Anyone else's kids hate field day?

[stsomewhere]

My DS-12 and DD-9 hate field day.

They are begging me to let them stay home on Friday and miss it. Their school always as field day on the last day.

 

[jfranklyn]

LOL! My daughter HATES field day -!!! She's not athletic, and thinks the whole thing is stupid. She can't believe they actually extended it into middle school too! She says the kids should get to choose between field day and something for the other half of the kids that can't stand athletics! She wants to the school to have a "brain day" where the kids all get to sit around and read a book and then have a quiz show at the end! THAT she could get into!

 

[Pembo]

Let them stay home....

 

[Magpie]

I let my son stay home on field days. Usually he gets together with some friends of his and they go to a museum (so he can reassure me that he's getting "ed-ja-macated" even though he's not in school, ).

My son has flat feet, hyper-flexible joints, and gross motor delays. He's absolutely hopeless at sports. The kid can barely run! So I'm not going to make him suffer through a sports day if he's willing to come up with a reasonable alternative. (Like the museum or the library.)

 

[Hoodie]

I hated it when I was growing up.

 

[kamik86]

The only reason I didn't hate it is that they didn't make us do the sports. So if you wanted to sit on the sidelines with your friends and talk while watching the friends that actually did like sports that was acceptable.

They also had some arts and craft like stations that we could go to as well.

 

[Christine]

The only reason I didn't hate it is that they didn't make us do the sports. So if you wanted to sit on the sidelines with your friends and talk while watching the friends that actually did like sports that was acceptable.

They also had some arts and craft like stations that we could go to as well.

Same here.

I'm totally unathletic but they always seemed to have something for everyone so I was cool with that. Ours was a combination field day and it was sort of almost like a carnival at the same time. I loved it. However, I'm sure that 30+ years later it has evolved into the some sort of hypercompetitive olympics.

 

[PUZZLDY5]

My son used to love field day until his 5th grade year. That was the year he didn't get ANYTHING to drink in the hot sun for 4 1/2 hours. They said that they would provide plenty of fluids so there was no need for the parents to provide anything. They got mad about some of the kids throwing water on each other and cut them off. He was furious. I was furious. He never went to another field day again.

 

[kwelch10377]

What kind of things do your schools do on field day?

Growing up we did things like water balloon tosses, sack races, 3 legged races, etc.

 

[kamik86]

My son used to love field day until his 5th grade year. That was the year he didn't get ANYTHING to drink in the hot sun for 4 1/2 hours. They said that they would provide plenty of fluids so there was no need for the parents to provide anything. They got mad about some of the kids throwing water on each other and cut them off. He was furious. I was furious. He never went to another field day again.

I was the kind of kid teachers hating because I would have instigated all the other kids that were also upset about this to all call our parents and complain during the day. So the teachers would have gotten not only to listen to us complain about it but then our parents too. Even as a kid I tended to pick my battles but would fight one hell of a one (even with teachers) if I got it in my head that I was right. If none of us had a way to call our parents a group of us would have just walked off the field towards whomevers house was closest.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

My kids only had it in elementary school. As I recall, my daughter didn't particularly like it, but my son loves it.

 

[pixiedust9]

My girls love field day. At our school they have a cotton candy machine, sno cone maker, bounce house, chalk drawing...(for the older kids who want to hang out) and inside they have different video games set up for the kids to play. They have hot dogs and snacks for the kids and plenty of drinks. I think it should be something that ALL the kids want to take part in. Have different stations were everyone can find something...even if it means a group of kids just sitting and talking...as long as they aren't talking about someone, whats the harm.

 

[declansdad]

LOL! My daughter HATES field day -!!! She's not athletic, and thinks the whole thing is stupid. She can't believe they actually extended it into middle school too! She says the kids should get to choose between field day and something for the other half of the kids that can't stand athletics! She wants to the school to have a "brain day" where the kids all get to sit around and read a book and then have a quiz show at the end! THAT she could get into!

Isn't that like every other day at school?


Kids should have field days simply for the exercise and getting outside.

 

[Sparx]

What kind of things do your schools do on field day?

Growing up we did things like water balloon tosses, sack races, 3 legged races, etc.

This is what we did when I was growing up. Do you guys do more athletic based stuff like playing real sports?

 

[cinmell]

I hated field day but my 9yo daughter loves it.

 

[RitaE]

They changed ours this year. They had a craft area, a traditional field day area with games, they rented some of the large jump things, a big bubble blowing area, a perpetual whiffle ball game going on .. and some other things. It was all set up like a carnival or they could just go play on the playground if they wanted to. If the kids had a parent there you could wander at will and leave after lunch. Kids without parents were in groups of 3 or 4 each and assigned a staff member.

So much better than the "But I didn't get a ribbbbbbbonnnnnnnnn" whine fest of previous years.

 

[kamik86]

This is what we did when I was growing up. Do you guys do more athletic based stuff like playing real sports?

Our elementary one was like the others described but in high school each grade/side (my middle school had 2 groups of teachers for each grade and you were in one group or the other) would form teams to compete against the other grades and sides. We had softball, basketball, tennis, soccer, flag football, in additon to 3 leg races spoon races, sack races, twister, etc.

I think everyone had to compete in 1 thing, but if you wanted to sit and talk the rest of the day that was ok. You were encouraged to at least go to the big team sports though. (So we would then move our group of talking people next to the field for the duration of the game)

Some of us would also bring a book for some of it so besides the being outside part it could be more like what your daughter wanted!

 

[PatsMom]

I hated field day as a child. I was not athletic and found it a boring waste of time.

My daughter loved field day but at her school it was more like a carnival day. Bouncy house for the little kids, carnival food from a truck, clowns, water balloons, dunk tank with the principal, etc. Her school only went to grade six and they kids used to have a good time.

 

[AustinTink]

What kind of things do your schools do on field day?

Growing up we did things like water balloon tosses, sack races, 3 legged races, etc.

That's what they do at my son's school. It's fun, lighthearted stuff, nothing that requires too much athleticism.

Our field day growing up was much more serious. I dreaded it. I was a prissy girl and didn't want to get dirty in the long jump competition.

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

My oldest daughter hates it and I hated it as a kid too.