Why are sedentary lifestyles the norm?
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- June
- 30
I just spent two days running around after a four-year-old and a two-year-old and as I sat at my laptop last night writing most of this post, I was completely wiped out.
Saturday, we went to the Big Apple Circus midday show (Rafael looooooved it, Markus was a bit overwhelmed, truth be told) and Sunday we went to a birthday party at a gymnastics place on Long Island.
Basically, they were perpetual motion machines, even when we were in the car. Dancing to the music on the CD player. Pouring apple juice on themselves. Eating Cheerios. Requesting songs. Commenting on how fast (or not fast, apparently) we drive.
Even when they’re watching television, my little guys are interacting. You should see what happens when the theme song for Go Diego Go starts playing. Markus has a whole routine down for that one.
Such is my life. And that’s why I wrote, a few months back, that I found it astounding that the American Heart Association’s caloric guidelines chart for children assumed a sedentary lifestyle.
First off, I didn’t quite understand how that could be. Second, I thought that said something so sad about the state of our little ones. No wonder childhood obesity is considered an epidemic.
And so, I got a call the other day from Carolyn Torella, director of communications for the American Heart Association’s Hudson Valley Region. She’d read that post and wanted to let me know why the AHA assumed a sedentary lifestyle. We had some trouble connecting by phone, so Carolyn sent me an e-mail to help clarify the issue.
First, it’s wonderful that your little one is so active! Alas, children on average are not as active as they used to be, or should be. The result of all this inactivity? There are 25 million kids in the U.S. who are overweight or obese. The toll of this epidemic in our youth – this is the first generation of children who might not outlive their parents.Among kids 9-13 years old, over 60% do not participate in any organized physical activity during non-school hours and the availability of physical education is varied across the U.S. and only mandatory in one state. More than 10% of toddlers, children between the ages of 2 and 5, are overweight, up from 7% in 1994.
The federal government caloric standards, as well as the American Heart Association’s, are based on sedentary lifestyles in children because the majority of children are inactive. The calories are a baseline for inactive kids – but active kids need more.
We want kids off the couch and exercising! The Alliance for a Healthier Generation is a partnership between the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation to fight one of our nations leading health threats – childhood obesity. Our shared goal is to stop the nationwide increase in childhood obesity by 2010 and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices.
I have to say that I never thought the American Heart Association preferred to think of American children as being sedentary. I did — and still do — think it was sad that that’s where things stand and that’s how the AHA and feds have to set the standard because of the state of affairs today.
How did we get here? I have a vague idea: I’m so exhausted that I have a feeling that at some point, some parents just flat ran out of energy to deal with their little guys and girls. So they stuck them in front of the television.
And television is insidious. The more they see, the more the want. And the more that you get done while they’re zoning out in front of it, the more tempting it is to let ‘em stay there (especially when they throw a tantrum if you try to turn it off).
It’s hard, this parenting thing. But if we don’t make the hard choices for our children, they certainly won’t.
Journal News file photoÂ
This entry was posted
on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 12:00 pm by Amy Vernon.
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The American Heart Association response to this situation no matter how happy a face they try to put on the problem, they are a big part of the problem. We are dumbing down American kids and allowing the food companies to do the same. Who cares about the competition in the neighborhood schools? That may offend little Billy who can’t compete if we focused on the competition he is emotionally destroyed. Its China competition we need to worry about. Wake up America.
We were more active when I was a kid. Kids today prefer to stay in climate controlled places to have fun. They don’t want to sweat when I was a kid you didn’t think about that. Also found today has many hidden calories and portion sizes are so much bigger it is easier today for a kid to get too many calories. I hated PE but loved riding my bike and being outdoors. Of course my daughters didn’t have the freedom I did to ride my bike all over the neighborhood I was too worried about someone taking them. In the summers all the other kids were in day camps so it was hard to find others to play outside with. My kids don’t have weight problems but it is because I kept healthy snacks in the house.
That should say food today has many hidden calories not not found today. I also enrolled my kids in an active activity to get them moving.
I never thought the American Heart Association preferred to think of American children as being sedentary either!
I agree with what you said about the parents attitude, this is actually what is happening with most of the kids, parents are busy and they need the kids to be controlled easily which is a kind of silent life!
Who wants to play with time which makes real money for the future in the best part of their life? This is a painful question..