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 😢

My son gets 20 mins of p e per week in his state primary. However he can swim well and he often does junior parkrun on a Sunday which is free. He akso takes street dance classes once a week so he is quite fit and skinny as a whippet!

No. Some do with the younger kids in particular but the kids are within line of site of an adult at all times

it seems like 'wellbeing' in general is not a priority in uk schools.

other countries mandate a lot more pe. and handle sports day differently.

where we live (not uk) 3 periods of pe a mandatory and sports day is a fun day out to the nearby beach with all sorts of activities. some athletic, some more tactical. and no parents.

interestingly, after covid when schools went back, they added one period of pe a day for a while.

🙄 what a ridiculous response. You know exactly the point I was making.

That response logically followed from the the words you wrote. If you don't want your words to be ridiculed, you could consider writing less ridiculous things.

My DCs primary school had PE twice a week and 1 mile run once a week. Their high school has PE 5 times a fortnight. We're lucky that both schools are walkable and that's extra exercise too. Kids need good habits from a young age so they can be healthy and stay healthy. A lot of schools and parents are using excuses and letting kids down.

I would struggle to run 400m and yet I walk at least 10 miles a day, five days a week and can ride a horse for hours with no issue. Perfectly fit and healthy according to my GP.

Not everyone is suited to running and that goes for both adults and children. There are other ways to measure someone's fitness.

Of course some people are just horribly unfit (whether fat or slim) but their ability to run isn't the only way to measure that - it's far too simplistic.

I just think someone's ability to run 200m (or not) is far too simplistic a way to measure their health and fitness.

There are loads of threads on here from adults who hate (and struggle with) running but love (and excel) at other forms of exercise, yet we don't seem to be able to accept that the same is true for children.

A child who hates running (for whatever reason) may not be able to complete 200m but may thrive at a different sport that the runners couldn't cope with.

Yes, some kids are just unfit and unhealthy and couldn't run 200m or do anything else, but imo deciding that someone is unfit based on their running ability alone isn't the way to go about things.

Times have changed, I was shocked in juniors when they did swimming lessons and there was about 3 children from each class of 30 that could actually swim… so about 9 in the year group of 90 children! There were also lots of children who couldn’t ride a bike when they did cycle proficiency in year 6… that might not sound too shocking to some people on here but I live in an area surrounded by forests that are safe to learn/cycle in and we live on the south coast so have LOTS of beaches…. But times have changed…. We used to cycle, walk and climb trees as children, in the summer we practically lived on the beach. We used to walk to school… now most kids are driven! My DD did an end of year walk in year 7 & was shocked about how many kids complained they were out of breath, walk was too far etc… She recently did the swim gala at school and she practically did every race for her tutor..
The streets aren’t safe for kids to play anymore, kids carry weapons now, there’s lots of bullying and it’s not just the odd punchup in the park anymore like it used to be then Forgotten about, now it’s phones and filming fights to use later to ridicule the loser … as I said weapons are carried…. Drugs, vapes etc… I was shocked when my daughter told me how many kids are vaping in school and at local parks etc… tiktoks of 11/12 year old scantily dressed with what looks like a bra with a vape tucked in it!
I wouldn’t want to be a child these days… I do wonder if our children who rely so heavily on tech will see the harm it’s done them and go the complete opposite with their own children… maybe the next generation of parents will do a u-turn and ban their kids from phones etc completely!

Exactly parents don't have time to spend 45mins outside the school gates. That's grandparents with plenty time on their hands.

maybe the next generation of parents will do a u-turn and ban their kids from phones etc completely!

I’m a parent of a 5 and 6 year old. There is no way in hell they are getting iPads, video games or phones. Most parents at the school gates are of the same opinion.

But it's very easy to say that when they're five.

The reality of owning a teenager with their own mind and the freedom to go out without you and do things without you is very different.

Our school is a ten minute walk from a beach, lovely promenade, sand dunes. Not once have the school visited. I've done Risk assessments with charities for a decade. There's only one road crossing controlled by the same traffic lights as outside the school complete with beeping noise.

I can only think that water in the estuary on one side is enough to veto it.

No way would any school I know ever take children to a beach. I’m in Australia! Beaches are high risk.

I wasn't suggesting the beach, but the promenade and sand dunes.

Our Beaver cub pack have beach visits regularly at age 6 upwards to get their badges. I'm guessing that your beaches are higher risk.

I live by the beach (UK) and children are taken there all the time - for field trips, for a "treat" in the summer and sometimes even for PE lessons or sports days.

I'm there most days (dog walker) and see the nursery taking the children down there at least twice a week, every week.

Kids have lost a lot of the opportunities to just play & enjoy movement.

Aged 8 I'd be always biking about with my mates, having a kick about, climbing trees or messing about in the brook (open water! Unsupervised!).

They cant do that now. It's all organised fitness fun, facilitated by increasingly busy & tired adults, who can't afford the clubs/ haven't got time to fit them in/ sometimes CBA to take them to the park & kick a ball - especially if they're unfit themselves.

Increased use of cars (including vastly busier roads meaning fewer bikes, meaning less freedom), devices & increased intensity of parenting has the killed opportunities for naturally occuring exercise = unfit kids.

I'm so grateful for the freedom I enjoyed in the 80s & sad for my own kids - they only really get any flavour of roaming & playing freely in a big gaggle of kids one night a week on the huge grounds of our local cricket club, and they adore it.

Sure, they can go to mates houses and play on iPhones, iPads and Xbox. But whilst they’re living in my house, they’ll never own those devices. It’s really not that difficult.

Come back when you have teenagers especially ones who are old enough to buy those things for themselves!

😀 I’ll happily return and report I haven’t let my children walk all over me and our household rules.

My 13 yo doesn’t run, can’t swim and can’t ride a bike but he also has asd and is v complex needs. My older 3 did the daily mile every day - my eldest head teacher was the one who started it, they had their yellow brick road they used and all enjoyed getting outside every day. They didn’t have to run either I would have liked it when I was at school, wasn’t a runner at all I was v skinny but just not sporty. I swam every week did dancing x2/3 times and rode bike with friends so was outside more than my youngest 2 I think.

Good luck with that one!! You'll see!!

OMG you have it bad!!! Don't you realise that, the harsher your rules, the more your kids are likely to rebel against them? I pity your children. They will be totally out of sync with their peers!

Loads of schools do all the homework etc now on tablets, even primary school.

My son is 4.5 and doesn't have/use a tablet but I've no doubt he will in capacity soon.

Screens are a part of everyday life whether we like it or not and it's probably more sensible to teach them how to regulate/use them positively than try to ban them outright.

This actually made me LOL. I read it to my 27 yr old who LOL too.

1. You are utterly deluded.
2. I don't believe the other parents are as rigid in their thinking as you are!!

Surely after being a parent for 6 years, you must realise you can't control everything the way you wanted to?!

You have shocks in store!!