Actually, it’s supposed to be “Fit Kidz,” but I can’t bring myself to do that. It’s just wrong.
Two moms at my kids’ school (Beetle is one of them!) decided to bring a before-school fitness program to the school. It’s based on the work of Dr. John J. Ratey in his book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, which discusses the brain-body connection and how students do so much better after exercise (mind you, I haven’t read this book. I should, but I haven’t yet). I, of course, had to be involved. Fitness for my kids? A no brainer.
A school in a nearby town has implemented a program, and one of the trainers from there came and gave us some training. The program is actually sponsored by Reebok, and we have these official training manuals and everything (T-shirts and shoes for us trainers are coming soon!).
We had a run-through today with just the trainers and the kids of the trainers. Our class is about 35 minutes (our regular school starts at 8:15 and we can’t exactly expect the kids to be there at 7. The program starts at 7:30 and goes to 8:05, giving kids time to get their stuff and head to lockers before the first bell at 8:10). Thursday is the first full day, with all 53 kids who are signed up. My kids loved today’s program, which included warm-up with basketballs, running drills, animal relay races (seal walk, bear walk, crab walk), toilet tag, and a cool down.
All was good for us, except when Doodles’s team was the tagger in Toilet Tag. He spied that sister of his and went for her. He tagged her. She went down. Hard. I will say, in the boy’s defense, that it wasn’t malicious. I will say, in the girl’s defense that she went klonk! Luckily, the teachers and staff at our school are so great that the school nurse–whom Pie loves–came early as a “just in case.” Pie got to be her “just in case.” But one ice pack later, and Pie was fine to come back for the cool down.
The kids had a blast. They were sweaty and happy and ready to go to class when we were done.
So many benefits. Focused kids. Strong hearts. Strong bodies. But, really, that all pales in comparison to the one greatest thing. The best part of this program. The. Coolest. Thing.
I got a whistle. Me! A whistle! I’m so happy I could burst. No, I’m so happy I could whistle! I love my whistle. It’s my whistle to keep. My happiest moment today is when I got to blow my whistle!
Who knew there were so many side benefits to fitness!
