Albert The Alien

It’s the middle of the week, and the kids are hard at work – trying to save the school from alien jello!

Ultimately this story was a combination of things:

1) My love of classic sci-fi horror flicks, like The Blob
2) A story about alien lunch in the cafeteria
3) A story about obesity, and how many schools are only combating it through diet

On the third point above, diet is important to maintaining a healthy weight. However, so it exercise. Calories in, calories out.

With school funding dwindling, the schools are cutting a lot of extra-curricular activities (recess, sports, etc) that would help kids have an alternative to being a couch potato at home, or playing video games online with their friends. Distraction is the name of the game – but so is the importance of teamwork, physical coordination, socializing with your peers, learning from defeat (and how not to be a sore loser), and the benefits of victory (and how to not be a sore winner).

I remember a lot of the larger kids growing up being left out of physical activities, or feeling like they couldn’t perform as well because of their size. Which isn’t right at all. Inclusion and social support is just as important to building self-esteem as well as being more physically fit.

I don’t like to use my comics blogs as a soap box, but I do want to stress the importance of physical activities. While I didn’t appreciate them at the time, I wish I had done more than just track or swimming in school. They’re fun. You make friends, and you get to hang out with them when you’re not participating. I don’t even like sports all that much, but when it came to my friend’s events I was the loudest and most supportive person there!

The point is, definitely sign up for sports or after-school activities. And encourage your friends to do it, too. You’ll meet new friends, you’ll have a little friendly competition, and you’ll have a lot of fun while not sitting on your butt eating Doritos.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go sit on my butt and eat some Doritos.