Tuned in to Kids

Sunday night turned out to be kids' night. No, the kids weren't around here. Rather, we spent almost the entire evening watching kids on TV.

First up: Pinoy Dream Academy's Little Dreamers.

By golly, those kids have got oodles of talent. Really. I love watching them and I truly believe there is more talent in them than their teen/adult scholar counterparts.

Cristina was named this week's Outstanding Little Dreamer, and she deserves the award. She's always very energetic in her performances. You could check out a video of her performance here. Hers was the last number in the video in that post. Check out the Archives for performances of the other little dreamers. You will be WOWed by their talents.

Later in the evening, ABS-CBN had a feature story on the two faces of malnutrition in the Philippines. On the one hand, there's the more common scene of skin and bones children who, because of poverty, and/or neglect, do not eat enough. On the other, obese children who give off a false front of being healthy but are actually are at high risk for heart disease and diabetes.

The Health and Social Welfare bureaus have programs to address the growing problem, but I know they are barely scratching the surface. Development groups and NGOs are also there with their own feeding programs and health programs for moms and their children. But how can we really save more children from dying of hunger or obesity?

With the food crisis hanging over the air, many of this kids are even more compromised than ever. But really, it's not just the poor who can't afford the enough healthy food for the entire family who's in danger. In fact, I have a nephew who the doctor said was malnourished. It is sad. He has an enormous appetite and I've never really seen him be picky with his food. But I guess he's not eating healthy.

And the overweight/over-indulged kids featured in the story have become too big for their age because their diets weren't carefully planned by the adults caring for them. So it's not just money needed to ensure that kids are healthy and grow up to become adults themselves.

It wasn't mentioned anywhere in the feature, but this got me to thinking about how the pending law on Reproductive Health is being vehemently opposed by the Catholic Church here. I mean really, I am all for educating parents-to-be before they bring more children in the world, that's a long term solution. But we've come to a desperate point already and government has the responsibility to at least make available various options to allow couples to choose the best family planning method for themselves. I just don't see what's so wrong about that. I don't think the law endorses abortion, does it? I mean, c'mon!