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November 28, 2007
Government Bureaucracy Engulfs Outdoor Play
The government bureaucracy just got a little bigger: The latest addition is something called the National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play.
It's part of a new effort by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to "coordinate and expand" the government's existing efforts to prevent childhood obesity.
First Lady Laura Bush made the announcement on Tuesday at a national health promotion summit in Washington.
Mrs. Bush proudly announced that this new National Center
will help Head Start programs across the country evaluate their playgrounds and their outdoor play spaces, and educate children and families about the importance of healthy food and physical activity.
When I was a kid, my mom would turn off the TV and shoo us outside for some fresh air and exercise. Those were the hard old days, before the Federal Government had taken over this onerous responsibility.
This is what we get from Republicans. President Shrillary will probably demand we finance the National Center for the Daily Flossing of Teeth.
Posted by Van Helsing at November 28, 2007 2:00 PM
Comments
I agree that it’s weird for the government to create a new bureaucracy for this purpose, but the cause of getting kids outside playing is *very* vital to their welfare. Kids’ lives are so devoid of outside play these days. Who sees kids playing pickup games on the streets anymore? How about tag?
I’ve started an online community to support parents who want to get their kids outside playing in their neighborhoods more. It’s called Playborhood.
I have a better, less government rather than more government, solution to this problem: loosen the Fair Housing Laws, which currently forbid real estate agents from marketing a house to one particular group. That’s OK in my book for protecting racial minorities, but it’s also used to keep agents from saying a house would be a great house for families. The result is that practically all families buy houses without knowing whether there are kids there their kids’ ages.
I’ll be at a roundtable w/ Rudy in two weeks and will be sure to press this issue.
See my two articles at Playborhood about this:
Playborhood Survey III: Parents Are Willing to Pay for Play
Playborhood Survey IV: School District and Type of Street are Most Important . . . Or Are They?
Posted by: Mike Lanza at November 30, 2007 11:42 AM
