The city of San Francisco, always on the cutting edge of ordinances and legislation that attempt to engineer the lives and life styles of its citizens, has produced yet another ground breaking ordinance. The City's Board of Supervisors recently passed a bill making the giveaway of kid's toys in meals like McDonald's Happy Meals illegal. Of course it didn't take the corporate attorneys at McDonalds long to figure out a way around this new law. McDonalds will simply charge a fee for the inclusion of the toy in a Happy Meal.
No doubt there is growing concern about the escalating rate of childhood obesity and both the quality and quantity of what our children eat. Unfortunately that concern does not cover the amusement park fare that is served in most of our schools where the Feds consider pizza a vegetable, but that is another issue. The fact is parents make a choice to visit McDonalds and even with the availability of veggie bites and apple slices, parents make the decision to allow their kids to eat burgers and French fries. Whether or not a cracker jack like toy is offered probably makes no difference. For many Americans we are a fast food / junk food nation.
If the concern is really focused on the eating habits of our nation's kids and the growing number of obese children then let's take the blinders off and look at the big picture. In the last fifty years both our kid's eating habits and play habits have changed dramatically. In my Happy Days of childhood my brother and I were outside as much as possible -- rain, shine, hot , cold and even snow -- it didn't matter, we played outside. We grew up in a suburban Baltimore neighborhood, Dundalk, where almost every house on our street had kids. We played softball in a vacant lot and never had any trouble putting together teams of nine players. If we weren't playing softball we were playing marbles or riding our bikes. If there was a particularly nasty thunderstorm then we played board games inside.
Most summer days began with a bowl of cereal and milk. Some had surprise items in the box others didn't. We ate Cheerios, Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes. Lunch was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a glass of milk. We occasionally were treated to a nickel Fudgsicle when the Good Humor man made his rounds. We ate cheeseburgers and hot dogs when my Dad would cook them on the grill. I don't think I experienced pizza until I was a teenager. Fried chicken was my Mom's specialty and usually enjoyed on summer Sundays along with corn on the cob and potato salad. Our usual summer beverage was iced tea until our teenage years when Coca Cola was the beverage of choice. The only real fast food restaurant was the Circle Drive-In which was very popular with young adults and teenagers who had cars. In the early 1960's Baltimore saw the arrival of two fast restaurants opened by well know Baltimore Colt football players, Alan Ameche and Gino Marchetti with McDonalds not far behind. Today one could eat at a fast food restaurant every night of the week for a month or more and not make any repeat visits.
If I was to identify the single most contributing factor to childhood obesity in addition to our love affair with anything deep fried it would have to be television and all that followed. As I said earlier my brother and I along with our neighborhood pals played outside during the long days of summer and until dark during the short days of winter. Today however for a host of reasons kids are now indoors and sedentary. Hours are spent each day and night in front of the television, on the lap top or ipad. Whereas my childhood bedroom had a bed, dresser and desk today's kids enjoy their own flat screen TV, computer to surf the internet or play video games, ipod's for music and their own cell phone for instant communication.
It seems that in most suburban neighborhoods today there is very little spontaneous child initiated play. Today kids are enrolled in karate and gymnastic classes or play adult controlled baseball, soccer and football. I was allowed freedom to play and be about my childhood neighborhood to a far greater extent than I allowed my own kids. Neighborhoods are not the same and parenting skills and responsibilities are not the same. Today kids are allowed to spend too much time sitting on their butts lost in the void of their droids and other electronic gadgets. Coupled with a diet heavy in fat, carbohydrates and sugar we have a growing epidemic of childhood obesity and all the health concerns that follow like diabetes.
According to environmental journalist, Dan Shapley, "Kids are putting in serious hours: before school, after school, while doing homework, instead of going outside to play ... They're watching television. More than 28 hours every week." If you add the time spent on other portable electronic devices like cell phones, computers, ipads and video games the number jumps to 55 hours a week !!! Pogo said it best: "we have met the enemy and he is us."
So what's to be done? Actually it looks fairly obvious but not necessarily simple. We need to get "unplugged". Of course it would definitely help to eat healthier but spending less time in front of our TV, monitor, laptop, ipad, etc. and a bit more time outdoors in the fresh air whether it is sunny and warm or crisp and cold would be a big step in the right direction. So give it a try. Loose the remote and step outside and check out the great outdoors. What do we have to lose ... or possibly gain?
