First Lady Michelle Obama is on a mission promoting her Let’s Move! campaign to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity.
The Childhood Obesity Task Force recently released an action plan, “Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation.” Among its recommendations:
Getting children more physically active, through quality physical education, recess, and other opportunities in and after school; addressing aspects of the “built environment” that make it difficult for children to walk or bike safely in their communities; and improving access to safe parks, playgrounds, and indoor and outdoor recreational facilities.
Back in the day, New York City kids never stopped moving in the built environment – the sidewalks and streets. Whether it was dodge ball, stickball or hide-and-go-seek, kids were physically active.
My favorite games were hopscotch and skelly. And I loved jumping double-dutch.
To this day, when I pass girls jumping double-dutch, I think about asking for a jump. But I quickly come to my senses. I would probably get tangled up in the ropes and fall flat on my you-know-what.
But one is never too old to take a walk down memory lane. So check out “New York Street Games,” a documentary that will premiere at the Village East Theater next week.
