Children's changing health

When my children were younger (they're 16, 19 and three weeks short of 21 now), there was some concern among some parents about keeping the kids active. Computers weren't all the rage quite yet and movies were only available in VHS (or beta!), so TV was really the major competition for exercise.

I did notice, very early, that there weren't kids playing outside in the same numbers as when I was a child. When we brought our kids to a local park, there may be a few other children playing, but very often, ours were the only ones there. This was the same park I played at as a child and was always full of kids - alone - all day long.

I know that things are different now, particularly with most families having both parents working, but we have to look at what this is doing to our children. For many, the only physical activity they get is in organized sports (if parents can afford it) or gym class at school (if they have it).

I've seen playgrounds at schools where children are banned from playing any of the active games that we played, for fear of injury. One friend even told me that tag was banned at her cousin's school because too many children were getting hurt running and tripping on the concrete. You see, many schools don't have grass either.

Add to that, many of the kids who would have walked to school in "the old days" are now driven by parents, the lack of time on weekends to go outside and play because of all the stuff that needs to be caught up, is there any wonder we're looking at record numbers of obesity, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes in *children*?

It's just going to get worse. The more we try to protect our kids, the worse we are making it for them. Here are a couple of the most recent stories in the news: Inactive kids face 6-fold risk of heart disease by teen years, study finds and Keep on running.

We worry too much about our kids - seriously. I know a few people I knew thought I was nuts to let my kids do some of the stuff they did. My oldest used to go outside with his friend, on their bikes, and go dirt bike riding near the river and across some farm land behind our house (we live in a suburb that borders some farms). They'd be gone for hours. My daughter didn't get into the same sort of thing, but she did dance competitively for quite a while and played organized sports. My youngest son did some of the stuff his older brother did, but he got more involved with wilderness and camping stuff - and he's involved in a weekly floor hockey program.

We have to go back to letting kids be kids. There has got to be a better way to balance our need to protect them with their needs to be free to do things that will help them grow up strong and healthy.

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Exercising - we're supposed to but.....

Exercising – we all should do it. We’re told we should do it, we know we should do it but….what, where, when, and how. Well, at least I don’t have to ask why.

I’ve tried joining gyms. Friends would tell me, “you’ll love it after the first few weeks,” and “it’s addicting, you get a high.” Um. No. I didn’t. I didn’t love it, I didn’t get addicted, and I certainly didn’t get high. I hated it, didn’t want to do it, and dropped of exhaustion every time I got home.

To tell you the truth, when this happened, I felt like a failure – after all, everyone else loves it, right? It took me a while to realize it but exercising doesn’t have to be an organized gym attendance type of thing. My husband likes to do that – I don’t. Like many things, I do things one way, he does things another.

As a Mayo clinic researcher recently reported, walking is just fine as exercise. It not only helps keep the body in shape, it seems to help keep blood pressure under control as well. Walking is easy to do unless you have a disability, it’s free, and it has an added benefit that a gym doesn’t have. You can walk your dog, you can walk with your friends, you can walk to do your errands, and you can walk to amuse yourself. You can people watch when you walk into the city, you can enjoy the fresh air of a park walk, you can go with the flow with other walkers in a walking club, or you can just walk around your neighbourhood and enjoy the view. And for those cold wintery days, many large malls have walking clubs where you can walk and talk with other walking club members.

Add to this that walking is a weight-bearing activity, something that is important for fighting osteoporosis. Of course, the more vigorous your walk, the more exercise-like it is, but there’s a lot to be said for a nice stroll too. We rush so much through life these days that a nice comfortable walk is as much for the mind as it is for the body.

So, if you’re like me and really aren’t in to exercising, no matter how many good intentions we had along the way, walking is really something that even we can do. I admit it. I should get out and walk some more. Ok, time to challenge myself and off for a walk!

News for today:

When it comes to walking, it's all good, says Mayo Clinic researcher
European Union bans sale of toxic mercury thermometers
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