Ashley Stephens
Not so long ago, children in the Caribbean moved constantly. They walked to school, played in the schoolyard at lunch and ‘breaks’ time. They ran, climbed, fell, got bruises and were back at it again moments later. It wasn’t called exercise; this was just what children did. For several reasons, this has changed, and the consequences are hard to ignore. Much of the conversation around children’s health has focused on nutrition. However, another dimension worth exploring is the question of how children are moving, or more accurately, how little they are moving.
The World Health Organization recommends that children and adolescents accumulate 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily. Research across the Caribbean suggests most children fall well short of this, leading to a fundamental decline in physical literacy.
In Sport and Exercise Medicine, physical literacy refers to the basic ability to move with confidence across a range of situations, such as running, jumping, throwing, and catching. These skills are not necessarily related to sport or performance, but they are fundamentals to develop in early childhood. Children who develop strong physical literacy are more likely to remain active throughout their lives.
Conversely, those who don’t often disengage from physical activity quite early. This matters beyond childhood, as a generation of sedentary children will grow into adults at higher risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. These conditions already place enormous strain on healthcare systems across the Caribbean.
Often, we focus heavily on sporting excellence, risking letting that culture become the only lens through which we view physical activity for our children. The Long-Term Athlete Development model, developed by sport scientists to guide how children should develop physically at each stage of growth, makes a distinction worth understanding. It states that in the earliest stages of a child’s physical development, building fundamental movement skills and a love of movement itself should be the priority.
Once that foundation is in place, sport-specific training, performance goals, and sporting achievements will naturally come later. When this order is reversed, we risk losing children not just from sport, but from physical activity altogether. Children pushed into competition before they are ready, or who never experience movement as enjoyable, tend to opt out altogether by the time they reach their teens.
The reasons for this shift are not difficult to identify. Screens and online content distract from outdoor play. Parents are increasingly cautious about letting their children roam freely, and with good reason, as many communities lack safe spaces for play. Furthermore, schools often treat physical education as secondary, with only one scheduled class per week. These changes have happened gradually, but the deficits caused by replacing movement with sitting in a classroom, in a car, or in front of a screen can affect society’s health for years to come.
It is encouraging that the starting point is not complicated. Children don’t need elaborate programmes or expensive equipment. They need time, space, and permission and freedom to move. For parents, the most important thing is to let children play freely. Unstructured play is not “idle time!” It is how children naturally develop coordination, balance, and confidence in their own bodies. Walking when possible, rather than driving short distances, contributes more than most people appreciate. Reducing screen time, particularly in younger children, creates space for movement to return.
For schools, physical education should be protected as a core part of the curriculum, not treated as expendable. It should be designed to include all children and not only the naturally athletic ones. A child who leaves school having found something they enjoy doing physically is more likely to keep doing it, and this has lifelong implications for health.
Jamaica understands, perhaps better than most, what the human body is capable of. That relationship with movement is part of who we are. However, it does not sustain itself automatically, and it must be nurtured early, with the right goals in mind.
The children who are sitting still today are the adults who will depend on our health system tomorrow. It begins at home, in schools and in communities, with the simple act of sending the children outside and letting them move. We know what they need. The question is whether we will give it to them in time.
Ashley Stephens is a graduate student in the Faculty of Sport – UWI Mona Campus
