On the Scales: Pounds Add Up on Summer Break, Study Says

Summer. The perfect time for children to play outside, swim — and get fatter?

That is the finding of a new study that tracked the physical condition of 5,000 children as they made their way through kindergarten and first grade. Their biggest gain in body mass index, the researchers found, came during the summer.

Why children would become less fit over the summer is not clear. It may be, the study said, that outside the limits of a school setting, children are even less physical and eat even worse.

Not clear? Well yeah… I guess if you just ignore everything I talked about previously then you could just shrug your shoulders and wonder at the complete mystery. The mystery of why an ever increasing humber of drugged up ADD/ADHD kids lay around watching TV all day and parents terrified of ‘stranger danger’ keep their kids inside protected from the army of child molesters hiding in the bushes.

But then we get to the end of the story and this quote which gives me chills:

If so, the researchers said, health officials who want to reduce obesity may need to broaden their approach: “Perhaps the most productive interventions will be those that target children’s behavior not only during school hours but also, and most important, after the bell rings.”

Thats it. Thats the camel’s nose in the tent. I’ll go on record right now and say this is the excuse they’ve been waiting for to push for longer school days, longer school years (even year round), banning bagged lunches so the school can control the lunch, and possibly even breakfast, diet. Actually, I wouldn’t be suprised to see a school dinner program be introduced to go along with a longer school day. They’re coming for your kids… and the sad thing is, a lot of people will be more than happy to just go along with it.

In reading the Baltimore Sun story, one small section really stood out to me.

While most states’ bills have focused on schools’ role in reducing child obesity, a study to be published in the April issue of the American Journal of Public Health found that 5- and 6-year-olds gained more weight over the summer than during the school year, suggesting that schools might be doing a better job than parents of keeping children fit.

During the summer, children’s monthly body mass index, a ratio of weight to height, grew three times as large as it did during the school year. Doug Downey, an Ohio State University sociologist and co-author of the study, said the data show that gaps between normal and overweight children grow fastest when school is not in session.

The author makes the assertion that the school does a better job of taking the kids than their parents do. As a parent, I have a different perspective on it. My family lives on a court of about 25 houses. There are more than 14 kids in the same age range of my kids, yet we hardly ever see them playing in the neighborhood. During the summer, my kids spend a lot time riding their bikes in the neighborhood, playing basketball, playing on their swingset/treehouse out back… you get the point. They’re outside playing. I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw another kid on my street out on a bike. Granted, we do see them… but usually only while driving by in the back seat on the way to some ‘structured’ event (sports/dance/gymnastics/etc). When they’re not doing those things, best I can tell they’re inside. I call this the ‘This Day and Age’ syndrome. I cringe every time I hear that statement. It is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. Many parents seem so terrified that in ‘This Day and Age’ they can’t let their kids out of their sight for a second least some malcontent peadofile wisks them away. I attribute this fear in no small part to our 24×7 mass media who just beat these stories to death scaring the hell out of normally rational people.

Ironically enough, as I was writing this entry (I started the draft this morning), I came upon the story
No child left inside: reclaim outdoor play at BoingBoing.

Louv describes a vicious cycle of causes brought us to the world of indoor kids: irrational, overblown fear of stranger danger means fewer kids play outside, means that it’s easier to bulldoze outdoor play spaces, means fewer kids play outside.

BoingBoing links to the story Leave no Child Inside at Orion Magazine.

His desire is not at all uncommon. In a typical week, only 6 percent of children ages nine to thirteen play outside on their own. Studies by the National Sporting Goods Association and by American Sports Data, a research firm, show a dramatic decline in the past decade in such outdoor activities as swimming and fishing. Even bike riding is down 31 percent since 1995. In San Diego, according to a survey by the nonprofit Aquatic Adventures, 90 percent of inner-city kids do not know how to swim; 34 percent have never been to the beach. In suburban Fort Collins, Colorado, teachers shake their heads in dismay when they describe the many students who have never been to the mountains visible year-round on the western horizon.

Urban, suburban, and even rural parents cite a number of everyday reasons why their children spend less time in nature than they themselves did, including disappearing access to natural areas, competition from television and computers, dangerous traffic, more homework, and other pressures. Most of all, parents cite fear of stranger-danger. Conditioned by round-the-clock news coverage, they believe in an epidemic of abductions by strangers, despite evidence that the number of child-snatchings (about a hundred a year) has remained roughly the same for two decades, and that the rates of violent crimes against young people have fallen to well below 1975 levels.

1975? Thats about the time in my life when my Mom would let me out the door and most days I wouldn’t be back until dark (and to think, this was before everyone was tied to a cell phone). How often does that happen anymore?

Recent research also shows a positive correlation between the length of children’s attention spans and direct experience in nature. Studies at the University of Illinois show that time in natural settings significantly reduces symptoms of attention-deficit (hyperactivity) disorder in children as young as age five. The research also shows the experience helps reduce negative stress and protects psychological well being, especially in children undergoing the most stressful life events.

It all boils down to the very basic idea that kids need active play and lots of it. If they don’t play, of course they’re going to get fat. It seems pretty common sense to me.

edited to correct link to Baltimore Sun story

Screw-up one: Advertising a ADHD drug along with a news story about ADHD drugs needing stronger warnings because of potential heart problems up to and including sudden death.
Screw-up two: Using Ty Peddington as a spokesman for said drug. Ty, we’ve seen you on TV. The drugs? They’re not working.

Some traditional childhood games are disappearing from school playgrounds because educators say they’re dangerous.

Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Spokane, Wash., banned tag at recess this year. Others, including a suburban Charleston, S.C., school, dumped contact sports such as soccer and touch football.

So soccer and touch football are contact sports now? What are they supposed to play? Proximity football? ‘Hey! I got within 3 feet of you! You’re down!’

“They learn to change and to problem-solve,” says Rhonda Clements, an education professor at Manhattanville College.

Joe Frost, emeritus professor of early childhood education at the University of Texas-Austin, sees playground restrictions as harmful.

“You’re taking away the physical development of the children,” he says. “Having time for play is essential for children to keep their weight under control.”

emphasis mine. How long have I been saying this now?

Educrat1: ‘Kids are getting fatter.’
Educrat2: ‘Really? Huh. I know, lets limit sports and activity.’
Educrat1: ‘Sounds good!’
Educrat2: ‘What do want to do now?’
Educrat1: ‘I dunno. Wanna raise taxes?’
Educrat2: ‘Sounds good! Um, what for?’
Educrat1: ‘We need to fund our new Lardass Awareness program.’
Educate2: ‘Do we make them sit still and do nothing for hours in the program?’
Educate1: ‘Absolutely!’
Educate2: Sounds good! Um, what if they move.’
Educate1: ‘Drug them!’
Educate2: ‘Sounds good!’

Today, kids find themselves grounded, victims of a culture of fear and injury litigation.

A growing number of school districts are going so far as to ban the game of tag and are even posting signs that read “no running on the playground.”

Is there real danger on the modern playground?

Safety advocates say yes and want to eliminate it.

Their first target: swing sets.

They’ve convinced Portland Public Schools to remove all swings from elementary schools playgrounds.

I’ve mentioned before that people annoy me right? Right.

But the safety advocates don’t stop there.

Portland Public Schools have also rejected merry go rounds, tube slides, track rides, arch climbers, and teeter totters.

Break out the bubble wrap!

Our lawsuit happy culture has schools and parks installing low-to-the-ground play structures that some have derided as “dumbed down.”

Now, it seems, anything with moving parts is a lawsuit liability, and in some places, that even means moving legs.

In Broward County, Florida, there’s a new rule on the playground: no running.

Frikkin’ hell people! They’re KIDS. Let them be KIDS. This may sound shocking to some, but as a father of three I can tell you, they’re pretty damn durable. The article mentions that there were 17 deaths from playground injuries. Excuse for sounding cold-hearted but… thats it? Thats right about on par with the number of toddlers who drown in 5 gallon buckets. Shall we go into the number of kids who are killed in pools, car accidents, bike and skateboard accidents per year? I’m guessing its a bit more that 17. We gonna ban them as well?

Crap like this also explains why the tiny, useless and completely non-fun new playground at my kids elementary school cost over $25K. A good amount of that for the 6 inch thick ‘rubberized’ surface. Useless.

This article was also mentioned on Fark.com. A good series of comments there. This one in particular made me laugh out loud because, yeah, done that (both actually):

Slappy Kincaid: how about good old fashioned rock fights? now that was a good time in the alley where i grew up.

Okay, but if you’ve never played tag with Roman candles, you suck at life.

Come on people, let kids play. Otherwise they’ll go insane sitting in chairs inside all day and we’ll see a epidemic rise in kids being drugged because they’re ‘hyperactive’ and have ‘ADD/ADHD’… oh wait…

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel urged Thursday that the strongest possible safety warn ing be issued for drugs used by millions of children and adults to treat attention deficit disorder, because of emerging concern that they might increase the risks of heart attacks, strokes and sudden death.

“This is out-of-control use of drugs that have profound car diovascular consequences,” said Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist and member of the panel. “We have got a potential public health crisis. I think patients and families need to be made aware of these concerns.”

Out-of-control is an understatement.

As many as 4 million Americans take the medications. Government figures show that almost 10 percent of 10-year-old boys in the United States get them; about 4 percent of girls that age use them.

“No one is saying that there aren’t children who are desperately dysfunctional and need these drugs,” Nissen said. “But it isn’t 10 percent of 10-year-olds.”

Thats exactly what I’ve been saying for almost two years now. ADD does exists, but it is over diagnosed. If this were any other disease, it would be labeled an epidemic. Imagine the panic if one out of ten boys were being treated for something like arthritis.

Most of the attention deficit drugs are derived from powerful stimulants, including amphetamines. They are believed to help patients concentrate. But they also raise blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, known as ADHD, can prevent children from applying themselves to schoolwork; adult patients can have trouble with the multitasking demands of the modern workplace. In the United States, an estimated 2.5 million children and 1.5 million adults are taking medication for the condition.

While the drugs have been widely used by children since the 1990s, their use to treat adults is new. Prescriptions written for adults increased by 90 percent from 2002 to 2005.

Emphasis mine. 90%? Yikes.

ht to Standing Cheese for IM’ing this story to me.

FDA Report Details 25 ADHD Drug Deaths

New warning labels may be required on drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder following the deaths of 25 people who died after beginning treatment with the increasingly popular medicines.

The deaths occurred between 1999 and 2003, according to a report Wednesday from the Food and Drug Administration. Nineteen of them involved children. The report also detailed 54 cases of serious cardiovascular problems, including heart attack, stroke, hypertension, palpitations and arrhythmia, in adults and children being treated with ADHD drugs.

The drugs include amphetamines, such as Adderall, and methylphenidates, sold as Ritalin, Concerta, Methylin and Metadate.

The FDA said it has tallied an additional 26 deaths between 1969 and 2003 in ADHD patients involving death by suicide, intentional overdose, drowning, heat stroke and from underlying disease.

But by all means, never mind these minor side effects; just continue to drug the children in ever increasing numbers. They’re just so much easier to deal with that way aren’t they?

Previous ADD/ADHD stories.

[tags]ADD/ADHD, ADD, ADHD, attention deficit, hyperactivity[/tags]

A teacher at a Milwaukee public school has been arrested on accusations of giving a student a dose of the teacher’s own Ritalin, Milwaukee police said Wednesday.

Oh great! Now they’re drugging the teachers?

The Trouble With Boys

By almost every benchmark, boys across the nation and in every demographic group are falling behind. In elementary school, boys are two times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with learning disabilities and twice as likely to be placed in special-education classes. High-school boys are losing ground to girls on standardized writing tests. The number of boys who said they didn’t like school rose 71 percent between 1980 and 2001, according to a University of Michigan study. Nowhere is the shift more evident than on college campuses. Thirty years ago men represented 58 percent of the undergraduate student body. Now they’re a minority at 44 percent. This widening achievement gap, says Margaret Spellings, U.S. secretary of Education, “has profound implications for the economy, society, families and democracy.”

For many boys, the trouble starts as young as 5, when they bring to kindergarten a set of physical and mental abilities very different from girls’. As almost any parent knows, most 5-year-old girls are more fluent than boys and can sight-read more words. Boys tend to have better hand-eye coordination, but their fine motor skills are less developed, making it a struggle for some to control a pencil or a paintbrush. Boys are more impulsive than girls; even if they can sit still, many prefer not to—at least not for long.

In elementary-school classrooms—where teachers increasingly put an emphasis on language and a premium on sitting quietly and speaking in turn—the mismatch between boys and school can become painfully obvious. “Girl behavior becomes the gold standard,” says “Raising Cain” coauthor Thompson. “Boys are treated like defective girls.”

If nothing else, I feel relieved that this subject is getting more mainstream attention. There are times when ‘fighting’ the school system on these issues can become daunting. You can refer back to my previous post Vindication for background.

[tags]Newsweek, Trouble with Boys, Education[/tags]

To be honest, I only had a passing notice of ADHD in the news. That changed early last year when the boys school started complaining about his ‘inability to stay on task’, ‘inattentiveness in class’ and of course, hyperactivity. One teacher came right out and stated ‘he obviously has ADD and would benefit from medication’. A few days later I wrote this entry. Although I did not specifically mention the boy, you’ll see that I had decided that I would not pump my son full of amphetamines just to keep him from acting like a 7 year old boy.

Yes, I was worried that I was just being a blind parent thinking ‘there can’t possibly be anything wrong with my kid’. So I did a lot of reading. I watched the way my son, and other boys his age, acted. I talked to two different Pediatricians. I determined my kids teachers were full of shit.

Once the teachers realized I wasn’t buying into the ADD/ADHD hype, they changed tactics. They wanted to hold him back in first grade. Once again they kept trying to scare us. ‘He’s behind’. ‘He lacks basic concepts’. ‘He doesn’t socialize properly’. Here they almost got me. His grades were crap. He told me he didn’t like school because it was too hard and they spent too much time trying to learn instead of playing. This also wasn’t the first time they pushed us to hold him back.

There was one teacher (reading) who took the boys side and said he didn’t need to be held back. She suggested that it wasn’t that the boy found the material too hard, she thought he just found it boring. After talking to this teacher for a while, we figured the hell with it… we’ll push him ahead. If we screw him up too much, there’s always summer school and tutors.

The boy brought home his first report card a couple weeks ago. Three B’s and two A’s. We finished conferences with his teachers within the past two weeks. Not a mention of ADD or other problems. One of the A’s was his reading teacher who was just beaming when we came to the conference. ‘I’m so glad you didn’t hold him back’. Three B’s and two A’s. Damn, thats better than any report card I ever brought home. And this is the newer grading scale (i.e.: 85-93% = B, 94-100% = A). If they used the scale I had in school he would have had one B and four A’s. Good thing I didn’t have to deal with the newer grade scale when I was in school or I would have really been screwed.

Sometimes you’ve just got to go with your gut….

side note: you can browse all articles I’ve written on this subject in the ADD/ADHD category of this blog

It’s now a new school year with new teachers. It’s starting again. Not for the boy, but now for the oldest girl. One of her teachers has ‘strongly recommended’ we get her tested for ADHD (I’ll point out that the girl is doing poorly in this class. Never mind the fact that she’s getting A’s and B’s in all her other classes, they want her drugged because of one class). This teacher quickly backed off when I reminded her that she’s on the borderline of violating the IDEA act (check the bottom of this post for more info on the IDEA act).

It is now more apparent to me than ever that schools are on a mission to drug as many children as they can. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’m not saying the ADD/ADHD does not exist, I’m saying the diagnosis is abused. If all the kids who were being diagnosed with ADD/ADHD were diagnosed with cancer, diabetes or even something like schizophrenia there would be a nationwide panic. I know I’m starting to sound like a conspiracy nut. Just browse through my past stories to see what I’ve been dealing with.

Something is desperately wrong. If you have a child in or going into public school, get yourself informed. School administrations cannot stand informed parents. Especially ones who ask questions.

A record four million children — some as young as 2 — are being diagnosed with ADHD, and many are being put on powerful medications, perhaps for life. Now a growing number of experts are sounding alarm bells.

Four million. Four MILLION.

…the number of kids diagnosed with the condition has skyrocketed — from an estimated 150,000 in 1970, to a half million in 1985, to a whopping four million currently. (It is outranked only by asthma and allergies among childhood disorders.)

A landmark 2000 Journal of the American Medical Association study revealed that use among 2- to 4-year-olds of stimulants such as Ritalin (which, paradoxically, have a calming effect on hyperactive kids) nearly tripled from 1991 to 1995; Ritalin prescriptions for preschoolers rose 49 percent from 2000 to 2003. This is especially sobering in view of the fact that Ritalin is not even approved for use in children under 6; all these prescriptions are written off-label.

Two year olds? Pre-schoolers? Just what in the HELL are we doing to the kids in the country? Maybe the more important question is why?

Let’s start with our schools. Faced with steadily dwindling resources and the need to find time for everything in state-mandated curricula, many have curtailed gym classes, even recess, where energetic kids can let off steam. Teachers, already pushed to the limit, are often unable to handle a “troublemaker” who creates chaos in their crowded classrooms — in turn putting parents under pressure to make their child conform. (Three-quarters of initial referrals for an ADHD examination originate with teachers, not parents.)

Personally I believe this is a major problem with the public school system today. More advanced subjects are being pushed on children at a younger and younger age while less ‘academic’ activities such as Art, Music, Gym and Recess are being cut. A perfect example, recently my first grader had to give a presentation to his class on a country he picked. Standing in front of the class, visual aides and all, speaking to the class for a minimum of five minutes. In FIRST grade. We’re also now seeing pushes for things like all day Kindergarten and even pre-K classes in the public school system. It may sound cliche but kids do have less and less time to just be kids and it very well could be screwing up their development. But I guess its just much easier to have them pop a pill than address the root cause.

There’s quite a few more parts of the article I’d like to quote but it would be better to just go read the entire story (if you’re so inclined). As I’ve stated before, I’m not saying ADD/ADHD does not exist, just that it is over-diagnosed and over-medicated. In fact, this article includes a side story about a child where pharmaceutical treatment was needed, but only AFTER all other options had been exhausted.

“Through headphones, the instrument emits sonic waves that stimulate brain frequencies, accomplishing the same objective as commonly prescribed medicines,” such as Ritalin and Adderall. By keeping their children off of brain stimulants, alternative treatments such as the BAUD allow the parents a safer way of dealing with what is often a misdiagnosed condition.

Notice the part there about the often misdiagnosed condition.

The Gizmodo blurb also includes a link to the story Order to a Disorder at The Modesto Bee. This is yet another case of a parent convinced to drug their child to treat ADHD. The parent is then reported to Child Protective Services when they take their child off the drug because of its adverse effects.

However, Black Oak School officials were not as thrilled to learn that Austin was not taking his medicine, Rickards said. When she made it clear her son would not take the medicine again, someone from the school reported the case to child protective services. Black Oak Principal Mike Brusa and other school officials did not return repeated calls seeking comment for this story.

This story also mentions:

A new federal law that took effect this year has given parents more leverage in matters like this. The law prohibits schools from requiring or recommending that a child be placed on medication.

I was not aware of this and unfortunately this is the only mention in the article. There is no backup information or detail. I’ve been wondering why the school has only been ‘hinting’ at ADD for the boy and not coming right out and saying it. This law could very well be why. Off to do some research.

side note: yes, I’m aware this device is being pushed by Dr. Phil. I’m not exactly a big Dr. Phil fan, but I’m even less of a fan of doping our kids up with speed.

UPDATE:
Well that took all of two minutes to find. Remind me again how people researched things before the internet?

Prohibition on Mandatory Medication Amendment

On December 3, 2004, the individuals with disabilities education improvement Act,
President Bush signed (IDEA) into law.

Incorporated within this Act is the Prohibition on Mandatory Medication Amendment.

This new law prohibits schools from recommending or requiring that a child take a Controlled Substance (Includes all stimulants: Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, Dexedrine, ect.) as a prerequisite for attending school.

The bold copy below the picture reads:

Schoolwork that matches his intelligence
Friends that ask him to join the group
Family hours that last for hours
A real solution for ADHD

This advertisment just amazes me. Friends that ask him to join the group. Are you kidding me? Think about it, they are actually saying ‘give your child this drug and he will be accepted and popular’. It gets better. Works fast for the start of the school day – with or without food. Well hopefully WITH food. I mean you are feeding your kid breakfast in the morning before sending them to school. Right?

Then we get to the fine print at the bottom of the page.

Abuse of amhetamines may lead to dependence. Misuse of amphetamine may lead to serious cardivascular adverse events.

Where to begin. Well first, let me offer a translation:

dependence = drug addiction. You did notice the word Amphetamines right? As in Methamphetmine.
serious cardivascular adverse effects = DEATH for christs sake!

Thats not actually all of the fine print. You turn over to page 12 and thats where you find the really, REALLY fine print. A whole page worth. Here’s a nice little snippet from the page 2 fine print:

MISUSE OF AMPHETAMINE MAY CAUSE SUDDEN DEATH AND SERIOUS CARDIVASCULAR ADVERSE EVENTS

Sudden death! Well isn’t that special.

The advertisement is for ‘One Dose Daily ADDERALL XR‘. Go to the site and you’ll find all kinds of great information about this drug. Including a link to the FDA Statement on Adderall which starts with FDA is aware of Health Canada’s decision to suspend sales, but not revoke the approval in Canada, of the drug Adderall as a treatment for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The FDA statement includes a link to this Health Canada Advisory on ADDERALL which includes the following gem:

Health Canada is informing Canadians that it has instructed Shire BioChem Inc., the manufacturer of ADDERALL XR® to withdraw the drug from the Canadian market. Health Canada has suspended the market authorization of the product due to safety information concerning the association of sudden deaths, heart-related deaths, and strokes in children and adults taking usual recommended doses of ADDERALL® and ADDERALL XR®.

WOW! This sounds like some great stuff! Where the hell do I sign my boy up so he can get B+’s and be asked to join the group (baring that pesky SUDDEN DEATH thing of course).

Health experts say the first human study linking Ritalin — the most popular drug used to treat attention-deficit problems — to a higher risk of cancer is raising alarms.

And also:

Does Ritalin Increase Cancer Risk in Children?

All 12 of the children included in the study experienced an increase in chromosome abnormalities three months after starting Ritalin. Chromosome damage has been linked to heightened cancer risk and to other health problems.

I was alerted to this story by a version I found in the York Daily Record. I was unable to find the YDR article online. The YDR article is the exact some story that is found at indystar.com but has three additional paragraphs at the bottom. One of those paragraphs has the following quote from University of Kansas Medical Center developmental pediatrician Kathryn Ellerbeck:

“Cancer is something to be scared about but untreated ADHD is devastating, too”

I’m sorry, but does ADHD kill you? No. It is absolutely asinine to compare ADHD to Cancer.