Parents in Massachusetts will be delighted to learn that the public schools have decided to start issuing weight report cards for the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th grades. If your child is too fat or too thin, the state will let you know and even tell you where you can go to get help.
How kind of them. Why exactly is this a paretal problem? The USDA is the one that says it's okay to fill all of our foods with corn syrup. Perhaps they will start up programs to help send grocery shopping aids with the parents while they browse the center aisles of the stores. They can bonk you on the head if you start to reach for canned chili and give you a raisin if you reach for the dried beans. Just one raisin mind you, they wouldn't want to over indulge us. While I don't care for all the corn syrup in my foods, is that really the problem?
Actually, does anyone see an interesting correlation between the rise of childhood obesity and compulsary education? We weren't made to sit around all day staring at textbooks and to only be given an hour of exercise like prisoners. Even playtime for kindergarteners is being curbed in order to have more time to teach them to the tests. I'm curious what the obesity rate in those kindergarteners will be?
Our children aren't cattle to be poked and measured by government officials. Parent's do realize when their child has a weight problem and they don't need a state measuring tape to tell them so. I've talked to countless parents who are doing their best to get their children more active and eating a healthier diet. Some just can't afford the time it takes to cook from scratch.
Would you let the state measure your child? Why not bring them home where they can play and truy learn instead of being forced to sit all day long and regurgitate facts?
Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB
- Home Where They Belong
