(for now, ha ha)
It's no secret the obesity rate in this country is growing; some sources say that one in three children is obese. Not overweight, but OBESE. This is a scary statistic, we're raising a generation of children who are being set UP for failure.
The other day while out shopping with my mother in law and the kiddos, they wanted to look at the bikes. Even though they HAVE bikes, they cannot resist looking at them. There were only a few bikes, most of the space was taken up by battery operated cars, jeeps, and "ATV" vehicles. I then looked at scooters-one model was a "foot" operated scooter, the others were battery powered.
Pardon me for a minute while I cuss a bit, but what in the bloody hell are parents thinking when they buy this crap? NO wonder so many kids are overweight and under active; they don't even pedal their bikes or push their scooters anymore-a battery and motor does it for them! Where's the fun in that? I can remember as a kid, groups of us getting on our bikes and riding all over the place. The combo of fresh air and exercise ensured our parents we were going to sleep well that night.
Good news! There's now a video game system that requires you move around to play it. Bad news! It's STILL a video game.
Why aren't children going outside anymore? Why aren't people taking their children to the parks? Why don't children know what hopscotch or four square are?
Our family is a walking-hiking kind of family; one it's good for ALL of us, two it's particularly good for Gabriel; walking/hiking on uneven terrain strengthens his weak leg. We live in an area with many many places to walk or hike; heck we can walk a half a mile one way on our acreage to the creek if we don't feel like hopping in the car to go to a park.
We hit up the local parks with friends at LEAST once a week, if not more. One park we go to all of the time is a fairly new park with trails and all sorts of fun stuff that no one is EVER at. I can count the times we've been there when there were other kids there on one hand. WHY? WHY? WHY?!
What a disservice we do for our children-especially in this day and age of recess being cut short, p.e. being cut short or completely out of the budgets, and school lunches being what they are.
Go outside and play, shut off the boob tube, make a picnic and take a hike...jeez oh pete people, just get moving will ya? If not for yourself than for your children!
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