Health at School: Dreading Gym Classby Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger 22 Aug 2009 04:13 PM Call it gym class or P.E. or phys ed -- the words usually bring up a lot of memories for adults. You may recall moments of triumph or moments of embarrassment or moments of pain. Physical education is often an unpleasant part of the school day -- especially for kids who aren't athletic. So how do you help your kids get through the physical side of education? Remember that the most important part of gym class is the physical part -- an opportunity to get up and get moving on a regular basis. Helping kids find the sports they love might help create a lifelong love of activity (one big step in reducing obesity). Changing the perspective on gym class may make it less torturous. A few things to love about P.E.
One thing to be wary of with P.E. is injury. According to a study from the National Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, gym class injuries are on the rise. Middle school children seem to be the most likely to get injured during gym class. Particular sports seem to be more injury prone than others: running, basketball, football, volleyball, soccer and gymnastics. Parents and teachers both can help prevent gym class injuries. Parents can help children work on flexibility and balance -- two things that can help avoid falls. Teachers can make sure activity spaces are safe and clear, and make sure sports participants are playing it safe. What's your favorite gym class memory? Sharing it with your kids might help make them less anxious about physical education time at school. Gym can be fun -- for me it was the most fun when it wasn't competitive. Walking laps around the track with my friends was fun. Playing with the parachute as a little kid was fun. And discovering that there were sports I actually liked was great. What did you hate most about gym class? Talking about that with your kids might be useful, too -- when put in a positive light. If you were uncomfortable in gym class because you weren't good at sports, this could be an opportunity to talk about how everyone isn't good at the same things, and how your child may be good at something else... or may not have found his or her best sport yet. Just because a parent was miserable in gym class doesn't mean the child should hate it too... and vice versa. It may be hard for an athletic parent to understand what an unathletic child is going through. Try to put yourself in your child's shoes! Learn more about Aimee Amodio  Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover... Relevanthealth tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Community Tags back to school, gym class, phys ed, physical education Discuss this article
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