Have there been steps taken to try to make kids take their focus off of tv and push them to go outside and play, or be active?

Renee Neltner

There have definitely been steps taken in the right direction when it comes to getting kids up and active. Although there have been actions that are smaller and not as known, two examples of pretty large and well known actions are from a well known cartoon station and from within the White House.

1-Nickelodeon hosts a Worldwide Day of Play campaign. One day a year, Nickelodeon basically shuts down all of its systems to encourage kids to stop watching tv or playing on the computer and actually go outside and play/be active. In addition to turning off their station, they also create events in certain cities that promote an active lifestyle.They advertise this major event on tv as well as on their website. The advertisement says: "Come PLAY with Nick and over 30 national and local partner organizations that will be at this year's event. Participate in activities like football, tennis drills, dancing, and double dutch with the NFL, NBA, USTA, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the YMCA of Greater NY and more". If this hasn't intrigued the kids enough, they have also announced that a popular band will be there to perform for them. So, overall, Nick is encouraging them to play by not allowing them to watch their cartoons, and it also gives them an opportunity to attend free events that allow them to be active.

2-Michelle Obama launched the Lets Move Campaign.This campaign publicly promotes having a healthy and active lifestyle to children. This campaign helps by "giving parents helpful information and fostering environments that support healthy choices, providing healthier foods in our schools, ensuring that every family has access to healthy, affordable food, and helping kids become more physically active" (letsmove.gov). This kind of information is especially important because it doesn't only promote a healthy lifestyle, it gives tips on how to become healthy, and helps insure that families are able to afford the foods that are needed.

Sources:
http://www.nick.com/thebighelp/event-info
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/09/nickelodeon_worldwide_day_of_p.html
http://www.letsmove.gov/