 | A Running Start: How Play, Physical Activity and Free Time Create a Successful Child rating:  asin: 1569242844 binding: Paperback list price: $15.95 USD amazon price: $10.85 USD |
Rae Pica is the founder of Moving and Learning, and an advocate for children's physical activity for its own sake--not for the sake of awards.
My own relationship with exercise and movement has been long and problematic. I've been sharing with you my struggles with cardiac rehab these last months, and if I've gotten anything out of it, it's in a much greater awareness of my body and what it needs and wants. I wish I'd gotten that from physical education in my girlhood, and I hope Josie and Lou learn it now instead of when they're old and gray like me.
For instance, one of the reasons we homeschool is that school culture today over-emphasize early academics and doesn't give kids enough downtime--time to just stare at the ceiling--or time to run and play. Guess what! Rae agrees, and while she doesn't endorse homeschooling, she's got plenty of criticism for the way we have schools set up:
[W]ith the implementation of No Child Left Behind, seatwork and high-stakes testing became the norm. As a result, recess and physical education--play and physical activity in the schools--are in danger of disappearing.
At the same time...[c]hildren were being enrolled in more and more organized activities, and childhood itself became an exercise in goal attainment. Achievement came to supersede play...
My hope is that "A Running Start" will prompt a shift back in the other direction toward play and the recognition that:
- especially in childhood, the process is more important than the product
- having fun is more beneficial to a child than winning
- trying one's best *because* it's fun prompts children to stick with it and motivates them to improve their skills
- enjoying learning is more important than learning to regurgitate what a teacher feeds in.
I think I love you, Rae Pica.
This is a book for anyone who wants to give their children a real head start on a healthy life--not to create superkids, but happy and healthy kids. She gives advice on picking team sports and reassurance that letting a kid "do nothing" is just as important if not more important than running them back and forth to endless activities. I'm so happy to see this message out there.
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