Monday, April 12, 2010
Childhood Obesity
Today I volunteered at the New Castle YMCA. They have an after school program for children considered overweight or obese due to their BMI. Going to this program is always fun but sad at the same time. Every time I go I enjoy myself and it always brightens my day. It is sad that the YMCA even needs a program like this. Watching the kids, you could tell they wanted to have fun but some of them couldn't even play tag because they became tired so easily. While doing a 5 minute warm up, a couple of the kids just give up when the tagger came towards them because they were too tired. As 10 years old kids they are already in bad shape and I really hope this program will help them so they do not become obese adults. Ultimately, I look forward to a day when the YMCA can eliminate this program altogether.
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That would be a great day. I can understand how it is sad on some levels, but the fact that the kids are there is extremely motivating to all. Making activity fun for them is going to be the key to them continuing after the program is over. Once they start seeing the benefits the program offers, they may become more motivated to continue it for themselves, or at least you would hope. The problem is that you have no idea the influence their parents have on them. Encouraging parents to be active with the kids should also be included in the program to have a better success of weight loss and healthy living once the kids leave the program.
ReplyDeleteI too have had the chance to go and help out with this program. I agree that it is sad to see that they have to have a program for this issue. I enjoy watching the kids run around and play tag and other activities, but their participation becomes limited only 5 minutes into the activity. I have noticed that most of them are very unmotivated to anything simple, let alone participate in an activity. After going to this program a couple times, I did notice that some of the students become extremely interested once they play a game that they like. I think that our duty as future physical education teachers is to show kids how to exercise and be physically active and have fun at the same time.
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