I think kids are getting weaker...

badshotbob · 09-22-2006, 06:28 AM

...both in the mind and in the body.

My son is in the 8th grade attending the public school system. In gym class they have been doing various physical tests one of which was to be pull ups. After a day or so of trying to get the kids to do pull ups, the teacher changed the test to include push ups and dropped the pull ups. Why? Not many kids in the class could even do one lousy pull up. The teacher told the class that on average, 70% of 8th graders could not even do one pull up. Where she pulled that figure from I'm yet to find out, but it is interesting that nearly the entire class could do no more than one pull up. My son did 15, so thank God he's not in that category.

My son also noted that most of the class couldn't do more than a few push ups. The drill was to go down parallel with the floor, hold for three seconds, push up to fully extended above the floor, hold for three seconds and repeat. After 20 push ups the teacher made my son stop his test for violating the three second rule - he was holding LONGER than three seconds. O-K.

All of this made me think about responsibility, from both the parents' and the kids' perspectives. Recently my son completed the hunters safety course, scored 100% on the written test, and 100% on the shooting skills hitting 10 of 10 targets with a shotgun and 3 nicely grouped shots around the bullseye with a .22. Yeah, I'm proud of him and he seems to be one of those kids who excels at anything they do, but I take part in knowing that he is learning the ins and outs of responsibility. I think that was my charge when I signed up to have kids.

I also believe that kids that hunt or learn to handle firearms from the proper source are more likely to obtain a higher level of responsibility than say kids who are not challenged by much more than a video game. I'd love to see some stats on that.

What's it like in other parts of the country - are kids really just flat out weak these days?

09-22-2006, 06:58 AM

Yea, they are weaker. Some places like here in MD. Parents that allow their kids to have an X-box can blame themselves. Where I am from in Eastern Ky, all they can think about is football. So they push the kids way way too hard on excersises. Going thru that when I was young, I came to find out there's a whole lot more important things than playing football or doing pullups. Like actaully able to write a research paper. They consistently are Ky's football champs.

They pushed my best friend who was the center to gain this massive amounts of wieght. Now he is severely overwieght 17 years later. Has a diabetes real bad. Seen it too many time with wrestlers, football, even baseball.

Its hard to get a feel on where kids are at when it comes to parents testimonys. I have yet to see too many parents say, "yea, he dumb asa rock and weak as a kitten". Its usually bragging with some extra thrown in.

petasux · 09-22-2006, 07:30 AM

Quote:

What's it like in other parts of the country - are kids really just flat out weak these days?

Bob, by the time I was in 8th grade everyone I knew had a job of some sort after school and during the summer.Baling hay, walking beans, cleaning out barns, scooping ****, I was already carrying shingles{1/2 bundles then} for my dad and grandpa and learning how to put them on.

I really cant remember the last time i seen any of the local kids doing any of these things, the farmers have went to sprays and no till planting, they have had to get together and help each other put thier own hay up.One guy that farms a lot of ground has even started bringing a family of mexicans up from down south somewhere once a year to pick rocks and pull weeds.Its cheaper to import help then to pay the local kids enough to get off thier asses, they seem to think theyre skilled labor or something.

Kids are weaker but theyre not motivated to do aything any longer, thier mommies and daddies buy them thier cars, pay the gas and insurance, they play video games and surf the internet.Theres about 100 TV channels for them to watch and if that gets boring they can listen to thier MP3 players and talk on thier cell phones.Not all kids are that way by any means but theres a large percentage of them that live that way on a daily basis and the parents pay very little attention to the fact that theyre not doing anything constructive with thier time.Hard to build any physical attributes when youre locked in your room.Were turning out an entire generation of sissys that arent going to be even close to ready to deal with the real world when theyre thrown into it IMHO.

burniegoeasily · 09-22-2006, 07:46 AM

Welcome to the wonderful world of child obesity. I just read a study that said most kids get all of 16 min. of phycial activity. And that was in P.E.. Lot of it was due to schools haveing to fudge classes like P.E. to add time to other classes that are requireing more time. NCLB has is killing P.E.. (what ever happened to the Presidents physical fitness program). Also, P.E. teachers are getting away from Physical Education and resorting to easier activites like volleyball and softball. Lot of this is done to avoid law suits and to appease parents. This study also said that we have now reached the point where 2 out of 10 kids are now at the clinically obese level. That is up from the 90s where it was 1 out of 10. And that was way up from the 80s.

badshotbob · 09-22-2006, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Yea, they are weaker.Â* Some places like here in MD.Â* Parents that allow their kids to have an X-box can blame themselves.Â* Where I am from in Eastern Ky, all they can think about is football.Â* So they push the kids way way too hard on excersises.Â* Going thru that when I was young, I came to find out there's a whole lot more important things than playing football or doing pullups.Â* Like actaully able to write a research paper.Â* They consistently are Ky's football champs.Â*

They pushed my best friend who was the center to gain this massive amounts of wieght.Â* Now he is severely overwieght 17 years later.Â* Has a diabetes real bad.Â*Â* Seen it too many time with wrestlers, football, even baseball.

I've never understood that mentality either - pushing kids beyond their limits is wrong IMO. And for sports? Ha? I know there's others that'll disagree, but pushing a kid to play sports in my mind is not all that intelligent or responsible for that matter.

Quote:

Its hard to get a feel on where kids are at when it comes to parents testimonys.Â* I have yet to see too many parents say, "yea, he dumb asÂ*a rock and weak as a kitten".Â* Its usually bragging with some extra thrown in.

Sure enough but the proof is in the pudding as they say.

badshotbob · 09-22-2006, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Also, P.E. teachers are getting away from Physical Education and resorting to easier activites like volleyball and softball.Â* Lot of this is done to avoid law suits and to appease parents.

That chaps me bad. My son has been in this class for nearly a month now and they are finally getting around to doing something pyhsical (in the form of tests made easier for the kids). The first week of PE class was spent, ready for this? doing NOTHING. The excuse was that all kids didn't have the proper "gym suits". The next week was spent shooting baskets - not organized play (much too physical I guess), but standing around shooting baskets. The week after that they played a couple games of basketball and are now into the physical tests. What does next week hold - organized hand holding coupled with "tell the teacher how you feel"? Unreal. [:@]

burniegoeasily · 09-22-2006, 08:16 AM

Im lucky, i live in a very small town where the P.E. teachers are the varsity coaches. They work the kids pretty hard. Its all in grouming for the varsity teams later in life. Doesnt bother me, they are working out non the less. My kids gripe, we are not having fun, we run, do cal, etc. etc. On Fri. they play a game, which includes lots of running and physical activity.

Bob H in NH · 09-22-2006, 11:05 AM

I've actually been impressed with our local high schools PE class, they are currently running "beep tests", where you have xx seconds to sprint the length of the basketball court, then yy seconds to get back to the starting line. Keep going to you miss the time. the kids on the school soccer team are setting the marks, followed by the girls soccer team, then the cross country team (sprinting is killing them), after that the cheerleaders. Where's the football players? Usually mixed in with the first group out

It's a more physical PE class than I expected and I think its great.

kevin1 · 09-22-2006, 11:41 AM

You gotta be sheittin' me Pt. Pyle ! Do you expect me to believe that you can't even do one pull up ?

I totally agree , kids are definitely physically softer these days , I'm middle aged and I can do more pull ups than most teens I know . Considering my overall physical state that's pretty damned sorry ... [&o]

Charlie P · 09-22-2006, 01:04 PM

My son a Junior in high school,runs a 4.8 forty.Plays lacrosse and football and hunts is in better shape when I was when I was swimming in highschool.He can run all day in summer lacrossehe played three full games in one night.Many kids are in better shape because of the better equipment they have to work out on.