A new online tool to help parents and carers navigate the best use of their child’s time has been released by the University of South Australia (UniSA).
UniSA has linked with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute to work on the online tool which promises to help parents and caregivers navigate the best use of time.
Senior Research Fellow in Allied Health and Human Performance at UniSA, Dot Dumuid said the Goldilocks Day calculator was a novel time tool to help identify and personalise optimal times for a child’s sleep, sedentary behaviours; light physical activity; and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
Dr Dumuid said the calculator focused on key health outcomes including physical health, cognitive and academic abilities, and mental health and wellbeing.
She said the time tool would help parents tailor their children’s days based on their personal needs.
“From the moment they wake, to the time they go to bed, many parents and caregivers spend a lot of time shaping their children’s time,” Dr Dumuid said.
“We’re prompting them to do their homework, to take out the rubbish, turn off their screens, practice their instrument, eat their lunch, play sports – the list in endless,” she said.
“Our research helps make sense of children’s competing demands and goals by clarifying how to best allocate the hours and activities across a day.”
Dr Dumuid said the calculator built on existing Australian and global health guidelines to predict optimal time-use compositions using mental health, academic performance and physical fitness data of more than 1,182 children (aged between 11 and 12 years), via the Australian Child Health CheckPoint study.
UniSA’s Goldilocks Day calculator can be accessed at this PS News link.
