Did you know that Michelle Obama has a blog? She does. As part of her effort to fight childhood obesity she launched a blog. She’s bringing it all home with her “South Lawn Series.” It began with the first event On May 25. The First Lady and almost 100 local students were at the White House. She’s planned events this summer to get kids moving. They’ll have sports, games and activities led by local groups to help inspire them.
The cause is important to our country’s future health. “Studies find that about 1 in 5 children becomes overweight or obese by age 6, and that more than half of obese children become overweight before the age of 2. Nearly 6 percent of infants younger than six months are overweight, the report says, up from 3.4 percent between 1980 and 2001,” says an article about the initiative in Huffington Post.
The First Lady is encouraging kids to get at least 60 minutes of exercise each day. Kids aren’t out playing and running around as much as they used to. Instead they’re sitting at home, watching too much TV and playing computer games. While there are a lot of valid reasons for this, we need to change it.
It’s great to see how innovative playgrounds encourage kids to get outside and move around. There are not only more creative playgrounds, but safer playgrounds and playgrounds that can accommodate kids in wheelchairs and with disabilities.
Mrs. Obama walks the talk too – one of the first tasks when her family moved into the White House was to get a playground installed. It’s fun to have young kids in the White House and the girls enjoy playing on it.
Here’s some trivia that we’re especially proud of – bet you didn’t know that Rubberecycle’s rubber mulch is the playground surface the first family chose for their eco-friendly playground.
