Yesterday's Playgrounds

Lately, I've been reading a lot about child obesity. Not surprising, there's a major push to get kids to eat healthier and to exercise more. The eating part really doesn't surprise me. After all, kids have had a fascination with junk food since the Flintstone's era. And McDonald's Happy Meals are still considered a full course dinner to most five year olds.

However, the push to get kids to "exercise" is really mind boggling to me. In effect, the "exercise" amounts to nothing more than playing. Remember when child's play used to be a main staple of the growing years? On a summer day, local playgrounds were always full of energetic youngsters. But with the introduction of video games and the increase of over-protective parenting, today's playgrounds have become ghost towns.

The National Football League has even started a campaign to get kid's to play at least 60 minutes a day. Can you believe this? We now have to pressure our kids to go out and play. I can remember the days when most of the neighborhood kids would hit the local park in the morning and remain there until the sun went down. I can recall our parents hunting us down on the playground because we forgot to come home for dinner. Yes, the times have indeed changed.

Today's kids rarely leave the house unless it's a trip to the mall to pick up a new video game. Instead of having a variety of neighborhood buddies, the kids now have "virtual friends" from around the world. Whether it's from a Facebook chat, an online game competition or even home-schooling, the social interaction is growing increasingly remote. And it can't be good.

Can you get some exercise from playing Wii Sports? Maybe. But does it really compare to playing a game of hoops at the local court with real kids?

When I was growing up, I can remember kids walking down the street and rounding up everyone they could for a pick-up football game at the local park. When enough players were recruited (and they almost always were), the teams would be picked. It was an adrenaline rush to see one of the tough guys from the neighborhood barreling towards you as you ran behind your blocker. When you eventually scored a touchdown, it really felt like an accomplishment. And although we got some bumps and bruises from time to time, it was still a blast. From these games, we developed social skills and the concept of a team building. And in some cases, we even found friendships that would last a lifetime.

Today's kids don't get bumps and bruises from playing sports. Instead, they get carpal tunnel syndrome. Maybe I'm getting older and just don't understand. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this picture??

KW