Get yourself to grade school.

[Rolling Hard]

There is no doubt kids are fatter, less active, more depressed and more likely to be loners today than in the 60s and 70s. Most families had 2 plus kids and neighborhoods were a real deal. If a kid was a loner it stuck out like a sore thumb. Being a loner wasn't really an option where I grew up. We, in this softball community might think everything is alright because we have a community/team/friends but in reality today there is a lot of suffering mental health issues. So many young kids on anti depression medicine today. There is a serious problem.

 

[CoachCeetar]

and the military service is some hard science benchmark? naaah.

I didn't share the studies because 1. it's so prevalent and easy to google. 2. I suspect most people have their mind made up, so I'll just ingest the information for myself to inform my own understanding. you're welcome to do the same. 3. the whole topic was 'uh, things have changed right?' to which I voiced my opinion. I don't think the obesity problem or modern society changes that kids are better off today. I agree there are plenty of problems. it's hardly utopia.

But are they better off? Struggling to find a good cited data source, but there are endless places asserting it as true.

"Children’s survival, nutrition and education have improved dramatically over recent decades."

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/children-new-threats-to-health
.



"
Mar 04, 2015
A new study published in Childhood Obesity has again confirmed that students are consuming healthier food at school as a result of the updated meal standards. "

Another Study Shows Kids Eating More Healthy Food at School, Throwing Less Food Away

A new study published in Childhood Obesity has again confirmed that students are consuming healthier food at school as a result of the updated meal standards. The study further demonstrates that, contrary to anecdotal reports, the new standards are not contributing to an increase in plate...

www.usda.gov

Totally anecdotally, and obviously biased since this is a wealthier suburb in a state with good regulations and programs about this stuff, but I don't see a lot of obese kids at school pickup, or in the neighborhood. (Though I'm sure some might toe the line by strictly BMI) Almost every girl in each of my kids' grades plays at least one, usually multiple, sports. The school lunch program is awash with healthy options. They have recess every day, gym twice a week and health once or twice as well. This is grade school. I don't think I even had health until middle school in the 80s-90s.

Also my entire first grade class missed a week due to chicken pox. No one misses time to that anymore. See also: other childhood illnesses. They do social emotional learning. There are counselors. They, way more than I ever remember anyone talking about it 30 years ago, pay attention to bullying and there are serious considerations given to minimizing it.

They even teach math better now!

 

[Vertigo]

and the military service is some hard science benchmark? naaah.

I didn't share the studies because 1. it's so prevalent and easy to google. 2. I suspect most people have their mind made up, so I'll just ingest the information for myself to inform my own understanding. you're welcome to do the same. 3. the whole topic was 'uh, things have changed right?' to which I voiced my opinion. I don't think the obesity problem or modern society changes that kids are better off today. I agree there are plenty of problems. it's hardly utopia.

But are they better off? Struggling to find a good cited data source, but there are endless places asserting it as true.

"Children’s survival, nutrition and education have improved dramatically over recent decades."

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/children-new-threats-to-health
.

View attachment 30027

"
Mar 04, 2015
A new study published in Childhood Obesity has again confirmed that students are consuming healthier food at school as a result of the updated meal standards. "

Another Study Shows Kids Eating More Healthy Food at School, Throwing Less Food Away

A new study published in Childhood Obesity has again confirmed that students are consuming healthier food at school as a result of the updated meal standards. The study further demonstrates that, contrary to anecdotal reports, the new standards are not contributing to an increase in plate...

www.usda.gov

Totally anecdotally, and obviously biased since this is a wealthier suburb in a state with good regulations and programs about this stuff, but I don't see a lot of obese kids at school pickup, or in the neighborhood. (Though I'm sure some might toe the line by strictly BMI) Almost every girl in each of my kids' grades plays at least one, usually multiple, sports. The school lunch program is awash with healthy options. They have recess every day, gym twice a week and health once or twice as well. This is grade school. I don't think I even had health until middle school in the 80s-90s.

Also my entire first grade class missed a week due to chicken pox. No one misses time to that anymore. See also: other childhood illnesses. They do social emotional learning. There are counselors. They, way more than I ever remember anyone talking about it 30 years ago, pay attention to bullying and there are serious considerations given to minimizing it.

They even teach math better now!

And that is the problem with your view point. You live inside of a nice little bubble and don’t see the real world that is all around you. I assure you that is not the same experience for a lot of inner-city or remote rural communities.

 

[Northball]

...hey....70's & 80's a shout out to the
food pyramid...

Oh yeah!

 

[CoachCeetar]

And that is the problem with your view point. You live inside of a nice little bubble and don’t see the real world that is all around you. I assure you that is not the same experience for a lot of inner-city or remote rural communities.

spoiler alert this IS also the real world.

but my links weren't NJ specific. And neither is the original post about kids walking around a track with their phones representative of the real world.

 

[Vertigo]

spoiler alert this IS also the real world.

but my links weren't NJ specific. And neither is the original post about kids walking around a track with their phones representative of the real world.

Unfortunately, the only link that worked for me was the one that listed the USDA article. Sure, kids might get healthier food options in school but for many it ends there. Unhealthy options are much less expensive so families provide what they are able to afford. Sometimes those school lunches are the only meal some kids get.

Since your are from NJ, spend a day in a school in Newark, Trenton or Camden and tell me how great you think those kids have it.

 

[CoachCeetar]

Unfortunately, the only link that worked for me was the one that listed the USDA article. Sure, kids might get healthier food options in school but for many it ends there. Unhealthy options are much less expensive so families provide what they are able to afford. Sometimes those school lunches are the only meal some kids get.

Since your are from NJ, spend a day in a school in Newark, Trenton or Camden and tell me how great you think those kids have it.

you think those schools were better in the 90s somehow?

They're still required by law to get those PE minutes in.

 

[Vertigo]

you think those schools were better in the 90s somehow?

They're still required by law to get those PE minutes in.

Yes.

You also live in one of the top 10 healthiest states in our country. I think your view point is pretty biased.

 

[stox]

Top 20% of kids these days are way better off. They have way more resources due to technology and have fewer constraints to academic and athletic success, and access to many other extracurricular opportunities.

Obesity and other vices are problems but that's because the nation is so wealthy kids don't need to drop out of high school to work at the automotive assembly plant and coal mines at 16 anymore, so they get fatter and have more time for other things (productive or not).

I'll take a kid being lazy and spending too much time gaming or on social media vs being forced out of education and into hard labor jobs to support themselves or their family, leading them to have health problems later in life anyways.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

 

[ninthgirl]

Top 20% of kids these days are way better off. They have way more resources due to technology and have fewer constraints to academic and athletic success, and access to many other extracurricular opportunities.

Obesity and other vices are problems but that's because the nation is so wealthy kids don't need to drop out of high school to work at the automotive assembly plant and coal mines at 16 anymore, so they get fatter and have more time for other things (productive or not).

I'll take a kid being lazy and spending too much time gaming or on social media vs being forced out of education and into hard labor jobs to support themselves or their family, leading them to have health problems later in life anyways.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

I think the bolded is incredibly true, though I would argue that the skyrocketing anxiety rates among the well-off aren't just a symptom of underdiagnoses in the past but are actually related to the structure of modern society. But for kids who dodge that, the rest is pretty undeniably positive.

Yes I do think obesity has some to do with less and less manual labor - even in the same jobs! - these days, but also a lot to do with changes to genetics we barely understand from overprocessed foods that started decades ago and are being seen and even accelerating now. It's just a fact that 20-somethings who eat as much as their parents will weigh more and we don't exactly know why.

But I'm not sure that gaming and being aimless is better than working in the coal minds at 16, which was that really a thing 30 or 40 years ago, or was it more 70+ years ago? The opiod epidemic is so much related to lack of purpose. Jobs and supporting a family are pretty awesome purposes to have in life, honestly. Child labor isn't great, but for an average 18 year old if my choice is between a manual labor job and sitting in a basement playing video games I'd absolutely pick the manual labor. Go make some cars, newly fledged adult.