Inactive children.

[AliasAggers]

British children are among the least active in the world, an international study has warned. Research comparing the activity levels of children in 38 countries across the world put England, Wales and Scotland behind countries like Ireland, Slovenia and the United Arab Emirates.

No wonder there is so much child obesity.

Well - who's fault is it? Should our schools be including more physical activity in their
curriculum? Or should parents undertake this responsibility? How much is this problem a result of modern technology? Should parents be stricter in insisting that their children spend less time looking at an electronic screen? And should parents complain to the schools for putting their children's homework on the Internet - who's daft idea was that? There is no doubt in my mind that the human race is going on a downhill path when it comes to living a healthy life. And hardly anyone seems to care a damn as long as they have an electric plaything to twiddle their thumbs and gaze upon.

Well, what do you think?

[Suff]

Maybe there should be more games like Pokémon Go???



Let's face it the genie is out of the bottle with technology. We're not going to stuff it back in so, perhaps, we should be using it to generate the effect we want??

I see a lot of dead horses and discarded whips. About time we were a lot smarter about it.

[saundra]

I have to say I feel like throwing the grandchildren mobiles in the bin when they visit but there mum is fixed to hers as well
One of the big problems for parents tho is 24/7worry about are your children safe to play out
Will they get bullied and such it's a great worry I do think schools should make sport and stuff compulsory tho

[Suff]

That would have worked for me. They insisted on Tennis and Cricket and Football till they found out I was OK at Rugby and the fastest track sprinter of the year, plus a few other seconds in the field events. So, after 1st year I was in the School team for Rugby and Athletics.

Wasn't so sure about all that learning and remembering stuff though. They always seemed to think I could do better...

[Workingman]

The technology genie is certainly out of the bottle, so not much we can do about that.

The same goes for the bogeyman round every corner - it isn't true, but the perception is there.

For many modern parents regular out-of-school activities, are not an option due to time constraints or costs.

That, unfortunately, puts schools at the forefront, but they make all sorts of excuses not to do it.

My primary school days had one period every day when we did 'games'. We were either outside in the playground or in the hall cum gym. At secondary we also had PE twice a week and one morning or afternoon for sports. The school day was also longer, probably to accommodate exercise periods. Primary was 8:30 to 3:30, and secondary was 8:30 to 4:00.

[TheOstrich]

At secondary we also had PE twice a week and one morning or afternoon for sports.

Same here from what I remember. Sports were rugby for 1 1/2 terms, cross country for 1/2 term, and cricket for the summer term. Tennis and hockey were options (I took tennis over cricket) and as we had 8 "houses" in the school, all the sports were competitive. Plus, every lunch break, we all played football (although frowned upon by the authorities).

Some schools now are doing away with both competitive and organised sports, and trialling Wellbeing classes, whatever they might be. (Times article last week).

[JoM]

Joe left secondary school this Summer. During his first four years there PE was one period a week, an hour, but time would be eaten away by getting to the changing rooms depending where on the school's split site that the previous lesson was and, of course, getting changed at the beginning and end. They had a small gym that could be used at lunchtimes but it really was small and as time went on equipment broke and wasn't replaced. In all of his time there (and in the seven years that Tom was there) the swimming pool was in need of repairs and was out of use.

In his last year, GCSE year, it was dropped from the timetable completely for his year group apart from those studying sports subjects at GCSE. They weren't replaced by the Wellbeing classes that Ossie mentioned.

We worked out though that with walking to and from school, and around the large school site to classes, he was walking close to 7 miles per day.

I think that the fact that more children now are driven everywhere is a factor. You only have to look at the difference in the amount of cars on the road at school run times during school holidays. There's a secondary school I have to walk past when I go to the gym in a morning and it's chaotic with the amount of cars stopping on a busy A road to let children out, children who are of an age when they should be able to get themselves out and get to school.

[Workingman]

When the secondary school my two went to was knocked down and relocated about 100m away the road layout was changed to allow access to the staff car park and for deliveries. It was chaos.

First thing was double yellows about 250m either side of the school, but they might as well have not bothered... till the police stepped in. Tickets were issued on a regular basis much to the dismay of mummy and daddy. So they then started driving into the estate opposite and using the tenant's parking bays as drop-off points. Back came the police and put officers on the roads into the estate. It took some time, but the message eventually got through.

The local shopping centre with Asda is about 400m from the school and it is a hub for five bus routes. Most children now either walk or catch a bus. If the will is there these things can be sorted out.

[JoM]

The school I pass is about 200 yards away from the leisure centre. There's a huge car park there and at school run times it's mostly empty so the council have given permission for it to be used for dropping off and picking up but very few parents use it.

When Joe was at junior school there was a situation pretty much like you described, the wardens were called in to give warnings and tickets for repeat offenders but they weren't there every time and people would chance it.

One who used to make me shake my head though was Joe's best friend's mother. Little Luke and his family lived no more than 300 yards away from the school. You know what's coming don't you! Yep, his mother would drive him to and from school.
The ridiculous thing was, she'd be late most times because she couldn't find anywhere to park on the road outside

[cromwell]

Part of the reason is that the national curriculum is so crammed now that schools have just reduced exercise way down from what it was when I was at school.
In the last two years at school we had PE on Monday, rugby training after school on Tuesday, double games on Wednesday afternoon, rugby training after school on Thursday, PE on Friday and a match on Saturday. We had a good team; if we couldn't outplay them we could generally out run them!
In summer we had athletics and cricket. One day i athletics we had to run 200 meters, walk back to the start, run 200 meters.. we did it six times and by gum it was hard. I think they'd lock the PE teacher up for child cruelty these days!
When my kids were at school the last sports day they had was when they were 14. There was a bit of running and football but not much. When my son's year got to the High School the first sports day they had, they run a mile race (or a 1500, can't remember). There were only three finishers! All of whom had played football for the village team since the age of seven.
Add this into the rise of technology and hand held devices and it's not hard to see why some kids aren't as fit now.