The Benefits of Physical Education for Kids
This summer, I let my kids loose at a friend’s farmhouse in rural Quebec and observed that well-fed boys, when left to their own devices, spend a good third of their waking hours in motion. Running, swimming, wrestling, loading each other into recycling bins to wheel over hill and dale – kids are incredibly kinetic creatures.
Returning to school feels a bit like stuffing puppies into a shoebox. And while it has to be done, I know that the success of my kids’ school year rests largely on ample doses of physical activity.
Too bad Canadian schools don’t always provide it. The constraints to physical education – time, space and budget – may be real, but the biggest obstacle is in fact attitudinal. Schools need to stop considering physical activity a fun distraction from the serious business of academic work and recognize that it is essential to learning. Canadian schools must put more emphasis on physical education and get kids moving – The Globe and Mail