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 😢

Who said everyday?! Twice a week and properly actually moving and running is better than nothing.

The quantities were not the same. The takeaway food was rare.

I Am a 90s baby and there were crap yes but it’s not even the same scale.

This is because of our sedentary lifestyle

It's tragic. Children no longer spend hours playing outdoors and there will be many who literally don't move other than to go to school

Thr school day is also far too sedentary

This isn't about pe twice a week. Its about having physically active lives which is what human bodies need.

I don't have kids so perhaps am not qualified to speak but I swim at the local pool at the same time the primary schools are in and the children are all huge. This is a poor area with lots of immigrants and refugees (I am one myself) so I think this will play a part with people not having the resources and time to ensure their kids are eating well and active. But I do find it really sad when children are literally waddling to the poolside. It's good they get this exercise at school.

Sorry, my point about UPF isn’t meant to absolve parents of responsibility - I think this is 100% down to parents.

I only had PE twice a week at school growing up. Nobody was fat. One girl was chubby, but her parents were massive feeders. Everyone was active, no one sat around for hours upon hours on screens. no one got takeaways several times a week.

there are so many excuses on this thread it’s insane and part of the problem. I simply don’t believe that people are working 7 days weeks and unable to take their children out and about to run around at the weekends etc.

Getting driven to school was rare, too. Now it's neglect if you don't drive your dc to school! 🤷‍♀️

i live a 1 hour 20 min walk from DC school, so it’s not doable. But they are all very slim and fit children because they run around a lot and do a lot of (free) playing in garden/park/soft play etc.

conversely I live near a school and the amount of overweight parents of overweight children who park on double yellows to get as close as they physically can to the school so they don’t have to walk is telling. The school has a catchment area so everyone lives within a close proximity!

This is really poor. 200m isn't long distance to me, it's a sprint. 100m and 200m on a 400m outdoor track is tiny. Cross country, 5km, marathon is long distance. in the Olympics 5000m and 10,000m is considered long distance.
The fact kids can't run a lap is seriously shocking.

It must be a postcode lottery. I feel very lucky. My DS does PE twice a week, the daily mile and there are affordable after school sports clubs, which he attends.

We also live on an estate and he does play outside with other kids quite a lot. We do have a tiny garden, so this helps.

I worry about the teen years, he is already grown out of soft play, trampoline parks etc. He enjoys football, but isn't great at it, so he might not be able to continue playing as part of a weekend team. Playgrounds are for under 12s where we are. We don't have money to spend on more expensive 'teen' sports, such as kayaking. The younger neighbourhood kids always knock on our door, asking him to.play, but he will be a teenager soon.

There are no youth clubs here. It feels that there are less opportunities for the teen age group.

This is excellent food for thought. Mine are very little - what do people do to keep teenagers fit and engaged?! Must be hard

I got my kids playing sports they enjoyed when they were young and they’re still playing them now at 17 & 16. I’m not in the UK though, sport is massive where I live and there are teams available for everyone who wants to play. Until recently we had a government program called ‘active kids’ which gave partial rebates each year for fees.

With a decent level of fitness any primary child should be able to run 200m easily. DS’s secondary school does a 1500m time trial every term. The aim isn’t to win, it’s to improve on your past times.

"Beekeepingmum

I don't think the parents of the non-sporty kids should be ashamed. Should parents whose kids are behind expectations for maths or english be ashamed?"

There is "behind expectations" and then there is actively harming your child. 200m is not a benchmark they progress to and pass through as they get older, it's an absolute bare minimum most 2yos could manage.

If a 10yo didn't know what a book was, or had parents saying they didn't need English or maths, that's equivalent to not being able to run/jog for 30 seconds or so. So they should be shamed, there is only so much schools can do.

My DDs class had 2 children like this, neither from disadvantaged backgrounds. Crashed out of the bleep test after 4 or 5 beeps. Parents then complained that they didn't get to bag a Munro at camp like their classmates and felt left out. The expectation that they can do SFA with their kids for a decade but the teacher can suck up the consequences or fix it instantly was insane and shows the parents have no idea quite how unhealthy their kids are

Kids simply just aren't playing outside as much as they used to. Roads aren't safe enough anymore and most families have tiny gardens or none at all. Then you also have the fact that often both parents work and have to drop kids off to breakfast on their way to work rather than have time to walk. Families are becoming more and more sedentary on average. And that's before we factor in the diets high in sugar and UPF.

Yes the government is in part responsible for the state of the NHS but the general health of the public is also big factor. We can't keep chucking money at the NHS whilst millions of people completely neglect their own health. They reach early to mid adulthood with multiple health issues due to diet and lifestyle when actually, the vast, vast majority of that age group should still be rarely needing to use the service. The older they get the more complex and severe their issues become. Obese children are highly likely to be obese adults. It should be classed as neglect. We are headed for absolute crisis in terms of public health.

It is partly lack of exercise in school. They should be doing far more exercise/activity/sport in school everyday. Children naturally love energetic activity so it isn’t that hard to get them moving. They would also concentrate better if they did more.

Parents are also to blame and poverty isn’t an excuse. If you look at many countries that have far more poverty than the UK, children are getting lots of exercise. Plenty of people with no money manage to walk their children to school and take them to the park with a ball.

Who said everyday?! Twice a week and properly actually moving and running is better than nothing.

I already said I think it’s the reduction in daily movement that’s the problem so I don’t think twice a wk is enough.

Twice a week is bugger all, same with people saying their kids do swimming lessons weekly. It needs to be sustained, daily activity. It takes far more than most people think to meet the recommended weekly targets of moderate or strenuous physical activity.

Agree with the PP who made the point about people’s resistance to active travel etc.

Sorry my twice a week point was parents could take their children twice a week plus the school twice a week.

im just arguing because some people are saying parents have 0 time to take their children to the park which I think is bollocks. Every day is ideal but 4 x a week (twice with school twice with parents) is much better than nothing.

Twice a week at school, then twice a week with parents (most people have 2 days off work a week so there’s no excuse).

Yes, lots of children and adults are unfitter than ever. However, sports days are not the way to encourage children to have fun with sports and exercise if you’re unfit.
humiliating children by making them race in front of peers and parents and having people comment on how unfit children are, isn’t going to help.

Well done to all the parents that encourage your dc to take part in fun sports, walks, games, swimming etc. Those that don’t do this probably have their reasons. Let’s not judge, but offer encouragement.

There are plenty of cheap sports we pay £5 a month subs for athletics where she goes twice a week. Hockey is also only £8 a month + subs. If parents really are skint park runs are free, local park gyms and skate parks are free. I don’t think money is the issue here, it’s not being bothered.

I definitely think money and health is linked.

Sorry my twice a week point was parents could take their children twice a week plus the school twice a week.

@Quittingwifework twice a week what at school? PE? Some don’t have it twice a week plus it depends what you’re actually doing in that PE lesson.

Every day is ideal but 4 x a week (twice with school twice with parents) is much better than nothing.

But the point I was making is I think dc are much more sedentary in general & it’s the difference in daily activity that is having the impact.

Yes I agree with that but that’s something parents need to work on!

Ffs sports day isn’t the issue. It shouldn’t be humiliating because children should be able to do a decent level of exercise and if they can’t the failure is the parents and yes we should be judging that, not just deleting sports day and blindly accepting people being fat and unfit. Jesus Christ. This is a problem and it needs addressing ASAP