Fat Nazis

[Methanolandbrats]

No, not Sgt. Schultz, mandating pediatricians to compile BMI statistics. Nothing like plugging more numbers into Epic spyware, start em young and there will be even earlier reasons to deny insurance or raise rates. :mad:

[TrueBrit]

Or you could make the pudgy little bastards put down the Xbox controllers and go and get some exercise..

[Elmo T]

mandating pediatricians to compile BMI statistics. :mad:

We get a report like this from the school already.



Or you could make the pudgy little bastards put down the Xbox controllers and go and get some exercise..


School board is in hot water over this one. Saving some money by having kids walk to school, they are within the legal travel distance, but parents are going crazy.

School board: Let them walk (http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/the_intelligencer/the_intelligencer_news_details/article/27/2010/may/12/school-board-let-them-walk.html)

[Methanolandbrats]

Or you could make the pudgy little bastards put down the Xbox controllers and go and get some exercise..

Ya, that is ideal, but ever notice the playgrounds are abandoned? Nobody just gets a ball and their friends and shoots hoops or plays ball unless it's an organized practice or game. When I was a kid we went outside and screwed around till it got dark, now nobody even goes outside. It's a combination of videogames and a climate of fear from watching too much TV news. The "how the hell do we get kids to be active" issue is different than big brother compiling more and more "health" statistics in a central database.

[extramundane]

Or you could make the pudgy little bastards put down the Xbox controllers and go and get some exercise..

A PE teacher here tried to start a Wii Fit program for, shall we say, "physically unmotivated" Middle School kids a couple years ago. Parents flipped the eff out and started citing all the instances they could find about kids getting hurt playing Wii. :saywhat:

That was around the time I started losing what was left of my faith in humanity.

[cameraman]

mandating pediatricians to compile BMI statistics

A link perhaps?

[devilmaster]

here's one...

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/90041262.html

[Methanolandbrats]

This ******** is just another waste of money. The doctor will tell the parents and 95% of them will stop at McDonalds on the way home. The only solution is parents feeding kids properly and being good role models from day one. It all comes down to the individual parents.

[cameraman]

Every doctor already calculates your child's BMI whenever he sees your kid. It is a standard part of a child's physical and it would be considered malpractice if the pediatrician didn't calculate & record it in your child's medical record. As for informing the parents, our pediatrician tells us our child's BMI at every visit and has since the day our kid was born. No legislation needed. As for writing it on the vaccination card that would take, I don't know, about 2 seconds.

[TKGAngel]

How much of it has to do with cramming in more teaching time because so many schools are now "teaching to the test?" Recess is the first thing to go, and gym class isn't what it used to be.

[cameraman]

45+ years ago when I was in elementary school we had Gym just about every day and it was that way all through 12th grade. In elementary school we had the whole Presidential Physical Fitness Award thing going on, does that even exist anymore?

I find it a little humorous that Dwight Eisenhower started the whole thing cause US kids were couch potatoes compared to the European kids in the 1950s:rolleyes:

[Methanolandbrats]

Every doctor already calculates your child's BMI whenever he sees your kid. It is a standard part of a child's physical and it would be considered malpractice if the pediatrician didn't calculate & record it in your child's medical record. As for informing the parents, our pediatrician tells us our child's BMI at every visit and has since the day our kid was born. No legislation needed. As for writing it on the vaccination card that would take, I don't know, about 2 seconds.

Not in Wisconsin, don't know about other states, hence the nationwide push.

[Methanolandbrats]

How much of it has to do with cramming in more teaching time because so many schools are now "teaching to the test?" Recess is the first thing to go, and gym class isn't what it used to be. We've got recess for little kids and middle school and high school phy ed is geared toward lifetime sports. They have units on biking, swimming, running, walking, ultimate frisbee, fishing, flying kites,...anything to get kids outdoors and active. I go back to what I said, it depends on the parents. If the parents watch TV all night and overeat, the kids are ****ed. If the parents bike/run/canoe/do anything and eat decent food, the kids will be fine.

[SteveH]

A school district in the area has cut all art and phys ed classes for all grades next year due to budget issues. 13 teachers riffed.

[TKGAngel]

45+ years ago when I was in elementary school we had Gym just about every day and it was that way all through 12th grade. In elementary school we had the whole Presidential Physical Fitness Award thing going on, does that even exist anymore?


We had the Presidential Physical Fitness Test when I was in high school, but that was back in '99.

While I did have gym twice a week, we had to stop playing touch football and soccer because too many girls got hurt. I think the admin was surprised at how competitive we were...heh.

[chop456]

Not in Wisconsin, don't know about other states, hence the nationwide push.

Correct. Here, they give you a pat on the head, a grilled cheese and a beer and send you on your way. :D

[dando]

While I did have gym twice a week, we had to stop playing touch football and soccer because too many girls got hurt. I think the admin was surprised at how competitive we were...heh.

Well, that's Buffalo where even the girls have beards. :gomer: :p :D

-Kevin

[cameraman]

When I was in high school the system changed from Boy's Gym and Girl's Gym to just plain Gym. Nothing was as terrifying as being sent outside to play field hockey against "girls" who had been wielding those clubs in mortal combat for the previous three years:eek::eek::eek:

[chop456]

^ We had floor hockey in the fieldhouse. A smarmy rich kid that nobody liked called a girl on the opposing team fat and she full-swing smashed him in the mouth with her stick, knocking teeth out and busting his lips open. It was great. :D

[Methanolandbrats]

^ We had floor hockey in the fieldhouse. A smarmy rich kid that nobody liked called a girl on the opposing team fat and she full-swing smashed him in the mouth with her stick, knocking teeth out and busting his lips open. It was great. :D

Excellent :thumbup:

[TKGAngel]

Well, that's Buffalo where even the girls have beards. :gomer: :p :D

-Kevin

:rolleyes:

It was an all-girls high school, too.


A smarmy rich kid that nobody liked called a girl on the opposing team fat and she full-swing smashed him in the mouth with her stick, knocking teeth out and busting his lips open. It was great.

Watch out for chicks with sticks.

[Indy]

A school district in the area has cut all art and phys ed classes for all grades next year due to budget issues. 13 teachers riffed.

:shakehead

Thanks, Mitch.

[stroker]

A school district in the area has cut all art and phys ed classes for all grades next year due to budget issues. 13 teachers riffed.

Which begs the question what classes are they keeping?

[cameraman]

... ever notice the playgrounds are abandoned?
I took my son to the elementary school today, saturday afternoon at 70°F and sunny, we did batting practice for an hour & a half at the now abandoned back stop and never saw another child at the playground, basketball courts, hand ball walls etc. All this 20+ year old athletic infrastructure and not a soul using it:shakehead

Well at least we had a good time:thumbup:

[Methanolandbrats]

I took my son to the elementary school today, saturday afternoon at 70°F and sunny, we did batting practice for an hour & a half at the now abandoned back stop and never saw another child at the playground, basketball courts, hand ball walls etc. All this 20+ year old athletic infrastructure and not a soul using it:shakehead

Well at least we had a good time:thumbup:

:thumbup: Yup, that's why I say it's parents. I did the same thing with my girls, outside everyday doing anything active as soon as they could walk and they ended up playing varsity basketball and running cross country and track. They would rather sweat and throw elbows than watch TV or play video games :thumbup:

[cameraman]

Yeah but I also know his BMI is 14. :D
He varies between the 5% and 10% percentile - the kid's skinny as a rail, he doesn't believe in food. He still has a huge bowl full of leftover birthday, Halloween, Christmas & Easter candy, I mean seriously, wtf?

[Tifosi24]

I took my son to the elementary school today, saturday afternoon at 70°F and sunny, we did batting practice for an hour & a half at the now abandoned back stop and never saw another child at the playground, basketball courts, hand ball walls etc. All this 20+ year old athletic infrastructure and not a soul using it:shakehead

Well at least we had a good time:thumbup:

That was my experience from working two summers for a city's parks department. The city parks were almost universally abandoned. My new neighborhood is strange though since there are a ton of kids in it, and a fair number of them actually play outdoors.

[nrc]

I have to say that this isn't an entirely new phenomenon. I remember marveling at the number of abandoned tennis and basketball courts in our home town even as a teenager.

My feeling at the time was that air conditioning was killing our willingness to tolerate warm temperatures for recreational purposes.

[Indy]

I think the difference is safety, or the perception that children out alone are not as safe as they used to be (which is certainly debatable). When I was a kid we lived outside. As kids we found other kids to play with by simply going outside and seeing who was there, or riding through town on our bikes and spotting friends. Now a mommy calls another mommy and child #1 proceeds directly to child #2's house, plays for some predetermined amount of time (depending on homework, other activities, parental restrictions, etc.), then returns home. Even in our ultra-safe suburban neighborhood, parents are paranoid. The kids just don't have a chance to live as we did.

[ChampcarShark]

In my town the parks are changing face, no more swings, no more chutes, no more climbing equipment.

The parks now have universal child safe plastic equipment.

Guess the local government is afraid of lawsuits when children get hurt.

I agree, new parents are over protective.

[oddlycalm]

The kids just don't have a chance to live as we did.
Parents can probably make a pretty good argument that society is not as forgiving of errors in judgment regarding who to trust or what you can get away with as it was 30, 40, 50yrs ago.

You're premise is correct though, kids that are sheltered are sent out into the world partially disarmed. Like you by the time I was old enough to be mobile I was out exploring our town and the world around it. My parents made sure I learned to swim young and was exposed to big water enough to know that if I misjudged I got slammed. That's a pretty good analogue for life in general.

oc

[grungex]

In my town the parks are changing face, no more swings, no more chutes, no more climbing equipment.

The parks now have universal child safe plastic equipment.

Guess the local government is afraid of lawsuits when children get hurt.

I agree, new parents are over protective.

How does this jibe with the plethora of skateboard parks I keep seeing? Is there some sort of liability waiver, or ??? :confused: