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Get Kids Moving to Help Their Bodies, Minds and Lifelong Health

By Sophia Z. Wastler, MS.Ed, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 04/01/19, 12:00PM PDT

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The sedentary lifestyle is bad for our health, and our kids are learning these bad habits from an early age.

Screen time has more than doubled for children under 2 years old since 1997. In a 2014 study from JAMA Pediatrics, researchers found that children under the age of 2 are getting 3.05 hours in front of a screen compared to 1.32 hours in 1997. Two and a half hours of that time is in front of a television.

For children ages 3 to 5, the amount of time spent in front of a screen didn’t change much from the 2.47 hours in 1997, but the amount of time spent in front of a television doubled from one hour in 1997 to two hours in 2014. With all of this increased screen time, it’s hard not to wonder how it affects the physical and mental well-being of our children.