A C N E Treatment

When I was a child, no one ever had to tell me to go outside; I went. My four brothers and I played from the time we finished breakfast until the time we had to come in, bathe, and get ready for bed. We would come inside only to eat a meal, go to the restroom, or in case of threatening weather. We spent countless hours running, jumping, riding bikes, sliding, swinging, and swimming. We even spent hours exploring the natural habitat that surrounded us, and conducted our own science projects watching the growth of polliwogs.

We were fortunate to have been raised in neighborhoods where children were primarily safe from danger, and going outside as a group was both safe and common place. Today children are far less fortunate in most areas of the country. What most of those children could use is a good dose of acne treatments, A C N E treatment as in All Children Need Exercise, and I mean more than the constant repetition of their fingers on a game controller. We are raising a generation of children who don't know how to keep themselves physically fit.

Mine are more active in school these days, and those activities include physical as well as mental demands, from FFA SAE projects (developing, planting, and tending a garden) to participation on a lacrosse team (player and manager).

If your child were restricted from outdoor play within the neighborhood with a group of friends, what would you do to insure that their need for physical activity was satisfied? How do we change directions?