PEA RIDGE — The “hue and cry” that has been erupting every so many weeks and months concerning the health of today’s and tomorrow’s youngsters has lots of folks “focusing” (I love the way people “focus” on things) on how to combat this deadly trend threatening the future of our youth and the nation itself.
Of course, to just put it in simple terms, children should never consume more calories than they use. If they don’t, they will build organic retention units for the excess calories consumed, or in other words, they will get fat.
Two things can battle this tide, one of which is controlling the type and amount of food our youngsters are utilizing. The children of today put away a fantastic amount of sweets and junk foods, stuff that my generation didn’t even have access to. Our family ate every meal at home, cooked at home, with very few desserts or sweets along the way.
My home town of 5,000 people had one fast food place and that was the DairyQueen. The children who frequented the DQ usually used only the money they may have earned from jobs they did and they got their treats by walking or riding their bikes there. I got my first job when I was 12 years old carrying empty bottles off Dr. Pepper delivery trucks and other manual labor type of assignments. I transported myself to work by jogging the two miles from home to the plant. I’d work four hours in a hot plant by the railroad tracks then jog back home. Since we didn’t have air conditioning at our house, my concept of “hot” was much different than it is today. My bedroom wasn’t hot unless it got over 90 degrees in there. Sometimes it did.
While I wouldn’t want my kid working like that today and the laws won’t let you anyway, my experience wasn’t much different froma lot of my friends in the 1960s. None of my friends who worked these summer jobs were overweight.
Fast forward to today and you will rarely find young people who can find any kind of a job at a young age.
Children today are taken about everywhere they go and even the few who find their way to the athletic fields will rarely experience the feeling that comes from being in good physical condition.
There is a second key activity that can change the tide against childhood obesity and weakness. That is running.
Growing up, I was always taught that core to the key to success in team or individual sports is the ability to run. To be able to run fast and to able to run far pretty much set the parameters of how much success you were going to have as an athlete.
While I have coached track for many years and am a strong proponent of that sport for a lot of reasons, any sport or activity that gets a student running in a manner that strengthens their bodies is a sport that is worthwhile.
Returning to the question of how best to manage a child’s eating habits, I don’t believe in diets for children. Kids gotta eat!
Just change what they eat.
Lot more fruits, lots less “manufactured” food. I read somewhere that if people stuck to eating “God’s food,” they wouldn’t have a weight problem.
That would be grapes or apples instead of Ding Dongs and candy bars.
Food that is grown and kept to as close to how nature produced them is far superior to products packed with chemical additives.
As for running, it will take some doing to counteract the negative image that has been placed upon it by well meaning coaches. My experience with youth over the past 20 years is that most of them genuinely hate the activity. I wondered “why,” because kids haven’t always been that way. I wonder if perhaps it’s the results of youth coaches using “running” as a routine punishment. Do something bad ...20 laps! Mess up an assignment ... 30 laps? Lateness for practice, displaying bad attitudes or poor work ethic will earn you extra running. Equating running with punishment is almost a given with a lot of coaches, so it is small wonder that the process of running makes lots of kids feel innately bad.
So, to do my part in promoting youth fitness, I am reviving the Trackhawks Running Club. While preparing athletes for successful participation in track and field, my major goal is to improve the health and fitness of any and all participants.
The Trackhawks will meet at 6 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays and anyone wishing to participate may call 381-7412 or write [email protected]. There is no cost to participate.
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John McGee is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The TIMES. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
School, Pages 8 on 04/14/2010