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Kids and Common Sense, Part 1 by Joe Herzog
Running for Fun by Katelyn
PLEASURE
Take a child, almost any child to the top of a grassy slope, on a sunny day, and just turn the child loose. The result? Some will race down the hill, feeling the joy of the wind in their faces; most will lay down and roll to the bottom, then race back to the top and repeat the process over and over, laughing until their breath runs short. Why? It's fun. Just plain fun. Children, and adults as well, strive to participate in games and activities that bring them pleasure.
PLAY
Play releases endorphins in the brain that are responsible for feelings of well-being. Spinning the brain does so, specifically, which is why kids like to roll down the hill, or simply spin around on the grass until they get dizzy and fall over. Play allows children to take appropriate physical and social/emotional risks. Activities designed or presented by the teacher that include basic fitness concepts, frequently hidden in the game, develop fundamental skills, and allow the child some opportunity to determine his/her level or intensity of participation create that fun, same atmosphere so necessary for the development of the child. That is play as it should be, pleasurable, emotionally satisfying, with a social safety net. Whether it is rolling down the hill, playing any of the myriad tag games, doing simple balance activities, skipping, bouncing, hopping, running, and using balls or Frisbees that are soft, easy to catch, children develop good health and fitness habits and solidify their relationships with their peers. There is, at the primary ages, no need for competitive, team activities. Those activities only benefit a chosen few and then pit them at odds with their classmates creating a class structure that will last for many years to come. We live in a society that places an unrealistic premium on competition. Business that promote co-operation among its employees are far more successful than those that encourage the 'dog-eat-dog' attitude. How else would you account for the vast number of companies who take their staffs through rope courses or go on retreats designed to bring everyone together for a common purpose?
PARENT'S RESPONSIBILITIES
As parents, we should encourage our children to play at every opportunity, and to join in with them as they do. Chasing, wrestling, playing tag, water games and swimming, build bonds between parents and children and make for more self confident, self reliant children. And don't underestimate children. They can learn to cast a fly line or swing a golf club IF it is presented in a fun, non-threatening fashion. Perfection is not the goal. Active learning is what we seek. As we teach our children the A, B, C's as well as their numbers, we are equally responsible for teaching them that games, individual and dual activities and fitness are normal, pleasurable and necessary parts of our lives.
KIDS' SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS
Children are blessed with the most wonderful qualities. They come to us with free, open creative minds. It is up to us, as adults, to shape, suggest, guide and when appropriate, to protect. In protection we include the social/emotional as well as the physical. As we would/should not allow a child to climb a fence to go and retrieve a ball in the street, it may be even more inappropriate to put a child in a competitive game where he/she may draw the ire of classmates or adults for a missed goal or a dropped ball. Nothing is so immediate or long lasting as rejection by one's peers, parents or teachers. Is it necessary for us, tough skinned adults, to place especially young children in that position where they develop 'toughness' in those types of competitive situations? I would think not. Common sense tells us that fit, healthy active children are more self confident, more at ease with themselves and far more likely to develop the ability to deal with the stresses of daily life as they advance from grade to grade.
KR thanks Joe Herzog, PE Teacher for agreeing to be a guest columnist for KR. This is the first of a multi-part series, which Joe has authored. Please click for Part 2 Please check back for part 3. BIO
Taught 18 years at Hamilton Jr. H.S., 9 years at Fresno HS, 9 years at Sequoia Middle School.
Retired in June 2001.
RUNNING:
I was a pretty average runner, but I was very fortunate in that I have been on two national championship teams.
At Fresno State, I ran 1:55.9 880 yards, 4:22 mile, 9:50 2 mile. In 1964 We won the NCAA Small College Championships (probably equal to Div. II, now) and we finished 3rd in the Large school championships at Eugene, behind Oregon and Kansas, tied with Cal. I had greater success as a masters athlete running 59:40 for ten miles and 34:58 for 10K.
TEACHING:
1976: Central Calif. AAU Service Award ( I used to host the Central Calif. and District Junior Olympic Cross Country meets).
1976 and 1984: Service Awards for Track and Field from the San Joaquin Valley Coaches Association
1996: Our department at Sequoia (my wife and I were both members) won the American Dairy council award for Health and Fitness and the Governors' Council Honor Award for Sports and Physical Education
1996: I wrote a Kaiser Mini Grant for Heart Rate Monitors ($1200.00)
1998: Was awarded the CAHPERD Honor Award for Middle School Sports and Physical Education
carol.kids@rodale.com.
