Headline today's paper: 5 million obese! What country?

Lately the papers here in South Carolina have been making a big deal about the problem of obesiety among school age children, and high lighting a new SC law that requires more Phys Ed and Nutrition classes starting in 1st grade and continuing all the way up. The thing that bugged me the most, and makes me support this law, is that so many schools have been piling on so many classes that some children were not getting any P.E. and many schools were actually starting to phase out recess in the 2nd or 3rd grade. Why? Because the "Soccer Parents" set were demanding that their precious children be prepared for college before even the start of high school, and neither P.E. nor Recess did anything to help prepare them. Never mind that the lack of any physical activity is leaving the poor children with an excess of energy (which is then diagnosed as ADD or ADHD) and bodies that more closely resemble the Pillsberry Doughboy than healthy kids. As for Nutrition, well, it's so much easier to pick up a burger and fries with 200 fat grams from Micky Dees on the way home from work than to try even a Rachael Ray style 30 Minute Meal; so when would the kids have had any chance to learn about healthy eating at home?

Lately the papers here in South Carolina have been making a big deal about the problem of obesiety among school age children, and high lighting a new SC law that requires more Phys Ed and Nutrition classes starting in 1st grade and continuing all the way up. The thing that bugged me the most, and makes me support this law, is that so many schools have been piling on so many classes that some children were not getting any P.E. and many schools were actually starting to phase out recess in the 2nd or 3rd grade. Why? Because the "Soccer Parents" set were demanding that their precious children be prepared for college before even the start of high school, and neither P.E. nor Recess did anything to help prepare them. Never mind that the lack of any physical activity is leaving the poor children with an excess of energy (which is then diagnosed as ADD or ADHD) and bodies that more closely resemble the Pillsberry Doughboy than healthy kids. As for Nutrition, well, it's so much easier to pick up a burger and fries with 200 fat grams from Micky Dees on the way home from work than to try even a Rachael Ray style 30 Minute Meal; so when would the kids have had any chance to learn about healthy eating at home?

You got to let the heathens get out and run. Recess, lunch time and after school are important exercise times. Hell, when I was a kid we *couldn't* gain weight!

Also, in my era a city of say 100,000 or so *might* have *one* MacDonalds. Many didn't.

You got to let the heathens get out and run. Recess, lunch time and after school are important exercise times. Hell, when I was a kid we *couldn't* gain weight!

Yep. We spent a couple of hours or more each afternoon/early evening playing "tag" or "hide and seek".

-Paul W.

I was so skinny, I tried to gain weight by eating milkshakes and other calorie-laden foods. Oh for those days again.

You got to let the heathens get out and run. Recess, lunch time and after school are important exercise times. Hell, when I was a kid we *couldn't* gain weight!

Yep. We spent a couple of hours or more each afternoon/early evening playing "tag" or "hide and seek".

-Paul W.

The same here. Now? My 7 y.o. daughter, who is in the 2nd grade has at least 45 minutes of homework each night, and some nights an hour's worth. Me, I don't remember ever having homework until I was in the 4th or 5th grade at the earliest. I don't even want to think about what Jannie will have by the time she gets that far along.

[Robin Garr]

I blame all this on the Internet! We were better off without it!

It's not the Internet, dammit! It's fluoridated water! That, and the Trilateral Commission ...

It's not the Mickey Dees, it's the pizzarias. It doesn't matter what country I'm in, the pizzarias outnumber burger joints by 5:1 minimum.

At the moment, I'm in Torino, and given the number of superb pizzarias and focacciarias here, I will be quite obese by the time my plane takes off. The Death Words for me are "forno a legna."

It's not the Mickey Dees, it's the pizzarias. It doesn't matter what country I'm in, the pizzarias outnumber burger joints by 5:1 minimum.

At the moment, I'm in Torino, and given the number of superb pizzarias and focacciarias here, I will be quite obese by the time my plane takes off. The Death Words for me are "forno a legna."

Just as long as you don't cross that line where they make you buy two tickets.

Yep. We spent a couple of hours or more each afternoon/early evening playing "tag" or "hide and seek".
-Paul W.

A game we enjoyed as kids was called "kick the can." in this game someone was "it" and a regular size veggie can was placed in a circle about 20' in diameter. "it" closed his eyes and the rest went and hid. As you were caught you were out of the game, unless one of the hiders could sneak in and kick the can out of the circle before "it" called the sneakers name. if he was successful, all those caught could scatter and re hide! "Didn't have no ABC, CBS, nor NBC!"

Hell, I thought it was GWB!

[James Roscoe]

Geez, don't you people watch the news? It's global warming!(CNN) or
It's the liberals! (Fox) Take your pick. I'm going to play kick-the-can.