You just couldn't ask for a better day. Here in Dayton, Ohio, USA, it was an absolutely georgeous day. 77 degress, very low humidity, a slight breeze. We just don't get many days like this thorughout the year. My family and I took advantage of it too. We went to the local reserve and took the 3 mile hike. A beautiful afternoon with my family, just walking in the woods and holding class. Holding class? Yes, holding class. More than just enjoying the day, my wife and I were teaching our children. By just taking the day off and going for a walk, we were teaching our children how to get outside and enjoy nature and even more, how easy it is to exercise. To just get outside and move around.
Even though we've had great technological advances in our day, those advances have come at a cost. The cost is the health of our children. Instead of getting out and playing baseball, riding a bike, playing basketball or just running around the playground, our kids sit at home playing video games or just surfing the internet. The cost to the health of our children is slowing becoming enormous. When I hear that this may become the first generation where parents could outlive their children, it makes me angry. Who are we blaming? I hope it's not the children. It's those parents who refuse to look their child in the eye and say "NO". No, you're not going to sit in the house all day and play video games or watch TV. No, we're not going to McDonalds for dinner tonight. It is our responsibility to teach. To tell our children to turn off the TV and go outside. Hey, yesterday was a lot like today and I had to tell my son it was time to turn off the video game and go outside. His response to me was, "there's nothing to do outside, I'll be bored". I told him, that's fine, as long as he's bored outside in the sunshine. Ten seconds later he was out in the field running up and sliding down the dirt mounds.
I won't leave it up to the schools, the neighbors or the church. Heaven forbid I leave it up to the government. We'll get into that down the road. They are my children, they are my responsibility. We will start at the source, us, the parents. We brought them into the world, they're our responsibility.
I'll be here to encourage you, support you and inform you. We'll spend time together here in cyberspace, but we'll also "get out and do something".
