Editor,
I am a fourth-grader at Prairie Trace Elementary School, and we just finished an assignment to learn about a topic that is a problem in the world. I chose childhood obesity and learned some amazing stuff.
I wrote a paper about childhood obesity and was shocked to learn that more than half of the population in America between the ages of 6 and 17 are considered obese. Some experts believe that if obesity among kids continues to increase at this rate, our current generation could become the FIRST in American history to live shorter lives than their parents.
I’ve also learned that there are two sides to this issue, nutrition and exercise. A lot of children can be obese even when they eat healthy foods. I know that the Carmel schools have tried to address nutrition by serving healthy foods, but this is only one part of the problem. I wish the schools could create fitness clubs that would show kids all types of fun ways to exercise. In addition to the schools, our community needs to have less expensive fitness programs to help the kids that do not play sports and may not be getting enough exercise. All kids could benefit from fitness program, not just kids with a weight problem. Fitness programs could help all kids stay active and keep them away from only playing video game systems.
I think childhood obesity could be prevented if kids learned more about the importance of these two factors. Getting kids active and eating healthy foods early will help now and in their future.
Max Mylott
46033