We went to the water park the other day. As my wife and I sat by the wave pool watching our kids it was pretty tough to miss the fact that alot of kids are fat. It was not a pretty sight. OK, let me use the politically correct term, they are obese. You may think this is just our opinion but USA Today just reported, In fact, fewer than a third of 15-year-olds get 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day, the minimum amount recommended for children by the federal government.

One-third of children age 2-19 in the US weigh too much. Of course, the next question is where are the parents? Here is the answer, Experts in childhood nutrition aren’t surprised by a poll this summer that shows 50% of parents who have overweight or obese children don’t realize their children weigh too much, again from USAToday. The article goes on to say that the number one reason parents say this is they don’t want to face their own weight issues. Far easier to say, “my kid is normal,” than to say, “I am going to lose weight and be a good role model.”

Being a parent is the ultimate leadership job and leaders are supposed to set the example. Heck, I even dedicated an entire chapter to the issue in my book No Yelling (www.noyelling.net). This leadership role with eating extends to work also. At the morning staff meetings I attend, from time to time, I always see the donuts but not the fruit. It isn’t as bad as it used to be but the healthy stuff still gets second billing. Of course, when you give the healthy stuff second billing you insure your health care bills will get bigger. I don’t think we all need to eat pine bark but particularly as leaders we must work to set a worthy example. I don’t think Napoleon was reaching for a Twinkie when he had his hand inside his lapel. Pass the grapes.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 1:49 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.