Are You Killing Your Kid?

I regularly jog past my neighborhood elementary school, and end up choking on indignation and car exhaust. There is a permanent line of SUVs, minivans, and family cars dropping off able-bodied kids. I want to post a sign on the fence outside the school that says, “Global warming starts at school.”

It used to be that a parent driving a kid to school meant something—injury or sickness, maybe—was wrong with the kid. It still means that, in a way, but what is “wrong” has become normal. Some of these kids are the ones you will read headlines about in a few years: “Childhood obesity rises again” … “Kids fatter than ever” … “Kids condemned to obesity.” Admittedly, some families live farther from their schools than their kids could be expected to walk—but why not park some distance away and walk the final blocks together, so that kids will get used to the idea that “going somewhere” and “getting in the car” are not synonymous? I hear that harried parents today don’t have time to walk their kids to school—but if it were a matter of life and death, would they find the time?

I’m not talking about kidnappers and molesters—a kid walking to school actually only has a miniscule chance of encountering these horrors. However, if he/she doesn’t become accustomed to using his/her body to move around, every American kid has about a thirty percent chance of ending up dead at an early age, from diseases related to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. Parents who are worried about their kids’ safety need to get out of the car themselves, and walk beside them.

The media says kids are not exercising, they’re spending more time watching TV than anything else, they’re eating more junk and fewer veggies than ever, and they (and the adults they will grow up to be) will pay the price in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and worn-out cars—everything that follows from being fat and sedentary. Getting daily exercise, and developing the habit of daily exercise, is a matter of life or death. When adults fail to take care of themselves, it’s the adults’ fault; but when kids are not taking care of themselves, I blame the parents.

Raising healthy kids is not necessarily complicated, but it is hard work. You’ve got to make sure kids get good quality food and a lot of time to run around almost every day.