A Kindergarten Teacher Sounds Off On Childhood Obesity
Yes, I know my sister is not the early childhood expert that Two Quarters Shy Of A Buck is, but she does have a degree in elementary education and spends all day with about thirty kids. I heed her words of wisdom, elevated from comment status:
They are working on passing a law now that snacks, birthday treats, etc. are not going to be allowed in Indiana schools. As if me teaching my kids about graphing with a mini size bag containing about 10 M&M's is what is making kids fat-not the 6 hours they spend playing video games when they get home and the drive thru that Mom brings home for dinner!
Lest you think she's exaggerating about the amount of time 5 year olds spend in front of the t.v.--let me assure you. She isn't. She's also had parents tell her during their conferences that 30 minutes of homework a couple of days a week is "too much" for children that young.
I remember birthday treats. The occasional cupcake was a nice change from the routine. Somehow I don't think disallowing these from the classroom is going to do much for kids' waistlines.
posted by Kat Coble @ 7:47 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
We're jerks... we have a one movie a WEEK limit, we don't have cable, and we live out in the boondocks, so you had better be willing to put up with a lot of fuzz if you want to watch something. (On occasion, if we hire a babysitter we lift the limit, but that's so the sitter doesn't go bonkers)
Sometimes the kidlet gets to watch Sesame Street in the childcare center at the Y.
The one neat benefit is the rare times I do watch TV, the commercials are very interesting.
See, Heather, I think it's the difference between people who parent and people who have kids. I hear horror stories from my sis all the time about kids in her morning kindergarten that go home and noon and play vidgames until supper (which is usually fast food or pizza or even just ice cream) and then watch TV until bed.
The mother and father's excuse for this is that the kids should "enjoy being young" or something to that effect. I'm not part of their families, so I can't speak to all the ins and outs, but it seems as though many people who have given birth are far too self-absorbed to actually parent their kids.
Not everyone. Just a few.
Unfortunately, Kat, it's far more than "just a few."
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