT also completed a number of the focus groups, was responsible for data analysis and drafting the manuscript. MvZ completed data collection and analysis and assisted with the first draft of the manuscript. SB assisted with data analysis and provided feedback on the manuscript. JI assisted with data collection and provided feedback on the manuscript. All authors contributed to the design of the study and read and approved of the final manuscript. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. 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