Is your child getting enough physical activity?

• Make sure your child%27s school is meeting PE requirements
• Don%27t assume that kids who play sports are getting enough activity
• Add some simple activities to your routine to boost activity levels

If anyone had asked our moms if their children were getting enough physical activity, they would've laughed. "Of course!" But today's increasingly sedentary lifestyle leaves many kids short on the exercise and play time they need to protect their health.

According to a May 2012 Institute of Medicine report, only about half of America's kids and teens get enough activity to meet current guidelines. Those recommendations call for kids to participate in at least 60 minutes of vigorous or moderately intense physical activity every day.

But during the school day, few kids actually get this recommended amount of time. "Only 4 percent of elementary schools, 8 percent of middle schools, and 2 percent of high schools provide daily physical education," according to the Institute of Medicine report.

How can you tell if your child is active enough?

Be a PE sleuth

First, check your school district's PE requirements and see if your child's school complies with minimum requirements.

How?

That can be a little complicated, says Stephen R. Daniels, pediatrics chairman at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital in Aurora, Colo.

"Activity at school can come in different forms. The best would be regular physical education classes," he says. But some schools have replaced PE with recess, which can be good—or not—depending on how it's organized and what your child is actually doing during recess. "Some (kids) may be sitting along the fence and spending their time socializing" instead of being active, he says.

He suggests parents talk to the teachers and administrators or pose the question at parent-teacher meetings. And don't forget to ask the kids themselves. While it's true that "sometimes you have to take the answers with a bit of a grain of salt," you'll get a better idea of who is doing what and what opportunities for activity your kids have, he says.

When reading versus running

Schools should provide 150 to 200 minutes of activity per week but "maybe 40 to 50 percent (of schools), at best, come close," says Rob Gotlin, a New York City sports medicine doctor and author of Dr. Rob's Guide to Raising Fit Kids. He thinks most come up short because of pressures to focus on academics and fulfilling requirements such as No Child Left Behind.

And parents should not assume that kids who play on organized sports teams are getting the right level of activity, says Gotlin. Too often kids on teams spend a lot of time listening to coaches or standing around instead of running around. "I think organized sports may be one of the biggest factors of why kids are not physically fit," he says.

He advises parents to watch on the sidelines (at games or recess) to see how much activity your kid is actually getting.

Add activity in easy ways

If you think your child is not getting enough activity at school or by playing organized sports, try adding these easy activities to your routine:

• Give your child a pedometer. Kids who didn't have access to PE were given pedometers to wear at school for six hours a day, five days a week, during a 2008-09 study, one of Montefiore School Health Program's many obesity prevention initiatives. The study demonstrated that 2,000 children with pedometers took an average of 320 more steps per day than kids without pedometers. Imagine how many more steps kids would take if they could wear pedometers all day.
• Find a nearby park or playground. Kids who lived in neighborhoods without playgrounds had a 29 percent higher incidence of obesity, according to a study conducted by Deborah Puntenney, a research associate professor at Northwestern University. Kids who lived within a half-mile of a park or playground were nearly five times more likely to be a healthy weight. Bonus: the study reported that parents who lived near playgrounds said they played outside with their kids at least three times a week.
• Limit TV time. A study published in 2012 showed that the more hours of TV kids watch, the worse their muscular fitness and waistline measurements get, especially as they near their teen years.
• Shift out of sedentary habits. Encourage kids to walk or bike (when safe) instead of giving them rides to friends' homes, stores or school. Get the whole family into the habit of opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator, using TV commercial time to do a few quick sit-ups, push-ups or jumping jacks and move around the room while talking on the phone. Short bursts of "lifestyle exercise" boost fitness and offer a more natural way to build more activity into daily life, says Oregon State University researcher Brad Cardinal.
• Go solo. Let kids try individual sports. Activities such as tennis, golf, martial arts and even safely supervised weight training are great ways for kids to increase their activity level through practice and competition, says Gotlin. And they help children gain a sense of individual accomplishment.

Ask kids what they want to do and let them "pick their own path," he suggests.

HOW TO CUT CALORIES, THE EASY WAY

Exercise is one half of the weight equation, while food makes up the other. If you are still battling the bulge after increasing your child's physical activity levels, consider adjusting diet, too.

Encourage kids to eat more often.They'll be less likely to gain weight. New research shows that kids, especially boys, who ate several times during the day were 22 percent less likely to be overweight or obese than kids who stuck to three meals a day. (Note: Experts who were not part of the study say the study showed an association but didn't prove cause.)

Serve healthy cereal for breakfast. This will fuel energy levels and help kids stay active. Cereals are fortified with extra vitamins kids might not otherwise get, and milk adds even more nutrients. Bonus: Past research linked eating breakfast with lower Body Mass Index (BMI, a measure of body fat). A new study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics reports that kids who eat cereal at least three days a week have healthier BMIs.

Use smaller plates. Kids (and adults) serve themselves more food when they use larger plates, studies show. But they take less—and eat less—when they use smaller plates, bowls and glassware.

Make it easy to eat healthy foods. Kids will eat more fruit when it's been cut into bite-size pieces, Cornell University research shows.

This article is excerpted from USA TODAY Guide to Kids' Health. This special edition magazine contains articles on raising happy and healthy children. Buy it wherever magazines are sold or atkidshealth.usatoday.com.