National Non-profit Urges Families to Examine the State of Recess At Schools

Share On Social!

Physical activity and recess are both important to a child’s development and growth, but many times students aren’t provided with enough recess time at school. This is especially true for Latino students.

According to a Salud America! research brief, schools with predominantly Latino students were were less likely to receive at least 20 minutes of recess compared to schools with primarily White students.

Playworks, a national non-profit that helps schools transform the recess experience for students, is working to help change that. They are asking parents to learn more about the state of recess at their child’s local school.

All kids should be getting at least an hour of physical activity everyday and part of that should include 20 minutes of recess time. Unfortunately many schools have cut recess or eliminated it altogether.

So what should recess look like at your child’s school?

In order to help parents determine whether recess is adequate at their child’s school, Playworks has listed eight key questions for parents to ask regarding recess:

• Does your child’s school have a daily recess period?
• Do all kids feel included?
• Do children have a common set of rules to follow?
• Do kids solve their own conflicts?
• Are there active, trained adults on the playground?
• Is there a variety of games for kids to play?
• Does your child’s school withhold recess as a punishment?
• Are kids give the opportunity to lead on the playground?

Recess can be a time of great enrichment for a child, but according to Playworks, it can also be a time where bullying and playground fights can occur. Therefore, schools need to consider adopting recess programs which teach conflict management, in addition to offering engaging forms of physical activity.

As kids head back to school, it’s important that parents ask these questions, and help educators find ways to overcome any challenges that might come with bringing quality recess to students.

Learn more about Playworks and recess here. To view the recess checklist, click here.

Join @saludtoday (Salud America!), @AL_Research (Active Living Research), and @YMCA (the Y), Tuesday, August 26, 2014 at 12 pm CST for a #GrowingHealthyChange Tweetchat on Latino Kids and Active Play. During the tweetchat we’ll share Salud Hero success stories, and talk about ways to reduce barriers to physical activity. Parents, teachers, and community members are all invited to join the conversation and to speak up for improvements to in-school and out-of-school physical activity time.

To join the tweetchat simply use the hashtag #GrowingHealthyChange  in all your tweets and share your comments.