Huron Expositor, 2006-08-23, Page 4Page 4 August 23, 2006 • The Huron Expositor
Opinion
Proprietor and Publisher, Bowes Publishers Limited, 11 Main St., Seaforth, ON, NOK IWO
its atest e
increasing size 3=
The CMA is dra rig s e cone us -ion t s `at parents
are "in denial" about childhood obesity since only
nine per cent of parents reported their' kids were
overweight, compared to Statistics Canada figures
showing 26 4,t.
weight or obs
"Either they don't know or they're deluding them
selves," said CMA president Ruth Collins-Nakai
who is also a cardiac -care specialist.
She's afraid parents are killing their kids with
kindness by setting them up for a lifetime of inac-
tivity and poor health.
Obesity rates are .no news in Huron County
where a 2004- health study of Southwestern
Ontario says that 57 > per cent of residents are
obese, compared to a provincial rate of 48 per cent.
In fact the obesity rate was higher in Huron
County by a few percentage points than in eight
other counties in Southwestern Ontario.
But, that's not to say the local health . unit isn't
working at combatting the issue of obesity with
several programs, including the Good Food Box,
praised last week by the provincial Minister of
Health Promotion Jim Watson on a tour through
Huron County.
As well, a new provincial initiative is mandating
20 minutes, a day of physical activity in elementary
schools beginning this fall.
But how effective 20 minutes will be compared
with the 30 minutes required in Alberta and the
hour and a half standard in Europe, remains to be
seen.
No matter how many programs put in place by
institutions, parents and their kids still need to buy
into the lifestyle of healthy eating and physical
activity.
At the end of the day, it's parents who have to ..
insist that kids replace the bags of chips with veg-
gies and the virtual games with real physical activ-
ity if our kids are going to enjoy long, healthy lives.
Susan Hundertmark
1 1
•
Getting up close and personal
with Pepe Le Peu
Camping, by definition,
is an opportunity to get up
:.close and personal with
nature.
When you pack up the
family's tent, sleeping
bags and various other
bits of camping gear,
you're preparing to get out
into the great outdoors -
sitting around a campfire
under a huge canvas of stars, listening to the
wind in the trees and the trill of birdsong.
And, if you're lucky, you experience the
occasional glimpse of some usually elusive
wildlife - a diving kingfisher, a leaping deer or
a chipmunk racing through the underbrush.
My family and I have just returned from a
camping trip out to Eastern Ontario where
we spent some time along the Rideau Canal
near Kingston.
We couldn't believe our luck when we ended
up with a campsite quite close to the water
where we could see various waterfowl floating
along.
And, we were amused when a parade of
ducks came waddling through our site, wig-
gling their tails, enquiring with their feathery
body language if we might have a few spare
crusts of bread lying about that we wouldn't
mind sharing.
We, of course, obliged, and after steering
the ducks away from the entrance of the tent,
we watched them waddle on to the next bread
donor.
Little did we know that another scavenger -
this one nocturnal - would
be by that evening as we
sat around the campfire.
Picking up perhaps on
the scent of what was left
behind by the ducks or per-
haps by the smell of burnt
marshmallows, another
visitor - just as cute but a
little more threatening -
wandered through in . the
dark.
It's amazing how an animal as small . and
cute as a skunk can evoke as much terror as
it does.
Frozen to our chairs, we watched in horror
as little Pepe Le Peu toured the campsite,
drifting nearer and nearer until, sniffing
underneath the picnic table, he was close
enough to reach out and touch.
Touching the skunk, however, was the far-
thest _thing from my mind.
Wanting to bolt but terrified that my doing
so would provoke the skunk to spray us, I sat
and concentrated on my_ breath, willing the
skunk to go away.
Underneath my chair seemed likely as the
next stop on his path and I wasn't certain I
could control myself if he came any closer.
I heaved a great sigh as he veered away
only to panic again as he headed towards the
tent, where. my sleeping daughter lay within.
Had I closed the zipper completely, especial-
ly at the bottom? And, travelling without
tomato juice or a second tent and set of bed -
See NOSE, Page 6
Ron &eve
Hey Ron...How. come
when there's a war
it's always the young
people who fight it?
That's the natural order of things. 1
The older, more experienced polititians
and generals stay behind, where they
can safely direct the course of the
war. They have to stay out of harms
way to ensure victory.
by David Lacey.
Careful.
You're
bordering
on treason.
Is it jut
me or is that
really
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