Genuinely not sure if I am or not AIBU?

[WalkingWolly]

DS lives for sport. Mid range academically but lives for his football/biking/gymnastics etc.

The two PE days a week he goes to school happy as Larry. He lives for those two school days. It’s his turn to shine and it’s where he gets his school praise from.

There are three overweight DC in his class. Two hardly ever take part in PE the other does but begrudgingly.

In an effort to be more inclusive (schools words) this terms schedule of dodgeball and hockey have been changed to Yoga and free movement?! (Not sure what that is)

One of the mothers of one of the overweight children told my friend that the school had asked them what they could do to make the DC more comfortable with PE and this was the solution.

So. DS massively annoyed that they’ve effectively lost out on PE and are now doing yoga for 7 weeks. The less able kids don’t get to opt out of the weekly maths/spelling quizzes and awards which come with them. And I can’t see how yoga is helping anyone lose weight, it’s not exactly burning many calories.

So AIBU to counter complain? Or just tell DS it is what it is and to suck it up for a term?

Is your son in secondary school? Is there a local running group he could join?

Yeah that’s crap. I feel your pain op. If this happened at dd2’s school she’d be devastated all term!

Have to tried a plank? I would rather run 5k than try and keep that position for a minute! It's INTENSE and is just as conditioning, if not more so, than other sports.

To follow up, my dd2 sounds like your dd. Sport is her chance to shine. She’s not brilliant academically so has to see other kids get awards and higher grades for maths etc so sport is a lifeline for her!

I think YABU. Sport should be inclusive, and trying new activities is a great way of achieving that. School is for children with a wide range of abilities, so compromise is inevitable.

Look at it this way - your son is in the middle range, academically. Imagine if the school ditched a maths test a week and introduced a maths game or something that your son really benefitted from. Maybe the kids who usually come top in maths would be annoyed at losing something they excel at, but your son would benefit enormously from the switch up. I doubt you would think it was unfair in that circumstance.

(By the way, I don't see what the weight of the three children you mention has to do with it - yoga has many benefits for people of all sizes and levels of fitness, including your son. It sounds like you just blame these children for being overweight and don't want to see them catered to)

Also why are you focusing on weight loss? The school are finding a way to help children engage in PE and feel comfortable I doubt very much the school have taken it up on themselves to put these kids on a weight loss regime

For the sake of 7 weeks i would just tell him to put up with it.

I also doubt that a school would change its entire PE curriculum on the say so of one or two students. Perhaps if it was a majority or significant minority of students requesting yoga but not just one or two. Just like the drama department wouldn’t change what play they performed because a couple of kids would rather do something else

Again.....I do yoga. I know the benefits. Proper yoga. Taught by an instructor. Not in your school uniform ffs. Kid yourself that that is exercise all you want, it isn’t.

*sorry, your DS

how old is your DS? YANBU to request that the yoga is taught by someone with proper training in yoga. It is possible the teacher is trained tho.

Many people lose weight doing yoga, healthy mind, healthy body. It engages your mind with your muscle.

I think it's excellent that they are looking for different classes to be inclusive of all. Lots of children think they don't like exercise or can't do exercise because they haven't found something they enjoy.

It should ideally improve your sons knowledge of his own body and muscle
Strength therefore improving his performance in other sports.

I do yoga too. I plank for a minute 3 times a week. It can be quite tough. But it is not aerobic exercise and I couldn’t function on just doing yoga alone; I need to supplement it with brisk walking, cycling etc.

Can he do sports out of school too? Yoga is fantastic, my boys do yoga in the mornings at breakfast club. I think school should get in a professional tutor though.

Does the school run any after school sports clubs he could go to? Our school does (optional) sports for an hour everyday after school. They do a huge variety including sports like Parkour.

I think actually the school is trying to do a good thing. My son would love free movement he loves to express himself through dance. It may help improve students confidence.

I get that it's not good for your son, but maybe you could increase his sports at home.

AIBU
YES
NO I'M NOT

And agree, it has to be taught by a specialist instructor.

Not everyone thinks she’s being unreasonable monkey!

Yabu. I think it’s good that they are trying to include all children. It’s for seven weeks. The people I know that do yoga are some of the trimmest fittest people I know. I don’t do yoga (or any exercise aside from walking) as I’ve been overweight most of my life. I hated PE with a passion. I would feel embarrassed and wish that my school had been more inclusive.
Your son will pick up on your feeling too about this. Maybe you’d be best telling him how it will underpin his strength and flexibility which will help him be a better sportsman.

You've changed your tune a bit OP. If your issue is that you don't think the instructor is qualified then by all means complain and get a better one. But that is very different from your initial complaint which seems to be that you think P.E. classes should cater to your son's tastes over anyone else's...

Are both you and your DS just relying on the Schools PE lessons to give him his sport fix? Maybe he needs to do some after school sports so he can continue to shine and get the praise that is important to you both.

School uniform material is generally quite restrictive for movement though, it doesn’t tend to be stretchy.
I would say (any) exercising in it would be shit, especially any form of stretching. it does sound like its either not a proper instructor, or not done properly so yanbu. It’s pointless if not done properly.

Oh sorry

AIBU
YES YABU with exception of one poster
See one person agrees with so everyone else is wrong

You sound like you've written Yoga off so you need to talk to the school about it, no point in carrying on getting defensive on here because majority disagrees with you.

It does not sound fair to me either OP. I would go in and ask how many weeks this is going to continue for and also arrange for your own dc to do extra out of school sports.