If our kids are so fat why don't they do p.e. every day ?

[DefNotYummyMummy]

Just wondering. I guess they don't have enough time ? I went to an international school in the Philippines and we did double p.e. every day. I loved it. Not everyone did, but it got us all moving.

There's been some recent research, can't remember where read it, that weight is related to diet & not exercise, exercise is good for fitness but needs to be combined with good diet for healthy weight IMO. Agree with other posters school is there for education, learning, reading, writing. Its parents job to ensure children are healthy in general, so weight should come into that, surely.

I couldn't disagree with you more ColdComfortFarm. If the amount of exercise and movement is sufficient it can only have a positive impact on children and therefore a positive impact on learning. Are you suggesting then that we sit them at their desks for the whole day? My experience is that if they try something at school it may just excite them and want them to try it out of school.

But, iloverainbows, OP was referring to children being 'fat' not positively encouraged

Of course I'm not suggesting children sit at their desks for the whole day . I am all in favour of playtime. PE, however, is a waste of time.

I think PE everyday would be a good thing, but recognise that there are only so many hours in a school day (would be happy to send mine 9-5 tho ).

My kids run around like lunatics at home and in the garden and walk to and from school, so they are not couch potatoes and I also send them to football/ballet swimming & taekwondo.

However, if LEAs or even private providers offered sports each day after school for an hour I would send my kids along so they could exercise in the same setting to save us running around at weekend and evenings to fit in classes. I think it is a shame that LEA schools do not seem to offer swimming as much as they did when I was a child. I send mine for lessons but they are quite expensive and not everyone can afford to pay a term in advance and that is a fact.

As someone said above, exercise does not have to cost anything and fresh air is also free. I think too many parents use the x-box as childcare, it shuts them up for hours on end after all .

I've seen those studies too which show that increasing PE doesn't actually make a difference to children's weight.

Any child with a bit of nous can easily work out how to expend as little energy as possible in school PE lessons. offer to be Left Back in hockey, be a "flower" rather than a bird in dance. Pretend to be stretching in gym....

I don't think that PE is a waste of time, though (ignoring the everyday thing).

Certainly here there are no children's football/ netball/ hockey teams in town so unless you are willing to take them to a club several miles away then school pe lessons are the main opportunity to learn ball skills, for example.

Ditto gymnastics, dance, (clog dancing last week, though admittedly in after school club not pe), and I'm sure many other things.

I have wondered about the getting changed thing, though - given that they all spend their playtimes running around like wild things (well, probably not all, but many), why can't they do PE in polo shirts & joggers, & just change their shoes?

At dd's school they are given dollys to play with at playtime?

What happend to skipping ropes,hula hoops ect?

dd (Y2) does PE once a week. But she also does dance at school once a week (or active games, whatever the teacher is teaching basically), is encouraged to use skipping ropes or play hopscotch at school, is encouraged by school to walk/scoot/bike to school, etc.

Yes, she does do swimming and dance out of school - but the attitude the school teaches (rather than the hours of PE) help me get her there!

But re chocolate cereal, don't get me started...I'm with Colditz there.

DS came home with a letter from school last week about how kids would need a doctor's note to get out of P.E. It seems that some parents just write their kids a note so they never have to do P.E. It had never occurred to me that I could write him a note excusing him from P.E. If he's well enough to go to school, he must be well enough for P.E. Judging by the amount of mud on his trousers, he spends break times running around and skidding on his knees in the grass with his friends.

(note: I know some kids have disabilities, but surely the school knows about this and wouldn't be sending home a whole school letter based on that)

In private education they do PE three times a week but are driven to school it's as long as it's short.

I presume it would be children who have some kind of injury, Damsel (like dd's friend who twisted her ankle in a dance class & could only hobble for a week) but are fine to be in school other than that.

From the tone of the letter, I got the impression that it wasn't kids with an injury (which presumably would merit a doctor's note, and should be fairly obvious to the teacher) but a much wider problem. It's a middle school so (remembering my early teenage days) I suspect it might be a problem with mums who're happy to write a note to get you out of PE for period pains and whatnot.

DS has just started in reception and apparently after half term they will be doing short PE sessions everyday (they don't necessarily get completely changed every time tho). He has also already had 2 accident notes home due to careering around in the playground at lunchtime and bashing his head, so must be doing some kind of exercise!

But I think it's more of a parental responsibility than the schools to ensure he is fit.

DS gets some kind of points if he walks to school everyday (or cycles or gets dropped off at least 5 minutes walk away and walks the rest, or if he walks round the playground a certain number of times after arriving). Before this started we were already dropping him about 10 minutes away and letting him walk the rest (as it's far more convenient for us that way) and he'd get there early and walk around/run around until school started. Now he's delighted because he gets points for it.

Because PE is crap.

Well, that's what I thought when I was at school too.

A school near us has boys running round the playground (in a circuit) every day before class. think it's a great idea.

Interesting discussion. In my comprehensive survey of one , I have to say that exercise does make a difference.

My very sporty DS was off sport for 18 months following a series of leg operations and his weight just ballooned. His diet hadn?t changed at all (he has T1 diabetes so his food is all weighed and measured), so the only factor that had changed was his lack of sport. Now he?s fit again and all that excess fat has dropped off?

I'm a PE Co-ordinator in an Infant school and I would love to do PE everyday - however there are just not enough hours in the curriculum. We do however do Activate which is a daily physical activity programme for 10 minutes every morning and 5 minutes every afternoon.
Interestingly, the bloody Tories have just cut all the funding for the School SPorts Partnerships. We have had so much benefit from ours - loads of free after school and breakfast clubs in sports we couldn't otherwise offer, funded courses for myself and non-PE specialists in order to improve provision, competitions, festivals, leadership opportunities - the list is endless. I feel they've made a very big mistake there.

I agree with AbbyLou, our school sports partnership will be gone at the end of the year due to lack of funds. As a small rural school it was invaluable in enabling our children to participate in a wide variety of sports training and competitions, we will certainly miss them.