Healthy Bodies make Healthy Minds: April 21, 2010

Today the House of Representatives made our children’s health and well-being a priority with the passage of the Fitness Integrated with Teaching (FIT) Kids Act, H.R. 1585. The FIT Kids Act would work to ensure kids are active during the school day and are taught to be personally responsible for their health. The legislation would engage parents and the public by requiring all school districts and states to report on students’ physical activity, including the amount of time spent in required physical education in relation to the recommended national standard. In addition, the Act would fund research to examine the link between children’s health and their academic achievement and recommend effective and innovative ways to get physical education back into schools.

With the bipartisan support of my colleagues, organizations like the American Heart Association and Wisconsin Education Association Council, and fitness guru Richard Simmons, we have taken important steps to combat childhood obesity in America, affecting over 9 million kids today. As the original author of this legislation and as co-chair of the Congressional Fitness Caucus, I am thrilled we are helping our children develop healthy lifestyles that will carry them into adulthood.  Providing increased physical education in public schools will give every child an opportunity to learn healthy habits and get moving. We will see the benefits in their math and reading test score, get to the root of the obesity epidemic, and get our children on a healthy path early in life.