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This entire situation is a catch 22 in my opinion. The less physical activity, the worse the kids do academically, then physical activity is reduced in favor of academic time.
My kids do Physical Education 3 x a week, and have recess 1 x a day in elementary school. That is not enough for the more rambunctious child I don't believe.
This entire situation is a catch 22 in my opinion. The less physical activity, the worse the kids do academically, then physical activity is reduced in favor of academic time.
My kids do Physical Education 3 x a week, and have recess 1 x a day in elementary school. That is not enough for the more rambunctious child I don't believe.
which brings up another point - all kids are different. What is fine for one, is not enough for another.
When my kids were in preschool they had active, outdoor recess every day. If the weather was bad they would have active time indoors - riding various vehicles indoors, tumbling on mats, etc. At home, they spent about 75% of their waking hours in some type of active play.
My kids are both now in elementary school and one of my kids has complained about the boring playground equipment and the ever tightening safety rules governing what they can/can't do outside during recess. During the winter when it gets dark so early, it can be a real challenge to get in enough outdoor physical activity after school.
I wonder how much our litigious society has to do with this? Not to mention that Johnny's going to emergency room for a broken arm could bankrupt mom and dad. It's a shame.
I'm sure that a LARGE part of it. Especially the suing, A few years ago I went back to my old elementary school for an open house. All the jungle gyms were gone. The metal slides were gone. When I asked about the slides I was told it was because they got hot in the sun. (Which in my day we had sense enough to figure out for ourselves and did something else.) They also said the slides were too high. And I thought, "Well, of course they're high, That's the point."
Had one of us gotten hurt, which we did from time to time, our parents wouldn't have thought of suing. Different mind set back then.
My daughter is in 4th grade and she has Phys. Ed. 1x per week on Wednesdays for I believe 30 minutes. They have 20 minute afternoon recess before lunch, then in for another 20 minutes to eat then back to class. They have a snack time in the morning that is I believe 10 minutes, no outside time.
My daugher worked at a preschool/day care until May of this year. They went outside daily, unless the temperatures were extreme. I forget the temp limits, but they did go out unless it was extremely cold or hot. She worked in another day care one summer in college, perhaps five years ago, and they took the kids out every day as well.
Back in the 50s, my first elementary school did not give recess, not even in first grade.
So everyone has their pedestal issues and this is one of mine. In my humble opinion, yes, recess and PE are important but even more important is unsupervised outdoor play. Organized team sports are at an all time high in the US even as our kids get less exercise and are more obese than ever. So what's changed? Outside of the average American kid's diet sucking. No one goes outside and plays anymore.
Think about when you were a kid. I ran inside from school (no homework until 5th grade) grabbed my bike and headed outside. Our neighborhood played capture the flag, pick up games of football and soccer and endless hide and go seek. This is what I think is missing in the life of today's kids. Now kids come home (and mine included although we fight it) have hours of homework, extracurricular activities and then all they want to do is play video games and watch tv.
I've plugged it before and I need to reread it every year but Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv is a brilliant book on the necessary relationship between the outdoors and our kids.
When my kids were in preschool they had outdoor playtime and gymtime every day. Have things changed that much in the past 10-15 years?
One word.....Yes.
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