The Danger of Making P.E. All About “Fitness”

Fitness hasn’t been inclusive

There’s nothing that erks me more than seeing how Hollywood and pop culture portrays P.E. teachers. 🤮

You know what I’m talking about right?

That militant, track suit wearing, whistler-bearing, bootcamp “yeller”, seemingly obsessed with forcing kids into ‘fitness’ by making them do push ups, sprints or rope climbs?

But that’s not real life. (Or at least it shouldn’t be)

👉 There isn’t a P.E. curriculum out there (that I’ve seen) that tells teachers that they must run fitness drills or only teach popular sports units. 👈

Physical Education has evolved over the years, and PE teachers have too.

⏰ Our role isn’t to ‘make kids exercise so that they don’t get fat’ (why do so many people think this is what we do?) 😢

Our role is to support each child in discovering their own unique path in being active for life.

We do that by helping them develop

👟 Competence in a variety of movement patterns and styles. Jumping, catching, throwing, rolling, balancing, kicking, spinning etc - these are the building blocks of movement in children.

👟 Confidence in themselves and their abilities to grow. The words we speak matter. The ways that we set-up, explain, coach, and celebrate what happens in our classes matter. The contexts in which a child is supported in trying new activity, facing a new challenge, mastering a new skill matter.

👟 Motivation to see a value for physical activity. We must make explicit connections between physical activity and how it benefits the way that they move, feel, and interact with each other.

As fitness leaders, if we want kids to have great experiences with movement in childhood, we have to look at how we are designing and delivering our programs.

This starts with WHAT we teach them (develop competencies), HOW we teach them (build confidence), and WHY it is important (so they are motivated to be active for life).

Our Kids Fitness Foundations course is available for fitness pros who want to dive deeper into understanding how to build positive fitness experiences for children, as a specialized population. Check it out HERE.

Redefining Physical Education