Fighting childhood obesity: Maybe it does take a village
Today, Mrs. Obama announced an effort to combat childhood obesity. It feels like an enormous problem -- no pun intended -- and I hope she can get kids moving and slimming down. (Read about it here.)
If any public figure can do it, maybe she can. She's a strong role model: she feeds her kids a healthy vegetable-laden diet, she planted a garden with school kids ... those arms!
Full disclosure: My kids are slim, but I'm not about to wag my finger at others. Because I wish I could be as good a role model in my house as Michelle Obama is in the People's House. I do not exercise nearly as much as I should. Nutritious meals too often fall by the wayside -- because we are juggling five or six weeknight sports practices. We've got too much junk food in the cabinet.
I wasn't always this way. For my son's first birthday, I made him a cake that involved wheat germ and unsweetened apple sauce. It didn't taste very good. Maybe that traumatic experience turned my son into the picky eater he remains today. My daughter, however, is a great eater. Go figure.
I do think Mrs. Obama is on to something: That it takes a multi-pronged approach to fight a significant health issue.
It starts with parents, but communities and schools must play a role, too, in the form of healthy lunches and fun physical activities for kids.
Though last week I wrote how PE in middle school was a waste of time for some kids (mine specifically), my thoughtful collegue Lois Solomon disagreed. Believe me, if my kids weren't already active, they would be taking PE.
I just think all the fun has been taken out of it physical activity. Parents are afraid to let their kids run or bike around the neighborhood for fear of being snatched. Sports programs have become so competitive they weed out everyone but the very best.
One bright spot locally is the opening of a new YMCA at Lauderhill Middle School. This is an innovate partnership between Broward County Schools and Waste Management, which gave a $75,0000 grant. It's the first YMCA in a public school in Broward.
The new facility is now open to teachers and faculty and this summer will be open to students and the community. If it becomes anything like the Y I grew up with, it will be a safe place for kids to try all sorts of fun, physical, non-competitive activities.
Hopefully, Mrs. Obama can inspire more of these kinds of innovative programs.
PHOTO: AP
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work.
Joy Oglesby has a preschooler...
Cindy Kent Fort Lauderdale mother of three. Her kids span in ages from teenager to 20s.
Rafael Olmeda and his wife welcomed their first son in Feb. 2009, and he's helping raise two teenage stepdaughters.
Lois Solomon lives in Boca Raton with her husband and three daughters.
Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces.
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 15, and Lily, 7, and is married to a journalist, Bob Norman. She covers Broward County government, which is filled with almost as much drama as the Norman household. Almost.
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator and the father of a 7-year-old girl, and two boys ages 4 and 3.
Kyara Lomer Camarena has a 2-year-old son, Copelan, and a brand new baby. 
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