February 9th, 2010
Let’s Move!
First Lady Michelle Obama officially kicked off the Let’s Move! program today. Let’s Move! has as its goal to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity in the U.S. within a generation.
I was pleased to see safe routes to walk and bike to school were specifically mentioned in the Let’s Move! literature:
Children need 60 minutes of active and vigorous play every day to grow up to a healthy weight. If this sounds like a lot, consider that 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 ½ hours to using entertainment media including TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies in a typical day, and only a third of high school students get the recommended levels of physical activity. To increase physical activity, today’s children need safe routes to walk and ride to school, parks, playgrounds and community centers where they can play and be active after school, and sports, dance or fitness programs that are exciting and challenging to keep them engaged.
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9 Responses to “Let’s Move!”
Let’s hope – our local school system removed all of its bike racks a few years ago.
@Steve
That’s terrible. I hope you’ve been encouraging your kids to lock their bikes in inappropriate places as a silent protest and you’ve complained to your school superintendent and PTA board!
I have mixed feelings about this. First, I think that a focus on weight (“obesity” as opposed to diabetes and its other symptoms) is not good and can make the poor children feel even more anxious about their bodies than they probably already do in American culture. Also, I think that the focus on mandatory, organised “fitness’ activities is misguided. Coming into an American school system from a European one in 1990, I was shocked by how mandated “physical fitness” was in American school, and consequently, how nerve-wrecking and lacking in fun it was. American kids don’t just meet up and play ball/jumprope/tag. They enroll in official teams at age 9 and play organised sports. I remember just being stunned by this. I am not sure to what extent this renewed stress on institutionalised physical fitness will promote (vs further diminish) active lifestyles, which is what we should really be aiming at. If schools are adding more sports to their regiment, while at the same time removing bicycle racks, what are they really accomplishing?
@Lovely Bicycle!
“Also, I think that the focus on mandatory, organised “fitness’ activities is misguided.”
While I 100% agree that working physical activity into our daily routines is key, I don’t see where this program doesn’t, at least in spirit, promote the idea. From the OP:
“To increase physical activity, today’s children need safe routes to walk and ride to school…”
Alan
The thought just occurred to me that “Let’s Move” is another attempt to squeeze physical activity in the cocoon we’ve been building as a society in the last few generations. American society (or the purveyors of American lifestyle) has been been promoting safe “cocooning” where we all live in a safe and sequestered bubble from all things terrible and icky. Life is terrible and icky a lot of times but we can’t stop buying happy home and health products to stuff in out bubble.
So, what does this have to do with “Let’s Move?” It’s an attempt to get us out of the bubble. anyone living outside of the bubble is considered a kook. Like cyclists who ride outside of the steel bubble on the highway and at far slower speeds everybody else is and with far fewer financial obligations.
Let’s Move gets kids outside of the “safe environs” of the school building and home to move around and burn up the sugar-fueled energy instead of sedately watching some media device.
I agree they should add diabetes, heart disease and physical fitness as additional metrics for children’s health.
I hope Lets’ Move succeeds in getting some kids off their butts on their own.
> “To increase physical activity, today’s children need safe routes to walk and ride to school…â€
Alan – It does say that. But the video, at least in my memory of it, is disproportionally focused on organised sports, showing children doing jumping jacks on a football field and that sort of thing.
Also, purely from the pov of practical implementation, it is easier to focus on adding more sports to the school curriculum than on creating safe routes to walk and ride to school where infrastructure does not exist (i.e. much of American suburbia).
My husband and I were driving through a cross section of Massachusetts suburbs the other day during what was apparently bus drop-off time. The schoolbus stopped at most every block to let the kids off, apparently right in front of their houses. We marveled at this, and then noticed something: There were no sidewalks on any of the streets the bus was traveling through. So I imagine dropping the kids off at their doorstep was done because walking to the bus stop is considered unsafe. Now, can you imagine the resources it would take to create sidewalks and bike lanes in these suburban areas? To reduce speed limits? In today’s economy, it is probably not feasible for many communities to undertake such a project. Adding an extra gym class or team sport to the local public school is pennies in comparison.
@Lovely Bicycle!
It’s a lofty goal to think we can create safe routes for all children to walk or ride their bikes to school, but I think it’s one that’s extremely important to pursue. If we can instill the idea of active transportation in the little buggers when they’re young and impressionable, we may have a fighting chance that they’ll continue with the practice when they grow up (it worked on me :-)). Even though the video emphasized team sports, I’m pleased the need for active transportation was at least acknowledged – I think it shows we have a fighting chance.
Regards,
Alan
I think you need to focus on what works for your community. In ours we have sidewalks and safe enough streets. I talked to the superintendent when the bike racks were removed and he said bikes were too dangerous and the school could’t afford the liability. I asked why the school offers free parking for HS students — isn’t that a recognition of a dangerous form of transportation …?
A friend of mine has a program that tries to get kids physically active and free of the need to rely on their parents through biking as well as working in family or community gardens. She has had complaints from parents that she is promoting “dangerous” bike riding.
Our local Parks and Recreation department has a new slogan out and it’s probably the saddest bit of advertising I’ve ever seen and it’s entitled, “Have you played today?”
How pathetic is that? Playtime, ie physical activity, has become secondary in many kids’ lives. Parents are too busy, too afraid to let their kids just be kids.
However, we scored big on the Safe Routes to School AARA funding and got a bicycle underpass under a very busy intersection that connects the east side of town with a Jr. High and a High School both of which are just on the verge of downtown. Both schools have large bike corrals that are pretty full up whenever I see them.
It’s easy to say that kids should bike more, but kids do need safe routes to school. Bicycle infrastructure makes a huge difference.
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