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 wish there had been a bottom set for PE - there might have actually been some scaling and actual instruction. PE is very ableist when it comes to assuming all people are at the same stage of development. This is more false when you consider ND people and that they may often have impairments to their co-ordination.

OP - I would not lie but discuss what the issues are rather than lie about it to the teachers. Are there deeper issues?
While I am OK about avoiding things that don't really teach you anything useful but put you at risk, you cannot avoid all confrontation. I hope that a more constructive resolution can be reached by direct communication. If not, then at least you can say you tried to reason with the PE department.

What a lovely way to teach kids that lying is ok

Sometimes in life we have to do thinks we don't want to, PE teaches kids to work alongside people she may not want to and be a team player

No wonder good teachers are leaving the system when parents undermine them

Must have been said before but exercise is healthy. Far far healthier than sitting in a library. I think girls don’t get enough, when I compare to my son’s school.

Gets the brain cells to work better, faster. She will be a better student if she attends PE.
So I 100% disagree with you.

Absolutely shocking!!! PE is a national curriculum subject. If she didn’t like science, would you let her miss that??!! PE is sooo much more than fitness. I honestly think that you’re setting a terrible example for your child.

A decent PE teacher will consider all abilities and adapt as needed. I’m a PE teacher in a PMLD school. I’ve had to think out the box many times to include all children in my sessions. For some pupils it’s a communication session rather than physical (they receive adequate physical time through physio programmes etc)

100% with you op. I hated pe at school and it put me off all sport for years. Now I do sport several times a week and I'm a qualified instructor in several types. Missing a few weeks isn't an issue. And yes I'd feel the same about art or Spanish or basically any lesson other than English or maths. And yes I'm a teacher and nope it never caused me any extra work to have a few kids sitting out of pe.

Mine had a horrible ingrowing toenail very basic but too painful to do sports. Then it was removed which necessitated more time off sports for healing.
No one ever wanted to look at it thankfully.

Part of the reason we go to school, is to prepare us for adulthood. It's not just about the academic learning.
We learn how to handle uncomfortable situations, tricky friendships, navigate relationships, and gain resilience.
I'm quite sure 90% of working adults will have 10% of their work they hate and would rather avoid, but they suck it up and get on with it because that's what life is. Not everything can be wonderful things we enjoy and are happy doing.
There's a lesson here for your daughter, but which one will you teach her? One will help her, one won't.

You're enabling her to be deceitful to get out of doing something she doesn't like? I hated sports as well, but that's because I had undiagnosed hypermobility but I still got on with it.

Sorry but why? PE is great for students, they get so bored just being spectators, much better for them to take part. Kids are no where near as active these days so PE at school is so important.

PE is part of the curriculum, you can't just let her off it because she doesn't like it. We all have to do things in life which we don't love/like. You can't opt out of the parts of your job you don't enjoy, or classes at uni you don't enjoy, or parts of parenting you don't enjoy etc etc. Some kids have massive anxiety around sports and some girls at mixed schools feel very self-conscious in swimming lessons with boys, and got those reasons I'd feel you maybe had a justification. Not liking something isn't s good enough reason and you lying for her is just all out shite parenting.

@HiJenny35

100% with you op. I hated pe at school and it put me off all sport for years. Now I do sport several times a week and I'm a qualified instructor in several types. Missing a few weeks isn't an issue. And yes I'd feel the same about art or Spanish or basically any lesson other than English or maths. And yes I'm a teacher and nope it never caused me any extra work to have a few kids sitting out of pe.

And this is the reason the British are mocked the world over, along with the Americans, for not being able to speak other languages and not seeing the importance in doing this. We live in a global world. We live in a multicultural society. Being able to speak other languages is a key life skill. Fucking hell. As a teacher myself I couldn't disagree more and am astonished there are people in my professional who have this blinkered view.

You can't opt out of the parts of your job you don't enjoy, or classes at uni you don't enjoy, or parts of parenting you don't enjoy etc etc

These are all choices. Compulsory PE isn’t.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

You can't opt out of the parts of your job you don't enjoy, or classes at uni you don't enjoy, or parts of parenting you don't enjoy etc etc

These are all choices. Compulsory PE isn’t.

Neither are any subjects at school apart from options, or school itself. You point is?

am astonished there are people in my professional who have this blinkered view.

^ yes, really shocked to read the teachers who think agree with the OP.

@HelloKittyGirl

I don’t have a problem with it to be honest. I never liked PE either and she already gets plenty of exercise walking to and from school everyday. I’m not worried about her fitness levels. If she’d rather spend the time in the library doing homework, I’m happy with that.

What are you going to do when ashe has to do tasks in her job she doesn't like? Life is like this, finding ways to help her avoid things is enabling.

*think like or agree with

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

Parenting isn't always a choice. Do you live in a utopian bubble where your job, relationships, children, pet ownership, health is all exactly as you want it. We all need to do things we don't want to do...the alternative is to opt out of relationships and society.

I hated PE from Year 4 onwards. I would hide in the school bathroom to try to miss it, but the teacher eventually found out. I would also not bring in my PE kit and say I forgot it, and most kids who didn’t were told off and made me sit in the classroom and miss playtime/break. I was never a sporty person. I was forced to play football, tennis, hockey and other sports and I hated it. The only thing I actually loved was swimming, and I still love it now. It was worse and less fun by the time I was in secondary school, and I would frequently lie about being on my period to get out of PE. PE is a once a week lesson, and I don’t think it affects a child’s weight or causes them to be obese if it’s only once a week. I know the right thing to do is probably not to teach your daughter to lie to get out of things she doesn’t like, which in this case is PE. You’re supposed to be a role model for her. You only said the reason for her not wanting to attend PE was the weather. I understand that, because many kids are forced to do PE outside in shorts/joggers and short sleeved tops and she must be cold. Maybe find out if there are any other reasons why she doesn’t want to do PE? If she really detests it, then maybe contact the school asking them to excuse her from PE until further notice, but I don’t know if that will still work because some schools expect a medical reason or a doctor’s note. I don’t think it will go down very well getting her to lie, because schools expect some kind of proof and she has to have a good reason. Your daughter could also get into trouble if she is caught lying.

@Intheopinionofourexpert It really isn't just practise. I played tennis at school for years. I was no better in the 6th form than I was in the first. Some people just aren't able to coordinate their bodies in the way others can. Unless you are one of those people, it simply isn't possible to understand according to neuroscience it is in fact just practice, creating the neural pathways, assuming NT - and ND often as it is this sort of thinking re creating new neural pathways which is used to help ND people nowadays.

If you had taken a bucket of 50 balls and practised hitting all the balls over the net, then all the balls serving, getting someone to chuck them at you to give practice reurning, a couple of times a week, with determination, and watched youtube videos on technique, I can pretty much guarantee you'd have become a competent player!!

@WTF475878237NC

am astonished there are people in my professional who have this blinkered view.

^ yes, really shocked to read the teachers who think agree with the OP.

I was talking about the teacher who seemed to think Spanish, or a language, was something that could be considered unimportant, but in the case of the OP it's not even like her daughter has anxiety about PE, or certain aspects of PE. It's just that she doesn't like it. Imagine if every parent wrote a note to excuse pupils from subjects they didn't like. It would be utter chaos. It's also not teaching a child anything valuable to lie for them to excuse them from a class, unless there's a very valued reason and not liking something isn't a good enough reason. There are many subjects at school children won't like, but having a rich and varied curriculum is something that children in many countries don't have the privilege to experience. First world problems.

OP, how far away is your daughter’s school from your house? If you think she already gets enough exercise, that depends on how long it takes to get to school. How long does it take to walk there?

School pe is shit especially for girls. Team sports being a good thing my arse.

My dd2 is 14 and each week she has an anxiety attack at the thought of having to get changed in front of the others, she’s also had sly little pushes and abuse thrown at her and it’s just an ordeal. She does do it but I have on occasion written her a note on the worst days.

The solo sports.. she loves. She is a keen walker with her own hiking boots, she also walks 4 miles to school and back most days and does about 15000 to 25000 steps a day and is starting rock climbing next month.. she also wants a gym membership.

Perhaps if schools encouraged this sort of excercise as much as team sports then so many girls wouldn’t be put of pe for life.

@LaDamaDeElche

PE is part of the curriculum, you can't just let her off it because she doesn't like it. We all have to do things in life which we don't love/like. You can't opt out of the parts of your job you don't enjoy, or classes at uni you don't enjoy, or parts of parenting you don't enjoy etc etc. Some kids have massive anxiety around sports and some girls at mixed schools feel very self-conscious in swimming lessons with boys, and got those reasons I'd feel you maybe had a justification. Not liking something isn't s good enough reason and you lying for her is just all out shite parenting.

Yes. I say this as someone who hated PE myself .

If you had taken a bucket of 50 balls and practised hitting all the balls over the net, then all the balls serving, getting someone to chuck them at you to give practice reurning, a couple of times a week, with determination, and watched youtube videos on technique, I can pretty much guarantee you'd have become a competent player!!

But maybe she just doesn't like tennis much. You would have to really like it and want to do it to go through all that regularly. Maybe she would prefer to do something more interesting and rewarding like learning a musical instrument, say.

And BTW a lot of people have banged on about sport being good for concentration and teamwork and so on, but I bet playing in a band or orchestra beats sport hands down for developing those skills. However as far as I am aware music is very badly treated these days in the NC.