OBESITY IN CHILDREN

Another parental issue is the overprotective parent. When I was a kid, which really wasn't that long ago, we'd be outside from sunup to sundown on summer days playing, biking, and doing all the things that kids do. On school days before I started organized sports, we'd get off the bus, go home to check in with our parents, then take off to play. My parents would tell me when I had to be home and I'd go play until I had to be back.

A lot of kids don't have that kind of freedom. Some parents flat out won't allow their kids out of their sight for 5 minutes. People are afraid that their kid will get hurt out riding their bike or that they'll trip and fall while playing tag or whatever. To some parents, the normal childhood bumps and bruises are treated like debilitating injuries. Every sporting event has to be supervised and run by an insured organization.

I personally had a number of the normal childhood injuries. I wrecked my bike more times than I can count. I always had bumps and bruises from playing all kinds of contact sports. I wore a helmet when I rode my bike and took the basic safety precautions and I'm still in one piece today. In fact, everyone from my neighborhood survived and is better off for being allowed to be a kid and play. All of my current friends have a few childhood scars and stories to go along with them. The kids who weren't allowed to go out and play with us ended up having social problems because they never spent time with other kids and/or being fat.

I can't imagine what my childhood would have been like if I had been as sheltered as so many kids are. The bumps and bruises, and even the potential for real injury, are worth it to be able to enjoy life and develop a healthy lifestyle. It's unfortunate that so many parents can't deal with this.

It always seemed to me that active kids were less interested in video games and TV. I don't remember ever going to a friends house to play Nintendo. In fact it never even came up when we were deciding what to do. Video games were what we did after it was too dark to play when all our friends had gone home and there was nothing else to do, not what we spent our Saturday afternoons on.

The thing is, if those of us who are in our 30's and 40's and remember our wonderfully free, play-outside-all-day childhoods so warmly, who is raising the current crop of kids who are over-protected? Why aren't they giving their kids the same freedom they had?

I agree technology is a huge part of the obesity epidemic...it's just too tempting for kids to lose themselves in it. Without parents around to limit it, kids lack the self-control to stop. Most kids aren't going to go out and play without a parent around to nudge them out the door. As a runner, I'm active, and have always been active with my kids, and as a teacher, I am fortunate to be home the same hours my kids are home...so I can limit their use of technology and get them outside to play. Some parents work long hours and can't micro-manage everything; they want to know their kids are home safe while they aren't there to protect them. Hopefully when they are around they are good, active role models!