KEEPING OUR CHILDREN PHYSICALLY FIT

With schools back in session and the weather soon turning colder, many of us find our children spending more time indoors, doing homework, working on the computer or just relaxing in front of the TV. It can be a difficult time to focus on something that needs year-round and life-long attention: staying physically active.

We all need to work physical activity into our daily lives, but it's particularly important for our kids. It's during their school-aged years that they will develop the healthy lifestyle habits that will help them stay fit, avoid becoming overweight or obese, and greatly reduce their chances of getting the most common and deadly chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

It's no longer news that childhood obesity has been on the rise in recent years and is now a major health concern facing both Delaware and the nation. Researchers estimate that about 5.3 million young people in this country are seriously overweight. In Delaware, about one-third of children and adolescents are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. That doesn't paint a rosy picture for their future.

Since 1980, obesity overall in the United States has risen 50 percent per decade. If this trend continues, many experts predict that today's children will be the first in 200 years to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. It will take a joint effort among our children, their parents and our schools to make sure that doesn't happen.

Kids deserve opportunities to be more physically active and to develop a healthy lifestyle. While summer is a time when students are more physically active, it is important to increase physical education and activity during the school year. In many schools, time constraints make it difficult to strike a balance between physical education and the critical task of teaching subjects like language arts, math and science. But research shows that being physically active helps students' academic performance. When students are active, they have more energy and perform better in class.

I recently served on a Physical Education Task Force, chaired by Sen. George Bunting and Rep. Stephanie Ulbrich, which looked at the problem of childhood obesity and how to help schools keep their students physically active. Across the state, there are a number of successful programs aimed at youth fitness.

Nemours, the foundation that operates one of the largest pediatric health care systems in the country, including AI DuPont Hospital in Wilmington, has an entire division dedicated to fighting disease and promoting children's health. Nemours' Health and Prevention Services has created the "5-2-1-Almost None" program, which gives a recipe for a healthier lifestyle. Kids are encouraged to eat 5 servings of fruit and vegetables every day, spend less than 2 hours in front of a TV or computer screen, get at least 1 hour of a physical activity, and drink almost no sugar-sweetened drinks.

Delaware's 2006 Teacher of the Year, Garrett Lydic, a Physical Education teacher at North Laurel Elementary School, has gained popularity with his students by incorporating academics into gym class. His lessons reinforce the other subjects and allow students to study while being active and having fun. According to Lydic, his "P.E. class is becoming less about athletic talent and more about lifelong fitness, learning, health, and nutrition."

I'm very pleased that one program used by Garret is my own physical activity program, The Lt. Governor's Challenge, which has had a great response from children. Since its inception over four years ago, over 19,000 students from 80 schools and youth groups have signed up and worked to incorporate physical activity in their daily schedules.

The task force used these programs as examples and tried to incorporate positive aspects of each into its recommendations. The work resulted in two bills, HB 372 and HB 471, which were passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Minner.

HB 372 requires each school district and charter school to assess the physical fitness of their students. Students' physical fitness will be assessed at least once in elementary, middle, and high school, and the parents, guardians, or relative caregivers will be given the results. The tests, known as a Fitnessgram, seek to provide a baseline level of health for each student, as well as give parents or guardians notice if their child is at risk of developing obesity or other chronic diseases.

HB 471 establishes a physical fitness pilot program for six schools throughout the state. Each school in the pilot will give their students 150 minutes per week of a combination of physical education and physical activity. Other states, including Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina, and South Carolina, have tried similar programs with very successful results.

While these two programs are a step in the right direction, more needs to be done and our efforts must reach beyond the schools. Keeping our children physically fit is a team effort that can only be accomplished with the help of motivated parents and active kids.

For Delaware's children, the future is now. We need to give our kids every opportunity to live a long and healthy life. Physical education and activity in school is a great place to start.

Lt. Governor John C. Carney, Jr. is also chair of the Delaware Health Care Commission.