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The start of the school year also means the start of a new season of sports at recreational departments.

Fall sports offered locally include football, flag football and cheerleading. Club soccer and travel baseball teams are also active in the fall seasons.

Although a kid might not exactly have a passion to play one of the aforementioned sports, every parent should strongly consider signing up their children for one of them to remain active. Sports allow children to develop discipline and to learn the importance of being on time and taking pride in hard work. It keeps kids on their feet and out of the house.

Being a part of a team can also encourage kids to step out of their comfort zone and meet a new group of peers. It can help them develop more social skills.

In a time where seemingly less kids go outside to play together, opportunities to play recreational or travel sports are more important than ever.

A 30 to 45-minute window of recess five days a week is not long enough for young developing minds to play. Addictions to television, the internet and social media are real. The American epidemic of unhealthy food options being so easily accessible combined with technological addiction is real.

Data from 2015-16 shows that childhood obesity has more than tripled since the 1970s, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Childhood obesity can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, three diseases that a child should never be at risk in facing.

Sports is one of the last options to turn to in order to keep the nation’s youth healthy. It’s very easy for a young, impressionable mind to sit in front of an iPad during a five-hour babysitting period, but the trend is building unhealthy habits where a lot of the children will have to suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives.