I was reading a magazine in the doctor’s office yesterday about the obesity epidemic among US children and best/worst schools for active, healthy kids. Which is how I learned something that shocked me even more than the epidemic of fast-food cafeterias and junk food vending machines in schools. Ready?
An incredible percentage of schools have done away with P.E. and recess in order to “bring up scholastic standards”. Which is dumb because I can testify that having an active body is essential to a clear mind. If I don’t balance desk time with physical activity, it doesn’t take long for my concentration to go to hell and my brain to turn as mushy as my backside.
When I picked my jaw up off the floor, the first thing I said to myself was, “6 years olds are supposed to sit still in class ALL DAY without PE class or recess? Holy sh&*, no wonder they’re all on Ritalin.”
I can’t believe it. To parents out there, complain to your school board about this. When I was a kid, we had PE. We hated it, but we all did it. We had recess and we played dodge ball, jumped rope, played on swings, ran. We had summer vacations (!) which we used to do more of the same along with endless bike riding and swimming. And most of us walked to school.
I think there was one overweight kid in the entire school.
You want to do something about the obesity epidemic, not to mention juvenile diabetes? Bring back the good old days. Let kids walk or bike to school, go to PE class, run around during recess. Get fast food venders out of the cafeterias and candy bar laden vending machines out of schools.
Oh, yeah, and let’s see if suddenly all these elementary school aged kids no longer need Ritalin in the process.
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