To not want my DD doing PE in torrential rain!

[TheoriginalLEM]

DD is in year 6 and yesterday they did PE in the rain. Now i have no problem with her doing PE in the rain but this was ridiculous. She had a waterproof coat on (not a pe coat, big heavy coat) which was soaked through and i could wring her PE kit out that she had to bring home to be washed because it was so wet!

Now she is on the sofa with a stinking cold - now i know she didn't get the cold because of the rain but she started sniffling last night so i am pretty sure it hasn't helped.

Her teacher (who thankfully she only has for PE) made a big thing of telling them they would do PE in all weathers but this was ridiculous.

I got caught out in it yesterday too, but i was able to come home and have a warm shower straight away and dry off, not sit in my fucking wet vest and pants.

No point in complaining teacher is an arrogant twat so ranting on here instead.

Nothing wrong with exercising in the rain, I run in all weathers even snow sometimes.

However I can have a hot shower and put dry clothes on afterwards. It's not acceptable for kids to be sitting in wet underwear all afternoon.

the only problem is staying in wet underwear for hours, the issue would be chapped skin, not cold.

How about you go have a cold shower, fully clothed, and then sit about with wet hair and wet underwear for the rest of the day.

How on earth can you do an in vitro experiment on whether having wet feet can give you a cold?

How on earth can you think that every study on temperature and the common cold uses the same methodology as the trial you googled yesterday are remembering? I don't suppose you do. I suppose you just think an air of amusement makes it sound like you were right to have a crack at people who accept that there may be a link between temperature and susceptibility to viruses, likening them to people who believe an apple tree will grow in their stomachs if they swallow the pips.

Done that plenty of times soup. Although with heavy rain, not a shower. As has dd and plenty of other people I know. Hence me saying the issue with sitting about in wet underwear is chapped skin.

Yanbu anyone who says you are remember this is PRIMARY SCHOOL. Imagine getting caught in heavy rain. Instead of going home you have to exercise for an hour. When you are done everything you are wearing is sopping including your thick coat. Now instead of showering you have to strip off in a cold classroom. Keep your wet underwear on. Now sit in that classroom for another hour....

Hamatime- it was you that talked about in vitro experiments.......

And no, I didn't google it yesterday. I googled it sometime last winter when a friend of mine was going on about going out with wet hair giving you a cold

And at least I googled it. Rather than quoting anecdata.

ivykaty44 And I bet there will be many dc put of doing sport for life by this type of attitude. We want dc to enjoy sport and that way continue - by making the dc continue in pouring rain that soaks them, will leave them with memories of Sport = horrible wet soaked through feeling...

But if you do competitive sport, sometimes that is the nature of the game. I appreciate not all people do sport to compete, but cross country running is actually very popular and kids start racing at 9, so too is triathlon, mountain biking, riding outdoors and so on. Its often rainy or windy, or snowing, or freezing, and if you spend all your time thinking about how nice you will feel when you will get changed, its kind of negative thinking. Again, I stress that I appreciate that not everyone likes to compete, but it is incredibly popular to do so, and most competitors start as young kids, training and competing in horrible weather conditions frequently.

Those are the ones that don't make a fuss, but simply get on with it, and I think it creates a false impression not to mention them. Some kids simply don't mind and even enjoy it! I enjoyed running on a cold or snowy afternoon at school, but all you hear on websites like this are how fragile children are and how terrible and awful school sport is and how it puts people off, etc..

Scremersford I completely understand however these kids are making a choice. Children in school have no choice but to do PE. It was the coat thing which annoyed me. You can't play a game or exercise properly in a coat. It's just too restricting. Anyway I speak as someone who loved PE, played hockey as an adult and loved teaching PE. There again we have lost sight of the fact that OP's DD said she didn't mind. There will have been some in the class that loved being in the rain and others who hated it.
Many primary teachers hate teaching PE and drop it at any excuse. At least this gung ho type did carry on. Sorry- a bit of a ramble.

OP, I'm with you, that was ridiculous and unnecessary.

Hamatime- it was you that talked about in vitro experiments

I know

I have no idea what your point is. I don't think you have one.

YANBU. What is the point of outdoor PE at school supposed to be? If it is to keep pupils fit, 1 hr a week in an otherwise sedentary lifestyle is not really going to make a difference. Children/teens who love sport will play it in their own time anyway, those who don't would be better off being encouraged to do something they don't actively hate that can be easily fitted into their current lifestyle, e.g. walking to school every day, lunch time dance class, etc.

If the purpose is supposed to be to encourage an interest in keeping fit, trying out lots of different things so that hopefully one will 'stick,' then being made to run around in the pouring rain and then staying in wet clothes all day is going to do exactly the opposite for most people.

We used to do rugby in the rain in my school, not that long ago. Were made to lie face down in the mud or roll down a hill if we weren't considered to have got sufficiently muddy. All quite fun IF you had then had the opportunity of fully changing clothes and having hot shower - instead we were crammed into a changing room (80 girls in a space designed for 20), no showers, 4 mins to change and then the rest of the day spent smelly and gross lugging a ton of wet kit behind you. It did not install a lifelong love of exercise in me, completely the opposite.

You said that experiments had shown that getting wet caused people to get colds. I quoted the main research on the subject, which was marginal to say the least. You then went on to say that further studies -including in vitro experiments - had backed up the research. I was puzzled as to how in vitro experiments could show anything about a link between a person getting wet and getting a cold. You didn't say.

I'm also with you on this OP.

Most school pe and pe teachers seem hell bent on making the whole experience as horrible as possible. Nothing seems to have changed on this stance since I was at school.

Many many people have awful memories of pe at school, for this and other even worse reasons. All that it achieves is to turn people off the whole thing. It wasn't until many years after school as an adult that I found exercise could actually be enjoyable.

I thought things might have changed over the years; the positive message of exercise is after all promoted at every turn. But there at school, where for many children is their only opportunity to try it - the same old crap prevails.

Also why must pe at school focus so much on competition all the time?

You said that experiments had shown that getting wet caused people to get colds

No I didn't. I said there were studies into temperature dependence and common cold virus. The OP said the kid was cold. It's you whose banging on about sticking your feet in a bucket of water like a dog with a bone as if all virology studies ever consist of people with wet feet.

You then went on to say that further studies -including in vitro experiments - had backed up the research

I didn't say that either. Sheesh. I said there were 'other studies', which there are, which have drawn their own appropriate conclusions. I at no point said there was in vitro studies that drew conclusions about people sitting with their feet in buckets of cold water. How could they?

I'm with you too, OP. It's not that she got wet (though if it's so wet that you need to wear a coat [as opposed to appropriate weather proof sports gear], then it's probably bad enough to do PE inside instead), it's that she had to sit in wet underwear, presumably with wet hair, for the rest of the day. I quite like getting rained on, but I'm an adult and it's my choice, plus I'd probably
try to avoid getting wet and cold if I felt a cold coming on. Your DD didn't get that option.

The problem is that - insanely - some schools no longer have showers & changing rooms

Hmm well my school had showers and changing rooms. We were forced to have showers together all herded in at once under the gaze of the pe teacher for 1 minute. Other than total humiliation, I'm not sure it achieved anything.

My dd tells me that they get barely any time at all to change before the teacher starts yelling at them. I think the lack of showers on top of that is probably a mercy.

Of course if the showers were decent, with some privacy and time to use them it might, just might be a different matter. But I can't see that as ever being likely seeing as how so little else has ever improved.

Hang on a minute - you DO grow apples in your tummy if you swallow apple pips. FACT it must be true because my mum said

It's ridiculous to make kids do sport in torrential rain. No adult would do this - why should we force kids to? The attitude to children in this country is completely Victorian.

I remember PE with nothing but horror. I think it did put me off sport for a long time.

I wasn't a popular child so never got picked for teams, never got put in the good places at netball etc. Just have a memory of standing around being freezing cold - this was at secondary school though. Also a vivid memory of a PE teachers erection during a trampoline lesson Bloody PE teachers are sadistic!

Oh and the showers - no privacy and if you forgot your towel (in a bid to get out of showering in front of everyone) you had to dry yourself with paper towels.

Scremersford

Oh I know about dc not minding getting wet, dd2 loved cross country, relished triathlon and was obssesed with cycling that she was up at seven and out in all weathers come rain or shine.

But the main part there is it was dds choice as she loved sport and found it excillerating.

For other though it will put them of any type of sport for life, bad memories. When what we need as a nation is people taking part in activities and sports and not putting children off at an early age

Hi there , teacher here (38 years primary, UK)
You are absolutely not being unreasonable, I am sure other parents will be complaining.
No reason at all to saturate children all in the name of "exercise". If they have no chance of getting dry then I would not have taken them out in torrential rain. It is poor practice to do sport in heavy coats.
I rarely have let the weather affect outdoor activities, being of the opinion that a little bit of rain won't harm, but this was torrential! What educational benefit would have been gained by this activity?
Even my 3 adult sports mad boys/girls would choose to "pass" in weather like that. No fun at all.

Ds played football in torrential rain last weekend (the older kids were giving up & going inside the sports hall)

But he was wearing dri-fit base layers & wicking footie strip so it didn't soak his underwear. And he got to go straight home for a shower & complete change of clothes after wards.

The problem is that primary school PE teachers are often not specialists & schools are not able to specify proper sportswear as part of their uniform due to cost.

I think from the original post, that it was a specialist PE teacher, so he/she should have made a more considered decision.