School overcrowding and FCAT’s ( kids need more time to study) have led to the demise of PE for many schools. Parents have had to FIGHT to get many schools to even keep PE. Should this be something we have to fight for? Absolutely not!
The much bigger issue for obesity in lower schools in my experience is the lack of PE. When my kids attended Norcrest elementary they had PE every 10 weeks! On the rotation schedule they had 5 specials, each which would run for 2 weeks. So they would have PE for 2 weeks after 8 weeks of other specials. Then they’d have to wait 8 more weeks before their next PE. Does anybody think this is healthy? I think more kids would do better in class if they had a healthy break running around more often than that. ( There was recess usually a couple times a week.)
The first thing I noticed when visiting private schools that had 4-5 PE classes a week was the lack of overweight kids. The number of big kids at Norcrest was beginning to get a bit scary- they looked and acted years older and it was a concern.
Give kids regular PE and just like adults, it will have an impact on their weight when combined with a healthy diet.