Wednesday, 07 December 2011
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The Number Of Overweight Children In The US Has Tripled In Last Two Decades
With obesity at near epidemic proportions among our young people, you'd think physical education would be at the top of schools' priority lists. But you would be wrong.
Only six percent of schools in the United States offer daily physical education classes.
The problem, she explains, is money. Starting a physical education program costs a school approximately $500,000 and increasingly, schools just don't have that kind of money to spare.
PE programs are not the only ones cut. More and more schools have to cut art, music, and language programs. The number of quality physical education programs nationwide has been on a decline for 20 years.
The National Association for Sports and Physical Education recommends 2 1/2 hours of physical activity a week for elementary school kids.
The number of overweight kids in the United States has tripled in the last two decades. We need to insist on PE for our children...do you agree?
{Editor's Note} Do you think the problem lies in schools not offering a physical education course, or do you think the issue goes deeper? Does your child's school offer physical education?
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- From: Gentemann@xanga
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Comments (29)
Parents should get their own kids involved in sports.
The school system and it's lack of money can not and should not be blamed for society's (not just children's) issues with obesity. The only thing that can be tied to it is a poor diet and lack of exercise in general. Parents should be blamed, not only for allowing their children to stay inside and veg out on junk foods in front of the TV, but for passing down their unhealthy eating habits.
But let's look at that whole "2 1/2 hours" of physical activity. Really? 2 1/2 hours is it? That's 30 minutes per school day, and that's it. Unfortunately, that's all of the physical activity SOME kids get. That wouldn't be incredibly awful, except for the fact that the majority of those children also have horrible, horrible diets and more than likely unhealthy parents as well.
Thankfully, my child's school does offer a Physical Education program and though we eat healthy at home, his class also teaches about proper nutrition.
I really don't think it's anything to do with the schools not giving kids 30 minutes of exercise per day... I think it has more to do with the kids sitting on their asses the other 23.5 hours a day.
I get that some parents are really busy... but ffs. Take your fucking kids to the park, people. Take them with you for a walk around a couple of blocks after dinner. Buy them a fucking bicycle and let them ride beside you while you go for a jog. Pay your babysitter a little bit extra and tell her to take the kids outside to play in the yard. Running around cleaning the house is exercise, too; give your kids chores. Buy them one of the 9 million video games that require bouncing and jumping and fun.
Stop pawning your lazy parenting that's making your kids fat off on McDonalds and schools; take some responsibility.
Fast food, unhealthy food, inactivity. Yes all of that.
BUT I hate when statistics compare data that is not equal. The definition of "obesity" has changed in those 2 decades. More people would have qualified then, too, if put to the same current chart.
I don't think you can blame cutting down on P.E. We got one hour a week of P.E. in elementary when I was younger, but at the same school the number of fat kids has grown drastically even though the P.E. hour as well as recess time has stayed the same.
I think parents are just letting their kids be more lazy instead of playing outside. I do not think diet could have changed that drastically in several decades, but I may be wrong. I am not going to blame the economy because healthy food is cheaper than unhealthy food despite what people say otherwise.
To sum it up, I have no idea.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - Do you know what changed? Apparently, my google skills are completely failing tonight and I am curious as to how much it actually changed.
Why is it that parents aren't being active with their children? Why do we keep talking about the government or schools causing our children to become obese? Parents have to be parents. Teach moderation for foods, and draw the line on how much tv, video games, and computer time children have. Go on a walk with your child, or hike, or bike, or play sports, tag, etc. To prevent obesity, and get healthier children, it starts in our homes.
Honestly, It has to start at home.
I'm all for PE, but it's up to us parents to make sure our children are healthy and active, not the schools.
@snarkius@xanga - It's hard for me to find data, too. I remembered only that it changed in my lifetime.
What I can find? Information from the CDC on when the charts were revised in 2000. Part of the change was a move from weight for stature, to BMI for age. That alone would seem to skew the results. Buuut i'm bored of looking through it now. So. Here.
http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/background.htm
The Solution?
More Recess!!
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - Thanks anyways. All I remember is a some weight scale in my childhood grocery store that was around forty years old that had some weird height-weight correlations.
More parents are overweight/obese now too, the problem lies with them not with the school system. You might as well blame your kid's bad manners on his teachers.
If adults sit around on their asses in front of the tv all day eating junk food, of course their kids are going to do the same thing.
I don't know why people even eat fast food in the first place, but I know they could cut back on it...I never eat fast food and I never drink soda. It's really not that difficult for me to make that decision for myself, and I don't even have kids. You can bet if I did they wouldn't be eating or drinking that crap.
I very highly think it's because of the PE in our schools.
I don't now, I didn't in high school, and I haven't since like fifth grade, tried hard in PE. You know the grade is based off of you showing up and changing, not actually your effort.And it's not like PE has recently become a joke, I know you hear those horror stories about being made to climb the brick wall, or whatever, but even when my parents were kids, they had the same outlooks on PE.I really doubt 30 minutes of exercise has that much of an impact on childrens' weight. The problem is at home, with what is undoubtedly an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle.
No. Wrong. To be absolutely frank, one of the very few good things that have come out of this recession is the lack of PE classes. Making fat kids exhaust and shame themselves in short in front of their peers will not help them lose weight. It will only make them look for other ways to comfort themselves ... and those ways will probably involve the pantry after school.
To tell you the truth, PE has probably been a large part of why children are obese in this country. Making children associate sports and exercise with schoolwork- and not fun- is probably why they are turning to sedentary forms of entertainment. Children are unconsciously associating aerobic movement with dudgery.
President Kennedy started mandatory PE classes during the sixties and that- in hindsight- was a mistake. Since the sixties children have gotten fatter-fatter-fatter and PE has done absolutely nothing to stop it.
I'd be very interested in seeing the statistics for child obesity in those school districts that have just cut PE classes. I'm willing to make a small bet that the children in those schools will end up being thinner in six or seven years (if the PE classes remain cut) as they start seeing sports as pleasures and not work.
@Tw1nks@xanga - Yeah, very much so. I agree.
@McScarry@xanga - Woo!
Rather then blame the school system or the big bad government, parents need to start taking responsibility for their children.
Get rid of the game systems, tvs, all that crap. Buy real food (ever notice you eat less when its real quality food?) and GET ACTIVE. Go outside!!! Take a walk. Get some good Vit D3 in ya too!
The best thing my parents ever did was throw out the tv, literally. My dad chucked it out the back door and it smashed on the lane way, we didn't have a tv for like 3 years. To get us active, we adopted a puppy. We were all happier, healthier, our grades went up, and we slept better..
While PE classes are great, there is still PLENTY of time in the day after school for activity! Go home, do your homework, and go outside and play!
In that same time the government has changed the way it defines obesity, opting to move towards BMI (worst measure of health they could pick) and away from body fat percentages (way better). When I was in elementary school, the phys. ed. teacher pulled out the calipers and actually measured body fat. Now it's just the BMI, which is literally your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared. Tell me which is a better measure of obesity? Now go and look at the numbers. You see a giant spike when they switched over how they officially measured it.
The obesity thing isn't a crock but the way they abuse the numbers is.
1. Less full time parents with time to cook healthy meals.
2. Video games
My brothers and I played plenty video games growing up, but we were encouraged to get exercise to stay fit and we ate healthy.
People call us skinny.
C'est la vie.
What about recess? When I was in elementary school I got an entire accumulated hour of recess everyday. And we ran around all crazy.
@phoebester@xanga - YEEESSS!! Totally agree! You are my hero, that's exactly how I've always felt!
At a school in Singapore, they have overweight kids attend extra PE courses and announce their names over the intercom if they don't attend. It's the only way to do it.
it's a farrrr more deeper problem
JUST GIVE THEM RECESS! I had P.E. and sports my whole life. More schools should do that. That would help. I dunno if it is the only issue, though.