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First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" Campaign
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Some trivia for you. How much time each day do you think the average American kid (aged 8 to 18) spends plugged in to some kind of screen. That includes watching TV, surfing online, playing video games, and texting on your cell phone. What's your guess?
1) About 2 hours
2) About 4 hours
3) About 6 hours
4) About 8 hours
If you picked #4, you're right! Yes, it's true! According to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, today's tweens and teens spend a daily average of 7 hours and 38 minutes hooked up to electronic media. If you think all that might be contributing to young people being overweight, you're right.
That's why First Lady Michelle Obama has just kicked off a campaign called Let's Move, aimed at helping families, schools, community leaders, and health professionals tackle the problem of childhood obesity and figure out practical solutions. It'll be interesting to see what kind of change the Let's Move campaign can make happen, and whether we really can reduce the amount of childhood obesity in the U.S. Why does it matter? Childhood obesity can lead to a long list of big health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis, and sleep apnea. Plus, the yearly health care costs associated with obesity in the United States could be as high as $147 billion. Yikes!
Of course, too much screen time and not enough physical activity has a lot to do with young people being overweight, but it's not the whole picture. Food choices and eating habits play a huge role too. IML has lots of good info on all these subjects; get in on the First Lady's mission and check out our sections on Food Smarts, Eating Disorders, Team Sports, and Solo Sports.
1) About 2 hours
2) About 4 hours
3) About 6 hours
4) About 8 hours
If you picked #4, you're right! Yes, it's true! According to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, today's tweens and teens spend a daily average of 7 hours and 38 minutes hooked up to electronic media. If you think all that might be contributing to young people being overweight, you're right.
That's why First Lady Michelle Obama has just kicked off a campaign called Let's Move, aimed at helping families, schools, community leaders, and health professionals tackle the problem of childhood obesity and figure out practical solutions. It'll be interesting to see what kind of change the Let's Move campaign can make happen, and whether we really can reduce the amount of childhood obesity in the U.S. Why does it matter? Childhood obesity can lead to a long list of big health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis, and sleep apnea. Plus, the yearly health care costs associated with obesity in the United States could be as high as $147 billion. Yikes!Of course, too much screen time and not enough physical activity has a lot to do with young people being overweight, but it's not the whole picture. Food choices and eating habits play a huge role too. IML has lots of good info on all these subjects; get in on the First Lady's mission and check out our sections on Food Smarts, Eating Disorders, Team Sports, and Solo Sports.
The State of the Tween Union
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We're hitting the one-year anniversary of President Obama being sworn into office, and you might be hearing a lot of chatter from the media and other people about what life in the U.S. is like at the moment. We know we're hearing it. "Will the economy get better?" "What will the next year be like?" "Can we be proud of our country at the moment?"
We were interested to see the results of an online survey conducted by KidsHealth.org and TIME For Kids magazine. They asked 1,000 kids aged 9-13 how they felt about things in their lives and the United States in general. Here are some of the results; do they match up with the way you feel?
For more poll fun, check out all the topic pages of IML; there's a different poll on each one! We love checking in to see how the votes are going on these questions.
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We're hitting the one-year anniversary of President Obama being sworn into office, and you might be hearing a lot of chatter from the media and other people about what life in the U.S. is like at the moment. We know we're hearing it. "Will the economy get better?" "What will the next year be like?" "Can we be proud of our country at the moment?"We were interested to see the results of an online survey conducted by KidsHealth.org and TIME For Kids magazine. They asked 1,000 kids aged 9-13 how they felt about things in their lives and the United States in general. Here are some of the results; do they match up with the way you feel?
- Only 18% of tweens totally agree that the U.S. economy is strong and only 23% totally agree that people in other countries respect the United States.
- When asked to grade how well President Obama is doing his job so far, tweens scored him this way: A (19%), B (30%), C (24%), D (10%), and F (17%). (You're doing okay, Mr. President, but it looks like you need to try harder in 2010!)
- The economy is the #1 priority for pre-teens, with 45% telling President Obama it is the most important issue he should work on.
- Two out of three tweens agree with the statement, "My future is going to be great."
- 94% of tweens say that in the United States, it's possible for kids to grow up to be anything they want.
- 51% of tweens think the world will be a better place in 10 years.
- 90% of tweens think they will see a woman elected President of the United States in their lifetime.
- When asked "What do you want to be when you grow up," the most popular professions for girls are teacher (17%) and vet (12%) vs. athlete (15%) and video game designer (9%) for boys.
- 39% of tweens think math is the school subject most important to the success of their future careers, followed by reading (20%), science (13%), and technology (10%), among others.
- Only 1 in 4 tweens think money is most important for their future careers, with 53% of kids choosing "How much I will enjoy my job" as first on their list of priorities.
- Almost 52% of tweens spend less then an hour each day playing outside, with 16% reporting they spend no time at all. However, they spend 1 or more hours each day on the following activities: playing video games (45%), watching TV/movies (79%), or using the computer or IM-ing (51%).
- Nearly 18% say their families eat dinner together less then 1-2 times a week, with 8% reporting eating dinner together less then 2-3 times a month.
- 1 in 4 kids tweens their family's money situation is either "not good" or "bad" and 63% of kids say they worry about money "a lot" or "sometimes."
- 75% of tweens chose a family member as the person they look up to most, with 2 out of 3 kids choosing a parent.
For more poll fun, check out all the topic pages of IML; there's a different poll on each one! We love checking in to see how the votes are going on these questions.
In Honor of Veterans' Day
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Hey, here's something we didn't know: Veterans' Day, which is observed every year in the U.S. on November 11, was originally called Armistice Day in honor of the armistice that ended World War I in 1918. In 1954, it was renamed and given the added significance of honoring veterans of the armed services. We like how this holiday, coming up on Wednesday, is not so much about war or peace but rather, simply about people...People who have risked everything and made incredible sacrifices to answer the call of duty. Even if you don't fully understand or agree with why U.S. military troops are present somewhere, you can still support the troops themselves. And, of course, their families.
We asked IML'ers to share their thoughts and experiences about having family in the Armed Forces; your stories get us a little choked up!
This Wednesday, November 11, you can also catch a really cool film on PBS' POV series called "The Way We Get By," which tells the story of three senior citizens in Bangor, Maine who volunteer to greet troops as they come home from overseas. It's the kind of show you can watch together with your family, and might lead to some juicy conversations about a range of subjects.
We also encourage you to get involved as a troop greeter yourself! Not everyone's able to head to an airport and greet troops in person (but if you can, how awesome would that be?; check out websites like www.WelcomeTroops.com). You (and friends, or family, or your youth group) can become a "virtual" troop greeter by participating in "The Way We Get By"'s Troop Greeting Poster Activity where you can create your own sign, color one, or order a pre-made banner.
And to those of you who have someone close to you who's a veteran or current member of the Armed Forces, especially those on active duty right now: at IML our hearts are with you, and we thank you!
We asked IML'ers to share their thoughts and experiences about having family in the Armed Forces; your stories get us a little choked up!
This Wednesday, November 11, you can also catch a really cool film on PBS' POV series called "The Way We Get By," which tells the story of three senior citizens in Bangor, Maine who volunteer to greet troops as they come home from overseas. It's the kind of show you can watch together with your family, and might lead to some juicy conversations about a range of subjects.
We also encourage you to get involved as a troop greeter yourself! Not everyone's able to head to an airport and greet troops in person (but if you can, how awesome would that be?; check out websites like www.WelcomeTroops.com). You (and friends, or family, or your youth group) can become a "virtual" troop greeter by participating in "The Way We Get By"'s Troop Greeting Poster Activity where you can create your own sign, color one, or order a pre-made banner.
And to those of you who have someone close to you who's a veteran or current member of the Armed Forces, especially those on active duty right now: at IML our hearts are with you, and we thank you!
Add Your Drop To The Bucket
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Wow. When it rains, it pours. Or in the case of people living in the Philippines...it devastates. Typhoon Ketsana has affected hundreds of thousands of Filipino families, leaving countless children without shelter, food, clean water, and in many cases, their parents.
Then a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia, and the death toll keeps going up. And a major tsunami in Samoa too? Flattening villages and killing probably hundreds? That's just way too much bad stuff happening at the same time.
When headlines like this pop into our lives, it's easy to say, "Oh, that's awful," and then go back to IM'ing our friend about how our crush smiled at us today. After all, these countries are half a world away, and the numbers of dead, injured, and homeless...well, they can just seem like numbers. With tragedies so huge, it's also normal to feel that there's no way you, as one single person, can help.
But what if you could help? What if it were easy? What if it weren't easy but still totally worth it? Here are some ways to reach out across cultures and all those gajillions of miles and actually do something:
- Stay current on news about the recent natural disasters on websites like www.unicef.org. Share your knowledge with friends and family. The very least we can all do is be aware of what's happening.
- Donate your own money. Look at what you have saved up. Can you spare $10? Then encourage family members to follow your example and collect "pledges" to create a lump donation to relief efforts (even if it's a small one, more like a glob). Websites like www.unicef.org, www.redcross.org, and www.greatergood.org all collect donations for disaster relief efforts.
- Do something fun with friends that will raise a little money. A lemonade stand, a garage sale, things like that. Make a Saturday out of it and you'll be surprised at what a good time you'll have. Read more of IML's tips for fundraising.
- Find out if your church, temple, or community center is organizing relief efforts and ask how you can help. Someone might be collecting money, clothes, supplies, etc. to send overseas.
Other links that you can check out:
Yeah, whatever you do might be small, just a drop in a ginormous bucket. It might only help one person. But to that one person, you are a hero. And regardless of the results, you'll feel fantastic doing it!
