San Antonio Express-News columnist Jonathan Gurwitz has written a piece that I first spotted in my local paper, but that you can read by visiting the paper's website. Gurwitz urges parents to get their kids into the great outdoors this summer. Heck, even the backyard would be better than sitting around in the house watching tv. What upset Gurwitz was a report in the authoritative medical journal Lancet in which it was recently reported that kids get double the exercise playing outside than if they were inside. "In other health news," says Gurwitz a tad sarcastically, "breathing is good for you and eating less might help you lose weight. How has it come to this?"

You know, he is absolutely right. It's sad that parents need to be reminded that kids need exercise and that the best way for them to get it is just to let 'em out of the house. It's about keeping them active, simple as that. In an era when kids are developing Type 2 diabetes at unprecedented rates, this is a parent's first line of defense in raising healthy children. Do whatever you have to do. Unplug the tv and computer and tell 'em they broke!