Fitness

I always get a kick out of those fitness articles, like this one in Newsweek, which tries to tell you how to help your kids develop life-long fitness habits. They always leave out the most important advice. They are:

• stop using the car so much
• and take the stairs

We manage without a car, using public transportation mostly, at least when it's an option. I know that many places don't have public transportation. My parents don't, and I guess that spending my adolescence in Great Neck was such a nightmare, partially because I was dependent on rides.

It's important to walk places with your kids, as a norm, not for fitness. I remember when my youngest started nursery school, he was under three, being a November baby, and the class was a good mile away, down hill. There was organized transport to get there in the morning, but not to go home. And yes, he walked home with his siblings and friends. All the kids here in Shiloh used to walk such distances without even thinking about it. There were fewer cars then. Today I see lots of cars lined up by the school dropping kids off, even though the school is now in the middle of Shiloh, so much closer to everyone than years ago. You'd think you were in the U. S. suburbs. It's sad.

But at least here, kids walk by themselves to visit friends. "Play dates," organized and chauffeured by parents aren't necessary. I love seeing kids, and adults, taking all sorts of short cuts, up and down mountain paths, something unheard of in the civilized suburbs abroad. One certainly doesn't need a dog for an excuse or protection to walk here, bli eyin haraa, don't tempt the "evil eye."

And of course, not having elevators means that we take the stairs.

This is all the natural fitness that can last for life, especially if it's encouraged as fun and normal, rather than fitness.