Posts from — September 2003

There was a column in The Daily News the other day about how fat Nova Scotian kids are getting and that the lack of a decent physical education class in the public schools is the cause. I disagree. Why is it that whenever something goes wrong with kids, whether they are too violent or can’t spel rite or do math proper that it’s the schools who are to blame? When are parents going to realize that they are the ones who should bear the brunt of the blame for everything that is wrong with their kids?

How many times have I gone into—I mean, walked by—a Burger King only to see parents and their kids stuffing their insatiable maws with bottomless pits of fatty, sugar-laden fast food burgers and then washing it all down with bucket-sized colas? How many parents are themselves bad examples for their kids, overweight and out of shape and two years away from either a heart attack or a daily insulin shot? Grab any five Nova Scotians over 35 years of age and try to pinch an inch. I’d bet for at least three of them your hand won’t be able to wrap itself around the sack of flab that’s hanging off their waistline, threatening to bust their pants.

Maybe it’s all those Tim Horton donuts and donair pizzas but I’d feel safe betting that a vast majority of Nova Scotians are on a collision course with heart disease, diabetes and a whole host of other health problems that are a direct result of lifestyle and dietary choices. Why should we expect our children to act any differently than we do?

It’s not gym class. Hell, gym class is usually the most traumatic experience that most kids go through. I know it was for me. Getting naked in front of all the other boys, having them laugh and point at my abnormally large penis. It was horrible.

I’m glad they’ve decided to cut back on physical education classes. Maybe now kids will learn how to do the really important things, like read something more complex than TV Guide, write a sentence that follows at least three simple rules of grammar, and figure out the value of x if y=32 and John is four times taller than Sally but two years younger than Bill. And then, after all of their studying is done, maybe they can haul their chunky asses away from the television or computer and go outside and run around a little bit.

We used to call it “playing” when I was a kid.