Recently I've been thwarted by my normally robust technology. My desktop decided to ruin my record of never having a machine go down, thus depriving me of my proven method of manipulating photos I've taken to make them appear like I'm an awesome photographer. Actually I caused the problem and this is why there are no pictures of my kids cross country skiing next to the paragraph below.
This weekend, we managed to both get our flu shots, and get out on to some snow for the first time up at Hardwood Hills. I managed to get out for almost exactly 30 minutes myself and really put the hammer down. This allowed my to pass at least 2 couples who were out for a leisurely afternoon in the forest.
The kids seemed to have a lot more fun than they did last year.
Last year each of them couldn't really get up on their own on skis. Now both of them, 4 and 6, were just fine, and could manage the downhills without falling at the bottom of every one. (Why is it that there must be a turn, even a gradual one, at the bottom of every downhill on a XC course?) I'm not sure where this improvement came from, but it was welcome by everyone.
They both spent about 90 minutes or so, poking around the easy loop, and generally messing around. Cookies followed and all was well.
As time goes on I'm becoming more and more of a believer in getting kids active early in the morning. As demonstrated by this weekend, and by watching their behavior this week and last, it's apparent that they are much better and paying attention, and not flying into furious fits, after they've done something physical.
It seems the activity doesn't have to be very stressful, just walking 10 minutes to the babysitters seems to do the trick, with some 30 second intervals thrown in of course.
If the kids don't get some activity, meltdowns happen sooner, dinner time is more chaotic, and they fight with each other more.
It seems better if the activity is a bit longer making the effect last, but it makes me think that there would be some benefit to schools doing phys ed early in the mornings rather than the almost never that seems to happen.
Or parents could walk their kids to school.
Do kids who walk to school do better? That's a google search for tomorrow.
But I'm guessing that many parents wouldn't buy in, as evidenced by the parent who, upon entering a store, that they had driven to, (as I had), looked at their young kid, and said to their spouse, "Lets be quick, I don't want her to have to walk much."
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