Here is how & where we start fixing the largely preventable crisis:
“Want to fix the mental health criss in our kids?
Stop tying their identities to sports or points on a scantron that don’t matter.
Teach them gratitude.
Feed them real food.
Cut classroom time in half.
Spend the saved time outside.
Chairs, screens, & pills ain’t it.”
-Ray Zingler on X
You want to know our kids, at scale, are experiencing today?
It’s not the <insert disorder> big pharma sponsored doctors are branding them with today to get a kickback on the pills they are shoving down their gullets..
It’s ORDER.
While I am well aware disorders are very real, let me paint you a picture.
If I were to tell you that we took, our example student, Brian, and locked him in a cage for 8 hours a day, seated in a chair, in a building that was modeled after a prison, and removed physical activity from his life and fed him processed chemicals (proven to negatively impact cognitive function) branded as food and then told you that Brian struggled to pay attention in school, would you believe that it was “random chance” that Brian suffered from attention deficit disorder (ADD)?
Or would it be more likely that the absence of physical activity, creative expression, and poor nutrition, all REGULARLY present in his every day environment influenced his inability to pay attention?
If you think it’s the former, holler at me because I have a killer deal on some ocean front property in Iowa.
What our kids are experiencing is not disorder. It’s behavioral ORDER based on their lifestyles that are forced upon them by the government funded education system that hasn’t evolved in over a century who says this way is “probably best”.
The same government that tries to convince you that meat and salt are bad for you.
While mental health struggles are a real, sensitive subject (I myself have extensive experience) and I don’t have all the answers, I do have anecdotal and (abundant) research backed proof on where to start.
We need to teach our kids to how to ground themselves and practice gratitude.
We need to feed them real food. Food. Not the bullshit in a bag.
We need to get them out of the classroom. The time they spend in there is CRIMINAL.
We need to spend that saved time outside. Letting them move and explore.
You know, like how they learn naturally.
Leading them to believe it’s about SAT scores, All-Star Teams, chairs, screens, and pills is exactly why we’re at where we’re at today.
