To ask if you can think of an excuse which will get 11yo off PE for the rest of term?

[HelloKittyGirl]

Just that, basically. What would get her off games for a few weeks?

I’d have been so grateful if my Mum had done this for me. The damage from forced participation and the attendant humiliation and sense of failure far outweighed any benefit from team participation or whatever. When I got to around year 9 I learned to lie very well and just didn’t go anymore. I was also at a school that sounds like your daughter’s OP and just went to the library- unsupervised- and read.

@Whydoiwearsomuchleopardprint

Do you think any of our kids want to get up early, study hard , participate in swimming lessons, do sports days when they come last etc?? No, so why on earth would you stop a child being part of school life to sit in a library on their own? What lesson are you teaching them at 11? That mum will get you out of it for no reason. Life is not like this out of school so you are being really quite unkind to suggest to your daughter that you can opt out of stuff you don’t like and that mum will support this!

I think the lesson is that sadistic bullying is not OK even if it comes in the guise of a school lesson (which is not "for no reason"). And sitting in the library on your own can be really valuable time for your later life.

PE is not just about the curriculum and university places. It's about establishing a healthy habit of regular exercise as well.
If she's cold, she could put extra layers on.

im really failing to understand how all the comments obesity have any relevence to once a week pe lessons
overweight children of which there are a fair few in my dds form and indeed the school in general all do pe and they dont seem to be looking any thinner when i see them coming out the gates when i wait to get her and its been that way for the last years now

strange that is , cant figure it out for the life of me

@Undecicive

PE is not just about the curriculum and university places. It's about establishing a healthy habit of regular exercise as well. If she's cold, she could put extra layers on.

Except it isn't, is it? It clearly puts some people off for life.

" ive learnt now it doesnt matter how good u r, its about the just taking part and enjoying the feeling of it. "

That's true for exercise, but not really for team sports. I remember a friend telling me to 'stand like a stone' in doubles badminton because if I tried to do something I hindered her. Children can get competitive in team sports and turn against those who are weak.
I suppose they've stopped doing the thing where you get picked for teams now, but that was enough to show it wasn't just about the taking part!

Dyssentry with a cough!

"Physical exercise is very important."

Yes, but it's games/sports not exercise and not all of them are even very active!

"If she's cold, she could put extra layers on."

Don't they have a uniform? We had to wear very short skirts for hockey while the teacher was in her tracksuit.

My daughter loves PE. She's not an elite athlete or anything, just a normal 11-year-old kid. There's nothing inherently sadistic about PE lessons.

Thanks for the replies. I just wondered if people who had hated PE were put off exercising for good, and therefore when they had children they didn't introduce them to sports/the children didn't grow up seeing exercise as a normal part of life.

What about when she gets a job, there might be a part of it she doesn't like. She can't just not do it!

Why not? She could always get mummy to call the employer and insist that she simply can't be expected to do such-and-such

Believe me I've had it happen ...

What about migraines? She’s overtired and the additional exertion of PE lessons is bringing on migraines.

Impossible to prove or disprove.

I hated PE and am sorry to say that despite doing it for years never got anything out of it, did less exercise in general because it put me off and ruined it for other people in my class because I didn’t care if we won or lost and put no effort into anything. I’m perfectly fit (and was then too) so it’s not laziness but there was just something about it that didn’t suit me. Unless she wants to do it GCSE I think you are right to help her avoid it. If she’s not getting anything out of it why bother making her go?

I think a lot of posters are assuming PE is still like it was in the 80s/90s when many of us were at school. I know my teens don’t just do team sports in their school PE lessons. They also do indoor stuff like dance, gymnastics, and gym (circuits, weights machines, treadmills, rowing machine, etc). I think there’s more of an emphasis on fitness, not just team sports. At least that’s the case in my DCs’ school (one of them loves PE, the other one doesn’t, but they both do it).

@Whydoiwearsomuchleopardprint

Do you think any of our kids want to get up early, study hard , participate in swimming lessons, do sports days when they come last etc?? No, so why on earth would you stop a child being part of school life to sit in a library on their own? What lesson are you teaching them at 11? That mum will get you out of it for no reason. Life is not like this out of school so you are being really quite unkind to suggest to your daughter that you can opt out of stuff you don’t like and that mum will support this!

It isn't for no reason

Sport is important. The walk to and from school is unlikely to be getting her heart rate up, or strengthening her core, improving her strength & coordination, or providing opportunities to learn from being one of a team.

Not to mention you are sending her completely the wrong message that you can opt out of things you don't like.

Why should she essentially get extra homework time while others participate?

If she's getting very cold outdoors doing it, get her some decent base layers to wear but also remember if she's cold she is probably not doing it properly.

Physical laziness isnt a good trait. My mum was like you and didnt do anything to promote fitness in my teens and I wish now as an adult that she had.

@TheBareTree

Gwendoline Mary Lacey, is that you?

😂😂😂

OP are you going to write her a note every January / February?

Won't things like tennis elbow, tendonitis, plantar fasciitis etc need a Drs note as proof? I'm pretty sure they'll know you're trying to pull a fast one without medical proof.

This has pissed me off a bit tbh. My 11 year old has fairly recently diagnosed Crohn's disease. She has already had one section of her intestines removed and is facing lifelong medication and an 80 percent chance of further intestinal surgery. She is anaemic and until recent treatment used to get a stitch walking more than 100 yards. She was stick thin, ghostly white and she still tried her best to join in PE. She sat out twice, when her feeding tube wasn't compatible with the touch rugby. She isn't sporty and it was never her favourite subject, but she so desperately wants to be like her friends.

You are lucky enough to have healthy bloody kids perfectly capable of participation. My daughter has more committment in her little finger than you. Don't take your children's good health for granted and collude with them like this. It's crap of you. Crap.

overweight children of which there are a fair few in my dds form and indeed the school in general all do pe and they dont seem to be looking any thinner when i see them coming out the gates when i wait to get her and its been that way for the last years now

They'd be even fucking bigger if they didnt do pe.

@louderthan

I hated PE. Not because of the exercise but because of the relentless bullying because I wasn't good at throwing or catching or running fast. I took every single opportunity to get out of it, whether that meant bare-faced lying or just simple truanting.

Hopefully schools now have more robust anti-bullying policies than they did in the 90s.

I now go to the gym 3/4 times a week, walk to and from work and go horse riding twice a week, so it was really nothing to do with laziness. Just self-preservation. I really hope your DD isn't being bullied OP.

It's worse

Sorry - meant to add that I actually did have a spell of regular migraines in year 7, assumed to be brought on by the combination of hormones and the stress of transitioning to secondary school!

Then proceeded to continue to suffer from migraines on convenient occasions the whole way through secondary…..

If she’s never had one just scroll through the NHS page and choose a combination of symptoms to describe if anyone asks. Doctors aren’t interested and anyone who has had one will definitely understand why she is trying to avoid ‘triggering’ one!

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

I’m not sure walking two and from school is enough exercise for a teen - or an adult really. Isn’t it important to get your heart rate up.

Also as pps have said, it’s the team element that’s also necessary, and the fact that you can’t miss a subject you just don’t like.

I don't think standing waiting, knowing you will be the last person to be picked because you are hopeless at PE, and the ensuing shame of a terrible performance teaches you anything about teamwork actually. It's an exercise in public humiliation for some children. I broke my leg badly as a child, and genuinely my first thought was thank god I won't have to do PE for ages, swiftly followed by hoping it wouldnt be better by summer so I could miss sports day too, with all the humiliation that brought.

You are not setting her a good example. As she goes through life there will be things she doesn’t want to do, but has to, mummy won’t be able to write her a note

She should be doing PE

I didn’t like maths. Quite glad now though that my parents didn’t lie to get me out of lessons.

Walking to and from school is not enough exercise, unless you live miles away.