School sport suffers as one in four children think video games are exercise, says report

Almost one in four children believe that playing video games counts as exercise, according to new research that warns school sport is at a “critical crossroads” at a time when the promised London 2012 legacy is again under the spotlight.

At the approach of the 10th anniversary of the moment when the former London 2012 chairman Lord Coe secured the Games for London with a vow to “inspire a generation” the chief executive of the Youth Sport Trust, Ali Oliver, has warned children risk becoming “hostages to handheld devices” and disengaged completely from physical activity.


http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jun/23/school-sport-crossroads-london-2012-legacy

I remember when school sports played an important part for both schools and pupils, we used to play inter house sports and even inter school sports, I noticed that changed when my kids were at school, less and less emphasis was placed on sport and more on fitness.
I noticed the idea of competition seemed to be fading away, even within the school lessons when groups represented your ability such as group 2A, meant you was in your second year of that school and in the top group, instead seemingly random numbers were used, in sport inter house and inter school competition ceased.
When I questioned a head teacher at a parents evening he told me they found the competitive nature of the sports and the group titles often gave a negative image to those not as gifted in the academic or sporting arena.
I told him quite strongly that life as a whole is a competition and if they do not reinforce that they are letting the children down and encouraging being marginal, I think it fell on deaf ears...

Some very fair points of which I agree with HF

My son won a race at school sports day one year, and at the end of the day, everyone was given the same sticker. My son asked why his didn't say "1st place" and the teacher replied "There are no real winners, we are all winners for taking part"
He came home and told me all that and said to me "What's the point of having a race then?"

He was only about six. But I never forgot it.
How stupid is that? Competition is what drives a child to get better - and life is loaded with competition!

eddie wrote:My son won a race at school sports day one year, and at the end of the day, everyone was given the same sticker. My son asked why his didn't say "1st place" and the teacher replied "There are no real winners, we are all winners for taking part"
He came home and told me all that and said to me "What's the point of having a race then?"

He was only about six. But I never forgot it.
How stupid is that? Competition is what drives a child to get better - and life is loaded with competition!

exactly pretending everyone gets the result is not life..

Nope it isn't HF.
Competition is there throughout life - you need to be competitive to get a job nowadays! Schools should remember that

eddie wrote:Nope it isn't HF.
Competition is there throughout life - you need to be competitive to get a job nowadays! Schools should remember that

lets face it school has very little to do with real life, how many jobs include sitting on your backside from 9 till three with two huge breaks..

heavenlyfatheragain wrote:

eddie wrote:Nope it isn't HF.
Competition is there throughout life - you need to be competitive to get a job nowadays! Schools should remember that

lets face it school has very little to do with real life, how many jobs include sitting on your backside from 9 till three with two huge breaks..

Motherhood?

eddie wrote:

heavenlyfatheragain wrote:

lets face it school has very little to do with real life, how many jobs include sitting on your backside from 9 till three with two huge breaks..

Motherhood?

I'm so pleased you said that...lol

Well don't tell Vod! She'd have my entrails on a plate! Lol

Actually I don't stop till my little one is in bed, although she is relatively easy to look after :-)

eddie wrote:Well don't tell Vod! She'd have my entrails on a plate! Lol

Actually I don't stop till my little one is in bed, although she is relatively easy to look after :-)

we all know "a woman's work is never done", that's because they never get on with it...lol

eddie wrote:

What it says in the Guardian article is so true and it's important that we as parents should recognise that and set an example to our kids by not sitting around all day and half the night ourselves pratically welded to a computer instead of getting out with them to sports clubs and events and ecouraging them to take part as far as possible. There's lots of things we can do if we make the effort but we can't really complain about kids spending most of their time playing computer games and time on social media sites if we do the same thing ourselves.

It's true that some local authotities and schools have dumbed down competion to an extent but I would think they are the exception rather than the rule. Sports clubs for football, rugby, tennis etc. are completely different where competative events are just that - competative.

at least most of the games systems now allow for some interaction which involves moving...

Irn Bru wrote:What it says in the Guardian article is so true and it's important that we as parents should recognise that and set an example to our kids by not sitting around all day and half the night ourselves pratically welded to a computer instead of getting out with  them to sports clubs and events and ecouraging them to take part as far as possible. There's lots of things we can do if we make the effort but we can't really complain about kids spending most of their time playing computer games and time on social media sites if we do the same thing ourselves.

It's true that some local authotities and schools have dumbed down competion to an extent but I would think they are the exception rather than the rule. Sports  clubs for football, rugby, tennis etc. are completely different where competative events are just that - competative.

To be fair, unless you're a child who's into partaking in sports, there really isn't much to do if you go,out (take away cinema which is basically sitting down looking at a screen too!).

We are basically talking teens as younger children do play out and play all sorts of games.
Lots of teens however, don't have anything to do. There are hardly any clubs or places for them to go, so they end up hanging around the streets - which most adults don't like - and they get "moved on" a lot! So what's for them to do but sit indoors on computers or xboxes?
And you get an awful lot of parents who actually don't want their kids playing out due to their fear of child-snatching and paedophiles etc - yes, I've read and heard people Xrually state this!

eddie wrote:

Irn Bru wrote:What it says in the Guardian article is so true and it's important that we as parents should recognise that and set an example to our kids by not sitting around all day and half the night ourselves pratically welded to a computer instead of getting out with  them to sports clubs and events and ecouraging them to take part as far as possible. There's lots of things we can do if we make the effort but we can't really complain about kids spending most of their time playing computer games and time on social media sites if we do the same thing ourselves.

It's true that some local authotities and schools have dumbed down competion to an extent but I would think they are the exception rather than the rule. Sports  clubs for football, rugby, tennis etc. are completely different where competative events are just that - competative.

To be fair, unless you're a child who's into  partaking in sports, there really isn't much to do if you go,out (take away cinema which is basically sitting down looking at a screen too!).

We are basically talking teens as younger children do play out and play all sorts of games.
Lots of teens however, don't have anything to do. There are hardly any clubs or places for them to go, so they end up hanging around the streets - which most adults don't like - and they get "moved on" a lot! So what's for them to do but sit indoors on computers or xboxes?
And you get an awful lot of parents who actually don't want their kids playing out due to their fear of child-snatching and paedophiles etc - yes, I've read and heard people Xrually state this!

It's certainly true that parents are worried about their kids being out but that's where making the effort kicks in about parents setting examples by not doing the same things that they don't want their kids to do. I'm sure if your kids were taking part in sport you would be taking them there, watching them play and then bringing them back again or if you couldn't manage you would make other arrangements wherby the parents of a team-mate would do it or take turns to do it.
I did that all the time with my kids and I did with my grandchildren as well and still do sometimes even though they're a lot older now and can take care of themselves.

Yes I agree, of course I would take my children to and from places whilst they were too young to use transport.
But.
I'm afraid I'm quite against chauffeuring children about! I think parents spend too long and too much of their own time chauffeuring spoilt kids around when buses and trains are a perfectly easy way to get about!

More evidenjd of dumbing down education...


Socialist race to the bottom...

Tommy Monk wrote:More evidenjd of dumbing down education...


Socialist race to the bottom...

What does the video-gaming industry have to do with socialist agenda.

@lex wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:More evidenjd of dumbing down education...


Socialist race to the bottom...

What does the video-gaming industry have to do with socialist agenda.

Brilliant....



Have a good evening everyone.

Only that some children think playing a video game counts as exercise...

Tommy Monk wrote:Only that some children think playing a video game counts as exercise...

Yeah, Tommy, and I knew some kids when I was younger who thought that the man pees in the lady and that's how babies are made.

I guess that's socialism too?

Ben, a child may describe that in such a simplistic way, and although technically and biologically inaccurate, is not too far from reality...


Bit different to believing that playing pro evo football on a playstation is the same as actually playing football outside with a real ball being kicked around with real feet.

Tommy Monk wrote:

Ben, a child may describe that in such a simplistic way, and although technically and biologically inaccurate, is not too far from reality...


Bit different to believing that playing pro evo football on a playstation is the same as actually playing football outside with a real ball being kicked around with real feet.

The point is that children not knowing things is not evidence of your socialist agenda ... children don't know lots of things, that's why we educate them!

The lefties agenda has removed winners from sports in school... all in the name of equality...

Tommy Monk wrote:The lefties agenda has removed winners from sports in school... all in the name of equality...

I don't think you can put that on "the lefties." There are plenty of people on the left who think that this new trend is stupid.