Why are the mc & mc children more outdoorsy & sporty?

[Spaghettisavesmysoul]

Following on from the umc lifestyle thread, I noticed many posts saying they were much more outdoorsy & sporty. Skiing is nearly a pre requisite & a silent class marker! The mc kids we know can all swim very, very well, cycling loads, hike, ski, play hockey, tennis & rugby.
Why is this? Is it from the schools they attend, parental aspirations or interests? The wc class kids I know (mine included) are not that way inclined whatsoever, outdoors consists more of freeplay as opposed to sports & my boys enjoy unstructured footie with their pals...

@LisaJool , that's the kind of thing that stirs up a righteous anger in me (as my grandma would say). That is a heinous crime to perpetuate on so many levels (race, gender and religion all intersect at once and only those who have experienced all three of those intersectionalities can truly comprehend).

There is still so much work against injustice to be done, but alas MN ain't the place for it.

@FindingMeno universities don't score personal statements any more, so unless you are at a very high standard of competitive level your hillwalking/sailing/grade 8 harp isn't going to be of any importance. Unless it directly relates to the course.

@TeaAddict235 it's utterly sickening, and as Countryfile has a fairly MC demograph it must be them making the complaints 😭

Cultural capital plays a huge part & many aspirational parents want their dc to mix & fit in with the elite when their older. Obviously they won't say it out loud but there's a method to their madness. Skiing, sailing, tennis, golf, attending the theatre are all soft markers & harder to become accomplished at at an older age & without the finances.

I think there is something about the MC valuing/engaging in ‘lifetime’ sports (perhaps they have the money and time to do so?) as opposed to just childhood extracurriculars. The expensive outdoorsy sports like skiing, sailing, riding, or hiking-as-a-holiday are pastimes that can be seamlessly transitioned into adult life. Children learn to ski because their parents ski for fun, and they then become adults who take their own children skiing. Same goes for sailing. Obviously those skills come in handy as cultural capital because others who also grew up doing these things tend to engage in them as adults in social situations, so in that way it becomes class-entrenched. Pursuits like gymnastics, karate or ballet are fun as childhood extracurriculars, but they aren’t something you’d do as the focus of a family holiday and are less likely to be something you regularly engage in on a weekly basis once you’re in your 40s and are raising your own children.

Pursuits like gymnastics, karate or ballet are fun as childhood extracurriculars, but they aren’t something you’d do as the focus of a family holiday

This is true. Outdoorsy sports are far easier to do as a holiday to a scenic location, so become integral to family leisure time.

A gym or dance class will keep you fit, but it's not something you'd do as a family.

I wonder what the demographic of Parkrun is like. Free, widespread (but not easily accessible everywhere), and only requires trainers. And whole family can do together (Junior for the younger ones)

The demographic is made up almost entirely of morning people

@LeMoo very true. We went three times before deciding going for a run at our leisure was more fun than getting up at 7.30 on a Saturday to drive 30 minutes across town and search for parking!

Football is a great sport because anyone can play it and you literally just need a ball. Other sports cost a lot for equipment. Skiing is upper middle class - upper class I’d say, it’s eye-wateringly expensive.

I think one of the bigger barriers is the sense of something or somewhere isn't for you. Which can be quickly reinforced if you experience hostility or prejudice.
There are lots of ways you can access activities cheaply or free, but you need to have access to information, language and the confidence to put yourself there to find out about it and get the kids involved.
MC parents, even if not well off, generally have this covered.
It's lots of things combined - money, transport, motivation, equipment, space, acceptance.

It’s interesting because skiing is considered a really standard sport in lots of places. We have a good hill round the back and when it snows we pad out the fence and ski/ sledge down. You can pick up old skis for a tenner on
gumtree. Invariably people are really enthusiastic about skiing but this lasts for a half hour before being abandoned for a sledge.

Since the only ski resorts in the UK are in the far north of Scotland, its not surprising that its a less common sport than in Scandinavia or Canada...

Similarily Surfing is more popular in Cornwall than Glasgow.

True but maybe it’s a geographic divide rather than a class divide?

Can be cultural also (not at all dismissing cost element). In the country where I am from, "everyone" goes skiing. Its just what we do on school breaks from Dec-Easter. Ditto sailing (although perhaps less so than skiing). It is not at all something for only the very privileged. An outdoorsy lifestyle is also something that is very common in my country. Its how you socialise. You meet with friends for walks, ice skating, swimming or hiking. Its what we do, and when I moved to the UK I took those habits with me. We are active, we are outside alot. I visit my parents for skiing and sailing. U was militant with swimming lessons because where I come from, you have to swim. You can't ice skate on lakes, or go sailing if you cant swim. So in UK
it might be a class marker, but for many people living here, it might just be part of their culture.

😂

So true. I love running but never done a parkrun as I am not a morning person

I like running and parkrun, but often my bed and laziness win out!

True to an extent - but when I was young we hiked with a map through our town, into the countryside around and about and then back again with a picnic. It doesn't have to be the Lakes or the Cairngorms. We had trainers and a waterproof. No proper equipment. we used to get lost and all sorts. It was part of the adventure!

@poetrylover Depends where you live. We go walks. We can go along the canal and alongside farmers fields if we walk a fair distance. I am fine with it, but my teenagers are not. It is not the same as driving to a national park and climbing up a peak.

Definitely this ^^
We were certainly working class, little or no money, but getting outside to play or walk was a must, and my DGCs are being brought up to be active children too.
I couldn’t afford all the devices children seem to except nowadays, mine had to make their own entertainment. Walking was free, fun and something I still do many, many years later.

Where can you play? Not allowed in the grounds of the flats. Not in the road with articulated lorries and busses driving along it. Not in dog poo park. The broken glass in the grass at another local park ended up with my kid in a and e and having weekly appointments for the cut to be dressed for several weeks missing school. One has to accompany them quite a way away to play football. They can't just have a kick about in the garden.

then the cost. Even after school football needs paying for and extra kit which was out of reach. He's lucky now and we can afford to spend £5a week on a club and petrol to drive him about.

You don't go out after dark in some places. Don't fancy dodging the fireworks shooting down/across the street. The vomit on the route home from clubbing. The dog shit you can't see in the dark.

Yeah, but, if he's inside gaming he isn't outside getting shot at or stabbed. (Four shootings within half a mile of either parents house and several serious stabbings near here) It's not unusual to see people buying drugs when you go out. There's a bloody good reason we keep them in sometimes...to make sure they actually get to adulthood rather than getting in the way of a stray bullet.

Not the most common reason why children don't play sport!

It's also a bit of an excuse, really. We live somewhere with plenty of stabbings, murders, drugs. Kids still perfectly capable of playing Saturday footie.

A lot of pathetic excuses on this thread. Very few real reasons that aren't excuses.

😂
Having spent a couple of hundred weekend mornings in parks by 9am, I can't deny that! One of the perks is that I can tick off exercise and something purposeful before getting home to my not-morning family!

Parkrun is working at being inclusive, and looks at factors like deprivation and local activity levels when locating new parkruns. The running community has many groups with different focuses to attract people who traditionally tend to be under-represented in the sport. For 5k, you don't need much in the way of expensive equipment and don't wear through trainers too quickly. Perception of belonging and safety when running alone tend to be the bigger inhibitors.

My most local parkrun is in a deprived community and it's got a good little community going and has attracted new people in from the vincinity that wouldn't have travelled across town and paid for parking at the pre-existing parkrun. The junior parkrun is less mixed. The ethnic mix is growing, but the most common contributing neighbourhoods are more M/C. Possibly competing against football could be a factor, but you tend to need to attract adults before it can grow and be seen as a family sport. There are fewer junior parkruns and they tend to be where there are large, well-established parkruns or with strong running clubs to support them.

This is very true! Thinking of the most mc families I know & the kids cycle, scoot, take swimming lessons & go to the pool regularly, sail, horse ride, play tennis & are v@@Spaghettisavesmysoul