Fitter, not fatter kids

A proposed Kentucky bill is aimed at reducing the state's bloated child obesity rates by requiring schoolchildren to spend a half hour each instructional day in moderate to vigorous physical activity. Kentucky seems to be doing more than Ohio at "capacity-building" to address the obesity "epidemic," but at least Ohio education department's fitness advisory council did develop a national list of school best practices.

A few examples:

An Indian Lake, Ohio elementary school got good results by scheduling recess before lunch and using pedometers so students kept track of how many steps they took. Steps are a better indicator than time for how much exercise we get. Students were more active at pre-lunch recess, drew fewer disciplinary referrals and wasted less food at lunch.

A Puerto Rico school gave students options: team sports, dance, games, etc.

Many model schools feature small-group teams or partners rather than competition that results in winners and losers.

Florida's Fitness Fun Forever is typical in keeping school physical activity fun rather than a chore.

El Cajon, Calif. schools favored running and other aerobic activity that required no special equipment.

Atlanta's Take 10! program encourages teachers to splice into their instructional day 10-minute breaks for student physical activity. Yes it can be done in classrooms, no need for a gym.

A Winfield, Kansas program uses playground laps to teach math, geography and fitness.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed a kids program called Eat Smart, Play Hard.

Which begs the questions: Might many discipline problems in-school or out be eliminated if youngters played harder? If daily they worked off excess energy or anger? And are educators only hurting themselves if they object to the minutes that phys ed takes away from instructional time?