Thank you
Demonizing and trying to regulate a food is repungnent and frankly, frightening to me. Yes, eating healthy, exercising, keeping your weight down are all good things . These things should be encouraged and celebrated through education. However, a free person should be allowed to exercise his freedom to choose what to eat AND what his children are allowed to eat.
BTW, is Physical Education back in schools? Sorry, no kids, and don't keep up. If not, why not?
Phys ed - as it *use* to be when I was a kid - does not exist. They have gym class on Friday - once a week.
They do recess, of course, after lunch - for 30 minutes. . . but that's not mandatory so I don't count that as exercise if a kid doesn't want to run around and play.
In the morning, however, the kids who ride the early bus (like my kids - but not everyone) walk the track at school before school starts. They get a popcicle stick for ever lap (1/4 mile) they make and after earning a certain number of popcicle sticks they can trade them in for an award of some nature. My kids always pick charms that they string onto backpack loops - they're quite proud of that. I think each charm is for 2 miles walked - so they have a lot of them.
Gym class when I was a kid was held 3 times a week in one school district, every day in most others.
Now, just having a required gym class doesn't mean kids will participate: When I got to the 5th grade gym changed. We had to dress in gym clothes and so I stopped participating and always took an F instead. I don't know why, now, but back then I hated it more than anything. I wasn't fat or unfit, though - but, still, I avoided it like the plague. I didn't like wearing shorts, I didn't like having to change, I didn't like the idea of guys looking at me. I sucked at sports and I didn't like any of it at all. I was too judgmental of myself and the way I looked and avoided all those types of situations.
No surpise, I guess, that I soon became anorexic and dropped to 95lbs by the 8th grade and stayed there.
It seems so stupid now that I think about it - but my mind has never changed. I still worry about how I look (and mind you, now I know I'm 140 lbs) But I still do numerous body-checks in the mirror to ensure my clothes look decent when I'm going out to do yardwork and such - because sometimes guys jog by on my little country road and I need to look my best whilst push mowing my acreage.
:rofl
I'm so ****ed in the head.
But are my kids? Nope - they are all quite fit, naturally - not to an excessive extreme like me - and I don't think any of them are exhibiting the signs of my mental-hangups and snafus. They run around and play a lot - we have a big yard and a playset, dogs and encourage sports and so on.