Thursday, October 26, 2006

If your kid sweats you can get money, wonderful slogan for this new tax rebate

Ah yes the title, yes it's one that makes me laugh, actually it makes me laugh alot, that society and Canada in general have gone this far to get kids to exercise to reduce the obscene rise in obesity rate that is plaguing Canada and North America for that matter. But yes the study done by a bunch of consultants to figure out how best to give away the 500 dollars a year per family for physical activity was announced today. Or atleast it was announced on how they should go about giving the money away, as alot of arts and culture people are getting angry that sports gets money. I'm sorry to tell you guys that the arts are important, but it's not going to lessen the obesity rate much, I know as much as you hate to hear that, it's the truth and you will have to live with it.

Anyways this is what the panel recommended
"
* The tax credit not be issued unless the activity includes at least one session per week for a minimum of eight weeks.
* For children under 10, eligible activities should include at least 30 minutes of sustained and vigorous activity.
* For those over 10, the time rises to 60 minutes.
* The federal government let parents claim up to $500, but give them an annual maximum of $78.50 per child.
"

What I find really funny about it all is if the kid sweats he should given money, while you could say that eating can make someone sweet and it can be a sustained and vigorous activity if you are in an eating competition. Okay yes maybe I'm going to far there, but I just find it hilarious that the government had to waste a lot of money to figure out how they are going to give 78.50 dollars a year to each kid that does something active. But in the end I guess it's good they are doing some proactive, but really they could do alot better. How about changing rules at schools that don't permit kids to play such sports as dodgeball or tag because kids can get hurt. I'm sorry I don't like seeing kids get hurt, but at the same time more damage is being done to more kids by not letting them do physical activity. Cause we all see the effects now with that wonderful obesity rate and the lack of social skills among kids these days.

Which considering I'm going down this path I should continue, kids should be allowed to explore somewhat, find out who they are by investigating the world, not everything is white and black like the world has now been painted for kids. Again you can make a case that keeping kids entertained inside the house is worse for them with video games. Sure you know they are safe, but how are they supposed to learn how to act other people then their families. There are lots of kids that don't get to explore the world and then when they get to school or even the university life they can't communicate to others, they don't know how to go about, it's just not normal to them. So maybe we should give out money to kids that explore the world as well. Just a thought anyways, probobly a wee bit far fetched, but then again that's why I write this, cause it's my idea and my hope/interest for it to happen.


*Small notes section*
-Les Habs... please trade Sergei back to Boston, we will give you Chara
-Soccer... nothing of interest, except for the nibble event last weekend, Good job Germaine Defoe
-Baseball... world series eh. 4th game on right now... yes I'm riveted to my tv screen right now, oh wait that's a lie
-Hockey... hey after tonight Sens/Leafs series is half over, thank goodness, i don't want to hear the word idiot announced again
-Auto Racing... congrats go out to Mr. Alonso for beating Schumacher, you made my year I'm glad that Kraut didn't win a last championship
-Weather... start snowing already... I want to be blanketed in 30 cm of snow by next week please and thank you

To everyone out there I hope the midterm season is treating you well and all, keep up the good work and until next time. Good night now.

8 comments:

Joe H. said...

Arts and culture that makes kid sweat:

- Interpretive dance
- DDR
- both of the above at the same time.

Anonymous said...

Good rebuttal.

Have you ever seen a rock show Kyle?
Those performers are sweating pretty hard after a few hours of rocking out.

That being said, I see the point and yeah, the kids aren't alright (as Offspring says) and we need to keep them active.

Down with obesity, up with...something that rhymes with obesity but is the opposite!

PeaCe =)

Headhunting Canuck said...

Well then you are correct Herndu, but it's also a physical activity as well. Ah well I give you credit with coming up about DDR.

And Cousy clearly goes the music route... sigh all you guys trying to ruin my point that kids don't get out and do physical activity like run around on the field and be all joyous... rock concerts are for adults and the video school of rock.

Thanks for the comments though, I do appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

I would like to first say that I think this is a great idea that the Tory government has put forward. Sports can be quite affordable. I'm glad that you seem to agree Kyle. While I am not overly familiar with the policy I think you can be rest assured that eating competitions will not qualify.

As to your remarks about children in schools not being able to play, I completely agree. But you would be wrong in looking for the federal government to intervene here. I would ask you to direct your attention to S. 92 of the Constitution where it outlines the powers of the provincial governments. Here you will see that provinces, not the feds, have sole juridstiction here. Don't mail Harper, mail McGuinty. They though will probably tell you to direct your qualms with the school board who is elected but that is another matter. Perhaps sometime later I will elaborate on the divisions of power.

As a last note, I agree with your statements on personal juvenille investigation. Liberals believe the state knows how best to teach a child. I would suggest that parents who guide their children in exploration are by far superior.


Anthony

Anonymous said...

Running is fun... but onlyif you are chasing after someone, haha. Anyways good point and it's amazing how it seems our governments are trying to impact our lives even more these days. Maybe next they'll give us money to go to Canadian made movies, so that we can learn about the arts in Canada. Then they can start to give us money to buy Canadian goods too.

I agree kids need to be more active but the government giving money to familys to do this is a little much. I'm sure my parents would have liked the money for the 3 sports each me and my brother played.

Anonymous said...

If it does help produce more healthy active children, I'm sure there will be much more savings from the healthcare end.

AN

Headhunting Canuck said...

yes but at the same time 78 dollars roughly per child really doesn't help that much considering the expense of sports provided by someone. I think that's what worries me most about the culture today is that everyone is signed up for sports with no ability to go out and explore on their own, which is the thing that we lose out on the most.

Again atleast it's something in the end, but I don't think it fixes the problem in Canada most, we are such a safe country that when one little thing goes wrong though everyone panics. Not that you ever want something to happen to someone it happens and it can't be protected, even if you put the children in sports they all have there pro and cons... basically lawyers are the evil to this world, but then we already knew that.

Anonymous said...

It doesn't cost that much to sign your kid up for soccer or basketball (Well, I'm guessing about basketball). That money could go a long way for a low income family to enroll their children into a sport.

Secondly, I understand your comments on childhood exploration and largely agree. What I fail to recognize is what it has to do with a tax benefit for folks who enroll their munchkins in a ball hockey league. If parents are paranoid about their children getting hurt so they don't let them climb a tree, I don't see how the federal government can interdict. Ultimately it is the parents job to raise their kids and frankly, some parents do a better job than others.

AN