Numerous accidents involving children can be avoided, not least if children are sufficiently encouraged in their movement skills.
For Child Safety Day 2022 on June 10th, the BAG Mehr Sicherheit für Kinder e. V., in cooperation with the German Gymnastics Youth and the Safety in Sport Foundation, focuses on promoting physical activity.
This topic is becoming particularly explosive due to the corona pandemic. Scientists and paediatricians are concerned about the drop in physical activity among children in view of the long lockdowns in the last two years. Inaccessible exercise offers in leisure time and in sports and swimming clubs as well as homeschooling without going to school and without exercise breaks are in extreme contrast to the activity recommendations newly published by the WHO in 2020: According to this, the new guideline recommends all children and adolescents aged five to 17 years, “Being active at least 60 minutes a day at moderate to vigorous intensity.”
Reason enough to make the promotion of physical activity the focus of Child Safety Day, which takes place on June 10 every year. The promotion of physical activity is examined from two perspectives:
- On the one hand, it is about addressing the general public, parents and multipliers with the aim of making exercise and sport fun and encouraging children to exercise in order to support their health, develop their risk competence in line with their age and thus prevent accidents to strengthen.
- On the other hand, it is about providing the public, parents and multipliers with information on how exercise and sport can be safe. After all, there is also a risk of accidents associated with sport and exercise.
Against this background, BAG, together with the German Gymnastics Youth and the Safety in Sport Foundation, is developing a. a brochure to address parents and carers that addresses precisely these issues. In addition, low-threshold and easy-to-implement exercise offers for everyday family life as well as for sports clubs and day-care centers are presented as part of a high-profile event around Child Safety Day. Basically, it’s about conveying the special, accident-preventive importance of promoting physical activity, setting easy-to-implement incentives for physical activity and giving tips on how to distinguish safe from dangerous play and physical activity offers.