We don't need no Physical Education?

This morning, I read an article about how the more physically active kids are, the better they will be at math. Well, it makes sense; there’s a lot of math and science involved in sports and play (such as physics in baseball).

Still, I could only grumble to myself over how physical education in my daughter’s school is grossly overlooked.

Last night at dinner, I was talking with Jennifer about P.E. at her school. Last year, we received occasional updates on what kind of progress is being made in P.E. This year, I don’t get any updates at all. So, I wanted to know what was up with P.E.

Jen told me that they only have P.E. once a week this year, and that all they do is play dodgeball. She went into a lecture about how much she loved P.E. last year, when they had P.E. three times a week and they did a whole host of activities: Jumping, climbing (especially climbing ropes), balancing exercises and running. Especially running!

This year, however, the amount of activity in her P.E. class has dropped considerably. Now I knew why the school sent home a note to parents about getting their kids into more physical activities. Apparently, the school can’t do it themselves! Sigh. Of course, they have recess, but recess only lasts anywhere from 10-15 minutes. That's just not enough time for kids to benefit from physical activity.

One thing Jennifer noticed about this change in P.E. is that it happened after they got a new gym coach. Her old P.E. coach was, well…old. Unfortunately. He retired last year. But, wow, to be around that man! He was bursting with energy! I was amazed at how energetic and passionate he was about exercise and physical education. He just really put himself into it. He actually cared, and he inspired so many people to get active. This year’s coach, who happens to be a younger overweight guy, didn’t strike me as very active when I met him at the start of the school year. He was quiet, stood around a lot and didn’t really seem interested in talking with anyone. Jennifer told me she misses her former P.E. coach. At least he had the kids doing more physical activity! And he really cared about how well they could do things, too. He encouraged them to keep trying and to get out there.

Once again, it’s up to the parents to take charge of their child’s level of physical activity. Apparently, investing ourselves in our child’s academic performance is not enough. We need to also make sure that they are excelling physically, because it seems like the schools just aren’t going to be able to do that anymore.

At least, my daughter’s school can’t.

Working but not working out

Not too long ago, I had my weight checked at the doctor's office. It was 179 pounds. YIKES!! I was NOT happy about this weight and, even though my doctor didn't say anything about it, I vowed I'd try to lose some weight.

But not JUST lose weight: Get myself into shape.

I still want to incorporate a running program into my schedule, but I'm not yet able to run again as much as before. I also want to do weight training and learn how to swim. The problem is, I just don't know how to fit the former into my hectic schedule and I chickened out on signing up for classes this summer to accomplish the latter.

So, I tried something else: Change my diet and do an aerobic workout for AT LEAST 30 minutes every day. I figured if I got up early enough in the morning, I could do the workout, shower and get Jen ready for school. And for a while, that worked. I started noticing results and I was excited at the possibility of being able to run again (and I mean long-distance running). But then after that highlight, I soon got back to my old habits of being so obsessed with my writing work, that I work on it EVERY free minute I have. Then my diet started to suffer, too. Even though I wasn't eating a lot, the food I DID eat was not healthy.

Bad and bad!

I am trying to figure out how to bring the workout AND the healthy eating habits back into the picture. I know it's not like I'm a couch potato, or anything, but I'm REALLY unhappy with my figure. I also want physical fitness to be a permanent part of daily life, either as just me exercising or working out with my kids (going for bike rides, playing sports like basketball, or taking a class together). I know our weight doesn't exactly define how fit we are, how healthy we are or even how shapely we are, but I just want to be at an acceptable weight and have an acceptable figure.

But I don't know how to balance that with my devotion to my writing career.

Writing is a sedentary activity. It's easy to lose track of staying fit and eating healthy when you're a writer. I really, REALLY want to have the best of both worlds -- writing and physical fitness -- but I don't know how to accomplish this. I have thought that maybe I can make it a rule to write one time of the day and work out at another time of the day (and this would work well since I'm more productive at writing in the morning and more energetic to work out in the afternoons), so that's an idea I have been toying with. I also need to figure out how to fit it around the baby's nap schedule, as well, but that is not as big of a challenge as trying to keep my obsession with writing in control.

And if anything else, having the physical fitness routine worked into the daily schedule will be another way for me to avoid letting the writing obsession become an even bigger obsession. I want to make sure that writing isn't the only thing I do, and having other things going on OUTSIDE of writing is definitely worth the time to encourage.