Obesity in children

I think that kids need to be encouraged to do more physical activities. When I was a kid, I was shocked and appalled that so many adults were complaining about the rising obesity in children, and yet no one said anything about teachers taking recess away from us! There are still loads of schools that don't have any play outside time, or recess as it's called here. Taking that away from children gives them more time to learn and study, but it also encourages them to sit all day and not exercise at all.

Oh goodness, that's not that good at all. However, I don't know where you live, but I know there are schools in California getting budget cuts and placing a ton more kids in a few classes. Imagine, one classroom with a teacher having to teach nearly 30-40 little first graders... what a nightmare! I too believe video gaming is not good for children, especially violent games. There's been a ton of studies out there of children becoming more aggressive, less likely to listen, less physically active, less likely to do their homework, more likely to fail in school, and so on. Although, I do believe educational games actually help the child. If I had kids, I would only allow educational games for them to play. I'd have puzzles for them to play with and I would take them to the park weekly. Maybe teach them really fun chasing games. I used to play a game called Cheetah Chase when I was real little. It was fun, but make sure they do not get away with making the younger kids always it. Because when I was the youngest, the kids in my neighborhood actually bullied me and always made me it (for being the youngest). LOL Good times! Also, if we allow children to watch T.V. all the time, that's all they're going to want to do, do nothing, let the TV do the thinking for them. I feel it'd be better to give them an activity to do, like crafts. The school could have done a craft with the kids instead of have them watch TV. It could be as easy as allowing the kids to draw on scrap paper. There's so many recyclable crafts out there too (like making bead necklaces out of newspapers). They could then tell children how fun it is to recycle your trash. There are still possibilities for the school to do even if it was on a budget cut. Boy... I ramble too much! Love Ghostflower

Wow... Children will not enjoy their childhood just as much as other generations before, because people are hindering them from doing things which are normal to them. Kids play, dirty themselves, fall, get back up, break something, and it's completely normal. I wonder why people forget they were kids once.

You are right, it is deplorable. Children need to play and exercise as much as possible and being that they are at school all day, it is importnat to incorporate exercise into their daily routine. Thankfully, I don't have that problem at my daughter's school because they believe children should be outdoors a lot and they provide many outdoor activities for them. I have learned that children have too much energy stored up to just sit around and that makes them develope bad habits that they carry later in life. I hope your granddaughter's school gets the message. Maybe some of the parents will have to bring this to their attention.

This is really very wrong. I would be outraged at this if this was happening with my children as you are obviously outraged with it happening to your grand kids. Children need to be outside running around. There are lots more (I will use the term FAT) children around these days than when I was a child, because the eating choices are far worse now and because there are too many digital toys like computer games that do not push kids to go outside and find their own fun. When I was a boy, I had an Atari game console, but before that and even after I had it, I was still always outside on my bike, skateboard or climbing trees or doing something active. And I always had home cooked meals. There were no fast food outlets in the town that I grew up in apart from a fish and chip shop which we rarely went to. I just returned from the local skate park and there were no overweight kids there at all among the 50 or so that were there. Why? Because skateboarding is active and the overweight kids were probably at home in front of screens! Society needs help in this area.

I think the child is being spoiled, you let them eat and eat what she wants, eventhough she's young you should consider balance diet. The family should eat together in the table without television. :D And if weekends try to have some exercise, or just walk around in village with your granddaughter everyone morning, walking is a good exercise. :)

you should contact the school board. not only do our kids have 2 nutrition breaks, they go out for both) but on the days they dont have gym, they have a 20 minute period of physical activity. as for obese children, i think a lot of the blame needs to be put on the parents.

WHY are there no tables for the kids to eat lunch on? I don't want my kids sitting on the floor to eat their lunches! I would be upset about that! No movies shown here @ lunch time! See now Dr's are all over how much time kids spend in front of a tv WHY isn't this school?!?! Kids spend enough time in front of a tv or the alike. How about giving them a decent amount of time for recess & new/better play ground equipment?

Nowadays with so many good foods and the ability to access movies and other better stuffs, children get to enjoy it the most. Although obese children can look cute but it's unhealthy.

Did they have any outside play time at all through the day? How ridiculous! What about a PE class? This is all very needful for kids to learn how to play together if nothing else... and they eat on the floor? What kind of school is this? did you call the health department yet?

I can say that kids gets faster this days becoz they lack of exercise. Unlike before that,there is no internet,no playstations,no internet cafe,no video games and kids can play outside running here and there. Unlike nowadays that,kids only sits whole day watching movies,infront of the computer and,or playing games with video machine. They are not having the best exercise that a kids must do. Same thing with young adult and middle aged people who usually sits watching movies or surfing the net.