It is a known fact that healthy children are able to be better learners in a classroom setting. Recently, an Ultra Healthy Blog titled, “Top 50 Early Childhood Health Blogs" named the 50 top early childhood health blogs. Although my blog was named as part of the list, there are some great resources for helping to keep young children healthy.
Childhood obesity is certainly an epidemic in our country. I think my biggest frustration with this epidemic are the factors that we can do something about, such as outdoor play at school. Schools that limit or cancel outdoor play with the excuse of needing more learning time are not doing anything to help student learning. I think some schools just don't want to deal with any problems that may occur on the playground. To my way of thinking, they are sacrificing the health of the children in their care. I'm still waiting to see documented research that says canceling recess increases student learning. I think I will be waiting a long time. All the while, young children are getting more sedentary. I think a better idea is to give teachers resources to help children stay healthy.