Back to news

U.S. Parents Not Making Kids’ Health Top Priority

14 April 2011

U.S. Parents Not Making Kids’ Health Top Priority
By Tim Helm, President/CEO, YMCA of Greater Dayton
April 14, 2011

Despite growing rates of childhood obesity and chronic illness among kids in the U.S., only 15 percent of American parents rank overall physical health as the top concern for their children, according to national survey findings released recently by YMCA of the USA. The YMCA’s Family Health Snapshot also found that 74 percent of children ages 5 to 10 do not get the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day.

Helping families incorporate healthier habits in the home has never been more critical. The YMCA’s Family Health Snapshot, which surveyed more than 1,600 parents of children ages 5 to 10, found that the economy has created financial challenges and time constraints, making it difficult for many families to carve out time for physical activity and to provide a healthy home environment. In fact, 52 percent of parents surveyed said they’d been forced to cut back to some degree on their children’s extracurricular activities – key ways for children to get active playtime – in an effort to save money.

Many of our YMCA of Greater Dayton branches Healthy Kids Day™, which will take place this Saturday, April 16th, helps make physical activity easy and accessible. Healthy Kids Day is an event that reminds parents that health and well-being are vital to ensuring that children reach their full potential, and that being active can be as simple as making a play date with their kids. At Healthy Kids Day, the nation’s largest health day for kids, the Y is encouraging families to make play dates every day as a simple way to become healthier, more active and connected.

Our Y’s will offer their Healthy Kids Days at the following times:
April 16th 9am - noon  South Y (Kettering)
  10am – 1pm  Coffman Y (Springboro)
  10am – 2pm  West Carrollton Y
  10am – noon   YMCA Trotwood NDC
  6:30pm – 8:30pm  Xenia Y
  9:30am – 12:30pm Kleptz Y (Englewood)
  9am – noon  Beavercreek Y
  Noon – 2pm  Fairborn Y

April 19th 6pm – 8pm  Downtown Y (Dayton)

April 23rd 10am – 2pm  Preble County Y


The YMCA’s Family Health Snapshot also found:

• 74 percent of parents opt to spend family time with their kids sitting in front of the TV.

• 42 percent of parents say growing technological distractions – social networks, computer games and cell phones – are getting in the way of active play, although 53 percent admit they spend leisure time with their children on the computer or playing video games.

• 58 percent of children ages 5 to 10 play outdoors less than four days a week.

• Parents are more concerned with their children’s financial security (42 percent), education (17 percent), and moral and ethical values (17 percent) than physical activity.


As a leading nonprofit for youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, the YMCA of Greater Dayton is committed to improving the health and well-being of the Greater Dayton region and helping families achieve healthy living goals. To learn more about our YMCA, please visit www.ymcaonline.org.

For more on the YMCA’s Family Healthy Snapshot results, please visit ymca.net.