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No Child Left Inside
by Eco Rock
As Americans’ obesity continues to rise, our concerns are for the adults suffering from heart disease, diabetes, and other weight-related illnesses. In the mean time, children’s obesity is increasing drastically as their parents’ largely sedentary lifestyles become their own.
In 1976, 5% of children were overweight
In 2002, 23% preschoolers were obese or overweight
By 2010, it is predicted that over 50% of children will be overweight
In an effort to combat obesity and a lack of connectedness with the natural environmental in children, the Connecticut Department of Environmental protection founded the No Child Left Inside initiative. While the idea is to promote more family time spent outdoors, taking advantage of public parks, there are many health benefits and the catch phrase has spread across the nation.
For more on this topic check out Richard Louv’s book, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder”!
December 20th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I have hours and hours of memories of time in forests in upstate New York as well as in rural Pennsylvania. Streams of water- we called them “cricks” not “creeks.” Pine tree patches- warmer in there even on the coldest winter day. To my joy, my kids now live close enough to their school that they get to walk there every day. My 80 year old neighbor said it’s good for them to experience the weather!