It goes to tell you how far away we have come as a society when people can’t figure out the foundation of our exsistence is health, fitness, well being. All the other areas of academic education are so important for the advancement of our society and individual growth. But if you take the physical away you have nothing.

Keep pushing for what is right!

I use to think I need to raise my kids to be good, God fearing people some day so that they can lead this country.
This is still true, but the future of America is not intheir hands, it’s in our hands now while we are still free.
If we don’t stand up now, our kids will regret our laziness and pay the price.

If you knew some of the conversations i have had and things i listened to in the past few weeks you would understand why i finally lost it. I try not to lose my focus and cool but when i see overweight kids eating the way they do and not getting any exercise and people telling me kids need to focus more on acacemics than their fitness and health- Rrrrr!

Congrats on your son. I am sure he will do great things in this field.

thanks so much. I would start with the PTO/PTA in your schools. It is a tough battle but if we at least get people in our community talking about it and thinking about their options. Any time you come across quality food choices pass them out to people in charge of youth organizations and any parents you feel will help support you. I know not everyone is going to respond well to this but if we don’t make people think more about it, it will keep getting worse. I hope this helps and i appreciate your concern.

That was one of the most important speeches I have heard in a long time.

I cannot agree with you more. I am not sure where to start in my community so if you have any suggestions please send me an email.

May I use this email in an effort to gain interest.

Thank

Jim

Thanks for the passionate plea regarding the importance of general health and nutrition. I agree with you in philosophy, but not in practicality. I agree that the health of our children is of absolute importance. I strongly believe, however, that is a matter of personal responsibility – something that seems to be terribly lacking in our current entitlement society. I believe (and I know I will get many daggers thrown my way for this) schools should stick to academic education. Mom’s and Dad’s are responsible for the well being of their children, not the taxpayers. If schools would stick to academic education (reading, writing, arithmetic, science – including general health education – and history) and get rid of all the fluff, our kids would be much better educated, and will have time after school to participate in extracurricular activities. Of course, that means they would have to turn off their electronic babysitters, stay off the couch, keep their fingers out of the potato chip bag, and get outside and get active. Lee, I am a physical therapist, the father of six children, the oldest four are homeschooled, the younger two are not yet school age. The five oldest are very active with our local soccer club, through which I do a lot of speed and agility training with the club level teams. I know how much time it takes to give our kids a quality education. In schools, much of the day is wasted with things that should be taught by Mom and Dad at home. My wife (also an avid runner/marathoner) is the primary school teacher of our children, she finishes the school day in about four hours (currently four different grade levels, and I can assure you they receive a very high quality education) and has plenty of time for extracurricular activities, including playing outside – if anyone can remember what that is… So, Lee, if you want to fault someone for the poor health of our kids, don’t blame the School System, as I don’t believe it is their responsibility, blame Mom and Dad. Shame on them for not taking better care of thier children and for not setting a better example and having higher expectations for and of their children!

I admire the work you do, Lee, and I am grateful for your regular blogs. I look forward to meeting you at IYCA in February!

– Alan