How do our modern day lifestyles effect the health of our children?  

Our world is so full of new and exciting technologies and wonderful opportunities for families to experience things we never could have dreamed of as kids. It amazes me that we can be online and chat with people all around the world, recieve an education in your jammies at your computer, gain access to virtually any information you desire. But with this comes a terrible downside that I believe desperately needs to be managed.
When we were children, we came home from school and did our home work by looking things up in reference books and writing it down on paper. Then we went outside to 'play'! What a concept!! We ran, we rode bikes, we played baseball, tag and red-light green-light. We also got a huge whoopin' if we weren't in when the street lights came on! We ate our dinner, maybe watched a LITTLE TV and then went to bed at a decent hour TIRED. Now our children come home, do there homework on the computer, play computer games, play video games watch entirely too much TV and all that this involves is sitting. When we were kids a trip to McDonalds was a special treat. Now with our hectic schedules it's a typical dinner on any night that is too busy for cooking. No wonder so many of our children are over weight. I don't allow my kids to spend too much time at the computer or the TV, but I am going to make it a point to get outside with them, teach them to play, build forts, run around like maniacs and have some good tiring fun. I am also going to look into cookbooks and recipes for good, healthy, yet quick meals so as to limit our trips to fast food places. If anyone has suggestions or recipes please share. Here is a site I found with some stats on childhood obesity. www.healthiergeneration.org/engine/renderpage.asp