Required?

[Tom Yum]

Well, I don't mean P.E. class, but an organized after school sports team of some sort.

I think its a good idea. I'd support it.

[jubaji]

Required?



The idea of Phys Ed in school is nice, but is almost never applied in any serious way such that the principle of strong body/strong mind can be exercised.

Therefore, do y'all think that parents have a kind of moral obligation to make sure their kids participate in sport of some kind for 'X' number of years at least while they are young?

Further, should this be some kind of organized team sport in order to teach the important lessons that context presents?

Further, should parents keep their kids in just one or a few sports for several years rather than jumping from this to that?

Just wondering what you folks think.

What a good question!

[DickHardman]

well one thing you could do is take your kid aside one day and sit him down and explain to him about the "epidemic" that is sweeping the nation. he may as well start learning about it young so he can cultivate healthy habits later in life with a good foundation. educate him on the dangers of this new epidemic that has afflicted millions of americans nationwide. more people are dying and suffering in america from this new age "epidemic" than people in europe did during the plague. tell your kid you love him, and want him to live a long healthy life and they key to doing so is working out. enroll them at a healthclub and get them some training lessons to show them how to workout properly. as a parent you have responsibility to keep your kid healthy, feeding him garbage and allowing him to become lazy and out of shape is going to hurt him and hold him back. thats not what any of you want for your kids is it??? dont let your kid fall victim to the obesity pandemic. there are people in this country that have sat in the same place, and ate so much food that they literally have to have a intervention/rescue team to come saw open their house so they can airlift the epidemic victim to a treatment facility were they will have procedures done to them like reducing their stomach so that they cant physically eat more than a mouthful because they have so little self control that they truly need to have there bodies surgically altered to prevent them from killing themselves from gluttony.

btw, is there anyway i can add more thumbsdown signs on my posts? i think this one deserved like 4 or 5 at least.

[DickHardman]

also tell them that its way cooler to be big and buff like these guys...

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maIKxIF5rwI[/YOUTUBE]

[DickHardman]

I wonder how tiger feels about being forced to practice golf all the time. Instead of going out playing with his friends.

Standing there hitting the ball over and over again.

Then again, he's rich and has a hot wife? maybe the trade offs are worth it

the same can be said about certain martial artists. my instructor was forced to do judo since he was a kid cause his dad was a judo coach. now he trains top level mma fighters and teaches bjj for a living.

the guy i trained in judo under when i was in college, he was a troublesome kid with a lot of anger. his parents forced him to go to judo everyday after school. he ended up being one of the coaches of the olympic team at one of the world games, and was a monster on the mat himself.

[chillaplata]

I think that parents have a moral obligation to ensure that their children

• master certain core athletic skills that everyone with a sound mind and body should have, like swimming, riding a bicycle, and learning some combination of martial arts that will enable them to defend themselves effectively,

• understand the importance of keeping fit and learn effective ways to do so (i.e., to build cardio, strength and endurance through some combination of running, swimming, biking, weight training, etc.), and

• experience a very wide range of sports and athletic activities so that the children have at least a little exposure to most major sports and the opportunity to train long and hard in any sports that they have both a passion and an aptitude for.

I don't think that the physical education of children should necessarily involve team sports. I think there are many "individual" sports -- swimming, track, wrestling, judo, BJJ and boxing to name just a few -- that offer children all the camaraderie, pride in collective hard work toward a common goal, and similar benefits that team sports are generally thought to provide. Nothing against team sports -- it should just be a question of what the children want to do.

Regarding whether children should be encouraged to train one sport or many, I think that parents should (i) ensure that their children master the core athletic skills that the parents regard as absolutely essential and nonnegotiable, like swimming, self-defense, etc., and (ii) make sure their children are developing properly and staying in shape, but otherwise (iii) pay attention to what their children want and do their best to help their children achieve those goals. If my fiancee and I have children, I will press them very hard to become at least basically competent at swimming and judo, and to run around and engage in at least SOME kind of physical activity so that they don't become couch potatoes, but otherwise I will try to be guided by what THEY want and not to impose my dreams or fantasies upon them.

I hated swimming lessons as a child, but every time I get in the pool as an adult I thank my father for making me go. I only wish he'd made me take up wrestling so I wouldn't get owned so bad in BJJ all the time...

[migo]

The way they do phys ed in China sounds pretty good. It's not sport based so you don't get kids who aren't very good at the sports not wanting to participate at all, as the comparative difference in ability is pretty clear for all to say. Academics you can at least keep your marks secret.

I definitely do think some regular extracurricular physical activity is a necessity for kids these days, and parents really should be doing something to have their kids doing it. Even if it's just frisbee every weekend.

[jubaji]

What a good question!

Yes indeed it was!

[Tom Yum]

If I have kids, I'm going to get them involved in sports. Swimming, martial art (whichever they want) and a team sport (which ever they want).

I've found that folks whom have done a great deal of team sports as kids, usually work better in teams as adults (but I could be wrong).

[jubaji]

Right, and folks who avoided/couldn't make team sports as kids can be pretty much impossible to work with as adults sometimes.

[jubaji]

If you want to have them develop mastery, specialization is key.

I think I'm missing the relation between the two comments.

[GQchris]

If the parents are total fatasses I doubt that physical fitness would be a concern they have for their kids. Sad but true.

[jubaji]

When kids are real young they should be encouraged to try a bunch of things. Then when they see what they like and are best at you can start to specialize.

[blitz]

I'm glad this topic is up. I was discussing it with my friends the other day.

And my view on this: I'm going to force my kids to do some kind of sports because right now I honestly wish my parents did the same with me. I'm not taking anything away from my parents but they always gave me a choice, and I chose the lazy lifestyle, I became obese and when I was old enough to regret it I had to lose the weight. It never really affected my social life at all, but I still regret it, since it took loads of work to lose it.

I'm sure kids will probably oppose it at lots of times, but when they are old enough I'm sure they will thank me. And the way the lifestyle of your average child is changing now, you have to be a bit rough because the environment SUCKS.

I'll keep their options open to whatever sports they want to do, but damn would I be proud if they were into martial arts.