You may remember not too long ago I talked about how my lovely adopted state of Colorado, while considered to be one of the healthiest state in the United States is not so quite healthy when it comes to our kids. Most of you were surprised and even I was surprised when I first heard about it. Our kids are actually listed as number 24 in the nation in terms of the level of physical activity that our kids receive. An average of 55% of our kids don’t get the physical activity that they require, thus making our kids not quite as healthy as the adults in our state. As a mother who has resigned herself to living in this beautiful state, and I have to admit that it is beautiful, I would LOVE for our kids to be healthier and it starts with us the adults. We need to take a stand and say NO MORE 24!
This little girl is my life and is currently in Pre-Kindergarten. While she gets to exercise in school because her teacher takes her outdoors daily for a quick recess, that isn’t the case with most of our kids in school here. I mentioned that while my junior high schooler gets PE daily, my high schooler on the other end only gets it twice a week. The food in school isn’t that great either. They don’t get a healthy, nutritious meal daily, compared to other schools in other states, and there have been days when they’ve complained that the milk had an expiry date that had passed, or that the lunch was just so “disgusting” that they just passed it up completely.
All kids deserve a healthy, nutritious meal, just like they deserve to have physical exercise, but it’s not happening right here in our schools. That’s why it’s up to us to make a difference. We need to take action to ensure that our kids get what they deserve. It can be as simple as writing a letter to your local school district, the principal of the school that your child attend, and even bringing up these issues at your local parent teacher association meetings. How can there be change if we just sit back and allow things to happen. Our children are our future and we need them to be healthy!
As a native New Yorker, we were considered a concrete jungle, but I’m going to tell you that I had more parks closer to me in that jungle than I do here in Colorado with our wide open space. Thankfully, I have a backyard and a front yard big enough to have our own mini park, but that isn’t the case with every child. We have a lot of open spaces here and we need parks and community centers built so our children can have the exercise that they need daily. Start writing letters to your mayor or city council members and let them know that our children deserve so much more! There is absolutely no reason that 25% of our children here in Colorado should be overweight. No excuse at all!
I get really passionate when I talk about my kids and their health, this however isn’t just about my kids, but all the kids here in this beautiful state. We need to fight back against childhood obesity, but the fight has to start here with us right now. It starts at our own dinner tables, in our doctor’s office, it starts with educating ourselves and living an active and healthy lifestyle. My motto has always been, “Don’t just talk about it, Be about it!”. Take your kids to the parks, cut out the junk food, but most of all, get out the house!
Let’s do what we have to do to make our children healthier. If we have to take our fight to the state capitol, let’s do that! We want safer sidewalks for our children, more bike paths, more parks and healthier lunches. Bring back PE in the school curriculum and let’s get this under control!
Once again join me in signing the pledge to end childhood obesity once and for all. Sign up at NoMore24.org. Are you in this fight with me?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of LiveWell Colorado. The opinions and text are all mine.
