Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I bet even in Texas kids don't run around outside like they used to. Texas may indeed be less affected by this trend - but read around to hear anecdotal evidence from around the country. Forget about studies. No matter how much we would want to relegate our brains to machines that only function with a reference list attached (like cars do with gas), we will never have an empirical, peer-reviewed study handy to confirm each and every bit of the social realities happening around us.
There are simply not enough money to be spent on officializing common sense.
We might as well get used to it and go back to using our own eyes to read, our ears to hear, our tongue to communicate and our God-Given observational capacities, common sense and intuition - to draw conclusions about what is REALLY happening and what is just a fluke.
An empirical study confirming some things that are out there is certainly welcome; but random empiricism without a general vision, without capacity to make connections and to extrapolate - only amounts to sophisticated ignorance. Nothing else. I really do believe intuition is still the best deal in town.
I taught preschool in Illinois. I observed the preschools in Louisiana when we lived there for a while. Every one of them had lots of outdoor play time.
Not as much as I would like once the kids are in gradeschool, but even there they had recess and pe time and parents had the kids outside after school.
From the article: "19% of kids are showing up at kindergarten already obese." That's beyond sad. Too many parents and care providers nowadays taking the easy way out with kids, having them watch TV and play computer games. Heaven forbid if the young kids went outside to play because then the adult would have to go out too and -yikes!- maybe even have to play with them. The horror.
I'm sure that a LARGE part of it. Especially the suing, A few years ago I went back to my old elementary school for an open house. All the jungle gyms were gone. The metal slides were gone. When I asked about the slides I was told it was because they got hot in the sun. (Which in my day we had sense enough to figure out for ourselves and did something else.) They also said the slides were too high. And I thought, "Well, of course they're high, That's the point."
Had one of us gotten hurt, which we did from time to time, our parents wouldn't have thought of suing. Different mind set back then.
I grew up when you did. Seesaws, merry-go-rounds that you stayed on until you were dizzy and wanted to throw up, monkey bars, slides.
You brought back a memory, lol--the skin on the back of my legs sticking to a hot slide.
Gosh, I don't know where everyone else lives - but my son spent TONS of time outside as a young child. Playing in the neighborhood; recess at school; soccer (lots of running); and during the winter - our church had an afterschool program that he LOVED - complete with the forbidden dodgeball!
He certainly did not lack for exercise. Of course, I saw to it that he got some as his parent.
NOW, he's a swimmer - totally fit - and totally focused on what he puts into his athlete body. He's gotten some great role models from coaches and older swimmers on what to eat.
From the article: "19% of kids are showing up at kindergarten already obese." That's beyond sad. Too many parents and care providers nowadays taking the easy way out with kids, having them watch TV and play computer games. Heaven forbid if the young kids went outside to play because then the adult would have to go out too and -yikes!- maybe even have to play with them. The horror.
That shows the obvious bias to getting all your data from one study. That is NOT the case in the pediatric office where I work. In fact, it is rare to see an obese child before 8 or 9, and not too frequent even then. Obese parents, yes, we see a lot of those.
From the article: "19% of kids are showing up at kindergarten already obese." That's beyond sad. Too many parents and care providers nowadays taking the easy way out with kids, having them watch TV and play computer games. Heaven forbid if the young kids went outside to play because then the adult would have to go out too and -yikes!- maybe even have to play with them. The horror.
"The easy way!" I am dying. Don't blame providers. Obesity responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of parents. As a provider, I was not allowed BY LAW to serve junky food. You'd get irate parents hollering why didn't precious little Johnny eat his lunch? Because you serve him nothing but garbage, cater to his every want, and now he won't eat anything else. And pardon me for saying he is not going to suffer for a lack of a meal.
We played outside at least twice a day. We walked to the playground through the woods. We STILL had a tv period and the kids played on the computer. Some of the kids came to me so ill behaved and out of control that you had to distract, entertain and dazzle them. Left any free time in which they would have to control themselves, they just couldn't. Every Monday morning you would have to re-educate the little miscreants that that behavior may fly with Mom but not with me.
Yah I still retain a little bitterness from that near wasted few years. Luckily there were also some beautiful gems in there to make it worthwhile. But blame not the provider.
That shows the obvious bias to getting all your data from one study. That is NOT the case in the pediatric office where I work. In fact, it is rare to see an obese child before 8 or 9, and not too frequent even then. Obese parents, yes, we see a lot of those.
Keep in mind that Colorado is one of the states with the lowest rates of obesity in general. I would imagine that child obesity rates are also relatively low.
Here in Mississippi, we are the fattest state in the union. Our child obesity rates are sky high. At my school, where most of the students are on free/reduced lunch, I would estimate that nearly 50% of the students are overweight or obese. Even if they don't start out overweight as freshmen, the girls have generally gained a great deal of weight by their senior year.
Many kids here are not allowed to go outside to play after school because of the danger of crime. Other kids are left basically unsupervised and do stay outside to play basketball. The differences in physical fitness are apparent. The students who are active are less likely to be overweight, but more likely to be in trouble with the authorities. Outside of school activities, many of our students don't get any exercise whatsoever. The interesting thing is that they don't see themselves as fat.
Keep in mind that Colorado is one of the states with the lowest rates of obesity in general. I would imagine that child obesity rates are also relatively low.
Here in Mississippi, we are the fattest state in the union. Our child obesity rates are sky high. At my school, where most of the students are on free/reduced lunch, I would estimate that nearly 50% of the students are overweight or obese. Even if they don't start out overweight as freshmen, the girls have generally gained a great deal of weight by their senior year.
Many kids here are not allowed to go outside to play after school because of the danger of crime. Other kids are left basically unsupervised and do stay outside to play basketball. The differences in physical fitness are apparent. The students who are active are less likely to be overweight, but more likely to be in trouble with the authorities. Outside of school activities, many of our students don't get any exercise whatsoever. The interesting thing is that they don't see themselves as fat.
What you say about Colorado is true. However, we still have a fairly high obesity rate, even if it is the lowest in the country. Hopefully that makes sense. Obesity is way more prevalent in poor and minority children. That is just a fact.
I have a rule in my house that we walk or bike to everything within a reasonable distance. If it's raining, we use umbrellas and leave the bikes at home. If it's really cold, we bundle up.
A lot of the other parents at our school assume that we can't afford a car and or gas and that's why we walk. (we've probably spent as much on bicycles as some of their cars are worth ) I put maybe 20 miles a week on my car. I put probably 50 miles a week on my bicycle and will increase that if it stops raining so much.
My kids always get pudgy and have less energy during the school year. They have PE two or three times a week, depending on the week. They get a 15 minute recess every day, unless it's rainy, cold, too hot, an ozone alert day, etc. When they get home, they have to do homework. That doesn't leave much time to play after that before dinnertime.
We do the same thing, tennis games, walking, biking. They walk to and from school. When they were young I'd walk to and from school with them. I never thought about how much exercise they got at school because they got so much before, after and on weekends. I'm not even sure of their schedule at school in regards to exercise. I know the schools cut out P.E. everyday, I think it's once a week now on rotation with art, music and computers but I'm not sure about other activities. That's was a shame but what can you do with budget.
It's funny you mention people wondering whats wrong when you walk or ride a bike. Here in AZ it's a car society, people either think you can't drive legally or you can afford a car. lol I always think that is really funny. I couldn't get my son onto a couch if I tried for more than 10min. He is very active. Even inside.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) I put maybe 20 miles a week on my car. I put probably 50 miles a week on my bicycle and will increase that if it stops raining so much.
