The London Olympic Games are almost coming to a close. And
like any competitions, I have had my favorites in these games. Apart from the usual
Usain Bolt and David Rudisha (for now obvious reasons), I have loved to watch
the US teenage gymnast and gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas. Every step she
takes during her performances she does with such ease, you’d be forgiven to
think that you can actually rise up from your seat and join her. But mostly,
Gabrielle reminds me of my childhood. We had gymnastics way back in school,
growing. Not Gabrielle’s “advanced” type, but we’d do the somersaults, “cut
wheel”, “ head stand”, “hand walk”, “crab walking”, and other simple moves
(well to Gabrielle’s standards!)
I remember when I was in lower primary I couldn’t wait to
get to the upper classes because only then would I be allowed to join the
gymnastics team. But the time I was in class four (the first of the upper
classes), I had practiced most of the common moves ready to join the team.
We currently do not have gymnastics as part of extra-curricular
activities in our school system any more. I do not know why they decided to
remove them.
Play back then was much more “active”. We’d practice our
high jump in rivers using bamboo, as poles. We’d use sand for “soft landing”.
Play time involved a lot of running, sweat and of course bruises! We were
healthy. I do not remember any time, ever seeing an overweight friend or class
mate. We were healthy, lean kids. We needed not to worry about junk foods,
there was no junk! If we ever had junk, we’d burn it all up in the play field -
without knowing
Am surprised at how nowadays in a group of kids you won’t miss
an obese kid. Some parents even show off their overweight children (they think
that it’s a sign of good health!)
We don’t let our kids play, sweat it all out. We keep them
indoors, and when they go out to play it’s restricted; not enough space, and
the all “be-careful-don’t-hurt-yourself-honey” kind of adult supervised play.
There’s such a thing as kid safety (what with the perverted world we live in),
but we truly can minimize the “overprotection” and let kids be…
(to be continued..)
