Fitness of schoolchildren

[thirdcrank]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8568111.stm

Perhaps they might encourage children to cycle to school. Now there's an idea.

(I'm not sure what he's getting at with the suggestion that more grandparents should be playing sport with their grandchildren. Is he trying to kill us all off?)

[beachcomber]

A few years back I watched a TV documentary about army recruits. The training team said they now had to carry out three weeks extra training to get the recruits to the same level of fitness that a recruit presented with on his/her first day in the 1970s.

I know I was very fit when I joined the army, only to have them push me to a level I would not have believed I could attain.
Before I finished work I would regularly train alongside lads half my age who would be puffing and panting in no time. Many of them just weren't bothered about staying fit. Having said that some of them are extremely fit and motivated. However, in the main they think going out and cycling 200km and more is sheer madness.

[Swizz69]

Perhaps they might encourage children to cycle to school.

Or maybe they won't.

Real shame about the campaigners Son, but is this a positive step forward?

It was on BBC news yesterday morning, and when searching the Beeb site for the link, also found this.
Quote: Or do you only wear one if you're cycling close to traffic? Hang on, helmet versus car bonnet? Is this misleading?

[fatboy]

However, in the main they think going out and cycling 200km and more is sheer madness.

And it is! But that's only because I haven't got around to doing one yet

On the main topic the key IMHO to keeping fit is either finding an activity that you enjoy or that becomes part of your life. Going to the gymn etc for most is completely doomed; humans are lazy and exercising because it's good for you won't keep the vast majority motivated.

Back to my schooldays I was lucky that they did rowing at my school as it was the one sport I was good at and this kept me fit and I continued to do this for many years before I discovered the joys of cycling (with a brief running interlude). Mind you I cycled four miles a day everyday for about 5 years getting to/from school.

[Mick F]

I'm with you FB.

I'm not good at "sport" and in fact, I hate the thing! I can't even stand watching it.

Get me on a bike, however, and I love it. Perhaps I love it because I'm good at it. I'm very strong in the leg department, but don't have much upper body strength - good for cycling! Because I enjoy it, and do it as well, it means I'm better at it.

I miss commuting by bike, it's a bit of a downside to being retired, but I get out 2 or 3 times a week to keep me sane. Only yesterday I used the need for shopping to ride a bike and pulled my trailer-load all the way home. I could have driven the car and brought more stuff home, but I preferred to cycle the 13 miles each way.

How anyone can get off their bum and go and run on a treadmill, I just don't know! Get out in the fresh air and use a bike to do something useful and productive. Kill two birds with one stone and get fit as well ang get some shopping.

[mw3230]

However, in the main they think going out and cycling 200km and more is sheer madness.

And it is! But that's only because I haven't got around to doing one yet

On the main topic the key IMHO to keeping fit is either finding an activity that you enjoy or that becomes part of your life. Going to the gymn etc for most is completely doomed; humans are lazy and exercising because it's good for you won't keep the vast majority motivated.

Back to my schooldays I was lucky that they did rowing at my school as it was the one sport I was good at and this kept me fit and I continued to do this for many years before I discovered the joys of cycling (with a brief running interlude). Mind you I cycled four miles a day everyday for about 5 years getting to/from school.

I agree that going to the gym is for the most part an unrewarding and gloomy pastime but there are sometimes when it fills the bill. If for example at work you are able to spend 30-40 minutes in the gym at lunchtime (as a change from a walk or shorter bike ride) this offers an alternative to the sandwich at the desk reading a newspaper, or the gym can supplement other regular exercise by allowing specific training to build certain strengths - or re-build after injury. The fittest sportsmen and women avail themselves of a wide range of training aids and techiques. Sometimes a change is good as a rest

[Jonty]

When I attended school in the 'fifties" individual sports were frowned on. You had to play team games which I hated. All my activities have been "individual" activites often conducted with a few friends as individuals rather than "a team". Things have now changed for the better with activities such as climbing and canoeing being encouraged.
I've enjoyed badmington, squash, hill walking, climbing, fly fishing, gym, running, boxing, swimming and cycling, sometimes concurrenty, sometimes at different times.
The people whom I knew at school who were "sporty" and played team games like rugby have tended to be the ones who have stopped taking exercise, often in their late '20s and early '30s, and ended up unfit and over-weight.
I suspect that an "individualist" can partake of sport much more easily than a "team player", so they are more likely to continue to incorporate activities into their life stye.
It's easy to put on your running shoes and go for a run or get on your bike. You can do it when you want to and you're not dependent on anyone else. Playing rugby or rowing, for example, you have to turn up on a specified date and time and you are dependent on others turning up in order to have a game.
In my experience the "unsporty" ones at school are the ones who continued with sport, albeit what they enjoyed, later in life.
I also enjoy working out on my own, perhaps once a week at the gym and once at home. I simply enjoy doing lots of different things, not terrribly well.
jonty

[Mick F]

Wise words.
I'd never thought of it like that. I hated "sport" at school (50s and 60s) because, like you say, they were team games. I could never take them seriously, and could never understand why my team-mates got so wound up about it all.

It bored me to tears, and it still does.

Sport should be fun and enjoyable, not aggressive and angry. We should smile, not frown and get bad tempered.

[NUKe]

I think the article confuses being active and Sport. Darts is Sport, where as cycling doesn't have to be, but that or just walking is benefitial for all concerned. Grandparents playing sport, is not necessarily a good idea but taking approriate physical exercise is, swimming walking Cycling, frisby throwing, dog walking, if you include the Grandchildren then its a win win .

Surely its the right of every grandad to take the kids climbing trees and all the other things their parents from the MTV generation won't let them do because of the risk averse culture we have.

BTW have you seen the advert that says "on average a Gym member gets 1.5 hours a week exercise whilst your average dog owner gets 8 to 9" or something similar. makes you think

[meic]

It really should be called the EBC not BBC!

Where were the BBC when this actually WAS introduced years ago?
It is only now England is thinking of following Wales on this path that they bother reporting it.
Is Liam Donaldson getting paid for thinking of this or did he just look over the border and think "that's an idea."

and finally it doesnt make the kids any fitter and doesnt tell anyone anything that isnt obvious to the kids themselves.
My son has told me frequently what score he gets and how it compares to the other kids and I cant remember what he got. It doesnt mean much anyway unless you know the test.

[jan19]

You know, sometimes you read an article that just makes your blood boil.

As a child, I would have been absolutely horrified by these tests. I played very little sport at school - I was always the smallest in the class and consequently the last to be chosen for teams. It didn't particularly bother me - it was just life and I always understood why the netball captains wanted the tallest girls. One of the reasons I enjoy cycling is my height doesn't matter to anyone - bike fits me and that's all that matters and I'm not letting "the team" down...

Yet I walked for 10 minutes to get to the train each morning, with a 20 minute walk at the other end to get to school. (Although I admit once in the company of friends "walk" might well become "amble") .

Why doesn't Sir Liam talk to those parents who insist on driving their kids to school? (No parking within 1 mile of the school except for the disabled...) Whatever happened to school swimming classes (I actually liked those as size is irrelevant) ? What about promoting cycling? So much you could do with a bit of thought....instead of gimmicky tests which don't seem to me to have much value. If the parents aren't going to get the kids to walk, or can't be bothered to kick a ball round the park at weekends, tests aren't going to help.

Jan

(sorry, had bad day at work so in "Grumpy Old Woman" mode.) Ironically, I love watching a variety of sports (we have Sky Sports at home which everyone assumes is for Malcolm but is actually for me. Anticipating a good football match tonight...)

[thirdcrank]

I hope forum members who've been on here a while will forgive me for recycling this pic. It was published in The Times a couple of years ago without any hint of irony in a report of a scheme where a chain of gyms allowed their facilities to be used during quiet parts of the day by local schools. And it's in York, of all places.

[eileithyia]

As a child I guess I did very little sport but was active. I hated sport at school, it wasn't that I hated the sport it was more the fact I could not run/catch/do gymnastics(climb ropes) etc., so was always last to be picked for team games.
I was however taught to swim outside of school, the result was that when we finally went swimming via school I was in the top class and all those good at other sports were flailing around in the beginner pool. Did my confidence an enormous boost.
An uncle encouraged me to play badminton when they opened a junior club attached to his adult club, it certainly boosted my sporting ability as i went on into senior school.

Move on 10 years and one of the junior school lads (good at every sport and very brainy) was serving pints in our local clearly unfit and with a huge beer belly whilst I was cycling everywhere and attending a gym.


I think the reference to grandparents links in with a previous report a couple of weeks ago. Many children are looked after by grandparents after school, often that valuable time when we would come home and go out again; for me I was often up and down the street on roller skates, scooters and my bike along with the other resident kids.
Very often these children are being fed treats; sweets, cakes, crisps etc. It is a grandparents traditional right to treat grandchildren in such a way, this was ok when it was once a week ie Sat or Sun teatime. But these days it is often 5 days a week, or the care is shared by both sets of grandparents with competition to give treats. If children are being cared for away from their normal home area they may not be with their peers they live near/go to school with and so are removed from that environment where they might "play" out with school friends.

Admittedly some of my friends often cut their days cycling short in order to get home to care for grandchildren, but at least these are the "educated" with regard to sport and grandchildren will be out on bikes with them during holidays. Also it is often Grandad who is on call to take them swimming. But that is just one family.
I guess it is easy for granchparents to collect kids, take them home and let them sit by the tv/computer etc.

[Vega]

This is a problem we face in America. With more and more kids being obese, rather than encouraging sport and activity we are letting them sit in front of the TV or computer playing video games and surfing the Internet. It also seems that diets have changed and there are more junk foods and fast food restaurants to cater to the busy parents who don't have to worry about fixing healthy dinners. School systems are cutting back recess time and gym time as budgets are tightened. I think this is a dangerous epidemic that can be blamed on parents and schools. When I was in school we'd play dodge ball and soccer for at least an hour at school and then we'd head home and play outside all afternoon until it was time for dinner. I think this is becoming a rarity and is hurting our children.

[meic]

I dont agree that it can be blamed on parents and schools. It may appear that way from outside but it rather like blaming the drops of water in a river for its course.
As a parent and an EX-teacher, I have tried swimming against the flow of the river and some of my experiences are posted here. I can list a whole army of obstacles put in the way to prevent me being able to keep children fit and healthy.
When it comes to the teaching side I just couldnt be bothered getting myself into trouble for the sake of OTHER peoples' kids. Why ruin your career, kicking up a fuss and bucking the system for the sake of other peoples' kids. There are postings here about a few of the occasions when things go wrong and the teachers go to court for it.
For the sake of my own kids i have persisted but always I get more and more obstacles. I do not believe I could possibly continue to look after the kids to the required standard if both parents went to work. We are only able to do what is needed because I stay at home full time.

We bought a house within walking distance of a school, they closed the school and the kids now spend over an hour a day on the bus.
The primary school is 3 miles away on a narrow main road without pavements.
If I did send the kids to walk there, the Headmistress would not let them walk home.
They would probably return in a Police car (again!)
In fact any attempt to make my children walk to any event would (and does) get severe social pressure and stigma thrown on me. Also the people to whom they would walk would refuse attendance because they too would get pressurised for having allowed the children to walk to the event.
A lot of things like I have just said are said by parents who are trying to excuse themselves from responsibility, however in my case I am trying to do what is required and suffering for doing so.

I repeatedly get the accusation that I am endangering my children through my reluctance to drive them around in the car. If anything does happen then I am for the chop, there will be witnesses lined up who "knew all along" that it would happen, however if we (as some of them already have) crash in the car, well that would just be unlucky, wouldnt it.
I cant send my son out to play with the other kids because there are no other kids out playing and if there were, the Police would probably come and send them home.

Sorry to get on my hobby horse but as a parent who is fighting for the cause, I can tell you that it is a struggle to do the right thing and that is why most parents fail rather because they choose to do the wrong thing. So blame is not fairly placed on their shoulders.