B. Carfree

Ah youth. Remember when we all walked thirty miles uphill both ways in the snow to school? Or was it fifty miles through the desert?

Anyway, one thing that was real is that the Boomers definitely were a physically active generation of Americans. We were young when the record for bicycle sales happened, 1974, and it's still the record in spite of a growing population. The jogging boom was us. The aerobics/Jane Fonda thing was us. If it involved exercise, we were into it. Even Title 9, which mandated equal opportunities for females, happened while we were young and meant that female Boomers also got the opportunity to exercise and compete.

Sadly, over the past thirty years the roads in front of our schools are no longer filled with children riding bikes and running, it's full of SUV's and minivans picking up and dropping off students. No children ride their bikes to the park to play, they have organized play dates that they are driven to. All this youthful sitting has now caught up with our younger nieces and nephews. Stroke rates are on the rise for people under 55, by a lot. Not surprisingly, they are dropping for us Boomers, but that just means we get to bury too many youngsters.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/we...?smid=fb-share

FBinNY 

I actually did walk over a mile to school starting when I was 5 years old. But, yes, members of our generation were the beneficiaries of JFK's focus on fitness. It wasn't long before that that heart disease was the No. 1 killer, and the link to high fat diets was suspected.

I have no idea what it'll take to get the current generation to be active, and I suspect that most are betting on medical science rather than eliminating the need for it.

DaveQ24 

I always wondered why so many parents drive their kids to and from school or even to and from bus stops?

02Giant 

It is the kids of the Boomers doing the driving. Ask yours why they do it.

mapeiboy

Parents think there is a boggy man at every corn of the street to take their kids away .

texaspandj

To the point of driving your child to school.
That's why I would do it. With the internet, we know what's going on anywhere at anytime. And it gives the "perception" of a worse world. However a quick google of registered sex offenders in your neighborhood may prove it true.

Cyclist0084 

Pokemon Go?








(Sorry, couldn't resist )

_ForceD_

But then professional athletes in the big four sports (football, baseball, basketball, hockey) began getting paid rediculous money. Those guys became heros to the kids of us Boomers. Parents (many of us Boomers) encouraged our kids to be like those highly paid athletes. The quest for a full college tuition, maybe even a shot at the pros began. And with it an expanse of youth sports...and elite 'speciality' youth teams. "Billy, hurry up and get your football equipment off and get your baseball gear. We have to get to your private pitching lesson." A lot of kids (the athletic kids) no longer had/have idle time when they can ride their bikes, or run, etc. Lots of kids are perpetually involved in a sport. Sometimes two or three at a time. There's no off-season anymore. Consequently, many kids don't even have bikes these days. So, by the time they discover that they're not going to be awarded that full-ride scholarship it's too late to get them interested in cycling, or running, or any other activity that doesn't potentially lead to a professional sports career. "I'd go over to my friend's house but it's over a mile away. You expect me to walk/jog/ride that far?" And if you try to convince 'Billy' that he could work toward becoming a professional cyclist, or a professional Marathon runner...INSTEAD of a professional football player...which one do you think 'Billy' is going to choose? And so 'Billy' doesn't become a professional athlete, or even earn a college scholarship. He doesn't have a bike, and really can't appreciate what it is to ride one...or to go for a run just for exercise. But he still loves the sports that he played as a youth and into high school...so he might as well go play them...on the video game in his bedroom.

Dan

TimothyH

Everyone laments the younger generation but I don't see a problem.

Earlier generations might have been more physically active but they ate bacon and eggs for breakfast every day, smoked like chimneys and died of heart disease at 56 years old.

I don't see an issue. Life has been finding a way to survive on planet earth for millenia and will continue to do so for many more. Our kids have pretty good quality of life, as do I. Most of the kids in my area aren't riding bikes but their moms take them to the YMCA to do rock climbing and swim lessons 4x/week.

I'm not worried.


-Tim-

BKE

What a coincidence, the timing of your post. In the past few weeks and again last evening I have been having this same thought mainly geared toward bicycling. It's been almost 6 months now that I got back on a bike (I'm just hitting the 1000 mile mark) and lately I'm really noticing the poor condition (weight, lack of activity, appearance, attitude) of the people around me at work. Reflecting back on my first couple rides (ouch!!) I'm thinking to myself "what an easy wake up call it would be for these folks (and their kids), something as simple as getting them out for just one short bike ride to open their eyes".

rumrunn6

the ppl at my last office that liked to make fun of my bike commuting (& other exercise) were the least fit. I never called them out on it tho. my kids are just fine cuz I lead by example

mr_bill

Uh, the study only covers through the early GenX-ers (1965-1974) - and they haven't been on playdates for thirty years. (And the first of them are now joining us in 50-plus.)

Also note that the second cohort of boomers (1955-1964) did worse than the first cohort of boomers (1945-1954) on Ischemic Stroke, and now the first cohort of GenX-ers (1965-74) did worse than the boomers at Ischemic Stroke too. Whatever is causing this effect took place BACK IN THE DAY for many of us 50-plus folks.

On STEMI, things keep getting better generation by generation.

As to why the Millennials drive so much, let me ask my child, oh wait, has reached mid-twenties with no drivers license.



-mr. bill

wphamilton

That rings true to me, for a different reason perhaps. I don't think that people really notice, or truly realize the difference, if they've never been in fit condition.

I don't think it's generational though, because I vividly remember my similar impressions when starting college in 1977. I had come from a much smaller world, where half the kids in a primarily agricultural community knew hard work at least once in a while, and nearly all of them involved in one or more sports. Sure there were a few soft types, but when I got to to the University it was the vast majority of them and from what I could tell, they didn't even realize it. I don't really believe that human nature has changed much since then.

TimothyH

This is a pretty disgusting thing to say.

Biker395 

Personally, I think it's a combination of:

1. Helicopter Parenting. My kids (now 21 and 26) have thanked us for giving them the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them at a young age. Riding a bike or walking to school teaches kids self reliance and lets them learn how to recognize an avoid danger. When you deprive them of this, they just learn at an older age, when the consequences of error are worse. Some kids (my son for example), only learn by making mistakes.

I think it is best to expose your kids to risks when appropriate, so they can learn to recognize and deal with them.

2. Laziness: Truth is, in the short term, it is easier to do things for your kids than to teach them to do things for themselves.


Anecdote: There was a bike lane installed hereabouts near a school a few years ago. And to install it, they had to remove a traffic lane. What an uproar!

One woman complained that because of the bike lane, it took her 40 minutes to drop her kids off to school. I asked the obvious question ... why not just let them ride their bikes to school? Her answer was a classic.

"What?!? With all those cars?!?"

rumrunn6

yeah you're right, deleted it. guess I was just remembering what complete a-holes they were mocking me. very mean spirited. real chumps

fredstrong

TimH, rumrunn retracted his statement, so you should retract (edit) your quote.

berner

When I go back to my home town, which was very agricultural when I was a boy, I'm always surprised by the amount of traffic even on secondary roads. Back then us kids walked or road bikes everywhere and no parents thought it was dangerous. Today, I would not ride my bike on the same roads. Oddly, in Bristol, Rhode Island, a small town where I live now, in the 6 or so years I've been riding a bike, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of bikes. The cyclists are of every age and with a very nice bike path, kids ride to school also.

SloButWide 

And yet, at the same time, my kids (20 - 26 year old men) are almost completely uninterested in cars. All walk 1-2 miles to work each way, and rely on buses or friends for longer rides. I was car obsessed from about the age of 13, certainly by 15, counting down the days til I could get my temp license.

Moe Zhoost

Good article at the link below. Interesting observation that kids don't go outside to play because of the low probability of finding someone to play with.

The Anti-HelicopterParent’s Plea: Let Kids Play!

A Silicon Valley dad decided to test his theories about parenting by turning his yard into a playground where children can take physical risks without supervision. Not all of his neighbors were thrilled.

Carbonfiberboy 

It's fear. Our media are like, "Fear this!" because it sells. And the nanny State won't let kids do what we used to do. Parents would get reported and CPS would drop by. They're just trying to keep the kids safe, right?

I grew up on a homestead in Fairbanks. When there wasn't snow, at 8 yrs. I'd ride my 20" bike to school, 1 mile of pavement and 1.5 miles of gravel each way. In winter, I'd walk home from my after-school trombone lesson - carrying the trombone. If I wanted to ski on weekends, I'd walk into town carrying my skis and boots. Never thought anything of it.

Which is nothing. A riding buddy grew up in an igloo on the south slope of the Brooks Range. He used to swim under the ice on the Kobuk River during breakup. He's really strong. His brother is a writer and wrote 2 extraordinary books about it. Google Seth Kantner. There's only one. You'll love the books.

FBinNY 

I think that's a part of it, but not a complete explanation. Youth culture has changed, and kids are happier with their electronic devices than being outside kicking, hitting or throwing balls around. They also aren't used to doing things without adult organization or supervision.

There are probably other factors, but the end result is the same. Our fear of dire consequences is slowly killing us.

Carbonfiberboy 

All true. I have a friend who took a nephew out salmon fishing on his 26' boat. Couldn't get the kid to stop playing with his Game Boy. My friend was quite upset about it.

I heard that some cities are putting intersection warning signs into sidewalks to try to keep people from walking out into traffic while texting.

B. Carfree

My Millennial son has also refused to get a drivers license, along with about half of the kids he hung out with during his teens.

Perhaps they are simply too busy doing things like finishing off med. school and law school, grad school, running a non-profit or working towards a medical degree in Sweden, which is what his non-driving friends are doing. There's just no time left for them to drive around. The Millennial generation seems so full of great smart productive young people that they make me kind of ashamed of the way most of us Boomers (mis)spent our youth.

texaspandj

Kids today may be less active, but they are a hell of a lot smarter, generally speaking.
One thing I find perplexing is once I was 18, I was out the door, couldn't wait. Now kids are in their 20s sometimes 30s and still living with their parents......wait maybe that's smarter too.