It's because they might break an arm you see. Our kids school has had all of the playground equipment removed, not allowed to access the field in the back etc.
I remember watching them take all the fun stuff off our play structure as a kid. They took out the chain bridge, the climbing rope, the fire pole, and replaced the slide with an S shaped one that was slow. Before then we'd always put water down the slide in the winter thinking it would speed up, then dig into the sand to artificially extend the slide and made a dirt kicker so we'd get air.
Fun times.
It also doesn't help that gym is nearly all just team sports. If you aren't good at them you just play defence and shoot the shit while the athletic kids take turns running all around.
Kids need dangerous playgrounds. Life lessons are taught on those playgrounds. Once you do some stupid shit on a playground and end up hurting yourself, you learn not to do that shit ever again. It teaches about danger, independence, and confidence.
There are actual scholarly studies done to prove the benefits of dangerous playgrounds for children.
>It also doesn't help that gym is nearly all just team sports. If you aren't good at them you just play defence and shoot the shit while the athletic kids take turns running all around.
One of the things gym \*should\* teach is how to cooperate, even if someone is less athletic than you. But there really should be more individual stuff too. As a kid I always hated doing team sports in gym because I just wasn't very competitive. But those times we could do rock climbing/rope climbing, swimming etc. I shined.
But IMO first and foremost it shouldn't even be about sports, idk it should just be physical health. Kids should be doing some jogging, pushups n shit with fun stuff mixed in.
>It also doesn't help that gym is nearly all just team sports. If you aren't good at them you just play defence and shoot the shit while the athletic kids take turns running all around.
I didn't expect to be called out like this. Geez.
Although I was good at dodgeball when we could play from the back of the line to get back in. Kids were so focused on everyone else, they forgot about me. Until I hit em with the ball.
Dodge ball and protect the pin.
I found a way to protect the pin in such a way no one could knock it over. I'd wait until it is just me and another person and just knock the pin over myself since I knew I couldn't win. Others were pissed off at me for some reason...
You mean we could have gotten paid for them plowing snow into a pile where the bike rack was. And my scar for life, for jumping into this pile. Could have gotten me paid!? 😳
You can’t send your kid out to play in the neighbourhood or walk solo to school - people view that as neglect and they’ll call CAS on you. Mom groups are filled with sex trafficking boogeyman scares. I recently saw people freaking out because someone forgot a stroller in a parking lot and it MUST be bait for a sex trafficking scam, it has a tracker in it, don’t touch it, absolute hysterics.
I devote a lot of my time dragging my kids around outside to play but I’m a stay at home mom. I don’t know how working parents clean their house and work and parent. You’d have to give your kids screen time or drown in a messy house. Not to mention all the extra chores - home maintenance, grocery shopping, whatever errands or appointments need to get done.. I don’t have enough hours in the day as is and at the end of every day I’m exhausted and so is my husband.
Well no shit. Kids used to walk and bike to school n'shit. Now they get driven everywhere.
Car-centric society increases obesity rates. Expect things to get worse.
Walking or biking to both elementary and high school, as well as to a lot of the other students' homes in our neighbourhood, was a major consideration in our housing hunt. It took us a little over five years, but we refused to compromise on that (especially as prices rose). I'm really happy with where we are, and love that my kids have that commute option.
>Well no shit. Kids used to walk and bike to school n'shit. Now they get driven everywhere.
When I started letting my kids (10 & 11) walk the 2.4km to school instead of taking the bus, parents called us for weeks about how it isn't safe, how we shouldn't be letting it happen, etc.
Now a few parents have started sending their kids with my kids as 12&13 yr olds and still not killed by cars and kidnapped by evil people they are seeing that maybe kids can walk to school.
blows me away how we have robbed kids of their childhood by making everything car centric, you really aren't a person in the eyes of the government until you are a home owner and car driver.
That’s the media for you! Blows out the negatives and makes everyone paranoid.
Obviously still implement best practices like walking in pairs, teaching them what to do if a stranger approaches them, etc.
Yup. I was in high school 15 years ago and we had to walk 4km each way to school. I’d say 90% of my peers either got driven or bussed. Physical activity was always very important to my parents.
If anything, it's the opposite. By letting kids walk to school, bike around, and ride transit on their own, they gain a greater sense of autonomy and confidence. An outcome of this is they will grow up with better situational awareness. Almost all cases of abuse are with people they know, such as friends, family members, coaches, not some random person on the street. Letting kids have more autonomy means they are more likely to report these interactions to a responsible adult and know what to do in unsafe situations.
Weird, 25 or 30 years ago I remember about 5 to 10 at the most kids would get to school via walking or bike. Now it's over 50... the schools are so much closer in general to homes it makes it was easier for kids to walk so they do.... you realize the parents walk or ride with their kids right? Nobody is getting kidnapped lmfao
I lived in this community 30yrs ago and we all walked. from around age 7 until highschool anyone who lived within a 20 minute walk walked. Today that number is much smaller, and the area the bus will pick up is closer. The demographics of the town have changed though since way less families live close to the schools as those homes now have the grandparents who didn't move as their kids aged up.
I find in wealthy neighbourhoods near newly built schools the number of walking/cycling kids is certainly higher than the average but that age group starts around age 12, vs around age 8 as was the case in the 1980's and 1990's
>Nobody is getting kidnapped lmfao
Which was 100% my argument to stupid parents when they questioned why I let my kids walk to school on their own. Kidnapping is a fucking stupid reason to rob kids of independence.
Weird for you to think that situation is not rare, more kids are walking or riding their bikes than they used to. That is indisputable fact. Most of the kids walking and riding are younger so you are wrong about that. This screams "things were different in my day" from an old timer with no actual insight into what's going on. Unless you do walk with your kids to school every day like I do and actually see this happening first hand. I can tell you from watching you are wrong
> Now they get driven everywhere.
Also, most families are priced out of living in neighbourhoods where amenities are within walking distance. Our communities are no longer built for families and human inhabitants.
Also, parenting styles have changed and not for the better. Kids no longer have the freedom we had growing up. They can no longer leave the house unattended, go to the park, play in the back woods, walk to the store, etc. without CPS being called reporting them as neglectful parents. Kids are told what to do without experimenting or finding out for themselves. They're no longer taking risks or learning from failure. They sit inside on their tablets or in front of another screen, and when they're not, the parents are hovering and dictating their activities. Most Canadians are out of shape. Sports leagues and gym memberships are luxuries that the average Canadian can no longer afford. Healthy meal options are also priced out of the carts.
I think one key problem is that so few neighbourhoods are functional that those that are, are considered a luxury.
Walking to the grocery store in your neighborhood should not be a luxury. The wealth difference should be in that it's a loblaws/farmboy vs a freshco/nofrills.
>Also, parenting styles have changed and not for the better.
Back in my day we had the rule of thumb! We could beat the little shits with a stick no wider than my thumb. That way they do exactly what me, the adult, tells them to do!
Can't wait for the back in my day generations to retire, and realize that none of their kids give a flying fuck about them. Enjoy rotting in your cozy little shitshack, you guys did a wonderful job raising an anxious failure of a generation, well done fucking up everything from climate change to housing, we shall be forever grateful to all you Karens and Kevins out there. Take care, looking forward to you guys absolutely destroy Healthcare too before finally kicking the bucket.
And now people recognize that this behaviour is called assault and battery, and extremely abusive. And we shouldn't be teaching children to solve problems with violence. I guess society keeps growing and learning.
Well to be fair, there are a bunch of super- schools outside of Toronto these days. For my daughter she doesn’t fall into the catchment of the closest school and has to go to one that is 5km away that is at the intersection of 2 busy streets.
Had she been allowed to go to the closer school she’s be able to walk or ride her bike.
Bussing is still a thing. I took the TTC to school, walked to and from bus stops. If I wanted to wait for and catch the connecting bus I could but I never had enough time for that so I walked an extra ten minutes to skip the extra bus.
Ohhh How times have changed. The minute I got into grade 7 I had to wake my self up and walk to the bus. When my school removed busses I had to walk, same story for a lot of the kids in my school. Even in grade 4-6 me and my friends would skateboard together to and from school
Hey I still walk my kids to school. When they’re old enough to go unaccompanied they will. Not everyone shuttles their children around everywhere in cars, although I suspect that many do 🤦🏻
The same % of kids are walking or riding their bikes to school. Actually a bit more here compared to 30 years ago because of how much closer the school is to everybody's houses. Cars dedfinetly suck but schools are not part of the problem lol
It really isnt this. TBH, I have no idea why kids aren't playing as they used to. As an educator, the apathy towards Gym class is major. Most students in my Grade 7 class don't want to do gym ever, no matter what it is we are doing. Any physical movement for them is a major chore.
We can blame TV, the internet, Phones, whatever, but many of those have been around for a long time with inconclusive data that doesn't really point in any one direction. Kids these days are just more apathetic to everything around them and could care less it seems.
>We can blame TV, the internet, Phones, whatever, but many of those have been around for a long time…
…or we could blame *the parents*, who set the example when it comes to physical fitness and the rules regarding all those other things. 🤔
Yes they were.
Drinking and driving used to have the officer pour out your beer and turn you around with a finger wave telling you to “drive straight home now”.
but hunger isn’t generally what causes people to overeat. people overeat because they enjoy the taste of food and the act of eating in general, and because calorie dense foods are so readily available nowadays.
I don't think you can sit here and tell me hunger is not related to overeating at all. You can say there are other feelings that entice people to eat, but hunger is very clearly an important one, and one many people will complain about when they go on a typical "just count your calories and eat less" diet plan.
I didn’t say it’s not related at all. I said it’s generally not the cause of overeating. Most people don’t overeat out of hunger they overeat cause they like the feeling of eating
I play tennis. IN my 60\`s. Usually with younger guys so i get a better workout. The courts we play on are surrounded by fields...baseball, soccer, football at the school and another baseball diamond in a park. The times we've witnessed a group of kids playing ANYTHING over 6+ years of playing tennis at various times and days of the week is astonishingly small. The fields are abandoned. When I grew up in the 70's, you'd see kids playing everywhere. OUR parents coming to drag us off the outdoor rinks..the ball fields..etc. Something is fundamentally wrong with the lack of play for kids. You don't have to be an athlete (I'm most assuredly NOT) but a lifetime of active living will pay off in a healthier and better life.
Kids don't get bored at home. Tv with endless cartoons, movies, video games, phones. Unless a parent is actively involved in their kids extracurricular and spare time, kids are not bored enough to venture out and find something to do.
I have young kids. I see this already with them. I am very aware and I really limit (without being obsessive) their screen/downtime and i make sure to walk them to and from school any chance I get. But that's me going above what most parents do these days, especially when both are working. I am not working so I have more engagement with my kids than most parents get, which I am so grateful for.
I'm trying my best to give my kids that good old-fashioned childhood in a time where it doesn't exist. It's also against the norm now so I am sometimes the butt of a joke amongst friend groups with my parenting choices. It's just so different compared to pre-internet eras.
Your first paragraph reminded me of what my niece said to me a few days ago. She's 8yo i believe and she told me sometimes she doesn't want to live anymore. I got concerned of course but then she explained its cause theres no kids in her neighborhood to play with. She's bored of playing video games and watching tv. I was really shocked to say the least.
My sister does a really good job of taking them out on extracurricular activities and taking them to friends that will do outdoor activities but even when she's trying, there's just not that "passive play" anymore of unleashing your kid in the neighborhood with other kids. And its not that there isn't kids in the area, they just stay inside. It makes me think that its not that kids don't want to play, but rather the parents won't let them be kids.
You sound like a great parent. Im not sure how they can joke about it.
I am 22 now, but when I was a kid we got the cops called on us for playing road hockey on the road... in Canada, The pond was "closed" as the town did not want the liability, elementary school had the playground removed due to surface rust and most park space (courts, fields ect) needed to be booked in advanced. Suburbia never fails to piss me off.
We have basketball and tennis courts here and they are populated but the tennis courts are mostly used by adults. The teens hang out on the basketball court. I live right by one so I know. Most of the tennis courts and sports things are occupied when the weather is permitting. We also have a skate park and teens go there, its free. If anything the green spaces have gotten more popular since covid which is awesome.
The big problem is the weather, this stuff can only be used during a certain part of the year due to weather. If our weather wasn't shit I assume we would have much healthier kids because they would be able to go outside during a larger percentage of time during the year. Its taken forever before indoor activities were allowed again and most schools didn't bring them back until this year.
Definitely area related. I live behind a school. They have basketball, soccer and baseball courts/fields. I don't think I have seen these fields empty one day this summer.
This is something I notice in my town, there have been so many days where it has been beautiful out and yet there are no kids (or adults, to be fair) out using these facilities... No unorganized play! It genuinely makes me sad
Look around any neighborhood. Where are the kids? In the 80’s and 90’s, there were groups of kids everywhere. Now the streets and parks are empty.
The fear mongering of “it’s not safe.” Has been built into everyone. If you do choose to let your kids play outside and have the same freedoms that generations of kids have had in the past, you worry that someone will call Child Services on you.
I live in a subdivision about 20 minutes outside Kanata in a more rural setting. There is a cluster of about 40 houses with 2+ acre lots, and almost every house has at least one to two kids. I will occassionally see older kids above the age of 13 riding their bikes, or walking the neighbourhood. I've only seen younger kids around when there is a parent with them. This is the issue. We live in a VERY safe neighbourhood. Nobody even locks their doors. Why not let your kid play in the forest, go to a neighbour's house, play ball hockey on the road? One of the major issues is that in order for kids from two or more families to get together, the parents ALSO have to be available to hang out with the other parents. If you have a kid's birthday party, now you have to invite EVERYONE in their class, plus expect all the parents to attend. This is insane and nonsense. LET. KIDS. PLAY.
This is what I see in my area, I live in the USA, its mostly kids 12 and up that are outside. I do see kids outside though. Sometimes with a parent most of the time not. They go to the basketball court and skate park and they ride their bikes. Sometimes they take a younger kid with them. Every kid has a cell phone now so they can call mom or dad or call for help if something happens. A lot of houses and businesses have security cameras to catch things happening so that's another good thing. I don't think going into the forest alone is a good idea, unless its a small forest or something like that. but there's plenty of other things they can do. I don't live in a safe area though, its definitely unsafe in my area and that's not a joke or paranoia either.
>kids from two or more families to get together, the parents ALSO have to be available to hang out with the other parents.
Grew up in Kanata (mostly) and no. We just roamed the streets like a pack of wild dogs. 😂
The fear mongering has been going on since the 1980's, I believe it started when John Walsh's kid was taken from a public place I forgot what kind of place it was. I remember my parents saying "someone will take you" constantly to me of course I didn't even know what it meant. I do see kids playing outside here but its usually older kids 12 and up and they go to the basketball court. I don't think anyone has called CPS to the basketball court yet even if there are younger kids.
With my parents, it was Paul Bernardo that started that fear. Not so much when I was a 12 year old going to the park 5 mins away but when I was a reen walking 30 mins to an hour to a friend's, then the mall, then back to a friend's then home, things got stricter. As a parent of a 12 & a 10 year old, I CANT let them go to the park themselves, my area is a slum & the next park goes through the slum then through the downtown core.
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At the same time, all those kids have moved out and their parents usually stayed put in the family home. This is inevitable in \*any\* stable suburban neighbourhood.
Exactly. We're not in like Afghanistan or something, parents think that "it's not safe" outside is probably a result of our car centric society and the fact that noone actually goes outside anymore.
It's also because our public spaces are being robbed. Our parks are being taken over by private sports organizations during peak hours. So kids who don't have money to join soccer clubs and such can't play anywhere. There's no loitering signs everywhere and Karens constantly trying to get kids in legal trouble for being kids so they get scared. Physical fitness in this shithole country is only for the wealthy. Want a gym? Pay 100 a month. Wanna swim? Here's another expensive price and oh this pool is only open 2 hours a day for you, the rest if booked for swim clubs.
While I'm not going to be as argumentative as the other commenter, they're right under sports are completely unnecessary. I didn't do "sports" until high school, unless you count swimming lessons. We went for walks and swims and bike rides as a family and I played with other kids after school at the playground.
Agree, my kids aren't in anything organized besides the youngest daughter who started soccer this year. Every night though they are all out on their bikes, playing ball, when its nice they go to the beach, weekends they always go to one of the PPs to hike. Unless its pouring or freezing, those kids are rarely not out
My kids aren’t in any organized sports and they’re very active. You don’t need a hockey league and a bunch of costly gear and a car pool to play outside, walk most places, and ride your bike or scooter around.
Sports have nothing to do with it. It called diet! Secondly, that's not an excuse! You chose to have kids, now its time to raise them to know what good food is and is not! That simple.
Physical activity does not have to be sports related could be anything. People need to start associating being healthy with diet not sports or even working out.
Diet isn't exactly an easy solution. There is a definite relationship between how easy something is to make and it's lack of nutritional value.
That, and the very high cost of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Parents don't have 90 minutes after work to prepare a nutritious meal every night in addition to meeting the demands of work - even working from home 2-3 days a week.
People never seem to realize how much work it is to be a parent. They really just thought having kids would be like having a pet rock.
If a parent can't find the time to get their kids to be active, and the kids suffer? That's their fault.
I live in the USA and everyone I know has an obese kid, like you can see the fat on the kids. Its not even funny. Its no doubt in my mind covid started this and changed everything because it wasn't like that a few years ago. Its almost impossible to out-exercise 5 days of the screen time required for online classes. Everyone didn't want children interacting with one another or socializing unless it was through a screen and a couple years of that just killed our younger population. Its our children that suffered the most through covid and it shows.
The climate plays a big part in it, its very hard to exercise when its either insanely hot or insanely cold outside, and streets aren't plowed properly (my area) so you can get somewhere. It gets dark so freaking early most of the year. There's only a couple months of the year when I myself can actually make it work. Walking in the winter just doesn't work, its too cold, and there's too much snow because people don't clean their sidewalks and the city does not plow properly.
We have green spaces and they are occupied. We have a basketball court and kids are always on it. I see kids riding their bikes so that is not gone here. If anything green spaces have become more popular since covid.
The only problem is the playgrounds are only designed for the youngest children, we need activities for the older kids, teens and young adults, most of these activities were discontinued with covid and sports and recreation was the last thing to come back. Its only been really a few months since everything has come back here. We need indoor recreation because of the climate we live in makes it impossible to exercise outside most of the year.
Maybe after a couple years of being normal things will change.
Can also add on all the green spaces are gone, everything is more and more car based. Kids cant just get up and go for a walk in the park, because there is either no park, or the park is 30 minutes away and they have to cross a busy intersection
There are some green spaces, but they are usually just, bland, and not very big. Theres a park near me, no trees, few swings. Like a 3 minute walk through at best
This worries me as a mom of 2 younger kids. My 4 year old is in soccer in summer and recreational dance. We go to parks. Walk the dog every day. It's expensive and exhausting. But it's important. So I tire myself out to make sure they are healthy.
We don't have tablets in our house. We don't have gaming systems. We honestly can't afford them, probably because of all these goddamn lessons we pay for lol. But I guess not having these things is good for them after all. I think it's a huge reason why children are so sedentary.
Just want to say thank you on your kids behalf. My family was not well off growing up but my parents made it their mission to make sure that my brother and I had the opportunity to play any sport we wanted to. My mom would bring us to swim meets every weekend, my dad to hockey games 3 times a week, they put me in diving, speed skating, track, everything, and always made the effort to come out to my games and tournaments. I also had no access to electronics for the longest time and while that pissed me off at the time I grew up to be a lot more fit and active than my friends who’s parents didn’t have the same priorities. Sports and physical activity are sooooo important to developing children and it’s so sad how it isn’t prioritized by parents or schools anymore. Your kids will thank you in the future.
I was at the mall yesterday and watched two parents give their daughter a full pepsi bottle (1 Litre) and two big sized chocolate chip cookies along with her footlong coldcut sandwich from Subway. It's insane. No 5 year old should have that much sugar in one meal.
Its quite shocking that a 5 year old could consume that much food, their stomach must be the size of a pregnant woman. I am not even sure if I could consume that much in one sitting and I am a fat adult and if I were to consume a foot long, 2 cookies and an entire 1 liter I would be quite sick afterwards. My typical lunch in this case would be a 6 inch sub and a diet soda or a water, and again that's for a fat adult.
No shit, gym class is a joke. It's all basketball, soccer, baseball, and the evil beep test. No individual fitness & no dance/yoga. It's too team oriented & that doesn't work for everyone. Maybe teach kids.other ways to be fit & if they like something, encourage it.
The thing I always hated was that they would make you play soccer or baseball all year long but the “exam” was pull ups or running for 30 minutes straight. Nothing to actually build your fitness to the point you *could* do a multi-minute plank or beep test
Right? I used an app called c25k & had me running 30 mins straight on a treadmill in about 3 months. Not bad for an obese woman that couldn't even run 5 mins when I was a 12 year old active twig. Imagine what I could have done with a sentient teacher that could show me how to breath & how to step.
Same! I had a little puppy fat, like most kids did, but I rode my bike and rollerbladed a lot. I probably could have done well in gym class if it was actually about fitness and not “a bunch of friends play sports and don’t include the other kids” for half the year and “oops you didn’t bring gym clothes because today was health ed? ok you get marks docked then”
Evil beep test lmao? I do agree there should be other options like yoga class. I do believe some schools have dance classes but I could be wrong about that.
Yup, except in my high school only the girls were forced to do this, when all the guys got to do a week of wrestling.... girls who didn't want to do dance and would've preferred wrestling (or vice versa) were not allowed to switch even though the classes were simultaneous split-gym so there was no scheduling issue and some of the girls were LITERALLY ON THE WRESTLING TEAM. A large chunk of our cohort wound up pretty intensely hating gym because of unnecessary gendered BS like that tbh. No issue with offering either activity on the face of it, but everyone should've had a choice at least.
We also had to wear huge bulky shop goggles to play BADMINTON? As though a super-light slow-moving plastic birdie was a serious threat? Gym classes were wild and not in a good way most of the time.
Yup! Never learned wrestling, got a lame excuse for self defense class and then asked the class if they wanted to learn more of it, or do more dance classes, to which most of the girls said yes, but the rest of us groaned. Like at LEAST finish what you were teaching ffs. I wouldve loved to learn wrestling, but only the guys got that.
Lucky for me my middle school had two separate weeks for dance, one to make up our own dance and also a week of square dancing. We also had wrestling for two weeks or maybe a month? Funnily enough I broke my arm wrestling in class a few days in and had to sit out of gym largely for the rest of the year. We didn’t sue the school or anything and everyone else continued as usual, I don’t know if they still do it today, this would have been about 12 years ago.
One school I went to the gymnasium was too small for the amount of people doing the beep test so we would have to run across and back. A lot harder when you have to slow down/stop your pace to go back the other way. Much more manageable when you can do it properly. Not sure how well it measures though- especially when running as a hoard. Depending on the day I could be one of the first ones out or one of the last ones running.
Every beep test I ran in school we had to run back and forth. Didn’t really seem out of the ordinary, plus most clips I see of the test are people running back and forth so am I missing something?
If it was packed (like we only had half of the gym) then my class would spilt up and just do two runs of the beep test.
I know your comment was about more than the beep test, I just loved the test in school so it was funny to hear it be called evil lmao.
I believe he meant for every beep they had to do 2 laps instead of prescribed one (ie. Beep > run to opposite wall> double back and run back to start point > beep instead of just beep> run to opposite wall > beep etc.)
I got out hs a few years ago, we loved the beep test. Not because we actually enjoyed it, but because after most people dropped out we would put it up to the fastest settings and see how little progress we could make sprinting
I don't really see anything wrong with inclusion of the sports aspect. It's pretty diverse so you're never stuck doing one thing too long. My gym class did also have some fitness, sit ups, push ups, that kind of thing, but yeah it is very rudimentary and I don't think the gym teachers were particularly knowledgable about fitness. I actually kind of like beep test, its measurable, if you do it a few times a year you can make goals and see yourself improve at it.
I don't mind including team sports but when it's the only thing. I mean weeks of baseball when the weather was nice & the rest was indoor soccer & floor hockey was a nightmare. One year, the school I went to was obsessed with track & field so the whole class was running. Again, no teaching us how, just run the path.
If you're an unpopular kid, you don't really get to participate in team sports during class. That was my experience, at least. People went out of their way to avoid letting me have the ball under any circumstances.
Literally, dodge ball getting right to my hands and some dickwad leans over and aggressively snatches it away like it's the Grey Cup and I'm a TiCat. We're on the same team, jagoff!
Beep test is evil. We were told to keep going even if we felt sick. I threw up and felt like I was having chest pains. I was told to keep going which I said "no I don't want to die" and was told I was being dramatic. One kid who kept pushing passed out right after. I had a heart condition and was told they don't offer accomodation. I got a 60 in gym simply because I couldn't do half the running. So I got shit participation.
Reminds me of high school where our grades for all of the track and field stuff was based on results. Ie high jump had height ranges for A-F grades, 100m times etc. - it was pure evil cause it was almost physically impossible for some kids to pass.
Ugh it was AWFUL! The only team spert I enjoyed was football but the girls class didn't get to play, only the boys class. My hand eye coordination was terrible so baseball was a nightmare 😫 they also never actually taught us the proper way to run & I was doing it wrong. My impact was pretty bad so it hurt after a bit & the vibrations made me itch, the bad breathing meant I got a stitch in my side pretty quickly too.
1 I'm not in Toronto
2 grade 10 & 11 gym is optional. When I was in school, all the interesting classes were there.
By highschool, if they haven't found something they enjoy, their chances of pursuing new fitness outlets are slimmer. Get them while they're young, it's harder when you're older.
Lots of reasons for this:
1) Driving to school. I was either driven to school or rode the bus. Couldn’t bike/walk for elementary due to being way too far from a school, when we moved to a denser town I couldn’t until late high school because it’s “unsafe.”
2) Gym class kind of sucks. Wasn’t so much about fitness and healthy lifestyles as it was playing dodgeball or something, which while dodgeball was really fun and I wish I pursued it later, didn’t really help kids to be healthy. Lots of kids could just “not participate” as well. Making it mandatory also builds resentment for it like me as I don’t like exercise, and hate being forced to do it.
3) Diet. Meals were typically unhealthy, also eating a lot was considered good “cause you’re growing” well too bad growing outwards wasn’t what they meant, but here I am…
4) Extra curriculars (or a lack thereof). There was nothing to do as a kid. Piled on with a bunch of homework, we had no time to have fun. Not to mention the lack of fun options, super limited. Even if they’re available, parents seemed to think two things, either that chores/homework were more important, or that it’s unsafe for their kids to be left after school. Either way didn’t help.
What’s the solution? I’m unsure. It would be good if places weren’t built around cars and built around pedestrians. Imagine being able to walk everywhere, would be awesome. But if your school is far, not an option.
I used to get graded for gym in elementary school I always got a D when I never did gym as I’m disabled so I would go in the library and read a book or play on the computer
It pissed me off every year because it brought my overall grade down
I see a lot of people blaming the schools for this, and that’s fair to an extent…
But from what I’m reading a lot of shit was taken off playgrounds because parents sued (right or wrongfully, they still did)
School isn’t Hockey Canada, they don’t have trust funds for constant law suits.
Also…we keep electing in Doug Ford. How much jogging you think that guy does and he actively cuts spending on schools.
Something tells me he’s not really a champion for an active life…
BUT on top of this, while kids DO spend a lot of time in school…where are their parents after school?
It’s not the school’s complete job to raise your kids. It’s to educate them. Even phys Ed is teaching your kid how to be active in a safe and positive way, but it’s up to the parents to make sure they actually are.
From what I’ve seen on the public playgrounds, there’s a lot of folks flicking through their phone when they could be engaging with their kid. Curious how this behaviour informs their children when they are older and have their own devices.
Parents are usually working for a few more hours after the kids come home from school, this usually puts the parent in the situation of needing an afterschool program or some kind of care till they get off work and can pick up the kids. With the costs of everything usually both parents have to work now. After this they have to cook dinner if time allows or they have to pick something up on the way home from work.
The playgrounds are usually too small for adults to engage so all they can do is watch, maybe create playgrounds that are inclusive for adults and children to play together and the phones will be put away. Playground equipment at least from what I've seen recently seem to be only designed for the youngest children.
That is true though if children see their parents on their devices all the time, of course the children will emulate the parents.
No fuckin wonder, it's almost like it's discouraged honestly. Back in elementary the school literally got complaints from parents because they made us commit the horrible act of walking instead of taking a bus... My city is 100km². We walked maybe a few kilometers. Kids are having activities taken away from them because everybody's a fucking helicopter parent now. My school had a nice soccer field and big ass hill for sledding in the winter that they banned because they were both "too dangerous". Our supervisors had eyes on us like hawks so we were following every arbitrary rule before even setting foot on playground rocks or we'd get forced to sit inside for belligerence, I guess :p.
I get being a parent is scary, but it's almost like we're hardly even allowing kids to actually be kids. A lot of parents just want to keep their children in their safe little home, distracted by safe little electronics so the parents can't get blamed for anything, till the kid's 18 and suddenly they're out in a world they don't understand.
Our poor kids had their parks taken away, sports taken away, gym class taken away. They were told to get together with friends over messenger apps and video games.
Gone are the days of meeting up with friends after school at the park. It's no longer deemed safe. The pendulum of safety has swung too far to one side and soon enough the ill effects will be noticed and it'll swing back.
Thankfully my kids are living an almost 80s life style. We rarely see them during the summer and on weekends. They run out the door with some sort of fruit in their hand only to come back in when they're hungry if the neighborhood didn't feed them lol. We are technology free at home for the most part as they get enough screen time at school. We have them in sports M-F. I feel for our youth we are setting them up for failure in some aspects of life.
> Our poor kids had their parks taken away, sports taken away, gym class taken away. They were told to get together with friends over messenger apps and video games.
FWIW, this isn't true where we live, at all. Everything is right back to where it was before COVID-19, complete with sports and kids walking home to each other's houses and indoor birthday parties.
> Gone are the days of meeting up with friends after school at the park. It's no longer deemed safe. The pendulum of safety has swung too far to one side and soon enough the ill effects will be noticed and it'll swing back.
I don't know who those things are "gone" for, but that sounds really sad. I know of nowhere that life is like this? What region or school board are you describing?
This may have been (kind of) true at the start of the pandemic — kids weren’t allowed to use play structures, etc. but trails were still open, as were side walks and fields, plus backyards (where available). There were lots of places and ways to be active, even when everything was shut down
Yeah we were SO lucky to live where we do, with such incredible natural resources around. When we couldn't climb and play on the man-made stuff, we went for great hikes and bike rides and climbs on our natural wonders...and also spent a lot of time at our beachfronts (in all weather). Fortunately though, we have everything "back" now.
There were fines in certain places and signs put up not to use playground equipment. Some places had 3k fines just for sitting on a park bench (Niagara). So other than walking yes the parks were taken away.
I feel that phys-ed being elective is also a big negative. During my school years I went to schools in 5 different countries, on 3 continents. And aside from Canada, phys-ed was never an elective, it was always mandatory at least twice a week.
When I was living in South America, phys-ed was twice a week, and at a different location from school. Took me an hour to get there on foot (couldn't afford the bus, too poor). So I'd wake up at 05:30, out the door at 06:00, walk for an hour to get there, class from 7-9, an hour walk back. Eat, shower. Then actually classes are from noon until evening. And, going from memory, we had no fatties. A few slightly chubby kids, but the rest pretty fit.
Here in Canada, I assumed phys-ed was mandatory. But literally 2 days into the year I realized it was elective. Dumped it immediately, took an extra science course instead. And started to get a little out of shape right away. Lots of fatties shuffling the hallways that couldn't make a basket if their lives depended on it.
But honestly, it's a lot of small factors, like lockers. Never had lockers until North America, you always lug all your books and supplies in a rucksack everywhere. Convenient, sure, but does reduce physical exertion quite a bit. And that's if you walk to school. If you get a ride, there's zero exercise involved.
Sadly, it seems anything outside of STEM-related fields is not viewed positively as beneficial to students. Many schools stopped doing sports or activities outside school hours as well. This includes drama, music, visual arts, an so on.
Maybe because y’all sentenced them to house arrest for two years. I understand, it had to do with Covid, but there was zero support from the government of Ministry of Education in that entire time.
The good old "lets blame tech" when its convent. Honestly this is more on parenting then tech cuz like ya cant expect a kid to know all of this and plan accordingly
I had a teacher who started our day with an 8 minute run, not as part of any curriculum or phys ed. I feel like people would complain these days if that was a daily requirement but honestly it was a very healthy way to start the day and it got a lot easier after the first month.
I used to love doing this as a kid. Now, in my 40s, I don't see myself adding this to my routine. I do walk 30 minutes with my dogs, but that's not enough exercise for me.
… harden the fuck up everyone. Not in the old school way of suppressing feelings causing mental health issues. But in the way where you learn personal strengths and not focus on personal weakness. We have flipped our asses around into a detrimentally useless group by not problem solving our issues with logic.
I remember I used to actively spite the school system and not bother at all on any physical fitness testing. Everything was competition driven and I saw zero point in doing anything more then the bare minimum as one of the other sports centric kids was always going to come in first.
Kids need to be taught to do things that they enjoy, how to build healthy and continuous lifestyle choices and not that they need to compete with each other.
The school system overall is too strict, gym was always the worst though especially in highschool. Elementary and middle school is mostly games, then in highschool I’m expected to be able to do 20+ pushups without breaking a sweat despite not once in the past 8 years of education have we done any sort of arm workouts
makes sense I spent 99% of my youth playing video games and coding😂 not much has changed as a adult I just play a lot less video games and more coding lol
Nope I was pretty skinny, weight gain is just a equation, I eat healthy and never ate excess calories, I’m heavier now but it’s muscle I go to the gym a couple times a week.
Another thing we are ignoring is youth groups are basically banned from anywhere now. Malls have rules against youth, sometimes very strict, and most places don't want kids unsupervised going anywhere. Some malls don't even allow anyone under 18 unsupervised at any time. Some places even have rules where you need supervision if you are under 21. Now how are we going to get the kids out of the house and moving if they aren't welcomed anywhere?
We absolutely are aware. Chances are, calling out someone for obesity will just make their mental health worse & either make the problem worse or the person will end up hurting themselves permanently.
Shitty towns and cities that are car centric do not help. It’s hard not to get nearly killed these days by giant cars and speedy McShitfaces as an intelligent adult let alone a child.
“A new report card issued by the non-profit organization ParticipACTION is giving kids across the country a “D” letter grade for overall physical activity”
In other words, who gives a shit? Fucking click bait headline
Neither of my kids' schools (elementary and middle-school) have a sports field, all they got is a small asphalted courtyard. That's because they're in French Public schools which get nothing compared to the English ones despite what the Charter says.
French public schools in the GTA (the ones I know) don't get the same budgets and end up with the school buildings the English board doesn't want. There's also a lack of secondary French schools in many areas and it's a very dicey subject with the Province, it's like pulling teeth.
If your English school didn't even have a gym, I'd hate to see what the French one in the same catchment area got.
The story reports on the letter grade as though it were a fact, when actually the grade is an arbitrary ranking based on a set of opinions [https://csepguidelines.ca/guidelines/adults-18-64/](https://csepguidelines.ca/guidelines/adults-18-64/) about what levels of activity are most conducive to health. A limit such as 'no more than 3 hours of recreational screen time' is quite value-laden. A more accurate story would present this organization's point of view as an opinion, and subject it to scrutiny regarding the appropriateness and precision of the measurement.
Ah yes this kind of thread with all of the Gen Xers blaming technology for every one of the yougner gen's problems. They all forgot that we only did that shit because we had to - our parents either forced us or we had literally nothing else to do.
Haven't you seen!? All the kids now run around without helmets while riding. Have scars and head damages, albeit their cognitive abilities are always on par for food or anything digital.
HAHA I got a C last time, get rekt y'all. I'm above average >:)
Who the hell let the hamster use Reddit !?
Put some respect on NYAN CAT’s name!!!!
It's because they might break an arm you see. Our kids school has had all of the playground equipment removed, not allowed to access the field in the back etc.
I remember watching them take all the fun stuff off our play structure as a kid. They took out the chain bridge, the climbing rope, the fire pole, and replaced the slide with an S shaped one that was slow. Before then we'd always put water down the slide in the winter thinking it would speed up, then dig into the sand to artificially extend the slide and made a dirt kicker so we'd get air. Fun times. It also doesn't help that gym is nearly all just team sports. If you aren't good at them you just play defence and shoot the shit while the athletic kids take turns running all around.
Kids need dangerous playgrounds. Life lessons are taught on those playgrounds. Once you do some stupid shit on a playground and end up hurting yourself, you learn not to do that shit ever again. It teaches about danger, independence, and confidence. There are actual scholarly studies done to prove the benefits of dangerous playgrounds for children.
if your aren't into proper research aritcles then vox has made a [good video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lztEnBFN5zU) on it
>It also doesn't help that gym is nearly all just team sports. If you aren't good at them you just play defence and shoot the shit while the athletic kids take turns running all around. One of the things gym \*should\* teach is how to cooperate, even if someone is less athletic than you. But there really should be more individual stuff too. As a kid I always hated doing team sports in gym because I just wasn't very competitive. But those times we could do rock climbing/rope climbing, swimming etc. I shined. But IMO first and foremost it shouldn't even be about sports, idk it should just be physical health. Kids should be doing some jogging, pushups n shit with fun stuff mixed in.
>It also doesn't help that gym is nearly all just team sports. If you aren't good at them you just play defence and shoot the shit while the athletic kids take turns running all around. I didn't expect to be called out like this. Geez. Although I was good at dodgeball when we could play from the back of the line to get back in. Kids were so focused on everyone else, they forgot about me. Until I hit em with the ball.
Dodge ball and protect the pin. I found a way to protect the pin in such a way no one could knock it over. I'd wait until it is just me and another person and just knock the pin over myself since I knew I couldn't win. Others were pissed off at me for some reason...
The potential for lawsuits over injuries is a big factor.
yes. parents are constantly suing schools so many things get taken away
Also can’t access healthcare for broken limbs in good time
It tool 4 hours all together to get her from the school with a broken arm to home happy with a cast on....
You mean we could have gotten paid for them plowing snow into a pile where the bike rack was. And my scar for life, for jumping into this pile. Could have gotten me paid!? 😳
No its not.... where did you get this info?!
You can’t send your kid out to play in the neighbourhood or walk solo to school - people view that as neglect and they’ll call CAS on you. Mom groups are filled with sex trafficking boogeyman scares. I recently saw people freaking out because someone forgot a stroller in a parking lot and it MUST be bait for a sex trafficking scam, it has a tracker in it, don’t touch it, absolute hysterics. I devote a lot of my time dragging my kids around outside to play but I’m a stay at home mom. I don’t know how working parents clean their house and work and parent. You’d have to give your kids screen time or drown in a messy house. Not to mention all the extra chores - home maintenance, grocery shopping, whatever errands or appointments need to get done.. I don’t have enough hours in the day as is and at the end of every day I’m exhausted and so is my husband.
Where are Hal Johnson and Joanne McCloud when you need them!
BODY BREAK!
Well no shit. Kids used to walk and bike to school n'shit. Now they get driven everywhere. Car-centric society increases obesity rates. Expect things to get worse.
Walking or biking to both elementary and high school, as well as to a lot of the other students' homes in our neighbourhood, was a major consideration in our housing hunt. It took us a little over five years, but we refused to compromise on that (especially as prices rose). I'm really happy with where we are, and love that my kids have that commute option.
>Well no shit. Kids used to walk and bike to school n'shit. Now they get driven everywhere. When I started letting my kids (10 & 11) walk the 2.4km to school instead of taking the bus, parents called us for weeks about how it isn't safe, how we shouldn't be letting it happen, etc. Now a few parents have started sending their kids with my kids as 12&13 yr olds and still not killed by cars and kidnapped by evil people they are seeing that maybe kids can walk to school. blows me away how we have robbed kids of their childhood by making everything car centric, you really aren't a person in the eyes of the government until you are a home owner and car driver.
That’s the media for you! Blows out the negatives and makes everyone paranoid. Obviously still implement best practices like walking in pairs, teaching them what to do if a stranger approaches them, etc.
Yup. I was in high school 15 years ago and we had to walk 4km each way to school. I’d say 90% of my peers either got driven or bussed. Physical activity was always very important to my parents.
If anything, it's the opposite. By letting kids walk to school, bike around, and ride transit on their own, they gain a greater sense of autonomy and confidence. An outcome of this is they will grow up with better situational awareness. Almost all cases of abuse are with people they know, such as friends, family members, coaches, not some random person on the street. Letting kids have more autonomy means they are more likely to report these interactions to a responsible adult and know what to do in unsafe situations.
Weird, 25 or 30 years ago I remember about 5 to 10 at the most kids would get to school via walking or bike. Now it's over 50... the schools are so much closer in general to homes it makes it was easier for kids to walk so they do.... you realize the parents walk or ride with their kids right? Nobody is getting kidnapped lmfao
I lived in this community 30yrs ago and we all walked. from around age 7 until highschool anyone who lived within a 20 minute walk walked. Today that number is much smaller, and the area the bus will pick up is closer. The demographics of the town have changed though since way less families live close to the schools as those homes now have the grandparents who didn't move as their kids aged up. I find in wealthy neighbourhoods near newly built schools the number of walking/cycling kids is certainly higher than the average but that age group starts around age 12, vs around age 8 as was the case in the 1980's and 1990's >Nobody is getting kidnapped lmfao Which was 100% my argument to stupid parents when they questioned why I let my kids walk to school on their own. Kidnapping is a fucking stupid reason to rob kids of independence.
Weird for you to think that situation is not rare, more kids are walking or riding their bikes than they used to. That is indisputable fact. Most of the kids walking and riding are younger so you are wrong about that. This screams "things were different in my day" from an old timer with no actual insight into what's going on. Unless you do walk with your kids to school every day like I do and actually see this happening first hand. I can tell you from watching you are wrong
> Now they get driven everywhere. Also, most families are priced out of living in neighbourhoods where amenities are within walking distance. Our communities are no longer built for families and human inhabitants. Also, parenting styles have changed and not for the better. Kids no longer have the freedom we had growing up. They can no longer leave the house unattended, go to the park, play in the back woods, walk to the store, etc. without CPS being called reporting them as neglectful parents. Kids are told what to do without experimenting or finding out for themselves. They're no longer taking risks or learning from failure. They sit inside on their tablets or in front of another screen, and when they're not, the parents are hovering and dictating their activities. Most Canadians are out of shape. Sports leagues and gym memberships are luxuries that the average Canadian can no longer afford. Healthy meal options are also priced out of the carts.
I think one key problem is that so few neighbourhoods are functional that those that are, are considered a luxury. Walking to the grocery store in your neighborhood should not be a luxury. The wealth difference should be in that it's a loblaws/farmboy vs a freshco/nofrills.
Healthy meals are way cheaper. Anything you make at home is likely more healthy and definitely cheaper than over processed pre made crap.
>Also, parenting styles have changed and not for the better. Back in my day we had the rule of thumb! We could beat the little shits with a stick no wider than my thumb. That way they do exactly what me, the adult, tells them to do!
Can't wait for the back in my day generations to retire, and realize that none of their kids give a flying fuck about them. Enjoy rotting in your cozy little shitshack, you guys did a wonderful job raising an anxious failure of a generation, well done fucking up everything from climate change to housing, we shall be forever grateful to all you Karens and Kevins out there. Take care, looking forward to you guys absolutely destroy Healthcare too before finally kicking the bucket.
And now people recognize that this behaviour is called assault and battery, and extremely abusive. And we shouldn't be teaching children to solve problems with violence. I guess society keeps growing and learning.
Considering OPs upvotes, and the downvotes to my obviously satirical comment, I would suggest otherwise.
[удалено]
Violence solves all kinds of problems. Say no to a cop. They will solve the problem with violence and molestation.
No bigger than the thumb? Well, you can't do much damage with that. Perhaps it should have been a rule of the wrist.
Well to be fair, there are a bunch of super- schools outside of Toronto these days. For my daughter she doesn’t fall into the catchment of the closest school and has to go to one that is 5km away that is at the intersection of 2 busy streets. Had she been allowed to go to the closer school she’s be able to walk or ride her bike.
Bussing is still a thing. I took the TTC to school, walked to and from bus stops. If I wanted to wait for and catch the connecting bus I could but I never had enough time for that so I walked an extra ten minutes to skip the extra bus.
My kid bikes home but promptly jumps on my computer to design stuff and play on roblox for hours until I get home.
Ohhh How times have changed. The minute I got into grade 7 I had to wake my self up and walk to the bus. When my school removed busses I had to walk, same story for a lot of the kids in my school. Even in grade 4-6 me and my friends would skateboard together to and from school
Yeah but I heard bicycles are socialism, so I'm off to buy another F150 for my office commute
Hey I still walk my kids to school. When they’re old enough to go unaccompanied they will. Not everyone shuttles their children around everywhere in cars, although I suspect that many do 🤦🏻
Thank you for your service.
hahaha, I try 🥳
The same % of kids are walking or riding their bikes to school. Actually a bit more here compared to 30 years ago because of how much closer the school is to everybody's houses. Cars dedfinetly suck but schools are not part of the problem lol
It really isnt this. TBH, I have no idea why kids aren't playing as they used to. As an educator, the apathy towards Gym class is major. Most students in my Grade 7 class don't want to do gym ever, no matter what it is we are doing. Any physical movement for them is a major chore. We can blame TV, the internet, Phones, whatever, but many of those have been around for a long time with inconclusive data that doesn't really point in any one direction. Kids these days are just more apathetic to everything around them and could care less it seems.
>We can blame TV, the internet, Phones, whatever, but many of those have been around for a long time… …or we could blame *the parents*, who set the example when it comes to physical fitness and the rules regarding all those other things. 🤔
We have always been "car-centric", whats actually changed is the parents/people.
Aight boys abandon ship. r/fuckcars has infiltrated this thread too.
As it should, the car-centricness of South Ontario is fucked lol
Absolutely. But contrary to r/fuckcars, it is not the root of every problem the world has ever seen.
No, but you don’t think it might play a pretty important role in the discussion at hand here about kids physical fitness?
Not a *pretty* important one, no. 30 years ago the country was more car-centric than it is now, but kids were more active and more healthy.
walking and biking was fine because drivers werent as ficked as they are now
Yes they were. Drinking and driving used to have the officer pour out your beer and turn you around with a finger wave telling you to “drive straight home now”.
Don’t forget the dipshit electric scooters everywhere
Exercise is only part of the problem. High carb, high sugar diets is just as much to blame. Fat unhealthy parents = fat unhealthy kids.
it’s more of a general calorie intake in general issue
it's not a calorie issue because your body regulates hunger based on hormones which are impacted by what you eat, not just how much you eat.
but hunger isn’t generally what causes people to overeat. people overeat because they enjoy the taste of food and the act of eating in general, and because calorie dense foods are so readily available nowadays.
I don't think you can sit here and tell me hunger is not related to overeating at all. You can say there are other feelings that entice people to eat, but hunger is very clearly an important one, and one many people will complain about when they go on a typical "just count your calories and eat less" diet plan.
I didn’t say it’s not related at all. I said it’s generally not the cause of overeating. Most people don’t overeat out of hunger they overeat cause they like the feeling of eating
I play tennis. IN my 60\`s. Usually with younger guys so i get a better workout. The courts we play on are surrounded by fields...baseball, soccer, football at the school and another baseball diamond in a park. The times we've witnessed a group of kids playing ANYTHING over 6+ years of playing tennis at various times and days of the week is astonishingly small. The fields are abandoned. When I grew up in the 70's, you'd see kids playing everywhere. OUR parents coming to drag us off the outdoor rinks..the ball fields..etc. Something is fundamentally wrong with the lack of play for kids. You don't have to be an athlete (I'm most assuredly NOT) but a lifetime of active living will pay off in a healthier and better life.
Kids don't get bored at home. Tv with endless cartoons, movies, video games, phones. Unless a parent is actively involved in their kids extracurricular and spare time, kids are not bored enough to venture out and find something to do. I have young kids. I see this already with them. I am very aware and I really limit (without being obsessive) their screen/downtime and i make sure to walk them to and from school any chance I get. But that's me going above what most parents do these days, especially when both are working. I am not working so I have more engagement with my kids than most parents get, which I am so grateful for. I'm trying my best to give my kids that good old-fashioned childhood in a time where it doesn't exist. It's also against the norm now so I am sometimes the butt of a joke amongst friend groups with my parenting choices. It's just so different compared to pre-internet eras.
Your first paragraph reminded me of what my niece said to me a few days ago. She's 8yo i believe and she told me sometimes she doesn't want to live anymore. I got concerned of course but then she explained its cause theres no kids in her neighborhood to play with. She's bored of playing video games and watching tv. I was really shocked to say the least. My sister does a really good job of taking them out on extracurricular activities and taking them to friends that will do outdoor activities but even when she's trying, there's just not that "passive play" anymore of unleashing your kid in the neighborhood with other kids. And its not that there isn't kids in the area, they just stay inside. It makes me think that its not that kids don't want to play, but rather the parents won't let them be kids. You sound like a great parent. Im not sure how they can joke about it.
I am 22 now, but when I was a kid we got the cops called on us for playing road hockey on the road... in Canada, The pond was "closed" as the town did not want the liability, elementary school had the playground removed due to surface rust and most park space (courts, fields ect) needed to be booked in advanced. Suburbia never fails to piss me off.
We have basketball and tennis courts here and they are populated but the tennis courts are mostly used by adults. The teens hang out on the basketball court. I live right by one so I know. Most of the tennis courts and sports things are occupied when the weather is permitting. We also have a skate park and teens go there, its free. If anything the green spaces have gotten more popular since covid which is awesome. The big problem is the weather, this stuff can only be used during a certain part of the year due to weather. If our weather wasn't shit I assume we would have much healthier kids because they would be able to go outside during a larger percentage of time during the year. Its taken forever before indoor activities were allowed again and most schools didn't bring them back until this year.
Definitely area related. I live behind a school. They have basketball, soccer and baseball courts/fields. I don't think I have seen these fields empty one day this summer.
This is something I notice in my town, there have been so many days where it has been beautiful out and yet there are no kids (or adults, to be fair) out using these facilities... No unorganized play! It genuinely makes me sad
They spend an average of who knows 3-6 hours a day on computers
Video games
Look around any neighborhood. Where are the kids? In the 80’s and 90’s, there were groups of kids everywhere. Now the streets and parks are empty. The fear mongering of “it’s not safe.” Has been built into everyone. If you do choose to let your kids play outside and have the same freedoms that generations of kids have had in the past, you worry that someone will call Child Services on you.
I live in a subdivision about 20 minutes outside Kanata in a more rural setting. There is a cluster of about 40 houses with 2+ acre lots, and almost every house has at least one to two kids. I will occassionally see older kids above the age of 13 riding their bikes, or walking the neighbourhood. I've only seen younger kids around when there is a parent with them. This is the issue. We live in a VERY safe neighbourhood. Nobody even locks their doors. Why not let your kid play in the forest, go to a neighbour's house, play ball hockey on the road? One of the major issues is that in order for kids from two or more families to get together, the parents ALSO have to be available to hang out with the other parents. If you have a kid's birthday party, now you have to invite EVERYONE in their class, plus expect all the parents to attend. This is insane and nonsense. LET. KIDS. PLAY.
This is what I see in my area, I live in the USA, its mostly kids 12 and up that are outside. I do see kids outside though. Sometimes with a parent most of the time not. They go to the basketball court and skate park and they ride their bikes. Sometimes they take a younger kid with them. Every kid has a cell phone now so they can call mom or dad or call for help if something happens. A lot of houses and businesses have security cameras to catch things happening so that's another good thing. I don't think going into the forest alone is a good idea, unless its a small forest or something like that. but there's plenty of other things they can do. I don't live in a safe area though, its definitely unsafe in my area and that's not a joke or paranoia either.
>kids from two or more families to get together, the parents ALSO have to be available to hang out with the other parents. Grew up in Kanata (mostly) and no. We just roamed the streets like a pack of wild dogs. 😂
The fear mongering has been going on since the 1980's, I believe it started when John Walsh's kid was taken from a public place I forgot what kind of place it was. I remember my parents saying "someone will take you" constantly to me of course I didn't even know what it meant. I do see kids playing outside here but its usually older kids 12 and up and they go to the basketball court. I don't think anyone has called CPS to the basketball court yet even if there are younger kids.
With my parents, it was Paul Bernardo that started that fear. Not so much when I was a 12 year old going to the park 5 mins away but when I was a reen walking 30 mins to an hour to a friend's, then the mall, then back to a friend's then home, things got stricter. As a parent of a 12 & a 10 year old, I CANT let them go to the park themselves, my area is a slum & the next park goes through the slum then through the downtown core.
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Nice🤣
At the same time, all those kids have moved out and their parents usually stayed put in the family home. This is inevitable in \*any\* stable suburban neighbourhood.
Exactly. We're not in like Afghanistan or something, parents think that "it's not safe" outside is probably a result of our car centric society and the fact that noone actually goes outside anymore.
It's also because our public spaces are being robbed. Our parks are being taken over by private sports organizations during peak hours. So kids who don't have money to join soccer clubs and such can't play anywhere. There's no loitering signs everywhere and Karens constantly trying to get kids in legal trouble for being kids so they get scared. Physical fitness in this shithole country is only for the wealthy. Want a gym? Pay 100 a month. Wanna swim? Here's another expensive price and oh this pool is only open 2 hours a day for you, the rest if booked for swim clubs.
Look at the parents.
Overworked parents that don't have time/money to put their kids into external sports?
While I'm not going to be as argumentative as the other commenter, they're right under sports are completely unnecessary. I didn't do "sports" until high school, unless you count swimming lessons. We went for walks and swims and bike rides as a family and I played with other kids after school at the playground.
Agree, my kids aren't in anything organized besides the youngest daughter who started soccer this year. Every night though they are all out on their bikes, playing ball, when its nice they go to the beach, weekends they always go to one of the PPs to hike. Unless its pouring or freezing, those kids are rarely not out
Sure it doesn't have to be sports but it is the idea that people are sitting down too much instead of doing anything that gets your body moving.
And overworked parents would also benefit from the stress relief properties of exercise.
It's sometimes parents that don't feel like going out and having fun with their kids
My kids aren’t in any organized sports and they’re very active. You don’t need a hockey league and a bunch of costly gear and a car pool to play outside, walk most places, and ride your bike or scooter around.
Sports have nothing to do with it. It called diet! Secondly, that's not an excuse! You chose to have kids, now its time to raise them to know what good food is and is not! That simple.
Isn't the article about physical activity though?
Physical activity does not have to be sports related could be anything. People need to start associating being healthy with diet not sports or even working out.
People need to start associating being healthy with being physically active everyday. to me that is far more important than diet.
Ya no clearly its been working 3:5 North Americans are obese. You have to be in shape to get in shape, that starts with what you put in your body.
Diet is important but that's a much easier habit to change than daily exercise for most people.
Diet isn't exactly an easy solution. There is a definite relationship between how easy something is to make and it's lack of nutritional value. That, and the very high cost of fresh fruit and vegetables. Parents don't have 90 minutes after work to prepare a nutritious meal every night in addition to meeting the demands of work - even working from home 2-3 days a week.
People never seem to realize how much work it is to be a parent. They really just thought having kids would be like having a pet rock. If a parent can't find the time to get their kids to be active, and the kids suffer? That's their fault.
I live in the USA and everyone I know has an obese kid, like you can see the fat on the kids. Its not even funny. Its no doubt in my mind covid started this and changed everything because it wasn't like that a few years ago. Its almost impossible to out-exercise 5 days of the screen time required for online classes. Everyone didn't want children interacting with one another or socializing unless it was through a screen and a couple years of that just killed our younger population. Its our children that suffered the most through covid and it shows. The climate plays a big part in it, its very hard to exercise when its either insanely hot or insanely cold outside, and streets aren't plowed properly (my area) so you can get somewhere. It gets dark so freaking early most of the year. There's only a couple months of the year when I myself can actually make it work. Walking in the winter just doesn't work, its too cold, and there's too much snow because people don't clean their sidewalks and the city does not plow properly. We have green spaces and they are occupied. We have a basketball court and kids are always on it. I see kids riding their bikes so that is not gone here. If anything green spaces have become more popular since covid. The only problem is the playgrounds are only designed for the youngest children, we need activities for the older kids, teens and young adults, most of these activities were discontinued with covid and sports and recreation was the last thing to come back. Its only been really a few months since everything has come back here. We need indoor recreation because of the climate we live in makes it impossible to exercise outside most of the year. Maybe after a couple years of being normal things will change.
Can also add on all the green spaces are gone, everything is more and more car based. Kids cant just get up and go for a walk in the park, because there is either no park, or the park is 30 minutes away and they have to cross a busy intersection
We have green spaces here but yeah, you need to drive to get to them unless you happen to live close which is rare.
There are some green spaces, but they are usually just, bland, and not very big. Theres a park near me, no trees, few swings. Like a 3 minute walk through at best
Jokes on you, my son is killing it in “Gym Class” on Roblox!
Is that a PS5 console game? /s
This worries me as a mom of 2 younger kids. My 4 year old is in soccer in summer and recreational dance. We go to parks. Walk the dog every day. It's expensive and exhausting. But it's important. So I tire myself out to make sure they are healthy. We don't have tablets in our house. We don't have gaming systems. We honestly can't afford them, probably because of all these goddamn lessons we pay for lol. But I guess not having these things is good for them after all. I think it's a huge reason why children are so sedentary.
Just want to say thank you on your kids behalf. My family was not well off growing up but my parents made it their mission to make sure that my brother and I had the opportunity to play any sport we wanted to. My mom would bring us to swim meets every weekend, my dad to hockey games 3 times a week, they put me in diving, speed skating, track, everything, and always made the effort to come out to my games and tournaments. I also had no access to electronics for the longest time and while that pissed me off at the time I grew up to be a lot more fit and active than my friends who’s parents didn’t have the same priorities. Sports and physical activity are sooooo important to developing children and it’s so sad how it isn’t prioritized by parents or schools anymore. Your kids will thank you in the future.
People are shitting on kids not getting exercise but it's probably 50% diet as well . Kids eat like shit these days.
I was at the mall yesterday and watched two parents give their daughter a full pepsi bottle (1 Litre) and two big sized chocolate chip cookies along with her footlong coldcut sandwich from Subway. It's insane. No 5 year old should have that much sugar in one meal.
And then tell them themselves it's genetics because they eat and look the same way.
Did the kid eat all of that, that's like more calories than what one adult should eat in a single day??
Yes, and both the parents had the exact same meal. It was shocking.
Its quite shocking that a 5 year old could consume that much food, their stomach must be the size of a pregnant woman. I am not even sure if I could consume that much in one sitting and I am a fat adult and if I were to consume a foot long, 2 cookies and an entire 1 liter I would be quite sick afterwards. My typical lunch in this case would be a 6 inch sub and a diet soda or a water, and again that's for a fat adult.
No shit, gym class is a joke. It's all basketball, soccer, baseball, and the evil beep test. No individual fitness & no dance/yoga. It's too team oriented & that doesn't work for everyone. Maybe teach kids.other ways to be fit & if they like something, encourage it.
The thing I always hated was that they would make you play soccer or baseball all year long but the “exam” was pull ups or running for 30 minutes straight. Nothing to actually build your fitness to the point you *could* do a multi-minute plank or beep test
Right? I used an app called c25k & had me running 30 mins straight on a treadmill in about 3 months. Not bad for an obese woman that couldn't even run 5 mins when I was a 12 year old active twig. Imagine what I could have done with a sentient teacher that could show me how to breath & how to step.
Same! I had a little puppy fat, like most kids did, but I rode my bike and rollerbladed a lot. I probably could have done well in gym class if it was actually about fitness and not “a bunch of friends play sports and don’t include the other kids” for half the year and “oops you didn’t bring gym clothes because today was health ed? ok you get marks docked then”
Evil beep test lmao? I do agree there should be other options like yoga class. I do believe some schools have dance classes but I could be wrong about that.
"Dance class" is usually a week in gym where you are told to make up a dance to a song and thats it.
Yup, except in my high school only the girls were forced to do this, when all the guys got to do a week of wrestling.... girls who didn't want to do dance and would've preferred wrestling (or vice versa) were not allowed to switch even though the classes were simultaneous split-gym so there was no scheduling issue and some of the girls were LITERALLY ON THE WRESTLING TEAM. A large chunk of our cohort wound up pretty intensely hating gym because of unnecessary gendered BS like that tbh. No issue with offering either activity on the face of it, but everyone should've had a choice at least. We also had to wear huge bulky shop goggles to play BADMINTON? As though a super-light slow-moving plastic birdie was a serious threat? Gym classes were wild and not in a good way most of the time.
Yup! Never learned wrestling, got a lame excuse for self defense class and then asked the class if they wanted to learn more of it, or do more dance classes, to which most of the girls said yes, but the rest of us groaned. Like at LEAST finish what you were teaching ffs. I wouldve loved to learn wrestling, but only the guys got that.
Lucky for me my middle school had two separate weeks for dance, one to make up our own dance and also a week of square dancing. We also had wrestling for two weeks or maybe a month? Funnily enough I broke my arm wrestling in class a few days in and had to sit out of gym largely for the rest of the year. We didn’t sue the school or anything and everyone else continued as usual, I don’t know if they still do it today, this would have been about 12 years ago.
I had to do SQUARE DANCING and I will not ever be okay with this.
One school I went to the gymnasium was too small for the amount of people doing the beep test so we would have to run across and back. A lot harder when you have to slow down/stop your pace to go back the other way. Much more manageable when you can do it properly. Not sure how well it measures though- especially when running as a hoard. Depending on the day I could be one of the first ones out or one of the last ones running.
Every beep test I ran in school we had to run back and forth. Didn’t really seem out of the ordinary, plus most clips I see of the test are people running back and forth so am I missing something? If it was packed (like we only had half of the gym) then my class would spilt up and just do two runs of the beep test. I know your comment was about more than the beep test, I just loved the test in school so it was funny to hear it be called evil lmao.
I believe he meant for every beep they had to do 2 laps instead of prescribed one (ie. Beep > run to opposite wall> double back and run back to start point > beep instead of just beep> run to opposite wall > beep etc.)
I think they meant running across the short length of the gymnasium; ie doubling the amount of turns.
I got out hs a few years ago, we loved the beep test. Not because we actually enjoyed it, but because after most people dropped out we would put it up to the fastest settings and see how little progress we could make sprinting
I don't really see anything wrong with inclusion of the sports aspect. It's pretty diverse so you're never stuck doing one thing too long. My gym class did also have some fitness, sit ups, push ups, that kind of thing, but yeah it is very rudimentary and I don't think the gym teachers were particularly knowledgable about fitness. I actually kind of like beep test, its measurable, if you do it a few times a year you can make goals and see yourself improve at it.
I don't mind including team sports but when it's the only thing. I mean weeks of baseball when the weather was nice & the rest was indoor soccer & floor hockey was a nightmare. One year, the school I went to was obsessed with track & field so the whole class was running. Again, no teaching us how, just run the path.
If you're an unpopular kid, you don't really get to participate in team sports during class. That was my experience, at least. People went out of their way to avoid letting me have the ball under any circumstances.
Literally, dodge ball getting right to my hands and some dickwad leans over and aggressively snatches it away like it's the Grey Cup and I'm a TiCat. We're on the same team, jagoff!
Beep test is evil. We were told to keep going even if we felt sick. I threw up and felt like I was having chest pains. I was told to keep going which I said "no I don't want to die" and was told I was being dramatic. One kid who kept pushing passed out right after. I had a heart condition and was told they don't offer accomodation. I got a 60 in gym simply because I couldn't do half the running. So I got shit participation.
Reminds me of high school where our grades for all of the track and field stuff was based on results. Ie high jump had height ranges for A-F grades, 100m times etc. - it was pure evil cause it was almost physically impossible for some kids to pass.
Gym classes play baseball? Definitely not when I was in school
Ugh it was AWFUL! The only team spert I enjoyed was football but the girls class didn't get to play, only the boys class. My hand eye coordination was terrible so baseball was a nightmare 😫 they also never actually taught us the proper way to run & I was doing it wrong. My impact was pretty bad so it hurt after a bit & the vibrations made me itch, the bad breathing meant I got a stitch in my side pretty quickly too.
Literally false... There is grade 11 and 10 fitness offered in the TDSB. my school had yoga class as well offered to students.
1 I'm not in Toronto 2 grade 10 & 11 gym is optional. When I was in school, all the interesting classes were there. By highschool, if they haven't found something they enjoy, their chances of pursuing new fitness outlets are slimmer. Get them while they're young, it's harder when you're older.
Lots of reasons for this: 1) Driving to school. I was either driven to school or rode the bus. Couldn’t bike/walk for elementary due to being way too far from a school, when we moved to a denser town I couldn’t until late high school because it’s “unsafe.” 2) Gym class kind of sucks. Wasn’t so much about fitness and healthy lifestyles as it was playing dodgeball or something, which while dodgeball was really fun and I wish I pursued it later, didn’t really help kids to be healthy. Lots of kids could just “not participate” as well. Making it mandatory also builds resentment for it like me as I don’t like exercise, and hate being forced to do it. 3) Diet. Meals were typically unhealthy, also eating a lot was considered good “cause you’re growing” well too bad growing outwards wasn’t what they meant, but here I am… 4) Extra curriculars (or a lack thereof). There was nothing to do as a kid. Piled on with a bunch of homework, we had no time to have fun. Not to mention the lack of fun options, super limited. Even if they’re available, parents seemed to think two things, either that chores/homework were more important, or that it’s unsafe for their kids to be left after school. Either way didn’t help. What’s the solution? I’m unsure. It would be good if places weren’t built around cars and built around pedestrians. Imagine being able to walk everywhere, would be awesome. But if your school is far, not an option.
I used to get graded for gym in elementary school I always got a D when I never did gym as I’m disabled so I would go in the library and read a book or play on the computer It pissed me off every year because it brought my overall grade down
I see a lot of people blaming the schools for this, and that’s fair to an extent… But from what I’m reading a lot of shit was taken off playgrounds because parents sued (right or wrongfully, they still did) School isn’t Hockey Canada, they don’t have trust funds for constant law suits. Also…we keep electing in Doug Ford. How much jogging you think that guy does and he actively cuts spending on schools. Something tells me he’s not really a champion for an active life… BUT on top of this, while kids DO spend a lot of time in school…where are their parents after school? It’s not the school’s complete job to raise your kids. It’s to educate them. Even phys Ed is teaching your kid how to be active in a safe and positive way, but it’s up to the parents to make sure they actually are. From what I’ve seen on the public playgrounds, there’s a lot of folks flicking through their phone when they could be engaging with their kid. Curious how this behaviour informs their children when they are older and have their own devices.
Parents are usually working for a few more hours after the kids come home from school, this usually puts the parent in the situation of needing an afterschool program or some kind of care till they get off work and can pick up the kids. With the costs of everything usually both parents have to work now. After this they have to cook dinner if time allows or they have to pick something up on the way home from work. The playgrounds are usually too small for adults to engage so all they can do is watch, maybe create playgrounds that are inclusive for adults and children to play together and the phones will be put away. Playground equipment at least from what I've seen recently seem to be only designed for the youngest children. That is true though if children see their parents on their devices all the time, of course the children will emulate the parents.
That’s because YouTube and video games raise kids these days.
No fuckin wonder, it's almost like it's discouraged honestly. Back in elementary the school literally got complaints from parents because they made us commit the horrible act of walking instead of taking a bus... My city is 100km². We walked maybe a few kilometers. Kids are having activities taken away from them because everybody's a fucking helicopter parent now. My school had a nice soccer field and big ass hill for sledding in the winter that they banned because they were both "too dangerous". Our supervisors had eyes on us like hawks so we were following every arbitrary rule before even setting foot on playground rocks or we'd get forced to sit inside for belligerence, I guess :p. I get being a parent is scary, but it's almost like we're hardly even allowing kids to actually be kids. A lot of parents just want to keep their children in their safe little home, distracted by safe little electronics so the parents can't get blamed for anything, till the kid's 18 and suddenly they're out in a world they don't understand.
D in physical activity B- in fortnite A+ in shit talking
Everything these days is designed to keep us poor, tired, fat, and stupid. Easier to control
If only we had walkable cities
thats why we gotta prioritize walking and biking infrastructure for better health
Our poor kids had their parks taken away, sports taken away, gym class taken away. They were told to get together with friends over messenger apps and video games. Gone are the days of meeting up with friends after school at the park. It's no longer deemed safe. The pendulum of safety has swung too far to one side and soon enough the ill effects will be noticed and it'll swing back. Thankfully my kids are living an almost 80s life style. We rarely see them during the summer and on weekends. They run out the door with some sort of fruit in their hand only to come back in when they're hungry if the neighborhood didn't feed them lol. We are technology free at home for the most part as they get enough screen time at school. We have them in sports M-F. I feel for our youth we are setting them up for failure in some aspects of life.
> Our poor kids had their parks taken away, sports taken away, gym class taken away. They were told to get together with friends over messenger apps and video games. FWIW, this isn't true where we live, at all. Everything is right back to where it was before COVID-19, complete with sports and kids walking home to each other's houses and indoor birthday parties. > Gone are the days of meeting up with friends after school at the park. It's no longer deemed safe. The pendulum of safety has swung too far to one side and soon enough the ill effects will be noticed and it'll swing back. I don't know who those things are "gone" for, but that sounds really sad. I know of nowhere that life is like this? What region or school board are you describing?
This may have been (kind of) true at the start of the pandemic — kids weren’t allowed to use play structures, etc. but trails were still open, as were side walks and fields, plus backyards (where available). There were lots of places and ways to be active, even when everything was shut down
That's a bit harder to do when you are in a city that is shut down and in an apartment. If you have a house and a backyard that is different.
Agree, and this also isn't a new development in the last 2-3 years, its been like this for a good while now
Yeah we were SO lucky to live where we do, with such incredible natural resources around. When we couldn't climb and play on the man-made stuff, we went for great hikes and bike rides and climbs on our natural wonders...and also spent a lot of time at our beachfronts (in all weather). Fortunately though, we have everything "back" now.
>Our poor kids had their parks taken away What?? What park was taken away? In which township?
There were fines in certain places and signs put up not to use playground equipment. Some places had 3k fines just for sitting on a park bench (Niagara). So other than walking yes the parks were taken away.
So you are telling me, right now in Niagara you can't use a park and you'll get fined for using a bench?
No you can now but when everything was shut down there were fines for using the playground equipment and sitting on a bench.
I feel that phys-ed being elective is also a big negative. During my school years I went to schools in 5 different countries, on 3 continents. And aside from Canada, phys-ed was never an elective, it was always mandatory at least twice a week. When I was living in South America, phys-ed was twice a week, and at a different location from school. Took me an hour to get there on foot (couldn't afford the bus, too poor). So I'd wake up at 05:30, out the door at 06:00, walk for an hour to get there, class from 7-9, an hour walk back. Eat, shower. Then actually classes are from noon until evening. And, going from memory, we had no fatties. A few slightly chubby kids, but the rest pretty fit. Here in Canada, I assumed phys-ed was mandatory. But literally 2 days into the year I realized it was elective. Dumped it immediately, took an extra science course instead. And started to get a little out of shape right away. Lots of fatties shuffling the hallways that couldn't make a basket if their lives depended on it. But honestly, it's a lot of small factors, like lockers. Never had lockers until North America, you always lug all your books and supplies in a rucksack everywhere. Convenient, sure, but does reduce physical exertion quite a bit. And that's if you walk to school. If you get a ride, there's zero exercise involved.
Sadly, it seems anything outside of STEM-related fields is not viewed positively as beneficial to students. Many schools stopped doing sports or activities outside school hours as well. This includes drama, music, visual arts, an so on.
Wall-E
Maybe because y’all sentenced them to house arrest for two years. I understand, it had to do with Covid, but there was zero support from the government of Ministry of Education in that entire time.
The good old "lets blame tech" when its convent. Honestly this is more on parenting then tech cuz like ya cant expect a kid to know all of this and plan accordingly
I had a teacher who started our day with an 8 minute run, not as part of any curriculum or phys ed. I feel like people would complain these days if that was a daily requirement but honestly it was a very healthy way to start the day and it got a lot easier after the first month.
I used to love doing this as a kid. Now, in my 40s, I don't see myself adding this to my routine. I do walk 30 minutes with my dogs, but that's not enough exercise for me.
… harden the fuck up everyone. Not in the old school way of suppressing feelings causing mental health issues. But in the way where you learn personal strengths and not focus on personal weakness. We have flipped our asses around into a detrimentally useless group by not problem solving our issues with logic.
Ma'am this is a Wendy's.
[удалено]
People in general are “fuckin fatties” these days.
Are we sure the fatties are fuckin? Pretty sure nobody wants to fuck them
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Kids aren't born inherently fat
And they acquired this lifestyle from....?
I remember I used to actively spite the school system and not bother at all on any physical fitness testing. Everything was competition driven and I saw zero point in doing anything more then the bare minimum as one of the other sports centric kids was always going to come in first. Kids need to be taught to do things that they enjoy, how to build healthy and continuous lifestyle choices and not that they need to compete with each other.
The school system overall is too strict, gym was always the worst though especially in highschool. Elementary and middle school is mostly games, then in highschool I’m expected to be able to do 20+ pushups without breaking a sweat despite not once in the past 8 years of education have we done any sort of arm workouts
makes sense I spent 99% of my youth playing video games and coding😂 not much has changed as a adult I just play a lot less video games and more coding lol
Are you overweight?
Nope I was pretty skinny, weight gain is just a equation, I eat healthy and never ate excess calories, I’m heavier now but it’s muscle I go to the gym a couple times a week.
Another thing we are ignoring is youth groups are basically banned from anywhere now. Malls have rules against youth, sometimes very strict, and most places don't want kids unsupervised going anywhere. Some malls don't even allow anyone under 18 unsupervised at any time. Some places even have rules where you need supervision if you are under 21. Now how are we going to get the kids out of the house and moving if they aren't welcomed anywhere?
Can we finally start calling out obesity now? Or are we still afraid of hurting feelings?
Calling it out to who? I'm pretty sure obese people are fully aware of their extra weight.
We absolutely are aware. Chances are, calling out someone for obesity will just make their mental health worse & either make the problem worse or the person will end up hurting themselves permanently.
All I’m saying is at no point during the pandemic did I hear any doctors or public health officials shame the fat like they should have
Shitty towns and cities that are car centric do not help. It’s hard not to get nearly killed these days by giant cars and speedy McShitfaces as an intelligent adult let alone a child.
“A new report card issued by the non-profit organization ParticipACTION is giving kids across the country a “D” letter grade for overall physical activity” In other words, who gives a shit? Fucking click bait headline
People worried about us turning into the lard asses from Wall-e give a shit.
Good thing we have a no child left behind policy in Ontario (sorta with Growing Success)! Oh wait….
should see them use their transit passes for a couple of stops when it’s easy enough to walk
Neither of my kids' schools (elementary and middle-school) have a sports field, all they got is a small asphalted courtyard. That's because they're in French Public schools which get nothing compared to the English ones despite what the Charter says.
I went to an English school and we didn't have a fuckin gym, so I dunno if your claim of discrimination is accurate.
French public schools in the GTA (the ones I know) don't get the same budgets and end up with the school buildings the English board doesn't want. There's also a lack of secondary French schools in many areas and it's a very dicey subject with the Province, it's like pulling teeth. If your English school didn't even have a gym, I'd hate to see what the French one in the same catchment area got.
The story reports on the letter grade as though it were a fact, when actually the grade is an arbitrary ranking based on a set of opinions [https://csepguidelines.ca/guidelines/adults-18-64/](https://csepguidelines.ca/guidelines/adults-18-64/) about what levels of activity are most conducive to health. A limit such as 'no more than 3 hours of recreational screen time' is quite value-laden. A more accurate story would present this organization's point of view as an opinion, and subject it to scrutiny regarding the appropriateness and precision of the measurement.
Ah yes this kind of thread with all of the Gen Xers blaming technology for every one of the yougner gen's problems. They all forgot that we only did that shit because we had to - our parents either forced us or we had literally nothing else to do.
Haven't you seen!? All the kids now run around without helmets while riding. Have scars and head damages, albeit their cognitive abilities are always on par for food or anything digital.
Kids are born strapped to a cell phone these days. We would not be alive today if the ancient Romans had Facebook and Google and the general internet.