Just stuff by Gary Arrington

By GARY ARRINGTON

As I was conversing with local youth lately, we were talking about the just concluded election and the differences that the outcome may make on their lives. While I was really expecting not a very deep discussion due to the fact that most people do not pay attention to politics anymore, I was surprised by a couple of things.
Although they did not know who won the local election or even the elections for statewide office here in Utah, they all knew who won the presidential election. That surprised me.
My other surprise when talking about what will affect them was their answer of school lunch. That answer really made me take notice because really I had no clue where this was going. I didn’t know that school lunch was a concern and now I realize that was because I didn’t pay close attention to the details.
In the words of the children, school lunch is crappy. They said that they were restricted to something like 70 calories and that they didn’t get enough and they didn’t like what they got. Evidently what they get is very fruity and vegetable like.
The federal government to help conquer obesity now regulates school lunch. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but school lunch is not the problem as to why we are becoming fatter as a nation. Why I will put out that soda is a major problem, you don’t get soda for lunch.
No the problem for our children, and probably us slightly older than that, is the fact that we don’t go outside and play anymore. We don’t get dirty any more.
When I was a child, I know that that was long ago; we played outside all day long. We played basketball, football, baseball, soccer, no bears are out tonight, tag, dodge ball and any other game we could make up. We went to bed tired.
Today it seems that our playtime involves some form of electronic device indoors rather than anything outdoors.
Children, with rare exceptions, should not have to worry about their weight like I must. I accept the fact that I must carefully consider the consequences of my actions before I take them. Children should be allowed to just be children.Take them outdoors to the park, to the desert, to the mountains and teach them how to play in the dirt. Go outside and have fun and leave the school lunch alone.