The PE lessons of today :(

[ABBAgirl]

It makes me sad and angry to see fat kids, since it is their caregivers providing them with the (junk) food in the first place. I wonder at what point the gov't will step in and start removing obese kids from their parents, as they are actually harming them. I AM NOT SAYING THAT I AGREE WITH THIS IDEA, just wondering when it will actually happen (and in Canada, it will likely be soon!).

My own problem revolves largely around the facts that:
-Due to gov't cutbacks, our kids only get PE class about 2x per week; the oldest one only gets it for one semester! And there is NO WAY we can afford any extracurricular lessons.
-Our neighborhood is waaay too skanky to allow our kids to be out on their own, or even with friends. No going outside unless an adult goes, too.

This means that when we are home from work, on top of having to do all the housecleaning, etc., it is also up to us to muster the energy to take the kids out biking or whatever. I am not lazy, but I only have so much time and energy!

We do trade off with another mom from church in taking all the kids out to tennis or swimming semi-regularly (when I am not working evenings).

So I see many factors at work in making kids fatter these days: Too much "screen time," lack of safe neighborhoods, parents stretched too far to have the energy that their kids need, etc.

Interesting thread.
ABBA

 

[LowFatMilk]

So I see many factors at work in making kids fatter these days: Too much "screen time," lack of safe neighborhoods, parents stretched too far to have the energy that their kids need, etc.

Don't forget to add poverty, that plays a part in everything, too.

 

[ABBAgirl]

Well, yes, that is absolutely true. If I didn't have to be out working, I could afford to be home with my kids (like I used to) and actually have the time AND money to get them involved in extracurricular sports, or just play them with them myself. So instead I just do what I can, go for walks with them when the weather is good, etc.

Cheers
ABBA

 

[luvmyabs]

Good for you, ABBAgirl!!!!

You're doing to best you can, and at least that's is SOMETHING. I think it's when the parents choose to do NOTHING is when the children do exactly that--nothing!!! We have to be setting the example for our children. If they only see us sitting on the couch eating Cheetos, they think that's what they should do, too.

 

[Michelley85]

Holy shit you've all just scared me to death about having kids.

 

[amyyyx]

I am a 17 year old female. I used to love p.e but stopped doing it as I would get bullied (stolen clothes in the changing rooms, choosing me last in teams, laughing as i ran, pulling my shorts down) because i was "a boff" (i used to get on with my work n listen to the teaher) , which caused me to gain weight as I wasnt exercising. Now, i love walking, yet someone yelled at me the other day "weight watchers" now im terrified to go out walking. so i am probably just another fat, lazy teenager. No one chooses to be fat & unfit, apart from the people who are beyond hope & dont want to live anymore so stuff themselfs with food in the hope they'll feel better for it. P.E students are children. there parents feed them, they eat what they are given. you cant blame them (unless they buy excessive amounts of chocolate etc knowing its bad for them). I dont know why people who are on a weightloss forum feel they have the right to call a young boy a pig. surely if you have issues with his behavouir, adress his parents. That way he will know hes doing wrong/offending you or your child. what if he reads that? how will he feel? probably how I feel, 4 years down the line from horrific bullying at the hands of thoughtless PIGS.

 

[Fat to Fabulous]

Just to echo on the line about PE lessons - schools simply don't have enough time to teach them. us teachers have so many targets to meet which are all about scores in literacy and numeracy. Although PE is complusory its not a subject that gets tested therefore it is regarded rightly or wrongly as an unimportant subject. Also when we do teach PE at Primary school there is no running involved. Its all about the development of motor skills and coordination. In this day an age most schools are wayyy to afraid of litigation to let kids run about like that.

Now my 2p on calling kids names. I sincerely hope that child never ever hears you calling him out like that. I assume that you are here because you have some kind of weight issue. What would you feel if someone who was meant to care for you turned round and called you something like that? Also us humans are great at communicating our feelings through our body language so even though you might not be calling him a man cheese pig whatever to his face the evident disgust and contempt that you feel for him may well be easily revealed through your body language and responses to him. I'd bet that the way how he acts is 99% down to the way others act towards him. Children are products of their environment and their environment is not just the one their parents create for them.

 

[veronandez86]

I agree that some parents do feed the kids whatever they want in order to get them out of their hair for awhile. However, I wish we could just blame this on bad parenting, but most bad parents out there DON'T KNOW they are bad parents.

This is how I remember PE being done when I was a kid.

Elementary School:
Grades 1-3
PE was just going out and doing jumping jacks or playing on the monkey bars / jumping rope.
Grades 3-6
We had quarters in which we participated in different sports - Softball, Soccer, Basketball.

Junior High:
7th & 8th Grade:
Each quarter we did a different sport - Track, Basketball, Softball, Soccer, Rugby, Swim Class, Tumbling.
Plus we had an art elective that was Beginner Dance.

High School:
We were required 2 years of PE and the activities were the same as I listed in Junior High.

Than I moved here to Arizona, and the PE requirement is only 1 year. It does depend on your location as to how much PE is required.

However, then you got those parents who are so worried about their child getting hurt that they bring up frivolous lawsuits about their child's endangerment during PE. Like that one lady who got Dodgeball banned from the school because her kid broke his finger.

As for me, I am overweight and have been since I was a kid. In 6th grade I was 5'7" and 165LBS.... 9th grade 5'9 260LBS. However, I had PE every year, was able to run and participate with all of the PE activities that we had. Some kids are just lazy. I think the only time I struggled in PE was in 9th grade when I had track for a quarter, but that was because it was during the winter and I had bronchitis. Yeah, I was a fat ass, but i was able to run a 13 minute mile at 260LBS, which is better than most overweight kids today who don't even try.

 

[MindiK]

In elementary school (80s and early 90s) we had a required PE period every day. The normal situps, jumping jacks, kickball, etc. Then we got into those Presidential Health tests...which nobody ever passed with flying colors because it's pretty difficult for a 4th grade girl to do 10 pullups on a bar. I kicked the heck out of some situps, though, until I started gaining weight (around 5th grade).

Starting in junior high, it was either "athletics," where you played sports, or PE, which I didn't take. I did volleyball and track, and the rest of the time was off-season workouts for one or the other. Lots of running. I quit after eighth grade.

High school...PE was required I think for one semester out of the year, and marching band counted as that credit. So I did marching band, which was difficult in many ways but never got my heart rate up. So really any required physical activity in my area stopped at 9th grade...

 

[LowFatMilk]

I agree that some parents do feed the kids whatever they want in order to get them out of their hair for awhile. However, I wish we could just blame this on bad parenting, but most bad parents out there DON'T KNOW they are bad parents.

I wouldn't say they were bad parents if they were uneducated about such things, just uneducated parents.

Parents of thin children could just as easily be feeding their children garbage as parents of fat kids. There are a lot of parents who just really need to update their information.

Yeah, I was a fat ass, but i was able to run a 13 minute mile at 260LBS, which is better than most overweight kids today who don't even try.

Me too, except I was 5'4 and 245 lbs. I remember I'd always do it with my friend. We never stopped running once.

That being said there were thinner girls in my gym class who people would say looked healthy who did not finish it without walking. Fat isn't a very good indicator of fitness and health.

 

[KaraCooks]

yet someone yelled at me the other day "weight watchers" now im terrified to go out walking.

I have to admit that I don't understand this mindset. Some asshole yelled something uncomplimentary and now you're "terrified" to go out walking?

Yeah, I've had it happen to me and yeah it's hurtful and yeah for a minute it makes me want to cry. But it also pisses me off. Why on EARTH are you "terrified" about it?

I truly have never ever understood that mindset - that you'll quit doing something that is good for you and that you enjoy it because one asshole was ... well, an asshole. Do you really let a complete stranger who's a jerk control your entire life?

 

[veronandez86]

In elementary school (80s and early 90s) we had a required PE period every day. The normal situps, jumping jacks, kickball, etc. Then we got into those Presidential Health tests...which nobody ever passed with flying colors because it's pretty difficult for a 4th grade girl to do 10 pullups on a bar. I kicked the heck out of some situps, though, until I started gaining weight (around 5th grade).

Hey! I remember having to take those health tests! I just turned 23 a few months ago... however, I am amazed at how little PE my cousin has to do and he's 12.

That being said there were thinner girls in my gym class who people would say looked healthy who did not finish it without walking. Fat isn't a very good indicator of fitness and health.

Yeah, I had one girl in my 9th grade PE class who was skinny as hell and I was able to outrun her. LoL. Than when we had Tumbling / Gymnastics for a quarter, I remember her saying, "That girl is so fat, I can't believe she can do these things better than me. She's way to fat to be that flexable." LoL. Oh well.

 

[veronandez86]

I wouldn't say they were bad parents if they were uneducated about such things, just uneducated parents.

Parents of thin children could just as easily be feeding their children garbage as parents of fat kids. There are a lot of parents who just really need to update their information.

I was referring to all uneducated parents in general. Not just those who have obese children. One of my friends growing up at the most horrible food in the world... skinny as a rail. If I did the same... I'd be as skinny as a hippo.

Plus, we can't just blame the parents... look at the crap they serve in school.

Plus, when I was a child my family always told me that if you went to someones house and they offered you food to take some and eat a little of that they offered. I was just the iggy: who finished eating dinner at home then went next door to go play and ate the dinner they made there too. LoL.

 

[LowFatMilk]

Plus, we can't just blame the parents... look at the crap they serve in school.

Our schools didn't have cafeterias so you were eating at home until you were 13 or 14 when you entered high school (no middle schools). When you did get to high school though, there was never a vegetable or fruit on the menu always pizza, fries, and burgers.

 

[Wild Vulpix]

Our schools didn't have cafeterias so you were eating at home until you were 13 or 14 when you entered high school (no middle schools). When you did get to high school though, there was never a vegetable or fruit on the menu always pizza, fries, and burgers.

Yeah. At my school, there was always the option to have a piece of fruit. But, if you picked the fruit, then you'd have to give up the brownie, cookie, or whatever other sweets were offered. And who wants to do that?? And of course you didn't get to pay less if you oped out of having either

Veggies were offered, if I recall right, but almost everybody passed them up. At least you didn't have to give anything up for them though.

 

[LowFatMilk]

Yeah. At my school, there was always the option to have a piece of fruit. But, if you picked the fruit, then you'd have to give up the brownie, cookie, or whatever other sweets were offered. And who wants to do that?? And of course you didn't get to pay less if you oped out of having either

Veggies were offered, if I recall right, but almost everybody passed them up. At least you didn't have to give anything up for them though.

Yeah, that's pretty screwed up.
The altrernative school I'm attending now got a government grant for healthy breakfasts for kids (we only have like 30-50 kids at any point in the year. We're not a school, more like a small office), and it only costs a quarter. You can eat as much as you want and there's lots of healthy fruits and stuff.

I don't use it because I eat breakfast at home, but I thought it was great. A lot of the kids in my school have babies at home so between getting them ready and dropping them off at day care they don't have time to eat breakfast.