That New PE Parent Study Got Me Thinking About My Kid’s Week
I was scrolling my Facebook feed last night, leaning against the oven waiting for Leo’s gluten-free bake sale cookies to finish, when a link to this new research study popped up. It’s all about how US parents view elementary school PE, right? I clicked it, mostly because I was killing time and the cookie timer had 7 minutes left, and I ended up reading the whole thing while the oven heated up the kitchen enough to make my sweatpants stick to my legs.
It’s not like the results were some huge shock, but they stuck with me, mostly because they felt too close to home. The study says most parents say they value PE way more than they did before the pandemic, know it’s good for mental health and getting wiggles out, all that. But then, when it comes down to it—if the school has to cut budget somewhere—almost half of us would cut PE before we touch reading or math funding. That hit me, because that’s exactly me. I’m the walking contradiction the study’s talking about.
Let me back up. Leo’s in third grade at our local elementary. They cut PE from four days a week to two two years ago, after the district messed up the budget and had to cut positions. We share our PE coach with the middle school down the road, so half the time if the coach is out sick, PE gets canceled and the kids just do extra reading time instead. Last month, wildfire smoke made the air quality too bad to go outside, so all PE that week was just watching GoNoodle videos at their desks. That’s not really PE, is it? I posted a little annoyed comment on the parent Facebook group about it, but that was it. I didn’t go to the school board meeting about it. I didn’t email the principal. I just complained online and moved on.
And then, remember when I said I’m the contradiction? Last fall, Leo scored a little below benchmark on his math assessment. The school offered to pull him out of one PE period a week for small group tutoring. I signed the form without even hesitating. I didn’t think, “Wait, he only has two PE periods a week, this means he only gets one now.” I just thought, good, he needs extra help, don’t fall behind. I was talking about this with another mom at field day last month, the one I met by the sack race station. Her oldest is in fifth grade, gets pulled out of PE twice a week for reading. She said, “I know he needs the help, but when does he get to just… mess around? He’s 10. When does he get to not be working on something?” I nodded along, and all I could think was I did the exact same thing to Leo. I just didn’t see it until she said it out loud.
The study also pointed out that it’s way worse for low-income schools. Wealthier districts, the ones where parents fundraise half the budget every year, still have daily PE, full-time coaches, even rock climbing walls and swimming pools some places. The schools that don’t have that extra parent money? They’re the ones cutting PE down to once a week, sharing coaches across three buildings, cutting it entirely to pay for reading tutors. That makes sense, right? Because the study also says wealthier parents are more likely to prioritize PE, actually. Which tracks—if your kid is already scoring well on tests, you don’t have to choose between PE and extra help. If you’re struggling to get your kid up to benchmark, what else are you gonna pick? I get it. I’m that parent. I’m lucky we’re middle class, we can afford after school soccer if he needs more movement, but what about the parents who can’t? Their kids don’t get any movement at school, and no extra after school either. That sucks.
I keep thinking about when I was a kid, growing up in Ohio. We had PE every single day. Coach Miller was this old guy who always smelled like cigarette smoke and chewing tobacco, and he let us play dodgeball for the whole period if we didn’t give him a hard time. I was chubby in elementary school, hated getting picked last for teams, complained about it all the time. But I still remember how good it felt to run around after sitting in class for three hours. How the rest of the day didn’t feel like such a drag. I don’t want that for Leo, but here I am, signing the form to take his PE away.
The timer just went off on the cookies, by the way. I paused writing this to pull them out, they’re a little burnt around the edges, that’s fine. Leo’s gonna be fine with it. He just yelled from his room asking if I still packed the extra band-aid he needs for PE tomorrow—he scraped his knee playing four square last week, and he’s worried it’ll open back up during the class tournament.
I don’t have some big neat conclusion here, honestly. The study just lays out what we’re all thinking, right? We all say PE matters, but we’re all scared of our kids falling behind, so we pick the thing we think will get them where we want them to go. It’s not that we’re bad people. It’s just that the system’s messed up, and we’re all just trying to do the best for our own kids, even if it means everyone’s kids lose out a little in the end.
Next PTA meeting’s in two weeks. I’m gonna try to actually speak up about getting PE back to three days a week, even if it’s awkward. Even if no one else joins me. I don’t know if it’ll change anything. But it’s more than I’ve done so far. Alright, I gotta go wrap these cookies. Leo’s got an early drop off for the sale tomorrow. (Word count: 1182)
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