Why Some Children Dislike Physical Education -By Sunday Ibrahim Babas

Physical education is a lesson that some school children enjoy to the full, to others it is a torture. it is not something new. there have always been children who hate physical education. physical education is a good way to get into good exercise habis in preparation for adult life.

Some children excel at all sports, others excel at academic subject. children who do not have good coordinations dread physical education.painfully shy children and those who are overweight or otherwise disadvantaged learn to hate physical education. they forge parental excuse notes, forget their kit, and feign illness or anything possible to avoid physical education.

Physical education teachers are often impatient and unsympathetic with those children who hate physical education. they think that these children are lazy , not trying ot not worth bothering with and they just concentrate on the children who are good at sport.perhaps the problem is that too many physical education teachers favour team games and Athletics but physical education covers fa more than that. modern dance, roller and ice skating, self defense and rocket. climbing are just as much physical education as football, hockey, netball, or cricket. there are so many activities that can come under the heading of physical education.

As children grow up sometimes they feel embarrassed about doing sports in mixed groups.Teenaged girls, especially, hate boys to see them doing sports or running around. in some schools, girls feel that the sports kit is too revealing, e.g in one school the compulsory kit consisted of a short wrap around skirt and girls are not permitted to wear shorts or track suit bottoms. Consequently, most girls refuse to do games on the school field,where the boys are and where the whole school can see them from the classroom windows that surrounded the field.

Some children hate physical education. but they do not all dislike it for the same reason. sometimes it takes an imaginative approach within a school to make physical education more attractive.

Some Private school have instituted modern dance classes for girl as part of their physical education lessons. the girls do this in the school hall away from the boys.the lassons cover Hip Hop and other modern dance disciplines.they found within Weeks that the girls looked forward to these lessons and that all the girl were enthusiastic about these lessons and did not try to avoid physical education as they had formerly.

Physical education lessons are necessary. They help children to grow healthy and establishe good exercise habis for adult life. Physical exercise helps children to perform well in academic subjects. Making physical education more attractive for those children who hate team sport and athletic means taking a more imaginative approach to what constitutes physical education. It means realizing that children are different and do not like the same things or dislike physical education for the same reasons.it also means taking teenagers sensibilities seriously. it is a challenge; it must be won if all our children are to enjoy physical education lessons at school

By Sunday Ibrahim Babas