Physical education is key to improving a child's confidence, brainpower and long-term health

One of the most important things parents can give to their children is a physical education or involvement in organized sports activity. Physical education has slipped in priority over the last few years, especially in our public schools. Some schools don't even have recess anymore. They're producing children that can (sometimes) pass standardized tests at the academic level, but who are obese, diabetic, predisposed to heart disease and likely to live a relatively short life with high medical costs and lots of pain and suffering to boot. But what good is an education program that educates children on academics if those students won't live a productive, healthy life using their academic skills?

That's why I think physical education needs to be put back into our public schools as a top priority. Ten minutes of recess a day is not enough. Beyond recess, parents would do well to get their kids involved in additional physical education programs, like after-school programs or organized sports -- anything that involves moving the body, whether it's running track, playing soccer, playing basketball, practicing gymnastics... you name it. These are all excellent for children.

Healthy body, healthy mind. Why are these activities so beneficial? They not only physically help the child's body be healthier in terms of immune system function, circulation, strength, flexibility and hand/eye coordination, they also greatly enhance the child's self-image. Participation in sports can dramatically boost children's self-esteem.

When I was in grade school, we had something called the Presidential Physical Fitness Program. As I understand it, that program no longer exists, but it was an excellent program. It tested each grade school child in a few basic areas, such as doing pull-ups, situps and running, and it awarded them badges for various levels of physical achievement. One of the program's mottos, as I remember from the badges I earned, was: "A sound body, a sound mind."

That program was right on the mark. Being physically fit is more than just physical. It also delivers benefits to your mind. It alters your personality in a positive way. It changes a person for the better, and being involved in an organized social sport gives a child social skills, teamwork skills and many other socially-oriented skills that will be a huge benefit to that child as he or she progress into adulthood.

Silly parents. Amazingly, I've heard some parents come up with the most unbelievable excuses for not involving their children in physical activities or organized sports programs. One parent told me she didn't want her daughter, a seventh-grader, to play soccer because she thought all women who played soccer end up with bulky-looking legs, and she didn't want her daughter to have ugly, bulky legs.

This is a case where a parent, who greatly misunderstands what physical fitness does to the physical beauty of a person, has made a decision that will impair her child's development in an important way. That child wants to play soccer, but the parent is more worried about the cosmetic appeal of her daughter's legs than in actually giving her daughter an opportunity to be physically fit and participate in a sport that she enjoys. That kind of ignorance plays out millions of times a day across our country and around the world, as parents who lack good information on the benefits of sports and physical fitness make poor decisions about the activities of their children. These poor parenting decisions negatively impact the potential of those children for the rest of their lives.

Text 10. (Linguistics and Literature science)