White House’s “Let’s Go, Let’s Play, Let’s Move!” Should Be a Theme For Every Day
Jodi Davis
| 3 min read
One of my goals is to encourage children of all ages to lead more active lifestyles, so I was thrilled to hear of the “Let’s Go, Let’s Play, Let’s Move!” theme for this year’s annual White House Easter Egg Roll, which is taking place today, Monday, April 9. The President and Mrs. Obama, along with 30,000 people from all 50 states, will enjoy this fun-filled event that focuses on the same goal that I strive to achieve: encouraging kids to get up and move and lead healthier, more active lives.
There will be an obstacle course, an “eggtivity zone obstacle course” (led by NFL Star Antwaan Randle El) and fun craft stations including paper kite building, where kids and families build the kites together and run like the wind to see how high they fly. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a bunch of fun to me! Not only will the day include exercise and play, but there will also be chefs preparing healthy and delicious dishes.
It sure makes me wish that this healthy and fun-filled event was being held closer to home, here in Pure Michigan.
Why it Matters
Maybe we can’t all join this event today, but we can still promote the “Let’s Go, Let’s Play, Let’s Move!” idea, along with the first lady’s Let’s Move! initiative, a national campaign to combat childhood obesity. We need this initiative more than ever, as far as I’m concerned, since I know that childhood obesity rates have more than tripled in the last 30 years. Approximately 20 percent of children aged 6 to 11 in the United States are obese, which is a step past simply being overweight, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This concerns me not only because I care about our nation’s youth, but because I lived it — and it’s not fun. I know that children and adolescents who are obese are more likely to become obese adults. Not only is the obese life one that I truly despised because I blamed it on my low self-esteem, lack of energy and daily sadness, but obesity also puts children more at risk for adult health problems such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis and several types of cancer.
Obviously those are health risks that each of us wishes to avoid, and we surely don’t want to know that our children could be susceptible to to these health problems by being obese. But you can start to smile, because a child’s lack of daily physical activity and unhealthy eating habits can be altered and new behaviors can be learned!
Our nation’s youth have the ability to play and move, and they can recognize the fact that healthy food tastes great. Let’s keep our fingers crossed in hopes that they are continuously encouraged to give good health a try within every community across this great nation.
What are you willing to do to help in this nationwide effort?
Photo by Christina Spicuzza
