Most of us who either have a kid-like look upon life or are around kids for any amount of time have noticed the government’s “Get Active” commercials airing during kids’ regular television shows. It is the government’s attempt to get kids to get off their butts and to go outside and play. They have even hired “famous” preteens such as The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus ( or is it Hannah Montana? I’m not quite sure. All I can tell is that this girl has a bigger split personality disorder then my Aunt Vivian). Even with all the money going into this project I have noticed something: kids are not getting off their tush and going outside. In fact they are staying right where they were, comfortable on the couch.
Then a thought accord to me. If they changed it from “famous” kids to not-so-skinny kids waddling to the fridge for some ice cream maybe that would inspire them. Then of course the government would have to use more money in lawsuits and discriminatory litigations so I scratched the idea. Then a new one came up. Advertise on ABC, NBC, ESPN, all the big adult channels, even Discovery and Food Network. Tell the parents to unplug and take away the cables of the computers, game systems, and televisions for an hour a day. Force the kids outside, or to read, or to do something more productive then letting their behinds grow larger and larger.
Yes I know this will take some collaboration from the parents but isn’t it worth it? I’m tired of seeing five year olds rolling through the mall because their legs can’t carry their body mass. I’m tired of people my age being illiterate because they were always too lazy to even pick up the simplest book. I’m not asking you to overdo it but we need to get back to spending all our summer days with friends outside, at the neighborhood pool, playing hide-and-go-seek for hours at a time and it never getting old, rereading the whole harry potter series before the next movie comes out. Everything that made us into such determined, smart, go getters is being drained out of the next generation and substituted with complacency and laziness. How will their future play out if they are too lazy to reach for the stars? Where will our musicians, writers, artists, and actors be if imagination has been bred out of the masses? This needs to change and it needs to change now. Turn off the TV and get outdoors.
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