Public Health Foundation Vows to Bring Recess Back!

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently announced they'll invest $18 million dollars to bring recess to the elementary schools of America's minority and low-income kids. They've partnered with Sports4Kids, a national nonprofit, whose website claims they want to have recess back in 650 schools in 27 different cities by 2012.

In 2007, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation issued a report called Recess Rules. Obviously. Recess was excellent, except for indoor recess - especially back in the 80's when we had one Commodore 64 in the classroom. I maintain that bad weather depression is not an innate response, but a learned condition from years spent playing paper football during recess on gloomy days (sucked).

Thinking along those lines, if recess has truly failed to survive - and frankly, it was news to me and I'm shocked that it's so non-existent that we need 18 million bucks to bring it back - kids these days must be downtrodden constantly! We need to get these kids out of the trappings of their classroom and onto the playing field - if only for 15 minutes proceeding lunchtime each day. Apparently, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation also puts trained adults on the playground to help kids learn the dying recess games of yore - kickball, tag, etc. I'm down. I'll help unleash the four square champion inside each impressionable youth.

Check out rwjf.org and Sports4kids.org for more info.

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Tag, You're Healthy!