With todays news that this could be the first generation where our children may be outlived by their parents, what can we do?

I think that it is totally wrong to blame the likes of Mc Donalds for the situation. FGS haven't parents heard of the word 'NO'?

Childrens eating habits are formed in the first fews years of life. Feed your kids crap and the chances are that it what they will eat forever. Times many I see children on their way to school eating crisps and a can of pop for breakfast, what is all that about?

Of course you can't control what your children eat as they grow older but the chances are that they will reject trash food if they haven't been weaned on it.

The government ought to look at the other side of the equation ie ask themselves why children don't play out as much as they used to. This is where they could do something positive like more police on the streets, patrolled playgrounds and ridding the streets of criminal scum.

No surprise that they take the easy option is it?

I heard about this on the news this morning, in particular, a story about a 3 year old dying of heart failure due to obesity. Why is the government the only scapegoat with regards to the state of our childrens health? What about the parents? After all, they are the people that shape and model the lives of their children. I believe that more could be done by the government to tackle this growing problem, but at the end of the day the only people that have a big impact on a child's life are the parents.

These are complex issues little understood by the people on this Forum who were having ago at "Fatties" not so long ago.
Today's Guardian makes interesting reading for those that think that the advertising of junk food isn't a major factor. http://society.guardian.co.uk/publichealth/story/0,11098,1225581,00.html

Kids are too busy playing PS2 to do anything physically active.

On a more positive note, we are raising a generation of people with fantastically dextrous thumbs.

i think activity levels do have a lot to do with it. I ate loads of crap when i was little, but also did a lot of active things, even if it was just playing outside with my friends and going for bike rides all the time. I was also walked to school and back everyday, unlike todays kids who get a lift, even if they live next door to the school. Then when i was a teenager, we were always playing football and other sports. i know kids still do that, but it seems far less common than it used to be. In summer, we wouldn't have dreamed of staying indoors to play video games.

Originally posted by Dick Dastardly
I heard about this on the news this morning, in particular, a story about a 3 year old dying of heart failure due to obesity. Why is the government the only scapegoat with regards to the state of our childrens health? What about the parents? After all, they are the people that shape and model the lives of their children. I believe that more could be done by the government to tackle this growing problem, but at the end of the day the only people that have a big impact on a child's life are the parents.
Absolutely! On the BBC this morning, they were trying to blame it on advertising aimed at kids. Well, I don't know many 3 year olds that go out and do the food shopping! I blame the parents too.

I think that young kids in genereal are getting fatter because adults are getting lazier and - trying not to sound too sexist here - women (and men) have better things to do than stay at home making wholesome meals!

People in general are working longer hours than ever before, which gives them less time to cook. This means kids get frozen meals, chicken nuggets, burgers, pizzas, etc... rather than some meat and 5 portions of fruit and veg a day.

The older kids are staying in playing computer games, going on the Internet, drinking more booze and doing much less exercise than previous generations too.

That's what I think.

:rolleyes:

When I would go to America as a kid, I would always see fatter people every day there than in a year in the UK. Now, there are plenty of obese people.

My personal theory is that so few people know how to cook, espcially of the younger generation. If you don't know how to make healthy meals, you'll just get fast food, processed stuff and ready meals. Even the ones that are supposedly healthy, or nearly fat free are not if you look closely. And they taste rubbish.

And kids learn this attitude from parents. Maybe its because people are more busy now.. or something.....

You can't blame childrens' obesity on women having careers!!There's always time to cook a healthy meal,it doesn't take that long.Personally i think parents just don't seem to care any more and kids don't do any exercise either.

I don't think I was blaming it on women having careers. Everyone works longer hours now. And blokes can cook too.

Originally posted by Mo
I think that it is totally wrong to blame the likes of Mc Donalds for the situation. FGS haven't parents heard of the word 'NO'?
I disagree there - the food industry is a big part (but nowhere near all) of the problem. They spend a huge amount of money on advertising junk food at children. It's been proven in court that McDonalds deliberately aimed their advertising at children - their management manuals extolled the benefits of using "pester power" to get children to nag their parents to take them there.

if you look at the ingredients on breakfast cereals marketed at children you'll see they're 30%, 40% plus pure sugar. "Eat this! It's good! It's FUN!"

Sunny Delight, was launched with a massive ad campaign to persuade children and dim-witted mothers that it's the Orange juice "kids love" and far better than fizzy drinks. Yet it's only a few percent juice and the rest is water, chemicals and lots of sugar/sweetner. Sunny D shouldn't even exist IMHO.

Convenience and junk food also contains lots of hydrogenated vegetable oil, which the human body cannot process so it just stores it.

Then there's busy parents who can't/won't cook decent food and just feed em crap.

They're talking about the government having a healthy eating campaig but that'll make zero difference. The healthy eating ad budget will be a tiny fraction of the junk food advertising budget.

Being driven everywhere and not being allowed out of sight are the other half of the problem...

I don't really see that much of the blame can be placed on the government.
Parents are mainly to blame here, aided and abetted by the food industry.

Originally posted by Cyclone
I don't really see that much of the blame can be placed on the government.
Parents are mainly to blame here, aided and abetted by the food industry.

I agree parents are to blame about what their children eat but they have little control over whether the streets are safe to play in or whether there are municiple playgrounds for children to run around and burn off calories in.

Had a long think about this one and it boils down to about 500 different things and probably more...

To tackle one small sliver of it... most kids are now encouraged NOT to go and play out in the streets or parks for a variety of reasons... stranger danger and other safety issues.. the danger of being hauled up as a bad parent for not watching them, etc... lack of places to just roam free and the like... all adds up to the lack of physical activity...

Then add in the "time becoming more precious" factor... parents work longer hours to earn enough to provide for the family, so they've less time to spend with them... maybe less money to help pay for dancing lessons or whatever the kids would do as activities...

...Not done yet... then we move on to convenience food which sort of follows on from the whole time thing... quick, easy to cook and often containing lots of fats and additives, etc... but it's a trade off if you don't have loads of time to prepare loads of meals each evening when you'd rather be relaxing or spending time with your kids... and if you're working long hours, well, who'd blame you...


... and so we end up with this big circular arguement into which you can add junk food snacks (which are self rewarding, let's be honest) and kids who amuse themselves at home playing games on the playstation, etc...

... and I've missed out a bunch of stuff that could be added in I'm sure... but bottom line, there is no simple answer to any of it or one person to blame... t'is a huge quandry...

can anyone actually provide evidence for there being less parks and play areas. It's not the case in the village I grew up in.
And there seem to be plenty of children playing on the streets and kicking footballs too close to my car for comfort.

Society as a whole is better off now than it was 20, 30 or 40 years ago, and food prices are relatively lower compared to average incomes. So the price of food/activities can't be the problem. Possibly the lower cost of junk food compared to income actually makes it easier for kids to buy mcDonalds out of their pocket money (slightly older children of course, not 5 year olds).

I suspect that whoever mentioned PS2 is close to the mark on at least 1 reason, there are more activites to do now that don't involve any excercise. But again, this comes down to parents, set some rules, send 'em to the park for an hour before they are allowed to play on the games console for an hour.

A second reason is probably the massive media attention focussed on paedophiles and kidnappings. I'm fairly confident that these are no more common than ever before, but the greater public awareness of them means that parents are scared to send their children out to play. And everyone is far more risk adverse these days than they used to be.

I have to admit I'm not entirely convinced about "stranger danger" - are our streets really any less safe than they were 20 odd years ago when I used to play outside and climb trees et al or does it just make good news/TV so it gets crammed down peoples throats and parents get the idea that their is a lurking pervert behind every bush and fence ready to snatch their child so they feel that if they dont have their kid in view (and preferably inside) 100% of the time they are bad parents...

i really don't think our streets are any less safe now than they were years ago. as cyclone said. it's just awareness. Having said that i do remember being told not to talk to strangers when i was younger, so we were aware of nasty people. maybe society has become too paranoid?then again, is it possible to be too paranoid when it comes to the safety of your children?

I think it probably is actually. If you are overly paranoid about your kids they pick up on your paranoia and become paranoid themselves.

On a slightly related area, I also have to wonder if our obsesive need to keep kids in as close to a sterile environment as possible isn't contributing to the increasing levels of allergy and asthma? You keep your kid inside and use all these bacteriocidal cleaning chemicals mans your kids immune systme has nothing to react to and as soon as you hit pollen or anything else the immune system jumps in horror and voila allergies!!!

Originally posted by evildrneil
On a slightly related area, I also have to wonder if our obsesive need to keep kids in as close to a sterile environment as possible isn't contributing to the increasing levels of allergy and asthma?
Yep... couldn't agree more although it's probably that plus various chemical environments too but it's getting off topic unfortunately...

Originally posted by Cyclone
can anyone actually provide evidence for there being less parks and play areas.


Yes this government has allowed more school playing fields to be sold for building on than they would like you to know, see this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3007064.stm

a mixed report that makes no mention of how many have actually been lost.
Neither were we talking about activity at school, you'll find that children can't play on the school fields after school is closed anyway.

Originally posted by Cyclone
can anyone actually provide evidence for there being less parks and play areas. It's not the case in the village I grew up in.
And there seem to be plenty of children playing on the streets and kicking footballs too close to my car for comfort.

But are those kids fat? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends how often they go out and get exercise.

(Don't forget, nobody's saying that all kids get less exercise now than they used to, it's just that many of them don't...)

Originally posted by evildrneil
I have to admit I'm not entirely convinced about "stranger danger" - are our streets really any less safe than they were 20 odd years ago when I used to play outside and climb trees et al or does it just make good news/TV so it gets crammed down peoples throats and parents get the idea that their is a lurking pervert behind every bush and fence ready to snatch their child so they feel that if they dont have their kid in view (and preferably inside) 100% of the time they are bad parents...

Ask yourself this: When you went to school what percentage of kids arrived by car? What do think that percentage is now, larger or smaller than when you went to school?

Nomme

When I was at school (16 years ago) all the local kids walked. Buses were used for the kids from the surrounding areas. Lifts to school were very rare.

I think a great deal more children arrive by car now.

I agree with some of the other comments. I don't think the risks are any greater now than in the past. The media has hyped things up and parents are more worried.

Anyone seen that film 'Bowling for Columbine'? The bloke concludes that the reason why there are so many shootings in the USA is because of the media. People have become paranoid. He says that folk in Canada have just as many guns as in the USA but there are hardly any shootings there as the media is very different.

When I was in junior school I used to walk the 1/2 mile or so to get there including crossing a busy road and walking about half the way through some woods. Then when I graduated to secondary school I went by bus. At the time I would think that the number of people turning up by car was fairly minescule. But I dont think the roads and woods are any less safe now - we are just conditioned by the media into thinking they are...

In response to Mo & Cyclone, it is true that we are losing school playing fields at an alarming rate, I forget the exact figures but more tha 70% of all planning applications for development of playing fields are granted.

Cyclone you are very much mistaken if you think school playing fields aren't used out of school hours. Their use may be prohibited but many children still play on them. The reason for this is that it is often the only recreation land available to them.

If you want to know more then go to www.npfa.co.uk

Many children are far to lazy today to take the proper amount of exercise that they need. Kids today it would seem would far rather play on a computer or games console than take part in a physical sport like football or athletics. THIS is the area that I see as needing addressing most! They need more encouragement.

I'd also like to see better advertising of healthier foods on TV.

Does anyone have kids that fit this category, certainly my little one is as fit and healthy as he could be, always wanting to be outside cycling, football etc.

How many parents actively encourage their kids to get out and do stuff, by going out with them. Many overweight kids, just have inherited their parent attitudes, although a lot earlier in life.

I certainly agree that advertising has a lot to answer for (in more departments than just convenience foods) and so it's no wonder that the wrong messages are given out.

We 'as a family', find it interesting to look at the content in ads, the subliminal messages they gave out and the order they appear in. The other night we saw ads for healthy 'slimming' breakfasts and then a catalogue for women above a certain size; we saw an ad where the children asked Dad for lots of stuff on the menu at a particular eaterie and he agreed because it was all included in a fixed price. Then you get those car ads where someone drives off for hours at a time for no reason other than the enjoyment of driving - but notice that the roads are all clear of other traffic.

Getting back to the food issue though - one thing my own kids agree with me on is that a lot of kids seem hyped up and appear to be 'out of control' in that they're either too loud or channel this 'energy' into the wrong activities such as climbing on neighbour's cars etc.

I cant believe the amount of obese kids, that get out of cars.
some people only live a very short distance from our school
and jump in the car every morning- not to carry on going somewhere else, they just go back home.when theyve dropped the kids off.
if they use the argument that streets arent safe, its them thats making them unsafe with their cars.
you cant get near schools in a morning for parked cars.
theres no other danger in walking to school.

get out and walk you lazy s----

It's not kids, it's parents.

They are the ones that feed them. They are the ones who can't be bothered to walk them to school. They are the ones who believe the media panic about paedophiles.

They are the ones who blame everything but themselves!

Kids are obese now because the hole going in is bigger than the hole going out. :D

I'm blaming the parents completely. I never exercised much as a kid, and was hence a little large, but always ate healthily - my parents educated me which foods were good and bad. More importantly, they told me why they were good and bad, so I could make an informed decision myself.

Now I exercise regularly, mainly just by walking for at least an hour a day, eat healthily, etc, doesn't seem to be any lasting damage.

My main worry with the media coverage at present is that we'll go back to being a nation of equally un-healthy skinny people, like in the 80s. Too thin is equally as bad as too fat.

Incidentally, much of the scare-mongering comes from top NHS people, trying desperately to meet government targets (to get their funding) and therefore trying to reduce the number of people hospitalised through preventable poor health...

Originally posted by LittleWitch
Kids are obese now because the hole going in is bigger than the hole going out. :D

ROTFLMAO!! AND much shorter than my post :D

I simply can't understand why people feel the need to hideously disfigure themselves by eating too much.

I feel disgusted that I'm forced to see so many obesse people when ever I go out in public. Stay at home, stop eating and do some exercise.

Hmm. I think kids and adults are getting fatter becasue we arn't meant to live like this. Everything we require is at our fingertips.

For food we just pop down to the local supermarket. For clothes we pop downtown etc

I know it sounds stupid but this is something my doctor told me:

People are wild animals in reality. We arn't supposed to live this way. In our natural habitat we would travel around in small groups like nomads, hunting for our food, picking berries from the earth and the like.
We would use the pelts of our kills for our clothing, or maybe weave cloth or something. All the time we would be on the move (well maybe season to season) so we would develop strong muscles and be fit.

Our bodies are built for a life like that and because we no longer live the way we should, it seems to me like its messed our system up.

That kinda seems to make sense to me. ;)

Originally posted by dylan_61
I simply can't understand why people feel the need to hideously disfigure themselfs by eating too much.

I feel disgusted that I'm forced to see so many obesse people when ever I go out in public. Stay at home, stop eating and do some exercise.

If you feel disgusted maybe you should stay indoors then.

I think the main reason our kids are getting fatter is because their parents are too lazy to give them a proper meal.

In their eyes it's far less effort to stick some chips on than it is to make a fresh meal with vegetables.

I also think parents find it easier to avoid saying no. If their kid is screaming because he/she wants a chocolate bar then they give in because they can't be arsed to listen to them crying.

People are wild animals in reality. We arn't supposed to live this way. In our natural habitat we would travel around in small groups like nomads, hunting for our food, picking berries from the earth and the like.

Precisely. The other thing worth mentioning is that humans retain fat as a coping strategy to buffer through lean times. You never knew where the next impala was coming from. Crash dieting just makes your body think that your group has not made a kill for a while, so it conserves your existing energy reserve (fat), expecting a long drought or something. This is the reason that 'dieting' is a bad idea. You should concentrate on a changed lifestyle, and possibly less pies.

and possibly less pies

i just cant give up Pukka pies though!! I love beef and onion, and the meat and potato. My other half calls me pie muncher. :rolleyes: But so far I've managed to mostly fend off the dreaded wobbles.

Now if pies ran around in the wild and I had to chase them to eat them, then I would be the fittest li'l lass in Sheffield!!! :D

A brilliant plan, though the 'meat and potato' pie sounds a bit vague.
Could be anything in there. Incentivise the running around, and if releasing pies into the wild is the only solution, then we will all have to live with the consequences. The Peak could be easily adapted into an ideal habitat for wild pies. Several varieties prefer to nest in acid upland heath-type areas. Long walks could then be rewarded by scoffing, rather than just sore legs.

I agree with it being to do with the use of cars nowadays, if kids had to walk everywhere they would naturally burn off calories and so would their fat parents.
My daughter used to go to a playgroup in a village - everyone who went there lived qithin half a mile of the playgroup, nearly all of them drove there and they would drive their 4x4s right up the dirt track to the door of the playgroup running over the other kids who playing about outside.That was down south though, I have noticed up here loads of parents do actually take their kids out in buggies, they don't know what those are for in the south:)

the image of 4*4's crunching over hoards of kids to reach the nursery makes me chuckle. But i'm not really a kid kinda person.

Everything said on this thread recently is pretty much spot on. I just wanted to comment on the idea of 'natural' humans wearing skins. That still requires the use of tools and a level of intelligence beyond any other animal we've ever observed. More likely we'd be running around naked eating carrion and berries.

On the downside, you'd be an old man if you lived to 30, and you'd probably have children by the age of 14 if you were female.

The idea of the noble savage is a lapsarkian fantasy.

Originally posted by Hippy
(Partial amount quoted)
When I was at school (16 years ago) all the local kids walked. Buses were used for the kids from the surrounding areas. Lifts to school were very rare.


People of the age range that is in this discussion - 15/16 will walk because they can have a quick cigi on the way - especially if they don't want there parents to be aware.

At school, I either got the bus or a lift - I couldn't really be bothered. to walk :P (Notice how the thread is about kids and not being assed to walk) however, i am not fat. - hardly walk from the equivilent of Psalter Lane to High Storrs (about 25 mins drive) yes? Ish... I walked once - on a really hot day it took me around an hour at "normal" walking pace.

But when I move onto college I may walk - only around 10 minuites away.

Alex

Kids are getting fatter because they're bone idle.

There was one fat kid at my school so everyone bullied him about his weight. As a result he decided to shead the weight, now he's much thiner and happier.

I therefore suggest bullying.

I keep a pack of chocolate bars in my car. When I pass an obese person I wind down the window and throw one at them. They get the message, I feel as though I'm doing my bit for the NHS.

Originally posted by dylan_61
Kids are getting fatter because they're bone idle.

There was one fat kid at my school so everyone bullied him about his weight. As a result he decided to shead the weight, now he's much thiner and happier.

I therefore suggest bullying.

I keep a pack of chocolate bars in my car. When I pass an obese person I wind down the window and throw one at them. They get the message, I feel as though I'm doing my bit for the NHS.


Are you always brain dead or is it something you practice !!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by owdlad
Are you always brain dead or is it something you practice !!!!!!!!!!

Attacking me wont solve the problem.

By the way I don't have chocolates in my car.

Obesity is like many other personal weeknesses. If you accept it's okay then more people will get fat and become miserable.

The fat kid at school is a true story. The taunts gave him the encouragement to improve his personal fitness level and hopefully also increase his life expectancy.

So why tell lies about the chocolate then; I suppose you feel really good about bullying, and just because in your perfect world that kid didn't fit into your idea of an ideal size you and your mates (there is never just one bully) decide to bully him and then think your big and clever to have made their life a misery until they fitted into your scheme of things. what next the crippled kid who cant run or the black lad whos skin is a different colour or maybe the jewish kid because his religion doesn't fit in. As for attacking you that's exactly what the kid at school should have done.

I'm sure there are more kids who have killed themselves or suffered a miserable childhood through bullying about their weight than those who have done something about it.

Traffic is nice at the moment. Most buses being off the road is helping a bit, but I think we all know the main reason is because the schools are finished for the summer. The traffic caused by thousands of kids being ferried to their schools, often within a reasonable walking distance, has suddenly been taken away, and even a rush hour there is very little congestion compared with in term time. My point? Well, we have 2 problems - traffic congestion and kids getting fatter. I think we all know we could kill 2 birds with 1 stone here.

Originally posted by owdlad
So why tell lies about the chocolate then; I suppose you feel really good about bullying, and just because in your perfect world that kid didn't fit into your idea of an ideal size you and your mates (there is never just one bully) decide to bully him and then think your big and clever to have made their life a misery until they fitted into your scheme of things. what next the crippled kid who cant run or the black lad whos skin is a different colour or maybe the jewish kid because his religion doesn't fit in. As for attacking you that's exactly what the kid at school should have done.

I didn't taunt him because obviously he was bigger than me. We were gym partners later in life so I was quite encouraging. The bullying did force him to lose weight, which has improved his life greatly

It's an incredibly callous and short sited thing to suggest. You don't think that overall the mental harm done to these children would outweight the potential benefit of the few it drove to becoming thinner?
I don't really need to pose that as a question, I know it would.

Originally posted by t020
Traffic is nice at the moment. Most buses being off the road is helping a bit, but I think we all know the main reason is because the schools are finished for the summer. The traffic caused by thousands of kids being ferried to their schools, often within a reasonable walking distance, has suddenly been taken away, and even a rush hour there is very little congestion compared with in term time. My point? Well, we have 2 problems - traffic congestion and kids getting fatter. I think we all know we could kill 2 birds with 1 stone here.

But because of people telling us that violent crime is so rampent, parents don't want their kids to walk anywhere because they believe it is unsafe. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Snook
But because of people telling us that violent crime is so rampent, parents don't want their kids to walk anywhere because they believe it is unsafe. :rolleyes:
Snook!...I was told the other week on here that the country was one of the safest in the world.......

As a policeman Your perception of crimes and the subsequent cures should in all honesty be apparant......

When I was a kid I had to walk to school which I, never, nor my parents, thought that we would be acousted or molested on the street.

In your statement" people telling us that violent crime is so rampent".....are you saying that this is an untruth?

Is Derek confusing Snook with Spook by any chance or are you a police officer too Snook ?

the threat to children has been vastly over hyped by the media.

Things are not much different now than they were 40 years or 20 years ago. The difference is that the media are less restrained and more competative, which means they need shock value in headlines.

Originally posted by Cyclone
the threat to children has been vastly over hyped by the media.


True

What the media should be concentrating on is the amount of salt, sugar and fat introduced into processed foods, which present a significant and real danger to the long term health of our kids.

Of course the media receive huge amounts of income from advertising by food manufacturers and are unlikely to pursue this problem with any vigour.

There is still a great deal of misleading labelling on food which the govt. seem reluctant to take any action on. Instead they accept the industry's offers of voluntary (sometime never) self-reguation.

Just one little snippet from a recent study..

"[in UK] A packet of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes has 10% more sugar and 25% more salt than the same product sold in America. The salt content per gram is at similar levels to those found in sea water and almost double the amount in salted peanuts."

Professor Graham MacGregor, head of cardiovascular medicine at St George’s hospital, London, and chairman of the charity Consensus Action on Salt and Health, said: "Sugar is a source of calories that can lead to obesity. Too much salt acts like a slow poison that puts up blood pressure and can lead to strokes, heart attacks and heart failure."

Perhaps it's all an American plot to make our kids as fat and prone to heart disease as theirs :loopy:

The overall problem of obesity, as stated by several people already, is a culmination of many things - from bad diet, to lack of exercise, to laziness when it comes to cooking a nutritious meal, to unethical advertising campaigns, to (and I'm sorry to have to say this) plain old greed and lack of common sense. If you've eaten two pork pies already, do you really need to eat the other four just because they're in the packet?

I think the "I don't have time to cook" argument is an incredibly weak one too, considering it takes almost as long to heat microwave meals for a family of four, as it would to prepare and cook a good, nutritious meal. It probably takes about 5 - 8 minutes to heat a microwave meal (?), and maybe 30 - 40 minutes to prepare and cook a proper meal. Not a huge saving on time really, is it? Parents understandibly want to spend time with their children, so what's wrong with getting them involved with the food preparation?

Driving the kids to school with a lunch box full of crisps, chocolate and lard sandwiches is hardly going to result in a nation of healthy children, and nor is taking them to McRepugnent for a McFat meal every evening before sitting them in front of the mental contraceptive commonly known as TV.

(I understand McHeinous have re-launched themselves as the epitome of healthy eating with a new line of salads, and the like? I have also heard though, that the dressing they use on these new super healthy meals contain as much, if not more fat than a McGreasy Grease burger? Good effort guys, another fine step towards a healthy McNation.)

Originally posted by t020
Traffic is nice at the moment. Most buses being off the road is helping a bit, but I think we all know the main reason is because the schools are finished for the summer. The traffic caused by thousands of kids being ferried to their schools, often within a reasonable walking distance, has suddenly been taken away, and even a rush hour there is very little congestion compared with in term time. My point? Well, we have 2 problems - traffic congestion and kids getting fatter. I think we all know we could kill 2 birds with 1 stone here.

I think thats the most sensible thing I've seen you write!!

Originally posted by t020
. My point? Well, we have 2 problems - traffic congestion and kids getting fatter. I think we all know we could kill 2 birds with 1 stone here.

A very apposite point indeed.

Inventive solution? - pull the plug on buses and get kids to pull rickshaws

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
A very apposite point indeed.

Inventive solution? - pull the plug on buses and get kids to pull rickshaws

A fine idea - then they will be thin enough to send up chimneys and down narrow mine-shafts - thats at least 3 birds with the one stone so far - any more?

the baiter becomes the baited...

Seriously though, do schools do things like cycling proficiency and the like anymore?

The roads may be busier than they were 10-15 years ago but only in the sense that the traffic is slower-moving because of the volume.

Don't kids cycle to school any more?

Because their mouths are bigger than their ar*eholes.