Worry about safe recess and prevent children from going to the playground
Expert: The low participation of young people in physical activities is not conducive to physical and mental health development
□ Sun Tianjiao, reporter of this newspaper
"Good ball!" "Pass it on here!" ......
On May 5, on the weekend, Jiang Qi (pseudonym), a resident of Chaoyang District, Beijing, brought his son, who was in the sixth grade of primary school, to play football in a soccer stadium near his home.
"Our child is in a critical stage of junior high school, and the pressure of learning will inevitably bring psychological pressure, and participating in sports activities can help him release the pressure, and we as parents are much more relieved." Jiang Qi said.
In recent years, anxiety and boredom of school have been the worriest, and depression has caused many psychological problems among adolescent students. Studies have shown that physical activity can reduce the pessimism of adolescents and is an important measure to improve the mental health of adolescents.
However, a recent investigation by a reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" found that in practice, there are various problems in the participation of young people in sports activities. For example, school assignments are heavy, crowding out time for physical education and physical activities; Some schools are worried about sports accidents, and the arrangement of sports activities is a formality; Some families arrange a large number of extracurricular classes for their children, neglecting the importance of physical activity ...
Experts interviewed believe that increasing participation in physical activities is not only good for children's physical health, but also plays an important role in promoting adolescent mental health. In recent years, relevant departments have taken a variety of measures to improve the development of youth sports activities, but there are still certain deficiencies, and in the future, it is necessary to further improve the awareness of the whole society to attach importance to sports activities, so that young people can participate in sports activities more and better.
Work up a sweat to release stress
Positive significance should be valued
Since his son Jiang Tao (pseudonym) was 5 years old, Jiang Qi has consciously taken him to exercise, and until he is now 13 years old, Jiang Tao has maintained the habit of playing football for 4 hours a week.
The changes brought about by long-term physical activity habits are immediate. When he entered the first grade, Jiang Tao was about the same height as the other children in the class, or even slightly shorter, and now he is a head taller than the other students. Parents of other students also said: "Regular exercise is different, your children's physical fitness is good." ”
In addition to pursuing a healthy body, Jiang Qi is actually more concerned about the positive effect of physical exercise on children's mental health.
"During the game, he runs and dribbles and sweats a lot, and his pressure can be released very well. After playing, he rests very well at night, and in the process he can recover physically and mentally. In addition, the process of his participation in sports is also the process of carrying out group activities, which invisibly exercises his social skills and is very helpful to relieve the psychological pressure of children. Jiang Qi said.
In addition to regular weekly football training, Jiang Qi will also specially instruct the children to move on the playground after school. Maintaining regular physical exercise for a long time, Jiang Qi was pleased to see that the child's whole person was sunny and confident.
"Especially the child is now in the critical stage of junior high school, he also told me that many students in the class have anxiety and insomnia due to stress, but he can better relieve his tension through exercise. In the future, I will also try to keep him in this rhythm of physical exercise. Jiang Qi said.
Zhao Lulu (pseudonym), who lives in Xicheng District, Beijing, has a daughter who is in the second grade of primary school. She has always been committed to creating a good sports atmosphere for her daughter - skateboarding, equestrian, tennis... Every week she takes her daughter to participate in multiple sports.
"Children are full of joy during physical exercise, and that happiness is very contagious, which is completely different from when they are studying in the classroom." Zhao Lulu said.
The positive effect of physical activity on adolescent mental health is being paid more and more attention. Organizing a variety of sports activities and calling on students to participate in sports has become one of the main measures for some primary and secondary schools to improve students' mental health and promote students' happy growth.
For example, in Chongqing's Wansheng Economic Development Zone, primary and secondary schools actively innovate Sunshine Sports Recess Activities, and various gymnastics and colorful sports activities written and directed by teachers are deeply loved by students. Local schools also ensure that students have 1 hour of physical exercise time a day through physical education classes and extracurricular activities, so as to strengthen students' physique.
Teacher Yang, a physical education teacher at a primary school in Kunming, Yunnan Province, told reporters that it can be clearly felt that in recent years, the school has paid more and more attention to physical education classes: not only set up physical education classes, sunshine recess and other exercise time every day, but also cooperated with local professional institutions to carry out football training and tennis training in schools, and also introduced fencing projects. In addition, the school also specially absorbs professional teachers in martial arts, boxing, cheerleading and other fields, and sets up corresponding interest classes.
Teacher Yang said that in addition to physical fitness, the impact of physical exercise on children's mental health is also immediate, "through physical activities, some students who did not speak much are now gradually cheerful."
Yao Jinju, a professor at the Law School of Beijing Foreign Chinese University and director of the Sino-foreign Education Law Research Center, believes that teenagers are often studying statically, or taking static sports such as playing games as a way of leisure, while ignoring the importance of physical exercise. But in fact, in addition to enhancing physical fitness, sports can also make people open-minded, temper will, release stress, and the effect on promoting mental health is huge, and adolescents and their parents should be aware of this.
Tian Siyuan, director of the Sports Law Research Center of Tsinghua University Law School, said that modern scientific research conclusions show that young people's sports can directly affect their ability to adapt in school. On the one hand, adolescents have high academic pressure and need to be relaxed through appropriate physical exercise; On the other hand, active physical activity can help teenagers better cope with excessive academic pressure. Therefore, it is necessary to attach importance to youth sports activities.
The course schedule is not reasonable
Exercise time is often crowded out
Physical activity is closely related to adolescent mental health, but in practice, youth participation in physical activity is not ideal.
In 2022, the Department of Youth Sports of the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China commissioned the Institute of Sports Medicine to carry out a national investigation and intervention project on the cardiovascular health status of children and adolescents, and the results showed that the proportion of people with ideal physical fitness index was 69.25%, and the proportion of people with ideal physical exercise level (exercise time greater than or equal to 60 minutes per day) was only 10.94%.
Why is there a lack of exercise? Many interviewees mentioned that they had to give up sports activities for a limited time because of the heavy work in cultural classes.
Yang Qing (pseudonym), a junior high school student in Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, who had just completed the physical education test for the middle school entrance examination, did not have satisfactory results. His academic performance was at the top of his class, but he was deducted 8 points from the physical education test, and his running and jumping rope scores were not up to standard.
He still feels chagrin: "Usually ignore the importance of physical exercise, sometimes physical education classes are even occupied by other cultural classes, and during recess do not realize to practice running or skipping rope, time is used to do problems, if you take a little time to exercise every day, the result may be different." ”
Under the pressure of schoolwork, physical education classes are often occupied. The reporter recently searched on social platforms with the keyword "physical education class occupancy class", and a large number of netizens complained that physical education class was occupied: "Originally, Friday was the most anticipated day of the week, but the physical education class was occupied and changed to a math test." I really can't stand it anymore" "After the physical education exam, I kept a physical education class for a week, but I didn't take a class for more than a month" "I was really tired from high school, I had to stay up late every day to write homework and review, and our class teachers often occupied physical education classes..."
It is worth noting that there are many parents who believe that their children's cultural performance is far more important than physical activity.
The mother of a sophomore student in Langfang, Hebei Province, said in an interview: "As parents, we must pay more attention to the performance of our children's cultural classes, especially when their children are about to enter the third year of high school, the study tasks are heavy, and it is difficult to find time for physical exercise." ”
Jiang Qi told reporters that a parent of a student he knows puts almost all his energy on his child's academic performance, not only enrolling his child in a large number of cram classes, but also letting his child brush questions and participate in various competitions in his leisure time, and the child has no time for physical exercise. The result of this is also obvious - the boy is very withdrawn in the class, has a short temper, and the relationship between mother and son is very difficult for a while.
"For many children, physical education classes in schools may be the only systematic way to do physical activity." Jiang Qi said, however, that in fact, the quality of physical education classes organized by some schools is not high. "A physical education class is 40 minutes in form, but from the assembly to the start of the formal class, the effective exercise time may be less than 30 minutes, and the teacher is worried about the safety of students, and many times the amount of exercise organized is not up to standard, and the physical education class is a formality."
There are also many parents' "desire to protect" has become an invisible shackle on the road of children's physical exercise. Zhao Lulu has contacted many parents of students, some children just ran two steps, parents chased behind and shouted "be careful, don't fall", if the weather is hot or windy and rainy, it is even more impossible to let children do outdoor activities.
"Some teachers are the same, because they are afraid of insecurity, they simply 'one-size-fits-all' prohibit children from leaving the classroom and the teaching building during recess, preferring to play cartoons in the classroom rather than let the children move freely on the playground." In this regard, Zhao Lulu does not recognize, how can the child grow up healthily without letting the child experience wind and rain?
Yao Jinju said that adolescent parents are not aware of the physical and mental development benefits of physical activity. Many people do not realize that without good physical and psychological qualities, even the best mind cannot play its true role. Over time, adolescents lose interest and ability in physical exercise, and various possible physical or psychological problems arise.
"The heavy burden of schoolwork for Chinese students, the pressure to go to school, the lack of sports venue facilities, and the insufficient sports atmosphere are also direct factors that lead to young people's less participation in sports activities." Yao Jinju said that excessive academic burden and pressure force teenagers to find an outlet for emotional catharsis and relaxation, and the lack of sports venue facilities and parents' lack of attention to physical exercise make video games replace physical exercise an important way for teenagers to relieve stress and entertain, which further reduces the time for teenagers to participate in physical exercise.
Existing regulations are gradually being implemented
Take multiple measures to improve development
The lack of participation in youth sports activities has attracted the attention of relevant departments.
The 2021th Five-Year Plan for Youth Sports proposes to improve the youth sports promotion mechanism led by the government, coordinated by departments and participated by the whole society; The "Outline for Building a Strong Sports Country" proposes to improve the youth service system; The National Fitness Plan (2025-<>) proposes to implement a youth activity promotion plan.
The newly revised Sports Law clearly places youth and school sports in a strategic position of priority development, amends the title of Chapter III School Sports Chapter to "Youth and School Sports", and puts forward "the state implements a plan for promoting youth sports activities and improves the youth sports work system" to promote the all-round development of young people from the legal level.
Zhang Hongwei, a professor at the Juvenile and Family Law Research Center of Jinan University, said that in recent years, youth sports activities have made great progress, and in some areas they also face many outstanding problems that need to be solved urgently, such as the shortage of teachers, venues, funds and other practical problems. In this context, the successive promulgation of relevant documents and laws and regulations has further clarified the basic principles, requirements and contents of the rule of law in youth sports activities from the legal system, providing a solid legal guarantee for the orderly development of relevant activities, so that youth sports activities can obtain more basic guarantees in terms of funds, technology, training, venues, personnel, facilities and other aspects on the track of the rule of law, and at the same time promote the common concern, concern and care of youth sports activities in the whole society.
Yao Jinju believes that on the basis of the existing regulations, it is necessary to further improve the institutional mechanism and clarify the scope of rights and responsibilities. For example, establish as soon as possible the youth and school sports work system required by the new sports law, and clarify the role of sports administrative departments in school sports; In extracurricular sports, the role of the educational administration. The division of labor and cooperation between the sports and education departments to form a joint force is an important basis for the implementation of the existing regulations.
Tian Siyuan said that the existing regulations and initiatives are put forward in response to the reality of the current youth group and are targeted. However, in the overall context of examination-oriented education, whether these regulations can finally be implemented needs to be tested in the future. "Only when teenagers and parents truly realize the importance of physical exercise and experience the physical and mental pleasure brought by physical exercise can we fundamentally change the current situation of insufficient participation in youth sports activities."
To this end, he suggested that in order to promote more and better participation of young people in sports activities, the whole society should establish a culture of attaching importance to physical exercise. Relevant government departments should work with schools to guide and appropriately require young people to participate in sports activities. At the same time, in accordance with the existing requirements, physical education teachers are allocated, physical exercise venues and facilities are sufficient, and the safety management of sports activities in school and the prevention and control of sports injury risks are done.
"The key to youth sports activities is subjective will and interest, so in the final analysis, it is still the young people's own understanding of sports." Yao Jinju said that this requires education administrative departments, sports administrative departments, schools, families and society to work together to cultivate the habit of youth physical exercise, and parents themselves should attach importance to and participate in sports activities, set an example, and enhance the consciousness and fun of youth physical exercise. At the same time, relevant departments should pay attention to the imbalance between urban and rural areas in the construction of sports facilities, strengthen the construction of sports public facilities, and promote the participation of young people in sports activities according to the differences between urban and rural areas and local conditions. (Rule of Law Daily)