Excuse me?!?! Did you say, "no"?!?

{Hiking up leg to climb onto the soapbox that obviously was not made for a 5'4" person to "step" up on.}

If you don't know me, or haven't figured it out yet, my incredibly awesome, rewarding, high paying occupation is teaching. Elementary PE to be specific.  I LOVE what I do.  It is perhaps the most rewarding career I could have chosen.  My students teach me just as much as I teach them.  Not to mention the perks of the occasional two hour delay or cancellation, getting two weeks off at Christmas, a week off for spring break, and two and a half months off during the summer to consume adult beverages on week nights rejuvenate my love for the students.  

I have been teaching for 6 years; 9 days out of 10 I leave school excited to come back the next day.  However, in the short amount of time I have been teaching {compared to some who have been teaching for 30+ years} kids have changed.  When I started teaching I rarely had a student tell me "no" to performing a task.  Now that is a weekly {sometimes daily} occurrence.  When my students enter the gym there are certain procedures they must do.  They cannot participate in our daily activity/game/skill until these procedures are finished {nothing too strenuous, I'm talking jogging a couple laps around the basketball court and doing some jumping jacks, sit-ups, and push-ups}.  Usually this is a task that takes all of 5 minutes to complete.  Lately, I have had students enter the gym and sit down. When asked why he/she is sitting the response I have gotten is something along the lines of, "I don't fell like doing it." I take that and give the old talk about how we might not always want to take a math or spelling test, but we have to do it.  Or that I don't always feel like getting out of bed in the morning, but I do now get up and get moving!  After said talk, I had one student tell me he doesn't like PE.  I assured him that it was okay to not every special class he attends, but he still must do his personal best. To which he replied, "No, my parents know I don't like it.  They said it's okay if I do nothing."  EXCUSE ME!?!?!  Basically that parent just took away any amount of power I may have had.  

There are already times I struggle with people thinking I'm not a real teacher {insert snotty comment by R here}.  Parents like these certainly don't help my case.  It's my job to help my students enjoy physical activity and to encourage them to live a physically active lifestyle.  Considering the fact that I see my students once a week {which equates to about 30 times a year} it is already difficult for me to make a big impact on their fitness level.  It only makes my job all the more difficult when parents don't support the the arts and encourage their child to not participate.  All that aside, obesity is a problem in our country and it's my job to teach children about healthy options with food and exercise.  That is MUCH easier when I have the support of parents and student's who don't think it's acceptable to tell me "no."

Okay, I'm falling getting off my soap box now.  

Happy Friday-eve!