Olympics Frenzy: A View from Grandma

Chinese women and men, 8/9/08, Long Beach on Long Island, New York, play volleyball.  Net provided by beach, Chinese flag is their own.  Why so important to them?  Read HERE.

Over at Hattie's Web strong negativity toward the Olympic games.  My inclination would be different, though I agree with her points about organized "sports" in the U.S. as an overblown commercial enterprise.  But, my immodest proposal, is to reframe the conversation around Americans and sports.

Hattie and I are both grandmothers to children who live in the Northwest.  I think it would be useful for us to begin a conversation about the value of chilren's school sports to alleviate troublesome issues in the culture--bullying, obesity, excessive competitiveness.  We could re-visit Mister Roger's Neighborhood and co-op-er-ation, perhaps encourage a revival?

I'd ask local politicians to pay more attention to funding public school sports as a direct line to reducing childhood obesity.  New York's Mayor Bloomberg has made calorie posting on menus his latest public health campaign.  This is the same mayor who made a controversail decision for an exclusive deal with Snapple, sugary, fructose-filled beverage, for NYC schools.    While it did nothing useful for kids' health, it also turned out to be a seriously flawed financial arrangement.

When I taught second grade on New York's  lower east side in 1966, it was not possible to use the glass-littered concrete "playground" next to the school.   No indoor program.    The best I could do was walk us to nearby  Thompkins Square Park,  famous at the time as an encampment for homeless people, a hippie hangout rife with drugs. 

Currently, I hear the eliminations of phys ed in public schools across the country.  In New York:

One reason for the lack of physical activity in the city's 673 elementary schools, according to a [2003] study by State Assemblyman Jeff Klein's oversight committee, is that many of them do not have functioning playgrounds; that space is filled with "temporary" trailers for extra classrooms needed for these overcrowded schools. Some of the trailers have been there for as long as eight years.

Today I tried my idea on another grandmother at lunch.  What about elders taking on issues  outside their immediate, personal concerns?  I asked her if we are too ready to accept  our invisibility in the public space.  Are we so anxious for approval from our grown children that we accept the "walking on eggshells attitude," described in this book by Jane Isay as the best way to negotiate these relationships?

Gee, I thought our lifetime of experiences and our perspective as "historians" were meant to be important in the life of a growing family, a community, a nation.  We need to claim our rights as "gatekeepers for the future."   That's the beauty of blogs--to have our say--at least among ourselves.  I have some topics in mind.

What do you think, Hattie, and the rest of you elder-lurkers?

Addendum: It was through our connecting through Time Goes By,  that it was possible for  Claude at Blogging In Paris and me to develop the idea a few months ago for our  online excercise support group,  ELDEREXERCISE.  Going very well, thank you.

We all use Ronni Bennett's  blogposts as a touchstone,  a rich medium.  On my visits to TGB, I often click on one of the sidebar blogs and discover another fresh, Elderblogging voice.  Ronni clearly enjoys being our link  to the content and ideas she generates.  She encourages us to branch out, make our voices heard.  Whenever we do, it's a tribute to her efforts.

Comments

[Hattie]

This comments thing is formatted very strangely, but it is usable, I guess. This is a test, and if it works, I'll post more.
Oh, now it works. Strange.
So this is what I wrote:
My kids and grandkids are all athletic and love the outdoors, so we have no disputes on that score, or any other score, really. They are providing my grandchildren with everything they need, even though they have to work so hard. I think my kids are better parents than I was. When I'm there I do all the cooking, which they appreciate a lot.
Actually, I believe it's important to ration one's advice but to provide lots of presents and fun outings. I'm really looking forward to seeing the gang in a few weeks.
Oh, and I think the #1 service we can render to our kids is to look after ourselves and stay independent for as long as possible. Sooner or later they will have to help us, but the longer we can delay that day the better.
The lack of social services and increasing poverty are killing families. We are keeping ours alive, but it is an expensive proposition.

[naomi dagen bloom]

Hattie, thanks so much for your efforts to respond! Maybe should be another Olympic event. How wonderful to see your children as improved parents over the previous model.

"Rationing advice" is a good phrase. My challenge is the size of the ration. It's a conumdrum.

[Claude]

One of my American friends who hadn't been in Paris for five years noticed that there were more obese people than there used to be.
Here, sport practise is about three hours a week in highschools and next to nothing as soon as you leave highschool. My daughter started putting on weight after she left highschool but has started exercising again. I noticed an increase of the number of very fat children in the UK as well.
One of the things that bothers me most here is mixed messages in the advertising. For example, you get a poster advertising a chocolate bar and at the bottom, there's a line that says that you should eat five portions of fruit or veggies a day.
And yes!!!! Aren't we doing well at ElderExercise? The group is helping me carry on.
On a more personal note, I have lost your address... meant to send you a card and couldn't. Would you send it to me in a personal email?
Love
Claude

[Lydia]

"When I taught second grade on New York's lower east side in 1966..." I enjoyed learning that about you and wonder if you've stayed in touch with any of your students all these years later.

Everything you said about Ronni Bennett and her blog is true. She is the conduit, and often the inspiration.

Soon school will begin and I'll once again pass by the middle school near our home with my eyes scanning the crowds gathered near the buses or walking home after school, scanning for anyone who looks like kids did when I was a kid. I see the PE teachers/coaches (at least there still is PE at this middle school) running their classes up the hill and around the block bordering the school. Invariably, there are some kids who are just too fat to keep up, and they waddle behind, flush-faced, full of anger and probably self-loathing. What kind of adulthood can they expect starting out in life this way?
You're right: we should be much more vocal as "gatekeepers for the future."

[joared]

I certainly agree with the view over-commercialization of sports occurs in this country. Even the littlest of players are on organized teams with uniforms, equipment, and playing fields young adult males of my generation longed for and now little ones parents create the attitude the children have to have it all -- organized play. I recall stories from old-timers of all the games played in the streets of big cities like NYC, but where are those children today?

Elsewhere there was always lots of outdoor activity and for many in rural areas hard work on family farms for girls and boys. Now we have so many big business farms and fewer such small family farms. Also, we don't walk places as once was done except for those committed to hiking. There are bikers, too. We actually have to have structured exercise programs 'cause we don't move about enough. I'm certainly guilty of walking less the past ten years or so. We can't ignore the contribution to the problem of the advent of the car, other motorized transportation, and our increasing technological advances that encourage sedentary activities i.e. television, computers, etc.

Yeah, that exercise program you and Claude started is good. May get back to it in time.