Remember that good-news story that I included in a recent Virtual Front Page, about how fewer poor kids are obese than previously?
Well, that doesn’t apply to SC, as you probably saw already:
The CDC study released in early August drew a lot of attention because it found childhood obesity rates were decreasing in 19 states and rising in only three. The study didn’t include data from 10 states.
South Carolina was omitted because a CDC request for data in 2011 went to an inactive email account at the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, according to agency spokesman Mark Plowden. Because South Carolina didn’t send in timely data that year, it wasn’t included in the study of four-year trends.
The percent of obese children ages 2-4 years in the WIC in South Carolina has grown from 13.3 percent in fiscal year 2009 to 14.1 percent in 2010, 14.7 in 2011 and 15.6 in 2012, Plowden said…
This, to me, is another argument for restricting the kinds of foods that can be obtained with “food stamps” — with caveats for availability, considering “food deserts,” etc. I see the problems with such a move. But I also think we should work to overcome the problems, because kids are killing themselves with food that we’re buying for them.
Whatever we’re doing now to ensure proper nutrition for the poor obviously isn’t accomplishing everything that it should..
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We’re the fattest, least educated, shortest life expectancy. most uninsured and highest unemployment state. And oh by the way we’re also one of the most Republican. Does anyone see a connection?
No. That’s ludicrous.
We are a poor state – and have been a poor state for a long time now. A lot of poor people are fat.
A lot of kids are fat because their parents are fat.
I’d also like to see a study to see how many of these “obese” kids come from single parents, etc.. I realize not all – but I do wonder about a correlation between disfucntional families and obseity.
meant – dysfunctional
We’ve been feeding our school kids fatty lunches for a long while, and provided much access to soft drinks and high calorie snacks. Since most very poor kids receive much of their food from this source, what can you expect. Add to that the problem a single woman holding down 2 low paying jobs faces regarding time to cook, even if she knows how to (unlikely). And the obesity is predictable.
Make them run laps until they get skinny. Do they still have P.E. at school?
yes- nost do – but not everyday.
Most schools do have recess after lunch – at least elementary schools do – but at some schools there really isn’t adequate space to run.
Well, regular PhysEd would help. It’s as important as any other thing they are teaching.
I don’t disagree.
But many schools have it where they only take it for 1 semester- or once per week.
My son’s elementary school has a PE teacher and he sends helpful notes home all the time with tips, information on what happens to your body when you weigh too much, he has after school events and invites parents to walk with their children, etc. He can’t force parents to do it. All he can do is offer it and try to educate.
Could a local school board change the policy? Require an hour of PE/day, 5 days/week?
“Up in the mornin’ with the risin’ sun, gonna run all day til the running’s done.”
I honestly think this a social class related problem as well. Driving through USC’s campus I don’t see may fat kids, but I do see a few. Perhaps only the skinny ones go to college.
PE was useless when I went to school. I would suggest if they do have it make it worthwhile.
Back in the mid 1970s, the only gym requirement for my entire public school education was one year in high school. Of course, it was stupid team sports that would never provide a klutz like me with lifelong fitness skills. I had to learn those on my own. How many other nonathletic kids will do that? Add to that that single mom probably can’t be soccer mom, too, and you have poor nonathletic kids getting less and less active.
In the absence of any other likely source, public schools should teach lifelong fitness skills to students, and ensure they practice them. Recess can be a huge waste of time. Make it a fitness class!
Good points Kathryn. I was always the last kid picked for team sports. But I could run pretty fast. There was a certain amount of coordination discrimination. Perhaps a good walking program for the athletically impaired.
I don’t know about making recess a fitness class. I don’t have anything against teaching fitness – I think that is a good idea – but I also think having some unprogrammed down time as part of the day is also important. Kids are awfully over-programmed these days.
Kids who move do better academically!
It’s really hard to write cadences for schoolkids – cause so many of the good PT cadences involve “death” or “fighting”.
Two pre-schoolers were lyin in bed
One turned over to the other and said
I wanna be in Kindergarten!
Live that life of toys and naptime
Kindergarten
toys and naptime
I wanna be a first grader.
Doing math and books with chapters.
first graders.
books with chapters.
I wanna be a second grader.
Learn to spell and write in cursive.
second grader
write in cursive.
I wanna be a third grader.
Learning history and fractions.
Third graders.
Learning fractions.
I wanna be a fourth grader
Live that life of art and band class
Fourth graders
Art and band class
Saw a fifth grader walkin’ down the street.
She had a ruck on her back and Crocs on her feet.
I said hey fifth grader where you goin’ to?
She said she was headed to middle school.
I said hey fifth grader now ain’t ya been told,
Middle school’s for the brave and the bold.
She said hey young man, I’ll do just fine.
I maxed the PACT and I’m only nine!
Hate to tell you Silence but kindergarten is no longer toys or naptime. It’s pretty much what first grade used to be. And the PACT hasn’t been around for several years. It’s PASS and that’s about to be gone too.
Well, here we go again. It is society’s fault there are fat kids in poor homes or homes with single moms. I grew up in a poor home, was not fat, my brothers and sister were not fat and come to think of it, even my well-off relatives were not fat. In fact, I don’t remember very many fat people being around when I was growing up. But, at that time, most homes had two parents, a mom and dad, and the aisles at the supermarket or corner grocery store were not lined with junk food as far as the eye could see.
My wife and I struggled for years like most young couples and our children were not fat because we made careful decisions about what they ate and it was based on what we could afford. Snacks were a treat, not an entitlement.
As for a single mom holding down 2 jobs as is usually described, even if that is a legitimate excuse and she needs to stick a frozen dinner in the microwave, there are lots of affordable choices available that are not high in calories, fat, cholesterol, and other things bad for one’s health, especially children. Feeding them a steady diet of McDonald’s, Hardee’s, or Burger King food doesn’t help either.
If one doesn’t want to be educated about diet, that is their choice but to expect everyone to douse them with a dose of sympathy because they are obese, forget it unless it is a genetic trait and unavoidable. I have finally reached my saturation point with the “it’s the fault of society”, “it’s racist”, or the other dog whistle responses when critical comments are made.
I may not agree with Obama’s politics but I sure do agree with Michelle’s attempt to get kids to start eating a healthier diet and to learn to take responsibility for their own well being as much as they can.
And by the way bud, it doesn’t have one damn thing to do with the Republicans in South Carolina. Ignorance is ignorance and it knows no political boundaries and there are just as many overweight Democrats as there are Republicans. Stop the freaking political blame and place it where it belongs – on the individuals who take no responsibility for their dietary habits.
Who said it was society’s fault?
If we can set all kids on a healthier road, isn’t that at good thing? It sure isn’t the kids’ fault!
My 20 something kids are all a good weight. I tried to serve as an example. We started a tradition a few years back to run in a five mile race on Thanksgiving Day that starts in front of where the Convention Center is now. That was a pretty fun family outing.
20-something? Don’t you know how many kids you have, bud?
I misread it that way initially, too.
I was thinking Bud was like Yul Brynner in “The King and I” — etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…
I recently read a Gary Taubes book entitled Why We Get Fat. It lead me to question the low-fat theory that dieticians preach. The book was a good read, and Taubes is a respected science journalist. I think part of the problem is that kids don’t get enough fat for their brains to work properly and carbohydrates are processed by the body in a manner similar to glucose (sugar). Look over this Taubes article published in NYT : http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/what-if-it-s-all-been-a-big-fat-lie.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm . Then read his book, which has an anectdotal example of a U of SC medical researcher who is an avid runner, but still gained weight over the years. Taubes asks this researcher how many more miles a week he should have run in order to not gain weight. A person can only run so much…