90 percent of children in Germany missed exercise and sport during the corona pandemic. This is shown by a representative survey by the political and social research institute Forsa on behalf of the German Children’s Fund and the German Sports Youth on the occasion of today’s “World Game Day”.
In recent months, due to the hygiene requirements in the pandemic, many sports opportunities in Saarland have been canceled, for example in club sports or at school. According to the Children’s Fund, this has a major impact on the physical and mental health of children and adolescents.
Effects on health and psyche
The spokesman for the Saarland Association of Pediatricians, Dr. Benedikt Brixius. The lack of exercise affects various areas of children’s lives. Brixius notes, among other things, that more children who are overweight are coming to his practice or that an already existing overweight has increased further in the pandemic.
“On the one hand, this is due to the fact that these children are currently doing little or no sport. On the other hand, we can also see that people eat more at home out of boredom, for example,” explains the Homburg pediatrician.
Problem: lack of social contacts
But the lack of exercise and the pandemic in general also affect the psyche of children: “In my opinion, depression in children, but also anxiety disorders or the like, have increased significantly,” reports Brixius.
Parents whose children had psychosomatic symptoms such as abdominal pain or headaches also reported to his practice. “We often see this, for example, when there is stress at school – or now in the pandemic.” Movement as a therapy option or as a distraction has often ceased to exist.
Stefan Behr, chairman of the child protection association in Saarland, points out that the pandemic has had a massive impact on the mental health of young people. In addition to the lack of exercise, this is primarily due to the lack of social contacts. The aim must therefore be to re-establish these contacts as quickly as possible.
“The government’s catch-up program is not enough”
At the beginning of May the federal government had already announced that it would invest around two billion euros in a comprehensive “catch-up program for children and young people”. The budget is also intended to support sports and leisure programs after the pandemic, among other things.
This amount is not enough for the German Children’s Fund. “We think that far too little is invested in extensive recreational programs for children here,” says press spokesman Uwe Kamp. “Right now, more needs to be done to enable children to have a more carefree life after the pandemic and to promote social contacts.”
Child protection association demands co-determination
The Saarland Child Protection Association also sees it this way – but points out that this must be decided together with the children and young people. “We mustn’t decide that over the heads of the children,” emphasized Stefan Behr.
The Child Protection Association has therefore proposed a round table with various associations to work out how to make up for the deficits suffered after the pandemic. According to Behr, the next step must come from politics.
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