Physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep knowledge and self-efficacy among parents of young children in Canada.

Background: Engaging in healthy movement behaviours in early childhood is beneficial for children's development, and parents play a critical role in shaping movement habits during these formative years. This study aimed to explore parents' knowledge of the Methods: Via a cross-sectional online survey with parents/guardians ( Results: Few participants (11.9%) reported to be familiar with The Guidelines. Parents were most knowledgeable about the screen time guideline for children under 2 years (75.0% correctly identified the guideline) and least familiar with the recommendation for toddler/preschooler total physical activity (14.7% correctly identified the guideline). Parents/guardians perceived they were the most knowledgeable about safe sleep practices (65.9% very/extremely knowledgeable) and least knowledgeable about muscle- and bone-strengthening activities (71.8% not at all/somewhat knowledgeable). Overall, parents/guardians were moderately confident in promoting healthy movement behaviours ( Conclusion: These findings shed light on the need to raise awareness of The Guidelines among parents of young children and highlight specific movement behaviour concepts in need of focus in future training for this population. Targeted education for parents/guardians from lower socioeconomic groups is also needed to address equity concerns. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s44167-024-00051-x.