[Rochester]

I've been pondering what kids are being taught about exercise. What do you remember about PE class, or, if you have kids, what are their PE classes like?

My memory of PE class is only group sports - kickball, dodgeball, etc. I don't ever remember learning about personal fitness. Growing up, I didn't know any adults who went to the gym or ran or anything. The only people in my world who exercised were kids in PE and athletes. After high school, when I was no longer being forced to go to PE class every day, I had no idea how to make fitness part of my life...or even that I should.

Is my memory incorrect and/or have schools changed PE in the years since?

I'm wondering if this is an issue that needs to be addressed in some way.

[ddc]

Oh, now they have cup stacking as a sport in PE - lol !!
Search on youtube, if you've never heard of it.

Let's see, in elementary school, my kids played kickball, walked around the gym for a mile, played little games with cones. They have a climbing wall, but I've been told that they never used it - ??? They did do a physical fitness test with situps, pushups, and attempted pullups, but I don't think that's something that they did on a regular basis.

Both of my kids are in middle school now and I think (hope) that they're going to be doing more physical activity.

[MindiV]

It was all about kickball and dodgeball - kids as captains picking teams, etc. We had warmup and sit-ups and push-ups. The presidential fitness test, which required pull-ups and running a mile in a certain amount of time. A lot of it was competition-related, and not about what you should do to stay fit.

[Laureedee]

My kids are just starting out in school, but when I was in PE, we did a ton of group sports, most of which barely involved being active since there were so many of us, along with the fitness test twice per year...and that was it. I also ended up taking tennis and volleyball as extra courses in college. I was the same way though, knew nobody that exercise and didn't really know that you were supposed to do that stuff.

My dad's girlfriend's son tells me that they now do a sort of fitness/health "class" of sorts one day per week instead of regular PE; they're a bit less active in that class because of it, but they're learning about health, exercise and what not so I'm sure it's a good thing.