Sports day shock

[Mrslarge24]

My children have recently had their sports days.
I have one very sporty child, and one that gets very anxious about anything sport-related and dreads sports day! Much like myself as a kid.
One sports day was for y3&y4, the other was for Y5 & y6.
I was amazed at the lack of general fitness in so many of the kids.
They had to do a "long-distance run" which was about 200m. A huge amount of them couldn't run it all and some didn't even make it half way before walking and panting.
My non-sporty one managed it fine, because although he doesn't enjoy much sport we do go for long walks, he plays in the garden alot and loves swimming with us so has a basic fitness level. Much like myself, I'm no fitness fanatic!
AIBU to think this is shocking to see children of this age not be able to run/jog 200m?!
i guess it's computers/iPads etc but at what point does a parent start to feel ashamed to have let their children get so unfit?!
Made me feel quite sad 😢

No time for a 30 min wslk a few times a week? Bullshit.

Why do some posters have to take everything so personally? I very much doubt that all the kids the OP saw who couldn't run have dyspraxia, or any other reason why they couldn't run far, other than the fact that they weren't fit.

Maybe do some adult thinking!!

I live near a couple of schools, and see parents lined up in their cars from 3/4 of an hour before the school day ends, presumably so they can get as close as possible to the school gate. Heaven forbid they have to walk more than a few steps from school gate to car!! Said parents are usually scrolling on their phones while they wait. Meanwhile, the kids are often running around the playground during that time, thank goodness as some of the parents aren't setting a great example!

It is good to see however that some children do walk, or scooter, home, either with a parent/grandparent, or by themselves.

All children, unless they have some sort of issue, should be able to run 200m. Even I, at almost 65 and at least a stone overweight, could probably run it if I had to. If a child cannot do it then something is seriously wrong with their overall health and fitness. Of course some overweight or unfit children are able to run 200m - but for those that really can't then there is something amiss. 200m is not very far, and no-one is saying they have to run it at Olympic speed, but they should be able to complete the run. They don't have to be "good" at running, it is something which comes naturally to kids.

What I have noticed is that parents have primary and secondary school drop offs and have to be in work. I had to go in different directions to get mine to school, it was four miles to primary school along a stretch of dual carriageway , so walking wasn't doable.

It does depend on parents having time to walk children to school.

I see so many grandparents at the school gates at home time these days.

Parents are time poor.

Precisely. That poster comes across like an absolute moron.

I’m afraid I think the problem with sport in schools is that they work to the lowest common denominator… my son who is very sporty has to put up with bean bag throwing and walking along a balance beam in his PE lessons. Oh and yoga. They have to walk the ‘daily mile’, no one is allowed to run, because it upsets the less able. As far as I can see the sporty ones are being forced to dumb down their abilities and desire to actually do some exercise and compete for the sake of those that don’t want to. All this does is demotivate those that want to do it and not give those that don’t anything to aspire to. We have to resort to lots and lots of out of school sports clubs.

And at year 3, children should be able to run 600m, let alone 200m. By year 5, 800m.

If those parents aren’t helping their kids to do better at English and maths then absolutely yes. Having an overweight, extremely unfit child is poor parenting.

No adult who is “fit” would struggle to run 400m. They might not be able to run it “fast” in a traditional sense but an aerobically fit adult can run 400m. Being “slim” or “fat” doesn’t mean you’re fit or unfit.

My primary school do the daily mile. Everyday, children run approximately one mile at 8.45 everyday x

Totally agree. It’s shameful. If parents are too busy they need to make time to enable their child to have fresh air and exercise. If they really really can’t (although I can’t think of any reason why not) then they need to ask someone else to do it for them. Anything less is neglect.

How can you say all, you see the ones who are out being active, you don't see the ones who are been driven to school or who are at home on the xbox.

Children aren't stupid, they know someone has to come last.
They just don't want it to be them that's last. And face the embrassment of being last.
They might be last one year, be really upset etc etc what do parents do the next year - we'll say your ill and do something else.

Many children still wouldn't have a clue that long run means go slower, don't start at the same pace as you would for a short sprint.

People also have to remember some schools are more fortunate than others for the amount of land they have. Inner city and town schools do not have huge playing fields

My kids primary's the entire playground would be lucky 75m x 50m with a huge corner cut out of it. And it's not exactly a small school circa 500 kids.

To me, this all seems to go back with the message, over the last few years, that it is ok to be overweight. Children need guidance and teaching about health and good habits from home and school. Cookery classes should be reintroduced with emphasis on all kinds of healthy diets. For those kids who hate PE, let them go on long walks or do zumba or street dance. Above all, accept that to be a healthy weight is good whilst not ridiculing those who are struggling with it.

Same here, sadly the lack of volunteers, especially girls, because of many reasons maybe but underlying factot seems to be a lack of fitness and hence lack of confidence. Xx

I live near the schools, did you miss that bit? One school is in the next block. I see the kids being picked up, I used to see them being dropped off as I walked to work. I see them out playing, every day. I often see some of them walking home when I'm out walking, I see them walking to the local swimming pool, I see the kids from one school running around the block several times in PE gear. There are kids living in my neighbourhood. I haven't noticed one obese child. Of course there will be overweight and some obese children, but the primary kids I see aren't.

This is true for me and it’s always baffled me.
As a teenager doing GCSE PE, I was doing 9 hours of sport per week, but the furthest I ever ran in one go was 800m and it was awful!

That would suggest an obligate wheelchair user can never be "fit". I don't think that's accurate.

I also work in a school and have also noticed a huge decline in the fitness of children. It’s worrying.

I know several people have mentioned it but Junior ParkRun is a god send. It's 2km once a week. We had over 200 children at ours last week. You can do it from the age of 4. Some walk the whole (a boy with CP occasionally comes) way, some walk some of it, some jog and some get amazingly impressive times.
But...it's run by volunteers. And it's incredibly difficult to get other parents to join the volunteer team.
I'm an overweight mum with fit children (one much thinner than the other) but I'm relatively fit due to regularly riding my peloton and I test myself annually in the staff v student netball match (against a team made up of the rugby/netball team). I'm yet to embarrass myself!
However, I do my best to ensure my children don't end up in the same position. I got here for complex reasons but doing my best to set them up better (2 x PE, cricket, football, swimming a variety of school sports).

Do you have to do the park run with your child? I would be able to due to dyspraxia and eds.

I don't know whether this is true for all junior parkrun events, but all the ones my children have done have been fully marshalled, with the runners within sight of at least one marshal at all times, so children were able to run without adults.