The FIT Kids Act Makes Strides in Washington

By Lindsay Muscato, HSC Writer/Communications Specialist

Earlier this month, lawmakers and athletes teamed up to support the FIT Kids Act, a bill that’s now reached the Senate. Seven NFL players from the Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens, plus dozens of schoolchildren, gathered on the West Lawn of the Capitol for fun aerobic activities and a press conference to raise awareness about the bill.

HSC signed on to support the FIT Kids Act because we believe that wellness and physical activity are vital to students' success in school and in life. The law would require that schools make physical education and activity more of a priority, mandate that schools report information about students’ access to physical education, ensure that students learn about proper nutrition and wellness, and educate teachers about providing wellness information.

By boosting the amount of physical activity in all students’ days, schools would be giving kids fuel for rigorous academics. They’d be demonstrating how kids can increase their own well-being by integrating physical activity into the day. And they’d be instilling healthy habits that kids can pass on to the next generation, and the one after that. Childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels in the U.S., and HSC believes that the FIT Kids Act is one step – one jumping-jack, one sit-up, one stretch – in the right direction.

See Rochelle's blog from April of 2008, about Richard Simmons and his campaign for the FIT Kids Act. Also: Learn more about HSC's views on how physical activity improves learning and how national policy can make a difference. (Click on the "Policy Implications" tab.)

Comments

[Jean Saunders]

Later this week, the American Heart Association will take a letter to Capitol Hill, urging additional members of the House and Senate to co-sponsor the FIT Kids Act. If your organization would like to sign-on to this letter, be sure to contact the DC office of the American Heart Association.