Under the theme “You can’t do better, until you know better,” The California Parks Company, a park concessioner, organizes trips for urban youth to farms to see from where food comes. FitKid is their program to provide incentives to children for making good choices about what they eat and experiencing the outdoors. Here’s a video of one of those trips.
CLICK HERE to read more about FitKid.
Tag Archive for the 'childhood obesity' Tag
You can’t do better, until you know better
National Kids to Parks Day – May 20
The National Park Service and the National Park Trust will launch the first National Kids to Parks Day on the National Mall, Fri., May 20. After a kick-off ceremony, 500 students will rotate through activity stations that promote physical fitness and environmental conservation.
More than 150 mayors across the country have signed proclamations declaring May 21 as National Kids to Parks Day in their city or town. They are encouraging families to explore a local, state, or national park and spend quality time in America’s great outdoors.
National Kids to Parks Day is endorsed by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Outside initiative, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Youth in the Great Outdoors initiative, America’s State Parks, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), National Education Association (NEA), Children’s National Medical Center, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition and the National Environmental Education Foundation.
Friday’s event occurs at the NE/NW Quadrant of the Washington Monument Grounds at 15th and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, beginning at 10 a.m. and continuing to noon.
Obesity and America
CLICK HERE to see how obesity has changed in America over the decades.
Parks as Prescriptions
[youtube]ZfIT7kH_KQY[/youtube]
Parks as prescriptions are described in a new video presented at the America’s Great Outdoors conference.
Let’s Move Outside
First Lady Michelle Obama, Majority Leader Harry Reid and Interior Assistant Secretary Rhea Suh launched a new initiative, Let’s Move Outside, this week at Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas. To read the First Lady’s speech, CLICK HERE. Let’s Move Outside encourages outdoor activities on public lands and close to home with the guidance that…
“Kids need at least 60 minutes of active and vigorous play each day, and one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to meet this goal is by playing outside. Let’s Move Outside! gives parents the tools they need to get their families moving outdoors. By linking parents to nearby parks, trails and waters – and providing tips and ideas – Let’s Move Outside! will help families become healthier and develop a more active lifestyle.”
The name of this program, Let’s Move Outside, has double meaning… both let’s go outside and let’s be active outside. The First Lady’s concern about childhood obesity is rightly being directed toward the one place that children have traditionally enjoyed and benefitted most… outdoors.
Children & Nature, A Worldwide Concern
The necessity of connecting children with nature is not just an American concern (as evidenced by the 72 regional and state campaigns here to connect children with the outdoors). Across the globe, nations are seeking to reconnect children with nature.
As reported recently by Richard Louv [author of Last Child in the Woods; Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder] on his blog, Field Notes from the Future, a new movement in Australia seeks to motivate families to get outside and experience nature together. Mr. Louv listed reports of similar programs from such “far flung corners of the world” as China, the UK, South Africa, Chile, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Kenya and across Europe.
However, he warns that progress is not guaranteed, as the “competition for children’s time is increasing.” Varied studies support this. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that American kids between 8 and 18 spend 7.5 hours a day on average in front of some sort of electronic device. Pew Research Center says half of American teenagers text messages 50 or more times a day. Paul Nakamoto, marketing director at the Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton, Calif. wrote to us not long ago saying, “I know a tour operator who has a step daughter who is 14. The tour operator said she got a cell phone bill delivered in a box that was 450 pages long. Her step daughter had made 25,000 text messages in one month. Think about it, there are 30 days in a month, 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour. That’s 21,600 minutes in a month and this kid made 25,000 text messages in a month!? Some of that time she’s in school, some of that time she should be sleeping. I understand sometimes messages are quick like LOL, but still. I think technology in the hands of kids is getting way out of hand.”
Mr. Louv and his Children and Nature Network are doing the good work of combating the ill effects of this trend. The National Parks Promotion Council applauds that effort and suggests that to learn more about their work, CLICK HERE.
