Fit to be Outside

Last week I had the enormous pleasure of spending time with my 10-year old nephew at our cabin in the woods in Garrett County, Maryland. When checking in with his parents on his return, I told them that almost all of his clothes were coming back clean. This kid went from his PJs to long underwear and snow suit every day. Exhausted from the day’s adventure, he’d be back in his PJs for the evening. No “street clothes” for this kid.

We found ourselves whispering as we explored the woods by snowshoes and cross-country skiis, respectful of the immense silence that surrounded us. My nephew was in his element, with words like “amazing” and “beautiful” and “wonderful” filling his sentences.

As an outdoor kid, he’s fit to take on the kind of adventures his aunt and uncle always have planned for him. Yet, unfortunately, he’s more of a rarity among his peers. Kids these days spend close to 8 hours a day in front of some kind of screen – tv, computer, video. One out of three kids is obese. And for the first time in our history, kids are growing up with the probability they will be less healthy than their parents.

And that’s a really scary idea given the current health of Americans. Kevin Huffman lets us know that Americans have won the Couch Potato Olympic Gold thanks to a statistics compiled by the Daily Beast. He gives kudos to Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative, and notes how the right-wingers don’ t like progressives messing with their right to be fat.

I welcome the First Lady’s efforts while encouraging her to insist that ‘moving” needs to also be about unstructured play outside rather than just orchestrated play inside or on a soccer field.

Let’s not give up so easily on getting kids to get outside to just play. They need it. We need it.

Let’s get moving -- outside! Recognizing that there are too many kids living in unsafe neighborhoods, let’s be sure that being outside becomes part of their educational experience and after school activities that promote a green hour. Being outside needs to be part of the fitness and education equation.