We've got six weeks of gluttony about to descend upon us. Over the next month and a half, we will all eat a lot more than we need to. Because the weather will be cooler, many of us will opt to stay inside instead getting out and moving. The same holds true for our kids.

A study released by LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center shows that only 22% of children aged 6 to 9 actually do get enough exercise. That means that 78% of our American kids are spending way too much time behind a computer screen or in front of a television screen.

You've probably figured out as a parent that kids learn by watching. What they have seen is of great concern to Researcher Peter Katzmarzyk.

We don’t have to walk anywhere. We can drive cars. We can do everything now on our phones, and kids aren’t even getting physical activity in school like they used to.

In his remarks to the Louisiana Radio Network Katzmarzyk suggested that nearly 63% of kids in this age group are getting too much computer time. While he'd love for kids to be more active, he can understand the issues that parents have will allowing kids to get outside and play. In many parts of our state kids just don't have a safe environment for that kind of activity.

I think it all starts with developing the community infrastructure to allow parks and trails to be open and to be safe in the community.

Perhaps the bigger concern with bigger and more obese children isn't in the near term, it's more of a future issue.

We’re going to see higher chronic disease rates as these kids become adults. We’re going to see higher levels of obesity and these kinds of things.

The bottom line is we as parents have to get off of our bottoms to get our kids off of their bottoms. It's certainly something that can be done. Whether it's a walk around the entire shopping center, parking the car further away from the grocery store, or speaking to educators at your child's school about more physical education.

There is something we can do now. This solution is much better and simpler than the higher medical costs and potential health issues of  the future.

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