Public Schools, nutrition, obestity, ect. Please read!
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
youngrunner
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
Posts: 583
Location: warm and cozy in the computer chair
|
| Back to top
|
|
 Posted: 01/16/05 - 16:54 Post subject: Public Schools, nutrition, obestity, ect. Please read!
I'm in 8th grade right now, and with the current problems children are facing (and adults) with weight, nutrition, getting enough excercise, and an overall healthy lifestyle, i can't help but wonder why public schools don't make this a high priority....
I really think it's nessacary for public schools to make junk food obsolete at the cafeterias, because if it's there, people are going to go for it...after all, who can't say a candy bar or fresh, doughy, mouthwatering cookie is more apealling than a bruised orange hidden away behind sugary canned fruit cocktail that looks like it's weeks beyond the experation date?
in fact, it's pathetic that students aren't taught (other than a week a year in health class) not to have a diet of chips, soda, pizza, ect. who needs to learn about body systems in health class when it's taught in science and biology later (okay, i admit, i read the high school and college biology books out of boredom, or else i wouldn't know this sort of stuff)!? Can't health class be about a student's personal health and obtaining the imformation on a healthy lifestyle instead? what's the point of preparing students for the "real world" if they aren't going to live very well in it?
and what scares me most is that the majority of students i know don't regularly exercise! Other than a few minute of running...and whacking a ball or putting it through a hoop in PE
I don't know anyone who is concerned with what they eat...not that i'm a heath nut, but i use my brain when making choices involving my health...
i could go on a few more hours about what i think, but i'd like to hear what parents, students, and all the rest have to say 
thanks...
(wow, i sound serious...maybe i should go back to riff raff.....)
Last edited by youngrunner on 01/19/05 - 22:20; edited 3 times in total
|
|
|
|
|
Laurie Ellen
Queenie
|
|
|
Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 11286
Location: The Dark Side of the Moon
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/16/05 - 17:10 Post subject:
"(wow, i sound serious...maybe i should go back to riff raff.....)"
Nothing at all wrong with sounding serious, kiddo... but don't be gulled by some of these guys into thinking you have to be serious all the time to be taken as mature and smart and worthwhile. There is a time and a place for serious and a time and a place for fun! If you want to be serious, this is the forum for it.
Your concern is valid, smart, and very real. I agree 100%. It astounds me that real health, nutrition, portion sizes that the body REALLY needs to live on, and moderation/variety are not covered in the health classes at public school.
Another subject I cannot believe is not covered is basic finances. What's credit, why is it necessary, how easy it is to mess it up or lose it, and how to take care of personal finances from balancing a checking account to moderate spending & paying bills FIRST.
|
|
|
|
|
TOsteve
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Out for a run
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/17/05 - 09:58 Post subject:
My wife is a grade 6,7 & 8 music teacher in a suburb of Toronto. Her school board just passed a bill last year banning the selling of all "junk" foods in school cafeterias. Granted, the school board has to make a judgement about what gets put on the junk food list but it seems to include things like: soda, sports drinks, candy, candy bars, potato chips etc... I thought that was a fantastic step in the right direction.
Next year the province of Ontario is mandating that all junior schools (grades K through  have a minimum of 20 minutes of PE every day. Who says government can't have a positive impact.... (I know, its still rare).
|
|
|
|
|
cherylpf
crazy cat lady
|
|
|
Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 17305
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/17/05 - 12:56 Post subject:
My good friend is a pediatric dietician and deals with pediatric obesity all day. I think you hit the nail on the head youngrunner, kids will choose the tastier choice, (cookies, sodas, candy, pizza) whether its nutritionally void or not. Its a real problem in US schools. I think (but am not entirely sure) that it has a lot to do with funding for schools.
|
|
|
|
|
sonnylax
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 30 Sep 2003
Posts: 2942
Location: Living in a lollipop and unicorn world
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/17/05 - 13:02 Post subject:
| TOsteve wrote: | | Who says government can't have a positive impact.... (I know, its still rare). |
Who says parents can't have the same positive impact? The govt. is not the solution to every ill in society.
|
|
|
|
|
Cappy
Excelent
|
|
|
Joined: 16 May 2002
Posts: 27368
Location: Spreadsheetylvania
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/17/05 - 13:17 Post subject:
At my kid's schools, soda is not sold nor is it allowed to be brought in for lunches.
We pack our kid's lunches and so we know what they are eating. Now if they are trading, I am not sure.
|
|
|
|
|
TOsteve
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Out for a run
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/17/05 - 18:30 Post subject:
| sonnylax wrote: |
Who says parents can't have the same positive impact? The govt. is not the solution to every ill in society. |
Unfortunately parents can't be in control of every decision their kids are faced with. I think its good when the government can help support what the parents are (should be) teaching in the home.
|
|
|
|
|
akern
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 31 May 2002
Posts: 17149
Location: CTU
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/17/05 - 18:53 Post subject:
I think kids should have PE every day.
|
|
|
|
|
robp
Pyromaniac
|
|
|
Joined: 26 Jul 2002
Posts: 16242
Location: Waiting in line at the beer store...
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/18/05 - 09:09 Post subject:
| akern wrote: | | I think kids should have PE every day. |
I agree. Phys. ed. is pretty much a joke in schools any more. Over half the kids I had on my baseball team last year were lard butts. And these are kids who consider themselves athletes apparently. Several of them would get totally gassed running from home plate to second base.
|
|
|
|
|
rolling rock
The Pinball
|
|
|
Joined: 15 May 2002
Posts: 16218
Location: unknown zone
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/18/05 - 14:05 Post subject:
if more youngpeople had youngrunner's attitude, there wouldn't really be an obesity problem. good thinking yr, really.
i believe the schools are starting to do what they can. our highschool has taken all junk out of vending machines (there are tons of vending machines) and now it's just water, propel, or gatorade. the highschool also has a 5 day/week phys ed program that is very aerobic. unfortunately, the PE program becomes an elective in 11th grade 
the elementary school is trying to make cafeteria changes too. no more potato chips and doritos in the lunch lines, they really push the "healthy living" "heart smart" programs in PE, for what it's worth (probably not much for most kids)
best option is to pack your lunch instead of going thru that tempting carbo-blast of a lunch line. my son has never, in 11 years of school, bought a cafeteria lunch. i'm a lunch packin' foool.
i really believe this starts at home though. parents set the best example of a healthy lifestyle. we can not expect the schools to change lifelong bad eating and exercise habits overnight. it's a HUGE problem that took more than a few years to develop and finally manifest itself in stuff like heart disease in college kids and type 2 diabetes in preteens.
another thing that irks me is television advertising and kids -- going straight for their hearts with stuff like FruitLoops, Oreo Cookies, crap, crap, crap, and more crap. we've polluted their little systems in the name of making a profit. this, i believe, is another root of the evil.
schools can and will do more as this saga unfolds, and as the media blasts away with stories of pediatric obesity but, as i said, kids do as they see at home. healthy habits need to be taught as soon as they're able to understand.
i'm glad you're on the right track yr!
|
|
|
|
|
pokychick
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 02 Oct 2002
Posts: 5640
Location: City of Dis
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/18/05 - 16:17 Post subject:
| akern wrote: | | I think kids should have PE every day. |
grrrrr
|
|
|
|
|
Gogirlgo
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 25 Jul 2002
Posts: 4777
Location: No deal, stalker.
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/18/05 - 16:19 Post subject:
Even if it's not in the cafeteria or vending machines, teachers at my daughter's school offer crap all the time, as does the aftercare she attends, as does the summer camp she attends. Even an attentive parent has a hard time ensuring the kid eats what's good for her.
|
|
|
|
|
cherylpf
crazy cat lady
|
|
|
Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 17305
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/18/05 - 16:29 Post subject:
| rolling rock wrote: | another thing that irks me is television advertising and kids -- going straight for their hearts with stuff like FruitLoops, Oreo Cookies, crap, crap, crap, and more crap. we've polluted their little systems in the name of making a profit. this, i believe, is another root of the evil.
|
I read a whole article on this whole topic (I'll try to find it) and one section of it referenced the advertising of junk to kids. It mentioned that it is illegal to target advertising to anyone under 18 in several European countries and Austrialia, something that if for no other reason ETHICS should dictate shouldn't happen here.
|
|
|
|
|
cherylpf
crazy cat lady
|
|
|
Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 17305
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/18/05 - 16:39 Post subject:
|
|
|
|
|
thegman
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 23 Sep 2002
Posts: 3088
Location: 12 yards out.
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 01/18/05 - 17:03 Post subject:
| rolling rock wrote: | if more youngpeople had youngrunner's attitude, there wouldn't really be an obesity problem. good thinking yr, really.
i believe the schools are starting to do what they can. our highschool has taken all junk out of vending machines (there are tons of vending machines) and now it's just water, propel, or gatorade. the highschool also has a 5 day/week phys ed program that is very aerobic. unfortunately, the PE program becomes an elective in 11th grade
the elementary school is trying to make cafeteria changes too. no more potato chips and doritos in the lunch lines, they really push the "healthy living" "heart smart" programs in PE, for what it's worth (probably not much for most kids)
best option is to pack your lunch instead of going thru that tempting carbo-blast of a lunch line. my son has never, in 11 years of school, bought a cafeteria lunch. i'm a lunch packin' foool.
i really believe this starts at home though. parents set the best example of a healthy lifestyle. we can not expect the schools to change lifelong bad eating and exercise habits overnight. it's a HUGE problem that took more than a few years to develop and finally manifest itself in stuff like heart disease in college kids and type 2 diabetes in preteens.
another thing that irks me is television advertising and kids -- going straight for their hearts with stuff like FruitLoops, Oreo Cookies, crap, crap, crap, and more crap. we've polluted their little systems in the name of making a profit. this, i believe, is another root of the evil.
schools can and will do more as this saga unfolds, and as the media blasts away with stories of pediatric obesity but, as i said, kids do as they see at home. healthy habits need to be taught as soon as they're able to understand.
i'm glad you're on the right track yr! |
Great post, RR. 
|
|
|
|
| |
All times are GMT - 4 Hours
|
|
|
