Thoughts from Between the Knees

Boot camp, hot yoga, pumping iron, triathalons, walks for cures, pilates, zumba, cycling classes. The list of ways to try to get us off our butts seems endless. And yet, Americans are getting fatter and more sedentary by the year. Could it be because we seem to have made being physically active seem like work?

Has anyone been to a playground filled with little kids on a sunny afternoon? Do they look like they are working? No, they seem to run, not walk, and they are laughing: they look like they are having a blast! They are playing! And all the adults just sit by on the bench and watch. Passive, detached. Have they forgotten how to play?

But once those kids hit elementary school, the “organized sports” take over: T-ball, soccer, tennis, dance etc. Instructors, coaches, rules, winners, losers. What happened to just going outside to play after school? And it doesn’t get any better as they get older: music lessons, competitive teams, after school enrichment learning programs. On and on. They begin to understand that they live in a competitive world,and believe that opportunities for success are scarce, available only to those who win. They lose their ability to function without the structure of the “activity”. They forget how to play. It is so sad. No wonder there is so much anxiety amongst our teenagers.

So I vote for more play! Would someone please create an after school program for kids that is like the old “recess” I remember? A teacher standing in the middle of the school yard with a whistle, supervising 100 kids playing various games, everything from kickball to jacks, to jump rope to 4 square. The kids managed the games themselves, without coaches or parents shouting from the sidelines. And maybe there were winning teams, or the kid who could jump the longest without tripping, but by the time recess was over, no one cared anymore. It was about the playing. They were hot and sweaty, and they had fun.

How about an after work “recess” for adults?! Good old fashioned games. Perhaps if adults remember how much fun it is, they would actually go outside with their kids and play once in a while. It might also make them more fit. But it is really about the fun.