Taking Care

NEA Today, Mar 2005 by Milloy, Marilyn

It's inching toward spring, and if my school day memories serve me, many of you aren't exactly doing a jig. Seven intense months of school can knock the wind out of the heartiest among us. Grueling tests, struggling : kids, worried moms, dwindling budgets-it's enough to make you dive for the comfort food, aka a big plate of mac and cheese. And to be sure, many of us do. Mac and cheese and more. ¶ Now I'm no scrooge when it comes to the indulgence-as-escape, double fudge queen that I am. But here's the question: What do you do when the stresses of the day continue to mount, when the hours refuse to get longer? Do you have a healthy plan for taking care of you? ¶ We spend a good chunk of this issue of MEA Today looking at the crisis in health among America's children-your students. Increasing numbers are battling obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes-at 8,10, 14 years old. It's a sad, sad story with repercussions that spill into your classrooms every day. And while we were buoyed by the discovery of so many educators working furiously to reverse the epidemic, for us the question remained: What about you? ¶ Fact is, many of you have left yourselves out of the get-healthy equation. You say, "Kids first, me next," but somehow your turn in line never comes. And the results, as for so many other adults in this country, are as disturbing as for our youth: An estimated 65 percent are either obese or overweight, putting a majority of the adult population at high risk for a host of killer diseases. ¶ Spring, then, may be just the time to begin considering something new for yourself beyond a spruced-up house (although your ESP colleagues serve up some very cool advice about that on page 40). ¶ How about a healthier way? Walk with a buddy every day. Breathe to five when you're miffed. Eat all the apples you're given. Laugh. ¶ Here at NEA Today, we'll try to do the same, so share your inspiration. Let us know what you're doing and how it's going. All of us, our kids included, could use a boost knowing that with spring, the love affair with ourselves has begun.

Marilyn Milloy

EDITOR MARILYN MILLOY