GYM Class in Public Schools - Should it be Required?

This year seems to be spoiled by a P.E. class. One of my children has asthma and the other one hates dressing out. Each week, I have to talk to my kids about how, "I hated gym and I got through it. You will too!" I detested gym class. I failed it every year because I refused to "dress out."

Then I started thinking about how things change.

When my grandmother was little, they went to the dentist and had work done without painkillers such as Novocaine. Women bore children with no epidurals. That doesn't mean that I would! So, why should I force my children to experience the pain of gym class?

If the school is so concerned about my child's health then why not pay for healthy lunches in the cafeteria? My children have had doctor's orders NOT to eat lunch at school. My pediatrician says school lunches are terrible for kids! She told my oldest to choose three days each month that she wants to eat at school and the remainder she had to take healthy food.

Is that why they insist on gym? So they can exercise off the fat they ingested at lunch?

I do agree that it is healthy for kids but sometimes the mental stress can far outweigh (pun intended) the benefits of running a lap in gym three times each week. What is WRONG is that we force kids to take a class they do not want to take. Didn't we learn a long time ago that it is wrong to force a lefty to write with their right hand?

If kids want to participate in gym class and take gym that is wonderful! If they don't why force them? Someone PLEASE tell me how my children will benefit from this experience. It seems masochistic to force this on them week after week. Not every child is coordinated or enjoys playing sports. They end up being ridiculed and how many kids have horror stories about being picked last in gym class?

How many females have had to examine their self image in the presence of 50 to 100 other girls? Now it's all coed too. I see huge issues with this as far as self esteem and I don't understand why we force it. We wouldn't force Art class each year or make a child play a musical instrument that frustrated them so we could tell them it was "good for them!"

My kids are very involved in sports. One is involved in gymnastics and the other has played on an organized softball team for four years. It isn't that kids don't like sports either sometimes, it's simply about performing in front of others. That is a skill and a talent many don't want to work on. I say their time can be better spent allowing them to engage in a class that would help them in their future instead of leaving them with horrible memories of gym.

Don't even try to say that "public school is helping these obese children" or I will have to ask you to meet me for lunch, in a school cafeteria!

 

 

 

I think we should allow kids to choose if they want to take part in gym class in public schools. It should not be manadatory for those who are hurt by it - each and every class!

Keep It REAL!