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I'm really not a sporty person and lucky me, I got exemptions from a lot of sports things at school because I was so immersed in my dance classes.
This is probably also a function of the "coloured" school I went to as I'm not sure that kind of thing would work just anywhere. :)
Amazing I'm co-ordinated enough to dance well - but I think the body may use different muscles because it's my hand-eye co-ordination.
D is also not sporty so what chance do our poor kids have?
I know I shouldn't label them and I won't (to their faces) but let's face facts.
So imagine my (extreme) terror when the school newsletter arrived and I see things about Sports Day and parent-child races and whatnot.
Cold sweat, I tell you.
Because basically it brought up a whole load of issues I wasn't prepared to deal with yet.
I honestly thought we'd only have to deal with this stuff in Grade 1, a good 3 years from now.
But no.
Then Kendra started saying things like she doesn't want to go to school because she has to hop.
I didn't put 2 and 2 together until Friday night.
You see, she was a little bit sick (sore throat) and on Friday I asked her how she was doing. When she said she's fine, I said, "oh good, now you don't have to miss the sports day"
K it's okay, Mummy, I can miss the sports day
Me why, Baby? why do you want to miss out?
K because I can't hop
Me what do you mean?
K we have to hop in a bag
LIGHTBULB GOES ON.
Me Ohhhhh, a sack race!
K ...and it's silly to hop in a bag
(I can't fault her logic here)
Me that's true, Baby. It is a bit silly but why don't we just go and just get it over and done with and then we can enjoy the rest of our day tomorrow?
Because spending my (very precious) time watching sport is about 50th on my list of things I want to do.
So off we went to the sports day.
It was absolutely FREEZING and these poor kids had to jump around and run in that weather. I said to MIL I don't even allow the kids outside more than 20 minutes in weather like that.
The kids both ran and jumped (badly) but I think they all didn't quite get the gist of jumping forward.
Thankfully, my kids weren't the worse in the bunch (that sounds terrible) - totally my issues coming forward here. K was third running and C was in the middle somewhere.
All the kids got participation trophies which is sweet but you know my stance - I like the idea of toughening them up :)
I am 100% okay (now!) with not being good at sports because I'm awesome at many other things.
So are you, by the way.
And really, in the grand scheme of things, how many people are really good at sports? Less than 1%. This is not rocket science.
I would much rather the schools (all of them) start talking more about adopting a healthy way of life - finding that thing you love to do to exercise and keeping on with it to have an active lifestyle.
But that's my issue.
How do you feel about this sports stuff?
Are you awesome at it? Are your kids?
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| a lovely grey day.... but not for sports day! |
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| cool boots |
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| K running |
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| G and C (f-stop too low but the best of the lot) |
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| K in sack race and that's C's teacher J |
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| MIL and D |
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| M and D |
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| nail-biting stuff, these kids' races |
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| it's also cold |
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| my friend, C's hands - the popcorn was really good |
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| I love this one! |
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| friend C with G |
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| my K - so happy to be reunited with us :) |
Which is your favourite?
I played a few sports back in the day, badly but I played. Oh how I miss those abs!!
ReplyDeleteI'm eager to get them active, whatever it is that they choose. At this age I look at sports as a means to exhaust them. I don't look forward to competitive sports when they're old.
And yes, my views are down but I don't think much of it. Maybe it's because I've been toughened from a life without participation trophies LOL!
I tried playing sports as a kid...swimming, then basketball...and I was just not good. I did dance, too, and that was much more my speed. And then I really excelled in band.
ReplyDeleteJ is super athletic, though, and I'm secretly hoping the girls will be more naturally skilled than I was. I haven't really had the experience, but I think the idea of a "team" would be such a great one.
I haven't pushed to get the girls involved yet, though. They love running around...playing...and that's enough for me right now. There are leagues for these wee ones, but they still seem like BABIES to me! ;) I've gotta get on the ball and at least check it out, though...I know they'll be in KINDY before I know it! :/
I love the picture of K running! Love the one of you two together! And I love the first of his hands between his knees!
I hated sports at school, and in fact i never went to a sports day at primary school until my last year. Just the thought of doing sports in front of a crowd brought me out in a cold sweat!! My kids are not sporty either- i know it's because of our lack of input. Dara does football but really she's not aggressive enough - which I'm secretly pleased about :) Our oldest daughter is very health conscious and even though she is not into team games (lacks the aggression also) she is very good about taking exercise on a daily basis. So i dont feel too bad about my slothful ways, lol.
ReplyDeleteLike the picture of D's hands.
I'm not sure that sack racing skills transfer to life anyway!
ReplyDeleteN's school doesn't do sports days. They have open days once a term for the extra murals that you can attend if you want to, but that's it.
ReplyDeleteI didn't do sport at school. I could have, but my mom screamed at me like a banshee for disrupting her afternoon with practise so I just quit and only took up hockey and discis in high school when I was in boarding school and living on the premises.
Welcome to the first of many many saturdays spent doing something 50th on our list :)))
ReplyDeleteI swam and played Netball - I was actually good at swimming but had no interest so did it mainly for health reasons (my hip) but did swim in the school team. I was good at Netball - not A team material - my school years were spent being average.
BUT my son - my son appears to have gotten my brothers "I am REALLY good at every sport I do" gene. He does it all and is in the A team for it all. So I spend many hours watching games. This year I have told him I will do my best to be at all the matches but there will be times I just can not be there (what I didn't say is I wont be there because I just dont want to - bad mom?? I am ok with it)
Kiara hates sports - HATES it! She does swimming because I believe she has to do something active. BUT she had to compete it the schools Mini Olympics last year and she LOVED it.
Honestly - I don't mind the sports days - I always remember them being fun - even though at school I never competed in anything athletic.
We have done sports for 5 years now - its kinda part of life.
(ADD in Ds races and well I have no choice :))
I was very sporty at school...netball team, hockey team, swimming team, tennis, athletics, ballet, tap, modern dancing, country dancing and gymnastics. But as I got older, I kinda rebelled..."cool" kids don't do after school activities....smile. I, too, dread the parents race. Fortunately Bradley got colours for athletics..so I plan to make him run for parents race.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Jada, I don't mind if she does sports or not...she needs to do what she is comfortable with .....
I see my page views are way up but very few do comment. I think that most read blogs through their phones and don't bother to comment.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you all had a wonderful day at the first sports day :)
I did a lot of sport whilst at school, but was not necessarily very good at it. I never even questioned taking part in sports days and stuff and thought that people that tried to get out of them were insane. Phys Ed and sports was the best part of school. However, I was/am useless at anything that involves hitting, catching, throwing. I was asked to please stop playing tennis as they could not find anybody bad enough to play against me. Thankfully I loved to run and swim - even if I was pretty much last I just enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI did more sports or activities that were not school based - I also danced (Highland) for 10 years, I roller skated (as in like ice-skating but P.E. did not have an ice rink) and I did horse riding.
After school I stopped doing any sports, but started again in 2004. Now it is a huge part of my life and I love it.
The school that we have decided to send little OL to does not really have sports - it is very small.
I was never good at sport but H was a great sportsman. We have takent he stance that participation and doing your best is important but being in the A team or winning not. It seems to work for now. Also, there are so many options today - if you are not good at ball sports you can swim, or do Judo etc. Even dancing gets a lot of attention at the school. So the options are plenty. But it has to stay fun
ReplyDeleteLOL...I have no idea about my page views. I don't want to know either - I know myself. I will become obsessed and I don't want to go to that place.
ReplyDeleteI hate sport. Always have. Lance too. We passed that gene to our kids. I insist that Child1 does something but I am a very bad Mommy though. If he says he doesn't want to go to a sports day (if it's on a Saturday) then we don't go. Like you, I can think of WAY better ways to spend my weekends. BTW..our kids schools have gotten so clever about the Saturday sports day stuff. These things ALL happen during the week now. Usually late in the afternoon. So you actually end up there because you must fetch your kid and you end up buying something for dinner too. I doubt whether Child2 will like sport. But, you never know. Your pictures are gorgeous though. I love the one with the bird flying high in the grey sky.
In school I was a cheerleader. I don't do other sports. I just... don't enjoy them. Aaron's not into them either- when all the guys he works with are watching games and stuff, he's oblivious. Our kids have no chance either- at least that's what we always say. Dylan is rather athletic and drawn to sporty things though, so if it's something he likes we'll of course encourage it.
ReplyDeleteI love your photos...it really captures the day. I was the only one out of six children in our home that took part in sport. My parents never supported or came to watch, but I still got EP colours in cross country running. My DH and his family is sports crazy...so in the end I had on sports crazy child, my oldest. He got provincial colours in three sports in a year and had us travelling all over the country to see him take part. I believe there must be a good balance between academic achievement and sport.
ReplyDelete