Obama on Parenting and School

President Obama gave parents some advice in Essence Magazine. See this link: http://www.examiner.com/x-35307-LA-Parenting--Education-Examiner~y2010m2d17-Obama-on-parent-involvement and don’t forget to read the comments below the article.

Obama says that parents should not allow their kids to watch TV during school nights.

I say that everyone needs downtime and sometimes TV is fine. Especially if the Olympics are on! TV in moderation is perfectly okay, even on school nights. As a parent, it’s easy to lay down the law and say “No TV on school nights” but it’s a lot harder to monitor your children’s TV time – that’s where the discriminating parenting comes in. There are some really good shows that are worth watching with your children. Yes, there are bad shows, too, of course, but you don’t have to watch those or allow your children to watch them. Or, you can watch them and then have discussions with your children about why they were bad shows. Turn it into a lesson.

Obama said that he and Michelle make their daughters start homework as soon as they get home from school. If they don’t finish by dinnertime the girls can continue afterwards. I worry about a culture that promotes working 12+ hours a day. Where’s the balance?

I say that a better idea is to let the girls have some free time right after school, especially while it’s still light outside. They’ve been in school for 7 hours, when they come home let them relax, or play outside, or hang out with friends, or walk the dog, or read for fun, or play a game, or help around the house, or play some music, or draw, or go to an after school extracurricular activity, or take a walk, or work in the garden, or…. There are so many healthy alternatives to doing homework the instant children get home from school.

And, look at the homework being assigned. If it’s busywork, or turning your child off to learning, then re-evaluate it and look at the impact it is having on your family and discuss this with the teacher. Or, if it’s simply taking your child too long to complete it - the National PTA and NEA recommends 10 minutes per grade level – then discuss that with the teacher. This would mean no more than 40 minutes/day for a 4^th grader (Sasha’s grade?) or 60 minutes/day for a 6^th grader (Malia’s grade?).

The things I liked about Obama’s parenting tips: he advocates an early bedtime for his girls (9:00 pm). Sleep is healthy! He also promotes staying in touch with teachers. I agree with this as long as parents don’t go overboard, and as long it is respectful on both ends. He says students must give their best effort in class. I agree. He promotes reading. I agree. He suggests having regular talks with your child about school and personal issues. I agree, as long as the discussions about school are not overly focused on grades, tests and homework. Lastly, he says to celebrate the little successes along the way. I completely agree.

What do you think?

Letter to Michelle Obama re: Childhood Obesity

Dear Mrs. Obama,

Thank you for bringing attention to childhood obesity. Decreasing the incidence of childhood obesity is a worthy cause and I applaud you for tackling this “epidemic.”

Many factors contribute to childhood obesity – genetics, diet, exercise, life-style, nutrition, economics, etc. And many solutions are offered to combat it: growing, buying and eating more nutritious food, making fewer trips to fast food restaurants, getting more exercise, spending less time in front of the television, improving access to outdoor recreation facilities, requiring physical education and recess in school, enhancing infrastructure to support walking and biking, reducing the number of ads for sweet and non-nutritious foods and beverages, etc.

Another contributing factor not mentioned in many articles about childhood obesity, however, is homework. Of the approximately 53 million school-aged children in the US (ages 5-17)*, how many millions of these children spend multiple hours during weeknights and weekends doing homework? Time spent doing homework that requires children to sit at a desk or in front of a computer for long hours after a 7-hour school day (in which much of the time is also spent sitting), should be a legitimate consideration when discussing contributing factors to childhood obesity.

Many of the steps to help stop obesity are achievable through common sense and by parents making different choices for their children. As you said, “We don't need to wait for some new invention or discovery to make this happen. This doesn't require fancy tools or technologies. We have everything we need right now — we have the information, we have the ideas, and we have the desire to start solving America's childhood obesity problem. The only question is whether we have the will."

Yes, I agree with your statement if we are talking about solutions such as: making wise choices at the grocery store and in restaurants, setting time limits on television and video games, walking and biking instead of driving, making healthy family dinners a priority, exercising with your children, planting edible gardens, encouraging your children to get outside and play, etc. But what about those factors over which parents and children have no control? Homework.

Unless your child goes to a very unique school, he or she is expected to do daily homework in this country. Much homework is assigned because teachers feel they don’t have enough time to cover what is expected of the mandated curriculum. And most homework in this country is graded and students are penalized for not doing it. Some students are penalized by having recess or lunch period taken away--a time during the day when most children need the chance to be active.

I respect your efforts, Mrs. Obama, to reduce childhood obesity. I ask that in future discussions of the causes of childhood obesity, you mention the fact that many children spend hours after school doing homework when they could be doing other, equally productive and active activities that promote good health.

If administrators and teachers around the U.S. hear the First Lady mention homework as a possible contributing factor to childhood obesity, then perhaps those same educators will begin having serious discussions rethinking the necessity of homework.

Sincerely,

Kerry Dickinson

*53 million is an approximation from a 2004 US Census report: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/004083.html