If you tuned into Nickelodeon on Saturday, September 29 between the hours of 12 and 3, you may have been surprised by what you saw. It wasn’t Dora, Blue, or even that strange Yo Gabba Gabba….it was a static screen with a Worldwide Day of Play logo. Every few minutes, a ticker would run across the screen urging kids who were “slouching on the couch” to go out and run a race, skip a rope, get up and move.

I had forgotten that Nickelodeon has been doing this. In 2005, they teamed with the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation to create the Let’s Just Play Go Healthy Challenge. Kids are encouraged to track their movement with downloadables and track their eating in order to come up with ways to improve their habits.

The site also shares tips and movement challenges. Just this weekend, and coincidently it was Saturday, I was bothered to learn that my 12 year old daughter’s friend had joined Weight Watchers with her mother. Knowing a little about how Weight Watchers works, I think it’s a wonderful program. It forces you to really pay attention to the amount and type of food you are putting in your mouth. But just the idea that a 12 year old had to join didn’t sit well with me.

With obesity problems continuing to grow in the US now, I love to see influential companies, like Nick, trying to make a difference. I wish others would join in, though, because how many kids do you think just switched to Disney Channel?

Posted by Mally