You do what you can for your child, but the truth, is they aren’t with you every second of the day. Kids spend around 6 and a half hours a day in school, then come home and have upwards of 1 hour of homework each night. Then comes dinner, then a little TV to unwind and then sleep. This is not a testament to your parenting- its just a fact. School’s have more control over a child’s activities that most parents do.
So when we send our kids off to school, we hope and pray those schools have our kid’s best interest at heart. School’s have it rough, however, having to play both day-time parent and educator. With the government breathing down their necks to produce test scores to compete with other nations, or at the very least get our kids through high school, their main focus is on education, and on little else.
Obesity is on the rise with our children, and with that, school’s are being shouldered with that blame as well. With the refocus on education, activity funding is being slashed, which means the chances for your child toexercise, or even just stand for more than 5 minutes, is continuing to dwindle. After school sports and PE classes are becoming a thing of the past, and even recesses are being cut from the schedule to make more time for reading, writing and ‘rithmatic.
It is important for children to exercise, not only to keep them at a healthy weight, but to allow them to release their pent up energy and clear their heads. Children aren’t meant to sit at a desk all day long forced crunch numbers (that comes later in life when they enter the corporate world.) When kids don’t have an avenue to burn off their extra energy, they will do it in class, where teachers view it as a behavior problem, slap a name on it like ADD and recommend forcing meds down their throats so they turn into zombies and are more easily “manageable.” Last I checked, hyperactive was a personality trait, not a disorder, but I digress.
Or perhaps they are just hopped up on soda and candy from the school vending machines.
I empathize with schools when it comes to activity for children- schools are a business, and if they don’t hit their numbers, their budget gets slashed or eliminated all together- but something that can definitely be helped is the nutrition they provide- or lack of it.
Kids eat what’s available- and if their is a tastier option available, they are going to choose that. Schools have lunch and breakfast programs designed to provide proper food to children who either cannot afford it, or do not want to bring food to school with them. Many children eat both breakfast and lunch at school, which means the school district is providing your child with the majority of their meals. Often these meals consist of donuts, pizza, hamburgers and tacos- which are highly processed and provide little nutritional value. You child is limited in their choice, so if these don’t sound appealing, their only other option is the vending machines, which are stocked with sugar juices and sodas, candy and chips.
Schools say it is not their responsibility to make sure kids eat right and exercise- that’s the parents job. Parents say they have to send their children to school, which makes it their responsibility to keep them healthy. The only thing we know for sure is children are becoming obese at an alarming rate, and with no one stepping up to the plate, the problem is only going to get worse.
What do you think? Who’s responsibility is it to make sure kids stay healthy? Our school’s, the parents, or both?
