Something in the Water Does Not Compute

Posted by: Nikki   
May 17th,
2007

I had a meeting this morning and on my way back from the meeting, I drove past an elementary school. Today must be their graduation day for 5th graders. There were parents driving up and kids filing out of the cars. These 5th graders looked like they were in high school.

What is in the food that the youth are eating today? My friends and I are always comparing ourselves when we were younger to the youth of today. We were slim and short compared to how they look today. Girls breasts are damn near fully developed at age 12, boys sprouting goatees at age 13 and all of them look older than their age. I mean literally, their faces look old.

And don’t get me started on the childhood obesity that is running rampant in the United States. I didn’t realize how big of a problem until the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina in my area, and then I got a rough idea of how many overweight people there were in my state and Louisiana. Not just the adults, but the kids. It makes no sense that a little girl is in a size 9/10 at age 9.

And they don’t want to exercise or even go outside to play. Shit, that was mandatory in my household when I was growing up. Whether you wanted to or not, your parents sent you outside to play. There was no way you were going to sit up in your mama’s house all day and play Atari. You had chores to do and you went outside to play.

But because we’re in an era where technology is so overwhelming, kids today have computers, Playstations and Xboxes, iPods, etc. that we make it so convenient for them to have everything they want indoors that they don’t want to go outdoors. I’ve never seen so many lazy kids in my life.

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13 Responses for "Something in the Water Does Not Compute"

Ahd Child
May 17th, 2007 at 1:27 pm   

The problem isn’t technology, it’s the fact that many of us do not value active lifestyles. Excercise is seen as something seperate from our regular lives that takes time out of our day if we do it, so many don’t do it. Add to that the constant encouragment we get from the media to consume and overindulge our appetites and you have a nice formula for an obese society.

I wrote on this subject last month - http://ahdchild.blogspot.com/2007/03/why-excercise.html

Luke Cage
May 17th, 2007 at 2:01 pm   

Atari??? What was that? It was go outside and play and run rampant until the street lights came on. All day, everyday (after school, weekends and holidays that is) Simpler period.. less emphasis on things that made kids lazy. We’ve spawned off a generation of lazy kids. Now look what we’ve done…

LaRissa
May 17th, 2007 at 3:42 pm   

Preservatives. Preservatives force the human body to go into puberty a lot earlier than it should. Sure, preservatives have been around for some time, but over the past 10-15 years food manufacters have overloaded children on them. That is one reason why children look a lot older than they should. And they are very, very lazy to boot. My grandma made us go play oustide everyday her “stories” were on…Ahhh those were the days…

melette
May 17th, 2007 at 3:53 pm   

I blame it on the chicken we eat.

Tiki
May 17th, 2007 at 5:11 pm   

Put the MSG back in our food! My butt is swelling despite working about 5 days a week.

Lemme stop.

Through technology, we have become very lazy, to include our children. Did you know in certain places, you can grocery shop online??? I’m with Larissa, something’s definitely in our food. I think they (different food manufacturers) are working closely with the dieting industry… “lemme fatten ‘em up and you make sunshine happy promises to get the weight off in 2 hrs. deal?”

I feel you on going outdoors as children. Hell I’m a grown woman and I don’t even feel right sitting in the house all day.

Nikki
May 17th, 2007 at 5:14 pm   

Larissa said: My grandma made us go play oustide everyday her “stories” were on.

So did mine. If Days of Our Lives and Another World were on, your ass had to hit the door. You either watched them with her and shut up or played until they went off, then you could come indoors.

Amadeo
May 17th, 2007 at 9:55 pm   

“My grandma made us go play oustide everyday her “stories” were on”

Say word…I used to hate that.

Don’t forget also the nature of now. I’d be wary to have my future kids outside playing in the same places I did. Streets just ain’t the same.

Beloved
May 17th, 2007 at 10:14 pm   

Don’t forget about the vending machines inside the school buildings. These kids are snacking on Doritoes, Fritos and drinking high calorie fruit drinks all day long.

aquababie
May 18th, 2007 at 12:00 pm   

well i developed early, but i was still a skinny minnie. i watch my neighbor’s grandkids. they act like they hate being outside. we as a nation are lazy. they took out p.e. in school. parents don’t exercise with their children.

i was telling my bf this same thing last week. i spent every summer in the country. at 8 am, we hit the door. we drank water out the hose and kept it moving. at lunch, they fried a chicken, stuck the plate out the door and we kept it moving.

while kids should be smarter and better off, they have missed just being able to grow up and live.

snua
May 20th, 2007 at 6:47 pm   

remember when they had recess and gym was a required class throughout school! not anymore, my 17 year old nephew weighs 320 lbs and has high blood pressure… I wish i was joking!!!

Leoninatl
May 21st, 2007 at 10:15 pm   

You ain’t never lied! I work as a substitute teacher, and some of those kids look elderly as hell! I wonder what they put in the cafeteria food, and the junk food these kids eat. I taught a class full of eighth graders, the majority of which looked as old as me!

Like Larissa, I blame all these preservatives in the food.

Schatzi
May 22nd, 2007 at 7:31 am   

It’s the Milk & Chicken!

I have a Middle School age child (13) and it is really scary looking at her class mates when I drop her off in the morning!! My child is what a “normal” 13 year old should look like.. Like what I looked like when I was 13. She refuses to drink MILK! She has always hated milk.

Then I have a SECOND grader (recently turned 8) who is as tall as my 13 yr old and developing. Scares me. We recently started buying milk from a local dairy because their milk has no hormones.

And I’m like you… Get out of my house until the street lights come on! And I agree w/another commenter.. The streets aren’t the same as when I was growing up.. Not as safe.

Psun
May 25th, 2007 at 3:20 pm   

ITS GLOBAL WARMING!!!!

Ok… global warming probably has nothing to do with overgrown kiddies… I just wanted to have a conspiracy theory too… lol

It could also just be in our heads. I know plenty of peeps with breasts and facial hair when we were young. I think that what makes kids look more grown these days is that they make grown folk clothes in their sizes and parents allow them to wear it.

They girls wear outfits with midriffs out, and hugging their booties that my momma would NEVER let my sister wear back in the day.

And the lines between grown men and young men merged. Grown men didnt rock hip hop gear back in the day. They wore grown men gear. Now you can see the same outfit on a 40 year old as you would on a twelve year old. Both with saggy jeans, oversized tshirts, hoodies and fitted’s… and cornrows.

But then again… maybe it really IS global warming. I wont rule anything out… lol

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