Are You Killing Your Kid?

The daily thirty to forty minutes that school curricula usually set aside for this are totally inadequate. The government tells us, correctly, that an hour each day is the minimum amount of time required to maintain good health and control weight. It may be easier to park kids (or let them park themselves) in front of the TV or a video game, but unless a parent is certain the kid has already had sufficient physical activity (or will later), the parent is hurting the kid by doing so. Kids need daily—or nearly daily—time to exercise their muscles, their athletic skills, and their coordination, so that they continue to develop and find enjoyment in their bodies.

Kids who develop exercise habits and sports skills early continue to be active all their lives. Kids who are heavy and weak from lack of exercise as little ones grow up to avoid activity later. Habits are formed when kids are very young. Recently, I met a three-year-old happy, but chubby, girl who was trapped in a ball-pit from which she could not lift herself. Her mom was far too heavy to get in the play structure. My son asked me to help the girl get out. As I was assisting her, the three-year-old said, “I’m too heavy.” How long will she keep going into play structures if that is how she feels now?

Kids need vegetables and whole grains—fresh or frozen—even when they “won’t” eat them and even when parents don’t have time to cook. You don’t have time to shop and cook? Fine—feed your kids precooked, prepackaged, high-starch stuff, and let them have sweets and junk (because they will eat it without a fight), but be sure to admit that your priorities are condemning your kids to serious problems later on.

Fresh and frozen veggies are more expensive per calorie than lower-quality foods. This means that poorer people are going to be at a nutritional disadvantage. Call your congressperson and demand that food stamps cover fresh fruits and vegetables, that school lunches be wholesome, and that public space be set aside for farmers’ markets. Anyone who has enough money to gas up the SUV has no excuse.

Hate me for being the messenger if you want … but if you are not teaching your kid to eat a diet that includes fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in every meal—or if you are allowing them to eat significant amounts of chips and sweets—you are shortening their lives and making it harder for them to be healthy later on. People who exercise daily and eat fruits and veggies as the mainstays of their diet, stay lean.

Here’s a short list of other ways to kill your kids, with alternatives: