Apparently kids fitness falls 80% during school holidays??? apparently and I quote "ask any parent and its really hard to get kids to o exercise during school holidays"??? REALLY???
First question I have is, what is meant by physical activity? I live near local park and so my children have access to a field to kick a ball around, run round, cycle etc. The kids have now gone back to school and so the army of kids that have spent the summer outside and now quietly away in classrooms. so the noise levels have dropped,
There's a lot of time spent looking at participation in sport, this only covers part of the picture. recently I had the chance to visit Loughborough University where I stumbled across a fantastic sign next to an unmarked playing field. The sign simply read "turn up and play, there is no need to book this field". now this for me sums up our local open spaces and rather than just peppering our housing estates with "no ball games signs", complement them with "turn up and play area" signs.
I was going to say there is are children in my street but it appears that there are also some adult who do not seem to be able to find a field 50 yard from their house and will play football in the car park. I've watched these kids play and when they have no one else to play with the nuisance starts and I say nuisance in the widest possible sense. one of the most annoying things in the world can be a ball being kicked against the wall of your house or garage doors. when this begins its often easiest to complain to parents or authorities but have you ever tried to play with a ball/football on your own? Its not a boomerang it just doesn't come back and so these children are playing in the street because the field will become boring very quickly (I have a proposal which I will type up and share another time). What i am getting at here is that informal sports play opportunity is vital and investment should always be based on whether we can physically count the number of 'participants'
As for participation in physical activity in schools, for many years i have had a shared the view that as a child progresses through education the amount of time the get to move around reduces due to the pressures of education and so it is my opinion that as a child gets older the school day should be longer. For example years 7-11 having an extra 1 hour day, which could be used to ensure 1 extra hour per week of games/PE for each year group and extra time spent on the basics of Maths English and Sciences. This is only a suggestion and would be dependent of increased funding and resource. There would also need to be more breaks in the day but this is more a detail issue.
Can't outrun a bad diet
- So I have the food police going through my kids lunch box ensuring all flavour is removed just in case it contains trace sugar, avoid sweets and provide fruit or dried fruit
- I have my dentist telling me the kids should only drink water and milk, Dried fruit is apparently really bad for teeth too.
- Is butter good and margarine bad or was that last week,
- Protein is a must if you go to the gym, but meats give you cancer
- Legal highs are banned, well apart from Nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine.
I think its just a case of moderation, Recently I walked through a restaurant where a carvery was being 'served', the impression I got was the patrons had clearly not eaten for a week and would do again for another week. the obsession to get value for money lead to huge plate loads or food piled high. For me this is where to start with diet, balanced meals with the right size portion.
If I've given my children a treat in their lunch box let them enjoy it. They have had cereal for breakfast which has over the last 50 years been fortified with essential vitamins and minerals, they will have a properly cooked dinner when they get home and possibly a bowl of cereal for supper if they are hungry.
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