During COVID-19, who gained weight the most rapidly?

Kids.

Obese adults also gained weight faster than everyone else, but of course, the kid statistic is particularly disturbing. In a study of 432,302 Americans aged 2-19, the Centers for Disease Control found "sharp increases in BMI rates occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic ... and younger school-aged children experienced the largest increases."

Instead of the 19.3% of kids who were officially obese before the pandemic, we are now at 22.4%. That might not sound so dramatic, but childhood obesity can have all sorts of lifelong ramifications, from diabetes to heart disease to depression. It's making ME depressed just thinking about it.

How did COVID-19 pack the pounds on kids so quickly? The CDC suggests several possible factors: "increased stress, irregular mealtimes, less access to nutritious foods, increased screen time and fewer opportunities for physical activity (e.g., no recreational sports)." Those are the ideas I'd come up with, too, off the top of my head.

But other researchers I spoke to have some different theories. Jay Beckwith, who is considered "one of the fathers of the modern playground," said it could be that overwhelmed parents altered the family toward "more comfort and convenience food."

Suzanne Axelsson, an international play activist, agreed, saying that it's possible the food at home was not only more convenient, but it was also cheaper, thanks to strained finances, hence probably lighter on the quinoa and kale quotient and heavier on the Doritos and Little Debbies.

But Peter Gray, a Research Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Boston College, said it may simply have to do with kids being home and hence near food all the time. "When you are home, you can eat while you do almost anything." Tell me about it!

I actually think that's why kids were getting heavier over the years even before COVID-19. It wasn't just the lack of exercise (though a 2017 Johns Hopkins study did find 19-year-olds are now as sedentary as 60-year-olds). It's also that back in the day, kids were out and about playing so much — you know, "outside till the streetlights came on" — that a lot of time they just weren't near a food source.

Gradually childhood moved inside, thanks to "stranger danger," homework and electronic devices, meaning more kids ended up temptingly close to the kitchen.

Even organized sports often featured a snack, and kids driven to and from those activities could eat in the car. School was almost the only time they were away from food for several hours.

Then came COVID-19.

The fact that when the CDC mentioned the loss of physical activity, it referenced only "no recreational sports," means that at this point, even our health czars are not thinking about free play as a key part of kids' lives. It has dropped off their radar.

But when childhood restabilizes, it's unlikely any new pounds will be shed unless we renormalize the idea of kids running around outside for hours on their own, far from the cupholders of the SUV, the snacks at the soccer practice and the siren hum of the fridge just a few steps away.

Lenore Skenazy is president of Let Grow, a contributing writer at Reason.com,and author of "Has the World Gone Skenazy?" To learn more about Lenore Skenazy (Lskenazy@yahoo.com) and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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