Send unhealthy kids back to the old days

I'm a journalist, not a doctor. If I were the latter, you'd see me at the golf course. Because I'm the former, you see me at the thrift store.

But just because I didn't graduate from med school doesn't mean I can't make a few common-sense, connect-the-dots assumptions about the health of American children.

I single out children because recently I read that the percentage of Americans under the age of 20 who experience food allergies has risen dramatically. Medical experts are baffled, although one study suggests a connection between allergies and childhood obesity.

I'm suspicious.

Because the rate of obesity in American children also has risen dramatically. So has the rate of Type 2 diabetes. Even high blood pressure in American children is going up, up, up.

Could it be a coincidence? I wonder.

Think back to the "old days." This would be just after the earth's mantle cooled and before there were iTouches, Wii's and 3 gigabytes of RAM.

A child walked the mile between school and home. He was made to do his homework and then banished from the house to "go outside and play." (Isn't that a quaint concept?) At dinnertime, Mom stood at the front door and hollered for Johnny to come eat. After dinner, and assuming Johnny didn't have dish-washing duty, he was once again thrown outside until dark. He then returned, took a bath, and was allowed to watch TV until bedtime, usually about 9 p.m.

Today it's a different story.

A child is driven the mile between school and home. That's because along the way Johnny might be snatched by Al Qaeda and recruited for the Taliban. It's suggested he do his homework, but Johnny knows one phone call to DCF and it's curtains for the parental unit, so Johnny does whatever he wants. "Play" might consist of a glassy-eyed Webkinz session or a round of GTA4. There is no "dinner" per se, as Mom and Dad are too busy yacking on their cell phones, updating their Facebook photo galleries or tweeting to pay any real attention to what Johnny is doing, so "dinner" becomes an endless grazing on whatever high-fat, high-calorie, high-sodium, low-fiber junk can be heated in the microwave. "Bedtime" is whatever time Johnny passes out from staring at the computer screen for six hours straight.

Connect the dots.

I'm not a doctor (and I don't play one on TV) but my guess is Johnny needs to get his fanny off the living room floor (in front of the TV) and go outside. Play football. Dig a hole. Build a fort.

And Mom and Dad need to get a clue.

Johnny wasn't designed to sit on his backside all day. None of us were. To be healthy we must sweat, raise the heart rate and work our muscles.

For a kid, that means going outside and doing the things kids have done for centuries - and risking exposure to sunlight, pollen and dirt. Maybe they won't become obese. Or develop diabetes and high blood pressure. If we're lucky they won't become allergic to the 21st century.

For Mom and Dad, that means not being so overprotective and paranoid they deprive their children of a scraped knee, a sore muscle or, God forbid, a runny nose because the ligustrum was blooming.

But what do I know? I'm not a doctor.

I'm just a dweeb who survived those dark days before Lunchables were invented.