One thing I don’t like about today’s public school curriculum is that some subjects take a back seat. Band, chorus, P.E. – those classes all get removed as priorities because it’s all about science! technology! engineering! math! If it ain’t STEM, you ain’t takin’ it.
As a ninth grader last year, my daughter took exactly 6 months of P.E. and was told “that’s it!” for the remainder of her high school years. No P.E. ever again. That horrifies me to think that my kids will only have 6 months of P.E. in four years, and will spend the rest of their school time sitting at desks.
Now, I know – the first question anyone who knows me will ask: who am I to talk? My Runtastic app tells me that the last time I actively exercised was in November 2017. So it’s a bit hypocritical for me to say, “You need to go to a gym!”
But I said it anyway, earlier this summer. CG protested, “I don’t want to go to your gym!” When I mentioned going out for walks after work/school, she responded, “I don’t want to walk when it’s hot and humid!”
A few weeks later, when we went to Pigeon Forge, my surgery scar from a 2014 surgical procedure started to hurt. This happens regularly when I stand too long, but also occasionally when I walk too long. They are most likely related to post-surgical adhesions that formed during my tough recovery period. CG and I went to sit down and give my abdomen a few minutes respite, when I quietly said to CG, “This is why I need to get to a gym – when we go to England next spring, I don’t want to limit our ability to explore because of pain from the adhesions. Building up my walking time and working on my core muscles might help.” She agreed, and said she’d go to the gym with me in the hot summer months, and then split time between being at the gym and walking outside once the SC temps came down in the fall and winter.
For the next month after that she nagged me all the time, “Have you upgraded your membership so I can with you to the gym?”
“No.”
“MAMA!”
“I know, I know.”
But finally a few weeks ago I upgraded my account and we’ve now been going to the gym a couple of times a week, on the nights that CootieBoy does not have taekwondo classes. We aren’t super aggressive – she initially only wanted to do 30 minutes on the treadmill and that’s it. The few times we’ve gone we have done at least 45 minutes on the treadmill. I’m hoping that eventually I’ll be able to talk her into doing weights as well, or getting on an incumbent bike. Any little bit will help for our trip in April.
A couple of weeks ago we went to the gym very early but we let her practice driving for 10-15 minutes beforehand (including driving on the HIGHWAY for the first time). We then hit the gym and did 45 minutes on the treadmill. Afterwards I said, “Do you want to go get some brunch?” She agreed, and we enjoyed a leisurely brunch together, just the two of us. As she drove us home she said, “I liked this – going out together to drive, go to the gym, and get some breakfast. We should do this every week.” I can’t see doing that every week, but once a month would be nice.
That alone would make the torture at the gym worth it.
Featured image courtesy of: W_Minshull (https://www.flickr.com/photos/23950335@N07/)
